drag2share: HTC's One M8 Ace squeezes high-end specs into a prettier, cheaper body

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2014/05/20/htc-one-m8-ace/

HTC's One M8 isn't even two months old yet and it's already sparked a few spin-offs. We're not just talking about the One mini 2, either: a render of the oft-rumored One M8 Ace started making the rounds on Chinese tech blogs earlier today, and we've been able to confirm the image in fact depicts the real deal. Haven't been keeping tabs on the M8's myriad spawn? Well, the Ace (which could bear the Style or Fashion Edition moniker in China) seeks to cram top-tier performance into a more attractive, more affordable package.

Things to note: this device isn't the sequel to the Butterfly S people have been talking about . No, it's a rejiggered version of the existing One M8 that shares the same 2.5GHz Snapdragon 801 chipset and 5-inch 1080p screen as the version floating around in Asia. The big differences is that those components are packed into a more colorful chassis made of plastic... so much for the aluminum and liquid silicone mix that's rumored to comprise the One M8 Prime's body.

Not every one of the M8's niceties made the leap into the Ace, sadly -- the render seems to lack that fancy Duo camera and the IR blaster built into the sleep/wake button. There's no word yet on when the Ace will make its grand debut, but expect it to launch in mainland China first before possibly trickling onto store shelves around the world down the road. For what it's worth though, HTC's been doing just a little teasing of its own -- it warned its Twitter followers last night that "more beautiful curves are coming soon," so the wait for something new and shiny shouldn't be too long.

Filed under: Mobile, HTC

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drag2share: Sigfox brings its internet of things network to San Francisco

Source: http://gigaom.com/2014/05/20/sigfox-brings-its-internet-of-things-network-to-san-francisco/

Over the next few months, a new wireless network will go live in the Bay Area from San Francisco down to Silicon Valley. This network won’t be connecting calls to your mobile phone or your laptop to Wi-Fi. Instead it will connect the internet of things, communicating tiny bits of information to sensors, appliances and industrial machinery and even consumer gadgets like wearables.

The network is being built by Sigfox, a global ISP that specializes in the internet of things. It’s been building an ultra-narrowband wireless data network using the same 900 MHz band used by cellular phones and baby monitors in France, Spain and Russia. The network only transmits the smallest amount of information at a mere 100 bits per second, but it can support millions of connections. In comparison a cellular network can support a lot faster speeds, but far fewer connections.

A photo of the Bay Bridge taken with the Phantom 2 Vision above San Francisco’s Telegraph Hill. Photo by Signe Brewster

A utility meter or a traffic sensor only needs to transmit intermittently and only a few of packets of data. Due to the networks sub-gigahertz frequencies it can space its towers much further apart than the typical cellular network, and the power it takes to transmit is a fraction of what cellular-connected radio could offer. The cost of cellular connectivity and equipment is high, so Sigfox is building an alternate network specifically optimized and priced for that kind of low-bandwidth communication.

Sigfox is starting out small in the U.S. Its SF network is being built by the company itself, but it hopes to expand to new cities with a carrier partner, said Thomas Nicholls, head of marketing and communications for Sigfox. It’s also expanding into in the U.K., announcing last week that it is working with Arqiva to build its network in that country’s 10 largest cities.

A Sigfox module (Source: Sigfox)

Nicholls said Sigfox is currently talking to several companies ranging from utilities about connected meters, municipal governments about smart applications and even consumer-facing device makers about linking internet-of-things gadgets directly to its network.

Sigfox is going to be very interesting company to watch as it dips its toes in the U.S. Technologies ranging from Bluetooth to cellular and Zigbee to Z-Wave are all angling to be the connectivity fabric that glues the internet of things together. Sigfox is proposing that the internet of things might just need its own dedicated internet.

Related research and analysis from Gigaom Research:
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• The influence of M2M data on the energy industry
• Connected world: the consumer technology revolution
• How IoT Can Deliver on Its Promise

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drag2share: Amazing NASA Footage Shows What It's Really Like On The Surface Of The Sun

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-footage-of-sun-surface-2014-5

NASA recently released footage that shows the roaring activity on the surface of the sun in incredible detail.

"We zoomed in almost to our maximum level to watch tight, bright loops and much longer, softer loops shift and sway," NASA notes in its description of the footage, which was captured on May 13. "This type of dynamic activity continues almost non-stop on the Sun as opposing magnetic forces tangle with each other."

Check it out:

h/t @coreyspowell

SEE ALSO: Watch The Sun Rise And Set And Rise Again From The International Space Station

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drag2share: Ubuntu Just Put the Cloud in This Small, Orange Box

Source: http://gizmodo.com/ubuntu-just-put-the-cloud-in-this-small-orange-box-1578876565

Ubuntu might not have a perfect track record with hardware , but why let that stop it! Now it's decided to put the cloud in a box. A bright orange box.

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drag2share: Google Bought One Of The Hottest Enterprise Android Startups (GOOG)

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/google-buys-divide-2014-5

Google announced today that it bought Divide, a company that makes a popular app that lets you securely access corporate documents and email from your phone.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but Divide, founded in 2010, has raised $23 million from venture investors including Google's own VC arm, Google Ventures.

Divide was founded by former Morgan Stanley IT professionals who led the bank's mobile app development. The startup wanted to find a way to give IT departments all the control over corporate apps and data that they needed when people accessed them via their private smartphones and tablets, without giving IT the authority to completely wipe all data from someone's personal device.

As its name implies, this app divides an Android device into personal space and business space. In geek speak, this kind of app is called a "secure container." It's not the only app that does such a thing. VMware Horizon is another, and Samsung offers this on its Android devices too, via a feature called Samsung Knox.

But Divide was a really popular secure container app, downloaded over 200,000 times as of last October, TechCrunch reported. And users rated it with a four stars out of five on the Google Play app store.

According to the blog post from the Divide team, Divide is joining Google as an acquihire and the app will continue to be developed and supported "as it always has."

SEE ALSO: 12 Hot Data Center Startups To Watch

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