Why aren't smartphone features integrated into automobile dashboards? It would make so much sense if drivers were able to install whatever driving apps they want – including music, text messaging and maps – and be able to access them all via large, user-friendly knobs and buttons. Or, better yet, via voice command. Why not indeed? This...
Before the digital era, it was much harder to find items you lost or misplaced. With the advent of mobile technology and all the software that goes with it, only the seriously disorganized should now be permanently parted with their things. Today, parked cars are easily found in parking lots with apps that pinpoint them on a map. Keys now hang...
Mobile phones do a lot these days. And what they don't do all by themselves, they are getting help from developers who are creating physical attachments that significantly broaden the phones' abilities. In the past year or so we've seen attachments that run the gamut from blood-alcohol Breathalyzer to bacon-scented alarm clocks. Amazingly, the...
Hook them young and you will have a customer for life. This, the mantra of many businesses and brands, is now being applied to smartwatches. VTech KidiZoom Smart Watch is one of the first computerized watches made specifically for children. It doesn't connect to the Internet like adult models, but it does have a touchscreen, video camera,...
Regular readers of WikiTrend know that there is a huge trend among mobile hardware developers to create attachments that extend the usefulness of our phones. We have written about smartphone add-ons including breathalyzers, professional light meters, spy lenses, wind-speed meters, virtual reality attachments and much more. And now there's...
Traditionalist Islamic mosques have embraced the 21st century by posting QR coded informational messaging on their walls. With the scan of a mobile device, worshipers at Dubai's Shaikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum mosque can now access information about prayer timings, lectures and courses, as well the text of the Friday Sermon. Meanwhile,...
Wearable tech is not a fad, it's a trend that is here to stay. And this is the year that smartwatches and sports bands finally reach their tipping points as consumers get real options for good-looking, high-performance pieces that won't cost a proverbial arm and leg. While many tech-watchers are still waiting on an entry from Apple, Samsung has...
Brick and mortar stores have one big advantage over Internet-only shops: customers can get their goods immediately. That's why, as an answer to Internet retailing, we are seeing more and more shops selling online (where the customers are), then offering pick-up in-store (where the goods are). Even Starbucks and McDonald's have started to offer...
Brick and mortar stores like Sears in the US and Harvey Nichols in England are fighting back against Internet shops by letting customers purchase on the Web then pick up the same-day from their stores. They are counting on people's desire for instant gratification to prop up sales. Now Starbucks is taking a page from this business model with a...