Wednesday’s Recommended Reads

A bit of a catch up today. Been traveling …

The Emerging Technologies Shaping Future 5G Networks: It may seem as if the fourth generation of mobile communications technology has only just hit the airwaves. But so-called 4G technology has been around in various guises since 2006 and is now widely available in metropolitan areas of the US, Europe and Asia. – http://www.technologyreview.com/view/522401/the-emerging-technologies-shaping-future-5g-networks/

One standard to sync them all: AllSeen Alliance forms to accelerate Internet of Things adoption: Eighteen months ago, Qualcomm SVP Rob Chandhok succinctly explained why the internet of things was failing. Instead of working together, manufacturers designed their smart televisions and appliances to only communicate with their own proprietary applications. – by Sean Hollister – http://theverge.com/2013/12/10/5194342/one-standard-to-sync-them-all-allseen-alliance-forms-to-accelerate

How Apple’s Lightning-Plug Guru Reinvented Square’s Card Reader: The new Square Reader is 45 percent thinner than the previous version–a slimming that took careful consideration of the device’s components. Photo: Josh Valcarcel/WIREDThe effort was led by Square’s VP of Hardware, Jesse Dorogusker, formerly the head of accessories at Apple. – by Kyle VanHemert – http://www.wired.com/design/2013/12/the-new-square-reader-a-look-at-how-gadget-guts-are-designed

Xiaomi’s plan for expansion is to invade the two most saturated smartphone markets in the world: Ever since Xiaomi poached Hugo Barra from Google, the world has been waiting for the Chinese smartphone maker to sell its inexpensive, highly customized Android handsets beyond the confines of greater China. – by Adam Pasick – http://qz.com/155901/xiaomis-plan-for-expansion-is-to-invade-the-two-most-saturated-smartphone-markets-in-the-world/

AT&T chief: We can’t keep doing big subsidies on phones: AT&T’s top executive says the era of big subsidies for devices is coming to an end, as wireless operators can no longer afford to fund a constant smartphone upgrade cycle. – by Marguerite Reardon – Tags: mobile, AT&T – http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-57615114-94/at-t-chief-we-cant-keep-doing-big-subsidies-on-phones/

Android Action Bar overflow changes could mark beginning of the end for hardware menu button: When Android started making the move away from hardware buttons, and giving manufacturers the option to present users with fully on-screen virtual buttons, it sounded like we were moving towards a promising future where Android might feel more consistent across devices – you wouldn’t go from us – by Stephen Schenck – http://pocketnow.com/2013/12/09/android-menu-button

This is Nokia’s Android phone: Nokia has been building its own Android phone according to multiple sources familiar with the company’s plans. Codenamed Normandy, and known internally at Nokia under a number of other names, the handset is designed as the next step in low-end phones from the Finnish smartphone maker. – by Tom Warren – http://www.theverge.com/2013/12/10/5197746/nokia-android-phone-normandy

How Google Decimated A $2 Billion Search Business: As Variety reports, it turns out that Google was a key player in the company’s downfall. Richard Rosenblatt co-founded Demand in 2006 as a “content farm” that would take advantage of search engine optimization. – by Richard Feloni – Tags: Google, Demand Media, Richard Rosenblatt, Content Farms, Richard Feloni – http://www.businessinsider.com/googles-blow-to-demand-media-2013-12

Everything visible: How wearable cameras are changing the way we think about public space: The presence of surveillance cameras is becoming a growing norm in public spaces. For example, currently in the United Kingdom, there are an estimated 4. – by Ricardo Bilton – http://venturebeat.com/2013/12/08/everything-visible-how-wearable-cameras-are-changing-the-way-we-think-about-public-space/

The Brilliant Hack That Brought Foursquare Back From the Dead: Dennis Crowley thought his 13-year dream might never come true. Crowley is the founder of Foursquare, the seminal social networking service that broadcasts your location across the net and serves you tips and deals based on where you are. – by Ryan Tate – http://www.wired.com/business/2013/12/the-brilliant-foursquare-hack/

Imgur: The Biggest Little Site in the World: What does Imgur, one of the most highly-trafficked sites on the web, want to be when it grows up? Television. The whole thing started with a picture. An extremely tall fellow, Dan, peeked over a door—over a door—to watch TV. It was funny. Someone took a photo. – by Megan Garber – Tags: The Atlantic, The Atlantic Magazine, TheAtlantic.com, Atlantic, news, opinion, analysis, commentary, Science, technology, innovation, James Fallows, Alexis Madrigal – http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2013/12/imgur-the-biggest-little-site-in-the-world/281872/

Layoffs at stealth payment startup Clinkle: Clinkle still wants to kill Square. But first it needs to get its own house in order. FORTUNE — Clinkle, a stealthy mobile payment startup that recently raised the largest seed financing round in history, today has completed an internal reorganization. Or, in other words, layoffs. – by Dan Primack – Tags: term sheet, clinkle, venture capital – http://finance.fortune.cnn.com/2013/12/09/layoffs-clinkle/

Smarty Ring Sends Smartphone Updates to Your Finger [VIDEO]: One ring to rule them all — or at least manage all of your incoming smartphone alerts. That’s the idea behind Smarty Ring, a Bluetooth-enabled wearable gadget that allows users to check smartphone alerts and manage incoming calls right from their finger. – by Kurt Wagner – http://mashable.com/2013/12/08/smarty-ring/

The Test Begins: Do Google Shopping & Other Shopping Search Engines Give You The Best Deals?: It sounds pretty damning. Two recent surveys suggest that Google Shopping isn’t leading searchers to the best prices on products. But the surveys weren’t well documented, nor did they include competitors like Bing, Shopzilla, PriceGrabber and Nextag, which have similar issues. – by Danny Sullivan – http://searchengineland.com/do-shopping-search-engines-give-you-best-deals-178980

The iWallet Is Coming: Post updated to reflect a misstatement about when Apple rolled out self checkout to its stores. – by Tristan Louis – http://www.forbes.com/sites/tristanlouis/2013/12/07/the-iwallet-is-coming/

The War For Your Wrist: The past decade has seen the consumer electronics war grow more furious and more personal: your living room is a battlefield, as are your desks and your pockets. – by Chris Velazco – http://techcrunch.com/2013/12/08/the-war-for-your-wrist/

Pebble Review: The Underdog That Proves Smartwatches Are Worthwhile: Even before the Pebble smartwatch was available to buy, Pebble had caught the imagination of the geekerati with their Kickstarter campaign that raised over ten million dollars. It gave them visibility, but also put the pressure on to deliver a compelling product. – by Ewan Spence – http://www.forbes.com/sites/ewanspence/2013/12/08/pebble-review-the-underdog-that-proves-smartwatches-are-worthwhile/

Netflix’s War on Mass Culture: Given all the faces you see glued to computers, tablets, and cell phones, you might think that people watch much less television than they used to. You would be wrong. – by TIM WU – Tags: Technology, Culture, TV, Netflix, television, Media – http://www.newrepublic.com/article/115687/netflixs-war-mass-culture

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