New House bill seeks to ban in-flight cell phone calls

Chairman of the House transportation committee says airplanes are noisy enough without people talking away the flight on their phones.

(Credit: JetBlue)

Flights are noisy enough for at least one lawmaker without having to listen to a plane full of passengers shouting to be heard on their cell phones.

So Rep. Bill Shuster, the chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, introduced a bill Monday that would prohibit passengers from making in-flight cell phone calls on commercial aviation flights. The "Prohibiting In-Flight Voice Communications on Mobile Wireless Devices Act of 2013" (PDF) comes as the Federal Communications Commission considers lifting a ban on the use of cell phones and mobile broadband services on airplanes above 10,000 feet.

"Let's face it, airplane cabins are by nature noisy, crowded, and confined," Shuster (R-Pa.) said in a statement. "For the most part, passengers are looking for ways to make their flights go by as quickly and quietly as possible."

In October, the Federal Aviation Administrationlifted its ban on the use of portable electronic devices during takeoffs and landings. While FCC regulations still ban the use of cell phones for voice communications out of concern the devices might interfere with the aircraft's flight instruments, safety was not a chief concern cited by Shuster.

"For passengers, being able to use their phones and tablets to get online or send text messages is a useful in-flight option. But if passengers are going to be forced to listen to the gossip in the aisle seat, it's going to make for a very long flight," Shuster said. "For those few hours in the air with 150 other people, it's just common sense that we all keep our personal lives to ourselves and stay off the phone."

The question of whether cell phones could be used on airplanes has come up in the past at the FCC. The agency considered a similar proposal in 2004 and sought public comment, but it dropped the rule changes in 2007 after flight attendants and others lobbied against it.

The FCC is expected to take up the matter during its meeting Thursday.

Read More

The next USB plug will finally be reversible

Work has begun on a new generation of USB that will break compatibility with existing connectors in order to improve ease of use and allow for thinner devices. The new connector, called Type-C, is an addition to the existing USB 3.1 specification and is expected to be finalized by the middle of 2014. There aren't any images available yet, but Type-C will be around the size of a Micro USB plug and, like Apple's Lightning connector, will finally be reversible — in other words, no more frustrated attempts to charge your phone with an upside-down cable.

"THIS IS THE ONLY CONNECTOR ONE WILL NEED ACROSS ALL DEVICES.”

In a press release, USB 3.0 Promoter Group chairman Brad Saunders says that Type-C will "meet evolving design trends in terms of size and usability” while allowing for future scalability in charging and data transfer. Type-C "will enable an entirely new super-thin class of devices from phones to tablets, to 2-in-1s, to laptops to desktops,” says Alex Peleg of Intel. “This new industry standards-based thin connector delivering data, power, and video is the only connector one will need across all devices.”

Since Type-C is an entirely new connector, the USB 3.0 Promoter Group will also have to include a specification for adapters and cables so that the countless USB chargers out there aren't immediately rendered obsolete. But the need for a new USB port is in many ways overdue, as recently highlighted by Apple's sleek Lightning connector and devices like the Galaxy Note 3 with its speedy but clumsy and oversized Micro USB 3 port.

Read More

Your Future Smartwatch May Charge Wirelessly and Last Longer

Some smartwatches, such as the Pebble, can last for nearly a week without requiring a charge. But wrist-worn gadgets of the future could survive even longer. New Bluetooth advancements and technology from Broadcom promise to improve the wearable tech experience by extending battery life and maintaining a stronger connection with your smartphone.

Broadcom's newly announced BCM20736 system-on-a-chip features a design that's both energy efficient and small enough to conserve space inside wearable gadgets such as smartwatches. The SoC combines Bluetooth, an ARM processor and wireless charging into one 6.5 x 6.5mm entity, meaning you may not have to use a proprietary charger for your next smart wristlet. Broadcom claims that this tiny form factor and highly integrated design will extend battery life for future wearables, but hasn't given a specific estimate. The company is currently sampling the chip with evaluation boards.

At the same time, the Bluetooth Special Interest Group has unveiled some significant advancements that will keep your smartwatch tied even closer to your smartphone. The new Bluetooth 4.1 wireless standard will enable devices to remember a severed connection for longer periods of time. That means the watch would automatically pair with your mobile device when it's within range again, eliminating the hassle of having to whip out your smartphone to reconnect manually. Bluetooth 4.1 is set to roll out as an over-the-air update, which means you don't need to purchase a new device to see the benefits.

These enhancements serve to answer some of the minor qualms users experience with today's smartwatches. Some critics have reported that Samsung's Galaxy Gear watch can only last for about one day during mixed use, although the company recently issued an update to improve battery life. As the smartwatch transitions from a niche market into the mainstream, these types of improvements could give wearables a larger appeal.

Read More

Touch ID on Apple’s iPhone 5s is losing accuracy over time for some users

The shine is already wearing off of Apple’s new Touch ID technology for some iPhone 5s owners. Apple unveiled its latest flagship iPhone this past September and along with it, a new embedded fingerprint scanner brought about by the company’s 2012 acquisition of mobile security firm AuthenTec for $356 million. Dubbed Touch ID, the new technology places a sapphire glass-covered fingerprint scanner in the home button of Apple’s iPhone 5s and allows users to unlock the device or authenticate App Store purchases with just the touch of a finger. The new tech is among a few main selling points for the iPhone 5s, but a new report suggests some users are already having trouble with it after less than three months on the market.

“Dr. Drang,” who is described by 5by5 as “a consulting engineer well known amongst nerds on the Internet,” recently wrote on his blog And now it’s all this that he’s having some issues with Touch ID on his iPhone.

“I’ve been using Touch ID since I got an iPhone 5s in mid-October,” Drang wrote. “Generally speaking, I like it, and I find it faster than the old swipe-and-passcode method, but I’ve felt compelled to reteach it my fingerprints twice already. I know this sounds impossible, but its recognition of my prints seems to decay with time.”

The good doctor continued, “I rescanned my fingers this weekend, and Touch ID has been amazingly fast and accurate since then. Just as it was when I first got the 5s, and just as it was a few weeks later when I rescanned my fingers for the first time. Just before each rescan, though, I was so frustrated with Touch ID I felt like throwing the phone across the room.”

Curious indeed, but one isolated issue doesn’t necessarily mean there’s a problem. According to John Gruber ofDaring Fireball, however, the issue isn’t exactly isolated.

“Drang is not alone — I’ve had a handful of readers ask me about this recently,” Gruber noted. “Makes me think there’s something to it. Me, personally, though, I haven’t noticed any drop-off in accuracy.”

Like Gruber, we haven’t experienced any issues with the print reader on our devices. We also haven’t seen any reports of this issue outside of the ones noted above. The iPhone 5s is still less than three months old, however, so this may be something to watch for as time progresses.

Read More

Apple's iBeacon location-aware shopping goes live today

Apple is switching on "iBeacons" across its 254 US stores today, according to a report from the Associated Press. iBeacons, which use low-power Bluetooth transmitters to offer location-aware services to your phone, were quietly introduced along with iOS 7, and although other retailers have toyed with the idea of adding beacons to its stores, Apple's rollout today represents the first major deployment of the technology.

The Apple Store iBeacons will work in tandem with the Apple Store app. Provided you've got the app on your phone and have given Apple permission to track you, it'll attempt to offer an augmented retail experience tailored to your needs. When you walk into the store and the app will enter "in-store mode." If you're standing next to an iPhone table you might receive a message asking if you'd like to upgrade your iPhone. If you like, the app will then check your upgrade eligibility and let you know how much you can trade in your old model for. Another example given involves notifications that will automatically bring up your order number as you walk up to a clerk to pick it up.

APPLE IBEACONS KNOW EXACTLY WHERE YOU ARE

The Associated Press reports that around 20 transmitters have been switched on at Apple's Fifth Avenue store in New York City, each adjusted to specific distances. Some of the transmitters are actual Bluetooth transmitters, while others are signals generated by iPads already installed at the store. Adjusting the strength of the signal allows Apple to show notifications relevant to exactly where you are standing. Such accuracy isn't easy with traditional location systems like GPS, especially indoors. It's not clear if the Apple Store application will require an update to display iBeacon information, but the transmitters are reportedly live in stores today.

Read More