Brian Chen of The New York Times noted in his piece last Friday that people are increasingly using cell phones to control and interact with other devices.
We want to use our phones like a remote control for our lives, so we launched an iPhone app for booking.
FORBES: Founder of Vault.com Discusses Startup Life and His New Healthcare Company Zeel
Even with physical keyboards, modern phones need touch screens to control movies, games and other tasks beyond the BlackBerry's roots in messaging.
MyLink adds stereo audio streaming and wireless control of smart phones, building on the voice-activated Bluetooth hands-free calling capability already offered in most Chevy vehicles.
ENGADGET: Chevrolet launches MyLink smartphone integration for 2012 Volt and Equinox
Nokia, the world's largest handset-maker, hopes to turn its tiny phones into universal remote-control devices, able to control everything from the television to the lights to the microwave.
Get some control over how mobile phones are impacting your network: These days with everyone bringing their own devices and operating them on the enterprise network, monitoring them in real time is essential.
Using software you install on your PC, you can take complete control over all the phones in the house and turn your internal phone network into a system like a private branch exchange (PBX) not unlike what you might find at the office.
The "Android Market Security Tool March 2011" will be remotely added to affected handsets to undo the exploit and keep it from sending your data out, as well as make you wonder just how much remote control Google has over our phones.
ENGADGET: Google flips Android kill switch, destroys a batch of malicious apps (update)
Instead, they are designed to be played with a thumb and the five-way control button found on regular feature phones.
Also, Paul wanted to wield control over which carriers got the new phones, based on need and order size, while Irwin wanted to favor the Asian services that were first to embrace his CDMA scheme.
With gestures enabled, viewers can sit at a distance from their phones and motion in a manner similar to a remote control.
The more people get used to carrying guns as routine, the more they will react to gun-control laws as though someone were trying to steal their cell phones or their watches.
With HTC Connect, consumers can turn their phones into never-ending sources of entertainment, with the ability to control music playback and volume easily while simultaneously using the device for other functions, from making and receiving calls and taking pictures to downloading the latest apps and surfing the Web.
ENGADGET: Firmware updates for Pioneer AV receivers add HTC Connect music streaming compatibility
Different laws cover the tapping of phones and the placing of other forms of listening devices with different systems of control and authorisation.
Everything save for the screen and the in-car control mechanisms are already provided in most of today's flagship phones: internet access, NFC, Bluetooth, multitasking capabilities, hundreds of thousands of applications and operating systems that are all too happy to interface with in-car GUIs.
The news arrives amid speculation that Facebook, facing new pressure as a public company, will need to develop fresh sources of mobile revenue and exert greater control over its mobile products as users spend more time networking on phones or tablets instead of laptops or desktops.
The story goes that the older versions have faulty power control software in their radios, forcing base stations to connect to phones at higher powers than they'd normally have to, which in turn leads to base stations running plumb out of power -- and once that happens, you get dropped calls, bad reception, and lousy data rates, among other UMTS ails.
ENGADGET: There can be only one: "source" claims for iPhone 2.0.2 to not suck, 2.0 must die
"Our Voice-Activated Navigation System integration allows us to enrich the AppLink experience even further, giving customers an industry-first combination of voice control and touch-screen access to the apps stored on their mobile phones, " said Julius Marchwicki, Ford SYNC product manager.
ENGADGET: Ford SYNC AppLink hands-on in a little green Fiesta
Kids with mobile phones still largely use pre-pay plans because they have to keep their bills under control.
In the next two years the most common place to see eye-control technology will be in interactive public displays, tablets, laptops and smart phones, and perhaps in video games, believes Hung.
CNN: Watch this space: Eye-control to give technology a new look
Systems of rational control are permeating the networks that define our everyday consumption of technology, whether by smart phones or smart cars.
There's no minimum service, customers are allowed to change their plans on the fly, and there's even a handy parental control mode that lets concerned caretakers set curfews and app restrictions on their kid's phones.
People who use their phones to make business presentations could also station their handsets near a screen or projector and use gestures to control the device from elsewhere in a room.
FORBES: Texas Instruments Sees Big Market For Smartphone Gesture Recognition
The chips also let phones talk directly to card-swipe terminals in stores, which has set off a race to organize and control the new world of mobile payments.
As with the iPhone, new iterations of Mac OS X, or the first Android phones, a certain amount of glory awaits anyone who can be the first to demonstrate a method of remotely taking control of the device.
应用推荐