5 on Friday: Mobile Stories You Didn’t Mean to Miss

July 24, 2015
Esther Schindler

Hey, how did it get to be Friday, already? It’s hard enough to keep up with work; too often, in the daily shuffle to Must Get Done, we miss stories on topics we care about. This time: a round-up of mobile news, trends, and isn’t-that-cool.

U.S. Consumers Losing Interest in Smartphones as Demand Falls: Smartphone demand in the U.S. has dropped by 8% since June 2014 and shows weakness, according to new research from Argus Insights. Blame it on “upgrade fatigue.”

Enterprise-Class Wi-Fi: 15 Ways to Improve Yours: Why can’t most organizations get Wi-Fi right? Pitiful Wi-Fi implementation is so prevalent these days that people take it for granted. From the hotels we visit, to the cafes we frequent, down to the offices we call home 9-5 daily. And that’s unfortunate, because when done right, Wi-Fi is an enabler for connecting us wherever, whenever. Here’s several suggestions that can help, no matter what your company size.

IoT and The Looming Mobile Tidal Wave: If you thought handling BYOD was hard, wait until you see what managing mobile devices for the Internet of Things entails. Here’s how IT can begin to handle that nightmare. (Hint: your BYOD plan, policies, and processes give you a head start, but you have to do more than tweak them)

Three Tips for Working Smarter with Tablets: You want to use your tablet for work. Here’s how you get the most out of it.

…and because we don’t always have to be pragmatic:

LED Lightbulbs Create Wireless Networks Wherever They Are Installed: Engineers at the University of Virginia have come up with a way to make almost any device fitted with standard visible light LEDs able to communicate with other equipment with similar LEDs. This could reduce the use of Bluetooth and Wi-Fi connections, and increase available bandwidth.

It’s all too easy to relate to this image. But it needs a caption — and you get to supply one in the comments!

image credit: The World in Which We Live

For more serious reading:

• When Retrofitted Technology Goes Wrong
• Mobility is a Mess, Change is Perpetual, and One Ring to Rule Them All
• The Joys of Remote Tech Support (for Low Values of Joy)