I’m starting  to hear some rumors of a Google smartwatch to be released in October, probably at the same time as Android 4.4 and Nexus 5, probably Halloween. It will interface to ANY Android phone that has Google Now and give driving directions and notifications of calls and messages and have, as a generality, a voice interface. This is EXACTLY what I have been predicting for the last few months (by the way)…..  And I’ve been pushing Google NOW since it came out. (Google NOW requires Jelly Bean, Android 4.1.) If this rumor proves out, I will take a bow, even if you didn’t pay any attention to my predictions…

It is rumored to have the code name GEM, and will probably come in a few colors, similar to the Samsung GEAR (which has not taken off because it only works with the Note 3).

We might find out as early as tomorrow, but more likely at the end of the month.

I want to point out that Nexus 5 (and Android 4.4) will have an “always listening” feature that will NOT require to first touch the device (watch or phone) to make it work. Only a statement like “Google, text Doug ‘I’m gonna be late for the general meeting'”. None of that twisting a knob, like it the original Star Trek. Usually they didn’t have to touch the communicatior to talk to one another in Next Generation. This will have to have a noise-cancelling microphone to work well. I’d pick a price around $150.

There are several “specs” for the Nexus 5 that seem suspicious. One claim is that it will use the nano-sim as is used on the iPhone 5. Not much plastic real estate is gained by shaving the micro-sim card down but they could be purchased new or cut down with any of several gadgets available through Amazon.

There were  stories of a super-fast focusing system for the camera, but they will probably only be with the LG G2, its bigger brother.

There were stories of a 13 or even 16 megapixel camera, which, now nobody believes. It will be 8 MP, but include image stabilization, probably.

It seems to be true that it will include “Miracast”, a peer-to-peer network method to replicate the screen on your home TV.

I don’t know if it will be (also) possible to use an adaptor to go to a HDMI connector, but it makes sense with the 1080p screen resolution.

This Nexus will continue to have wireless charging and NFC for tap-and-send file transfer to other other phones with this feature and, I suppose, various cash registers at your local store.

It is rumored to have an OTG micro-usb port for easy access to thumb drives and keyboards and mice. I’m holding my breath for this one….

Did I mention wireless charging? I want to just set it on my end table at night. I don’t want to fumble with micro-usb charging ports when I’m tired going to bed or getting up. I have a need to keep the phone close by, probably you don’t.

There are persistant rumors that the 32MB model will also have a MUCH bigger battery for the additional $100. Doesn’t make sense in terms of case size, but the rumors persist.

The KitKat version (4.4) will run faster and need less RAM. This is a welcome evolution for people still running Gingerbread. It seems to me that phones couldn’t or wouldn’t upgrade. This is a welcome improvement.

My personal favorite rumor is the announcement of a Google smartwatch. Not much word of this, but it makes a lot ot sense with me despite the unpopularity…..There seem to be “hooks” in the code to accomodate proximity and pairing for such devices. The refinements for the Blutooth and wi-fi interest me along with the (new) ability to have the microphone always-on, like the MOTO X. Drives the conspiracy-theory folks nuts, of course.

I’ll let you know in just a couple days at the rumored announcement date…

Big news for laptops.

The 4th gen core processors are rolling off the line now and through Christmas. Also called HASWELL, these new processors have significantly better battery life. I’ve talked about them for the last year — and I said to WAIT FOR THE 4TH GENERATION! The third generation will be discounted slightly while they sell out, but they will not really compete in battery life.

The same goes for the BAY TRAIL atom processors for tablets and Windows tablets. These will compete in either the Android or Windows RT catagoties and should shake things up a bit around Christmas.

Not much going on in the desktop category.

By now you’ve heard the 5″ superamalid display (like Galaxy S5), the superfast cpu (as fast as the A7 in the new iPhone 5S) and the full set of gyroscopes, barometers, GPS, OTG for the USB port (to hook up thumb drives and keyboards), and all the Near Field communication  (NFC) ( for touch-phones-together to transfer files), and wi-fi calling ability (not sure how that’s different from Skype), and of course, LTE and a full band of radio frequencies that let it work with Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile and European providers on vacation. New is an announcement that the rear-facing camera (8Mpixels) will be the first production smartphone with a focusing system that is six times faster, making rapid shots a possibility. Also, there is a communication feature called Miracast which will “mirror” content from your telephone data stream or wi-fi to play what’s on your screen directly to your TV’s wi-fi. To restate, the signal will travel on a peer-to-peer wi-fi network directly from your phone to the TV, avoiding being re-transmitted by your home wi-fi, like Chromcast has to do for things other than Netflix and YouTube. This is actually a big deal. You would have to go into your TV or Internet-enabled Blu-Ray player and connect it to the Nexus 5 peer-to-peer wi-fi network, but you may be able to see anything you can get on your laptop on your TV at a similar quality as Netflix or Hulu+. Of course, I’ll keep you posted….

I would have liked a little bigger screen, but 5″ is still considered “big”. My fat fingers need all the help they can get. I’ve already bumped up the “add” in my glasses because I watch more things on the screen. BTW, I also listen to Audible.com audio books, which are screen-size independant.

The Nexus 5, a vanilla Android device with the (not yet released) Android 4.4 (“KitKat”) operating system is rumored to come out the end of October at a rumored $300-$350 price, about half what the Galaxy S4 still costs.

The Michael J. Fox Show looks like it will do okay as a light family-oriented comedy. It’s not for the kiddies, but it’s about a family, following the lead of Modern Family, with won a handful of Emmies. Breaking Bad ends Sunday. Get Netflix and watch the fifty-something episodes. Person of Interest is still holding my interest. Big Bang is doing well. CSI is holding out. NCIS is doing well and NCIS LA is still holding out. House of Cards is on vacation, but catch up on Netflix, where it originates. I’m holding my breath for the 2014 return of Game of Thrones. Black List got off to a great start and may rise to stellar heights. Continuum is on vacation but I never miss an episode. Black List is using a similar formula. Modern Family is now on USA Network showing re-runs like they do with NCIS and NCIS LA. You can find CSI Miami way up on the Comcast dial. It’s a decent show that I hardly saw any of the episodes. I’ll let you know when Portlandia starts, and Grimm, too. I missed a year or two of Star Trek the Next Generation, so I check BBC America for missed episodes. I have not learned to navigate the spyware, etc. on projectfree.tv to see back episodes of Game of Thrones. May have to renew my HBO account when it starts up again.Hawaii five-0 starts in ten minutes. We’ll see where the plot goes without Kono.

Some of my best material is written between the lines. Did you notice that I have been paying a lot of attention to wearable devices? There are hardly any on the market, but this category will be HUGE in a year or less. We see the convergence of voice control of smartphones getting much better and NO improvement in pockets on men’s clothes. Both of these aspects are converging to make the smartwatch or smart ear attachment the NEXT BIG THING. There is the possibility of smart eyewear getting into the frey, too.

But for now I’ll speculate about the smartwatch and you can read between the lines that I’m also considering these other gadgets, also including superior headphones/earbuds.

The Samsung entry claims to only work with the newest Note 3 smartphone. That’s a great combination, but it takes a $700 phone and a $300 watch to implement. A year from now, a later or the latest version of Android should have a standard interface to match up two such devices. That may be announced with the latest version of Android (4.4), the “KitKat” version to come out in October. 

The KILLER APP would be to make routine use of your smartphone without taking it out of your pocket or briefcase. This would be done DICK TRACY-STYLE with a wrist radio. It’s easy to bring the wrist up to your mouth in a noisey elevator or car or Starbucks to speak or hear the signal coming from your (much-smarter) phone. All this technology exists and it’s just chicken-or-egg when it hits the market. Right now we’re waiting for more demand. 

Intel, AMD and others are working on development of these devices right now.

Nexus 5 will come out in October on the Android Play Store for about $300.  It will have a 5 inch 1920×1080 superameloid display, like Galaxy s4, a better camera than Nexus 4, and LTE, and a fast processor. It will have the next operating system KitKat, named after the candy bar. The name key lime pie was dropped a few days ago, andKitKat will be the new ” k” operating system, Android 4.4. For anybody not wanting to spend twice as much for the reigning king, the Galaxy 4, this is big news.

The new TV Season is just around the corner. There are two last episodes of Breaking Bad until the series ends. It’s my #2 favorite, following Game of Thrones. Both should be watched from the pilot, through the entire series. It’s easy on Netflix for Breaking Bad; and for Game of Thrones, go to projectfree.tv and look for it under “G”. 

It is rapidly becoming a scenerio where you need a decent Internet connection and something like a Magic Jack Plus and Netflix and something like a Rocu box or a smart TV and you’re set, for phone and TV series. 

I know this is a simplistic comment, but it is the direction things are heading.

Then you need some way to get the picture, if necessary, from your laptop or computer to the huge screen. One way is to have a server on your home computer and broadcast to the smart TV or Internet-enabled Blu-ray player. Another is to have an HDMI interface on your Laptop and an N wireless WI-FI. Some tablets and smartphones have the right interface. You, of course, need a cable from your computing device to your screen. There are wireless scenerios from your computing device to the TV which are getting pretty good. Going back to the server and then to the TV is too long a path, but controlling the server on the main computer and broadcasting directly to the TV from it works, but I haven’t tried this is a while. This is the Microsoft Media Center type of scenerio which can be done with various non-Microsoft methods, also.

This is all pretty sketchy, of course, but a “best” method has way too many variables for me to pick one for you. 

I’m going to get into this over the next year and keep you informed of my success or failures.

Well, it’s about time, but I finally had a little spare time, so I enabled LTE on my phone. I’ve only tested it in a few locations but it works better than the “older” T-Mobile HPSA+ (which they call “4G” but everyone else scoffs). HPSA+  has not been bad in the Portland area. But in many cities it is not even a close second. T-Mobile’s transition to LTE is needed to gain some customers. 

LTE is more symmetrical and I, on one test, got UPLOAD speeds in the 13 million bits per second range. The download was busy (too many customers online) and was around 2 million bps. Download started in the 15 Mbps range, but throttled down each second of download. I suspect this throttling down goes away at  two in the morning.

The best phone coverage is Verizon and the best data coverage is AT&T and T-Mobile is competing on cost and open pricing with no contracts.

Their goal is to rip off as many AT&T customers as possible and they make it easy to do with unlocked phones and straight pricing.

It was no child’s play to “root” the phone (gain access to root-level commands) and install a different radio driver to work with LTE. I can’t say I recommend it for the average user, as it requires a somewhat complicated list of instructions. I made several non-productive attempts until I got it right. As it turned out, the instructions didn’t work, and I tried alternate methods until one worked. And this was dealing with the simplest, most fool-proof method.

Could I do it again in an hour? Probably. Did it take more than a day the first time? Yes. If your time is worth anything to you, just buy a Galaxy S4 or Note 2 or Note 3 if you’re on T-Mobile or AT&T.

I’m as much interested in HOW things work as possessing something that works. So this is just trying to keep up with technology.