Image via YaZoom

With the advancements in modern technology, what used to take huge computers can now fit in the palm of your hand. And true enough, the technology does exist to this day through smartphones. Today’s smartphones can practically do anything – even help you out in keeping your home safe from intruders.

DIY Home Security

With today’s technology, you can now use your smartphone to connect to the internet and access cameras you can place all over your home through internet camera software – kind of like broadcasting a live feed of your home via webcam that only you can access.

Smartphone + Home Security System

Coupled with a home security system, however, and your smartphone becomes one of the most useful tools for home security purposes as it then adds the capability to remotely control your entire home security network. Through your smartphone, you can check on the status of your home alarm system, enable or disable your security system from virtually anywhere, access your security camera feeds in real time, even take control of your home’s thermostat and lights!

Green Security

Another bonus of making use of your smartphone for home security purposes is in creating a greener, eco-friendlier home. Through your smartphone + home security hookup, you can control your home from afar – meaning being able to turn on your lights when it’s nighttime at your place to lessen the chances of break-ins, then turning it off again in the morning. You can also adjust your thermostat in case you forgot to before you left, saving you a lot of energy.

About the guest author:

Martha is a freelance blogger who specializes in matters of keeping a safe and comfortable home. A mother of 2, Martha gets all her security services from www.HomeSecuritySystems.com

Expect Windows 8 phones to start popping up in stores by next month, that is, right after Microsoft’s official launch even for its smartphone lineup on Monday. As expected, people will probably think that the Windows 7.5, the old mobile OS, is now effectively abandoned. But Nokia doesn’t think it should leave Windows 7.5 just yet.

The company thinks that Windows 7.5 is still a viable OS in terms of public acceptance and consumption that’s why, instead of abandoning it in favor of Windows 8, it is coming out with a new entry-level phone that will have it as an operating system. More →

Google’s great management decisions is now bearing fruit as it officially becomes the second most valuable technology company on earth. Google has edged out Microsoft, which used to hold the top position.

After trading closed last Monday, Google finally broke through and topped Microsoft’s total value. According to reports, Google showed a valuation of $249.1 billion. Microsoft, on the other hand, had a valuation of $247.2 billion. Google’s numbers were no fluke either. When trading resumed the following day as Google continued its lead over Microsoft, even though the gap between the two narrowed down a bit. More →

English: An image of the HTC Trophy (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Based on new research conducted by Nielsen, it was revealed that of teenagers aged 13 to 17 years old who live in the United States, 58 percent own a smartphone. This is a very significant increase from the 36 percent saturation rate that was measured just a year ago.

The research has also shown that the largest incidence of smartphone ownership is at the 25 to 34 age group, where 74 percent own a smartphone, an increase from the 59 percent measured a year ago.

Based on data collected, as of July of this year, more than half of all mobile phone subscribers in the US (55.5 percent) are smartphone owners. This is a 14.5 percent increase from a year ago. More →

Research in Motion doesn’t seem like its getting any kind of break in such a long time. The troubled company, makers of the once enterprise level smartphone of choice BlackBerry, has announced that it will stop making the 16GB BlackBerry Playbook, the company’s entry into the tablet market.

RIM has clarified it will not abandon the tablet market and that it continues to be committed to the 32GB and 64GB models of the BlackBerry Playbook, which will still be available from RIM’s distributors and retailers worldwide. More →

A few months ago we reported that popular Linux build Ubuntu announced that it plans to expand its coverage from just PCs and expand to mobile devices. According to Canonical founder Mark Shuttleworth, the plan is for Ubuntu to eventually be installed on “tablets, phones, TVs and smart screens.” Using Ubuntu will create a seamless integration between various devices, the desktop, the servers and the cloud.

Ubuntu has gotten some mixed responses upon the announcement of its bold plan to go mobile. Some liked it, some were skeptical and others were plain apathetic about it. Ubuntu has been relatively quiet about since the announcement but the progress of its project… until CES when it finally unveiled the Ubuntu smart TV interface. More →

Smartphones may be getting most of the attention in the mobile phone industry because of the amazing features that are constantly being introduced by phone manufacturers. But feature phones are not entirely dead yet. In fact, feature phones are still selling at a very impressive rate.

Nokia has recently announced that it has sold its 1.5 billionth feature phone – a Series 40 model. The company also said that they sell 12 similar phones very second. More →

Samsung hit a huge snag in Europe when Apple successfully petitioned the court to block the sales of the Samsung Galaxy Tab in Germany. Samsung is not about to take it lying down so it has devised a way to still sell its product in Germany.

Samsung plans to take advantage of the Christmas shopping frenzy by modifying the design of its new Galaxy 10.1 tablet. The redesign decision was made to avoid being accuse of patent infringement, the case being filed by Apple against Samsung. The redesigned tablet is now called 10.1N but it only sports minor differences with the original/first 10.1 tablet model. More →

The global service outage that happened to the Blackberry network that lasted for several days to a week recently was not just a disaster in terms of service for Research in Motion, the company behind the Blackberry, it also created a huge public relations problem for the company, putting it in an extremely bad light. The people at RIM realizes that this is indeed a big public image problem for the company and is trying to find ways to appease irate Blackberry users. More →

Android tablet lovers will be pleased to hear that Motorola’s Xoom will finally gain the ability to watch Flash videos this month, a feature that is eternally absent from their rival.

Unfortunately it seems that instead of a finished product, consumers may instead receive something that is still “slightly” buggy.

Adobe has just announced that Flash Player 10.2 will be available to download from the Android Market on Friday, March 18.

It’s actually only a beta release for Android 3.0 (Honeycomb) tablets, which will also require Google’s 3.0.1 system update. However, it’s at least a full-fledged upgrade for Android 2.2 (Froyo) and 2.3 (Gingerbread) systems. (ZDnet)

Although most geeks probably do not mind a few bugs for the ability to view the entire web, consumers may not be as forgiving with semi-frequent errors while “beta testing” flash upon the Xoom.

While the Xoom is one of the few tablets available that can challenge iPad 2 (at least on paper via specs), Google along with OEM’s need to release mature products to the masses lest they create a bitter taste for new customers.

Hopefully Google, Motorola and Adobe are able to work out all of the bugs out of the beta quickly before the market becomes saturated with tablets running iOS.