Peter Yared's Musings

This post was also published on CNET and VentureBeat. The new breed of Android devices exceeds the iPhone 5 in every way, including hardware, operating system, and apps. For the past month, I have been using an HTC Droid DNA , which has similar specs to the rumored upcoming Samsung Galaxy S4. People approach me at grocery stores, airports, coffee shops, even on the street and ask me about the phone. The device is indeed quite compelling, even from a distance. The HTC DNA has an amazingly bright 1080p HD display with a higher resolution than Apple's iPhone 5 Retina display. The operating system is modern with dynamic widgets that tell you at a glance what's going on. The apps such as Facebook, Twitter, and such are equivalent to those available to iOS, and Google Apps such as Google Now, voice recognition, and Google Maps are sleek and modern. This is hands down a better device than the iPhone 5, and people seem to intuitively recognize it. What phone would I recommen...

This post was also published in VentureBeat. Virtually every electronic device has now gained a smartphone controlled equivalent over the past year. The well known products in this category, such as the Nest thermostat and Sonos music system , have now been joined with smartphone controlled light bulbs , door locks , refrigerators , security systems , home theater remote controls, game consoles , weight scales , and even vacuum cleaners . Services such as teleconference systems that used to be controlled just by touch tones are now controllable by smartphones. There are even smart device powered telepresence robots . Historically, these types of devices had unintuitive control panels, small, hidden buttons, and other such complex interfaces. The smartphone ecosystem makes is easy for manufacturers to deliver mobile apps as control systems, and for users to intuitively control devices by using a familiar interface. The tech underneath it all This device revolution has be...