Sensors working overtime: Bosch’s big plans for the IoT

October 23, 2015 / ChrisPrice / Leave a comment

You probably know Bosch for its power tools or white goods like dishwashers. But actually the German giant is responsible for much of the technology that goes inside our smartphones – including the sensor inside the pedometer which detects walking movement and the one that flips the phone from landscape to portrait mode.

Last week I had the pleasure of attending the opening of Bosch’s massive new R&D facility in Renningen, near Stuttgart, Germany. Officially opened by German Chancellor Angela Merkel (pictured below) it’s an impressive place with a US campus feel.

Indeed it’s hoped it will become the hotbed of innovation, inspiring new technological ideas and products for an increasingly internet connected world. You can read my report for Tech Digest here: http://www.techdigest.tv/2015/10/sensors-working-overtime-boschs-big-plans-for-the-iot.html

Connected car comes of age

October 12, 2015October 12, 2015 / ChrisPrice / Leave a comment

After years of not taking technology particularly seriously, it seems car manufacturers have finally woken up to the potential of the hi-tech automobile. And while the Google self-driving car has grabbed all the headlines the truth is virtually every new car has some level of automation to make our lives easier – and potentially safer.

Last week I test drove the latest Audi A4 which has both safety features to avoid obstacles in the road – including pedestrians and obstacles – as well as state of the art information and entertainment features. Smart phone integration is becoming particularly important it seems so that our text messages can be read out to us as we drive and so we can access music from Spotify and from our devices too.

This week I will also pay a visit to Renningen in Germany to check out Bosch’s R&D facilities. Here some of the latest connected car technologies will be revealed to international press for the very first time. Full report to follow on Tech Digest later this week.

The new Audi A4 – is the most tech driven car ever?

October 9, 2015October 9, 2015 / ChrisPrice / Leave a comment

The last couple of days I’ve been with Audi in Newbury, driving round the edge of the Cotswolds in a swanky new A4. As a driving experience there’s not that much you can say about it – it handles well and is powerful. Put it this way you need to keep looking at the speed dial on the motorway to keep to the speed limits which of course I did!

But as a piece of technology this is like no car I’ve ever driven before. It’s quite simply breathtaking and a little bit overwhelming. As well as all the bleeping safety features these new cars are stuffed with (most of them I turn off because ironically they are too distracting when driving), there’s also a really impressive entertainment system.

As well as onboard ‘Jukebox’ (digital media player) there’s also the option of hooking up two smart phones so you get Google Maps, Spotify etc through the large LCD display (there’s even an inductive charging base for Android phones so you don’t need to use the USB charging ports).

I’m going to write a full report on the Audi A4 for Tech Digest over the weekend but in the meantime here’s a taster via a YouTube video I shot with the A4 Product and Marketing Manager, Katie Purcell, in which she talks about just some of the onboard tech features.

Unfortunately there’s not time for her to talk about all of them such as the head up display which projects the speed you are travelling directly in front of you so you don’t need to look down at the cockpit display while driving. It’s all clever stuff, you know.

Time for publishers to invest in start-ups

October 7, 2015 / ChrisPrice / Leave a comment

In this article I look at some of the recent investments that publishers have made in start-ups and ask how successful have they been?

The answer? Some wildly successful, others not at all. But it seems that there is a real appetite to invest at the moment, especially among publishers keen to find a ‘millennial’ audience.

http://www.fipp.com/news/features/time-to-invest

BAE and Daily Telegraph roundtable on Cyber Skills

September 15, 2015September 15, 2015 / ChrisPrice / Leave a comment

A couple of weeks ago I was lucky enough to attend a fascinating roundtable event on Cyber Skills on behalf of The Daily Telegraph and BAE.

As the pace of technology advances the need for experts such as ethical hackers to combat cyber crime is growing. Yet despite our best efforts, the skills gap continues to widen.

In this discussion, several online security experts – including spokespeople from the government and GCHQ as well as privately owned companies – talked about how they recruit and retain people with the necessary skills to combat the growing problem.

In the PDF below you can read my report from the round table.

A Special Report – Cyber Security

How publishers can be successful with their digital editions

August 10, 2015 / ChrisPrice / Leave a comment

In this piece for FIPP I talk to the digital newsstands about how they work with publishers to monetise their content online through their digital editions.

Among the questions I ask are should publishers be adding more enhanced pages or should they stick with ‘replica editions’?

Also I look at why digital editions often fail to capture people’s imaginations and why people are generally less interested in the brand online.

http://www.fipp.com/news/features/how-to-win-with-digital-editions

Chris Price

FREELANCE TECHNOLOGY JOURNALIST, COPYWRITER, SOCIAL MEDIA CONSULTANT

Author: ChrisPrice