Later this year, iOS 8 could give new meaning to the phrase "an Apple a day keeps the doctor away," as the iPhone maker is reportedly focusing on health tracking technology.
Apple executives met with directors of the US Food and Drug Administration to discuss mobile medical applications last month, The New York Times discovered in the FDA's public calendar.
The talks involved high-level Apple employees, including Jeff Williams, senior vice president of operations, Bud Tribble, vice president of software technology, and Michael O'Reilly, a medical doctor in Apple's government affairs department.
The FDA meeting details haven't been disclosed, but combined with a report today about iOS 8, it suggests that Apple is going all-in with health monitoring in its next iOS update.
What is Healthbook?
Healthbook is supposed to be a pre-installed iOS 8 app that monitors and stores fitness metrics, according to unnamed sources who spoke to 9to5Mac.
It's interface is said to match Passbook, but instead of accumulating digital tickets and coupons, it calculates steps taken, calories burned, miles walked and weight loss.
These are pretty standard stat-tracking features that can be obtained from current wearables like the NikeFuel Band SE and Fitbit Force.
iWatch and Healthbook
The Healthbook report contains a "one more thing" style surprise when you factor in the unconfirmed iWatch, which is said to enhance this software with vital signs the iPhone is incapable of tracking.
Blood pressure, hydration levels, heart rate, and possibly glucose levels are additional metrics that could be introduced, according to 9to5Mac's sources.
We're not sure how wearable can keep track of hydration outside of a user manually logging every drink consumed, but when it comes to glucose levels, Google found a way in its smart lens prototype.
Logging medication information is said to initiate helpful pill-taking reminders at scheduled times, a feature that could tie into the existing iOS 7 Reminders app.
iPhone 5S was just the beginning
Apple's first foray into health monitoring came last year when it introduced iPhone 5S and its M7 coprocessor that could keep track of steps.
The company showed how Nike was integrating its Nike Fuel metric into the new phone and Fitbit has since expanded its app to use the M7 processor to log steps walked even without a Fitbit tracker.
It'll be interesting to see if Apple works with or against Nike in realizing its health monitoring ambitions. Apple CEO Tim Cook is still on the sneaker company's board and Apple snagged at least Nike employee last year.
Either way, this blip on Apple's radar last year could become the highlight of iOS 8 this fall if development of Healthbook gets into shape and joins the rumored iPhone 6 and iWatch in time.
Read our iPad Air review for the tablet that's already on Apple's diet
Watch livestreams of gamers gaming at home while not at home
Sony's updated its mobile PlayStation app for Android and iOS with a new feature to watch livestreams from PS4 gamers while on the go.
The new addition comes labeled as the "Live from PlayStation" section, letting users browse game streams from their devices. Actually watching livestreams, however, will kick the video over to open in separate applications.
Specifically Ustream feeds open in the service's own application, while Twitch.tv streams play through a mobile device browser.
Just below the video window there's also now added support video playback from PS Store notifications in the What's New pane. This list will propagate with live game sessions from friends to get to watching their streams faster.
PSN go
Along with the new live video support, the app fixes a niggling issue of waking up the main system every time users wanted to do something. Now the app allows mobile devices to queue up downloads or accept friend requests.
The PlayStation app was a new addition for Sony with this new line of consoles. With the new update, the PlayStation app is starting to catch up fast with the SmartGlass app Microsoft introduced during the Xbox 360 days.
The update is rolling to wide variety of devices around the world right now for both Android and iOS platforms.
The original Galaxy Gear was okay in many regards, but the combination of a lofty price tag, poor UI and limited functionality - not to mention that less than acceptable battery life - left us wanting.
Could our prayers be answered with the Galaxy Gear 2? If so, we've got a number of boxes Samsung will need to tick if they want to win our hearts.
We're not going to list them here (lists are so 2013, don't you know?) - instead, we've gone the extra TechRadar mile and put together a super slick 3D concept render for your eyeballs to enjoy. Check it out below, then leave us your thoughts in the comments.
Texting has changed the world in 21 years, and we're just sat here...
"Merry Christmas," a short but simple message from Neil Papworth to Richard Jarvis heralded the start of mobile messaging 21 years ago.
That first text has led to the rise of mobile messaging and the decline in using a phone to call people. But before people begin to wonder what an SMS (Short Message Service) ever was, we're here to guide you through history of texting.
Mobile messaging now comes in many forms with the humble SMS format joined by MMS, email, IM (Instant Messaging) and via myriad different social media sites. It has become the central hub of the modern smartphone, with email and IM apps now populating every app store.
Could Papworth have predicted the revolution that "Merry Christmas" would start? Could Friedhelm Hillebrand foresee that his choice to limit messages to 160 characters would still prove enough to change history?
In the beginning
Back in 1992 that first text message had to be sent from a PC, carried by the Vodafone network to an Orbitel 901, a device that Jarvis was unable to reply from as the mobile phone had no method of inputting text.
We use the term mobile pretty loosely, as the Orbitel 901 has no resemblance to any modern portable device. It was massive device with a corded handset and whopping antenna.
More suitcase than phone, the Orbitel 901
Design wise, it was miles behind the $3000 Motorola MicroTAC, a handset that was leading the way with its sleek clamshell design. The Orbitel had a trick up its oversized sleeves, coming with digital GSM technology.
At the start of the switch from analogue mobile signals, digital technology created the need for larger batteries leading to the handbag-style design of the Orbitel.
Nokia comes a-knocking
Messaging still had to be done through PCs until Nokia decided in 1993 that text messages should be sent by mobile devices, namely the Nokia 1011.
The Nokia 1011 signified a massive change in mobile design, coming in the candybar design that we are now all familiar with. It measured in at a sizeable 192 x 60 x 45mm, weighing a whopping 475g (that's 6g heavier than the iPad Air).
It might be more traditional, but the Nokia 1011 wasn't small
You also had to be careful with your typing, as it wasn't until 10 December 1995 that T9 predictive text was created. At this time the average American was sending 0.4 texts a month, equating to just five texts a year.
Compare that to five years later, and American's were averaging 35 texts a month, or 2008 when the average number of texts had increased to a whopping 357 per month.
Part of this rise was the development of full keyboard phones, the first of which was built by Nokia. Nokia beat the BlackBerry 850 to the punch, with its portrait flip phone the Nokia 9000i Communicator in 1997.
Despite being a flip device, it weighed 78g less than Nokia 1011 (yet still three times that of the Samsung Galaxy S4), at 397g. Inside was a 24MHz processor and 8MB of memory, and the 9000i Communicator was also able to send and receive emails.
Going cross network
With messaging becoming more prevalent on devices, it may surprise you that it wasn't until 1999 that messages could be sent between operators.
This meant early adopters had to make sure their partner, friends or colleagues were on the same network if they wanted to avoid an actual voice conversation.
Initially cross network SMS communications commanded a much higher price, and back in 2008 it cost 2p per text to a handset on the same network, or 10p to rival carrier.
The UK surpassed a billion text messages per month in 2001, but its power was rapidly growing - text messaging was instrumental in everything from organising protests to disseminating information from disasters quickly.
Meeting MMS
MMS (Multimedia Messaging Service) was soon developed and the technology was first deployed in March 2002 by Norwegian network Telenor.
Unfortunately problems, such as image format or non delivery, meant that in 2004 all European networks with MMS services admitted it wasn't making money - although it still pervades today.
The Nokia 7650, the first commercial phone with a camera
By 2007, text messaging had become more popular than making phone calls in the US, with Americans averaging 218 texts to 213 phone calls in December. Nielsen reported that the disparity had grown to 357 versus 204 in 2008.
The numbers, predictably, continued to spiral out of control as mobile phone use exploded: The Mobile Data Association reporting that 56.9 billion SMS messages were sent in 2007, rising to 96.8 billion by 2009.
Is this the end?
However, July 2009 saw the launch of messaging app WhatsApp - which was seen as a massive blow to text messaging.
Messaging was free, allowing you to send text via a data (be it 3G or Wi-Fi) connection. By the end of 2009, 1 million people were already using WhatsApp.
Over 1 billion messages were handled by WhatsApp in October 2011, perhaps contributing to falling numbers in SMS sent on Christmas day.
That year Finland, Hong Kong, Spain and the Netherlands all reported that fewer messages were sent.
Is Snap Chat killing MMS?
According to Nielsen the same age group that originally drove the love for the text is now pushing the popularity of mobile messaging apps like SnapChat - teenagers.
It isn't all bad news for text messaging though. Reports suggest that it has generated over $585 billion globally, with forecasts of a further $1 trillion over the next seven years.
This might be in no small part down to Fred Lidgren, a guy with the world record for text messages sent in a month.
Mr Lidgren managed to send 566,607 texts, equation to 18,887 a day, 787 per hour or 13 texts per minute.
Maybe Mr. Lidgren should switch to paperless billing
Andrew Acklin and Deepak Sharma held the record previously, with 200,052 and 182,689 sent and received messages respectively.
What next?
With the rise of mobile messaging giants WhatsApp, Kik, Facebook and SnapChat, just how much longer will we all be sending texts?
The rise of mobile technologies such as 4G and easily accessible Wi-Fi may lead to more messages sent via data connections rather than standard networks.
The future is clearly going to be all about IM, but that doesn't mean the humble text is a goner. The short character formation is universal across handsets and can easily send information without needing to worry about whether another person has the right app installed.
The number of texts sent in the UK will fall again this year... but it will still reach 140 billion. Sure, IM now still shoves out over 300 billion missives, but that's across a number of platforms.
Until one service overtakes all the others to become the champion way of communicating, we'll still be texting for years to come.
For now it seems that text messaging is safe, but just how much longer will we all be sending text messages, how about in 2030?
Big money to be made in 4G upgrades in Europe and China
Ericsson is hoping to expand its business in Europe and China, where it said there is an increase in demand for 4G mobile networks.
Hans Vestberg, CEO of Ericsson, said that some larger projects in the US have been a bit slow, but it has gained market share in Europe, which it can now upsell on. He said there are also other markets of interest, including China and Russia, according to The Economic Times.
With 4G LTE adoption increasing throughout the world, Ericsson is hoping to increase its share of the action. Upgrading current networks to 4G provides a lucrative opportunity for any company that can secure the contract, and there is still a lot of work to be done in this sector in the big European and Chinese markets.
Regaining ground
Ericsson reported revenue of $1.4 billion (£850 million, AU$1.6 billion) in the final quarter of last year, just shy of average analyst forecasts. It also inked a cross-licensing agreement with Samsung for various mobile standards, including GSM and LTE.
The company secured LTE contracts with two major operators in China in the fourth quarter. The period also saw some growth in key European markets and Ericsson said the negative impact of these modernisation projects is now behind it.
At one time Ericsson had operating profit margins higher than 20 per cent, but last year this figure was just 6.2 per cent. It has a lot of ground to recover, and markets outside the US just might help with that.
Ericsson shares were up $0.60 (£0.36, AU$0.69), or 5.02 per cent, to $12.55 (£7.62, AU$14.40) at the time of writing.
Microsoft's been left red-faced after one observer noticed that the team behind the company's Xbox Twitter account was updating from an Android device.
You can only see the source of a tweet if you're using a third-party app like Tweetbot, but we're sure someone got a stern telling off nonetheless.
Not the best way to build support for Windows Phone really. Did no one learn anything from Alicia Keys?
Three has promised that it would be offering us 4G at no additional cost, but a couple of new price hikes in its One Plan has got us wondering if that's actually going to be the case.
The network has increased both its monthly and 30-day One Plans, increasing the £15 a month (on 12 month contract) deal to £20 and upping its 30-day deal from £18 to £23. That's an additional £60 a year you'll be forking out.
However, Three has told TechRadar that the price increases are nothing to do with 4G, despite the convenient timing ahead of Three's 4G rollout, which is believed to be happening early this year.
"There is no extra cost for 4G on Three," said a spokesperson. "We do not charge different prices for 3G and 4G services."
Upping the Gs
Three added that it reviews its pricing from "time to time" and will not differentiate depending on what data customers are using.
"Other operators have opted to have 4G-specific tariffs at higher prices, regardless of whether their customers are using 4G, 3G or 2G," said the spokesperson. "We do not differentiate."
Google saw the back of its Motorola division this week
Shock news from Google this week: it's selling Motorola, the smartphone firm it bought for billions, for a fraction of the price it originally paid. The lucky buyer is Lenovo, which promises to make Motorola "even more successful" and says that layoffs and cutbacks aren't in Motorola's future.
More expensive phones probably are in Moto's future, though: as Gareth Beavis says: "without Google's magic supply of money, we aren't going to be seeing devices like the ultra-cheap Moto G any time soon." Looking on the bright side, more tablets and phablets should be on the horizon too.
Google's acquisition of Motorola may look like a failure, says our columnist Gary Marshall, but it isn't. "Motorola is the pawn Google's sacrificing to save a much more important piece: all of Android," he says, noting that the news comes hot on the heels of Samsung agreeing to share patents and to stop messing around with the Android UI.
A stunning phone for very little money Moto G review
"It isn't hard to imagine the two sides having a conversation of the 'we'll get out of the phone business if you stop buggering around with our OS and share some of your patents' variety," Marshall says. By getting Samsung closer to the mothership and giving Lenovo a boost, "Android is stronger and more focused than ever before."
Is Nintendo still in the game?
Focus is something Nintendo's trying to do too, and it's helping its execs concentrate by slashing their salaries: president Satoru Iwata and other board members will be taking pay cuts ranging from 20% to 50% while they get the company back on track.
Profits are down 30% and sales forecasts for the quirky Wii U have been cut by more than two-thirds, and while the firm has ruled out bringing its games to smartphones it is apparently working on iOS and Android apps that complement its consoles and games.
Sony is giving the slimmed-down Vita a second chance
It's facing an uphill challenge: even Sony's PS Vita Slim looks more like a swansong than a device that's going to take gaming by storm in a market where the Xbox One and PS4 dominate console gaming and smartphones dominate the casual gaming market.
The answer might be in health monitoring: during this week's strategy briefing, Iwata promised that Nintendo "will attempt to establish a new platform business [that] is independent from our video game platform business", which will "enable people to monitor their health". That doesn't mean wearables, though, and while the platform won't be part of Nintendo's gaming business it will connect to the games in some fashion. Nintendo says it'll tell us more later this year.
Changing channels
Good news for anybody who thinks Sky's EPG is looking a bit dated: there's a new one imminent, and it'll reflect the changing way we approach TV. As Patrick Goss explains: "on-demand is brought to the fore, with Catch Up TV, TV Box Sets, Sky+ Planner and Sky Store as well as the rather necessary TV Guide." It's due in the Spring.
Sky's renewed HBO deal means more Game of Thrones in the UK
Sky has also been chucking some money at programme makers. It's signed a new deal with HBO to continue showing the US cable channel's Emmy-hogging programmes until at least 2020, and it's also been partnering in making new programmes. The rise of rivals from the likes of BT, not to mention Netflix, has been squeezing Sky's profits, and the deal shows that Sky is keen to pay for exclusive content to keep its customers loyal.
Who doesn't have a picture of the Nokia X these days?
It's looking increasingly more likely that we will see the Nokia X Android smartphone land at MWC 2014, and in true Nokia style it's tipped to arrive in a number of colors.
Fresh images claiming to show off the Nokia Normandy device depict an orange handset - apparently one of six colors the Android-toting smartphone will arrive in.
The images were picked up by French site nowhereelse, and while the handset does seem to follow the design of previous leaks, there's no guarantee the phone in question is actually running Android.
In fact, the French site goes as far as to say the "authenticity [of the images] is far from proven" - so take this latest leak with a sizeable pinch of salt.
The Normandy just got Tango'd (credit: nowhereelse)
The Nokia X is rumored to sport a 1.2GHz dual-core processor, 4-inch display, 512MB of RAM and 5MP camera.
TechRadar will be out in force at MWC 2014 to bring you the latest on any Android toting Nokia which may show up.
Along with the new live video support, the app fixes a niggling issue of waking up the main system every time users wanted to do something. Now the app allows mobile devices to queue up downloads or accept friend requests.
