Russell Brandom / The Verge:
A new pledge signed by nearly every major player in the phone industry is promising that after July of 2015, it will be a lot harder to steal a smartphone, according to a new report from Re/code. After that date, the companies pledge that every user will be able to remotely brick and wipe their phones in the event of a theft, features currently offered by Find my iPhone and the Android Device Manager. Apple, Google, HTC, Huawei, Motorola, Microsoft, Nokia and Samsung have already signed on, along with the five major US cell carriers.
