Mobile Tech

Adidas on Wednesday introduced the miCoach Smart Run, its new fitness-based smartwatch for runners, just a day after rival Nike introduced the latest update to its own Nike+ Fuelband SE tracker. Paul Gaudio, vice president of Adidas Interactive, demonstrated the new fitness tracker at the GigaOM Mob...

Microsoft on Thursday began rolling out Windows 8.1 worldwide. This latest update to its flagship OS has improved multitasking, improved search, a redesigned Windows Store, and new and updated apps. The Start button, which users have been clamoring for since Windows 8 was released, has been restored...

You know all those free programs that typically come on PCs and mobile devices whether you want them or not? Common examples include paid antivirus programs within the PC environment and phone company add-ons like music stores within Android. Often called "bloatware," they are usually manufacturer- ...

Sony announced Tuesday that its SmartWatch 2 and its Xperia Z1 and Z Ultra smartphones, introduced in Europe and Asia earlier this year, are now available in the U.S. Sony beat rivals Apple and Samsung to market with its SmartWatch, and is now selling an updated model. At a price point of $200, the ...

HTC on Monday announced the HTC One Max, a supersized version of its flagship HTC One Android device. It sports a 5.9-inch full HD 1080p touchscreen, a fingerprint-scan feature, and an upgrade to HTC's Sense skin -- Sense 5.5 -- among other things. "At this size, it appears they're breaking into the...

Microsoft on Monday announced its third update to Windows Phone 8. It will support bigger, higher-resolution screens, paving the way for WinPho 8 devices with 5- and 6-inch 1080p HD touchscreens that will have six Live Tiles across instead of four. There will also be a host of new features. Simultan...

Manuals from Lenovo that were leaked onto the Internet indicate that the company is working on a laptop running Android. Not only were two manuals for the IdeaPad A10 discovered this week on the Web -- one dated July and the other dated August -- but Lenovo has reportedly since confirmed the upcomin...

WHICH APPS DO I NEED?

All Things Appy: Top 5 Windows 8 Art Tools

The touchscreens prevalent on vast numbers of laptops awaiting your hard-earned dollars in consumer electronics stores accommodate highly suitable new tools for creating art. The tactile nature of the screen, as opposed to the awkward mouse, makes sweeping strokes and other gestures a lot easier. Th...

Google Maps has become the default source of directions for many users, but one feature it has notoriously lacked is the ability to provide directions to multiple destinations. On Wednesday, however, the company announced that it is now rolling out the feature at last. "Based on your input, we're pl...

TECH TREK

Foxconn in Trouble Again Over PS4

Taiwanese manufacturer Foxconn, one of the world's most vilified workers-rights violators, confirmed reports that it is manufacturing Sony's upcoming PlayStation 4 on the backs of university interns. Chinese media broke the story, asserting that thousands of students from an engineering program at t...

Disney Research has developed an algorithm that will render 3D textures and tactile features on a touchscreen, it announced earlier this week, enabling users to "feel" the on-screen images they touch and see. The technology works on still images as well as streaming videos, and it achieves its effec...

Early upgrade plans are tips of the hat to phone-as-fashion-statement. Who wants a graying two-year-old phone? Such plans do come at a cost, however. What if you don't actually need a new phone and the innards and battery are still good? If you're not a hard-core phone geek, aren't they all just abo...

Hard on the heels of LG's announcement earlier this week that it is planning flexible-display handsets of its own, Samsung Electronics on Wednesday announced the release of the Galaxy Round, which it says is the world's first smartphone featuring a curved screen. Both Samsung and LG also offer curve...

The company that brought Apple-style elegance to the lowly home thermostat is attempting to do the same for the common smoke detector. Nest Labs, founded by Apple emigres Tony Fadell and Matt Rogers, on Tuesday announced Nest Protect, a $129 combination smoke and carbon monoxide detector with more s...

CROWDFUNDING SPOTLIGHT

Multipath Router: Everybody Gets to Stream!

The Multipath Router -- a project seeking crowdfunding on Indiegogo -- could change the way we connect to the Internet. Remember when Internet service was delivered to the home and workplace through copper voice phone lines terminating in a squeaking analog modem? Speeds using that clunky old system...

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