Technology

Square Enix last week offered some tidbits about its upcoming Final Fantasy VII remake, which likely will be episodic in nature with the emphasis on action toned down. The company revealed the first gameplay footage of the remake at the PlayStation Experience 2015 event in San Francisco. The game, w...

New security issues that surfaced last week in connection with Mattel's Hello Barbie doll, which talks back to kids, have heightened fears that hackers could use the toy to steal information about its owners and their families. The Hello Barbie app, which is available for iOS and Android, uses an au...

Mojang on Monday announced that Minecraft finally is headed for the Wii U, with touchdown scheduled for Dec. 17. The lack of Minecraft availability long has been a legitimate reason to skip the Wii U in favor of another console. Although Minecraft is just the type of family-forward experience Ninten...

Apple will launch an iPhone with a 4-inch display and support for Apple Pay in early 2016, according to a research note from an analyst with a good track record of predicting Apple products. The new iPhone model will have an A9 processor -- the same processor found in the latest iPhone models -- and...

Facebook last week launched a beta of its Live Video service for a small percentage of iPhone users in the United States. Live Video reportedly will be available for the Android platform at a later date. Facebook also has launched a pilot to make it easier to share videos from mobile devices. Some i...

Steve Ballmer last week presented an interesting plan to kill Android -- or at least compete with it. What's ironic is that Ballmer's tenure at Microsoft wasn't short of good ideas -- it was short on execution. In contrast, Satya Nadella has shown strength in execution but -- so far -- hasn't come u...

GADGET DREAMS AND NIGHTMARES

Gadget Ogling: Custom Kicks, Heartbeat Tricks, and Office Picks

I'm hardly the most stylish gent around town, but even I would consider wearing a pair of sneakers I could adorn to my liking at any time through their customizable display. ShiftWear's sneakers allow you to choose from myriad colorful or even animated designs through an app. Since the display is E-...

Porsche on Friday revealed plans to produce its first 100 percent electrically powered sports car under its Mission E project by the end of the decade. The Mission E concept car debuted at the Frankfurt International Motor Show earlier this year. The four-door vehicle utilizes a system power output ...

The Wikimedia Foundation this week rolled out a service designed to improve the quality of Wikipedia articles. The Objective Revision Evaluation Service uses artificial intelligence and machine learning to help Wikipedia editors identify damaging articles more quickly and assign quality scores to th...

Nokia this week revealed its Ozo virtual reality camera system. Priced at $60,000, it will ship in the first quarter of 2016. Nokia is clearly targeting a market a tier or two higher than the segment YouTube and GoPro have set their sights on with the Jump VR platform, which is about a fourth of Ozo...

Apple intends to peel the 3.5-millimeter headphone jack from the next version of the iPhone, according to a new rumor. Dumping the jack reportedly would allow Apple to shave a millimeter off the thickness of the unit. Without it, headphones would have to be connected to the phone through Bluetooth o...

High-tech honchos and venture capitalists from around the world -- and one university -- on Monday officially announced their participation in the Breakthrough Energy Coalition, a new fund to support companies doing clean energy research. The coalition will invest in electricity generation and stora...

Calyx founder Nicholas Merrill -- who made history in 2004 when he sued to lift a nondisclosure order imposed by an FBI National Security Letter -- has won his 11-year battle. The ruling, handed down this summer by the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, was stayed fo...

Technewsworld Channels