Technology

With a sackful of news about additions to its library and an expansion of its lore, Bethesda Softworks held its first-ever showcase on Sunday, as the Electronic Entertainment Expo gathered heat for its official kickoff on Tuesday. Jolly staffers dished news and trailers for the next entries in some ...

Gearbox Software on Friday demoed Battleborn at a pre-E3 event, stirring interest in the title, along with many comparisons to its Borderlands predecessor and other games. Gearbox previously had released details about the game and shared a new trailer. Borrowing from a formula that has spawned succe...

OPINION

Anatomy of a CEO Failure

Much to Apple's dismay, I cover Apple events. One of the questions that frequently came up during its recent developer conference centered on Tim Cook. Was he becoming Steve Ballmer? The implication was that Steve was a failure at Microsoft, so the comparison didn't reflect well on Cook. I think thi...

Aumeo is an attachment that's all about fine-tuning your earphones to better hear anything you listen to on your smartphone, tablet or other audio-emitting gadget. Using a smartphone app, it tests how well you can hear a number of different frequencies and provides you with a personal equalizer attu...

Touchpad pioneer Synaptics has touched up an unlikely area on a keyboard: the spacebar. The company last week announced the availability of its SmartBar technology, which adds gesture features to the bar. For example, text can be selected by swiping it. A double-thumb gesture can be used to zoom i...

Beware the Killer Robots

Russia's advanced military combat robot -- which has drawn alarmed comparisons to Hollywood's Terminator -- will be able to run and clear an obstacle course by late this year, according to reports that surfaced this week. That's just the latest news fueling the already-fiery debate over what to do a...

Microsoft on Wednesday unveiled the Surface Hub, a large-screen device meant to dramatically improve business collaboration. The 55-inch and 84-inch interactive displays marry white boards with presentations, voice with video, speakers with addressees, Android with iOS, and Windows 10 with conferenc...

ASUS is on a crusade to end the scourge of tablets with terrible sound. Its new ZenPad 8.0 has an interchangeable cover design that allows users several functional options. One is the Audio Cover, which bumps up sound quality by tucking a 5.1 surround-sound system inside. With six speakers, includin...

To cap off Monday's wide-ranging keynote at Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco, Apple CEO Tim Cook introduced a three-pronged music initiative. "Music is such an important part of our lives and our culture," Cook said, showing off Apple's famous "one more thing" slide. Apple ex...

Robots from Korea and the United States staggered off with the top three prizes at the DARPA Robotics Challenge, held in Pomona, California, over the weekend. In all, robots from 23 teams participated in the challenge, which consisted of an obstacle course simulating conditions similar to those foll...

There are things about working with large companies that can be really frustrating. For instance, when both Windows Vista and Windows 8 were coming to market, a number of us pointed out that things needed to be fixed before the product was released, but we were ignored, with catastrophic results. Th...

By the time you read this, I'll have finished swearing in the privacy of my office, and likely will have entered the acceptance stage of grief. Already, realization is dawning that I was right to withhold hope that Apple would reveal a new Apple TV at its WorldWide Developers Conference on Monday. I...

The last second has since ticked off the countdown timer on the teaser site, and Fallout 4's official website has gone live. Fallout 4's confirmation on Wednesday may have invoked more feelings of relief than surprise. Even before the teaser site went up, gamers looking for another loot-and-shoot ro...

CROWDFUNDING SPOTLIGHT

Doppler Labs Kickstarts 'Bionic Ear'

Doppler Labs, known for making state-of-the-art ear plugs, on Tuesday launched a Kickstarter campaign for the Here Active Listening system, which takes noise-canceling technology to a new level. Unlike typical noise-canceling headphones, Here's Bluetooth earbuds allow a listener to customize ambient...

SoundHound on Tuesday launched a private beta of Hound -- a personal assistant similar to Siri, Google Now and Cortana -- and began fielding requests for invites. SoundHound built its music ID service on voice and pattern recognition technologies. In developing Hound, SoundHound has retrofitted that...

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