Technology

Both BlackBerry and Microsoft have been in far stronger positions with regard to personal technology. At one time, Microsoft was contending for leadership in smartphones against Palm and BlackBerry, and BlackBerry took leadership only to lose it to Apple and then Samsung. Microsoft put tablets on th...

TECH TREK

European Lawmakers Push for Universal Chargers

Members of the European Parliament's internal market and consumer protection committee voted unanimously Thursday in favor of a new law mandating universal chargers for mobile devices. In addition to convenience -- German parliamentarian Barbara Weiler called the current situation "cable chaos" -- ...

TECH TREK

UK Parliament Blasts Google Over Piracy

Departing from the normal routine of chiding Google over taxes, British parliament is trying its hand at chiding Google over piracy. A select committee accused Google of apathetically failing to curb piracy. The chairman of the committee, John Whittingdale, said that MPs were "unimpressed by Google...

With a 3 GB bucket of wireless data from your cellphone company often costing more than $50, it makes sense to take advantage of the often unlimited or at least generous nature of a cheap, wired home Internet connection when you can. Netflix reckons that its movie and TV streaming service, using its...

Google has announced the winners of its Science Fair, awarding three students for their innovative ideas in public health, alternative energy and app development. The company's third annual competition drew contestants between 13 and 18 years of age from more than 120 countries. Google this summer a...

TECH TREK

Brazilian Prez Rebukes US Over NSA

Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff gave a speech in which she -- well, maybe it's best to just let her say it. "What we have before us, Mr. President, is a serious case of violation of human rights and civil liberties," Rousseff said, addressing the UN General Assembly mere moments before President...

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has unveiled a plan to identify existing Park-n-Ride facilities, rest stops and parking areas on the state's highways as "Texting Zones." There's nothing now -- other than impatience -- preventing drivers from pulling off the road into those areas to read and send text mes...

CROWDFUNDING SPOTLIGHT

Occipital Promises Mind-Blowing 3D Trickery for Work or Play

If you've ever used Microsoft's Kinect motion-sensing input device for the Xbox 360 game console, you'll have an initial grasp of how Occipital's 3D scanner for mobile devices, called "Structure Sensor," functions. Whereas game add-on Kinect is a sensor for detecting and interpreting movement, new K...

Facebook reportedly has set up an eight-person team to look into how artificial intelligence can help it further analyze data it gathers on its members. The team will work with an emerging AI technique called "deep learning." Deep learning can let software work out emotions or events not explicitly...

TECH TREK

China Un-Bans Facebook, Twitter in Shanghai

China is lifting its ban on a handful of heretofore banned websites within the Shanghai Free Trade Zone. Included among those now considered acceptable are Facebook and Twitter. The Shanghai Free Trade Zone, announced in July, has more free market-friendly policies than China at large. To that end, ...

The Chaos Computing Club, a group of German hackers, claimed to have cracked Apple's new iPhone fingerprint scanner. The scanner is one of the distinguishing features of Apple's new iPhone 5S. It was not immediately clear whether CCC's claims were true, but two prominent iPhone security experts repo...

A couple of years ago, I wrote on the beginning of my long-term plan to eventually retire in Belize. My wife and I just came back from our latest update trip. Our house plans are nearly finished, and we should start building within 12 months. There have been a lot of impressive improvements since we...

Tencent Holdings' WeChat mobile messaging service, which is akin to WhatsApp, stands to gain more users as China makes it more and more risky to vent opinions online. Long a hotbed for censorship, China has been turning up the heat even further on netizens believed to be spreading "rumors." China's ...

HP on Thursday announced the first computer with integrated 3D motion-control technology from Leap Motion: the HP Envy 17 Leap Motion Special Edition. Priced starting at $1,050, the 17.3-inch device will be available for preorder in the United States starting Oct. 16. It's "designed for people who a...

In a loud declaration of, "Because we can!" plans have been hatched to build a skyscraper in South Korea that will be able to turn invisible. The skyscraper's invisibility function will work by having cameras on the tower take pictures of the sky behind it. Those images will then be transmitted to t...

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