Thin Film Electronics ASA, a maker of disposable memory used in toys, has developed a way to add computing to its circuits through a partnership with Xerox PARC. This means it can offer thin, disposable tracking tags for a few cents apiece, and it could soon provide a valuable component for the Internet of...
Well, developers, it looks like Google will soon be releasing the code for Ice Cream Sandwich to the Android Open-Source Project. Thanks to a Google+ post penned by Jean-Baptiste Queru, the Technical Lead of the Android Open Source Project, and his link to an email written by Google engineer Dan Morrill, we do indeed...
Amazon has announced an update to the Kindle file format integrating many HTML5 tags and CSS attributes. Many expected a concession by Amazon in the form of an EPUB-compatible upgrade, and this comes as a slight surprise — but it’s a natural evolution of the format, really, and of course everyone is already familiar...
When Mr. Mwaura was done with his long day, he could phone his home-made tea machine and the milky water and tea would mix, heat and be ready for him when he walked in the door. As Dr. Kamau Gachigi, director of the University of Nairobi’s Fab Lab said, “Some day, when Simon is...
There are many hardcore fans who record videos, either through handheld Flip cameras or even on their mobile phones, who later upload those videos to YouTube. But if you’re looking for a specific show, or perhaps a moment in that show, navigating through dozens or more grainy videos to find it isn’t a great...
After Comcast was caught throttling Bit Torrent traffic on its networks in 2007, the company caught quite a lot of heat and voluntarily stopped doing so. The practice, which was then , struck at the heart of the ongoing and contentious issue of net neutrality. True to its word, Comcast has indeed backed off...
Over the past decades, the promise of video as a standard form of communication has been presented to us through many mediums from Star Trek to The Jetsons and even through my old Avengers comic books over 30 years ago. While corporations utilize video conferencing technology at a rapid rate, it hasn’t yet penetrated...
Apple has aired its first TV commercial for Siri, showing just what the voice assistant is capable of doing. In typical Apple fashion, the commercial is not about the technology, but how humans can use it. There is no mention of specifications or technology to be found. In fact, there is no mention of...
Hewlett-Packard took a lot of flak when it decided to buy Autonomy for $10 billion, but if big data is a worthwhile investment, perhaps HP’s alleged extravagence will pay off. In a phone call this afternoon, Autonomy Chief Marketing Officer Nicole Eagan explained to me why she thinks HP is in a good position...
To me, this is symptomatic of a much larger problem. Michael does not have enough clarity on what he is doing with his venture. In the same breath, he said everything he offers is free, like open source in the mid-1990s. I reminded him that commercial open source is a classic freemium model, where...