Emerging Tech

The Next Big Thing in Smartphones: Multiple Video Camera Support
April 08, 2013

I've been meeting with a number of companies that build video-editing software, and I've been becoming increasingly concerned that we aren't at all ready for a world in which nearly every car and every head has a streaming camera attached to it. Regardless of whether we are prepared or not, I think it likely that the next big smartphone feature will be the ability to stream multiple cameras at once.

Pirate Bay Proxy Operator's Bank Account Seized
April 04, 2013

The Netherlands has had the damnedest time blocking The Pirate Bay. Taking a cue from the UK, as well as from Belgium and others, the Netherlands ruled last May that Dutch Internet service providers must block The Pirate Bay. Alas, the ruling didn't quite do the trick, as people began offering proxies that afforded users circuitous routes to the piracy hotbed.

Baidu May Be Developing a Glassy Eye
April 03, 2013

Living up to its billing as the Chinese Google, Baidu, China's top search engine, reportedly is working on Baidu Eye, something that sounds a lot like Google's Glass. Worn like eyeglasses, the Internet gadget will be controlled by voice and will feature an LCD display that can recognize images. While these features are rumored to be up and running, the product's design and battery life are still works in progress.

Survey: Drivers Texting Like Crazy
March 29, 2013

Nearly half of the commuters surveyed in a poll released Thursday admitted to texting or emailing while driving. Forty-nine percent of commuters reported engaging in unsafe distracted driving activities in a survey funded by AT&T and conducted by ResearchNow. "These studies do raise awareness, so no one forgets this is an issue," said Roger Lanctot, an associate director at Strategy Analytics.

Mercedes-Benz Goes Electric With New B-Class Sedan
March 27, 2013

Mercedes-Benz put its B-Class Electric Drive sedan on display at the New York Auto Show this week and said it would be the company's first electric vehicle entry into the U.S. market when it arrives in showrooms in 2014. This is a version of the B-Class vehicle that debuted as a 5-door hatchback in Europe with traditional gasoline and diesel power plants.

Smartwatch Wars: Samsung Fires Shot Across Apple's Bow
March 20, 2013

Samsung has had a smartwatch in the works for a long time, according to Lee Young Hee, EVP for the company's mobile business, Bloomberg reported Tuesday. He didn't say what exactly the wearable wrist device might offer feature-wise, but the public acknowledgment suggests this could be the next highly contested arena for new gizmos.

Caveat Inventor: The New Patent Paradigm
March 15, 2013

The most significant change to U.S. patent law since 1836 -- or perhaps 1790 -- is being implemented on March 16, 2013. Part of the America Invents Act of 2011, it concerns the doctrine of first-to-invent, laws concerning the protection of original inventors, regardless of whether they were the first to apply for a patent. The new law awards inventorship under a first-inventor-to-file standard.

New IBM Lab Explores the Science of Personalization
March 15, 2013

IBM pushed deeper into the customer experience space with the launch on Thursday of its Customer Experience Lab. The lab brings together various elements of IBM's expertise, technology and staff to integrate mobile, social, cloud, Big Data and advanced analytics for its users.

iPad May Run Away From Home a Lot Longer
March 15, 2013

Wireless charging may be in the works for iPad owners if Apple follows through on a patent awarded to it by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Thursday. The tablet cover described in the patent would include "an inductive power transmitter arranged to wirelessly pass power to a corresponding inductive power receiver unit disposed within the tablet device by inductively coupling."

'Subversive' Site Aims to Be Pirate Bay of 3D Printing
March 13, 2013

Printers aren't typically linked with the word "subversive," but that's the mission of a new site for 3D printer files. Defcad was announced Tuesday at the South by Southwest Interactive conference. It is designed to give 3D printer enthusiasts access to files that allow them to create objects with their printers -- even if those objects are protected by intellectual property laws.

Automatic Link Kicks Your Car's Brain Into High Gear
March 12, 2013

A new smartphone app and plug-in device unveiled Tuesday promises to give cars some of the same tech-based features available only from certain factory models or through services like OnStar. Automatic Labs announced the Automatic Link, a combination iOS app and dongle for automotive diagnostics.

When These Chips Are Down, They Fix Themselves
March 12, 2013

The mean cyborg of Terminator 2 was unstoppable until it was immersed in a vat of molten iron. It might have survived, however, if it had self-healing processors at its core like the ones announced Monday by a team of researchers at the California Institute of Technology. The researchers said they had built tiny power amplifiers for chips that recovered functions even after many of their components had been vaporized in tests.

Apple May Put The Squeeze on iPhone
March 06, 2013

Apple wants to make a future iPhone your main squeeze. The company received approval Tuesday from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for a patent that would allow you to control a device by squeezing its housing. According to Patent No. 8,390,481, Apple has invented a way to measure a user's interaction with the housing of a device independent of the user's electrical characteristics.

Microsoft Tweaks Kinect to Add More Gesture Recognition
March 06, 2013

Microsoft on Tuesday demonstrated added hand gesture functionality for its Kinect technology, which is being adapted to let users not only wave their hands, but clench their fists and pinch their fingers to pan and scroll through an on-screen app. The company showed the latest version of Kinect during its annual Techfest conference.

Galaxy S IV Scrolling: The Eyes May Have It
March 06, 2013

Samsung's upcoming Galaxy S IV smartphone, which will be revealed later this month, could offer users an eye scrolling feature, according to published reports. The S IV's front-facing camera will reportedly track a user's eyes to determine where to scroll.

Planting Seeds of Injustice
February 26, 2013

At the oral argument in Bowman v. Monsanto, Chief Justice Roberts cut off Bowman's attorney seconds into his delivery, questioning his thesis, which undermined the purposes of patent law. "Why in the world would anybody spend any money to try to improve the seed if as soon as they sold the first one anybody could grow more and have as many of those seeds as they want?"

Canon Gets Uncannily Real With New Mixed Reality Tech
February 21, 2013

Canon officially launched its new MREAL System for Mixed Reality on Wednesday. Unlike traditional virtual reality-type systems that essentially block out the real world, this new imaging solution simultaneously merges virtual objects with those of the real world at full scale and in three dimensions.

Robotics: Revitalizing American Manufacturing
February 21, 2013

Much has been said over the last few years about the loss of American jobs to other countries. The fact is that China and India, as well as other cheap labor countries, have taken a good number of jobs. Many of these jobs will likely never return. I wrote an article in 2006 titled "Why Money Chases Cheap Labor -- The Outsourcing Phenomenon."

Google Provides a Clearer View of Glass
February 21, 2013

After nearly two years of research, testing and developers-only access, Google announced Wednesday that consumers would finally be next to view the world through Glass, the company's augmented-reality glasses project. Those users can participate, however, only if they are the winners of a social media-based contest.

Getting to the Root of Patent Exhaustion
February 19, 2013

Patent laws remain in the crosshairs, despite the passage and near final implementation of the infamous America Invents Act of 2011. The Supreme Court is again hearing a case that has far-reaching implications for future innovation in self-replicating systems in fields such as nanotechnology, cell and DNA lines, new medical treatments and others.