Emerging Tech

A patent awarded on Tuesday to Apple may be a tip-off of what the company is planning for the smartwatch it's widely expected to introduce this fall. The patent for something Apple referenced in its application as "iTime" is for an electronic wristband that contains a recessed area for an electronic...

Startup GoTenna has launched its eponymously named device, which lets users communicate without the need for a cell tower. "This is an interesting concept," said tech analyst Jim McGregor. "It's like a walkie-talkie on steroids." The device uses BlueTooth LE to pair with a user's smartphone. It can ...

It may not be a marriage made in heaven, but the cloud is pretty close. Just hours after IBM and Apple announced their strategic partnership, speculation began to spread about two of their most well-known products: What if Siri and Watson were to hook up? Siri is Apple's voice-enabled digital person...

A crowdfunding campaign for Jibo, a little robot designed to become one of the family, kicked off Wednesday on Indiegogo, and with 29 days remaining, it already has raised more than $577,000 -- nearly six times its $100,000 target. The voice-controlled robot with a friendly face is a do-it-all perso...

Novartis' Alcon eye care division has entered an in-license agreement governing all ocular medical uses for Google's smart contact lenses, it announced Tuesday. Google unveiled a prototype of its glucose-monitoring lens in January. No financial details of the arrangement were released, and the deal ...

CROWDFUNDING SPOTLIGHT

Bet You Wish You'd Installed a Blender in a Cooler Lid

The hottest crowdsourced hit of the summer is the Coolest Cooler, an unassuming party cooler that features a built-in ice-crushing blender, a removable waterproof Bluetooth speaker, a USB charger, an LED lid light, a gear tie down, super wide wheels for dragging it over sand, a bottle opener, integr...

Microsoft just announced the release of the Dragons Adventure World Explorer. It is actually very cool and well-timed, because it should keep little tykes engaged and quiet during a long car trip. It also should get developers excited about creating more games that could turn the family vacation exp...

The competition to offer transparent and flexible OLED screens heated up last week, with LG's unveiling of two 18-inch OLED displays. One is flexible and the other transparent. "Up to now, nobody has come up with an 18-inch flexible OLED display, although both LG and Samsung offer smartphones with f...

While the ever-expanding class of wearable fitness devices out there can tell users how many calories they've burned while undertaking any particular activity, realistic estimates of calories taken in have been few and far between. Enter a new microwave oven that will tell users just how much energy...

OPINION

Tim Cook's New Apple World Order

Apple is shaking out to become a very different sort of Apple, one suddenly more inclusive than ever before. The question is if all this inclusion will really lead to innovation. For Tim Cook, this idea seems to have a whole new meaning for Apple -- the notion may be trickling into the very way that...

For all those who have wondered about the ingredients in their lunchtime burrito, Consumer Physics is gearing up to release SCiO, a tiny spectrometer that can scan food, medicines and plants to determine their molecular composition. When used to scan foods such as cheeses, fruits, vegetables, sauces...

Microsoft is said to be preparing the launch of a wearable fitness device that will be compatible with the iOS and Android platforms, as well as Windows Phone. While the device likely will display the time, along with notifications from the user's smartphone, the form factor is expected to be a wris...

OPINION

The Big Winners at Google I/O 2014

At last week's Google I/O, Nvidia was the big winner. It was showcased in TVs, mobile devices and automotive as the supplier of a key technology. Other brands were mentioned in the keynote, but it was Nvidia that was mentioned most consistently -- and its technology apparently was connected to most...

One of the many notable things to come out of Google's I/O conference this week was the announcement that 40 new auto industry companies representing 25 brands had joined the Open Automotive Alliance, which Google formed earlier this year. Google also unveiled Google Automotive Link, or GAL, which w...

Two humanoid robots on Wednesday made their debut as part of a new exhibit at Japan's National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation, or Miraikan. The newly unveiled Kodomoroid -- a child android -- and Otonaroid, an adult female android, are designed to fill human roles as the world's first and...

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