Emerging Tech

Google this week unveiled a prototype that it will test on California roads to learn more about how to make safe and efficient autonomous cars a mainstream reality. For about four years, Google has been developing self-driving technology that could make the roads safer, and its newly revealed protot...

The hottest tech rumor of the week is here, and it's only Tuesday: Apple is finally breaking into home automation -- connected lights, thermostats, security systems and home appliances. And the key? the iPhones that already are carried by millions of consumers. The rumor hit Monday, and it's explode...

Surface largely was the brainchild of Steve Ballmer, the last CEO of Microsoft, and it resulted from a similar thought process that created Zune. In other words, the OEMs weren't building a product that was competitive with Apple, and Microsoft got frustrated and felt it could do a better job. In bo...

Brave New IoT World

Wearable technology and other devices, objects and systems connected to the Internet will be fully pervasive in our society by 2025, according to a new report. The Internet of Things, or IoT, references the many objects in our everyday lives that are connected to the Internet and share data. While t...

The hype around driverless cars, or autonomous vehicles as they're also known, is increasing, with Google on Tuesday taking reporters for spins around the city of Mountain View, Calif. Figuring prominently in resulting news reports were the big red kill button between these cars' front seats; the em...

LG is dipping its toes into the burgeoning market of wearable fitness devices. The LG Lifeband Touch and the LG Heart Rate Earphones will be available to the public starting May 18. The devices are compatible with both iOS and Android smartphones. The Lifeband Touch includes a 0.9-inch OLED touch di...

In a move that could complicate the creation of any more Terminator movies, United Nations diplomats on Tuesday discussed international laws to govern the use of killer robots. This was the first UN meeting devoted entirely to the topic, which makes sense given that the robots in question don't yet ...

Parrot has added a new model to its line of airborne drones -- the Bebop. Demonstrated in San Francisco over the weekend, the lightweight Bebop includes some snappy features, such as built-in image stabilization, a 14-megapixel camera with a fish-eye lens, and support for the Oculus Rift virtual rea...

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved the marketing of a prosthetic arm nicknamed "Luke" in a nod to the bionic hand grafted onto Star Wars hero Luke Skywalker after his was cut off by Darth Vader's light saber. The arm, eight years in the making, was funded by the military. It was deve...

Over the next several months, we will see a massive step forward in the systems we use in our cars to connect to our phones, listen to music and watch videos. As I write this, the new Kenwood Excelon DNN991HD is being installed in my project car, and it promises pretty much everything but the kitche...

It's natural to reach for a pad and pen when you need to take notes, but the end result can be frustratingly limited. On the other hand, clicking away on a keypad doesn't quite cut it for all situations. "The cool thing about using the pen with the computer is that it gives you choices," said Doug L...

A simmering conflict between Oculus, a virtual reality startup Facebook bought last month for $2 billion, and ZeniMax Media began to boil Monday. ZeniMax las week claimed one of its former employees, John Carmack, improperly shared some of its tech with Oculus for use in its Rift virtual reality hea...

Nokia has created a $100 million fund earmarked for investing in firms that specialize in connected and smart vehicles. The move comes days after the Finnish firm forked over its handset unit to Microsoft. Nokia already has a mapping-and-location company called "Here." The new fund will be designed ...

Google and Microsoft are positioned against each other as primary competitors, and that could mean trouble. I remember past dynamics similar to theirs that didn't end well for either company. Apple focused on IBM and didn't see Microsoft coming. Microsoft focused on AOL and didn't see the Internet c...

There's a lot shaping up for Apple this year, and it's going to be wild. In fact, there's so much going on at Infinite Loop in Cupertino these days that it makes me believe that 2014 will be the first post-Steve Jobs year when Apple -- in the eyes of the broader tech world -- stops dancing around an...

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