On World Tech Update this week VeriFone accuses Square of enabling skimming, Sony's CEO taps his likely successor, a Windows Phone 7 update is delayed, space shuttle Discovery touches down for the last time, Facebook offers movie rentals, gadgets keep us awake, and Cisco's home video conferencing system gets an update and price cut.
A slopeside location-based social networking service came to five ski resorts this season, allowing skiers and boarders to track their Vail Resorts vertical feet, earn virtual ski pins and connect with friends. Called <a href="http://www.snow.com/epicmix">EpicMix</a>, Vail Resorts rolled the system out to mountains in California and Colorado, covering 17,000 acres or about 70 square kilometers of terrain.
On World Tech Update this week, we're at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.
Ford Motor Company debuted its first all-electric vehicle, the Focus Electric, at the 2011 International Consumer Electronics Show Friday. It is one of five new electrified vehicles that will be available in North America and Europe by 2013.
ioSafe's Rugged Portable hard drive launched at the Consumer Electronics Show this week withstood drops, submersion and even blasts from a 12-guage shot gun.
Nicholas Negroponte, chairman of One Laptop Per Child said that the XO-3 tablet computer will debut sometime in February 2011, about 45 days later than originally planned.
Aiptek has introduced the i2, a pocket-sized twin lens camcorder that can record 3D video, at the IFA consumer electronics show in Berlin.
Philips introduced the GoGear Connect, an Android-powered device that can play music and movies, take pictures and surf the web, during the IFA consumer electronics show in Berlin.
The AR.Drone from France-based Parrot is an exciting, fun-to-fly, four-rotor helicopter that can be piloted over Wi-Fi by an iPad, iPod Touch or iPhone. But flying indoors proves tricky and may frustrate inexperienced pilots. The helicopter goes on sale in the U.S. at Brookstone stores on Sept. 3, 2010, for US$299 and is available for pre-order now.
MIT Media Lab researchers have developed a mobile-phone application that, coupled with a small plastic device held over the screen, can determine users' eyeglass prescriptions. Called NETRA or near-eye tool for refractive assessment, the system asks users to align lines on the phone's screen while looking through a small plastic cube.
Santiago Alfaro hopes to one day use the Surround Vision technology he created at the MIT Media Lab and work with famous director James Cameron to incorporate it into a film.
The runners took center stage during the Boston Marathon Monday, but behind the scenes of the prestigious road race was an enterprise-class data center capable of accurately tracking more than 26,000 runners and relaying that information to a number of outlets.
A researcher is working on technology he hopes will be able to control RFID tags and protect private information.
Imagine controlling Apple iTunes from inside Microsoft Word without having to switch applications. That could be possible, according to researchers at the University of Washington who are working on a project that could essentially make any proprietary software open source.
MIT has expanded the footprint of its Media Lab with a new US$90 million, 163,000-square-foot modern building.