What has IBM’s thumbs up, millions of antennas, runs 10,000 times faster than today’s radio devices, will produce upwards of 100 times as much data per year as the Large Hadron Collier and study the beginning of time itself? If …
Innovation
White House to Spend $200 Million on ‘Big Data’
Today, the White House is announcing that it’s spending $200 million on its “Big Data” initiative, which aims to “advance state-of-the-art core technologies needed to collect, store, preserve, manage, analyze, and share huge …
Finally, a Bluetooth Fridge Magnet That Orders Pizza with a Single Touch
Behold the latest installment in our hard-hitting series of practical innovations that have changed the world in immeasurably positive ways! This is a refrigerator magnet with a built-in Bluetooth connection that, when pressed, …
Game Changers: 5 New ‘Next Big Things’
Imagine if you could pay for parking with a few taps of your phone, and that you’d never have to pay for more time than you used. Imagine if, after you’re done eating a bag of chips or drinking a carton of juice, you could scarf down the perfectly edible packaging, too. Engineers and designers have been imagining these things, and …
With Mobcaster, Your Next Favorite TV Show May be Crowd-Funded
“Find it, fund it, view it,” reads Mobcaster‘s punchy tagline, a pithy, no frills invitation that sums up what it’s about: crowd-funded online TV honed to discover, fund and broadcast independent television online. If you’ve ever …
Hoax: Man Flaps Android-Powered Bird Wings, Flies with Wii Remotes [Updated]
Imagine strapping on a pair of giant multicolored wings, except they’re not actually attached to your arms — you control them without actually touching them, waving your hands up and down in the air, birdlike, causing the wings …
SXSW Watch: Wolfram on Wolfram Alpha
I don’t think of myself as having the brain of a fanboy. But I do cheerfully admit to getting a little giddy when it comes to Wolfram Alpha. I think that this “computational knowledge engine” is one of the web’s most impressive …
Microsoft’s ‘Beamatron’ Uses Kinect to Create Virtual RC Car
Neat things can happen when you pair Kinect with a projector, as Microsoft Research recently demonstrated.
The group’s latest creation is called “Beamatron.” It uses Microsoft’s motion-sensing Kinect camera, a projector and a …
SXSW Interactive Goes Retro: A Celebration of Analog at a Digital Fest
Techies show up to SXSW Interactive on the hunt for the next big gadget or app. But on the fest’s second day, digital was pushed aside during a celebration of the analog, the hand drawn and the physical
Company Tries to Make Airport Movie Rentals Fly
Digiboo might sound like an online dating site for hip-hop enthusiasts, but it’s actually one of the latest players getting into the video market. The Santa Monica, Calif.-based company produces kiosks where people can rent or …
SXSW Watch: A Disruptive Conversation
Moderating panel discussions, I’ve found, tends to be either a challenge or a cakewalk. It’s tough when you’ve got a panelist who’s a blabbermouth, or one that’s shy. The audience is just as important as the people on stage: If …
Inside the Kurzweil SXSW Keynote: On Infinite Mind Power, Robotic Overlords and Immortality
He is one of the world’s most renowned futurists, and onstage at South By Southwest, Ray Kurzweil stirred debate with a speech that outlined the incredible role artificial intelligence will play in the future, as it reshapes humanity