Most of the robots we’re vaguely familiar with are good at menial tasks, like welding car parts or assembling microchips. But that isn’t to say that what they do isn’t difficult: Those tasks require ultra-precise data to be programmed beforehand. And though there are practical applications for spatially aware technology–like the …
Hug Your IT Person, It’s ‘System Administrator Appreciation Day’
What started as a joke holiday back in 2000 is now celebrated in several countries all over the world: System Administrator Appreciation Day.
The holiday’s inventor, Ted Kekatos told Networkworld, “Overnight I set up a website. It was tongue-in-cheek. I sent out an email to my friends announcing the holiday, directing them to the …
How Google TV Can Be Saved
Logitech is taking a beating for throwing early support behind Google TV. The company announced that it will cut the price of its Logitech Revue Google TV box to $99, which means each unit will be sold at a loss. And just in case there was any question of whether Google TV was a flop, Logitech offered an embarrassing statistic: The Revue …
When Your Gadgets Get to Know You: The Future of ‘Personalized’ Computing
Ben Bajarin is the Director of Consumer Technology Analysis and Research at Creative Strategies, Inc, a technology industry analysis and market intelligence firm located in Silicon Valley.
I’ve often told people who ask me about the future of technology that as we get smarter devices, smarter software, and smarter cloud services we …
WATCH: Microsoft Spoofs Google with the ‘Gmail Man’
While Google’s “E-mail Intervention” marketing campaign made the rounds this week, ZDNet reports that an attendee at Microsoft’s annual Global Exchange sales conference has managed to sneak out a cheeky video making fun of Gmail that was shown off on July 20.
Guys, watch out, I think there may be a nerd fight coming on.
Apple Officially World’s Largest Smartphone Maker—Guess by How Much
It wasn’t enough to surpass the U.S. government with a whopping $76 billion in cash reserves, now Apple’s been declared the world’s largest smartphone manufacturer as well. It must have something to do with that mobile phone they make. What’s it called again? The i-Something?
Yep, that. And according to Strategy Analytics, it pushed …
BBC Finally Launches ‘Global iPlayer’ iPad App
Barely making the announced August deadline, BBC Worldwide has finally launched its “Global iPlayer” iPad app—but only for those in western Europe, reports paidContent.
Originally announced in November last year, the Global iPlayer brings what is being called “editorially curated” content from multiple British broadcasters and …
TechnologizerTechnologizer
The Smartest Tech Fans of All: Semi-Late-Early Adopters
Writing my TIME.com Technologizer column this week was a form of primal scream therapy. It feels like I’m spending more time than ever wrestling with new gadgets that don’t meet the fairly modest bar of consistently being able to do what they’re supposed to do for more than ten minutes at a time without crashing, choking, or displaying a …
Can Your iPhone Fix the Debt Ceiling Mess?
As lawmakers in Washington continue to wrangle over a solution to the debt-ceiling mess, their search for a compromise has now got them thinking about iPhones, iPads and other smartphones and tablets.
That’s because Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has added the sale of wireless spectrum to his proposed package of spending cuts and …
Ads Creep into Twitter Timelines, but Don’t Panic Yet
Twitter has devised a way for advertisers to make their messages more prominent in users’ timelines, but it’s not the full-fledged ad invasion that you might be fearing.
Starting today, Twitter is rolling out “Promoted Tweets” for companies like Dell, Gatorade, Groupon and HBO, as well as some non-profit organizations such as the …
No Surprise: Netflix Dominates on Consoles, Hulu Mostly on Computers
Here at Techland, we still consider Netflix to be a pretty good deal, especially now that they’re offering Mad Men streaming in its entirety.
But we also understand that jacking up of subscription prices from $10 for an all inclusive package to $16 for both DVDs and streaming (with little warning to their customers) wasn’t exactly the …
How to Make Your OS X Lion Purr Like a Snow Leopard
I know, you generally love Lion, but you also sometimes hate Lion and wish it would just settle down and respect your commands, several of which probably involve getting it to behave like its predecessor. We can help, or at least point out some of your options, say you’re partial to Apple’s prior cat.
The following tip sheet isn’t an …