HP wants to drive the “next industrial revolution” and spark a change in the way products are manufactured with its new 3D printers. The company’s first 3D printers will ship later this year, said Cathie Lesjak, chief financial officer for HP, speaking at the Morgan Stanley Technology, Media and Telecom Conference this week. HP first announced 3D printers in 2014, and is now preparing for the big launch. HP is looking to
New wireless technology makes it possible for monkeys to control a robotic wheelchair using just their thoughts, without the need for EEG electrodes on the scalp or wires connecting to an external computer. Developed by neuroscientists at Duke University, the new brain-machine interface relies instead on hair-thin microfilaments implanted in two regions of the monkeys’ brains. Using those microfilaments, the wireless BMI—a device that gets affixed to the monkey’s head—simultaneously records signals from hundreds of neurons in both regions. As the monkeys think about moving toward their goal, computers translate their brain activity into real-time operation of the wheelchair.
Apple’s first hearing in the San Bernardino case, in which it’s resisting a request from the FBI to create a new version of iOS to let law enforcement hack an iPhone 5c used by shooter Syed Farook, is scheduled for March 22. But friend of the court—or amicus—briefs are due to federal Magistrate Judge Sheri Pym by the end of the day Thursday, and several key organizations have filed in support of Apple’s tough defense of encryption. Google, Facebook, and Microsoft plan to file a joint brief in support of Apple, according to
Sony is cutting the price of its PlayStation Vue TV service as it tries not to get lost in the streaming video shuffle. The basic PlayStation Vue “Access” package, which includes more than 60 live streaming channels, now costs $40 per month. The “Core” package costs $45 per month and adds regional sports networks, and the “Elite” package includes more than 100 channels for $55 per month. These prices are all $10 per month cheaper than when Alongside the lower prices, Sony is also adding new channels from Disney and ESPN, as
The next time you see a billboard on the side of the road, it may also be scanning you. A
Before you make a Genius Bar appointment, try asking @AppleSupport for help.
Amazon’s Alexa virtual assistant is turning up in more places with the Echo Dot and Amazon Tap. The
Russia isn’t known as the PC capital of the world, but when a new homegrown machine comes along it’s sometimes curious enough to get our attention. Last year brought the Elbrus-4C, a PC with a It’s a 21.5-inch all-in-one desktop from Russia’s T-Platforms, and it’s another example of how Russia—like China—is trying to be more self-sufficient in IT by producing its own computer parts.
Google hopes to make in-store smartphone payments even easier with a new app called Hands Free uses your face and your phone’s location as two identifying factors to ensure it’s you making the payment. Let’s say you wanted to pick-up a (
Microsoft will begin automatically pushing new firmware to participants in its Insider program beginning on Thursday, smoothing the process of receiving the latest technology for Windows Mobile 10. Previously, users who wanted a firmware update had to shift their phone to the Production ring, then shift their phone back to their desired Windows 10 Insider ring. That’s a hassle that the auto-publish update will alleviate. Microsoft has taken back control of most of the deployment of Windows 10 software from the carriers, in a bid to push new technology out to customers without the months of testing that those carriers would sometime impose.. And it’s no small feat—there are literally
Goodbye, hard drives. Samsung said Wednesday it has begun shipping its 15.36TB SSD to customers, making it the largest drive—flash or mechanical—on the market. The PM1633a packs all that solid-state storage into a single 2.5-inch enclosure. Stacked 256Gb V-NAND chips comprise 32 dies to reach the 15.36TB total. As it’s meant for enterprise applications, don’t expect to plug the PM1633a into a standard desktop or laptop. The drive features a 12Gbps SAS interface, and Samsung claims it will hit sequential read and write speeds of 1,200MBps. The drive will hit 200,000 IOPS of random read performance, Samsung said.
At long last, Valve has finally set up a system to adjust the price of game bundles based on what you already own instead of throwing your duplicate licenses into a garbage bin—provided that developers opt in. Ah, there’s the hitch. The new bundles system is already live, and you can check it out by looking at the But a memo
IBM has sued online deals marketplace Groupon for infringing four of its patents, including two that emerged from Prodigy, the online service launched by IBM and partners ahead of the World Wide Web. Groupon has built its business model on the use of IBM’s patents, according to the complaint filed Wednesday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware “Despite IBM’s repeated attempts to negotiate, Groupon refuses to take a license, but continues to use IBM’s property,” according to the computing giant, which is asking the court to order Groupon to halt further infringement and pay damages. IBM alleges that websites under Groupon’s control and its mobile applications use the technology claimed by the patents-in-suit for online local commerce marketplaces to connect merchants to consumers by offering goods and services at a discount.
Gmail is great, but there are several other solid alternatives for consolidating all your email accounts into one app.
At its core, Android is just Linux. But Android provides a runtime and various other libraries that applications depend on, so you can’t just install Android apps on Linux and expect them to work. Open-source project Essentially, Shashlik runs Android in the background on your Linux system. (Shashlik developers are working on stripping down Android as much as possible.) OpenGL and graphics code are rendered directly on your Linux system for speed, but Shashlik provides an Android activity manager, daemons, and intents so Android apps will work properly.
Windows 10 may be “free,” but there’s a price to pay for claiming your no-cost upgrade from Windows 7 or 8: The Some of the ads are pretty unobtrusive, to be fair. Several get right up in your face, however—an unfortunate experience in