Two new reports show that Internet traffic will quadruple by 2015--and that an explosion of users in Africa, Latin America, and the Middle East will likely make the world's web look quite different. In most of Western Europe, North America, and Asia, the Internet is old. The personal computer led the way, eventually bringing hypertext and multimedia into our offices and now, a huge range of digital appliances that regularly stream more data than they store locally
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Feed SubscriptionDIY Metalhead Hacks Steelmaking Process For Lighter, Stronger Cars, Jets
Steel's a done deal, right? A material we know all about, just as we move on to cooler composites? Nope.
Read More »No Competition? No Business
John Warrillow, author of Built to Sell, answers questions from readers about building a sellable business. Dear John: I have an idea for a business, but there is already a lot of competition.
Read More »This Week In Bots: Singing, Cookie Baking, Flying Balls, Microbots, Swimming Bots, And Telepresence iPads
Get your delicious, piping hot robo-cookies here! A robot: Your plastic pal who's fun to be with! Okay, so the future that The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy predicted is still far off, but it's coming closer every week: HRP-4C gynoid sings on camera We've seen HPR-4C several times already, but she's always worth revisiting as her skills advance--if only because she's one of the few android (technically a gynoid) that's really venturing into Uncanny Valley, with movements and other attributes that seem human. HRP-4C is the best preview out there of the kind of realistic robots we're likely to encounter fairly soon. Here she is singing as part of this year's Japan Robot Association Jisso Protec 2011 show
Read More »IPO Craziness, Pandora Edition
It's nice when good things happen to good companies. After a more than decade of struggling to turn its streaming music service into a viable business (for a good primer check out Stephanie Clifford's 2007 story ), Pandora is profitable and poised for a blockbuster IPO. Today, it announced that it is raising the price of the offering by roughly 50 percent : Online radio station Pandora increased the share price for its initial public offering today, bringing the company’s valuation to nearly $2 billion, according to a recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Read More »Spanish Police Arrest Sony PSN Hacktivists, But It Won’t Stop The Attacks: Expert
Spain has pulled off a Net security coup and arrested three men suspected of the attacks on Sony's PlayStation Network among others. Those arrested are local Anonymous hacktivists. So cops have essentially whacked a hornet's nest
Read More »KinectShop: The Next Generation Of Shopping [Exclusive Video]
A new augmented reality shopping platform for Xbox Kinect will allow users to try on clothes in true 3-D, share photos with friends, and store wish-listed items on smartphones for shopping on-the-go. Virtual reality shopping just got a lot more real--and could soon become a lot more mainstream.
Read More »Natural Gas Could Make It Easier To Reach Carbon Emissions Goals, If It Doesn’t Kill Us First
A new study from MIT says that natural gas is the key to keeping emissions down while we transfer to renewables.
Read More »ComScore: Groupon-Living Social Battle Brewing In The New Wild West
A new analysis shows that the race between online discount services Groupon, Living Social, and others is less about what they're offering or even how they're offering it and more about where they're prospecting.
Read More »David Topples Goliath: Microsoft Loses Supreme Court Patent Battle
The small Canadian firm i4i has its patent infringement charge upheld in a unanimous verdict. What does this mean for the future of innovation? The Supreme Court issued a ruling against Microsoft Thursday, upholding a decision from a lower court
Read More »Bike Helmet Of The Future Could Detect Traumatic Head Injuries
One of the winners of a contest to translate Prius technology to the real world, this prototype helmet will protect your head--and call an ambulance for you if you take a spill. You're in a nasty bike accident during rush hour
Read More »The Case Against "Sexy" Innovation
What the world needs isn't more ideasit's better, more innovative systems for executing them, says author and ChangeLabs founder Peter Sheahan. More than a decade ago Peter Sheahan left his accounting job to work in a pub and manage a hotel in Sydney, Australia. Managing the staff of about 35 wasn't easy—especially difficult was relaying expectations to younger staff members
Read More »Nintendo’s Wii U Is Flashy–But Its Competitors May Be Flashier
Nintendo's Wii U device promises to truly reinvent the console-gaming scene. But rivals Apple and Sony are hot on its heels, promising similar, if not better, touchscreen innovations that will be on the market sooner. A look at the contenders for consoles of the future
Read More »The Uptight Citizens’ Brigade
Can TV's Ashton Kutcher, Improv Everywhere's Charlie Todd, tech giant Intel, and random people on the street find the gooey center of viral hilarity? At the very least, we'll laugh and learn while their IdeaJam project publicly fails
Read More »The FTC’s New Marketing Rules To Squash Greenwashing
It's been scarily simple for companies to make false claims about how good their products are for the environment, but now the government is stepping in. It's scarily simple for companies to make inauthentic "green" claims about their products. They can just slap an unregulated green seal of approval on their product.
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