An Easy Interface for the Internet of Things

Amid a wide range of new platforms to manage streams of data from the Internet of things, a simple version emerges that anyone can use.With the advent of the Internet of things, potentially billions of devices will report data about themselves, making it possible to create new applications in areas...

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Shape-Shifting Touch Screen Buttons Head to Market

An iPad accessory launching later this year will bring transparent morphing buttons to the device’s screen to aid touch-typing.As they peck out text on the featureless glass surface of their phone or tablet, some people still mourn the passing of the physical keyboard. Now technology is heading to mass...

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Pocket Printer secures Kickstarter cash

An Israeli start-up plans to release a printer early next year that is small enough to fit inside its owner's pocket but works with any-sized paper.Zuta Labs is proceeding with the project after raising over $435,000 (£260,000) via a crowdfunding site.Rather than feeding paper through a machine,...

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Brain Mapping

A new map, a decade in the works, shows structures of the brain in far greater detail than ever before, providing neuroscientists with a guide to its immense complexity.Neuroscientists have made remarkable progress in recent years toward understanding how the brain works. And in coming years, Europe’s...

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What the heck is Aereo, anyway?

Aereo is a streaming video service that costs $8 a month. It is a new way to watch and record shows on local television stations.Now Aereo's legality is before the Supreme Court. Is it, as Aereo argues, a legal and innovative way for consumers to get more control over how they watch TV? Or is it...

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Extreme password protection...how hackers keep themselves safe

Want to stay safe on the Internet? It's time to rethink all your passwords.That's what David Kennedy did. He's a security researcher and "ethical hacker," and remembers only one: It unlocks a password vault, an encrypted database that stores dozens of his other passwords. Each one ranges from 30 to...

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Apparently This Matters: Virtual soda drinking

(CNN) -- I haven't had a single Diet Coke in 2014. It was a conscious health decision, and the only real side effect, now, is that the world is awful and I hate everything.Including puppies.Quite frankly, my life was much better when I drank Diet Coke. It had purpose."Apparently This Matters" Is...

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Windows Phone 8.1 Becomes Available to Devs and Risk Takers

Microsoft has been seriously lagging in the mobile market, but Windows Phone 8.1 -- available to devs and consumers willing to scotch their warranties -- appears to be as feature-rich as Android and iOS. In at least one important respect, it may surpass them. WP 8.1 has a digital assistant, Cortana,...

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Microrobots, Working Together, Build with Metal, Glass, and Electronics

Someone glancing through the door of Annjoe Wong-Foy’s lab at SRI International might think his equipment is infested by ants. Dark shapes about a centimeter across move to and fro over elevated walkways: they weave around obstacles and carry small sticks.A closer look makes it clear that...

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World Cup Mind-Control Demo Faces Deadlines, Critics

In less than 60 days, Brazil will begin hosting soccer’s 2014 World Cup, even though workers are still hurrying to pour concrete at three unfinished stadiums. At a laboratory in São Paulo, a Duke University neuroscientist is in his own race with the World Cup clock. He is rushing to finish work...

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