After Hon Hai, Microsoft adds ZTE to its hitlist of Android patent licensees
Microsoft has sewn up another Android patent-licensing deal, this time with Chinese smartphone firm ZTE. Microsoft announced the deal on its Microsoft On the Issues blog on Wednesday, flagging up that only two major Android makers are yet to sign a licensing agreement. Microsoft has extracted agreements from HTC, Samsung,…
The Netbook’s on Its Last Legs
If the netbook wasn’t dead already, it soon will be give it another year or so. That’s the word from research house IHS iSuppli, which has slapped an expiration date on the netbook, following the device’s continued decline into irrelevance. That date? The year 2015. IHS figures that netbook shipments, which…
Zalora Launches iOS App, No Word Of Android Yet
Zalora, Rocket Internet’s pan-Asian fashion retail site, has launched an iOS app, as it seeks to capture the growing base of consumers in Asia who are using smartphones as their primary, and sometimes only, way of getting online. The Zalora app was quietly released to the Apple App Store on…
Asus Launches New 10.1 Inch Netbook, but Calls it a ‘Notebook’ Instead
Asus, the company that built the first Eee PC netbook, seems to have gotten the memo that netbooks aren’t “in” anymore. It’s calling its new 10.1-inch laptop the “1015E Series Notebook,” and nowhere on Asus’ product page does the word netbook appear, even though its screen size and $299 price In…
Philly Robotics Expo seeks to inspire a new generation of robot-builders
Robots that can transfer plastic rings. Robots that can toss Frisbees into targets. Robots that can climb, swim, dance, or make music. Robots that can clean up a nuclear plant after a Fukushima-style disaster, sparing human beings the risk of radiation poisoning. All were on display – or at least…
Health care robot brings experts to bedside
A health care robot developed by iRobot and InTouch Health allows doctors who may be thousands of miles away to interact with patients at their bedsides. Called RP-VITA, the robot stands 1.7 meters high and rolls around hospitals controlled by an iPad. The robot was designed to bring world class Nick…
Mini-robot finds surprise in Mexico’s ancient Temple of Quetzalcoatl
A worker from the National Institute of Anthropology and History walks next to a robot used to explore ruins at the entrance of a tunnel in the archaeological area of the Quetzalcoatl Temple, near the Pyramid of the Sun at the Teotihuacan archaeological site. By Alan Boyle, Science Editor, NBC…
FocusTwist app for iOS gives you Lytro-esque refocusable images Engadget
Arqball has just released the FocusTwist app for iOS that lets you selectively focus after taking an image — without investing $400 in a Lytro light field camera. It works by automatically taking several shots with different focus points from your iPhone’s camera, delivering the best results if you hold…
5 Reasons Foursquare Is Losing The Social Local Mobile Revolution
Foursquare has been the darling of the burgeoning “SoLoMo”(social-local-mobile) revolution ever since the company burst onto the scene at South by Southwest (SXSW) in 2009. The company’s financial fortunes, however, have not been so sweet. According to BusinessWeek, Foursquare brought in a paltry $2 million in revenue for all of Still,…
Three quick ways to ease your transition to Windows 8
Over the past few weeks I’ve had the opportunity to test-drive a couple Windows 8 laptops, and even though I’ve used the OS intermittently for months now, I still find it jarring every time the Metro interface (a.k.a. Start screen) appears. Indeed, for anyone brand new to Windows 8, Can…
