Spotting a fancy new Tesla on the road might seem novel, but electric cars are nothing new. And, of course, hybrids like the Prius dot the highways. But the emergence of electric cars dates back further than you think. The first ones go back as far as 1880, and they were common into the early 20th century.
Google Fiber launched in Kansas City in 2011. It offered gigabit speed at $70 per month and ignited the development of an ultrafast Internet access category that has since spread throughout the U.S. According to Michael Render, principal analyst at market researcher RVA LLC, 83 Internet access providers have joined Google to offer gigabit Internet access service (all priced in the $50-$150 per month range).
Consumers increasingly rely on smartphones and social media to discover and research products of interest, but relatively few people go on to make mobile purchases, according to new research from Synchrony Financial. Specifically, 45 percent of respondents performed shopping-related tasks via mobile, up 4 percent since last year, but only 18 percent of browsers went on to purchase a product using a mobile device. Mobile discount offers are also popular, with 66 percent of respondents regularly using them, but that number is down from 71 percent last year, Synchrony says.
In a revival tent-like speech, Microsoft's chief operations officer, Kevin Turner, urged the company's partners to forget the past - an allusion to the failure of its smartphone business to gain meaningful share - but defended the decision to keep making handsets.
Whenever Apple puts out a new product, it's going to draw headlines. There's no better example than the Apple Watch -- its first offering into the fitness market, which has a potential to be a 22 million unit market in the U.S., according to Market Strategies International.
This week the G4 smartphone from LG Electronics starts shipping outside its home country, with arrivals in the U.S. and Europe expected in a couple of weeks. While the smartphone has a great screen and camera, it doesn't get everything right.
Those who hand out the Ig Nobel prizes, awarded for the most outlandish scientific research, would do well to check up on CHI.
LAS VEGAS -- International CES boasts 3,500 vendors this year, many showing off new smartwatches and other wearable gadgets.
Even though the term "phablet" draws a lot of snarky remarks, some workplace executives have lately come to appreciate large-screen smartphones. And at least one who should know even believes that smartphones with a display that's 5.5-in. or larger (like the new iPhone 6 Plus or the Galaxy Note 4) could replace PCs in a few years.
A year is a long time in smartphone technology today, so remember if you can the changes that have taken place over the last decade.
When German radio manufacturers gathered in 1924 to show off their products, just a year after regular broadcasting began in the country, they probably didn't imagine they were sowing the seeds for what eventually would become IFA.
Watch the first episode in our new series Breakout Startups here.
Throughout the history of technology, few sectors have expanded and evolved as rapidly as today's burgeoning wearable tech market. Piles of unique and unusual, flashy and fancy -- often goofy and gimmicky -- new wearables are announced every week. There are smartwatches, smartglasses, intelligent socks and "onesies" for infants, rings for public transit payments and even "wearable tattoos."
Samsung depends on Google's Android OS, but needs to find a way to differentiate itself from rivals who also use Android if it's to grow and thrive.
In the last year or so, there has been a noticeable slowdown in innovations in new smartphones -- with both hardware and software. The next direction seems to be making the smartphone the hub for connecting technologies int eh Internet of Things scenario.