Google Shows How Its Self-Driving Cars Are Getting Smarter With 700K Miles Driven

 Google has a new blog post detailing some of the progress it’s been making over the last year with its self-driving car initiative. The driverless cars have been tackling the challenge of navigating city streets lately, using Google’s home town of Mountain View as the test bed for navigating the increased complications that come with dense urban zones vs. relatively uncomplicated… Read More

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Google Shows How Its Self-Driving Cars Are Getting Smarter With 700K Miles Driven

Tactus Taps Wistron To Bring Its Magical Physical Touchscreen Buttons To The Masses

 Tactus makes keyboards that appear out of seemingly flat glass touchscreen surfaces, thanks a fluid-based layer that reacts to electrical signals to create rises and bumps that serve as keys and buttons. It’s a magical technology, and one that you can see demoed on video in the clip below from CES this year. Soon, you’ll be able to get that tech on a range of devices thanks to a new… Read More

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Tactus Taps Wistron To Bring Its Magical Physical Touchscreen Buttons To The Masses

Biometric Startup Quixter Demos Pay-By-Palm Tech

 Quixter has built a biometric pay-by-palm technology system that’s up and running at Lund University in Sweden. The idea is the brainchild of Fredrik Leifland, an engineering student at the university, who wanted to come up with a quicker system for making card payments. (And clearly didn’t think much of NFC.) Read More

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Biometric Startup Quixter Demos Pay-By-Palm Tech

The Risk And Rush Of Supporting A Crowdfunding Project

 Last week, a small crowdfunded project called the Healbe GoBe made news, as backers and journalists questioned the company’s claims that it could measure caloric intake using a wearable device. While the claims do sound wild at best, the company is sticking to its story — and Indiegogo is sticking by the project. Read More

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The Risk And Rush Of Supporting A Crowdfunding Project

Indie Game Jam Show Collapses Due To Interference From "Pepsi Consultant"

Sockatume (732728) writes “Would you like to see a half-million-dollar TV show in which four teams of indie developers and Youtube personalities compete to create amazing videogames? Tough luck, because GAME_JAM from Maker Studios has spectacularly imploded. Although a lot could go wrong with this kind of show, the blame isn’t being levelled at game developer egos or project mismanagement but the heroic efforts of one Matti Leshem, a branding consultant brought in for Pepsi. After imposing Mountain Dew branding rules that even banned coffee from the set, his efforts to build a gender divide amongst the teams culminated in the competitors downing their tools and the projection collapsing. Accounts from Adriel Wallick, Zoe Quinn, and Robin Arnott are also available.” Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Indie Game Jam Show Collapses Due To Interference From "Pepsi Consultant"

Turkish government blocks Youtube to shut down spread of phone recording in which PM conspires to hide millions from investigators

The Turkish government has doubled down on its Internet censorship program, blocking all of Youtube in addition to its ban on Twitter . Despite theories about the political theatre of blocking Twitter , it seems like Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is also genuinely concerned with suppressing a recording of a conversation with his son in which he conspires to hide the money he is thought to have received through corrupt dealing. As with the Twitter block, this one was undertaken as an administrative order from the PM’s office, without judicial oversight. The Twitter ban has since been rescinded by the Turkish courts, but the block may not be lifted before the elections. There is still no official announcement by TİB, the government authority in charge of internet regulation and the organ who implements blocking decisions. However, YouTube’s URL and title appeared on BTK’s (higher organ that includes TİB) web page where the blocked URLs are listed. The site is still accessible through some ISPs, but the blocking is expected to be implemented fully in an hour’s time by all ISPs. The government banned Twitter last week on the grounds that the company fails to remove ‘illegal’ content according to Turkish authorities. Yesterday, an administrative court ruled for the suspension of the execution of Twitter blocking. Last week, Google Inc. has announced that it declined the requests coming from the Turkish government in recent weeks to remove YouTube videos revealing extensive corruption involving PM, his family, ministers, businessmen and several government officials, the Wall Street Journal reported. Turkish government takes down YouTube too [updated] [Noyan Ayan/Webrazzi] ( via Engadget )        

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Turkish government blocks Youtube to shut down spread of phone recording in which PM conspires to hide millions from investigators

Apple’s Upcoming Healthbook Software For iOS 8 Extensively Profiled Amid New Leaks

Apple is widely expected to launch health-monitoring software for its mobile operating system, possibly as soon as iOS 8, which should make its developer debut at WWDC this June. The software would monitor and track various aspects of a user’s health, and 9to5Mac’s Mark Gurman has a new report out today that details exactly how that might work. Using recreated screenshots based on… Read More

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Apple’s Upcoming Healthbook Software For iOS 8 Extensively Profiled Amid New Leaks

iOS 8 Said To Take Maps To The Next Level With Added Data And Transit Directions

Apple has just shipped iOS 7.1, which brings a number of small enhancements and some considerable performance improvements to older devices, but now the way is clear for iOS 8, and already the rumor mill has started cranking. 9to5Mac, which generally has reliable information for first-hand reported rumors, revealed today a couple of details about Apple’s next big mobile OS, which should… Read More

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iOS 8 Said To Take Maps To The Next Level With Added Data And Transit Directions

Depending On Price, The Samsung Gear Fit Could Dominate The Wearables Market

Forget about the rest of Samsung’s MWC offerings. The Gear Fit is about the most exciting product announced in Barcelona today. It’s the first Samsung wearable that has a legitimate chance of catching on. The Fit is focused to the fitness crowd – natch – but it packs enough features to be a hit with the general consumer. Like other wearables in this category, the Fit tracks movement, heart rate and sleep patterns. But unlike other current products, the Fit is water-resistant and packs phone notifications, a timer, stopwatch and a sleek curved OLED screen. Best of all it lacks all the nonsense found on its larger brothers. The Fit doesn’t sport a camera, speaker or a massive screen. It’s svelte and sexy just like a smartwatch should be. Samsung has yet to reveal the price on the Fit and that could be the deciding factor here. If the Fit was priced under $200, say, $179 or $149, Samsung could have a big hit on its hands. With a smart feature set and the right price, the Fit could be the missing link from fitness device to smartwatch the market has so far been missing. Gear_Fit_Black_01 Gear_Fit_Black_02 Gear_Fit_Black_04 Gear_Fit_Black_03 Gear_Fit_Black_05 Gear_Fit_Grey_01 Gear_Fit_Grey_02 Gear_Fit_Grey_04 Gear_Fit_Grey_03 Gear_Fit_Grey_05 Gear_Fit_Orange_01 Gear_Fit_Orange_04 Gear_Fit_Orange_03 Gear_Fit_Orange_05 Gear_Fit_Orange_02 Gear_Fit_Group 4 3 2 7 1 6 5   View Slideshow Previous Next Exit

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Depending On Price, The Samsung Gear Fit Could Dominate The Wearables Market

DHL Pranked UPS Into Advertising For Them

The dramatic increase of online shopping has fanned the flames of competition between shipping companies. Which is why, using thermal-activated ink, DHL figured the best way to advertise just how fast and efficient its shipping services are was to trick its competitors into doing it for them. Read more…        

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DHL Pranked UPS Into Advertising For Them