All product showcases should be staged events professionally done where people leave excited about what they saw, says columnist Rob Enderle. Here’s a look at why Apple has been so successful and how Microsoft just got back in the game with a successful hardware launch.
Volkswagen cheated on the emissions tests for 11 million vehicles. But it’s not the only company that has built lying into its testing and benchmarking.
Siri and virtual assistants like her will soon change everything. I. Mean. Everything.
Apple's new tablet is 80 per cent faster than most of the portable PCs shipped during the past year, according to the company, but for the average user, iPad Pro won't replace a desktop, laptop or tablet. Here's why.
These are some of the new features and improvements currently being tested in the experimental channels of Chrome OS.
Don't underestimate the importance of wireless charging to mobile devices.
In a world where shopping malls are losing customers by the escalator-load to more convenient and deeper-inventoried digital options, one mall in a lightly populated Nebraska town is making some impressive progress in getting its shoppers to stick around. It's not about bringing customers into the mall. It's about giving them reasons to come all the time — and not wanting to leave.
Every time you hear a convincing Apple rumor you need to remember how many never happened.
You can use Cortana on a Mac, but not Siri. Why does this make sense?
Retail beacons have huge potential, but it can only be met when chains move beyond seeing beacons solely as tiny ad broadcasters. Coca-Cola is starting to get creative about beacons, with a trial in Norway movie theaters to not merely communicate with moviegoers but to remember them for re-targeting later.
IT pilot fish is helping his aunt fix her PC because, well, that's where family members get their tech support, right? But this time, she suggests getting help -- from "the smart people."
Bloomingdale's major gift card glitch illustrated two huge retail IT security issues. First, human approval of gift cards can avoid some big problems. Second, chains have almost no meaningful system for dealing with such glitches.
Wi-Fi can be done securely, even at a hacker conference like DEF CON. Just avoid open networks and Android.
Apple's dug itself into a hole with the iPad, but now is the time to change everything (again).
iPad fans and iPad haters have one thing in common: They aren't buying a whole lot of iPads at the moment.
Printed coupons and mobile devices are as far apart as Bitcoins and silver dollars. One company that's been specializing in bridging the gap sees the answer in not looking at any one element and instead layering.
End-of-mankind predictions about artificial intelligence, which have issued from some of today's most impressive human intellects, including <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-30290540">Stephen Hawking</a>, <a href="http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/05/03/ai_expert_nick_bostrom_talks_to_el_reg/">Elon Musk,</a> <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2015/01/28/bill-gates-on-dangers-of-artificial-intelligence-dont-understand-why-some-people-are-not-concerned/">Bill Gates</a>, <a href="http://betanews.com/2015/03/26/apple-co-founder-steve-wozniak-warns-of-the-dangers-of-artificial-intelligence/">Steve Wozniak</a> and <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3165356/Artificial-Intelligence-dangerous-NUCLEAR-WEAPONS-AI-pioneer-warns-smart-computers-doom-mankind.html">other notables,</a> have generally sounded overly alarmist to me, exhibiting a bit more fear-of-the-unknown than I would have expected from such eminences, especially the scientists. But that was before I saw reports on the self-aware robot.
Supercomputers are serious things, called on to do serious computing. They tend to be engaged in serious pursuits like atomic bomb simulations, climate modeling and high-level physics. Naturally, they cost serious money. At the very top of the latest <a href="http://www.top500.org/">Top500</a> supercomputer ranking is the Tianhe-2 supercomputer at China's National University of Defense Technology. It cost about $390 million to build.
As technology advances, we poor humans are getting desperate for sources of self-esteem. Everyone knows computers can play chess and Jeopardy! better than we can. They sort thousands of documents for relevance in legal cases faster, cheaper and better than lawyers do. They assemble electronic products in factories faster, cheaper and better than people do.
A recent finding by the California Labor Commission highlights this disconnect. The commission determined that Barbara Berwick, a San Francisco driver, was an employee of Uber rather than an independent contractor. While the decision does not set a precedent, it may be reversed by courts and might be made moot by Uber making minor changes to its standard contract, this conflict nonetheless highlights the difficulty of applying antiquated laws to new and rapidly evolving industries. Current labor laws were written at a time when large companies were regarded as permanent fixtures in the economy, workers tended to stay with one employer for many years, employees had one full-time job, and many industries were heavily unionized. Those conditions no longer exist. As a result, our laws are increasingly ineffective in giving
