If you thought emojis were a short-lived gimmick, you could be disappointed by two new moves to improve the experience of using them. The Unicode standard may be updated to allow emojis in particular skin tones. Meanwhile smart-typing app Swype has been updated to automatically suggest an emoji based on the tone of your text. […]
HP is launching a new computer that blends touchscreens, scanners and cameras into something very unlike a standard desktop PC. It remains to be seen if people will find enough uses for it to make it a success. The $1,899 device, oddly named Sprout, is a standard PC at heart, running Windows 8 but with […]
A self-driving car has hit 149 miles per hour on a racing circuit. Manufacturers Audi say it’s not just showing off, but rather a demonstration that the car could cope in an emergency requiring fast maneuvering. The test on the RS7 was carried out at Hockenheim, a Formula 1 Grand Prix circuit near Frankfurt, Germany. […]
A Chinese inventor has come up with an “umbrella” that uses air rather than fabric. It’s great news for the user, but not so much for fellow pedestrians. The project, which has destroyed its Kickstarter funding target, is still very much in development and inventor Chuan Wang expects to refine the device heavily before a […]
It’s no secret plenty of us with health concerns check symptoms by typing them into Google long before we go to see the doctor. Now Google may remove that time gap altogether. The company has confirmed it is testing a feature that will offer to connect people searching for health related terms to speak to […]
Five British police forces have confirmed that phones and tablets seized as evidence have been remotely wiped while in their custody. Responding to enquiries by the BBC, Cambridgeshire, Derbyshire, Durham and Nottingham police all reported one wiping incident, while Dorset said it had suffered six such incidents in the space of a year. A sixth […]
The men who first created blue LEDs have won the Nobel Prize for physics. The blue light was necessary for more energy-efficient bulbs and displays. Although working LEDs have been around for more than 50 years, not all colors became available at the same time. That’s because LEDs work by a semiconductor material glowing a […]
Microsoft is using the wisdom of crowds theory to run a prediction service. It may use the technology to turn its Siri-alternative into an opinion pollster. After some previous trials, Microsoft has now launched the Microsoft Prediction Lab. It’s similar to an opinion poll or survey but rather than ask people what they want to […]
The Federal Aviation Administration has given permission to six TV movie production firms to use drones for filming. It’s an exemption to a general US ban on commercial use of drones and could pave the way for other uses. The exemptions mean the production companies won’t have to follow the same extensive set of rules […]
From ASU Research: What if every soldier could run a four-minute mile? That’s the goal behind 4MM, or 4 Minute Mile, a student project to create a wearable jetpack that enhances speed and agility. Working with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and a faculty mentor, Jason Kerestes is the mastermind behind 4MM. He built […]