Pay By Palm

Posted: April 14, 2014 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , | Leave a comment

A new startup is demoing a way to pay at stores that’s always with you…Quixter has a reader that reads the veins in your palm…no card, no phone no wallet. Techcruch.com says its up and running at a university in Sweden. Since it involves replacing readers at point of sale, don’t look for it to spread like wildfire.

Gigaom.com says continued security concerns on the web are prompting Google to look at listing encrypted sites higher in search results. Thousands of websites will encrypt so as not to lose their ranking.

Car electronics maker Alpine will be out this year with a standalone aftermarket console that supports Apple’s CarPlay. Macrumors.com reports it will sell for between $500 and $700.

Repairable Tech and More…

Posted: April 9, 2014 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

Here’s something you almost never hear…there’s a gadget you can fix. Techcrunch.com says the Samsung Galaxy Gear 2 smart watch is surprisingly repairable…as easy as a watch to replace the battery or band.

Speaking of Samsung, with the chatter about Apple’s bigger screen iPhones due in September, Samsung has gone the other way, launching the Galaxy Ace Style with a 4 inch display. 9to5google.com says it’s a bid for the mid price market. No pricing yet, but it will be out this month.

JP Morgan thinks Apple should build a laptop-tablet hybrid for between $500 and $1000…knowing Apple, it would be $999! The investment bank says Apple would make an extra 63 billion selling such a hybrid device…this according to cnet.com. Intel says the A-8 chip makes it possible. It has the computing power, but is stingy enough with your battery.

The rush to 3D printing continues, with Micro…a sleek 3D printer, raising a million dollars on Kickstarter in just it’s first day. Bgr.com reports it’s small and sleek…just about 2 pounds, and will be $300.

If you have a 4K TV, and haven’t finished House of Cards season 2 yet, rejoice! Techcrunch.com reports that Netflix is now streaming it in 4K, which they’re calling Ultra HD. They also are rolling out some nature shows in the new format. Don’t expect too much…HDTVtest.com says in their tests, the 4k stream isn’t as clean as some Blu-ray disks.

A Billion Mobile Users on Facebook- NOT Counting Instagram

Posted: April 3, 2014 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , | Leave a comment

Facebook has passed yet another milestone…theverge.com reports they now have a billion users on mobile devices, and 200 million on Instagram.

Techcrunch.com says Apple has a new patent application that describes earbuds with a built-in mic that could automatically detect your voice, and tune a series of built-in mics to optimally pick up their speech and cancel out any background noise. One can hope they put a little more into quality drivers so they sound as musical as other, third party earbuds…which, up to now, they haven’t done.

If you’re really wanting to go green, check the Ego (love the play on words….E—Go) Power+ electronic lawnmower. No cord, and a lithium ion battery that charges in a half hour. Cnet.com says it’s $499. Did you notice the part about NO cord?

Twitter’s New Photo Features

Posted: March 27, 2014 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , | Leave a comment

Twitter has just introduced a couple of new features…gigaom.com says you can now tag up to 10 people in photos, and include up to 4 pictures in a single tweet. User names appear above the pictures, and don’t count towards the 140 characters.

This feature creep at Twitter may be a way of playing catch up…according to thenextweb.com, Instagram has passed up Twitter in US users. The Financial Times says Facebook owned Instagram has 35 million users and Twitter 30.8 million. Twitter still has 40 million more worldwide, though.

Techcrunch.com reports that Apple has patented a Surface like touch keyboard smart cover, but with a twist…multitouch gesture support turns the whole thing into a giant trackpad, instead of just a small dedicated portion.

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