Technology

New technology out of Japan could ensure that you think twice about how your toothy grin will appear once a photo is taken. Omron Corp., a major electronics and health care company, has created new technology that works with virtually any type of ... modern camera to analyze a person's smile. The technology takes into account curved lips, eye movements and other facial features to determine how much a person is smiling. Multiply this feature by 100 faces within the same image and a simple photo becomes an interactive game of "who has the best smile". (Source: usatoday.com ) The technology has ... (view more)

Microsoft is applying the power of the microprocessor to a traditionally low-tech problem: traffic jams. The firm is launching a web service that will give driving directions specifically designed to avoid busy spots. It's based on a technology ... called 'Clearflow', which took researchers five years to develop. The idea is that every time traffic backs up, it causes an effect that spreads across adjoining roads. Clearflow can quickly measure and analyse the way live traffic problems affect side streets as well as major highways. The system will cover 72 cities and will be free to use as part of ... (view more)

On Monday, regulators released plans to allow in-flight cell phone use across all 27 nations in the European Union once a flight has reached an altitude of 10,000 feet. The service will be provided for Global System for Mobile communications ... (G.S.M.) handsets only, a standard that is used by 90% of wireless users in Europe. A device called 'On Air', created by Airbus, will be used to create a small cellular network on board an aircraft and then send signals via satellite to cell towers on the ground. (Source: nytimes.com ) Despite the government's good intentions, various problems remain or ... (view more)

There's a major shortage of iPhones in stores across the country, and Apple's own online outlet is also running short. The shortage has prompted speculation Apple is planning to bring forward the launch of its next phone, likely based on 3G ... technology. AppleInsider, an unofficial site that reports on the company's business, says it contacted Apple stores across the country and all were out of stock of both the 8GB and 16GB models. Thus far, there's no news as to when replacements will arrive. Readers of the site added to the reports, suggesting some entire states were without stock. There's ... (view more)

When Google emerged on the web it quickly overwhelmed competitors due to a simple page layout and superior search abilities. Since that time, various companies have tried to unseat the popular search engine, but with very little luck. Now two ... different companies are trying one approach: visual search. The first new service is called SpaceTime, a desktop application currently available only for PCs (though the company promises to deliver a Mac version shortly). SpaceTime is more 3-D browsing experience than search engine; however, its ability to search is what sets it apart from Firefox or ... (view more)

Google was the big loser in a recent bidding auction for the 700 MHz spectrum, which is being abandoned by television networks as the entire industry moves to digital format under Congressional order. Now, Google is trying to get the Federal ... Communications Commission (FCC) to allow mobile devices to use what is called the 'white space' that exists between TV channels. (Source: slate.com ) While the regulatory board is reportedly intrigued by Google's proposal, many doubts remain. White space is used as a barrier between television channels to prevent signals from one broadcast interfering ... (view more)

It's late (usually well past midnight) and you've just finished an eight-page term paper due at eight o'clock the next morning. You scroll over to click the print icon and then it happens...total darkness. After countless prayers and even more curse ... words, you finally come to the realization that your paper has been lost forever. While it takes everything you have to start from scratch, you begin to wonder: what if I had seen the crash coming, or at the very least, have seen what caused the crash to avoid future occurrences? Thanks to two researchers, this improbable concept has become a ... (view more)

Although often credited as the father of computing, Charles Babbage (author of the "analytic engine"), probably didn't envision anything like mobile computer access or smart phones. Today, however, a growing percentage of the population cannot do ... without mobile communications and Internet access in their day-to-day lives. A recent study from the Pew Internet & American Life Project has found that 62 percent of Americans use mobile access to digital data or tools. Moreover, the same study found that most would have great difficulty in giving their gadgets up; the cell phone would be the ... (view more)

We all know that many modern medical tools rely on sophisticated software to perform their magic in life-saving and life-threatening situations. However, it's now software that's being asked to decide, quite literally, whether someone lives or dies. ... Sound like a science-fiction fantasy? Maybe something from Huxley's 'Brave New World' or a Vonnegutt novel? It may have started that way, but with increased frequency, computer programs are being asked to make life or death decisions because of their intrinsic impartiality. Example 1: As far back as 2006, software, designed by a Beijing hi-tech ... (view more)

The next time you're in an airport, train station, bus station, coffee house, or other public place and decide to "jack in" to the Internet, you might well be exposing yourself to identity thieves -- or worse. Here's how it works: the girl across ... from you in the airport coffee shop has a laptop in her briefcase that's set as an 'access point', or a 'WiFi hotspot'. She's even given the access point a legitimate-sounding ID, say, something like "Free Airport WiFi". You power up your own laptop, quickly browse for available networks, see "Free Airport WiFi", note that it's unsecured but ignoring ... (view more)