Category: Trends

Story Tech Trends

The Power And Weakness That Come With Being The Default

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As reported on TechCrunch. by DREW OLANOFF Facebook had its big coming-out party for mobile on Wednesday, and its Home launcher will soon start shipping exclusively on an HTC device. This is the social network’s first crack at being the default experience on any device. Until now, using Facebook has been a completely optional and background experience, meaning you’d have to visit its website or download one of its apps. After nine years, that approach worked rather well, to…

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Culture Economy Story Trends

The Other Silicon Valley That The Tech Industry Is Leaving Behind [Video]

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As reported on TechCrunch. by COLLEEN TAYLOR On Friday, veteran journalist Bill Moyers did a segment on Silicon Valley that gives a very different perspective than we get from most mainstream media coverage of the world-renowned tech industry hub, and it’s been fueling some good conversations this weekend. Called “Homeless in High Tech’s Shadow,” it’s a very interesting look at the growing homeless problem in the South Bay of San Francisco that’s happening in stark contrast to the growing wealth in…

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Apple Story Trends

Apple Ramping Up Production For Next iPhone Beginning In Q2, WSJ Reports

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As reported on TechCrunch. by DARRELL ETHERINGTON Apple is looking to start production of a new iPhone of “similar” design to the current one during the second quarter of 2013, according to a new report from the Wall Street Journal. The production ramp-up is designed to set the stage for a summer launch of a new flagship iPhone, the report claims, which agrees with information we’ve heard from our own sources recently. John reported last Thursday that Apple’s…

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Culture Mobile Tech Trends

It’s been 40 years since the world’s first mobile phone call Mobile

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As reported on Engadget. By Mat Smith On April 3rd 1973, Martin Cooper made the first mobile call on the nine-inch (and 28-ounce) Motorola DynaTAC. Dialing up a rival at AT&T, he apparently said that he was ringing “to see if my call sounds good at your end.” While briefcase-size models had come before it, it’s Motorola’s truly mobile phone that became the go-to power accessory for the likes of Gordon Gekko, Zack Morris and, er, American Psycho‘s Patrick Bateman.…

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Culture Trends

Whole Foods will require labels for genetically modified foods by 2018

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As reported on The Verge. By Andrew Webster Grocery chain Whole Foods has announced that in five years time it will require labels for all products containing genetically modified organisms (GMO), a first among major American retailers. The plan includes all stores across the US and Canada — Whole Foods’ seven locations in the UK already require such labels. Genetically modified foods can include everything from faster growing salmon to apples that won’t turn brown, and the retailer said that…

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Culture Story Trends

Silicon Valley Has Hit Peak Lameness

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As reported on TechCrunch. by JACK MCKENNA Hey Bros of Virool, I know you think it’s cool that your launch party is being written up in TechCrunch. But seriously, half-naked girls in silver mono-kinis dancing in front of floating arithmetic, fractions and percentage signs? Why would women want to work for this company? When did Silicon Valley become so thin on actual technology that startups had to have “nerd” or “science”-themed parties to have cred? You’re YC-backed for chissake. How much…

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Cloud Story Tech Trends

Tokyoflash’s cryptography-inspired Kisai X watch tells time via pyramid lens, LED lights

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As reported on Engadget. By Sarah Silbert Tokyoflash, maker of highly conceptual, anything-but-your-average-wristwatch products like the Kisai OTO and the Kisai Maru, is outing its latest device: the Kisai X. Like many of the company’s timepieces, the X is the result of fan submissions. In this case, it was co-designed by Firdaus Rohman and Heather Sable, who clearly were inspired by cryptography. Like several other Kisai watches, the X doesn’t put a priority on easily decipherable digits. In fact,…

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Business Culture Trends

Bartendro cocktail mixing robot lands on Kickstarter, wields Raspberry Pi (video)

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As reported on Engadget. By Alexis Santos  If you prefer robot bartenders to lack limbs that could be used against you in the impending robopocalypse, Bartendro might be your kind of bot. After two years of building and tweaking, the folks at Party Robotics have finally polished theirRaspberry Pi-powered cocktail-making rig and have posted it to Kickstarter. Born from a need to re-create mixed drinks in perfect proportion, Bartendro uses food-grade tubing, pumps and custom-built electronics to pipe liquids out with a measurement accuracy…

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Culture Trends

Why Every Office Should Switch To Walking Desks

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As reported on TechCrunch. by GREGORY FERENSTEIN Man was not meant to spend all day hunched over a dimly lit screen; disturbingly high incidences of obesity, joint pain and fatigue are our bodies’ not-so-subtle ways of saying they want to get up and move around. After piloting a walking desk – a standing desk attached to a treadmill – for a month, I’m convinced they should become the default workstation. Immediately, my daily calorie burn jumped 30.7 percent, and I…

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Business Culture Story Tech Trends

The World’s First 3D-Printed Building Will Arrive In 2014 (And It Looks Awesome)

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As reported on TechCrunch. by JORDAN CROOK Sure, 3D printing is fun and cute. And products like the Makerbot and Form 1 will most certainly disrupt manufacturing, even if it’s only on a small scale. But the possibilities of 3D printing stretch far beyond DIY at-home projects. In fact, it could entirely replace the construction industry. We’ve already seen folks at MIT’s Research Labs working on ways to 3D print the frame of a home in a day, as opposed…

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