NEW NET Weekly List for 22 Jan 2013

Below is the final list of technology news and issues for the Tuesday, 22 January 2013, NEW NET (NorthEast Wisconsin Network for Entrepreneurism and Technology) 7:00 - 9:00 PM weekly gathering at Sergio's Restaurant, 2639 South Oneida Street, Appleton, Wisconsin, USA.

The ‘net

1.        How California’s Online Education Pilot Will End College As We Know It  http://techcrunch.com/2013/01/15/how-californias-new-online-education-pilot-will-end-college-as-we-know-it/  “…the largest university system in the world, the California State University system, announced a pilot for $150 lower-division online courses at one of its campuses — a move that spells the end of higher education as we know it. Lower-division courses are the financial backbone of many part-time faculty and departments…Most of college–the expansive campuses and large lecture halls–will crumble into ghost towns as budget-strapped schools herd students online…Gov. Jerry Brown has given his blessing to popular online course platform, Udacity, to partner with San Jose State University for the ultra-low cost online lower-division and remedial classes…While faculty worry about the quality of online courses, the truth is that our education system, primarily designed to test rote memorization, is built to scale and be independent of teacher interaction…To boost retention, the National Science Foundation-funded project will offer a range of mentoring and monitoring services…it’s difficult to underestimate just how powerful the California higher education system is. After former University of California President, Richard Atkinson, threatened to drop the SAT from admissions requirements, the College Board rushed to revamp the test for the entire country only a year after the threat. However goes California’s education system, so goes the nation…”

2.       Darjeelin Crowdsources Cheaper Flights  http://techcrunch.com/2013/01/15/darjeelin/  “Darjeelin has launched…a human-powered flight search engine…experts are tasked with going off and finding the cheapest flights on a bespoke basis for users who pay a small fee in return…those in the know — frequent flyers, experienced travellers, professional travel agents — use their expertise to source and manipulate the best online offers. Searching for the best price for a flight has become…a daunting and incredibly time-consuming process for the average flyer who is unsure whether or not a better deal can be found. Darjeelin aims to solve this problem by putting…specific air ticket needs in front of its crowd of experts who compete for a bounty of €15 for each contest…each flight contest is only re-routed to 4 ‘flight hackers’ from the expert community…to incentivize those competing by giving them a 1 in 4 chance of winning per-contest…”

3.       DigitalOcean Switches To SSD For Its $5 Per Month VPS To Take On Linode And Rackspace  http://techcrunch.com/2013/01/15/techstars-graduate-digitalocean-switches-to-ssd-for-its-5-per-month-vps-to-take-on-linode-and-rackspace/  “DigitalOcean is a cloud hosting solution for small developers, looking for a cheap virtual private server to experiment, host web applications with low memory needs and run some cron jobs. While Linode and Rackspace provide cheap servers starting at $20 a month, DigitalOcean has two key advantages — it starts at $5 a month for a comparable offering, and it now uses SSD. For $5, you get 20GB of SSD, 512MB of RAM and 1 core. Many other configurations exist. For example, for $20, you get 40GB of SSD, 2GB of RAM and 2 cores. DigitalOcean provides two separate node locations for now, in New Jersey and Amsterdam…“Linode is a great competitor, they offer reliable Linux virtual servers and have been around for a long time,” said Mitch Wainer II, marketing and design guru at DigitalOcean. “But we are all about the user experience…”

4.       Wikimedia Launches Its Crowdsourced Wikivoyage Online Travel Guide  http://techcrunch.com/2013/01/15/wikimedia-launches-its-crowdsourced-wikivoyage-online-travel-guide/  “…Wikivoyage…which was already in beta for a while and has a bit of a tumultuous history, is a free online travel guide that, just like Wikipedia, is edited collaboratively. It currently features about 50,000 articles and has attracted a core group of about 200 volunteer editors. The site is available in English, Dutch, French, German, Italian, Russian, Portuguese, Spanish and Swedish. “There’s a huge global demand for travel information, but very few sources are both comprehensive and non-commercial. That’s about to change…”

5.        Get Creative With Evernote: 10 Unique Uses You Haven’t Thought Of  http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/get-creative-with-evernote-10-unique-uses-you-havent-thought-of/  “…Evernote is one of the ultimate tools in productivity…we’ve written a list of 10 unique ways how to use Evernote – with some tips and tricks you might not have thought of…don’t forget to download our Evernote Manual for free…Save Classified Listings Before They Expire…Take Notes While Reading a Book…Keep Measurements, Sizes, etc. Handy When Shopping…Create Lists Of Everything From Goals To Groceries…Record Your Prescriptions…Save Photos Of Your Takeout Menus…Save Your Favorite Meals At Restaurants…Save Important Documents: Warranties, Contracts, Birth Certificates…Create a Virtual Library Of Your DVD, Video Game Collections…Use Evernote As a Rolodex…”

6.       NameCheap Makes “Move Your Domain Day” an Annual Protest  http://www.elliotsblog.com/namecheap-makes-move-your-domain-day-an-annual-protest-5198  “A little over a year ago, Go Daddy’s position on SOPA brought quite a bit of negative publicity (deservedly) onto the company…Go Daddy competitor NameCheap spearheaded a domain transfer initiative known as “Move Your Domain Day,” and many people joined in and transferred domain names from Go Daddy…NameCheap…is turning its “Move Your Domain Day” into “an annual protest and a commemoration of sorts that will continue to shine a light on the issue of a free and open internet…While the threat of the SOPA act has passed, similar acts have been proposed that may continue to threaten the very liberties we have earned the right to enjoy…We donated over $60,000 to the Electronic Frontier Foundation to continue fighting bills like SOPA…On January 22nd, Namecheap will be running a transfer special for all com/net/org/info/biz domains to Namecheap. Domain transfers on this date will be $3.99. In addition, Namecheap will donate $0.50 to the Electronic Frontier Foundation for every domain transferred to Namecheap…”

Security, Privacy & Digital Controls

7.        Tracking Retail Customers Through Smartphones  http://www.fastcompany.com/3004781/google-analytics-real-life-tracking-retail-customers-through-smartphones  “A new technology…lets retailers track in-store customer activity through their smartphones' MAC addresses…Euclid Zero…captures shoppers' MAC addresses…as they walk into the store, and uses this information to track store traffic, customer loyalty, and customer activity inside the store. The process is entirely passive on a customer's part…Euclid's product pings consumer smartphones even if they don't log into a store's Wi-Fi or make a phone call…The company's dashboard provides Google Analytics-like aggregate data on shopper activity based entirely on mobile phone tracking…”

8.       Ahead of Graph Search launch, Facebook removed the ability to opt out of search results  http://qz.com/44261/ahead-of-graph-search-launch-facebook-removed-the-ability-to-opt-out-of-search-results/  “A month before unveiling a major new search feature, Facebook changed its privacy policy to remove the ability to opt out of search results…Facebook last month pushed through changes to its privacy policy that will make it easier to implement the new feature…last summer, the company settled with the US Federal Trade Commission for making changes to its privacy policy that the FTC deemed “deceptive.” The issue then was that information users had posted to Facebook was viewable to a growing array of people who weren’t originally supposed to see it. Privacy advocates argued in December that removing the ability to opt out of search amounted to the same thing and violated Facebook’s settlement with the FTC…The FTC settlement…requires Facebook to “obtain the user’s affirmative express consent” when adding a feature that “materially exceeds the restrictions imposed by a user’s privacy setting.…”

9.       Antiquated law enables government's war on hackers, activists, and you  http://www.theverge.com/2013/1/18/3888528/after-aaron-swartz-how-antiquated-computer-laws-enable-the  “…in the early 1970s, two young computer miscreants named Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak exploited a hole in AT&T’s phone system to prank call the Pope. The call — made using a homemade device called a “blue box” which made free calls by emulating the tones in AT&T’s switching system — was more than just a prank. It was part of a history of irreverent tinkering that would eventually lead to the creation of the Apple I, and the founding of what would later become the most valuable computer company on the planet. In July of 2011, Aaron Swartz was federally indicted for acts that in retrospect seem far more innocuous than those of Jobs and Wozniak. He had allegedly entered a maintenance closet at MIT and used a Python script to rapidly download millions of documents from JSTOR, a database of academic journals containing publicly-funded research that he had legal access to under MIT’s open network…As security researcher and expert witness Alex Stamos explains, what Swartz did wasn't "hacking" — not even under the loosest interpretations. Yet despite JSTOR dropping its own charges against him, federal prosecutors pursued the case aggressively. And they were able to do so because of the dangerously vague language and inconsistent interpretations of…the Computer Fraud & Abuse Act (CFAA) of 1986…it’s used to target an incredibly broad range of activities completely divorced from “hacking,”…the CFAA can effectively mark anyone who uses a computer to access another computer (e.g., anyone on the internet) as a felon…”  http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130117/02090421710/carmen-ortiz-releases-totally-bogus-statement-concerning-aaron-swartz-prosecution.shtml  “…As Tim Lee explains, the whole "plea bargain" system is a farce, allowing prosecutors to effectively bring forth these massive "possible" punishments to effectively force someone into pleading guilty without ever going to trial. Going to trial is dangerous, because the prosecutors effectively make sure that anyone who does exercise a right to a trial is likely to get much more time in jail: If Ortiz thought Swartz only deserved to spend 6 months in jail, why did she charge him with crimes carrying a maximum penalty of 50 years?...Had Swartz chosen to plead not guilty, the offer of six months in jail would have evaporated…And while the judge would have been unlikely to sentence him to the full 50 years, it’s not hard to imagine him being sentenced to 10 years…those 10 years in prison would…have consisted of six months for his original crime (the sentence Ortiz actually thought he deserved) plus a nine-and-a-half-year prison term for exercising his constitutional right to a trial…”  http://www.bunniestudios.com/blog/?p=2860  “…the US legal…rules…create an asymmetric war that favors those with resources. By and far one of the most effective methods to force a conclusion, right or wrong, against a small player is to simply bleed them of resources and the will to fight through pre-trial antics…a pitched battle of motions, counter-motions, discovery, subpoenas and affidavits, with each action heaping tens of thousands of dollars onto your legal bill…Isolated and afraid, it eventually makes more sense to roll over and settle than to take the risk of losing on a technicality versus a better-funded adversary, regardless of the justice. The US government is by and far the most well-funded and fearsome enemy to spar with, and…it seems like some prosecutors in the US government are obsessed with making a big name for themselves. Winning cases gets them the recognition and credibility needed for promotions and assignments to ever higher profile cases. It’s not about justice, it’s about victory…Individuals are robbed of the will and strength to fight for what they feel is right, as the mere act of prosecution can be as much a punishment as the verdict. As a result, I fear the era of civil disobedience may be coming to a close…”

Mobile Computing & Communicating

10.     Nokia backs 3D printing for mobile phone cases  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-21084430  “Nokia is releasing design files that will let owners use 3D printers to make their own cases for its Lumia phones…The project makes Nokia one of the first big electronics firms to seriously back 3D printing…Nokia was releasing what he called a "3D printing development kit" to help people produce the cases…Nokia already used 3D printing internally to do rapid prototyping, but decided to back it more publicly…In the future, he said, 3D printing was likely to bring about phones that were "wildly more modular and customisable". Nokia might just end up selling a phone template, he said, allowing entrepreneurs to use that to produce handsets…”  http://gigaom.com/2013/01/18/why-nokias-3d-printing-move-embraces-the-future/  “…Lumia 820 has a removable shell that users can replace with Nokia-made shells in different colors, special ruggedized shells with extra shock and dust protection, and shells that add wireless charging capabilities found in the high-end Lumia 920 to the mid-range 820…in addition to that, we are going to release 3D templates, case specs, recommended materials and best practices — everything someone versed in 3D printing needs to print their own…Nokia is effectively outsourcing rapid prototyping to its customers…If you view the mass adoption of 3D printing as an inevitability – whether it be through people all owning their own 3D printers or…at a local 3D-printing store – then it follows that many more people will start ripping out and replacing static components of various devices, such as smartphones…”

11.      5-Inch Smartphone Displays To Be Standard In 2013  http://www.informationweek.com/mobility/smart-phones/5-inch-smartphone-displays-to-be-standar/240146616  “…LG today accidentally revealed the LG Optimus G Pro…the G Pro will feature a 1.7 GHz Snapdragon S4 Pro processor with 2GB RAM and…a massive 3,000 mAh battery. But the defining characteristic of the G Pro will be a 5-inch high-definition display with 1920 x 1080 pixels…Other devices announced at CES with this same 5-inch panel…It's pretty clear that handset makers are moving to 5-inch panels for their leading devices…It makes sense that the best devices that still qualify as smartphones have screens that max out at the 5-inch mark…There's not much point in shooting for higher resolutions…most mobile processors support 1080p video, but not video at resolutions higher than that. Now that smartphones offer huge, high-def displays, smartphone makers will need to come up with other ways to make their products impressive.”

12.     Google should be ashamed for paying Orange to handle its traffic  http://gigaom.com/2013/01/18/google-should-be-ashamed-for-paying-carriers-to-handle-its-traffic/  “…[It appears] Google is paying France Telecom-Orange to deliver its data to users. It’s not clear how much Google is paying Orange, or what the precise terms of the deal entail…but it does look like a line has been crossed. Here’s why that’s bad. Telcos are very fond of complaining about the cost of building out modern mobile networks that can support the explosion in data traffic — despite the fact that mobile broadband usage is the carriers’ current cash cow…The carriers already make money off delivering data, and they make it from the consumer who signs up for a data tariff or pays by the megabyte. The content providers…already pay on their end to deliver that data – through their own internet service provider and/or through a content delivery network such as Akamai, and also through investing in private delivery networks…When he revealed the hitherto secret Google deal this week, Orange CEO Stephane Richard was clear that his carrier’s strong position in Africa gave it the leverage it needed to extract cash from the U.S. firm…If Google is paying a carrier such as Orange to handle its traffic better than it might otherwise be handled, then Orange has the incentive to demand the same from other content providers…Google has not only set a terrible precedent for up-and-coming mobile innovators, but it has also made it more likely that the quality of new services will be degraded over Orange’s networks…”

13.     The future of smartphones  http://www.techradar.com/news/phone-and-communications/mobile-phones/the-future-of-iphone-how-apples-handset-could-evolve-1125748  “…join us in the…Time Machine as we travel to see the iPhone as it will appear a few years down the line with technology that's coming about right now, and…the near-distant future, looking at how the next few decades will shape and change Apple's devices…2014 - iPhone 6…1. New camera technology…2. The development of 4G…3. Wi-Fi 802.11ac…4. NFC…5. Secure payment…6. Making Siri psychic…7. Storage improvements…2016 - iPhone 7…1. Gesture and face recognition…2. 3D…3. A more advanced screen…4. Wireless charging…5. More advanced processors…6. Developing iOS…7. Better batteries…2020 - iPhone 9…1. 5G…2. Liquidmetal casing…3. The future of Gorilla Glass…4. A more touching experience…5. Your iPhone becomes your computer…6. Siri is perfected…7. Local storage becomes obsolete…2050 - iPhone 24…1. Rollable displays…2. See-through screen…3. It's all in the eyes…4. Eternal power…5. Siri becomes truly intelligent…6. The Tricorder…7. More advance build materials…”

14.     New technology from CES hands health controls back to individuals  http://www.foxnews.com/health/2013/01/18/new-technology-from-ces-hands-health-controls-back-to-individuals/  “…our healthcare system is obese.  It’s fat and slow and can’t accomplish what we need it to do, just like many of us who have given up responsibility for our own bodies…adult diabetes is on the rise, and we know being overweight is a significant cause of that…Out of a total $2.6 trillion spent on healthcare in 2010, 20 percent of costs are related to diabetes…Technology has not been our friend when it comes to staying fit. We sit in front of the TV or computer while we gain weight and lose muscle tone…many innovative people are focused on fixing the problems with our healthcare system by putting control back into the hands of individuals. Here are some of my favorite devices from the Digital Health and Fitness area at CES…BodyMedia® FIT…is described as an “on-body monitoring system” and includes an armband that tracks your activity level and how well you’re sleeping…It even lets you know if you need time on the treadmill or an evening snack to round out your day…IbitzTM PowerKey and Unity…tracks the user’s activity level.  The point is to get the whole family up and moving…Ibitz apps can track family fitness including steps, calories and much more…The goal is to find new, effective forms of motivation…HAPIFork is a dinner fork that helps you learn to eat more slowly…the HAPIFork tracks “fork servings” and how much time you spend chewing between bites. If you eat too fast, the fork vibrates and lights up to remind you to slow down…Personal tracking devices are positioned to be a huge focus for the future, such as Fitbit’s FlexTM tracker and Withings all-in-one body monitoring bathroom scale…With this level of personal tracking, people can keep watch over their own health trends to head off future illness…”

15.     The Overly Documented Life: 9 weeks with a lifelogging camera  http://www.esquire.com/features/overly-documented-life-0113?click=main_sr  “My brain is now wired to cameras and monitors…My limited attention span, laughable subjectivity, and weak memory have been replaced by eyes that see everything and hard drives that never forget…There are a lot of unreliable things in this world…But the most unreliable of them all? The human memory…Study after study has shown that when we do recall an event, our memory of it is almost always self-serving, warped — or totally fabricated…I called my mom to ask her how old I was when she took me to Epcot Center — a trip of which I have fond memories. "We never went to Epcot Center," she replied…For the first time in human history, all of us can record every moment of our existence…We can all be giant DVRs and simply rewind to see what happened. Life will be forever altered. "Imagine how it could affect therapy sessions, friendly wagers, court testimony, lovers' spats," writes Gordon Bell, a seventy-eight-year-old Microsoft executive and the grandfather of something called "lifelogging," in his book Total Recall…Google plans to release Internet-enabled glasses that…have the capacity to…record every moment (including, presumably, those moments when you get beat up for wearing Internet-enabled goggles)…I decided to sample this future world…I just hope that I can erase the embarrassing parts…Bell recommends a gadget called Looxcie — a $150 black video camera…You wear it in your ear or strapped to a baseball cap…It holds an impressive five hours of video and has a five-hour battery life. I order two so I can swap them…Looxcie beeps softly while recording, so I feel like I'm being followed all day by a backing-up UPS truck…it is already shaping my behavior. It's my own private Big Brother…Recording things changes the thing you're recording. Everybody sees this device — even as I become less and less aware of it myself — and it alters their behavior…When I tell people it's a video camera, reaction is mixed. Some ham it up. They wave, they dance, they mug. They stare at the lens instead of my eyes. One septuagenarian offered to take off his clothes…Many are annoyed. Elderly women seem to like it least. My mother-in-law said, "I wish you'd told me. I would have fixed my hair." At a cocktail party, I try to join a conversation about a sex scandal at a New York school. "Go away," snaps my mother's friend. "Go, go, go." A woman on the street demanded a release form. A former classmate covered the lens with a magazine…I try to flip my camera off when I enter the men's room…But this time, I forgot. The big guy at the next urinal shot me a look. "Is that a camera?" he asked, spotting the glowing red light…My hands got sweaty. This man was going to give me a beatdown…"That is so cool," he said. "How much did it cost?"…In general, people eventually come to accept the camera, but it deforms their conduct…Or, as one friend put it: "I want to say things but I can't…On the other hand, I feel cleaner, more righteous. The camera is like a ray gun of virtue. Maybe the future will be a kinder world…My wife and I had a Category 5 fight over a typically stupid thing. She thought I had ordered Mexican food for dinner, and I thought she'd placed the order…I knew I had never said I'd order the damn burritos…A couple of days later, I convince my wife to watch the footage. We can see who was right. Plus, "it'll be good for our marriage," I say…According to her version of events, she got home and said, "Did you order the food?" and I responded "Yes." But the video shows that she really said, "Is the food here?" and I responded "No." As I pressed pause, I felt a petty little thrill. Victory…My wife wasn't smiling. That doesn't go back to the big problem, she said. Namely, that I had ignored her texts and just assumed she would place the order. My so-called evidence was irrelevant…If lifelogging catches on, copyrights will be even more endangered than they are now. And tech companies know this. In August, Apple patented a device that can disable smartphones based on location…I'm up to five hundred hours of footage and am running out of room on the hard drive…I've also started to snap a photo of everything I eat. It's a remarkable tactic. Until you see it onscreen, it's hard to fathom how much crap you eat. Where'd that muffin come from? And that PowerBar?...At the end of nine weeks, I'm exhausted. At times, lifelogging makes me giddy, like an 8 or 9 on the happiness scale. I'm capturing everything. All those moments with my kids…will be forever stored in my hard drive. My children will actually know whether they went to Epcot Center…And yet, sometimes…I feel like I'm getting a preview of a dystopia worthy of a young-adult novel…It will be a world with a lot less mystery, which might mean a lot less fun…Because that's the problem with reality — it's not really life. Reality is messy, nuanced, repetitive, and dull…90 percent of my cocktail-party anecdotes — which I believe at some level are accurate — are half true, at best. We all are aware that we mythologize our own lives. But I can prove it…”

16.     Firefox OS dev phones appear to be driven by Telefonica  http://gigaom.com/2013/01/22/firefox-os-dev-phones-appear-with-telefonica-as-the-driving-force/  “…Spain’s Geeksphone…has been around for a few years as a minor maker of Android phones, taking things very much from the open-source fan’s standpoint…it’s producing two test devices for Firefox OS called Keon and Peak, which will be shown off to developers later this month at Telefonica’s Campus Party Brazil. The Keon is the lower-end device, running a 1GHz Qualcomm 7225A processor and sporting a 2.5-inch screen and a 3MP camera. The Peak has a 1.2GHz Qualcomm 8225 processor, which is dual-core, and it has a larger 4.3-inch screen, an 8MP rear camera and a 1.3MP front-facing camera…Telefonica is really the link here. The Spanish telecoms giant has been working closely with Mozilla on Firefox OS since the middle of last year, and has promised to launch smartphones based on the OS during this year…the telco will be buying in “a number” of Geeksphone devices, both for internal testing and for free distribution to interested developers…”

Apps

17.     Opera Ice: totally new browser for Android and iPhone  http://techcrunch.com/2013/01/18/operas-new-ice-mobile-browser-launching-in-february-for-android-and-ios-drops-presto-for-webkit/  “Opera unveiled a major new mobile browser initiative called Opera Ice…based on the same WebKit rendering engine used by Apple’s Safari and Google Chrome, rather than Presto, which has powered Opera since 2003…the new browser…eschews buttons in favor of an all-touch gesture-based control system. Tabs are also gone, supplanted by a home screen with page icons, and a single combined search and URL bar handles all new page opening duties…Navigation back and forth between full-screen apps is handled via gestures, and also through a home screen-like software button at the bottom of every page…the company decided to go back to the drawing board and build something from scratch that is designed for use in a mobile environment…As always with a new mobile browser…the challenge will be making something attractive enough to replace a user’s built-in software…Opera Ice will have to face the fact that iOS users can’t select a third-party browser as their default choice…”

18.     Facebook Voice Calls With Messenger App on iPhone  http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2414381,00.asp  “Facebook is rolling out a free calling option to iPhone Facebook Messenger users. The new function…requires Messenger users to open a conversation with another iPhone owner, tap the "i" button in the top right corner, and press "Free Call."…The new option offers a real boost to people with spotty cell service at work or at home, and those hoping to conserve minutes…the move means Facebook could have "one of the largest communities of VoIP users in the world."…Skype and Vonage have much smaller user bases…Facebook and Skype have been in cahoots for two and a half years, since the social network in 2011 integrated a Skype video-calling feature directly into Facebook.com. But the tool was not made available on mobile…”

SkyNet

19.     Google Declares War on the Password  http://www.wired.com/wiredenterprise/2013/01/google-password/all/  “…Passwords are a cheap and easy way to authenticate web surfers, but they’re not secure enough for today’s internet, and they never will be. Google agrees. “Along with many in the industry, we feel passwords and simple bearer tokens such as cookies are no longer sufficient to keep users safe,”…they’re experimenting with new ways to replace the password, including a tiny Yubico cryptographic card that — when slid into a USB (Universal Serial Bus) reader — can automatically log a web surfer into Google. They’ve had to modify Google’s web browser to work with these cards, but there’s no software download and…they’re easy to use. You log into the website, plug in the USB stick and then register it with a single mouse click. They see a future where you authenticate one device — your smartphone or something like a Yubico key — and then use that almost like a car key, to fire up your web mail and online accounts…they’d like things to get even easier, perhaps connecting to the computer via wireless technology…the primary authenticator will be a token like this or some equivalent piece of hardware.”…once enough websites support this device-centric login technique, people mostly won’t need strong passwords, except in rare occasions…“Others have tried similar approaches but achieved little success in the consumer world,” they write…we recognize that our initiative will likewise remain speculative until we’ve proven large scale acceptance…they’ve developed a…protocol for device-based authentication that…is independent of Google, requires no special software to work — aside from a web browser that supports the login standard — and which prevents web sites from using this technology to track users…”

20.    Google Handwrite Gets Faster And Smarter  http://techcrunch.com/2013/01/18/digital-natives-and-doctors-rejoice-google-handwrite-gets-faster-and-smarter/  “Google Handwrite, a small but helpful tool…introduced last year, has gotten a bit of an upgrade…The tool allows you to turn on a mode when you’re on your mobile device to “write” your search…From Google’s mobile search page on your device, just go into settings and enable “Handwrite” mode to give it a try. If you have sloppy handwriting, then you will be extremely happy to learn more about the update…While this tool might seem like no big deal, the technology behind it is quite complex, especially the above-mentioned understanding of handwriting from millions of potential users…Compared with tablets, mobile phone screens are smaller and are a little more difficult to write on. Now, instead of squeezing in your letters across the width of the small screen or writing one letter at a time, you can write letters on top of one another…By learning how to read a multitude of handwriting samples, the company can then release functionality to scan documents of any type in, making it easier to convert them to digital format. This type of approach is how Google has tuned its Voice product, by allowing you to call GOOG411 to get restaurant information and phone numbers…”

21.     Google Patents Autonomous Vehicle UI  http://www.tomshardware.com/news/google-patent-ui-Autonomous-car,20324.html  “Google was granted the rights to a user interface for its autonomous vehicle technology…Google stayed very much with the look and feel of today's dash layout and minor additions of information displays…the actual interface of autonomous vehicles will resemble the appearance of a 1990's car cockpit much more than any designs in science fiction flicks. Google's patented layout is virtually unchanged from the layout of a standard production car with a navigation screen. The only obvious difference is the addition of an information or status bar "to indicate the current status of vehicle". According to Google, "various other audible and visual indicators may also be employed…”

22.    Google to build £1bn UK headquarters at London's King's Cross  http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2013/jan/17/google-uk-headquarters-kings-cross  “Google has completed a £1bn property deal to move its UK headquarters…The US technology giant has purchased a 2.4 acre site between King's Cross and St Pancras stations and plans to build a seven and 11 storey complex due to be complete in 2016. Google already has two central London offices – one in Victoria and one on St Giles High Street – from where staff are expected to be relocated…”

23.    Google Glass Laser Keyboard  http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-57564519-93/this-google-patent-application-had-us-at-laser-keyboard/  “Among the challenges developers will face when they start building for Google Glass this year is a basic one: how do users communicate with the device? Glass has a microphone, and a button for taking pictures. But what if the user is in a noisy environment, or wants to create a long message? Is there any way to include a keyboard?...Patent 20130016070, "Methods and Systems for a Virtual Input Device," shows a version of glass that includes a laser projector in the arm of the glasses. The glasses project a keyboard on to the hand of the user, who can than use his body as a touch screen…the patent describes a use in which the glasses' camera interprets a user's gestures, so that they can accept input both via tapping virtual keys and by moving the hand…”

24.    Google Glass Hackathons In NYC And SF  http://techcrunch.com/2013/01/15/google-announces-first-project-glass-hackathons-in-nyc-and-sf-will-detail-mirror-api/  “…Google has slowly been unveiling its plans around Project Glass, the company’s R&D program responsible for attempting to bring wearable computing to the mainstream. Complete with augmented reality and an integrated display…“Explorer” editions of the glasses have been expected to begin showing up early this year…Google sent out its first invitations to the developers who signed up for the $1,500 special edition glasses, inviting them to an “early look at Glass” and “two full days of hacking on the upcoming Google Mirror API” in San Francisco and NYC…These hackathons, which Google has dubbed the “Glass Foundry,” are exclusive to developers in the company’s Explorer Program, offering those select engineers the opportunity to get an early shot at building for Project Glass…the hackathons will introduce developers to Glass (they’ll be given a device on-site)…The developers will then be given free rein to hack away, with Project Glass engineers on hand to help them along the way. On the second day, the hackathons will culminate with the standard round of demos to be overseen by a handful of “guest judges.…”

25.    Google’s Larry Page on Why Moon Shots Matter  http://www.wired.com/business/2013/01/ff-qa-larry-page/all/  “Larry Page lives by the gospel of 10x. Most companies would be happy to improve a product by 10 percent…The way Page sees it, a 10 percent improvement means that you’re basically doing the same thing as everybody else…That’s why Page expects his employees to create products and services that are 10 times better than the competition…Thousand-percent improvement requires rethinking problems entirely, exploring the edges of what’s technically possible, and having a lot more fun in the process…once Google’s riotously successful ad business provided a plump financial cushion, Page was free to push for innovations that bore only a passing relationship to his core business. Google would build an email service—with 100 times the storage of competitors. Google would provide translations—for the entire web, from any language to any other…Google launched its own version of an ISP service—laying its own fiber and providing broadband service to Kansas City customers at 100 times industry-standard speeds…something has gone seriously wrong with the way we run companies. If you read the media coverage of our company, or of the technology industry in general, it’s always about the competition…How exciting is it to come to work if the best you can do is trounce some other company that does roughly the same thing?...But incremental improvement is guaranteed to be obsolete over time. Especially in technology, where you know there’s going to be non-incremental change…a big part of my job is to get people focused on things that are not just incremental. Take Gmail. When we released that, we were a search company—it was a leap for us to put out an email product, let alone one that gave users 100 times as much storage as they could get anywhere else. That is not something that would have happened naturally if we had been focusing on incremental improvements…every n years, you should work on something new that you think is really amazing. The trick is coming up with those products…we always have these debates: We have all this money, we have all these people, why aren’t we doing more stuff?...At Google we’re attacking maybe 0.1 percent of that space. And all the tech companies combined are only at like 1 percent. That means there’s 99 percent virgin territory…we’re not teaching people how to identify those difficult projects…You’d probably need a pretty broad technical education and some knowledge about organization and entrepreneurship…A great deal of my effort is spent making sure that we have a great user experience across our core products. Whether you’re in Chrome or Search or Gmail, it’s just Google, with one consistent look and feel…you may have the greatest maps in the world, but if nobody uses them, it doesn’t matter. Our philosophy has always been to get our products out to as many people as possible…As we said when we acquired Motorola, we’re running it independently…There’s a lot of room for innovation in hardware…”

26.    Ganttic Brings Gantt Charts to Google Calendar  http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/ganttic-brings-gantt-charts-to-google-calendar-for-faster-scheduling-and-better-management-186931381.html  “The Google user community has been requesting the option of Gantt chart views for years. Ganttic has taken the initiative, creating an enterprise view that puts several Google calendars in a single view. The seamless integration of Google Calendar with Ganttic's resource planner will allow field workers and remote employees to enjoy all the benefits of Ganttic's tools…Ganttic has already established itself…in the field of intelligent scheduling and management tools. Now the company is…integrating with Google Calendar, the personal calendar of choice for millions of users. Companies that take advantage of this integration can effortlessly sync their Ganttic task schedules with their users' personal Google calendars, allowing updates to be sent directly to their smartphones or other networked devices…All tasks created in Ganttic will sync to the appropriate Google Calendar in real time. Team members in the field will…receive instant updates to work plans. Likewise, tasks and events that originate in Google Calendar will display in Ganttic upon the next log in…”

27.    New Google Contacts Integrates Voice And Brings In Voice SMS And Calls  http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/the-new-google-contacts-integrates-voice-and-brings-in-voice-sms-and-calls-updates/  “Google is giving Contacts a makeover. Google Voice Contacts is being integrated into Contacts for a more seamless user experience. Very soon you will be able to use Google Contacts alone to place calls and send voice SMS. The thought behind the new layout appears to be an attempt at unification of the multiple points for managing your Google Contacts. Google has many different products and some like Gmail, Google Chat, Google Voice, and Google+ can be used to add and remove contacts. A common interface for managing all of that makes sense…you can try out it out at  google.com/contacts…”

28.    What should Google do about Facebook Graph Search?  http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-57564611-93/what-should-google-do-about-facebook-graph-search/  “When Facebook introduced its next-generation search product in Menlo Park, Calif., this week, the announcement was no doubt being watched closely in nearby Mountain View…You can imagine the Google crew listening to Mark Zuckerberg describe the data that underpins Graph Search and wishing they could get their hands on it…From the get-go it was clear that searching your social network was materially different than searching the Web…The question is which approach is better -- and, should Facebook's take on search prove popular with users, what Google should do about it…social search promises to bring us more than mere answers -- it can also bring us into conversation…But what if the value of social search is overstated? Google sees your friends as important to answering search queries -- that was the point of Search Plus Your World, introduced last year -- but they're only one signal. What are the other signals?...there are the 30 trillion Web sites Google has indexed, across 230 million domains. There's the Knowledge Graph, its database of 570 million people, places, and things, which now has mapped more than 18 billion connections. Google is betting that for most questions, that enormous database will provide better answers than the random sample offered by the average Facebook user's 150 friends…even in beta, there's one search Facebook does better than anyone else: photos. Facebook is the world's largest storehouse of pictures, and Graph Search makes them searchable in a way that is not only functional but fun…If Facebook builds the rest of Graph Search as well as it did the photo components, Google may actually have something to worry about…”

29.    Getty Images signs controversial content deal with Google Drive  http://www.thephoblographer.com/2013/01/17/getty-google-struck-a-deal-people-are-not-happy/  “Hot on the heels of Instagram’s ToS debacle, Getty Images has decided to start one of their own…Google…announced that “5,000 new photos of nature, weather, animals, sports, food, education, technology, music and 8 other categories are now available for your use in Docs, Sheets, and Slides.”…there was no mention made as to where the majority of the images came from, who they belonged to or how they were licensed…if you have a Google Drive account, you have access to these images and are free to use them in your documents however you choose…In a forum post on istockphoto.com dated Jan. 10, 2013 a user named “sjlocke” there uncovered what was really going on…Google describes acquiring 5,000 images for use in their Google Drive program. I don’t use Google apps, so I thought I would check it out…I type in “student”… The first image that comes up is mine. Once I select it, it puts it into my document at 1,066 x 1,600. No attribution. No meta-data. No license. No link…That thread accumulated 537 responses before being locked by the administrators, clearly people are concerned and rightly so. In an attempt to clarify the situation, another post titled  “Google Drive + Update” is submitted by mr_erin who appears to work for istockphoto…That thread accumulated 656 responses before being locked, and now another followup post has been submitted again by mr_erin stating: “We’ve heard you, and we’ve met with Google and are working with them to refine the implementation which we believe will address some of the concerns raised over the past several days–including copyright ownership.”…it sounds like the wildfire response from so many online communities has not entirely fallen on deaf ears and they are going to hopefully restructure the agreement to be in everyone’s best interest…”

30.    Google beats profit estimates, spurs stock hike  http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2013/01/22/google-facebook-zynga-motorola/1855185/  “Google…hauled in $2.89 billion, or $8.62 a share in its fourth quarter, compared with $2.71 billion ($8.22 a share) a year ago…exceeding analysts' estimates. Revenue was $11.34 billion, up from $8.13 billion in the same period a year ago. For its fiscal year, Google hit $50 billion for the first time. The financial surge sent Google shares up nearly 5% in after-hours trading, to $736.40…”

31.     Google integrates Google+ profiles into its company jobs board, adding one-click applications  http://thenextweb.com/google/2013/01/21/google-integrates-google-profiles-into-its-internal-jobs-board-adding-one-click-applications-and-filtered-search-results/  “Google has updated its company jobs board with support for Google+ profiles, allowing users to see more relevant search results, star jobs they want to return to later on and receive curated email updates. The changes…hints at a larger push from Google into job listings and applications. We’ve already seen Google+ profiles inch into the company’s other mainstream products, such as Gmail and YouTube…Users that look for an opening on the Google jobs board will be shown a new search results page that pushes Google+ profiles hard…The link through to your Gmail account for email updates is also an obvious way for the firm to continue creating an internal ecosystem for its services and products…The idea is to remind users about who they can contact at Google should they wish to find out more about the listing…”

General Technology

32.    Micron Readies Hybrid Memory Cube for Debut  http://www.hpcwire.com/hpcwire/2013-01-17/micron_readies_hybrid_memory_cube_for_debut.html  “…Micron's…Hybrid Memory Cube (HMC) technology, a multi-chip module (MCM)…aims to address one of the biggest challenges in high performance computing: scaling the memory wall…As microprocessor speeds out-accelerated DRAM memory speeds, a bottleneck developed that is referred to as the memory wall. Stacked memory applications….enable higher memory bandwidth. The Hybrid Memory Cube (HMC) is a new memory architecture that combines a high-speed logic layer with a stack of through-silicon-via (TSV) bonded memory die…a single HMC offers a 15x performance increase and uses 70 percent less energy per bit when compared to DDR3 memory, and takes up 90 percent less space than today's RDIMMs…Because the memory chips are stacked, there is more space for I/O pins through the TSVs. Thus each DRAM can be accessed with more (and/or wider) channels. The end result is that the controller can access many more banks of memory concurrently than can be accomplished with a two-dimensional DIMM…The first couple of HMC implementations will be straight DRAM, but Micron and others are researching alternative memory combinations…There are all kinds of things you can do within the logic layer to pull different types of functionality, that are maybe off-chip today, into the logic layer and innovate further, with more functionality, better performance, and lower energy…”

33.    Physics limits for CPU / silicon chip feature size and magnetic storage density  http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/10/10/hpc_blog_ibm/  “…Bernie Meyerson…IBM’s VP of Innovation…can clearly and directly explain highly technical concepts in a way that they can be understood by a reasonably intelligent grey squirrel…in 2003 he predicted that Intel would never deliver on its promises of 4 to 5GHz CPUs and would…be forced to shift to multi-core processors. Meyerson backed up his brash prediction…by sharing electron microscope images of individual atoms that showed they’re kind of lumpy…when you use only a handful of them to build gates, they leak current like a sieve…Intel denied over and over that there was a problem…when it comes to chips, we have only a generation or two left before we reach the end of the line…where’s the end of the line? According to Bernie: 7 to 9 nanometers…you start to see quantum mechanics effects that are “very nasty” that impairs the performance of the processor's decision-making gates…It’s a fundamental limit, and it’s finally in sight. Chips in mass production these days have a 32nm or 22nm feature size, and 14nm is not far down the line…Meyerson also talked about the limitations facing us on the storage side…how many atoms would you need to reliably store a single bit of data?...It takes twelve atoms to reliably store a bit of data. Any less and you lose stability, meaning that parts of the data might disappear, or morph into something you didn’t store. This is related to the same quantum effects discussed above and are ultimately the result of the fact that we can’t scale atoms down to a handier size…we won’t approach the 12-atom limit until we get around 100 times more dense. Right now, a 1TB per platter is the highest density available. Theoretically, we may be able to get to 100TB per platter and 300TB per drive at maximum density…”

34.    Beijing to restrict vehicles to cut down pollution  http://zeenews.india.com/news/world/beijing-plans-to-restrict-vehicles-to-cut-down-pollution_823930.html  “…Chinese government plans to cut down the number of vehicles operating in the capital on days when the city suffers from heavy air pollution, even as smog returned once again to the city taking its pollution levels to above the danger mark…Heavy smog covered China's capital for seven consecutive days until Wednesday, when a cold front with wind dispersed it. The haze returned today, when the air quality in the city fell to dangerous levels again…Visibility in the city's southern region was less than 500 metres during daytime…The air quality indices were off the charts during the seven days until Wednesday…”

35.    Intel Bets on Fabs, Again  http://www.technologyreview.com/news/509316/intel-bets-on-fabs-again/  “…Intel…commands 83 percent of the market for the processor chips that run PCs and laptops. But that market has peaked, and the company has only a tiny role in the fast-growing business of providing processors for tablets and smartphones, which in 2011 accounted for about two-thirds of all computing devices sold…A $5 billion dollar factory, or fab, being built in Chandler, Arizona, will make chips, slated to appear in 2014, with features as small as 14 nanometers. It’s the latest jump downward in size, a trend that’s making chips more efficient and powerful. The new chips will make use of Intel’s unrivaled 3-D transistor design, introduced with the current 22-nanometer generation, to solve efficiency problems limiting previous designs from being shrunk further…The Chandler fab’s technology and operations…will be carbon copies of those at Intel’s development fabs in Oregon, in line with Intel’s “copy exactly” philosophy of making sure techniques make a smooth jump from R&D to production. Intel’s strategy couldn’t be more different from that of the competitors it is chasing in the market for mobile processors. They typically license processor designs from U.K. company ARM—traditionally more power-efficient than Intel’s desktop chips, which is why they dominate the mobile market, where battery life is important—and produce them using what is known as the foundry model, or outsourcing production to Asian contractors such as Taiwan Semiconductor, known as TSMC…”

Leisure & Entertainment

36.    This Is Why Oculus Rift Will Change Your Gaming World  http://www.tomshardware.com/news/CES-2013-Oculus-Rift-VR-Goggles-Epic-Citadel,20561.html  “Holy $#!+," I blurted after the Oculus Rift VR goggles were slapped on my face. It had nothing to do with the device's physical aspect – the Oculus Rift was surprisingly light on my head despite its bulky appearance. I just didn't expect to see what my eyes were sending to my brain, and everyone in the dark room laughed at my sudden outburst…I found myself a little speechless thereafter, lost wandering the streets of the Epic Citadel demo. I knew the experience would be awesomely cool, but I didn't expect to still be talking about it a week later to everyone I know. If you were there when id Software and 3Dfx changed PC gaming, then you might know what's coming for you…I can't even remember Quake without GPU support now, but I remember cursing the moment I saw what the difference dedicated hardware support made. This will likely be the very reaction every PC gamer will have when they use the Oculus Rift…”

37.    Amazon quietly introduces Kindle rentals  http://www.engadget.com/2013/01/18/amazon-kindle-rentals/  “Think you can finish a 168-page novel in a month? It might pay to opt for Amazon's new Kindle rental feature…available on an incredibly limited number of titles…The 5 Elements of Effective Thinking…You can buy it outright for $9.99, or you can instead opt for a 30-day rental. Prices there start at $5.50, increasing by pennies each day until you reach the buy price…This new rental option certainly seems appealing, unless you're the type who slowly makes your way through a text over the course of a year…”

38.    How Steam and Android Will Change Gaming Forever  http://www.gamespot.com/features/how-steam-and-android-will-change-gaming-forever-6402495/  “…games-industry veteran and current Microsoft vice president Phil Harrison addressed the imminent chaos in the video game hardware space…His first comment concerned…Valve's recent media escalation around its Steam Box initiative, the associated Xi3 Piston, and to a lesser extent other devices like Nvidia's Project Shield and the Kickstarted Ouya…Harrison said…it's very rare for a new hardware entrant to get to scale, and I mean tens, hundreds of millions of units…it's not just having a great brand or a great software experience. It's about having a supply chain and a distribution model and a manufacturing capacity…When describing the future of Microsoft's own Xbox business, Harrison…described what he called a transition from a "device-centric" business to something more service-oriented…therein lies the contradiction. Services will define the next generation, not the hardware challenges he previously described. The box itself is increasingly little more than a vessel simply capable of running the services that users demand…For many gamers, discussion of anything Android-related no doubt provokes eye rolls and grumblings that it's not good for anything other than "crappy tablet games"…Because of this, devices like the Ouya and Nvidia's Project Shield have immediately been dismissed for somehow trying to force casual touch-screen experiences onto gamers who demand much more…it's important to understand…Android represents…an advanced, ever-evolving open platform with the support of one of the largest companies in the world…An Android device with sufficient processing power is perfectly capable of running Unreal-, OpenGL-, or Unity-powered games that look just as good as those running under Windows, or on an Xbox or PlayStation…Android-powered devices have the potential to provide the base from which any number of game-related services are launched…While the current thinking is that the battle for living room dominance is between the usual three contenders--Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo, with new upstarts nibbling at the edges--we could very quickly see a shift toward a space increasingly dominated by two open digital platforms, each with numerous hardware partners…”

39.    New smartphone camera technology improves your photos  http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/story?section=news/consumer&id=8958481  “…incredibly innovative camera features…can help you solve some age-old photo challenges like a pro…it can be really tough to get a good group photo. "It could make or break a photograph if just one person is blinking, or with a bad expression,"…what if you could get the best take of each person and then combine those into one photo? "You can actually do this with some smartphone cameras,"…Phones like the Samsung Galaxy Note 2, LG Optimus G and the Nokia Lumia 920 all offer this feature. "The Nokia Lumia 920 also takes care of another problem: If someone ruins your shot by walking in on it, you can remove them,"…tap on what you don't want in the photo and the camera takes it away…some smartphones…can…automatically take pictures when certain words like "cheese" are spoken. It's on phones like the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 and LG Optimus G…The LG Optimus G senses when your finger is about to snap a photo and takes multiple shots so you don't miss the moment.…”

Entrepreneurism and Technology

40.    Create 25 innovation hubs, restore U.S. economy  http://upstart.bizjournals.com/companies/innovation/2013/01/14/brookings-calls-for-25-us-innovation.html?page=all  “What will it take to return the United States to economic pre-eminence worldwide? Per the Brookings Institution, 25 new innovation hubs with $3.1 billion in funding. In a paper released today…a pair of researchers call for the creation of 20 Advanced Industries Innovation Hubs and five new Energy Innovation Hubs…They'd unite the top research institutions with private industry and government around industries with the most promise for innovation: aerospace, phototonics technology, advanced energy systems, IT, medical devices and auto assembly, to name a few. They'd require about $25 million apiece, and for each of the next five years. Brookings calls it a "next economy" model that drives more export growth and produces higher-skilled, better-paying jobs than finance or retail…Advanced industries make up 10 percent of the overall economy, yet generate 45 percent of U.S. good exports and provide four million highly skilled jobs and millions more to support…Brookings Institution pinpoints the problem as too much focus by the U.S. government on projects and research with short-term returns, and too few incentives for private firms to tackle longer-term disruptive innovation projects…”  http://www.brookings.edu/~/media/Research/Files/Papers/2013/1/14%20federalism%20series%20advanced%20industries%20hubs/14%20federalism%20series%20advanced%20industries%20hubs.pdf

41.     The Future Of Coworking  http://www.fastcompany.com/3004788/future-coworking-and-why-it-will-give-your-business-huge-edge  “Here are the numbers that support the case for coworking--and why it's not just for startups or freelancers anymore. Fun. Friendly. Inspiring. Collaborative. Productive. If you wouldn't define your workplace with any or all of those terms, you may have to ditch your own desk and take a seat at a coworking space near you. Even if you aren’t an entrepreneur or freelancer, the benefits of coworking…are pretty hard to ignore: 71 percent of participants reported a boost in creativity since joining a coworking space, while 62 percent said their standard of work had improved…half of all coworkers access their work space around the clock--with only 30 percent preferring to work during normal business hours. “The future of work should not be dictated by space or place, but by the individual and the tasks that he or she has to deliver…Many employees are now measured by output and productivity, and not just 40 hours spent sitting at a desk. Workers and the companies for which they work are increasingly realizing that they need to provide and utilize a wide range of workplaces to accommodate an increasingly diverse workforce…today anywhere between a third and half of all workers are flexible and mobile. Four years ago flexible working was the reserve of quirky marketing agencies and IT shops. Today, it’s a way of life influenced by the growth of the freelance economy and the need to expand the top-line by market expansion…Dodd Caldwell…has been coworking for two and a half years in Greenville, S.C…he’s sharing space with other startups at Iron Yard. “We're a pretty curated coworking space, so even though we're made up of different companies, we're all fairly kindred spirits,”…Pecan Street Inc.’s new Pike Powers Commercialization Lab…in northeast Austin, will be officially opening in May to promote research, commercialization, and education tied to smart energy grids, advanced information technology, clean energy, and health care applications. As the nation’s first nonprofit smart-grid research lab, it’s going to give smaller businesses the ability to use equipment like a spectrum analyzer that would cost roughly an engineer’s annual salary, without the huge investment…”

42.    With GoBank, you can carry all your money in a pocket  http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-57563963-94/with-gobank-you-can-carry-all-your-money-in-a-pocket/  “A lot of people like to do some of their banking on their mobile devices…Green Dot thinks the device can be the entire bank. With the launch today of GoBank, Green Dot…is betting that an all-new FDIC-insured bank, built from scratch and designed for mobile devices, could be just what people disgruntled with their Chase or Bank of America experience are looking for…The new bank is launching in a small beta but is expected to be available to everyone later this year…GoBank won't have any branches, which slashes one of the largest costs of a traditional bank. At the same time, it offers a network of more than 40,000 ATMs where customers can withdraw cash for free -- a number twice as large as that of BofA or Chase -- and deposits can be made at any Green Dot retailer, such as Wal-Mart…”

Design / DEMO

43.    Design Books You Should Read  http://davidmckinney.com/blog/2013/1/15/the-best-5-design-books  “…These books cover the basics…of designing for people…these books are about understanding what people need when they interact with the things you make…I choose these…books because they are the ones that I've learnt the most from personally…If you're making an app, creating a new website, or designing a chair, these books might help you to design and make better things…The Design of Everyday Things, by Donald A. Norman…Universal Principles of Design, by William Lidwell…Grid Systems, by Josef Muller-Brockmann…As Little Design As Possible, by Sophie Lovell…”

44.    The Design-Savvy Founder  http://www.inc.com/eric-markowitz/designer-entrepreneur-silicon-valley-hot-commodity.html  “Don't get an MBA. Don't even learn to code. If you really want to start a great company, hone your design skills…Gebbia believes that we're in what he calls "the third phase of the Internet," which has has place more emphasis on uniting form and content through elegant design. In the 1990s, he says, the problem of the Internet was access--simply getting online, which AOL and other brands solved by the early 2000s…the third iteration of major Web challenges…"how do we use the Internet to connect people in the offline world?" Ultimately, Gebbia believes good design can solve that goal…what we've seen is this shift to design…being at the front of how people think about solving a problem."…Yves Behar, the designer and entrepreneur behind Jawbone, points towards this idea of connectedness as a major driver of design's recent significance in Silicon Valley…"Connectedness--the fact that these devices are connected to my phone, my life in general--forces businesses to think through and through about the experience, the design, the look and feel…”

45.    Rec center reopens as Digital Harbor Tech Center  http://articles.baltimoresun.com/2013-01-17/business/bal-digital-harbor-tech-center_1_rec-center-tech-director-cyber-security  “…a former South Baltimore rec center is re-born as a tech center. Work — paid work for clients whose fees will help send students to college — will happen there…Focused on after-school programming and workforce training for city public school students, The Digital Harbor Tech Center, was built, and its programming designed, for "exploration and discovery,"…the tech center…is run by the…nonprofit Digital Harbor Foundation with private and public support…40-some desktop, laptop and tablet computers including iPads and Microsoft Surface tablets, a digital fabrication shop, and outdoor garden space are among the amenities — as well as demos of projects — from 3D printing to DJing…Students will start regularly meeting at the center…Evenings, the space will be available for community events, such as tech group meetups….driving the tech center's curriculum will be the needs of businesses and consumers. That means developing hard skills needed for growing sectors like cyber security, Web and mobile app development and digital fabrication…It's really about connecting local youth with technological opportunities and creating new ones…high schoolers, though eighth-graders and college students may also participate, will develop websites for organizations just getting started on the Web or who need help optimizing for mobile…Another signature program at the tech center is its maker lab, where students will…design and create objects with 3D printers, computer-controlled mills and other digital fabrication tools. Rapid prototyping, customizing parts for businesses or products for consumers, modeling and illustrating abstract concepts like mathematical models are among the many applications of this emerging technology.…”

46.    Smart Fabrics 2013 in San Francisco  http://www.marketwatch.com/story/adidas-mc10-and-pebble-technology-headline-at-smart-fabrics-2013-2013-01-08  “…Smart Fabrics 2013…will feature sessions on the culture of innovation in organizations, military end uses, technical platforms, the latest developments in e-textiles as an application for devices…The Hyatt at Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco, California will host the event April 17-19, 2013…Delegates of Smart Fabrics 2013 will have the opportunity to attend workshops…on The Next Wave - Entrepreneurs in Fashion Tech, and Design Principles for Wearability…attendees will hear over 25 presentations…from…Adidas; Philips Lighting; Moondial; Fabric Works; Pebble Technology; Lowenstein Sandler; Maya Design; Obscura Digital; IDEO; Botanicalls; Lilypad XBee; MC10; 3lectromode…System Planning Corporation; Infoscitex Corporation; Philips Corporate Technologies, Research; Infinite Corridor Technology; Terepac Corp; Groupe CTT; Artefact and Electricfoxy; POWERleap Inc; HealthSynch, Inc; Miller Edge, Inc; Eeonyx Corporation; Fabric Works; Holst Centre; and LUMO BodyTech…OCAD University; University of California, San Diego; Concordia University; Virginia Tech; University of Exeter; and Parsons The New School for Design…”

DHMN Technology

47.    VIA unveils $79 Rock and $99 Paper ARM PCs  http://www.geek.com/articles/chips/via-unveils-79-rock-and-99-paper-arm-pcs-20130117/  “…VIA has decided it’s time to update the APC board with…APC Rock and APC Paper. The hardware spec for both boards is exactly the same except for the fact the Rock ships with a VGA port where as the Paper doesn’t. The Rock also costs $20 less at $79, where as the Paper is $99. The reason for the price difference is the fact that the Paper ships with a rather novel case where as the Rock is a bare board. The Paper’s case is made from recycled cardboard attached to an aluminum chassis…As for the actual spec of the new boards, they include the following: Android 4.0…800MHz VIA WonderMedia ARM Cortex-A9…512MB DDR3 RAM…4GB NAND flash…1080p-capable graphics…HDMI, USB 2.0, microUSB, microSD, with VGA available on APC Rock…10/100 Ethernet…”

48.    3D Printing Will Probably Be Legislated  http://techcrunch.com/2013/01/18/like-it-or-not-i-think-3d-printing-is-about-to-get-legislated/  “…Defense Distributed, a group dedicated to releasing plans for a 3D printed gun, posted a video and description of their 3D-printed AR-15 thirty-round magazine…The resulting shenanigans have convinced Congressman Steve Israel (D-NY) to call for the banning of undectable 3-D printed high-capacity magazines…Rep. Israel said, “…3-D printing is a new technology that shows great promise, but also requires new guidelines…The law would “make it illegal to manufacture, own, transport, buy, or sell any firearm or magazine that is homemade and not detectable by metal detector and/or does not present an accurate image when put through an x-ray machine.”…Politics…is woefully unprepared to handle major technological advancement. While Israel means well, his ability to keep an 3D model off of Google is laughable at best and dangerous at worst…The danger in legislating 3D printers is that it is on one hand impossible and on the other hand potentially damaging to a nascent industry…”

49.    Filabot from American college student recycles plastic household scrap into 3D-printing material  http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/architecture-design-blog/2013/jan/15/filabot-home-3d-printing-recycle  “…3D-printers may be taking off…but the printing material itself still has a hefty price tag. A 1kg spool of plastic filament – which is heated then squeezed out in layers like icing to create objects – costs around £50…But the home-printing revolution may now be on its way, thanks to an invention by American college student Tyler McNaney. The Filabot brings a miniature industrial recycling plant to your desktop, grinding down everyday plastic waste and transforming it into ready-to-use printing material. Everything from water pipes to drinks bottles, plastic wrappers and Lego bricks can be fed into the contraption – which grinds, melts and extrudes the plastic into a filament of either 3mm or 1.75mm diameters. It can also melt down failed or broken 3D prints, allowing for increased trial and error, or the ability to upgrade redundant parts…”  http://filabot.com/  “…I am collaborating with a group that is developing a large scale 3D printer. The printer they are making is called KamerMaker. They are planning of being able to print very large objects like huts to provide shelter for developing countries. The reason they came to me is because they are interested in using recyclable plastic…”

50.    Projectors, Pandora and Pyrotechnics — 10 Pimped-Out Projects for Raspberry Pi  http://www.wired.com/design/2013/01/even-more-raspberry-pi-projects/  “…Increasingly, the Raspberry Pi is the platform of choice for…forward-thinking gadgeteers. Makers are using the tiny $35 platform to help the blind, manage their e-mail, play games — even put on pyrotechnic stage shows that would make the most hardened hair band weep with joy. These 10 projects show the enormous potential of this tiny board and should keep your weekend full of prototyping fun…Time-Lapse Dolly…Audiobooks for the Blind…RPirotechnics…The Doorbell of Doom…Pandora + Airplay + RPi…Inbox Zero Taunting Device…Tweet Powered Lighting…Super Nintendo Computer…Pocket-Sized Cellphone Base Station…Raspberry Pi Projector…”

51.     Jesse DePinto in 3D  http://expressmilwaukee.com/article-20451-jesse-depinto-in-3d.html  “Jesse DePinto and Matt Juranitch are the brains behind 3D Creations, one of the first 3D printing storefronts in the world…DePinto attended both Marquette University and UW-Milwaukee, studied astrophysics, supernovae and radio astronomy, opened his own company (hookahhomes.com) and worked for Rockwell Automation. Juranitch is a member of the hacker group DC414…As an inventor, he's created both self-watering planters and laser microphones. DePinto spoke with Off the Cuff about chess pieces, Barbie dolls, printing out airplanes…Theoretically, you can create anything you can imagine—like a broken car part or household appliance. Online shopping would definitely change. Instead of receiving a tracking number and waiting for the postman, imagine watching a robot create your purchase in front of your eyes…”

Open Source Hardware

52.    Can you really make an Open Source camera?  http://www.redsharknews.com/business/item/378-can-you-really-make-an-open-source-camera  “Open Source software. Somehow, it makes sense: talented developers contribute to projects in their spare time and the result is often stunningly good software. So what about Open Source hardware? That's different, and it's far more difficult…hardware is made of stuff…And making it costs money, because you have to buy the components and raw materials…So it is somewhat surprising to find that there really are Open Source hardware projects out there…Perhaps the best-known Open Source hardware project so far is Arduino, a hardware controller board…There are many other microcontrollers and microcontroller platforms available for physical computing…Arduino…offers some advantage for teachers, students, and interested amateurs over other systems…Inexpensive…Cross-platform…Simple, clear programming environment…Open source and extensible software…Open source and extensible hardware…for over six years, Apertus has been working to create digital cinematography video cameras based on the same sort of principles…issues that are endemic to Open Source development have hampered the project from the start…For 6 years Apertus has been a community-only driven project. People contributed because of personal interest and…in the end it was anarchy…while we had goals we had no means to guarantee we would really end up there…Following…painful realisation that a project as complex as creating a high-end camera needs organization…Apertus has announced that they are putting all the pieces in place to be able to manufacture the product…it will be a business that will have to generate revenue…the first product from the new "Organisation" will be the Axium: a 4K camera that's able to take virtually any lens mount…”

53.    Powerlolu board: Powerful open source stepper-motor driver  http://www.3ders.org/articles/20130107-powerlolu-board-powerful-open-source-stepper-motor-driver.html  “German RepRap GmbH announces the availability of a powerful stepper motor driver board. The Powerlolu board can drive stepper motors up to 500 Watts, drawing currents up to 10 Amps. The existing Pololus boards found in common RepRap 3D printers are at their limits when driving the 2 Nema17 z-axis stepper motors in parallel. Continuous z-axis movement can cause the board to overheat. These boards hardly drive stepper motors bigger than a Nema17. To avoid overheating or to drive larger motors a more powerful driver board is needed. The Powerlolu board enables the use of bigger stepper motors for a wide range of uses. This could be the conversion of manual milling machines into computer controlled milling machines (CNC-Machines) using the affordable electronics such as Arduino and RAMPS. Building 3D printers with a larger print volume or with larger extruders would be possible …”

54.    Got a 3D Printer? Build Yourself a Loyal Robot Companion  http://www.gizmag.com/inmoov-diy-3d-printed-robot/25909/  “…3D printing…unique projects are beginning to emerge from all sorts of talented people…Gael Langevin, a French sculptor and model marker…has spent the better part of the last year designing and engineering his own animatronic robot called InMoov. And it's open source, so…you can try to build one yourself using a list of off-the-shelf electronics and parts he shares on 3D file sharing site Thingiverse. InMoov started out as just an arm and hand, but Langevin has started to work on a head and torso for his creation…Considering that much smaller robot kits can cost upwards of two or three grand, it seems almost absurd that you can build two adult size robot arms, with individually-actuated fingers, for around US$900 dollars…”

55.     Open Source Hardware on the High Street  http://www.designspark.com/blog/open-source-hardware-on-the-high-street  “The open source hardware movement continues to grow at a rapid pace but could it ever give birth to mass market products that are seen on the high street?...open source hardware feels to be at a similar stage in its development as open source software was around the late 1990s…The tipping point with open source software was brought about by Linux, which offered significant cost savings and other major benefits, supporting a substantial marketplace for services…Arduino is the poster child of the open source hardware movement and although it is gaining popularity the marketplace is still relatively small, and the opportunities it creates are not of the same scale as those that Linux created. However…other developments…hint at future possibilities. The Openmoko project made a valiant attempt at creating an entirely open mobile handset, with not only the software stack provided under an open source licence but the hardware design files also…Openmoko Inc. sponsored the development of the first two handsets, codenamed GTA01 and GTA02, and the schematics, board layout and enclosure CAD files were open source. However, the software stack failed to live up to expectations and…development was cancelled by Openmoko, with the task being taken over by community efforts…The WikiReader is a mobile text-only device that provides offline access to Wikipedia articles, and that is developed by Openmoko…It may outwardly appear that the product has enjoyed limited success. However, the WikiReader launched in 2009 and over 3 years later it remains available for purchase, and updates are still being made to the GitHub repository…A truly open laptop is the dream of many an open source hardware advocate and one that Andrew “bunnie” Huang is determined to realise via the Novena project…The laptop is based around a quad-core 1.2GHz ARM Cortex A9 CPU, with NEON FPU, Vivante GC2000 OpenGL ES2.0 GPU and a host of hacker-friendly features…With software the duplication costs are zero and commercial services are made possible due to its existence, whereas hardware involves manufacturing and labour costs play a significant part. This would seem to suggest that publishing hardware designs under a liberal licence will be counterproductive unless you can be certain that you have the lowest manufacturing costs…”

56.    Crowdfunding push for EZ-EV open source electric kit car  http://www.gizmag.com/krysztopik-ez-ev-open-source-diy-electric-car-kit/25891/  “Electrical engineer Gary Krysztopik has been driving his self-built, open-framed, three-wheeled electric "hotrod" on the roads and highways of San Antonio (TX) for over three years now…he's been busy refining and tweaking the design for his "battery box on wheels" and is now preparing to release the EZ-EV car as open source plans, build-it-yourself kits and complete vehicles…Krysztopik's new design retains the central battery box but the frame of the two-seater EZ-EV is to be made from advanced honeycombed composites (fiber glass) instead of steel. The 32 kWh battery pack will consist of 96 lithium batteries and the vehicle will have power steering, disc brakes and modern suspension…Fully assembled vehicles will be made available, but the main goal of the EZ-EV project is to make the 1,500 pound (680 kg) street-legal, highway-capable vehicle available as a kit that can be assembled by one person in a garage with standard tools in just one week. Open source plans and a parts list will also be released for those who want to build an EZ-EV from scratch…the finished EZ-EV can then be registered as a motorcycle in most states (but advises checking local laws before jumping in). He expects the vehicle to easily manage over 80 mph (128 km/h), with a range of up to 150 miles (241 km) per charge…To help turn his electric dream into a reality, Krysztopik has hit the campaign pages of the Indiegogo crowd-funding platform. For US$1,000 backers can receive a quarter-scale EZ-EV model, $7,500 will secure a full-size frame and $10,000 will get you a rolling chassis kit. Lower reward levels are available for those who want to support the project…”

Open Source

57.     Free Geek provides jobs and free classes to the community  http://opensource.com/life/13/1/free-geek  “…I had the opportunity to visit the Free Geek mothership a few months ago and gathered a bit more information regarding their current operation…Free Geek is located in the Inner Eastside Industrial District, near the heart of Portland…The area is similar in appearance to the aging freight yard / industrial wholesale district in northeast DC…The Free Geek facility…main floor is 15,000 square feet, with additional space on another floor that includes offices and additional storage. All together…between 17,000 and 18,000 square feet..there were brochures and class schedules available in both English and Spanish…the Adoption program…takes in donated computers and other electronics, breaks them down into component parts (if necessary), and classifies them as reusable, recyclable, or trash. The components are boxed then sent to the warehouse for the Build program or for recycling / disposal…we reuse about 25% of the gizmos we receive and recycle about 75%...After 24 hours of volunteer time in the Adoption program, volunteers receive a free computer with Ubuntu installed and a 2.5-3 hour class covering setup and basic usage of their new computer, as well as instructions on installing additional software…volunteers in the Build program begin with a 2.5-3 hour community-based IT class…volunteer builders then move on to Systems Evaluation where they examine hardware which has been dropped off, determining if there are any salvageable parts…to "graduate" from Systems Evaluation to Quality Control (the next step), volunteers must pass their Systems Evaluation skills on to an incoming "freshman" in the Build program…In Quality Control, volunteers test computers built by other volunteers, making sure they're ready to go out into the world. After performing QC on five machines, they are ready to move into the actual "build" phase…Once they have successfully built five machines, they are eligible for…a computer with a year of free maintenance and the setup and basic usage class…Once built computers are ready, they are moved into the Donation storage area, where they fall into one of four categories: FREEKBOXes: computers for volunteers…FG-PDX systems…to be given away to Portland city residents and organizations…"Low End" and "High End" systems sold in the thrift store; open to the general public…In addition, Free Geek offers Hardware Grants to qualified non-profit organizations…The site also contains a library with computers available for an hour at a stretch…There is also a kitchen and, following OSHA standards, credit for volunteer hours includes a 15-minute break every two hours and a lunch break for shifts lasting longer than six hours…In a given day, there are between 70-75 volunteer slots to be filled, though they're not always filled. Between staff, volunteers and library drop-ins, there are typically 80 people in the space, maxing out at around 100 occasionally…”

58.    openSUSE 12.3 Beta 1 Released with Pizza  http://ostatic.com/blog/opensuse-12-3-beta-1-released-with-pizza  “…Jos Poortvliet announced the arrival of openSUSE's developmental release, openSUSE 12.3 Beta 1. He expressed the importance of getting this release "a good workout." As an incentive a pizza party is planned, because, after all, hacking is quite difficult on an empty tummy…It seems openSUSE is throwing a pizza party in Germany to kick-off the openSUSE 12.3 Beta Hackathon. So, yeah, it's for developers and such…Fortunately, you don't really have to be in Nürnberg to help with openSUSE. You can test it and report bugs or organize your own pizza party…”  http://news.opensuse.org/2011/09/30/opensuse-pizza-parties-the-geeko-way/  http://news.opensuse.org/2011/09/06/opensuse-celebrates-beta-1-with-pizzabeta-parties/  http://blog.jospoortvliet.com/2011/08/10-steps-to-building-local-community.html

59.    64-bit Window version of Scribus open source DTP program available  http://www.h-online.com/open/news/item/64-bit-Window-version-of-Scribus-open-source-DTP-program-available-1785023.html  “Those who use the open source Scribus layout program under Windows can, like those who use it under Linux, finally install the new version 1.4.2 as a native 64-bit application on the 64-bit versions of Vista, Windows 7 and Windows 8. This means that the program is no longer subject to the memory limit of 2 GB per process that exists with 32-bit applications. Those who use an older version of Windows can still download and install a 32-bit version of Scribus…”

Civilian Aerospace

60.    Deep Space Industries will venture into asteroid-mining marketplace  http://cosmiclog.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/01/21/16627863-deep-space-industries-will-venture-into-asteroid-mining-marketplace  “…Deep Space Industries is jumping into the marketplace for asteroid mining…Deep Space Industries says it will create "the world’s first fleet of commercial asteroid-prospecting spacecraft." The venture also promises to develop a "breakthrough process for manufacturing in space."…One of the key questions relates to the venture's financial backing…mining the right kind of asteroid could produce precious metals worth sending back to Earth, such as platinum, gold and rare-earth minerals. Some asteroids also contain water ice that can be converted into fuel and supplies for space travel and settlement. Under the right conditions, such resources could be worth trillions of dollars a year. But it would cost billions of dollars to identify and exploit those resources…”

61.     Mars Trip Simulation Crew Suffered Insomnia, Lethargy  http://news.discovery.com/space/mars500-crew-experiment-insomnia-health-effects-130116.htm  “…future long-duration space travelers will need specialized lighting to replicate Earth's day-night cycles as well as other countermeasures to maintain healthy circadian rhythms, say researchers who conducted one of more than 90 investigations in the joint Russian-European Mars500 project. "The assumption has been…you'll adapt. But our study shows…people did not adapt…three Russians, two European and one Chinese…spent 520 days sealed inside a spaceship-like, windowless chamber at the Russian Institute for Biomedical Problems in Moscow…simulating a mission to Mars and back…So far, only four people -- all Russian -- have made spaceflights lasting more than a year. The single longest human spaceflight was a 437-day mission aboard the Russian Mir space by Valery Polyakov, a physician, in 1994 and 1995. The 520-day ground simulation, which ended on Nov. 4, 2011, showed that four of the six crewmembers suffered from sleep disorders…”

Supercomputing & GPUs

62.    HPC Programming in the Age of Multicore  http://www.hpcwire.com/hpcwire/2013-01-14/hpc_programming_in_the_age_of_multicore:_one_man_s_view.html  “…Introduction to High Performance Computing for Scientists and Engineers….describes the art of extracting maximum performance from modern processors and HPC platforms. Gerhard Wellein…co-authored the book…his interest in parallel and HPC programming stem from the intense computation demands of his original field of study…HPCwire caught up with Wellein and asked him to…expound on strategies for performance programming in the multicore era…Many software developers mainly focus on extendibility, flexibility and maintainability…Performance or better time to solution has not been an issue for them for two decades. Teaching in computer science still often ignores performance issues. The same holds for parallelization – here the developers often hope that some other software layer – compiler or libraries – will do the job…people should become aware that improving time to solution, through hardware efficient code structures and parallelization, is not for free and often orthogonal to widely accepted concepts in modern programming languages and software engineering paradigms…why is it so hard to extract peak performance from multicore processors?...multicore processors draw their performance from thread-level parallelism and data parallelism, that is, multiple cores and wide SIMD units per core. The programmer has to address both hardware features at the same time and needs optimize for them; otherwise he loses a substantial fraction of peak performance. If the compiler, for some reason, refuses to vectorize your single precision arithmetic code, you immediately lose almost 90 percent of the available peak performance on the latest Intel processors…”

63.    Top 10 HPC Events That Mattered In 2012  http://marchamilton.wordpress.com/2012/12/27/top-10-hpc-events-that-mattered-in-2012/  “The end of the year is always a good time to reflect on the year and think about some of the key events shaping the HPC industry. Here is my take: #1 Intel Xeon Phi Co-Processor Launch…#2 Nvidia Kepler…#3 Nvidia Kepler Hyper-Q…#4 Nvidia Kepler Dynamic Parallelism…#5 NREL Energy Systems Integration Facility…#6 Lustre Revival…#7 PCIeGen3…#8 Intel Networking Acquisitions…#9 HPC in the Cloud…#10 US Reawakens To The Need for HPC…”

Trends & Emerging Tech

64.    IBM says 2013 is year of steampunk  http://asmarterplanet.com/blog/2013/01/22562.html  “…Some trends, like ‘steampunk,’ take decades to build momentum and make the break into the mainstream…Steampunk is usually defined as a sub-genre of science fiction that concentrates on alterative world stories inspired by the technology, clothing and social mores of Victorian society…The aesthetics of steampunk are broad and diverse – goggles, intricate jewelry based on clockwork, exquisite frock coats, corsets, top hats, brass and leather.  Steampunk isn’t just about fiction any more, and it isn’t just for fans. Interesting to note, 33 percent of the chatter about fashion can be found on gaming sites…From 2009 to 2012 the amount of social media chatter about steampunk rose by an astonishing 11 times…a US television network is writing a steampunk-inspired TV show for the fall 2013 season. As this trend gains momentum, the business opportunity around steampunk is being capitalized on by forward-looking retailers…Where high fashion leads, everyday fashion follows quickly in a season or two…For steampunk, the tipping point came in October 2010, when NYC ComicCon and a NYC Haunted House Halloween event both featured steampunk themes…We’re used to seeing trends develop geographically and chronologically…we can now measure trends in a third dimension: across cultural domains. For retailers and manufacturers, the beauty of seeing trends in “three dimensions” is being able to identify enduring trends before they’re big on Facebook and Twitter…For steampunk, the next two years will witness the shift from low production, high cost “craft” manufacturing to mass production. Mainstream fashion labels, accessories and jewelry will all begin adopting a steampunk aesthetic. For retailers, this is the moment to start laying the groundwork to capitalize on this emerging trend.”  http://www.ibm.com/analytics/us/en/ibm-steampunk.jpg

65.    Consumer technology trends that will matter most in 2013  http://venturebeat.com/2013/01/14/the-view-from-ces-the-top-technology-trends-that-will-matter-in-2013/  “…Here’s our list of the top 10 trends of CES 2013…The mobile generation has become the biggest target audience…Fitness and health tech get real…The user interface is you…3D glasses are undead…Regional changes push China upward…Sensors are making gadgets smarter and bringing forth the internet of things…Alternatives to console gaming multiply…Car technologies go big…UltraHD 4K TVs come into focus…Components become the star of the show…”

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