In the age of the internet of things, where all kinds of old-fashioned devices and technologies are now connecting to the net, everything can be hacked, including cars,cities, parking garages, and wind turbines. Now, a security researcher has proven this adage once more, finding a way to turn off the lights on tens of thousands of billboards by taking advantage of some flaws in an Android app designed to control the billboards' lighting system. Over the summer, Randy Westergren, an independent security researcher, found that the Android app for SmartLink, a system to remotely control billboards' night lighting,had a series of bugs in its API. …

Autodesk Inc., whose 3-D design software is used in manufacturing, architecture, construction and entertainment, is launching a $100 million venture fund as part of a new effort called Forge. The fund aims to back startups developing products on a new Forge software platform that Autodesk is opening to developers. Its first focus will be manufacturing. Previously, developers needed to be using an Autodesk app to access its platform, according to Vice President of Cloud Platforms Scott Reese. Now they can go straight to the lower levels of Forge, which Autodesk said combines both old and …

The number of connected people on the planet has reached 3.2 billion, according to a report from the International Telephone Union (ITU.) Managers, marketers, engineers, and designers who are building mobile and internet products for international consumption should read the full report. The many charts and graphics make the 252-page report on fixed and mobile internet and telephone services around the world an easy read. Mobile cellular subscriptions reached almost 7.1 billion, driven by mobile networks that now cover 95% of the world’s population. Data in the report shows that the price of mobile-cellular services continues to fall around the world, while the …

In November 2014, British toymaker Vivid Toys debuted an Internet-connected doll, My Friend Cayla, that used speech recognition and artificial intelligence techniques to have conversations with kids. By February, researchers had hacked the doll to spew curse words. Now other Internet of Things toys are encountering similar problems. On Wednesday, NBC Chicago reportedthat security researcher Matt Jakubowski had hacked Mattel's Hello Barbie, potentially exposing users' account information, home Wi-Fi networks, and MP3 files recorded by the dolls. Hello Barbie is a version of the classic toy that converses with kids, remembers things they say, and recalls details later. …

Those who dared to head out to stores on Friday, the busiest purchasing day of the year, probably didn't leave home without a smartphone and a few strategic shopping apps. Technology has long influenced how we shop, and technologists are doing their best to make sure that continues. The future of shopping at a store? It looks a lot like shopping online, with personalized suggestions, no waiting and help that pops up out of nowhere when you pause for a few seconds. In the future, sensors and cameras in stores could alert a store employee's smart watch that a customer has been …

Amazon isn't just creating software and services. It's also building items that connect to the Internet. For example, there's the Amazon Echo, a personal assistant in the form of a giant cylindrical speaker, and the so-called Dash buttons, which make it easy to reorder a product with a single click of the tiny devices. Expect the company to keep inventing new household devices, especially those that make ordering from its online storefront even easier. Last month, the company's Amazon Web Services division unveiled AWS IoT, a service that has the potential to link cars, medical devices, household appliances and other …