Remember when smartphones and tablets were exciting? The past decade has seen stunning advances in mobile computing, with devices growing more powerful even as they became slimmer and sleeker, thanks to the march of Moore’s law. By now, however, they’ve gotten so slim and sleek, so blazingly fast, that processing power is no longer the operative constraint. Battery life is—and that’s a problem, because Moore’s law doesn’t apply to batteries. That’s one big reason why, after years of downsizing, phones have grown larger again. Now tablets are doing the same. Where big tech companies once faced the challenge of persuading the public to …

Google is reportedly partnering with Ford to build self-driving vehicles. “The partnership is set to be announced by Ford at the Consumer Electronics Show in January,” according to Yahoo Autos, which calls the deal “a huge step by both companies toward a new business of automated ride sharing.”

Former Skype co-founders have launched a new company, Starship Technologies, which is preparing to test their self-driving delivery robots in London. The as yet unnamed robots are small, safe, practical and free from CO2 emissions, according to the developers. "When you place your order online, as you do right now, but instead of getting the delivery by somebody coming up to your door and knocking on your door, you would get it by a robot," said Ahti Heinla, a Skype co-founder and CEO at Starship Technologies. The robots can carry the equivalent of two bags of shopping and complete local …

French aircraft manufacturer Airbus has outlined its plans to incorporate Watson IoT technologies into aircraft and operations. Speaking at the grand opening of IBM’s Watson IoT headquarters in Munich, Airbus senior vice president and head of business unit services Laurent Martinez said the future of aviation was in data. “We have 400,000 data parameters on our new A350, compared with only 20,000 parameters on our older A320,” he said.

The Internet of Things and wearable technologies will continue to dominate in 2016 and it’s likely that robotics and artificial intelligence solutions will go mainstream. These are the key predictions in a new report – ‘What’s Hot In 2016 – Technology Trends’ published by managed service provider Advanced 365 in association with Global Futures and Foresight. The report, compiled by David Smith of Global Futures and Foresight, highlights 15 technologies, which are most likely to create disruption and opportunities for businesses, whilst including best practice recommendations for a range of industries. Neil Cross, managing director of Advanced 365, outlines his …

The “Internet of things” may evoke inventions like the tweeting toilet or the texting fridge. But a light-dimming bottle of vodka? Absolut has opened the doors to its inaugural Internet of things lab in Stockholm. The lab is meant to seek out opportunities for product development, internal education for staff at Absolut as well as other Pernod Ricard brands like Malibu and Kahlua, and for more hands-on focus groups and customer feedback. A connected bottle might some day, for example, link with third-party products to change the lighting or music in the home. It might automatically order a new bottle once it starts running low.

The year 2016 will be one of many firsts: the year we’re expected to see much wider adoption of wearable devices such as the Apple Watch and Fitbit fitness tracker, alongside witnessing virtual reality truly entering the mainstream with the release of several new and exciting headsets guaranteed to transport us to another world. But it’s also the year we all get that little bit smarter thanks to the rapid rise of the Internet of Things (IoT); connecting our everyday electrical appliances and objects, from our kettles and thermostats to our lightbulbs and security cameras, and collating the …

The self-driving car, that cutting-edge creation that’s supposed to lead to a world without accidents, is achieving the exact opposite right now: The vehicles have racked up a crash rate double that of those with human drivers. The glitch? They obey the law all the time, as in, without exception. This may sound like the right way to program a robot to drive a car, but good luck trying to merge onto a chaotic, jam-packed highway with traffic flying along well above the speed limit. It tends not to work out well. As the accidents have piled up -- all …

California regulators, calling for caution on self-driving cars, today proposed rules that would sharply restrict their use on the state’s roads -- and place an outright ban on “driverless” cars that travel with no humans onboard. Under the proposal by the California Department of Motor Vehicles, all autonomous cars would need a steering wheel and pedals when operating on California’s public roads. Behind the controls, they would need a licensed driver with an “autonomous vehicle operator certificate” capable of taking control if something goes awry. In a statement today, DMV Director Jean Shiomoto said the agency’s main concern is “the …

Marathon LLC and Fitbit, Inc. announced a multi-year partnership beginning with the 2016 Skechers Performance Los Angeles Marathon. The goal of the partnership, we’re told, is to provide runners of all levels with a “positive experience and the tools they need to train smarter and reach their goals.” Incidentally, Fitbit will be the official sponsor of the Skechers Performance Los Angeles Marathon App and the official tracker of the Skechers Performance Los Angeles Marathon and other LA Marathon LLC properties.