Onstage at Lenovo Tech World 2016, Google Engineering Director andProject Tango lead Johnny Lee announced some changes coming to Google's three-year-old augmented reality initiative. First up: now that Google is ready to ship the technology to consumers, the company is dropping the "Project" from the name and ramping up its investment in AR. Essentially, Google is ready to take this thing out of Beta and into the spotlight. According to Google's official announcement, Tango's broad goal is now to help users "see more" of the world around them -- whether …

We already know the National Security Agency is all up in our data, but the agency is reportedly looking into how it can gather even more foreign intelligence information from internet-connected devices ranging from thermostats to pacemakers. Speaking at a military technology conference in Washington D.C. on Friday, NSA deputy director Richard Ledgett said the agency is "looking at it sort of theoretically from a research point of view right now." The Intercept reports Ledgett was quick to point out that there are easier ways to keep track of terrorists and …

The Bluetooth Special Interest Group will announce the next generation of the wireless standard this week. The newest iPad will be available in just a week or two and there are already alternative keyboards to Apple's own. We've rounded up the current options for your convenience. Only one features Apple's new Smart Connector. Mark Powell, executive director of Bluetooth SIG, has revealed that Bluetooth 5 will be formally announced on June 16 at a media event in London. The new version of the standard promises to double the range and quadruple the speed of low-energy Bluetooth transmissions, according to Powell. Bluetooth …

Although the art of purchasing via Apple Watch applications has not yet reached its zenith – with 24 percent of consumers wary of making impulse buys on the wearable – retailers can fuel sales by offering in-store shoppers easy access to coupons and loyalty programs, according to a GPShopper report. The report, “Cracking the Mobile Code: The Apple Watch and Retail,” revealed that 23 percent of Americans would consider purchasing the next incarnation of the Apple Watch, although nearly 24 percent of that group would refrain from buying products on it, due to concerns about making an impulsive purchase. 

When security researchers Charlie Miller and Chris Valasek demonstrated at the Black Hat 2015 conference how they hacked a Jeep remotely, they might as well have inadvertently started an entire new industry for automotive security technology. On June 8, Symantec officially announced its Anomaly Detection for Automotive product, which joins a growing list of technologies and vendors aimed at preventing researchers like Miller and Valasek, or malicious hackers, from attacking cars. Brian Witten, senior director of IoT Security at Symantec, said his company has been in the machine learning space since 2004 and is now bringing that expertise to the embedded systems of …

By 2020, 44% of IT budgets globally will be solely used for the purpose of IoT project development and maintenance, with the vast majority of decision makers (91%) expected to be using some form of commercial IoT service within the next two years. 'Overwhelmingly businesses have woken up to the transformational benefits of IoT and are rushing to deploy those services, but at the same time appreciate there may be a rocky road ahead turning a good idea into a technically feasible and profitable one,' said Jim Nolan, Executive Vice President, IoT Solutions, at InterDigital. But in order to truly …

Teeth are becoming the latest battleground in the technology industry’s push to make ordinary objects smart. The health care arm of Dutch technology company Philips is introducing a $200 toothbrush on Thursday with built-in gadgetry that can tell the users whether they’re brushing enough, not enough, too hard or too softly. It’s a field that’s getting increasingly crowded, as both startups and toothbrush behemoths like Philips and Oral-B seek to reach users who want more data on their brushing effectiveness. But it remains to be seen whether the new devices will really help shine up pearly whites, or simply make …

MLB.com and The Minnesota Twins are working together on an initiative to spark more downloads of the MLB Ballpark application and create a special experience for fans with virtual reality game clips and free cardboard viewers.  The virtual reality videos will bring on-site fans closer to the action in an attempt to make them feel part of the team through the MLB Ballpark app during The Twins game against Chicago White Sox later this month. Attendees will receive cardboard viewers to fully interact with the virtual reality experience. 

Meredith’s online recipe hub Allrecipes is using beacons to target shoppers at Marc’s grocery stores with recipe ideas at a time when they are likely to be interested in the content. Users of the Allrecipes Dinner Spinner app will receive notifications while shopping at bricks-and-mortar locations in Ohio at beacon-equipped Marc’s. Shoppers will be served with messaging that provides a look at relevant recipes that are currently trending to help decide on grocery lists and purchases.   

A source close to Alphabet tells The Verge that Nest is "categorically not for sale." What’s more, “We’re committed to investing in it,” the source says. Yet, “It’s been a tumultuous few days for Nest, which saw co-founder and CEO Tony Fadell depart last week amidst swirling unhappiness about the company's product roadmap, demanding culture, and financial performance after being spun out of Google under new parent company Alphabet.”