Oculus says it has resolved its shipping delays to the point where new orders now ship in two to four business days, which is a considerable improvement to where things were at just a short while ago, if you’ve been paying attention. The reason things are improving is that the virtual reality company has finally caught up with the pre-order backlog incurred by its hardware, the Rift consumer VR headset. Oculus says all pre-orders are now shipped, and it also has begun improving inventory levels for its retail partners, both at online destinations like Amazon, and at brick-and-mortar stores like Microsoft …

StubHub’s ticket to mobile commerce success may be virtual reality. The online ticketing retailer recently updated its mobile app to enable consumers to see a 360-degreee view from potential seats in various arenas and stadiums via virtual reality goggles. In the StubHub app, a consumer can select the event and seats  she wants to purchase tickets for and then taps virtual viewer. She then loads her smartphone into a cardboard virtual reality viewer and can move her neck around to see what the view would be like if she were sitting in those seats. Consumers can buy a cardboard virtual reality viewer …

Parking management has become serious issue for cities that are already struggling with seemingly perpetual traffic congestion in their urban cores. Traffic tie-ups wastes time, hurts commerce and produces air pollution. Most cities would welcome an efficient way to dramatically reduce that traffic congestion if they could. And they can. Cities have been experimenting with traffic management solutions of one sort or another for decades. Potential solutions include smart parking meters, limits on available parking and recently, networked parking management systems that give motorists a way to find open spaces so they don’t have waste time and fuel cruising around looking …

“The Internet has become extremely good at doing what stores traditionally did: merchandise products, convey product information and process purchases,” says Doug Stephens, retail industry futurist and the founder of Retail Prophet. Indeed, e-commerce’s share of the shopping pie is growing. From 2000 to 2015, e-commerce jumped from 2 percent to 10 percent of all US retail sales. In the luxury sector, e-commerce is the only channel currently growing double digits and is expected to climb from 7 percent to 20 percent of global luxury consumption by 2025, according to Bain & Company. But unlike music, films or food, fashion is …

You forgot the beer. Or you think you might have, as you’re cruising home to a host a party for the Rio Olympics. So you press a button on your dashboard and up pops a live picture of your smart fridge with two twelve packs of craft ale on the bottom shelf. Crisis averted! A moment later, there’s a buzz on your doorbell. Your first two guests have arrived, one decked out in a Jamaican flag, the other sporting the Star-Spangled Banner. You see them on your dashboard as they push the doorbell again in frustration. “I’m running a few …

Trak N Tell, an automotive telematics firm raised an undisclosed amount of money from WhatsApp co-founder Brian Acton.  We have raised money under a round of funding from a bevy of global business leaders including the likes of Brian Acton, co-founder, WhatsApp, the company in a statement said Monday. Trak N Tell is a part of Bits N Bytes Soft Private Limited is working on connected cars in the Internet of Things (IoT) segment. 

An intelligent robot that helps the elderly detect intruders, gas leaks and other dangers is expected to be on the market by year's end at an affordable price, according to its developer. "It is small but complete in functions," said Zhou Fengyu, director of Shandong University's Cloud Intelligent Robotics Laboratory. The 62-millimeter-high service robot, dubbed Da Zhi or "smart", is the product of three years of hard work from Zhou and a team of 20 at the university.

Alexa has a little something special for Amazon Prime deal seekers. Starting today, using your voice on Amazon Echo, Echo Dot or Tap, ask, "Alexa, what are your Prime Day deals?" and Alexa will give you a list of "exclusive" deals. Amazon said that today and through Prime Day (July 12), Prime members will receive $10 off their first purchase on any eligible order over $20 when they shop using Alexa. It's also worth mentioning that Amazon's Alexa-enabled Tap speaker is on sale today for $79, or $50 off, if you order via Alexa (and with the $10 discount it's actually $69).

The Internet of Things (IoT) remains a hot topic, and many mobile developers appear ready to create IoT-enabled apps for new use cases.  A new Evans Data Corp. survey of software developers indicated there has been a 14 percent year-over-year increase in development for mobile devices, which has led to smartphones being the most commonly connected IoT platform. The number of developers currently working on IoT apps has increased 34 percent year over year

The current market for wearables is all focused on the wrist. Fitbit has the most sales in the wearable industry with its slew of fitness trackers, and the Apple Watch is surging up the sales leaderboards. But is this the future of the wearable industry? A lot of pundits and startups don’t think so, many believe the wearable industry will connect everywhere from your head to your toes, using smart clothing. Smart clothing is in a similar spot to the Internet of Things (IoT) at the moment, it’s a catch-all term that sounds jazzy, there aren’t many mainstream products, and …