Amazon quietly added a new option to the wake words on Amazon Echo devices that will make the dreams of every Star Trek fan come true. If Echo users open the Settings area of the Alexa app they should see a fresh wake word option: Computer. Yes, soon everyone can live the dream of saying, “Computer, what are the current environmental conditions of this Class M planet?”—though I can’t promise Alexa will come up with an appropriate response. Still, it’s a step in the right direction.

VCAD is bringing the Super Bowl experience to football fans' living rooms with a new VR experience that lets them explore a simulation of the stadium ahead of next month's big game. The campaign comes from vCAD, a virtual reality company, partnering with NRG Stadium, the home of this year’s Super Bowl. The move is an attempt to cash in on the intense desire for football fans to attend the big game, using virtual reality to help make that dream come true.

Most consumers have yet to figure out how to pay for their daily lattes using their smartphones. But that hasn’t stopped automakers from adding digital wallets to cars, too. In-car payments, long just a pipe dream on the research floors at big automakers, are finally ready to make their real-world debut. Honda Motor Co. showed off a prototype at CES 2017 in Las Vegas earlier this month that lets drivers pay for parking or gas without ever reaching for their credit card. General Motors Co. and Kia Motors Corp. may offer a similar feature as soon as this year. And …

Augmented and virtual reality are slowly but surely being integrated into shopping experiences worldwide. At CES for example, Gap and Asus teamed up for an AR shopping app that may point toward the future of mobile shopping engagement. And previously we covered Adidas and their promotion of a new soccer shoe using virtual reality throughout Europe. Now, a Nike store in Paris is letting customers get a look at different shoe colors using augmented reality.

Remember when all you had to worry about with your car is getting an oil change every 3,000 miles. Today’s connected cars are miles ahead technologically speaking of those “dumb” vehicles, but drivers could see a bumpy ride if thieves get a hold of the data the car possesses. The Internet of Things (IoT) has created an entirely new market in the automotive industry with connected car services that are driving new recurring revenue growth and transforming the industry. And that trajectory is expected to continue, growing from $13.6 to top $42 billion by 2022. Vehicles contain critical personal information such …

Amazon Web Services is so desperate to shift its AWS Internet of Things Buttons that it is offering free AWS credits, tech support and even design services to anyone who buys them – and has relaunched its "enterprise program" to boot. The AWS IoT Button is supposed to be a one-donk order system for items such as pizza and condoms – no, really. Businesses are supposed to program the buttons to order stuff – which AWS highlights in a touchingly forlorn blog post – such as food, medical supplies, or to function as call-for-help buttons in care homes. AWS also suggests, apparently straight-faced, …

The Moche people lived on Peru’s north coast long before the Spanish conquest of the Americas. They grew corn and squash, built monumental adobe temples and were master craftsmen in gold and ceramics. They never had the chance to sell their wares on Etsy, and yet they anticipated some of our most modern anxieties.

British automaker Jaguar Land Rover is making new models available to view in its showrooms in a faster timeframe with the help of virtual reality. After piloting the technology for the launch of its F-Pace in the United Kingdom last year, the brand will be using its virtual reality experience to introduce each of its 2017 models to consumers. Using a digital platform makes it easier for potential buyers to make a decision before a physical model has arrived at a point of sale.

While Pokémon Go did much to introduce augmented reality (AR) to the general public, Chinese technology company Baidu believes gaming is by no means the only way to popularize this futuristic medium. The search engine operator, often dubbed the Google of China, started to work on AR two years ago. It recently established an AR lab to develop related services in education, healthcare, marketing as well as tourism. The company is already working with global brands including L'Oreal, KFC and Lancôme to make AR-based advertisements, which allow Chinese consumers to interact with computer-generated virtual products through their smartphones.

Google has teamed up with LG in a Nexus-style partnership to produce the first devices powered by Android Wear 2.0: the LG Watch Sport and LG Watch Style. The two companies will unveil these smartwatches on February 9 — at an event for the platform’s official launch — and begin selling them in the U.S. the next day, according to marketing material shared with VentureBeat. The rollout will continue to other regions through February and March, with the watches given prominent placement at LG’s booth at Mobile World Congress, which starts on February 27 in Barcelona.