Hasta La Gadget!

Nissan seems keen to give Google a run for their money in the autonomous vehicle technology category, and the Japanese giant is working hard at creating functional robot vehicles for 2020 and beyond.

Nissan has recently been able to pick up an official Japanese license plate to start testing smart driving systems in real world driving environments.

The car’s brains have been stuffed into an all-electric Nissan Leaf. Some of the features include automatic lane centering as well as adaptive cruise control. The vehicle will also support automatic exiting for freeways, automatic lane changes, and the ability to overtake slower or stopped cars as well.

Soon enough, we won’t even have to drive our cars, and maybe texting and driving will be okay.

[via Wired]

Here’s a nice little feature for those of us who love to post images on the internet. Bing has added the ability to refine image results by license. The addition’s simple enough to use — just do a search and pull the appropriate license from a drop down on the top of the results page, alongside options for date, size and color. Selections include public domain and options like “free to modify, share and use,” based on the Creative Commons licensing system, so there’s no doubt as to precisely how you can incorporate them into your own posts. Google’s had a similar option on its own search engine for some time — albeit one’s that’s a bit less prominently displayed.

Filed under: Internet, Software, Microsoft

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Source: Bing Blog

Pandora has complained for years that royalties for internet-only radio stations are too steep. It may have found an end run around the problem, however: it just bought an FM radio station in South Dakota. The company’s Chris Harrison argues that the deal will make ASCAP and music labels offer Pandora the same songwriting licenses that they do to rivals like iHeartRadio, which allegedly gets better terms through its traditional broadcasting roots. Opponents argue that Pandora is simply trying to dodge fair compensation through the buyout, although the streaming service claims to have been forced into more than one unfair rate hike with current licensing. Whatever the truth, Pandora is racing against the clock — competition won’t get any easier when built-in services like iTunes Radio are on the way.

Filed under: Portable Audio/Video, Internet

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Source: The Hill (1), (2)

Microsoft has insisted for years that companies building products based on Android and Chrome are treading on ground covered by its patent portfolio, and it’s continuing to press that claim. Today it announced it’s agreed to IP licensing terms with another device maker — Foxconn parent Hon Hai. Perhaps best known for making many Apple products, the massive company manufactures more than 40 percent of consumer electronics devices in the world. According to the press release the deal covers patents for phones, tablets and TVs, and will result in Microsoft receiving royalty payments. We’ve already seen companies like HTC and LG choose to cut a deal over the technology, while Google-owned Motorola is continuing to fight. It’s far too soon to know how those court battles will be resolved, but while the team in Redmond may not have caught up to Android in mobile market share, that doesn’t mean it’s not getting paid.

Filed under: Cellphones, Home Entertainment, Tablets, Mobile, Microsoft, Google

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Source: Microsoft

Barnes and Noble has just dealt up some good news for movie-loving owners of its Nook HD and HD+ slates, with the announcement of new licensing agreements with a host of studios. Lionsgate, MGM, Paramount, Relativity Media as well as National Geographic, Little Pim and Film Buff are all part of the new wave of additions to the Nook Video line-up. This means titles such as The Hunger Games, Mad Men, and the Twilight Movies will be available for rent or purchase starting today. Little Pim provides foreign language learning for kids, so there’s something to expand the minds of the little ones too. This, combined with that UltraViolet integration and the odd item at the FCC suggests that Barnes & Noble is taking its media content offering more seriously than ever. We’re certainly not complaining.

Filed under: Tablets, HD

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