Hands On With The Xperia Z2 Smartphone And Z2 Tablet, Sony’s Waterproof Wonders

xperia-z2-hand Both Samsung and HTC have new flagship Android phones out in the U.S., but Sony isn’t just sitting back and doing nothing. The company has its new 5.2-inch Z2 smartphone launching soon in select markets, including in Canada in May. The waterproof glass-encased handset has a lot in common with last year’s Z1, but goes the extra mile with new imaging options, noise cancellation features… Read More

Amazon’s Smartphone Gets Its First Spy Shots Along With Rumored Specs

bgr-a-phone-1 Amazon’s smartphone leaks are starting to pile up quickly, and today our own report about some of its 3D features and Android-based FireOS operating system was followed quickly by an extensive report about the phone’s supposed specs, complete with pics of the gadget housed in a case designed to keep its final look a secret. The pics and specs come from BGR, which reports that Amazon is… Read More

Mixed Dimensions Raises ~$1M To Make 3D-Design Tools For The Masses

Mixed Dimensions Mixed Dimensions (MXD), a Jordanian startup now relocated to Silicon Valley, is aiming to simplify the 3D design process by building browser-based 3D design tools designed for the mainstream and for touchscreen usage, along with a cloud platform for sharing and browsing 3D objects, and locating related 3D print services. Read More

Amazon’s Smartphone To Feature Unique But Limited 3D Effects

amazon-smile1 TechCrunch has learned that Amazon’s upcoming flagship smartphone, running a forked version of Android, will have head-tracking capabilities offering up limited 3D effects. This key feature will be reserved to just a few built-in gestures, according to a source with first-hand experience of the company’s mobile ambitions. Read More

‘Political Siri’, Big Data Startups Rise Amid Indian Elections

Voxta_TC_11042014_4 With nearly 814 million people set to vote over the next few weeks in India’s general elections, the biggest democratic exercise on the planet, political parties are scrambling to out-innovate each other. Amid all this, some technology startups are finding a killer app for their products, especially given the massive outreach programs required by political leaders for wooing their… Read More

Google Glass Gets KitKat Support And Improved Photo Browsing, Loses Video Calls

Photo Bundles Anybody will be able to buy Google Glass tomorrow, but ahead of this, Google is giving the Glass software an update. There are a couple of new features in this update, including new tools for making working with photos easier, but Google has also decided to remove the option to do video calls from Glass for the time being. Read More

100 Tesla Model S Convertibles Are Headed To China

nce-tesla-model-s-convertible-001-1 Hold on to your hat. The Tesla Model S is about to get more breezy thanks to a drop-top conversion by Newport Convertible Engineering. Both hard and soft top conversions are now available — they don’t come cheap, though. A soft-top conversion costs $29K and a hard-top $49K. Plus, the buyer has to supply the Tesla Model S. But, once converted, there’s no question that you’ll have the raddest… Read More

Samsung Galaxy S5 Review: More Evolution Than Revolution Despite New Hardware Features

Samsung-Galaxy-S5-main The Galaxy S5 (or S 5, if you ask Samsung) is the company’s latest flagship phone and sure to be a swift seller. The phone is, in its own way, beautifully designed and the materials, while clearly plastic, are durable and should maintain a luster over time. Is this an iPhone replacement? No, but it is a replacement for the S4 that should please shoppers already predisposed to Samsung and… Read More

Google Patents Tiny Cameras Embedded In Contact Lenses

Hand holding - zoomed in Google has a new patent application with the USPTO (via 9to5Google), which takes one of the basic concepts of Glass and extends it even further, embedding tiny cameras that could be embedded in contact lenses for various uses, including photographing what a wearer sees, or providing the basic input for a contact-based assistive device for the visually impaired. Google has previously detailed a… Read More

Google Acquires Titan Aerospace, The Drone Company Pursued By Facebook

S50_FARM_1366 Google has acquired Titan Aerospace, the drone startup that makes high-flying robots which was previously scoped by Facebook as a potential acquisition target (as first reported by TechCrunch), the WSJ reports. The details of the purchase weren’t disclosed, but the deal comes after Facebook disclosed its own purchase of a Titan Aerospace competitor in U.K.-based Ascenta for its… Read More