Yahoo has redesigned its homepage with a greater focus on becoming “more intuitive and personal,” according to CEO Marissa Mayer. The redesign keeps Yahoo’s core of Mail, News, Finance and Sports on the left side of the screen, but has given the logos new looks. The homepage also eliminated its old links-in-boxes format and has replaced it with an infinite scroll format. Mayer hopes the changes will help return the brand to its place as an online leader. Continue reading Yahoo Streamlines Social Sharing with Homepage Redesign

At this week’s Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, LG is demonstrating the ability to wirelessly send 4K video from a phone to an Ultra HD television. The company claims the technique, which is ideal for viewing games and other smartphone content on UHD TVs in real time, requires only half the power of other similar approaches. No additional specifics were provided, aside from it using “ubiquitous” Wi-Fi connections. Continue reading LG Wirelessly Streams 4K Video from Smartphone to UHD TV

Sony unveiled its new Android device, the Xperia Tablet Z, at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona on Monday. The company claims it is the world’s thinnest 10.1-inch tablet at just 6.9 millimeters and that it is waterproof in up to three feet of water for 30 minutes. On the inside, it has a quad-core 1.5GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro processor, 2GB of RAM, and a 1920 x 1200 display running Android 4.1 Jelly Bean. Continue reading Mobile World Congress: Sony Intros Thinnest 10.1-Inch Tablet

HP announced its return to the tablet game with its new Slate 7 tablet, a 7-inch device running Android 4.1. The company’s first Android device will go on sale in April for $169. The company hopes printing will be one of the key features that sets it apart from other tablets — the Slate 7 will be able to print from most apps by using either native drivers or HP’s ePrint technology. Continue reading HP Unveils $169 Android Tablet, Reportedly First of Many

Chip company Qualcomm made its fortune in mobile connectivity, but is pursuing additional initiatives as well. Most recently, it has created an open source mesh-networking platform called AllJoyn, which connects nearby devices to each other instead of connecting each device back to the Internet. Qualcomm plans to announce its plans at the Mobile World Congress show in Barcelona this week. Continue reading AllJoyn: Qualcomm Touts Peer-to-Peer Networking Platform

Google’s latest hardware development hit stores last week as the company unveiled its first touchscreen laptop powered by the Google Chrome operating system. Called the Chromebook Pixel, it costs $1,299 for the Wi-Fi only version and $1,449 for the upcoming version with built-in LTE wireless technology for use on-the-go. The LTE version goes on sale in April with Verizon offering special wireless plans for new owners. Continue reading New Google Chromebook Pixel: High Price Tag But Impressive

Technology Review interviews Microsoft’s chief executive Steve Ballmer about Windows 8, which the article refers to as the most ambitious and strangest major product ever released by the software mainstay. Windows 8 was designed to run on smartphones, tablets, laptops, servers and even on supercomputers and provides users with the same interface on any device, with minor variations from one to the next. Continue reading Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer Talks Windows 8 and Surface

Google is reportedly in talks with major music labels about the possibility of starting a music streaming service. It is expected that such a service would offer a subscription-based model along with free unlimited access to songs supported by ads, much the same as models already provided by streaming services such as Spotify and Deezer. Google started a music download store in 2011. Continue reading Will Google Soon Expand to Offer Streaming Music Service?

Samsung’s new TV Discovery service will enable viewers to search for and watch live TV, on-demand video and online videos from outlets such as YouTube. The company plans to unveil the new platform at Mobile World Congress this week in Barcelona. TV Discovery will work on Samsung’s line of smart TVs and its mobile devices. The service will learn user preferences and give recommendations based on each user’s viewing history and interests. Continue reading Samsung to Launch TV Discovery for Video, Live Television

Film editor Dan Lebental, motivated by the desire to interact more directly with media, has designed an editing app called TouchEdit that he describes as a “21st century version of the Moviola.” Lebental was intrigued by the similarity of using the iPad’s touchscreen with how editors would formerly “touch film.” His app intends to bring back that simplicity while integrating the latest in mobile technology and cloud-based services. Continue reading Movie Editor Develops Frame-Based Editing App for iPad

Holographic technology may be inching closer to mainstream adoption. Mashable offers an interesting look at the history and evolution of the technology, including its roots as a classic parlor trick (called “Pepper’s Ghost”) — an illusion involving a well-angled mirror to project a reflection — along with contemporary uses seen at Coachella, the London Olympics and this year’s Super Bowl. Continue reading Technology Inches Closer to Enabling Holographic 3D World

An online petition to the White House regarding the locking of mobile phones has gathered more than 100,000 signatures, the milestone at which the U.S. government is required to issue an official response. The petition is intended to make unlocking phones legal again. The signature-gathering campaign has largely generated followers via social networks including Twitter and Reddit. Continue reading Petition Hopes to Make Unlocking Cell Phones Legal Again

After a crash and flying debris injured at least 28 fans at a Daytona NASCAR race over the weekend, NASCAR’s video copyright policy came into question. NASCAR claims to own any “images, sounds and data” from NASCAR events. Fans began posting videos of the crash to YouTube, but NASCAR, claiming to own the videos, had the videos removed. But later in the day YouTube reinstated some videos after ruling NASCAR did not have the right to remove the videos. Continue reading NASCAR Crash and YouTube Vids Raise Copyright Questions

Disney’s short film “Paperman” was nominated for an Academy Award (Best Animated Short) last month and was soon after posted on YouTube — an effort to garner attention for the film. The other nominees followed suit, but have since been yanked from the Web because of a letter sent to each of them from the chief executive of Shorts International, who complained that the streaming would cause damage to theatrical releases. Continue reading Oscar-Nominated Short Films Appeared Online, Then Pulled

According to the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), the change to Google’s algorithm, which is designed to takes sites with higher rates of copyright-infringed material and give them a lower search rating is not helping ongoing piracy problems. A new report from the RIAA notes that none of the sites were demoted in a significant way and search results were nearly unaffected. Continue reading Google Algorithm Change Not Effective, According to RIAA