The Hollywood Post Alliance has announced the final schedule for the 2015 HPA Tech Retreat, February 9-13 in Indian Wells, California. The Tech Retreat is a gathering where engineering, tech and strategic business leaders join top creative talent to explore and debate the most compelling topics facing the media and entertainment industry today. This year’s event will feature more than 45 sessions, 75 breakfast roundtables, 100 speakers and 30 new product demos. Pre-conference registration closes Monday, February 2. Continue reading 2015 HPA Tech Retreat Unveils Expanded Session Schedule

Google announced yesterday that it plans to deliver its Fiber Internet service with speeds of one gigabit per second (100 times faster than average U.S. broadband) to many of the neighborhoods in 18 cities of metro areas including Atlanta, Georgia; Charlotte and Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina; and Nashville, Tennessee. As with its initial three areas, the company will offer its one gigabit Internet service for $70 per month, while an Internet and TV package will cost $120-$130, depending on the location. Continue reading Google Continues Expansion of Ultrafast Fiber Internet Service

Thinfilm — a Norwegian tech firm with 90+ employees that also does business as Thin Film Electronics USA — has a deal with Xerox to produce electronic chips that print their features atop thin surfaces. Thinfilm could manufacture up to a billion “printed electronics” chips per year for memory, processors, and sensors designed for connected devices and objects as part of the Internet of Things. The company envisions significant cost savings and increased efficiency in teaming “smart labels” with connectivity tech such as NFC and the Internet-connected cloud. Continue reading Thinfilm and Xerox Pursue Printed Electronics for IoT Chips

A new report from Frank N. Magid Associates indicates that Facebook’s popularity with teenagers is continuing its decline. According to the study, Facebook usage by 13- to 17-year-old Americans engaged in social media dropped from 95 percent in 2012 to 94 percent in 2013, and 88 percent this year. During the same time frame, Twitter and various messaging apps experienced an increase in popularity with teenagers. In addition, only 9 percent of respondents described Facebook as “safe” or “trustworthy.” Continue reading Survey Shows Teens Continuing to Lose Interest in Facebook

Two years ago, Amazon acquired robot manufacturer Kiva Systems for $775 million. The orange, wheeled robots have been used by a number of retailers in warehouses across the country. In an effort to improve efficiency, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos has announced plans to deploy thousands of these robots across Amazon warehouses. The robot army is designed to bring stocked shelves to employees, reducing the time workers would have spent looking for items on their own.  Continue reading Amazon Wheels Out Robots to Meet Holiday Shipping Demands

While Intel did not match its usual pace of introducing new microprocessors this year, the company did report significant signs of growth for PCs. At a Southern California event on Tuesday, Kirk Skaugen of the company’s PC chip business discussed three key strategies, including the elimination of external wires, ways to make passwords obsolete, and enabling new types of user interface. Skaugen also addressed Intel’s focus on changing the way users command PCs, including the use of 3D camera tech. Continue reading Intel Showcases Three Key Areas of Focus for Future PC Tech

Speaking at the WSJD Live global tech conference in Laguna Beach on Wednesday, filmmaker James Cameron discussed how his upcoming “Avatar” sequels will be influenced by virtual reality, noting that he now directs his cast using VR headsets and is increasingly involving CGI designers more closely during the scriptwriting process. While he does not anticipate his three films to be viewed on VR headsets, Cameron envisions a future in which VR devices will impact how audiences experience movies. Continue reading WSJD Live: James Cameron on Virtual Reality and Cinema

During yesterday’s Code/Mobile conference in Half Moon Bay, California, YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki said that the online video platform is currently exploring options regarding new subscription services. While specifics were not offered, Wojcicki told Peter Kafka and Liz Gannes of Re/code during the onstage interview that an ad-free service was being considered. Consumers “will either choose ads, or pay a fee, which is an interesting model,” said Wojcicki. “We’re thinking about how to give users options.” Continue reading YouTube CEO Discusses the Possibility of Video Subscriptions

Google Express has added three new cities: Chicago, Boston, and Washington, D.C. This means that seven million people can now use same-day delivery across all of the cities involved. Meanwhile, 12 million people can access next-day service in Northern California. In addition, Google has added 16 new merchants over the past few months. Shoppers that become Google Express members can now receive free same-day or overnight delivery on orders over $15. Continue reading Google Express Includes More Merchants During Expansion

E-commerce giant Alibaba is taking another significant step beyond its core business by investing $50 million in Mountain View-based startup Peel, which makes apps that allow consumers to use their smartphones and tablets to control their TVs. The Android version works with TVs, cable boxes and streaming video boxes, while the iOS version can replace the remote for Dish and DirecTV boxes. Peel’s Android version also comes preloaded on some HTC and Samsung mobile devices. Continue reading Chinese Tech Firm Makes Major Investment in TV Remote App

Artec, a Luxembourg-based 3D scanning company, began shipping 3D body scanners that capture every detail of individuals before allowing users to order mini replicas of themselves. The Shapify Booth, featuring multiple rotating scanners, captures the image in around 12 seconds. During a one-week test, 1,000 people were scanned so that replicas could be created. The results led to the Walmart-owned U.K. supermarket chain Asda to purchase 10 booths, which cost $180,000 each.  Continue reading Artec Ships 3D Body Scanning Booths for Replicas and More

In a 57-page decision issued this week, a New York federal judge ruled against music streaming service Grooveshark in a copyright infringement case. The judge ruled that the service’s parent company, Escape Media Group, and co-founders Samuel Tarantino and Josh Greenberg, had uploaded almost 6,000 songs without licenses, and urged their employees to do the same. Meanwhile, a California judge ruled in favor of musicians Flo & Eddie in a suit against SiriusXM, and now the duo is taking on Pandora. Continue reading Music Industry: Rulings Could Have Long-Term Consequences

California Governor Jerry Brown signed into law a new measure that bans businesses from preventing their customers from leaving negative reviews, especially online. Yelp and other sites have pushed anti-SLAPP (Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation) laws around the country to stop defamation lawsuits against their users who post negative reviews. California businesses can no longer force customers to waive their right to comment on their service, or they can face fines of up to $10,000. Continue reading California Law Protects the Right to Post Bad Reviews on Yelp

Dropbox wants to add image recognition software to its cloud storage service so that photos would automatically be tagged with the objects, people, and places found in the images. The company has hired the co-founders of Kriegman-Belhumeur Vision Technology, Peter Belhumeur and David Kriegman, to engineer the new technology. The two men are university professors with extensive experience in computer vision, facial recognition, and machine learning. Continue reading Dropbox Hires Computer Vision Experts to Mine Photographs

San Francisco-based startup Shyp — “the easiest way to ship anything” — is aiming to simplify the shipping process. Rather than packaging an item and finding the cheapest company to ship with, the user simply takes a picture of the item to be shipped and adds the address. Within 20 minutes, a Shyp courier arrives to pick up the item and hands it off for another person to do the work. The app is meant to be a cheap and efficient way to ship items without doing any work. Continue reading New Shyp Service Reimagines How We Package and Ship Items