While automobile manufacturers are increasingly integrating new infotainment and connected technologies to vehicles, younger buyers remain more concerned with economics than the latest tech advancements. The majority of this target market often cannot afford to spend extra money for new features. The most important factors in choosing a car for young buyers tends to be fuel economy and price. Many young buyers are purchasing used cars, rather than new models with updated technology. Continue reading Young Car Buyers Are Influenced More by Price Than New Tech

Unnamed sources at Samsung suggest the company is developing a Google Glass competitor, currently named Galaxy Glass, that could possibly debut at September’s IFA trade show in Berlin. Google Glass is expected to be commercially available the latter half of this year. According to a Samsung official: “It will be interesting to see which companies get better stakes in the race for smart glasses. Players definitely want to enjoy a ‘first-mover’ advantage in this new and highly lucrative market.” Continue reading Samsung Could Unveil Google Glass Competitor in September

While large brands often generate business by enabling consumers to customize products online, smaller companies do not always have the resources to do the same, something that will likely change with 3D printing technology and services. Massachusetts-based startup Matter Labs has developed a plug-and-play API called Matter Remix and software called Matter.io to help e-commerce merchants leverage 3D printing and add product customization features to online stores. Continue reading Matter Labs: New Software Brings 3D Printing to E-Commerce

Apple is reportedly looking into ways to expand into a mobile-payments service that would go beyond the iTunes store. Down the line, it might compete directly with the likes of Google, eBay’s PayPal and Square, which have become ubiquitous in mobile payment processing for physical goods and services. For Apple, that would likely mean consumers would be able to use their iPhones or iPads to make in-store and online purchases with greater ease. Continue reading Apple Could Make Shopping Easier with Mobile Payments Service

Crowdsourced music videos of live performances are becoming more and more popular as concert-goers increasingly record shows with their smartphones or cameras. One Neil Young fan named Tom Adams went so far as to piece together multiple recordings of the same performance captured from different angles by other fans in attendance. On top of the video, he added a single audio recording of the concert to create one cohesive video. Continue reading Music Fans Recording Live Performances: Harmless or Illegal?

Although many have thought that phones are largely used to consume short form content, stats recently released by BuzzFeed suggest otherwise. More than 50 percent of BuzzFeed’s traffic now comes from mobile devices. Editor-in-Chief Ben Smith believes this is partly due to the form factor of mobile devices. They feature a simple singular screen that allows the reader to infinitely scroll through an article without any disruptions, similar to a regular page of a book.  Continue reading BuzzFeed: Consumers Reading Longer Stories on Their Phones

BitTorrent’s new file-syncing technology, BitTorrent Sync, can synchronize files between computers and mobile devices without copying data to a cloud server. The company is hoping that, in light of the National Security Agency’s controversial harvesting of information stored in data centers, people will be attracted to the new technology. The only way the NSA could gather this data would be by going directly to the source where the information is stored. Continue reading BitTorrent Sync Transfers Data Without Help From the Cloud

Following a 3 percent drop in market value, Verizon has hinted at plans to get competitive in pricing, which customers will likely appreciate, but investors might not. The telco lost about $4 billion of its value, and some say it’s directly related to the competition among telcos to be the most aggressively priced. T-Mobile has been most notably aggressive in its pricing strategies, attracting new customers and possibly forcing Verizon to lower its fees as well. Continue reading Verizon Will Likely Respond to T-Mobile’s Aggressive Prices

Verizon Communications has completed a long-awaited deal to acquire Intel’s cloud-based TV platform. Terms have yet to be released, but people familiar with the matter put the price around $200 million. The acquisition is expected to help Verizon FiOS customers search for content on TVs and Verizon smartphones and tablets. It could also help Verizon establish a foundation for offering an Internet-based version of pay TV, which several companies such as Amazon, Apple and Sony are also said to be pursuing. Continue reading OnCue: Verizon to Acquire Intel’s Cloud-Based TV Platform

Fox plans to offer a special one-day preview of its Fox Sports Go service by streaming Super Bowl XLVIII free to tablets and PCs. To promote the online and mobile authentication service, Fox will stream the NFL championship game between the Broncos and Seahawks, its halftime show with Bruno Mars and the Red Hot Chili Peppers, and related programming. The live stream will be available on Sunday, February 2 for iPads via the Fox Sports Go app and for desktop PCs at FoxSportsGo.com. Continue reading Fox to Preview Authentication Service by Streaming Super Bowl

Phablets — smartphones with screens larger than 5.5 inches — could grow to become a multibillion dollar market in the coming years. Initially ridiculed by some analysts, the ‘phone-tablets’ are experiencing unexpected success with consumers in global regions such as East Asia. Juniper Research forecasts phablet shipments will increase by 100 million units over the next four years (20 million shipped last year). By 2018, Juniper expects manufacturers to ship 120 million units per year. Continue reading Phablets Poised to Become Multibillion Dollar Market by 2018

The Federal Communications Commission is scheduled to conduct its first major auction of wireless airwaves in six years today. Telecom analysts at New Street Research estimate that national wireless carriers AT&T, Verizon Wireless, Sprint and T-Mobile — along with satellite TV operator Dish Network — will spend at least $46 billion on spectrum over the next two years in a series of auctions. Next year, the government plans to sell coveted spectrum in the 600 megahertz band, used by TV stations, to be resold for wireless use. Continue reading FCC Scheduled to Begin Wireless Airwaves Auctions This Week

Spotify has removed streaming time limits for all users. The company announced last week that it would offer unlimited free music streaming via the platform’s desktop app and on the Web. The move follow’s last month’s announcement that Spotify would offer free shuffled music streaming to its phone and tablet apps. Less than 24 hours after Spotify announced lifting its time restriction, competitor Rdio revealed that it would do the same in the United States. Continue reading Free Music Streaming from Spotify and Rdio is Now Unlimited

Satoru Iwata, president of Nintendo, says the company is experiencing its biggest loss in revenue in the last 12 years. The forecasted annual loss of 25 billion yen (or $240 million) was a surprise, and the video game manufacturer is considering a new business model because of the low demand for its Wii U. Nintendo’s previous estimation of profit was closer to 55 billion yen. But the altered forecast for Wii U sales was cut from 9 million to 2.8 million units. Continue reading Nintendo Exec Predicts Significant Loss as Wii Sales Struggle