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Ethan Zuckerman is sorry. Zuckerman, who leads the Center for Civic Media at MIT, says he didn’t realize what he was bringing into the world when he wrote the code for the first pop-up ad more than 20 years ago.  He tells the story of how it happened in an exquisite essay about how the Continue Reading →

Samsung has bought SmartThings, the startup that makes smart-home controllers. While the companies did not disclose the price, sources said the South Korean consumer electronics giant paid about $200 million. SmartThings will continue to be run by CEO and founder Alex Hawkinson and operate independently, Samsung said. But most of its operations — which now Continue Reading →

Is there any cute animal 3D printing can’t save? Just look at TurboRoo, a tiny Chihuahua born without front legs, who has been given a new “leash” on life thanks to a Makerbot and a 3D designer from 3dyn. Mark Deadrick, president of 3dyn, saw TurboRoo’s call for wheels on the Internet and designed a Continue Reading →

Microsoft’s been awfully busy at this year’s SIGGRAPH conference: embers of the company’s research division have already illustrated how they can interpret speech based on the vibrations of a potato chip bag and turn shaky camera footage into an experience that feels like flying. Look at the list of projects Microsofties have been working on Continue Reading →

Wearable technology is routinely being batted around these days as the cure-all for everyday health tracking gaps, but Intel’s latest venture is taking that potential to a whole new level. The Michael J. Fox Foundation has tapped the tech giant for a collaboration with the goal of improving the monitoring and treatment of Parkinson’s disease. Continue Reading →

Sprint will implement “very disruptive” prices next week, newly appointed Chief Executive Officer Marcelo Claure said at a company-wide town hall meeting on Thursday, according to the telecommunications industry website, Light Reading. Claure, who replaced Dan Hesse last week, said his first order of business is cutting prices, followed by sprucing up the company’s network, Continue Reading →

Microsoft is aiming to deliver a “technology preview” of its Windows “Threshold” operating system by late September or early October, according to multiple sources of mine who asked not to be named. And in a move that signals where Microsoft is heading on the “servicability” front, those who install the tech preview will need to Continue Reading →

Microsoft has had “passionate” discussions about renaming Internet Explorer to distance the browser from its tarnished image, according to answers from members of the developer team given in a reddit Ask Me Anything session on Thursday. In spite of significant investment in the browser—with the result that Internet Explorer 11 is really quite good—many still Continue Reading →

eBay’s PayPal is in talks with Coinbase and other bitcoin transaction providers to integrate the virtual currency within its Braintree payments system, The Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday. Executives at PayPal, which owns the service that handles payments for startups from room-bookings network AirBnB to car-on-demand service Uber, have not struck any agreements, the Continue Reading →

With over 2,000 stores, and $79.38 billion in revenue from the last twelve months, Home Depot has the potential to be a giant force in home automation. It now has more than 600 “smart” devices in stock and is pushing the Wink home hub platform as its play in the smart home. According to Jeff Continue Reading →