Native ad-blocking is coming to Windows handsets

Native ad-blocking is coming to Windows handsets

The rivalry between Apple and Microsoft continues to reach new heights. Three months after iOS 9 rolled out with support for ad-blocking software, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has published a filing from Redmond that reveals its mobile engineers are working to bring similar filtering capabilities to Windows Phone. Both implementations borrow heavily from…

By
IBM is developing an ultra-durable battery for electric cars

IBM is developing an ultra-durable battery for electric cars

The lithium-ion battery in the average smartphone is capable of lasting a good number of years if it’s not exposed to overheating or some other form of permanent damage, but the same working assumption can’t always be made elsewhere. When it comes to electric vehicles, for instance, the risk of catastrophic power failure must be…

By
Meet Sony’s upcoming biometric lifelog

Meet Sony’s upcoming biometric lifelog

In an industry where product leaks are a practically weekly occurrence, the fact that Sony managed to keep a lid on the features of its upcoming LifeLog Camera for nearly two years since the initial prototype was revealed to the public constitutes quite a feat. But regulatory disclosure requirements catch up to even the most…

By
Samsung is developing a fabric-like display for smart clothing

Samsung is developing a fabric-like display for smart clothing

Now that the first curved and bendable displays are starting to enter mass production, Samsung is moving on to the next adjective with a new elastic diode arrangement capable of stretching like a fabric. The technology, which was revealed in a recently published patent application from the company’s monitor-making business, bears a close resemblance to…

By
Wearing a smartwatch could one day save your life

Wearing a smartwatch could one day save your life

It appears that the vehicle-integrated smartwatch LG and Audi previewed at CES earlier this year is much more than the novelty driving accessory it has been made out to be. The South Korean electronics giant is seeking intellectual property protections for a new piece of homegrown software that can detect when an accident occurs and…

By
IBM is using analytics to encourage recycling

IBM is using analytics to encourage recycling

It appears that Big Blue’s interest in connected devices is much broader than what has officially been acknowledged. A new patent filing from the company published this week reveals the specifications for a smart recycling bin that harnesses the image recognition capabilities of its cloud-based analytics platform to try and encourage consumers to become more conscious about how…

By
Microsoft is trying to get into 3D printing

Microsoft is trying to get into 3D printing

Look no further than a company’s patent trail to understand its expansion plans. If some moonshot technology suddenly comes up in a filing and never resurfaces again, it’s likely just the legal department trying to make the most out of employees’ overflowing imagination. But if that technology starts appearing in more applications over time, then you may have just stumbled…

By
Sony is developing an augmented reality headset for surgeons

Sony is developing an augmented reality headset for surgeons

It appears that Sony’s interest in augmented reality is no longer limited to gaming. A Japanese intellectual property registration request that found its way its way into the public records of the United States Patent and Trademark Office this week reveals that the electronics giant has quietly designed a specialized head-mounted display designed to help surgeons…

By
Microsoft has found a way to halve the size of mobile cameras

Microsoft has found a way to halve the size of mobile cameras

Microsoft’s mobile engineers appear to be paying close attention to the work of their peers over at its application development business. In that world, if a certain component is used multiple times throughout a project, you simply split it off into a standalone library that is shared among the other program files to avoid burdening…

By
Hong Kong university will use drones to fight bad Wi-Fi

Hong Kong university will use drones to fight bad Wi-Fi

The next time you visit Hong Kong, don’t be too surprised if you find miniature drones roaming about your hotel lobby. That’s part of a plan by researchers from the local public research university to combat one of the biggest impediments to tourism in the modern era and urban life as a whole: Poor Wi-Fi. You’ve…

By
Qualcomm has designed a touch sensor for holographic phones

Qualcomm has designed a touch sensor for holographic phones

One of the best measures of a trend’s progress in the consumer electronics world is the reaction of the component suppliers. If the suppliers start taking concrete steps towards addressing it, then they anticipate demand from their manufacturing clients, who in turn must be anticipating demand from consumers. That’s why it’s such an encouraging sign that…

By