In the world’s most sophisticated plants and shipyards, maintenance operations are carried out much differently than they once were. Technicians rely on data from sensors embedded within production equipment to predict rather than troubleshoot issues before they have a chance to cause harm. It’s an approach that Dell believes could be beneficial in other, more…
Category: Code
Fujitsu’s quest to improve public Wi-Fi networks
While it focuses mainly on enterprise technology and semiconductors nowadays, Fujitsu still has a big role in the consumer electronics world as an upstream supplier. It even makes the occasional attempt to directly tackle a trend or problem affecting people’s day-to-day interactions with technology. According to one of the company’s newest patent filings, the current…
Microsoft wants to redefine the tablet experience
Microsoft now makes nearly $1 billion per quarter from Surface devices according to its latest earnings report, but this figure still represents only a small portion of the overall mobile market. One of the ways the company has been trying to secure a bigger share of the pie is by offering up various value-added software…
Next on Google's agenda: Industrial robots
The robotics industry has emerged as a key focus area for Google in recent years. The company’s Boston Dynamics subsidiary recently unveiled a four-legged walker that can independently navigate around a house, while its artificial intelligence researchers are working to improve the finesse of mechanical limbs. And now a new patent application indicates that yet…
IBM wants to use hacker tactics for desktop security
The world of enterprise cybersecurity is in flux. Traditional antivirus software and firewalls are being replaced with a new generation of security tools that use artificial intelligence to look for malicious behavior. One of the vendors leading the transition is IBM Corp., which is churning out one patent after another as its engineers push the…
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…
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…
U.S. Army drones will have a mechanism to protect your privacy
A leading UAV supplier to the U.S. Army is actively working to make field reconnaissance less intrusive for bystanders caught in the stare of the camera.
Microsoft is developing 3D folders for Windows 10
A new patent sheds light on Redmond’s plans for the future of the Windows UI and possibly the HoloLens.
Northwestern University has developed a way to plug privacy holes in Android apps once and for all
Consumers may not have to endure through the game of whack-a-mole that the mobile industry has been playing with security exploits on Android for much longer if this latest project from Northwestern University bears fruit.
IBM’s analytics tech will let corporations raid social networks for followers
IBM is working on software that will let corporations deploy programmatic dragnets on social networks to capture followings based upon pre-determined targeting criteria.
IBM wants to use Twitter to help troubleshoot your data center
IBM is seeking to patent an analytic engine for distilling user protests on social media into useful feedback for system administrators. For when the constant complains from management are not enough.
Microsoft’s HoloLens will closely guard your privacy
A patent filling reveals how Microsoft plans to address the privacy challenges of virtual reality in the forthcoming HoloLens and simplify development for game studios with the same stroke.
Microsoft is extending the cloud to the developer’s laptop
A new patent filling reveals an upcoming upgrade to Visual Studio that will open the possibility for developers to pull service components from the cloud onto their machines for local editing and testing.