Showing results by narrator "Todd Mundt" in All Categories

You’ll learn what it’s like to use a device that can be controlled with your voice and a noise-cancelling headset. You’ll hear about the growing security problem Google is facing. You’ll learn how researchers have shown that the swipe-to-unlock action can be replaced. You’ll hear how WebTV’s creator is trying to make wireless technology that will give us faster, better mobile Internet access. You’ll learn how a few apps are starting to reveal what Google Glass could soon become. And you’ll hear news from the worlds of Biomedicine, Technology and Communications.

In this issue, you’ll hear about the top companies from our list of the “50 Smartest Companies 2014.” You’ll learn how some of our deadliest genetic diseases could be cured. You’ll hear what Google must overcome in order for its wearable computer to be accepted. And you’ll learn how Bitcoin’s underlying technology is beginning to suggest valuable new applications.

In this issue, you’ll learn about the year's most important computing stories. You’ll hear how IBM is planning to invest a billion dollars in the computer system that won on Jeopardy! You’ll learn how typing in passwords on tablets and PCs could become a thing of the past. You’ll hear about the most intriguing business stories of the year. You’ll learn about a new study that shows how Google is dominating search. And you’ll hear news from the worlds of Biomedicine, Technology and Communications.

In this issue, you’ll learn how one scientist may have come up with a way to offset rising temperatures. You’ll hear about the limits of what may be shown or said on the Web. You’ll learn about Apple’s next big innovation. You’ll hear about what the two men who created the iPod and iPhone have their sights set on now. And you’ll learn why the quest to gather ever more information can make us value the wrong things and grow overconfident about what we know.

You’ll hear how President Obama’s campaign used big data to rally individual voters. You’ll learn why climate change must take top priority in the next four years of President Obama’s Administration. You’ll hear how technology has given politics back its soul. You’ll learn about how a simple diagnostic test could help prevent the deaths of 1.5 million people each year from tuberculosis.

In this issue, you’ll learn how manufacturing in the United States is in trouble – which spells bad news for the country's economy and future of innovation. You’ll hear how our saved online photos and mementos are at the mercy of companies that may decide to just throw it all away. You’ll learn how mapping our neural circuits under anesthesia could shed light on consciousness. You’ll hear how information technology is reducing the need for certain jobs faster than new ones are being created.

In this issue, you’ll learn what China’s next great economic advantage could be. You'll hear how Facebook emerged from a privacy scandal to become online advertising’s next great hope. You’ll learn how demonstrating IBM’s software on Jeopardy! may have been a bad idea. You’ll hear why it may be a good idea to start taking price into account when considering approval or coverage of new drug treatments.

In this issue, you'll hear how Japan's spiraling reactor accident could threaten the future of nuclear power - how residents in Tokyo were alerted by a new early warning system – how newer nuclear plant designs are more resilient to natural disaster – and how people around the globe were quickly able to mobilize online to provide relief for Japan.

In this issue, you'll hear about how the Microsoft Kinect is fun but its natural user interfaces still have a long way to go. You'll learn about what Google TV has to offer – despite tepid early reviews. You'll learn about a new messaging system that could steal advertising dollars from Facebook's rivals. You'll hear about an app that goes through the clutter of texts, calls, and e-mails on a device to make sense out of a chaotic social network.

In this issue: "35 Innovators Under 35 – Inventors" by The Editors of Technology Review; "35 Innovators Under 35 – The Entrepreneurs" by The Editors of Technology Review; "35 Innovators Under 35 – Visionaries" by The Editors of Technology Review; "35 Innovators Under 35 – Humanitarians" by The Editors of Technology Review; "35 Innovators Under 35 – Pioneers" by The Editors of Technology Review; and "A New Way to Reproduce" by Antonio Regalado.

In a three-month period at the end of 1879, Thomas Edison tested the first practical electric lightbulb, Karl Benz invented a workable internal-combustion engine, and a British-American inventor named David Edward Hughes transmitted a wireless signal over a few hundred meters. These were just a few of the remarkable breakthroughs that Northwestern University economist Robert J. Gordon tells us led to a “special century” between 1870 and 1970.

Inside a large, windowless room in an electronics factory in south Shanghai, about 15 workers are eyeing a small robot arm with frustration. Near the end of the production line where optical networking equipment is being packed into boxes for shipping, the robot sits motionless.

Though virtual reality is still far from mainstream, 2015 was a big year for the industry as new headsets were introduced - some full-featured and powerful, some simple and portable - and companies announced new ways to control and capture VR imagery, too.

Braving a funding ban put in place by America’s top health agency, some US research centers are moving ahead with attempts to grow human tissue inside pigs and sheep with the goal of creating hearts, livers, or other organs needed for transplants.

The robots didn’t really take over in 2015, but at times it felt as if that might be where we’re headed. There were signs that machines will soon take over manual work that currently requires human skill. Early in the year details emerged of a contest organized by Amazon to help robots do more work inside its vast product fulfillment centers.

The world’s largest DNA sequencing company says it will form a new company to develop blood tests that cost $1,000 or less and can detect many types of cancer before symptoms arise. Illumina, based in San Diego, said its blood tests should reach the market by 2019, and would be offered through doctors’ offices or possibly a network of testing centers.

Biologists often emphasize how little anyone really knows about the brain, the genome, and the mechanisms behind effective drugs. But this year their tune changed as diverse technologies - gene editing, stem cells, cloning, and DNA databases - coalesced into an immensely powerful toolkit for manipulating life. The message in 2015 seemed to be: “We can do anything.”

Engineering the structure of metals and ceramic materials at the nanoscale can give them superpowers that might transform how we build just about everything. They can become incredibly flexible, strong, and extremely light all at the same time, and gain the ability to spring back into shape after being crushed flat.

Will this year mark the first drone delivery, or the first time you encounter a robot at work or in your home? We saw significant advancements in robotics and artificial intelligence in 2015. Here’s what we’re watching closely in 2016.

Here’s a smart way for us to limit carbon emissions and keep global warming below 2 °C.