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An App Inspired by App Overload

An app called Vurb aims to make it easier to search for stuff to do using a smartphone.For the past few years, Bobby Lo has been trying to figure out how to use a smartphone to plan a night out with friends, without shuffling back and forth between apps and Web pages just to make dinner reservations or find movie times.


MONDAY 2. MARCH 2015


Zuckerberg: Internet Growth Means More than Drones

Efforts to expand Internet access via mobile technologies may be stymied by economic and social challenges.Mark Zuckerberg said today at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, that Internet.org, Facebook’s effort to subsidize Internet access in the developing world, has brought new people online and helped telecommunications operators pick up new data subscribers around the world. “It...


SATURDAY 28. FEBRUARY 2015



FRIDAY 27. FEBRUARY 2015


Apple’s Real Car Play

The world’s most valuable company doesn’t need to build a car in order to reinvent driving.It’s been fascinating to read all the recent discussion and speculation over Apple’s supposed car project—and to wonder if a company that already dominates several huge product categories thanks to innovative design and engineering might pull off the same trick with the...

App Ads Are Booming Business for Facebook

App ads account for more than half of Facebook’s mobile revenue—and they show how the ad market is changing.After launching a mobile app in December 2012, the event ticket search engine SeatGeek needed a better way to get lots of people to install it. Driving installations with search ads was expensive, and banner ads were annoying to smartphone users. As luck would have it, two months earlier...


THURSDAY 26. FEBRUARY 2015


U.S. Commitment to Energy R&D Still Insufficient, Say Business Leaders

Five years after a stern warning from Bill Gates and other business leaders, U.S. funding for energy R&D remains stuck in the mud.Five years ago the American Innovation Council, a group of six prominent business leaders including Bill Gates and GE’s CEO Jeffrey Immelt, published a “business plan for America’s energy future,” which included recommended investments the group said would...

At EmTech Digital, Meet Insiders from Magic Leap, Google's Project Loon

Our June event in San Francisco offers access to the people behind our 10 Breakthrough Technologies, including insiders from Magic Leap and Google’s Project Loon.This June, MIT Technology Review’s EmTech Digital (formerly Digital Summit) brings a global examination of the most significant technologies and trends of the digital era to San Francisco. Our live events include you in our...

This FCC Rule Will Matter More Than Net Neutrality Will

The decision in favor of municipal broadband networks does more than “open Internet” rules ever could to increase competition in a broken market.Today’s ruling on net neutrality by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission is being described as a historic and crucial milestone, but a separate decision by the regulatory body today is more meaningful because it addresses the problem of...

New Titanium-Making Process Could Result in Lighter Aircraft

A new process could extend the use of titanium for lightweight, more fuel-efficient airplanes.A new process for producing titanium—a metal that’s increasingly used in aircraft to reduce weight and fuel consumption—is significantly cheaper and less energy-intensive than conventional methods. The technique could lead to titanium being used to reduce the weight of cars, helping automakers meet...


WEDNESDAY 25. FEBRUARY 2015


New Display Technology Lets LCDs Produce Princess Leia-Style Holograms

Startup aims to give mobile devices the power to display full-color holographic images and video.During a famous scene in Star Wars, Princess Leia has R2D2 play a holographic video message in midair in which she pleads for help from Obi-Wan Kenobi. In the near future, smartphones and other mobile devices will have the ability to show something quite similar, according to David...


TUESDAY 24. FEBRUARY 2015


Venture Capitalists Love Biotech Right Now

Scientific advances and new business models are spurring investor confidence in biomedical-related ventures.Venture capital investment in U.S. life sciences companies soared 29 percent in 2014 from the year before, reaching $8.6 billion, the highest level since 2007. And there is reason to think 2015 will also be a big year for a sector having its third boom of the last two decades.

Five Loopholes That Could Undermine Net Neutrality

“Open Internet” rules are on the verge of being approved in the U.S., but crucial details remain unclear.After years of struggle, U.S. advocates of “net neutrality” are likely to declare victory on Thursday, when the Federal Communications Commission is expected to approve sweeping new rules meant to foster an open Internet. But people who have closely studied the FCC’s proposal see at...

Does Obama's Keystone Veto Matter?

The Keystone XL pipeline is a distraction from what’s really needed to solve climate change.This week President Obama is widely expected to veto a bill that would have approved the Keystone XL pipeline. The pipeline, which would transport oil from Canada’s oil sands deposits, provides a convenient, tangible rallying point for the environmental movement. But without concerted political action...


MONDAY 23. FEBRUARY 2015


Programmable Chips for a More Powerful Web and Smarter Phones

Software upgrades that can change the circuitry of the silicon chips inside computing devices could make them more powerful.The computing devices that pervade our lives and generally keep the world running can be taught new tricks with software upgrades. But those can only change so much about a device, because the designs of the chips inside are locked in silicon from the moment they’re...


SUNDAY 22. FEBRUARY 2015