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Nothing steams consumers like robocalls, which is why the Federal Trade Commission launched a contest last year calling for ideas to tackle the nuisance. The winners of that challenge were announced Tuesday Each of two winners will receive $25,000 to bring their robocall solutions to market....

Living up to its billing as the Chinese Google, Baidu, China's top search engine, reportedly is working on Baidu Eye, something that sounds a lot like Google's Glass. It's "a wearable Internet gadget," according to China Daily. Worn like eyeglasses, Baidu Eye will be controlled by voice and will feature an LCD display that can recognize images. W...

Video cameras have been one of the killer hardware features in the smartphone revolution, and Apple's iOS platform for iPads and iPhones has made an important contribution to thevideo camera app market. This week, All Things Appy takes a look at key apps in this arena....

The mushrooming growth of data generated by government agencies will drive federal IT investment in the necessary tools for managing colossal amounts of bits and bytes. As a result of the explosion in information, the government will be spending increasing amounts of its funds on Big Data capabilities Federal agencies spent about US$4.9 billion on...

Erik Brynjolfsson and Andrew McAfee of the MIT Center for Digital Business and the Sloan School of Management have written an interesting book for our times -- our economic times -- with an appealing metaphor that any technologist will appreciate. Race Against The Machine: How the Digital Revolution is Accelerating Innovation, Driving Productivity...

Chakra is an unusual Linux distro that rethinks what the Linux desktop should be. It gives users the tools to do it their way.

The six largest European markets -- France, Spain, Italy, the UK, the Netherlands and Germany -- announced on Tuesday that they will take joint legal action against Google over its privacy policies. The action will involve an investigation and possible fines This follows the company's decision last year to consolidate more than 70 privacy policies ...

Windows 7 is the most popular desktop operating system, with 44.73 percent market share, according to Net Applications' March report. Windows 8 is not even a close second -- old standby Windows XP is. Though Microsoft released Windows 8 with great fanfare last October, it hasn't developed much traction so far. In fact, it trails behind Vista -- a...

eBay is enjoying a surge on Wall Street in the wake of last week's analyst day, when it reassured Wall Street and investors that growth from its core Marketplaces and PayPal businesses was on track. It was the first time since 2011 that analysts had gathered at the company's San Jose, Calif., headquarters. CEO John Donahoe reportedly told those in attendance that by 2015, the company would enable US$300 billion in global commerce, up from $175 billion in 2012.

Apple CEO Tim Cook apologized Monday to Chinese customers over the company's warranty policy, adding that he would improve customer service in China, which is now Apple's second-biggest market The apology may be linked to a mid-March television special -- it aired on state-run CCTV March 15, which is known in China as "Consumer Rights Day" -- that ...

BioShock Infinite, developed by Irrational Games, is available for Windows, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and OS X as a digital download or a physical disk for US$59.99.Video game franchises typically run a predictable course. Create something that is -- or seems -- unique, and if it's a hit, crank out a few more of the same. This is why some good serie...

The IT industry is no stranger to youth worship, but Yahoo's multimillion-dollar deal for Summly pushes that notion into cradle-robbing -- well, high school-robbing, anyway -- territory. That's because the punchline beneath the headlines is the age of Summly founder. Nick D'Aloisio, 17 -- and a little more than a year short of high school graduation -- appears to have qualified as the world's youngest VC-backed entrepreneur.

The Consumer Finance Protection Bureau announced last week that it has expanded the Consumer Complaint Database it launched last summer, increasing the number of complaints about credit card companies from 19,000 or so to 90,000. The added data comes from additional players such as mortgage companies, banks, private student loan providers and other consumer lenders. ...

Kona, an innovative social networking platform for businesses and organizations, was launched in late 2012. It grew out of a vision developer Scott DeFusco had for a way to solve communications issues shared in peoples' business and social lives. ...

Aereo, a startup that streams TV content to Web-connected devices with the use of tiny antennas, won another legal battle Monday in its war with broadcast networks The Second Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a district court's ruling that denied 17 broadcasters a preliminary injunction against Aereo on the grounds that streaming TV content to indi...

The Russian government is using a law passed last year to restrictonline content, and three major social networks have removed content authorities deemed objectionable The Russianlaw created a blacklist of sites containing child pornography,drug-related and extremist material, and other illegal content.Facebook, Twitter and YouTube have removed the...

Nuance on Monday unveiled Voice Ads, a platform that can allow companies and marketers to use voice technology to better target on-the-go smartphone users with interactive advertisements Online marketers want to reach consumers on smartphones and tablets, but tiny screens and other factors related to mobile devices present challenges for advertiser...

Michael Dell, CEO of the PC maker that bears his name, may be considering a buyout offer from the Blackstone Group -- a bid that competes with a deal he put together himself -- but only with some serious strings attached Apparently he not only wants the company to retain the Dell moniker, but also wants to remain in charge. If Blackstone Group can'...

It appears Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg is plunging into the controversial national debate on immigration reform. An issue-advocacy group he formed has hired two lobbying firms: Peck Madigan Jones; and Fierce, Isakowitz & Blalock. It is unclear exactly what Zuckerberg's goals are, but he reportedly wants to push for comprehensive immigration ref...

Members of a film crew working on State of Control, a documentary about Tibet, are convinced that the Chinese government is behind cyberattacks on their computers They've been faced with unknown parties taking external control over a computer's cursor; abrupt log-offs; at least one fried operating system; and DDoS attacks....