Computers: Google tablets seen overtaking iPad in five years

TABLET computers HELSINKI - TABLET computers running Google's Android software will catch up with Apple's iPad and surpass it in 2016, research firm Informa said on Wednesday. Informa said it expects Apple's current 75 per cent market share to fall to 39 per cent in 2015, when Android market share will grow to 38 per cent. 'From 2013, as cheaper and more advanced Android tablets enter the market, we forecast that sales will pick up considerably,...

Gadget: iPhone app brings Roman London to life

Apple sold 9.25 million iPads over the last quarter, almost 20 times the number of Motorola's Xooms. Motorola announced dismal device sales in its earnings report on Thursday, with tablets faring near the worst among the company's products. The company shipped 11 million mobile devices over the past three months, according to the quarterly statement. Yet only 440,000 of those were tablet devices. In other words, the Motorola Xoom Android tablet...

Tech Mobile: New wave of location-based apps mark a 'paradigm shift'

Trover uses GPS to figure out where you are and show you things other users have thought were interesting. As location-based apps go, Foursquare or Gowalla will work just fine if you're looking for the spot where all your buddies are having a beer. But what if they discovered an awesome, out-of-the-way spot six months ago? Or, better yet, what if you didn't even know you were looking for a watering hole until your phone told you there's one around...

Tech Biz: Yahoo and Alibaba reach deal over Alipay

 Alibaba CEO Jack Ma NEW YORK -- Yahoo has finally come to an agreement with Chinese Internet giant Alibaba in a months-long battle over the ownership of payment site Alipay. Yahoo (YHOO, Fortune 500) owns about 40% of Alibaba, which itself owns Yahoo China -- as well as three massive Chinese properties including Alipay. That stake is one of Yahoo's bright spots, so investors weren't pleased when uncertainty developed over Alipay. Back in...

Tech Biz: List of smartphone losers gets longer

  NEW YORK -- In the smartphone market, it's a great time to be Apple and Samsung. Nokia and Motorola? Not so much. Last quarter, Apple (AAPL, Fortune 500) became the world's largest smartphone manufacturer for the first time, and Samsung moved up one spot to No. 2, according to a Strategy Analytics study released Friday. They displaced Nokia, which had held the top position for more than a decade. It's a stunning achievement, particularly...

Innovation: Apple now has more cash than the U.S. government

The world's most highly valued tech company now has more cash on hand than the U.S. Treasury. Maybe the cash-strapped U.S. government should start selling iPads. According to the latest statement from the U.S. Treasury, the government had an operating cash balance Wednesday of $73.8 billion. That's still a lot of money, but it's less than what Steve Jobs has lying around. Tech juggernaut Apple had a whopping $76.2 billion in cash and marketable...

Web: iPhone rumors, Nintendo 3DS, goats

Tech Check: Doug Gross, Brandon Griggs and Stephanie Goldberg discuss iPhones, the Nintendo 3DS -- and goats. This week, on the Tech Check podcast, Doug Gross, Brandon Griggs and Stephanie Goldberg break down and discuss the latest iPhone 5 rumor (as well as the Apple rumor phenomenon itself). The newest buzz came when a U.K. tech site posted what they said was a design for Apple's iPhone 5. Which, of course, doesn't exist yet. But, you know....

Web: Congress gathering debt-crisis feedback via Facebook

All House Speaker John Boehner's Facebook posts in the past two weeks have articulated his positions on the debt crisis. As members of Congress navigate the shifting political sands of the debt-ceiling crisis, many of them are turning to a digital platform more associated with sharing personal updates and funny videos about cats: Facebook. In recent days, lawmakers have swarmed the popular social network to post videos outlining their positions,...

Gadgets: I'm stuck in a DVR time warp, and I like it

Every summer, I start descending the scroll-list of stuff we have recorded on our nearly full DVR. Hey, do me a favor. Don't tell me how the royal wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton ends. I haven't watched it yet. I'm assuming the deal was sealed? Every summer, after most of the TV shows my wife and I watch end their regular-season runs, I start descending the scroll-list of stuff we have recorded on our nearly full DVR. The digital...

Web: Are Internet Explorer users dumb?

A survey used tests offered through Web searches or in online ads to measure the IQ of browser users Are users of other Web browsers smarter than the people who use Microsoft's Internet Explorer? A new survey doesn't quite say so. But it sure as heck suggests it. The survey by AptiQuant, a Vancouver-based Web consulting company, gave more than 100,000 participants an IQ test, while monitoring which browser they used to take the test. The result?...

Innovation: Couple married by computerized minister

A Houston couple ties the knot with a computer program acting as minister. ...

Innovation: Apple manufacturer to replace some of workforce with robots

Foxconn currently has 10,000 robots; in the next year, this number should jump to 300,000. Foxconn, a company that manufacturers parts used in Apple's iPhone and iPad, said it aims to replace workers with 1 million robots in the next three years, Xinhuanet reports. The robots will be assigned simple tasks currently done by human workers, such as welding and assembling parts. Foxconn currently has 10,000 robots; in the next year, this number should...

Tech Mobile: Wireless contracts yield better customer service, survey says

Among major carriers that offer cell-phone contracts, Verizon Wireless earned the highest ranking in the customer-care survey Few people would say they actually enjoy contacting their wireless carrier for customer service. But if you have a contract for your cell phone, you'll probably get slightly better service, according to a new survey from J.D. Power and Associates. This survey of U.S. consumers measures overall customer-care performance...

Tech Biz: Twitter lands major new funding round

Twitter Twitter has landed a major influx of cash to help it expand: The five-year-old social media company said Monday that it has just wrapped up a "significant" funding round led by venture firm DST Global. Twitter didn't disclose how much it raised. However, Twitter amended its certificate of incorporation forms late last week to authorize the issuance of up to 25 million new shares, priced at just over $16 per share. That would let the company...

News: Some small businesses overwhelmed by daily deal rush

When the owner of the Hillbrook Inn went looking for ways to boost business, she turned to a new and increasingly popular tool: daily deal sites like LivingSocial and Groupon. The 10-guestroom bed and breakfast near Charles Town, West Virginia, listed a one-night stay on LivingSocial in March for half off the usual rate. Owner Carissa Zanella and her staff weren't waiting long for responses. "It was a mad rush," said Zanella. "We had two computers...

Communications: Picking up Signals from Television Viewers

 Talking about TV: Bluefin Signals, above, gives a fine-grained view of how much audiences are responding to television content through social media. Credit: Bluefin Labs  Bluefin Labs aims to measure the connections between social media and television shows. Bluefin Labs wants to know not how many people are watching a TV show, but what they're saying about it. This week, the company, based in Cambridge,...

Web: A Network for Wild Experimentation

Dark fibers: Researchers will use dormant networking resources—which extend through the areas indicated on this map—to perform a variety of experiments. Credit: ESNet  ESNet and Internet2 have built a networking test bed for ideas that are too disruptive for the networks that people actually use. In a few unused back alleys of the Internet, researchers are testing radical new ways of transferring information, often at speeds...

Communications: Would an iPhone 'Assistant' Really Help?

Apple may be building the technology into iOS. But can it succeed where others have failed? Are we on the cusp of an era of ubiquitous "virtual personal assistants"? If Steve Jobs has his way, we just might be. Back in the spring of 2010, Apple acquired Siri, a company that produced an app that described itself in just those terms. Now, clues dug up recently by 9to5Mac, a site dedicated to scrutinizing all things Apple, suggest that Apple may...

Communications: Ultrafine Location Fixes

Precise positioning: A network of these transmitters, each the size of a hardback book, can enable nearby devices to locate themselves to within a few centimeters. Credit: Locata Small ground-based transmitters that mimic GPS satellites help receivers find their position with high accuracy. The GPS technology that allows cell phones and other devices to pinpoint their location to within a few meters has made possible...

Communications: New Tool Keeps Censors in the Dark

  Anti-censorship software would make it harder for censors to track—and block—undesirable communications. A new approach to overcoming state-level Internet censorship relies, ironically enough, on a technique that security experts have frequently associated with government surveillance. Current anti-censorship technologies, including the services Tor and Dynaweb, direct connections to restricted websites through a network of encrypted proxy...