Technology & Innovation

As more companies attempt to create custom services based on car data, a California-based business is using both data and driver behavior to set its rates.

Building video into ATMs enables customers to interact with tellers if they need assistance during a transaction. It also lets banks reserve the branch offices for more in-depth customer questions or issues.

The Stick-N-Find app works with specially-made stickers that can be affixed onto keys, pets’ collars, and other items. With 39 days to go, its Indiegogo campaign has made almost double its goal.

Wake Forest University engineers discovered that adding carbon nanotubes to a special kind of polymer causes it to give off a comfortable white light when electricity is run through it.

They are blamed for or suspected in the unexplained failure of electronic devices ranging from coffee makers to commercial satellites. A student recently received a major award for figuring out why they develop.

When it comes to bandwidth, sharing can be good: Anyone within 100 feet of a person’s Karma wireless modem is offered 100 Mb of free bandwidth. If they accept, the modem owner gets an extra 100 Mb as well.

Just published last week, Verizon’s patent application enables TVs with specially-outfitted cameras and microphones to detect what’s happening in a room — such as arguing or talking on the phone — and display appropriate advertising.

Inspired by the 1960s TV show Mission: Impossible, the founders of Wickr say that their app helps put users, not companies or governments, in control of their communication.

Our leaders in Washington are playing an irresponsible game of chicken with the American economy.

On the one hand, some smokers say the new labeling — complete with gruesome images — is the “final push” they need to stop. On the other hand, the illicit tobacco market is expected to grow.

Despite the fact that the label has been on restaurant menus for years, the authentic version never left Japan until this year. The US is the third country to receive shipments.

Legalizing the buying and selling of homes between residents and foreigners with “permanent” residence status has created a massive real estate boom in Cuba’s capital.

London’s Pearson College, open since September, is the first institution of its kind to develop within a large, diversified, and distinguished corporation.

The only thing needed for the Wiki Weapon project to go forward is a federal firearms license.

By fitting a computer, a camera, and a projector into the spot where the bulb would go, the lamp can display information onto a surface, and recognize and respond to user contact with that surface.

Recent break-ins at several Texas hotels have been traced to a digital pickpocketing tool that takes advantage of a security vulnerability in locks found in millions of rooms worldwide.

British Airways passengers can now be assured of finishing any in-flight movies they watch, thanks to an agreement between the airline and the UK government.

Next in the company’s plans for world domination: The ability to find answers to the questions you normally don’t think of going to a computer to ask.

With their unique prefab approach, a Chinese company has already built a 15-story hotel in 48 hours and a 30-story tower in 15 days. This one — 220 stories — is scheduled to be completed by March.

New “deep-learning” software helps computers recognize patterns in large data sets the same way the human brain recognizes patterns in the world. The result has been much better A.I.

Previously found only on its Android app, the technology now enables browser-based searching of airports, shopping malls, museums, and other locations.

Scientist Deckard Sorensen used nanotechnology to create a vessel that mimics the water collection and storage capabilities of the Namib desert beetle.

A team of experts from various industries is working on software that will take your measurements via a camera or smartphone and use the data to help you find the right size when shopping online.

A new report from the World Resources Institute says that at least 1,199 coal plants are being planned worldwide, with a growing number of them proposed for developing countries.

To keep revenues coming in, some content sites are experimenting with the micropayment model, in which the majority of a chosen article is made available only after the reader pays a small fee.

I’ve received dozens of emails since my New York Times op-ed proposing a wealth tax came out on Monday. My goal with the piece was primarily to refocus the inequality […]

Starting today, New York City is replacing traditional pay phones with touchscreens that will provide weather data, safety alerts, coupons for local shops, and more.

In terms of their teens’ online activities, interaction with strangers still ranks (just barely) as the top concern, according to a new Pew Center/Harvard report.

Desperate to reduce the amount of unsold housing stock, Spain has announced a proposal to offer residency permits to foreign buyers.

Funeral costs went up by a third in the past decade despite the passage of a 1993 law designed to help prevent that from happening. Several new companies are offering much more affordable services, often through the Internet.