innovation

NEW YORK -- Believe it or not, the 2013 Consumer Electronics Show is just eight weeks away. And that means it's time for the show's organizer, the Consumer Electronics Association, to begin drumming up excitement for the world's largest showcase of new gadgets and electronics. First up: the announcement today of the CEA's Best of Innovations 2013 Design and Engineering Award winners at the CES preview event in Manhattan.

The awards are given across 29 consumer electronics product categories, and include two new ones for 2013: "Accessible and Universal Design Technologies" and "Tech … Read more

Here's the problem with solar panels. Most of the time they're static and unable to rotate with the sun, which in the end means less electrical output. Menlo Park, Calif., based startup Qbotix has built a commercial prototype that offers an answer. It's called SolBot, and it's a set of mobile robots that quickly move around a railroadlike track and mechanically pivot the panel.

The engineers at Qbotix say their setup is different than conventional tracking systems, which require each photovoltaic panel to have a controller and motor. One mobile robot can manage up to 200 … Read more

Victor Poor, one of the founding fathers of early computer innovation, died Friday at the age of 79. He was one of the handful of engineers who helped develop Intel's first single chip microprocessor -- the 4004. Poor continued to be instrumental in microprocessor and computer advancement throughout his life.

According to the New York Times, Poor died of pancreatic cancer in Palm Bay, Fla.

Poor, who was a self-taught engineer, began working with Intel in 1969 when he met with well-known engineer Stanley Mazor to discuss the idea of building a processor for a programmable terminal, according to … Read more

A startup with seed money from the likes of Eric Schmidt's Innovation Endeavors, LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner, Lady Gaga manager Troy Carter, and Oprah Winfrey hopes to create a successful mashup of a professional and crowdsourced news network, a social-media site like Twitter, and a video hub like YouTube.

"There are practical solutions to [create] more jobs, lower crime, [provide] better education," #waywire co-founder and Newark, N.J., Mayor Cory Booker told TechCrunch. "If more people could find their voice and be part of the national dialogue, we could solve these problems."

#waywire, which plans … Read more

PALO ALTO, Calif. -- Just a short bicycle ride from Stanford University, there's a work space befitting any hip startup.

Squat, teardrop-shaped chairs and short, lime-green swivel chairs sit atop a colorful checkered carpet, across which a small dog casually pitter-patters. Lining the sparse ceiling are rows of florescent lights, wooden beams, and large ventilation tubes, adding an industrial-chic ambiance. On one side lies a sliding divider made up of strands of cable lines strung closely next to each other, while the other side features a movable row of hanging chains, creating a flexible space that can be manipulated … Read more

PALO ALTO, Calif.--Since 2006, Maker Faire has offered tens of thousands of people an annual celebration of the best and brightest in the do-it-yourself movement.

But while everyone from individual tinkerers who have built small rockets to two people doing amazing things with Diet Coke and Mentos to paper airplane masters and crafters making magic out of felt has had a venue for the last five years to showcase their innovative projects, there's never been a forum for the growing number of people and companies that are developing the new business platforms that are merging manufacturing and making. … Read more

Love walking and texting? Still haven't done a faceplant on a streetlight? Well, this sneaker from Kenya can power your phone so you'll never have to look up from that screen again.

Inventor Anthony Mutua, 24, has been showing off his recharging sneaker at the first-ever Kenyan Science Technology and Innovation Week, held in Nairobi. It's another way of using your body's own energy to fuel electronics.

The shoe apparently has a very thin "crystal chip," perhaps a piezoelectric device, that generates power when the sole bends. It can charge phones via a long cable to a pocket while the user walks, or store power for later charging. … Read more

Verizon's app innovation center in San Francisco isn't just a place to drum up developer interest for the carrier; it's where you go to see what the company has cooking in terms of future capabilities and features.

I had a chance to tour the offices recently, checking out the company's RF-testing room, three labs (named after three of the four Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles), and gallery of advanced devices. The innovation center is partly there to help developers with their apps, and partly there for networking events to connect developers with each other and with Verizon. … Read more

For LG, the key to mobile dominance has nothing to do with nice-looking devices, and everything to do with future-thinking ideas.

Speaking today to Korea's iNews24, LG Mobile Managing Director Kwon Bong-suk said that his company is currently in the preparation phase of developing a "thinking smartphone" that LG believes could put the company over the top and cause apparently dumb devices to lose out.

The mobile chief didn't provide too many details on how the device would act, but did say that it could, for example, adjust its built-in alarm clock based on external factors. … Read more