texas

Though Time Warner Cable's free Wi-Fi hot spots are nothing new, there is something perhaps more than coincidental about the timing of their launch in Austin, Texas.

Did someone say Google Fiber?

Well, actually, Time Warner itself did. In its announcement Thursday that it's bringing free Wi-Fi hot spots to its Austin customers, the company said it was Google launching its superfast Internet and TV service in the Texas capital that gave Time Warner momentum.

"We've been rolling out our free Wi-Fi network across our footprint for some time now, as part of our larger strategy … Read more

AUSTIN, Texas--SideCar wants to avoid the cops.

Last week, the Austin City Council ruled that services built around drivers charging riders a fee without the appropriate license were illegal and constituted a crime. That meant that SideCar drivers, who are expected to be prowling the streets of the Texas capital during SXSW this week, risked getting arrested.

SideCar is built around letting drivers who have extra seats in their cars make a little money by picking up riders, who use the company's app to call for a lift. The service is similar to that available in a number of … Read more

AUSTIN, Texas--The PC is so not dead.

That's what AMD, one of the world's largest makers of processors, wants the world to know. And at SXSW, the chipmaker is putting its money where its mouth is and showing off a collection of modded PCs masquerading as art.

During its Technograffiti event here tonight, AMD will let the world get a glimpse of a series of PC mods that it hopes will convince people who think mobile devices have fully supplanted PCs that there's still some life remaining in the full-size computer.

"We want people to reimagine … Read more

You can't always get your buddies around the table to play cards. In that case, drop this app on your smartphone for a full Texas Hold 'Em experience. DH Texas Poker lets you challenge your friends, the computer, or people from all over the world to a game. It moves a little more slowly than some other Poker apps, but the competition can be fierce.

The game lets you play as a guest, but you have to register to unlock the best experience. You can sign up with the developer to track your performance across all of its games, … Read more

With the flick of a switch and a flash of green light, a network of veins springs to the fore, mapped out just below the surface of the skin. This is no medical lab -- it's a darkened suite inside San Francisco's designer Clift Hotel -- but I already see how the recent sting of a donation nurse thumping the inside of both elbows in search of a vein could, and should, be a nervy, time-consuming thing of the past.

The VeinViewer Flex isn't new. In fact, the first generation of VeinViewer debuted in 2006. But its use of infrared light to illuminate a hidden network within the body is seldom appreciated outside of medical circles.

Light, it turns out, and the projectors that channel it, can do quite a bit.… Read more

Nostalgia for vintage PCs knows no bounds. I still have my Apple IIc in storage, and God knows why. But I don't think I'd spend thousands on a 30-year-old machine like one eBay buyer did.

A bidding war for the rare Texas Instruments TI-99/8 has turned heads among fans of these early PCs. The winning bid of $3,240 was also unusually high for a computer of that era that's sold on eBay.

The machine is an engineering prototype designed to bolster TI's precarious position in the brutal home computer wars of the early 1980s. … Read more

LAS VEGAS--The LCD touch screen has become commonplace in cars, but the technology suffers from limited shaping. Texas Instruments used its Digital Light Processor (DLP) technology to come up with a display that could take a wide variety of shapes in the car, and allow touch control for people wearing gloves.

In its exhibition area at CES 2013, Texas Instruments had a car dashboard mounted on a stand to show off the concept. A very large screen followed the curves of the dashboard down the center stack, capable of showing car functions such as navigation, phone, and audio. Just like … Read more

LAS VEGAS -- Microsoft's newest operating system that runs on cell phone chips is off to a slow start, but it's only a matter of time before it gains more traction, the chief executive of chip technology designer ARM Holdings said.

Warren East, speaking today in an interview with CNET at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, said that for that to happen, Microsoft needs to make its software, dubbed Windows RT, work with more ARM-based processors. He said it eventually will do so, but it's unclear when that will be.

LAS VEGAS--For kids who aren't into fairy tales printed on paper, Texas Instruments is showing off a gorgeously designed pico projector for videos at bedtime.

At CES 2013, TI demonstrated the Rubik's Cube-style pico projector that works with DLP Pico technology.

Made by Innoio for Korea's SK Telecom, the colorful cube can project kids' shows or movies on a nearby wall or on the ceiling.

It apparently has a small speaker system, but TI staff on the floor of CES could not confirm that.

It's available in South Korea but could come to the U.S. … Read more