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Road Trip 2015

Silicon Valley. Two words that conjure thoughts of the startups and venture capitalists working feverishly to define the next new thing. But that corner of California doesn't have a lock on the tech that's rocking our world.

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The global hunt for innovation

This summer, CNET News' reporters embark on a global hunt for innovation. Join us to see where they land, the people they meet, the innovations they uncover -- all from the comfort of your armchair. At CNET News, we make adventure easy.

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<p>Check out all the places we've been on CNET's Road Trip 2015.</p><br>

Chasing the Silicon Valley dream is harder than you'd think

The CNET News team ventured out this summer to see how the world's innovation hot spots compared with the San Francisco Bay Area. Here's what we learned during Road Trip 2015.

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Target is hoping innovative concepts like its Open House retail store in San Francisco can lure in new shoppers.

Target turns to tech to bust out of its big-box image

As part of Road Trip 2015, CNET finds that the Minneapolis-based retailer has created a team tasked with supercharging sales of connected technology. Its first major project: a futuristic retail space called Open House.

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Israeli military uses tech as its protective edge

As part of Road Trip 2015, CNET visits a handful of Israel Defense Forces bases to see an F-16I fighter jet, advanced missile defense systems and a pilot's helmet packed with wearable tech.

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Up close with the Israel Defense Forces' F-16I and Iron Dome (pictures)

On CNET's Road Trip visit to Israel last month, Ben Fox Rubin checks out a handful of Israel's advanced military technologies.

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Ferrari fans hit California coast to share love of a classic machine

A world-class event in Monterey attracts the rarest cars and a sea of fans -- who bond over pristine paraphernalia like vintage seat belt buzzers.

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A look at Ramallah and its young tech scene (pictures)

The seat of power for the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank is developing its own startup scene, emulating the globally recognized tech center of Tel Aviv nearby.

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In the shadow of Tel Aviv, Ramallah's young tech scene takes flight

A tech sector largely fueled by low-level outsourcing work is starting to see its own startups thrive. We made a stop there on CNET Road Trip.

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In the Holy Land, self-driving cars, fighter jets and a cartoon sperm

For Road Trip 2015, CNET visits Israel and the West Bank to find fast-growing startups, homegrown military tech and more.

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Gett's development center in Tel Aviv, which became so crowded the startup created new digs nearby.

In tiny Israel, startups reach for global success

For years, most Israeli startup founders defined success as a quick sale to a bigger company. Now, they see a chance to build a lasting business.

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Many early startups in Minnesota work out of COCO, a popular tech hub known for its collaborative atmosphere.

Can't get your startup funded in Silicon Valley? Think Minnesota

Minnesota's entrepreneurs are fiercely loyal to the North Star State and proud of its non-cutthroat, collaborative atmosphere. They also say it's easier to attract investors there.

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In Jerusalem, preserving antiquities with tech (pictures)

CNET ​visited a handful of labs around Jerusalem where conservators are working to digitally preserve and analyze historical artifacts and artwork.

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<p>The Scroll of the Rule --- Image by © West Semitic Research/Dead Sea Scrolls Foundation/CORBIS</p>

Bringing the past into high-resolution view

For Road Trip 2015, CNET takes a look at the tech revolution helping historians in Israel reveal more about our past.

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East Palo Alto is a small town that's far different than its Silicon Valley neighbors.

East Palo Alto: Life on the other side of Silicon Valley's tracks

Wedged between techie territories like Palo Alto and Menlo Park, this once down-and-out California town is trying to turn itself around while still keeping its identity. We paid a visit on Road Trip 2015.

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<p>The location on 1st and Howard is a popular spot for a midday meetings. Crowded with employees from startups like wearables company Fitbit, this corner in SoMa attracts some of the best and brightest in the city. It’s a little chaotic, but the sandwiches are classic lunch fare, like a turkey cranberry for $8. There’s also a location right on Market Street and another north in the heart of the Financial District.</p>

Hot lunch spots for startups in San Francisco (pictures)

Got a killer startup idea to sell? You might want to start lunching at these eateries popular among engineers, CEOs and venture capitalists alike.

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<p>Employees at San Francisco-based startup ProsperWorks enjoy catered burritos.</p>

Where the tech elite go to eat

For Road Trip 2015, CNET uncovers where tech workers -- everyone from programmers to CEOs to venture capitalists -- line up for lunch in downtown San Francisco.

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Construction of the $4.5 billion Transbay Transit Center is slated to be completed in late 2017.

Tech money drives San Francisco building boom, pushes others out

As part of Road Trip 2015, CNET looks at how new skyscrapers are defining a new era in the City by the Bay. The winners: tech. The losers: pretty much everyone else.

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How a superfast network and 3D printing come together in one city

As part of Road Trip 2015, CNET digs in to the 3D printing startup culture in Chattanooga.

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How blazing Internet speeds helped Chattanooga shed its smokestack past

For Road Trip 2015, CNET looks at how one Southern city's embrace of superfast Internet turned it into a magnet for tech entrepreneurs.

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Chattanooga: From 'dirtiest city' to Internet haven (pictures)

More than 40 years ago, Chattanooga was declared the dirtiest city in America by the Environmental Protection Agency. The city cleaned up its air, revitalized its riverfront, and now has the largest and fastest broadband network in the US.

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Peyton Bowles, a Luxe driver in Seattle who said he moved from out of state to help his friends launch a startup. Bowles is in good company, as Amazon and Microsoft employees leave to become entrepreneurs.

Seattle wants the tech scene, but not the division that could come with it

The Emerald City is brewing plenty of startups, thanks in part to tech giants like Microsoft and Amazon. But can it avoid a rift in the community?

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Trying -- and kinda succeeding -- at going the distance with an electric car

For Road Trip 2015, CNET drives an all-electric car 500 miles around Britain's most scenic spots to see how easy it is to take a road trip without petrol. Spoiler alert: It doesn't go well.

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I found a rapid charging point in the car park for Winchester's County Council building.

A 500-mile journey in an electric car (pictures)

How easy is it to go on a road trip in an electric car? For Road Trip 2015, CNET set off on a 500-mile journey around England to find out.

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Strap in for the VR zombie apocalypse (pictures)

Here's a closer look at the tech that makes the world-first virtual reality experience Zero Latency possible.

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Zero Latency: The VR revolution begins in Melbourne, Australia

For Road Trip 2015, CNET gets a hands-on preview of a world-first VR entertainment facility before it opens its doors to the public on August 15.

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LinkNYC to bring free, public Wi-Fi to New York (pictures)

For Road Trip 2015, CNET checks out a project in New York that will replace old payphones with Wi-Fi hotspots.

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Titan's Chief Strategy Officer Dave Etherington is helping to drive the LinkNYC project, which will require more than 500 miles of fiber optic cable to provide high-speed broadband throughout New York City.

In New York, Starbucks and now Internet on almost every corner

On Road Trip 2015, CNET gets up close with a new structure that will supply the city with free, public Wi-Fi via a project that swaps phone booths for hotspots.

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<p>OSGEMEOS has their artwork displayed throughout Times Square during the August Midnight Moment.</p>

The Midnight Moment in Times Square (pictures)

The art for this month was done by ​Osgemeos, twin brothers who live and work in Brazil.

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An artist at Ironik Design & Post readies slides for Midnight Moment

For a moment, Times Square plays art gallery

As part of Road Trip 2015, CNET visits the large-scale art program that takes over Times Square nearly every night for three minutes with presentations from a variety of artists.

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The Tumblr office overlooks Madison Square Park in the Flatiron District of Manhattan.

Take a look at New York's quietly vibrant tech scene (pictures)

New York has steadily grown into a force of technology thanks to its diversity of people and industries to draw from.

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The offices of TechStars NYC, which fosters startups and connects them with mentors, customers and investors.

New York's tech scene: More melting pot, less Silicon Valley

On Road Trip 2015, CNET takes a look at the tech scene in the Big Apple, and how it has quietly emerged from the ashes of the failed "Silicon Alley."

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Backstage at Disney: Inside the secret control room for World of Color

The World of Color show at Disney's California Adventure combines innovative water fountains, video projections on a giant mist screen and music. CNET's Brian Tong got a tour of the secret control room to see what it takes to put on the nightly spectacular.

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Behind-the-scenes of Disneyland's 60th Anniversary

For its Diamond Celebration, Disneyland revamped some of its classic rides and its biggest shows. CNET's Brian Tong got to go backstage to see how the park is using tech to make the Happiest Place on Earth more modern and magical.

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The secret to Disneyland's anniversary spectaculars? Tinker Bell pixie dust and one-of-a-kind tech

On Road Trip 2015, CNET peeks behind the curtain of the nighttime parade and fireworks show at "the happiest place on Earth" -- and finds innovation 60 years in the making.

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At Disneyland, thank cutting-edge tech for nighttime magic (pictures)

Road Trip 2015 takes CNET to Disneyland, where tech takes over the show after the sun sets.

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Seattle's retailers learn to survive in Amazon's shadow

Small businesses have found a way to coexist with their tech neighbors -- offering bespoke services that would be hard to find elsewhere. CNET's Laura Hautala checks in with them as part of Road Trip 2015.

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Surviving in Amazon's shadow (pictures)

On Road Trip 2015, CNET visits small businesses in Seattle to learn how they survived the rise of online shopping and get along with the e-commerce giant next door.

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Digital video gives rise to the open-door Hollywood mini studio (pictures)

For Road Trip 2015, CNET takes a tour of the Los Angeles open-door microstudio, where online entertainers have access to advanced equipment and tricked-out filming spaces -- free.

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Stage 2 at YouTube Space LA is 2,500 square feet -- large enough to park almost 20 Chevy Suburban SUVs inside.

Lights, camera, interaction: Welcome to LA, home of the open-door mini studio

For Road Trip 2015, CNET visits a new breed of sound stages: smaller, hipper and totally free. They're designed to serve the next generation of stars -- who aren't coming out of Hollywood.

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Phi Nguyen and his mother in the early 1970's, Vietnam. In 1975 he defected to America with her and his sister.

Vietnam's refugees find second chance in Silicon Valley

For Road Trip 2015, CNET went to San Jose, California, to talk with Vietnamese Americans who traveled a long way to get to where they are today.

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Apple mania sweeps across Vietnam (pictures)

As part of Road Trip 2015, CNET explores the Vietnam electronics scene. What everyone seems to lust after is the iPhone.

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Vintage illustration of a futuristic three-wheeled self-driving "dream car," 1961.

How self-driving cars will cut accidents 90 percent (Q&A)

For Road Trip 2015, CNET talks with the University of Michigan's Peter Sweatman about the rapid merging of computers and cars, and the fake city in Ann Arbor where it's being put to the test.

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Meet BKAV's made-in-Vietnam Bphone (pictures)

As part of Road Trip 2015, CNET checks out BKAV's first smartphone.

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Building Bphone: Inside BKAV's phone assembly factory (pictures)

As part of Road Trip 2015, CNET visited a Vietnamese company that recently introduced its first smartphone.

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Meet the Vietnamese smartphone maker gunning to be the next Apple

Road Trip 2015: BKAV, which made its money selling security software, is the first to design and build a smartphone in Vietnam. The question is, will anyone buy it?

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A look at Mcity, a test site for self-driving cars (pictures)

Mcity's 4.2 miles of roads feature false buildings, a four-lane road and different intersection types. CNET's Road Trip 2015 takes a look.

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<p>7/15/15 Aerials of UM Campus and Ann Arbor.</p>

In this fake city, cars learn to talk to each other

As part of Road Trip 2015, CNET visits Mcity, a 32-acre fake city in Michigan designed to test self-driving cars' navigation and communication abilities -- and to keep research from migrating to Silicon Valley.

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Misfit CEO Sonny Vu on Vietnam's modern-day success story (Q&A)

As part of Road Trip 2015, CNET sits down in Ho Chi Minh City with the CEO of Misfit Wearables to talk about the Vietnam tech scene and why the fitness tracker is making a big bet on the country.

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Vietnam's startup scene -- not just building tech but developing it

CNET's Shara Tibken travels to Vietnam as part of Road Trip 2015 and meets Misfit Wearables CEO Sonny Vu, who is part of a movement to push Vietnam into a startup mindset.

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Misfits in Vietnam: Creating the next fitness trackers (pictures)

For Road Trip 2015, CNET visits the Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, offices of fitness tracker maker Misfit.

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Vietnam's fledgling startup scene (pictures)

The country is trying to become a bigger player in the tech world by encouraging startups. CNET visits some of these Vietnamese companies during Road Trip 2015.

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For startups in Vietnam, independence has its challenges

Road Trip 2015: The second half of a two-part series about Vietnam's startup scene takes a deeper look at some rare success stories and how the country is fostering -- and hindering -- its homegrown tech community.

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Why Flappy Bird was just the start for Vietnam's startup scene

Road Trip 2015: The first in a two-part series on Vietnam's startup scene and how the government is trying to rev up investment and interest in businesses that hope to be the next viral hit.

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Schooling Vietnam: How tech companies are training the next wave of workers

For Road Trip 2015, CNET travels to Vietnam to explore how its citizens are beefing up their technical know-how for the digital age.

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Vietnam's booming manufacturing sector (pictures)

Road Trip 2015: CNET checks out facilities for Samsung, LG and Jabil in Vietnam.

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'Battlebots' champion uses smartphones to help robots see the world

For Road Trip 2015, we chat with Donald Hutson, one of the reigning robot warriors, about cheaper machines and how the ubiquity of mobile devices will help push robots into the mainstream.

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3D Robotics co-founder and president Jordi Munoz TKTK

Drone maker 3D Robotics sees the future, and it is apps

For Road Trip 2015, we travel to the outskirts of San Diego to check in with a company trying to democratize drone software for the world, a la smartphones and app stores.

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Following the "Star Wars" Hall H presentation at Comic-Con International 2015 at the San Diego Convention Center in San Diego, Calif., the audience of more than 6000 fans enjoyed a surprise "Star Wars" Fan Concert performed by the San Diego Symphony, featuring the classic “Star Wars” music of composer John Williams, at the Embarcadero Marina Park South on July 10, 2015 in San Diego, California. (Photo by Jesse Grant/Getty Images for Disney)

Inside Comic-Con 2015: Drowning in fandom at the vortex of pop culture

For Road Trip 2015, a journey to Comic-Con reveals just how long fans are willing to wait to see celebrity panels about upcoming films and TV shows. This year's must-stand-in-line event: the upcoming "Star Wars" film.

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Comic-Con takes over San Diego (pictures)

In San Diego, it's hard to escape Comic-Con's massive presence (not that we'd want to). Here are some scenes from around the convention center.

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