IBM's Five Best Predictions in Tech for the Next Five Years

Smart email, mind-reading devices and biometric password are predicted to become mainstream in the next five years.

IBM has predicted the future, and it contains mind-reading machines and the death of character-based passwords. This revelation stems from the company's sixth annual Five in Five where it predicts five innovations that will change our lives within the next five years. The company assesses not just the availability of a new technology, but also the likelihood of its large scale adoption.

"In addition to the PR value, we complete this exercise annually because it makes IBMers think hard about what’s possible and to strive to make it so," writes IBM's Steve Hamm. "Simply put, the process of choosing the predictions and defending them is good for us."

Happy Third Birthday, Chrome!

Google's Chrome browser is turning 3 today.

First released on September 2, 2008, Chrome is credited with fueling the browser speed race to accelerate JavaScript as well as a trend that removed the focus on complex menus and shifted it to more space for web content.

Chrome has not been an instant hit. It took Google over half a year to collect more than 2 percent market share as users took time to adjust to the radically different look of the minimalist interface. However, since the second quarter of 2009 Chrome has been adding market share from its rivals IE and Firefox aggressively and has recently broke the 23 percent mark, according to StatCounter. At the current pace, Google will surpass Firefox in November at the 26 percent mark and could exceed IE's share by mid-2012 at about 32 percent.

Special Edition Xbox 360 Made for Modern Warfare 3

A console fit for Modern Warfare.

Just like all the Call of Duty games before it, Modern Warfare 3 is going to be one of the hottest selling games of this year.

Any platform holder that doesn't try to hitch itself to such a game would be making a mistake, and Microsoft has already revealed a special edition console for MW3 way ahead of the game's launch.

The special package will consist of a specially distressed-themed Xbox 360 console that has a custom sound scheme when powered on and when the disc tray ejects. Expect Modern Warfare noises when you use this. This will also pack two matching controllers.

Gmail Now Accessible Offline; Calendar & Docs Soon

Google has launched an app in the Chrome Web Store that allows users to access Gmailoffline. Google Calendar and Google Docs offline support will arrive shortly.

Wednesday Google product manger Benoît de Boursetty said that Gmail can now be accessed offline (again) via an HTML5-based app available on the Chrome Web Store. Google Calendar and Google Docs will also be available offline starting sometime next week.

Mozilla Previews Firefox for Tablets

Mozilla is providing another look at what appears to be a near-finalized design of the Firefoxtablet UI.

Judging by the images posted by Ian Barlow, the UI is much closer to Firefox for Android than to the desktop version of Firefox.

The tablet version will include two modes - a portrait and a landscape mode. The landscape mode will move the open tabs in thumbnail view to the left of the screen to take advantage of widescreen layouts. In portrait mode, there will be only one tab icon that shows the number of available tabs and enables access to them via a drop-down menu

Google Magnifier Launched, a Blog for Google Music

Google's new Magnifier "music discovery" blog not only serves up free music, but connects Music Beta to Google+ indirectly.

Wednesday Google launched Magnifier, a "cousin" to the company's Music Beta service which went live back in May. Unlike the latter which serves as cloud storage, Magnifier is a blog edited by Tim Quirk – Rhapsody's former senior vice president and the current head of global content programming for Google Android – and focuses on music discovery, offering video of live performances, free music downloads and artist interviews.

HP TouchPads May Be Dumped in Landfill

So what will HP do with all those unsold tablets? Either sell them off at "fire sale" prices, or bury them in a device "graveyard," maybe even next to Atari's E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial.

Now that HP has made it publicly known that it's ditching webOS-based gadgets like tablets and smartphones, what's to become of TouchPad tablets stockpiled in retailer warehouses?One theory is that the company plans to dump them all in a landfill thanks to the American government.

Hulu, MSN Track Users With "Supercookies"

Supercookies will rebuild your profile even after a normal cookie is deleted.

New research presented by Stanford University and the University of California at Berkeley claims that popular websites including Hulu and MSN are currently using new techniques to track users. These include the use of "supercookies" which are not only legal, but almost impossible to detect. They even reportedly re-create user profiles after the user deletes the original cookie from their computer.

Wake Up to a Sunrise Anytime with the LUMI Sleepmask

Sleep when it's dark and wake up to a sunrise whenever you need to!

Any college student or workaholic would be able to tell you how unfriendly their sleeping schedule is. In a perfect world, we would all be falling asleep when it's dark outside and waking up when the sun comes up, but our lives never seem to sync up with our body's natural sleeping schedule. For those of us that don't get to wake up to a nice sunrise, the LUMI Sleepmask might be the perfect alarm clock.

Farmville Maker Zynga Sued Over Patent Infringement

Claiming patent infringement, Agincourt Gaming is seeking monetary damages and asking the court to shut down twelve Zyngas games... including Farmville.

History books – if they haven't already – will probably label the 1980s as the "Music Video Era" followed with naming the '90s as the "Dawn of the Common Internet." For the 2000s? That will probably be labeled something like the "Dawn of the App" whereas our current decade, the 2010s, will surely go down in history as the "Age of Patent Infringement Lawsuits." Disagree? Just look at the headlines each week.

Asus Releases Specs on Eee Pad Slider Tablet

Rumors claim that the Asus Eee Pad Slider may arrive next month, and are backed by the official specs which just recently went live.

Looks like Asus is getting ready to launch the long-awaited Eee Pad Slider tablet, as the company has launched the official product page as seen here. The tablet originally made its debut back in January during CES 2011, and was expected to launch in May. But now the projected launch date isunofficially in September with the arrival of two models: the $400 16 GB version and the $500 32 GB version.

State of Mobile Malware [infographic]

Google Brings Games to Google+

With a little over six weeks having passed since its launch, the fuss about Google+ has died down. Google today shook things up again with the introduction of games.

When Google+ launched on June 28, early adopters praised the minimalist, clutter-free feel of the UI. Several people in my circles mentioned the lack of games specifically. Well, today Google filled that void. The company has added games to its brand new social network.

Dell Quietly Discontinues the Streak 5 MID

The Dell Streak 5 was unveiled at CES 2010 amid a flurry of larger tablets. However, it seems Dell no longer has faith in the bite-sized slate, as it's been discontinued.

Dell's Streak 5 was one of those 'worst kept secret' devices. Between leaked pictures and videos, the mini-tablet barely needed an official unveiling at all. Dell used CES to debut the device, though, and it made quite a splash. The company's decision to go with a 5-inch display meant that the Streak 5 awkwardly straddled both the smartphone and tablet categories. However, it seems the company has lost interest in the Streak 5, as a goodbye banner posted on its official site indicates that it's been axed.

Apple May Reveal Cloudy iPhone September 7

The latest rumor regarding the iPhone 5's cheaper sidekick is that it will heavily rely on the cloud and sport less internal storage, possibly making it free for new 2-year contracts.

Growing weary of the Apple rumor mill? Don't fret: we're almost done for the year. In this latest installment of the iPhone 5 drama, reports are pointing to a cheaper, cloud-based iPhone that will be revealed next to the iPhone 5 during an Apple press event rumored to take place on September 7 here in the U.S., and September 8 in Japan. This is also the same day the fruity company is expected to reveal its latest iPod Touch with 3G connectivity.

Walmart Killing Off MP3 Download Service

After eight years of service, the Walmart Music Downloads Store is shutting its doors on August 29.

For those who previously purchased and downloaded music from Walmart's online MP3 shop, America's superstore is now sending out notices that the service will close as of August 29, 2011 after serving up digital music for eight years.

Verizon Finally Blocking Unauthorized Tethering Apps

Although Verizon already put its foot down on subscribers using unauthorized tethering apps, the Big Red is now blocking hotspot apps used on jailbroken devices.

Numerous reports are indicating that Verizon began blocking unauthorized hotspot access through jailbroken smartphone apps as early as last Friday. The current limitation only seemingly affects the hotspot aspect – the ability to allow up to five additional devices to connect to Verizon's network via a smartphone -- as Verizon already made a previous sweep across Apple's App Store and Google's Android Market months ago, requesting that unauthorized (direct) tethering apps be removed.

This is the Acer Aspire 3951 Air-like Ultrabook

"Leaked" images of Acer's upcoming ultrabook have appeared online, revealing a sleek and sexy design.

Images of Acer's answer to Apple's MacBook Air – the Acer Aspire 3951 sporting Intel's ultra-sleek ultrabook design – have found their way online. The shots were provided by Vietnamese site Sohoa and reveals an extremely thin chassis that looks too brittle to be real. Still, that's the point of Intel's sexy ultrabook design: a hot, super-thin body packed with impressive hardware for under $1000 USD.

The Acer ultrabook is reportedly slated for October (seems to be a hot month for gadgets) and will sport a 13.3-inch screen, an aluminum chassis and an overall weight of less than 3.09 pounds. It will also supposedly measure just 0.51-inches thick – roughly the equivalent size of Apple's impressive MacBook Air 13-inch model. The images provided by Sohoa confirm that most of the device's ports are located on the rear just under the hinge.

AMD-Powered MSI Tablet Finally Arrives in the U.S.

Although the tablet officially shipped early last month, retailers are just now stocking MSI's Fusion-powered Windows 7 device.

In early July, MSI said that it was shipping the AMD-poweredWindPad 110W tablet to North America, but online retailers like Newegg and Amazon have since listed the device as "this item has not yet been released" or something similar. Now just over a month later, reports are indicating that both Newegg andExcaliberPC are finally showing the device to be in stock, but as of this writing, Amazon is still waiting on its supply to arrive.

Xbox 360 is More Powerful Than Space Shuttle Computer

Of course, it is an old computer...

It's the end of a era now that NASA's ended the space shuttle program. The sort of technology needed to send man (and woman) into space must be more advanced than anything we use at home, right? Not exactly.

The Xbox 360 that you have set up next to your TV may be nearly six years old, but believe it or not, it's got more computational power than the computer aboard the space shuttle.

Scientists Develop Software to Animate Face Photos

Researchers at the University of Washington have developed a software that can animate a face in a picture and create the impression of a movie.

The software uses source photos to animate a facial expression from a smile to a frown or deliver a visualization how a face ages over time. The basic idea is image morphing, but the project aims for much more sophisticated face-detection software in the same spirit that created research at the same university that resulted in Microsoft's Photosynth 3D photo-stitching software.

Canonical Releases First Ubuntu With Linux Kernel 3.0

Canonical has released the third alpha version of Ubuntu 11.10.

The distribution includes the Linux Kernel 3.0 for the first time, even if Canonical goes its own way and lists the Kernel version as 3.0.0.

Ubuntu 11.10 alpha 3 includes Wi-Fi driver support for Realtek's RTL8192CU, RTL8188CU as well as RT53xx chipsets. The current alpha still integrates Gnome 3.1.4 while the final version is likely to get Gnome 3.2. Other new features include a new task manager for Canonical's Unity Shell, Thunderbird as new email client as well as a new version of the news client Gwibber.

Microsoft Cuts Down Spam By 90 Percent

The company claims that the spam level in Hotmail is just about 2%. The reduction also affected global spam levels to drop by 15% and Microsoft says that Hotmail outbound spam is down 75%.

A declining spam level isn't a bad thing, but I can't help but remember a famous Bill Gates quote from 2004: "Spam will be solved within 2 years." With a slight delay of 5 years, we are almost there, at least on Hotmail -- and I won't complain, given the huge annoyance that spam once posed. Today, it seems that spam mails are far more manageable and the occasional spam mail we receive can be easily moved into a junk mail folder.

Study Claiming IE Users Are Dumb Just A Hoax

IE users, you can take a deep breath. Your intelligence level is not necessarily below that of other browser users.

A recent study claiming that IE users are plain dumb, or at least not as smart as other browser users, was just a joke. The people at AtCheap.com put the site together to highlight the incompatibilities of IE6 "and how it is pulling back" innovation.

New Android Trojan Records Phone Conversations

Although there's a new trojan that saves phone conversations to SD cards, why on earth would any hacker want to listen through all those files? Sheer boredom?

There's a new Android trojan in town, and it's secret weapon is the ability to record your phone conversations. At least, that's what CA Technologies' Dinesh Venkatesan claims in his latest blog.

According to the report, the malware drops a "configuration" file -- one that contains key information about the remote server and the parameters -- once it's installed on the victim’s device. It then records and stores phone conversations in AMR format on the consumer's SD card. Based on the configuration file, it's assumed that the trojan also has the ability to upload these conversations to a remote server maintained by the trojan's author.

The ISS Will Be "Sunk" in 2020

The International Space Station will plunge into the ocean after 22 years in service.

Launched in 1998, the International Space Station (ISS) has been a fundamental piece of scientific ambition, providing a sophisticated platform of experimentation bringing together scientific genius from around the world. Space agencies from the United States, Russia, Japan, Europe and Canada have all left their mark on the ISS legacy.

Russia's space agency announced on Wednesday that the ISS will meet its end by plunging into the ocean in 2020. Orbiting 220 miles above the Earth, the ISS was initially expected to remain there for fifteen years but an agreement between the associated agencies decided it will continue operating until 2020.

Vitamin Water Offers USB Charging at Bus Stops

Would you wait for the next bus if your battery was low?

If you're ever out walking around the streets of New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, or Boston and your smartphone is running low on juice, you may want to check out a bus shelter or two.

Ad agency Crispin Porter + Bogusky, has put together a bus shelter advertisement that pushes Vitamin Water. They key difference between this ad and other ones that you may ignore is that this one has a 5V USB port that will allow those nearby to plug in their chargers to power up their iPhones, Androids and other mobile devices.

Of course, the shelter just provides the USB port, so it's up to the person on-foot to bring his or her own USB cable. Mind you, users should always be careful about putting their plugs into unknown ports -- though the bus stop seems to be a fairly safe place to do it.

Nintendo to Take a Loss on Each 3DS Sold

Nintendo this week dropped the price of the 3DS by a massive amount. So, how is that going to affect business?

Nintendo this week announced that it was cutting the price of its newest portable, the 3DS, by a whopping $80. While that certainly addresses the crowd who thinks Nintendo was crazy to charge $250 for the device in the first place, Bloomberg Japan reports that Nintendo will now be taking a loss on each 3DS is sells.

PS Vita CPU Manufactured by Samsung; RAM Not Cut

Although there's no confirmed amount of RAM despite previous reports and rumors, Samsung is reportedly providing the CPU for Sony's PlayStation Vita.

Andriasang reports that Samsung will provide the CPU for Sony's upcoming handheld gaming platform, the PlayStation Vita. The news first appeared in the electronics industry newspaper The Semiconductor Industry News and reports that the CPU will be manufactured using the 45-nm process.

Google Wants Faster Web With Page Speed Service

Google has launched a service that grabs your website, translates it for optimum performance, and then spits it back out at unknowing web surfers.

Thursday Google engineering manager Ram Ramani announced the launch of its new Page Speed Service which promises to speed up page loads. The launch follows Google's Page Speed browser extension released two years ago and the Page Speed Online API released earlier this year. Google also released an Apache module last year that automatically rewrote web pages to make viewing faster.

Apple ''Leaks'' Image of iPod Touch with 3G

Apple "accidentally" uploaded an image of an iPod Touch with 3G connectivity.

It's like clockwork: the closer we get to a supposed Apple launch date, the more "leaked" materials consumers and press uncover, building hype. We've seen plenty since the beginning of the year regarding the next iPhone and iPod Touch release, and today is no exception.

SanDisk Intros SSD for Retail Consumers

SanDisk is now offering its Ultra SSD to consumers through Newegg.

Previously SanDisk offered its Ultra SSD to the business sector, but on Tuesday the company revealed that it's now offering the drive to consumers. Unfortunately, it's not packed with the SandForce SF-2200 controller or a SATA 6 Gbps interface, so don't expect blazing fast speeds in the 500 MB/s realm. But considering its price, the Ultra SSD offers a cheap way to replace the standard HDD and boost performance without having to sell body parts on the black market.

Microsoft Exec Bets Dilbert-creator $1000 He'll Like WP7

Talk about putting your money where your mouth is.

Microsoft has a lot riding on Windows Phone 7 and the company is certainly devoting a lot of time and attention to the mobile OS. Redmond is also sinking an awful lot of cash into WP7. However, it seems at least one executive is personally prepared to put his money where his mouth is. Winrumors reports that Brandon Watson, Senior Director of Windows Phone 7 development at Microsoft, has reached out to Scott Adams, creator of Dilbert, with a proposal.

Apple to Release Lion on USB in August

Lion is coming to a USB stick near you.

Apple this week launched the newest version of its OS X operating system, Lion. The software debuted in Apple's Mac App Store and has already racked up a million downloads. However, downloading is not your only option; Apple is also releasing the new iteration of its OS on USB stick next month.

Costing $69, it's a full $40 more than the $29 users are paying for the download. Why is Apple selling the OS on USB and charging more than double the price? We can't say for sure, but we're betting it's got something to do with the fact that OS X Lion is a rather hefty download (almost 4GB) and not everyone has the speed or bandwidth to download it. Still, that doesn't completely excuse charging so much extra (Apple does need to cover costs for materials, shipping, handling, etc., but it can't be that much). Considering the month between digital and USB release, it would seem Apple is doing its best to push people towards the Mac App Store.

Solar Electric Boat Offers Eco-Friendly Cruising

This boat ditches conventional fuel and adapts a solar powered electric engine.

Dubbed the Agua Moura, this eco friendly boat offers users a green way to cruise through the Santa Clara lake of Portugal. Designed by Victor Vicente, the Agua Moura runs on electric power gathered from the sun. The boat runs entirely on electricity, allowing eco-conscious passengers to be at ease and enjoy the wonders of the lake without having the worry about any harmful emissions.

SD Card Turns NOOK Color Into Android Tablet

Here's a way to safely convert the NOOK Color into an Android tablet without having to root the device.

Although we already know that it's possible to turn the NOOK Color into a full-fledged Android tablet by rooting the actual device, there's now an easy way to temporarily convert the tablet without permanently nuking the NOOK Color experience. Essentially users boot from a microSD card that loads either the NOOK OS or Android.

A Folding Farm PC Made of Lego

The ultimate DIY job.

Having a modular, custom built case would be a dream for any DIY-er, which is probably why Mike Schropp decided to build his own server-class case out of Lego. Yes, that’s right, the learning toy from your childhood is used as parts of a case for a folding farm.

HTC Tells Apple to Compete and Stop Complaining

Fightin' words!

Apple has launched a new complaint against HTC, one of the company's competitors that makes a wide range of different smartphones.

Apple went to the US International Trade Commission (ITC) with patent claims of technology used in the iPad and iPhone, and hopes to block the import of HTC products into the United States.

Apple's iCloud Could Dent Flash Demand

There is some speculation that cloud services could potentially have an effect on local storage technologies, especially Flash.

Market research firm IHS said that Apple's iCloud offer may prompt consumers to reconsider their need for more flash memory and decrease the growth of demand over time.

Apple currently buys about 30 percent of all Flash memory currently produced, about 5.2 billion gigabytes of a total of 18.5 billion gigabytes. By 2015, IHS believes Apple's share will be down to about 23.9 percent.