Americans are willing to share sensitive information with businesses in the name of safety and efficiency, a new study found. But they’re less enthusiastic about exchanging personal details in return for better advertising or offers–especially when those details reveal their physical location, researchers said.The Pew Research Center has found in recent years that users of mobile and desktop...

Last year at CES, we experienced a very cool demo from Ultrahaptics of an ultrasound-based gesture interface that provides invisible tactile feedback in mid-air. This year, Bristol, England-based start-up is showing how their technology can be embedded into devices like cars, stereos, and stoves. And it's exactly as magical as we were hoping it would be.Ultrahaptics' tactile interface is based...

Sony’s connected lightbulb is also a remote control and interco.If 2016 is the year of connected gadgets doing all the things smartphones can't, Sony is taking the idea to the extreme. The company's newest appliance, the Multifunctional Light, performs an absurd amount of functions you'd never expect — and maybe don't even want — out of an overhead fixture. (But don't expect whoever named it...

Over the past two years, global crude oil prices have been in free-fall, and no one seems to know when the bungee cord will catch. In June 2014, you had to shell out $110 to buy a barrel of Brent crude. By early 2015, that had plunged to $60.Today, it costs just $30 to buy a barrel of oil — a level not seen since 2004. It's a staggering decline.I've written a more in-depth history of the rise...

Resembling a sugar cube, the SAC has reversible self-stiffening properties that allow it to spring back into shape like a sponge.Self-healing materials that can repair cracks and other damage automatically have the subject of research for decades. Now a team of scientists at Rice University have come up with a new twist. It's a Self-Adaptive Composite (SAC) that is not only self healing, but al...

While anticipation for the Samsung Galaxy S7 is building, designer Steel Drake is cooking up ideas for the 8! This next-gen Galaxy features all new dimensions, a new “pointier” edge, and it’s been stripped entirely of connector holes for charging or PC syncing. In an effort to go almost entirely wireless, it relies solely on inductive charging and cordless connectivity. All that and a spiffy...

Two-thirds of Millennials express a desire to leave their organizations by 2020. Businesses must adjust how they nurture loyalty among Millennials or risk losing a large percentage of their workforces.Millennials, in general, express little loyalty to their current employers and many are planning near-term exits, according to Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited’s fifth annual Millennial Survey. T...

Shoppers transfer products to a virtual cart as if gifted with telekinesis.To celebrate the cinema release of Star Wars: The Force Awakens in Romania, hypermarket chain Carrefour set up an interactive billboard inside its stores. To coincide with the film’s opening weekend, the campaign, Star Wars at Carrefour, was launched in over 150 locations across the country.The in-store billboards utili...

Google as you once knew it no longer exists.In August, the California tech giant announced a monumental reorganization. Google's search product became a wholly owned subsidiary of a new parent company, Alphabet, with other Google projects and teams spun out into separate "Alphabet companies," each with its own CEO.The change came into effect in October, with former Google CEO Larry Page filling...