research

Despite GM's doubts, social ad spending set to soar

Although General Motors has decided that social-media advertising is not right for its business, a new study seems to indicate that few other companies agree.

Local-media consulting firm BIA/Kelsey yesterday revealed that U.S. social-media ad spending is expected to hit $9.8 billion by 2016, up from $3.8 billion last year. This year, companies are expected to spend $4.8 billion on social-network advertising.

BIA/Kelsey's findings come at a time when one of the largest companies in the world, General Motors, is calling Facebook advertising into question. In a report yesterday, The Wall Street Journal … Read more

Google Docs facilitates finding facts and doing research

While making a travel itinerary, writing a term paper, or creating a budget in Google Docs, users no longer have to leave the confines of the word processing program to find specific facts or do research.

Google announced today the launch of a new feature called the "research pane" that lets users find information in Google search directly from within the documents program.

In a blog post, this is how Google software engineer Sarveshwar Duddu explained how to use the feature:

You can access the research pane from the Tools menu by right clicking on a selected word … Read more

How money matters when luring developers to RIM, Windows Phone

Apple's iOS and Google's Android are where all the users are, but Windows Phone and BlackBerry may be where the money's at.

It isn't enough to have extensive outreach programs, or even to give out free test devices anymore. With Android and iOS far and away dominant in the market, companies outside of the iOS-Android duopoly need to go the extra mile to lure in developers.

So, of course, it comes down to financial incentives. Microsoft has long paid high-profile developers to port their apps over. Last week, Research in Motion guaranteed developers that they would make $10,000 in their first year, … Read more

Robotic butt a very strange tail

The thrill of verbally abusing Siri had pretty much petered out, and we were really ready to roll up our sleeves and whip some actual robot booty.

Now, thanks to "Shiri" -- and the University of Electro-Comunications in Tokyo -- we can. Shiri, you see, is -- to put it bluntly -- a robutt. Or, perhaps, a robo-butt. The university itself calls it "a buttocks humanoid robot that expresses various emotions with organic movements of the artificial muscles."

And, according to the embedded video, the project's purpose is twofold: to advance the "innovative use of robotics technology and its purpose," and "to raise the argument as to what perceptions will be manifested in the minds of people who communicate with Shiri." … Read more

Deaf IBM researcher scoffs at not talking on the phone

You might think you can't have a phone conversation with someone who's deaf, but Dimitri Kanevsky would not only disagree, he'd prove you wrong.

Deaf since he was 3, Kanevsky has hardly let his disability get in the way of progress -- or success. Born in the Soviet Union, he eventually emigrated, first to Israel, and then to the United States, and went on to become a research staff member in the speech and language algorithms department at IBM's Thomas Watson Research Center.

On Monday, Kanevsky and 13 others were honored at the White House in … Read more

RIM hires new executives as it struggles to bounce back

Research In Motion is bringing aboard a couple of key executive players as the company strives to win back more customers and launch its BlackBerry 10 platform.

Joining as chief operating officer is Kristian Tear, formerly an executive vice president at Sony Mobile Communications.

In his new role with RIM, Tear will be responsible for all operational aspects of handheld devices and services, including R&D, products, sales, manufacturing, and supply chain.

Tear has worked in the wireless industry for almost 25 years, according to RIM. Prior to his management position with Sony, he was a corporate vice president … Read more

Microsoft SoundWave: It's like Kinect, but skips the cameras

Microsoft has already come up with a neat way to interpret motion by way of a camera. Now it's using sound to accomplish the same goal.

The SoundWave technology recently unveiled by Microsoft Research allows users to control the software on their computers with only the movement of their hands. However, unlike the company's Kinect, which uses cameras to achieve that functionality, SoundWave is able to pick up motion based on sound.

According to Microsoft, SoundWave relies on a speaker and microphone to work. The technology emits an inaudible tone from the speakers that is interrupted when people … Read more

Was BlackBerry World 2012 RIM's last hurrah?

ORLANDO, Fla. -- There's nothing not cool about the Martinez Brothers.

Straight from a visit to Berlin, the global epicenter of euro club music, the disc jockey brothers (yes, they're really brothers) sat for an interview with me here the morning after they spun tunes at the blowout party that's become synonymous with Research In Motion's annual BlackBerry conference.

Quick-witted, amiable, and dressed in T-shirts and jeans, the Bronx natives were the picture of the youthful, cutting-edge merger of pop culture and the tech industry. So much so that I had to ask myself: What are … Read more

Microsoft snags Yahoo scientists for new research lab

Microsoft has launched a new research lab staffed largely with scientists hired away from Yahoo.

To staff the new research facility in New York, the software giant snatched 14 scientists from the foundering Internet pioneer, which last month laid off about 2,000 employees across the board, including its research staff.

The new lab, which will be tasked with studying how people interact and share information online, will include Duncan Watts, David Pennock, and John Langford -- all former Yahoo scientists, according to a blog post by Jennifer Chayes, the managing director of Microsoft Research New England and the new … Read more