Boston Herald - Boston Herald

Hits and misses in Facebook's history

Associated Press — Sun, 19 May 2013 10:27:52 -0400

Facebook made its debut on the stock market a year ago on May 18 in one of the largest IPOs in history and the biggest for any Internet company.

The social network's market value was more than $100 billion.

Now, Facebook's stock is trading roughly 30 percent lower and has not hit its IPO price of $38 per share. Today, Facebook is valued at around $63 billion.

App to connect artists, buyers

Marie Szaniszlo — Sun, 19 May 2013 00:00:00 -0400

A team of Harvard University students and a Loeb fellow are developing an online platform to help people find art in their area and donate to projects in real time, swapping the conventional busker’s hat with a free app.

When Musey goes live this summer, artists will be able to go the website, create a profile and upload a photo of their work.

Robot rave swarming MIT

Ira Kantor — Sun, 19 May 2013 00:00:00 -0400

A “high tech rave”-like performance piece happening tonight at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology is actually designed to help campus roboticists create algorithms based on human behavior that can better control large swarms of robots, researchers told the Herald.

Doubling as an experiment, “UP: The Umbrella Project” is the second collaboration between MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory and acclaimed, Connecticut-based dance company Pilobolus.

Bernanke forecasts gains from computer technology

Associated Press — Sat, 18 May 2013 12:40:32 -0400

WASHINGTON — Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke says pessimists who are forecasting that the economy will not reap sizable benefits from the computer revolution are likely to be proven wrong.

Bernanke told a college graduating class Saturday that the long-range practical consequences of innovations such as faster computers and the Internet are hard to predict. But he said inventors have only scratched the surface of the commercial applications that can be obtained in such fields as medicine and clean energy.

Biogen Idec awards $250G for genetics education

Ira Kantor — Fri, 17 May 2013 13:11:00 -0400

The Biogen Idec Foundation said this week it has awarded a $250,000 grant to East End House to develop, implement and evaluate an interactive out-of-school-time genetics program for middle school students in Cambridge.

The new program, which is called GenoExplorers, will offer hands-on experiments, collaboration with local scientists and field trips that aim to introduce youth to the science of genetics, officials said.

Senate confirms physicist Moniz as energy chief

Associated Press — Thu, 16 May 2013 16:30:03 -0400

WASHINGTON — Physicist Ernest Moniz won unanimous Senate confirmation Thursday to be the nation's new energy secretary.

Moniz, 68, a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, replaces Steven Chu, who served as energy secretary in President Barack Obama's first term. Moniz served as an energy undersecretary in the Clinton administration.

Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., chairman of the Senate Energy Committee, called Moniz "solution-oriented" and said he is "smart about energy policy and savvy about Energy Department operations."

Apple says App Store hit 50 billion downloads

Associated Press — Thu, 16 May 2013 11:16:23 -0400

CUPERTINO, Calif. — Apple says its customers have downloaded more than 50 billon applications from its App Store since its launch in 2008.

Apple Inc. said Thursday that the 50 billionth download was a game called "Say the Same Thing" by Space Inch.

The App Store had 500 apps when it first opened. It now has more than 850,000 individual apps for the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch. The store hit the 10 billion downloads mark in early 2011 and 25 billion in March 2012. The 50 billion milestone does not include updates or re-downloads.

Correction: Space Station-Star Trek story

Associated Press — Thu, 16 May 2013 10:50:28 -0400

WASHINGTON — In a story May 15 about astronauts at the International Space Station getting the new "Star Trek" movie, The Associated Press reported erroneously when the film opened on Earth. "Star Trek into Darkness" opened in the United States on Thursday; it opened in some other countries earlier in May.

A corrected version of the story is below:

Space not the final frontier for viewing movies

Beam me up popcorn Scotty; space station crew gets 'Star Trek' film before U.S.

By SETH BORENSTEIN

AP Science Writer

Brazil hires iRobot guards

Marie Szaniszlo — Thu, 16 May 2013 00:00:00 -0400

Bedford-based iRobot’s $7.2 million in new contracts to provide security and defense robots for a series of high-profile, upcoming events in Brazil marks the latest sign of growing trade between Massachusetts and South America.

The pioneering firm will send about 30 PackBot robots to provide public safety support to the Brazilian government in advance of July’s papal visit, the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Summer Olympic Games.

Google's products dig deeper into people's lives

Associated Press — Wed, 15 May 2013 21:27:59 -0400

SAN FRANCISCO — For Google CEO Larry Page, happiness is a warm computer.

"Technology should do the hard work so people can get on doing the things that make them happiest in life," Page told a crowd of 6,000 software developers and entrepreneurs who flocked to San Francisco Wednesday for the opening day of Google's annual showcase for its latest breakthroughs.

Google boosts photo offerings to rival Facebook

Associated Press — Wed, 15 May 2013 19:20:54 -0400

SAN FRANCISCO — Google is digging deeper into its technology toolkit to turn its social networking service into a more formidable threat to Facebook, sprucing up its photo features at a time when sharing snapshots online and on mobile gadgets is growing more popular.

Many of the 41 new features being added to Google Plus beginning Wednesday will draw upon the computing power, machine learning, algorithms, semantics analysis and other innovations that established Google's search engine as the most influential force on the Internet.

Google unveils maps, photo, music features

Associated Press — Wed, 15 May 2013 19:18:42 -0400

SAN FRANCISCO — Google's sixth annual conference for software developers opened Wednesday with a chance for the company to showcase its latest services. Announcements included new features for online games, maps and search, a new music-streaming service and enhancements to its Google Plus social network, including tools for editing and sharing photos.

Google's music plan part of fresh wave of upgrades

Associated Press — Wed, 15 May 2013 17:54:05 -0400

SAN FRANCISCO — Google Inc. unveiled a streaming music service called All Access that blends songs users have already uploaded to their online libraries with millions of other tracks. Google made it available in the U.S. Wednesday for $8 a month to early birds who sign up for service before June 30.

Nuance releases Dragon Notes app for Windows 8

Ira Kantor — Wed, 15 May 2013 12:32:03 -0400

Nuance Communications of Burlington unveiled a new app for Windows 8 today that lets people quickly speak notes, to-do lists, reminders, status updates and web searches and emails, officials said.

Dragon Notes is optimized for Microsoft Windows 8 touchscreen tablets, including the Microsoft Surface Pro, and can also capture and organize notes and ideas of Microsoft Windows 8 touchscreen PCs and Windows 7 PCs, officials said.

Acacia Communications raises $20M

Ira Kantor — Wed, 15 May 2013 12:30:47 -0400

Maynard-based Acacia Communications said today it has closed a new $20 million round of financing with Summit Partners serving as the lead investor.

Existing investors Matrix Partners, Commonwealth Capital Ventures and Egan Managed Capital also participated in the round. Summit Partners Managing Director Peter Chung will join Acacia’s board of directors.

Russians attempt to topple Google in Vietnam

Associated Press — Wed, 15 May 2013 11:47:02 -0400

HANOI, Vietnam — Vietnam's booming Internet scene is littered with failed startups that tried to take on Google and other entrenched U.S web companies. That's not deterring a newly launched Russian-Vietnamese outfit which believes it can unseat the American search engine in this fast-growing Asian market and also contend with a jittery, authoritarian government seeking to clamp down on freedom of expression online.

Kopin opens Wearable Tech Center in Silicon Valley

Ira Kantor — Wed, 15 May 2013 11:44:34 -0400

Kopin Corp., a Westboro-based company that makes technology designed for wearable computing products, said today it has opened its first Wearable Tech Center in Silicon Valley.

The center will help drive development and innovation in voice- and gesture-based technologies and hardware components, officials said, adding its West Coast location will further enhance Kopin’s collaboration with customers and improve their development cycles.

iRobot lands $7.2M contract with Brazil

Ira Kantor — Wed, 15 May 2013 11:33:00 -0400

Bedford-based iRobot Corp. said today it has won contracts totaling $7.2 million from the Brazilian government to provide iRobot 510 PackBot robots, spares and associated equipment through December 2013.

No new glasses for Google

Donna Goodison — Wed, 15 May 2013 00:00:00 -0400

Evolutionary is likely the key buzzword for this year’s Google I/O, according to analysts.

While last year’s annual developers conference was a spectacle with Google Glass-wearing skydivers parachuting to a San Francisco convention center for the unveiling of the new wearable technology, this year’s showcase is expected to focus on enhancements of current offerings.

German court orders changes to Google search hints

Associated Press — Tue, 14 May 2013 18:08:12 -0400

BERLIN — Google Inc. must respect requests to remove autocomplete entries from its search bar in Germany if they are defamatory, a German court ruled Tuesday.

The Federal Court of Justice upheld a complaint from an unidentified company selling nutritional supplements and its founder, identified only as "R.S." The plaintiffs claimed that when their names were entered on Google's German-language website, it suggested links to Scientology and fraud.