Technology

Walmart’s quietly launched Vudu Spark is the latest Chromecast competitor, a device that’s supposed to be about as big as Google’s streaming dongle, but even cheaper. However, it appears the stick might have more limited powers than the Chromecast also, as GigaOm reports. FROM EARLIER: How one man built the awesome Chromecast accessory Google should have made The Vudu Spark is a $24.95 HDMI streaming stick that supports 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi, video resolutions of up to 1080p and 7.1 surround sound. The stick comes with its own remote control, but it only appears to provide users access to Vudu content, meaning they’re not likely to run any other apps, or access content from other sources than Walmart’s store. On the other

The Milestone phase of the $30 million Google Lunar XPrize is coming to a close, so we're gathering representatives from the five prize-winning teams to talk about how they plan to get to the moon by next year.>

Fast food giant opens the door for a global roll-out of location-based marketing technology after VMob implementations in the Netherlands, Sweden and Japan.

There's still $30 million up for grabs in the Google Lunar XPrize, but five teams have taken home interim prizes totaling $5.25 million to help them on their way.>

Sling TV hasn't changed much since we saw it unveiled at CES, but starting Tuesday, Dish will begin sending out the first invites for its over-the-top internet TV service. Within a couple weeks, Sling TV will be ready for its full-fledged consumer debut, and I've just spent a few days testing the service to see if it's indeed worth making a switch from cable. After sampling Sling TV across iOS, Android, and on Roku 3, I've come away fairly impressed. TV shows start playing quickly, with barely any buffering time needed before they're streaming at full quality.

Mobility and cloud will be key areas of investment; market suffers due to dollar increase

Facebook is heading to court this April to argue why it shouldn't be sued for allegedly violating European privacy laws.

His dedication to saving the planet for future generations does end up putting current Springfielders out of work however, and Musk is soon given his marching orders by Homer — blasting off once again in the Dragon spacecraft.

Former Motorola CEO Dennis Woodside has confessed that the dimple at the back of the Nexus 6 was originally intended to play host to a fingerprint sensor. Back in 2011, Motorola was a pioneer in bringing fingerprint recognition to its Atrix 4G smartphone, however the company it used then, Authentec, was purchased by Apple a year later for a price of $356 million. Authentec were, in Woodside's judgment, the best supplier around and "the second best supplier was the only one available to everyone else in the industry and they weren’t there yet." So, with Apple snatching up the best and the rest not being good enough, the Nexus 6 was left without biometric authentication. The decision not to implement a second-rate fingerprint sensor was probably the right one for Motorola and Google.

Turkey has moved to block several Facebook pages considered insulting to the Prophet Mohammed. A Turkish court ordered Facebook to close the offending pages in a ruling handed down Sunday, Reuters reports, threatening to block access to the social network if it doesn't comply. The ruling comes amid heightened tensions in the Middle East over this month's attacks on the offices of French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, which appears to have been motivated, in part, by the publication's depictions of the Prophet Mohammed. One week after the attacks, Charlie Hebdo once again featured the prophet on its cover, sparking protests across the Muslim world.

Has Microsoft suddenly pushed us into the age of "Star Trek" and "Minority Report"? For those confused about what's actually going on with the company's new head-mounted gadget, here's the rundown.>

Logitech's distinctive ConferenceCam Connect, which is designed for meeting rooms housing up to six people, offers HD videoconferencing, battery-powered operation and wireless screen mirroring from compatible mobile devices.

By using Tokutek's TokuDB storage engine instead of InnoDB, firms using Percona's MySQL fork are being told to expect to see a number of benefits

The number of Internet users in China has risen to nearly 650 million, authorities said over the weekend, as the world's largest online population continues to rise. There were 648 million Internet users in China at the end of 2014, according to the China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC), the official Xinhua news agency reported. China defines its online population as those who have used the Internet at least once in the last six months. China already had more web users than any other country in the world.

ANKARA (Reuters) - A Turkish court has ordered Facebook to block a number of pages deemed insulting to the Prophet Mohammad, threatening to stop access to the whole social networking site if it does not comply, local media reported. The order made by the court on Sunday followed a request by a prosecutor, state broadcaster TRT reported. No one from Facebook was immediately available for comment. ...

Motorola has a history of operating in China stretching all the way back to 1987, and today the company marks its return to "the biggest and most exciting smartphone market" with the launch of its full smartphone portfolio. This morning, Motorola President and COO Rick Osterloh announced the 2014 Moto X and LTE-capable Moto G for the Chinese market, along with a Moto X Pro that is essentially a rebadged Nexus 6. The Moto Hint Bluetooth earpiece is also coming to China, along with the Moto Maker phone customization service and, eventually, the Moto 360 smartwatch. China will be the first country in Asia to get the benefit of Moto Maker "in the next few months," but availability of the 360 watch looks to be a bit further out.