Darrell Etherington
A writer focused on covering early-stage startups, especially those with a technology focus.
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Latest from Darrell Etherington
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Chromebooks Could Soon Be Unlocked Automatically When Your Smartphone Is Near
Passwords, geez those things suck. You may not need them to login to your computer in the future, and Chromebooks might be the first PC device to offer that feature natively, according to some hints found in the developer preview channel of Chrome OS by Android Police (via 9to5Google). Early code included in the latest build suggests there will one day be a way to unlock your Chromebook just by… Read More
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Tactus Taps Wistron To Bring Its Magical Physical Touchscreen Buttons To The Masses
Tactus makes keyboards that appear out of seemingly flat glass touchscreen surfaces, thanks a fluid-based layer that reacts to electrical signals to create rises and bumps that serve as keys and buttons. It’s a magical technology, and one that you can see demoed on video in the clip below from CES this year. Soon, you’ll be able to get that tech on a range of devices thanks to a new… Read More
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Aereo Launches ProtectMyAntenna.org To Explain Its Position Vs. Broadcasters
Aereo is about to present its case to the U.S. Supreme Court, but first it wants to present its case to you. Today, the startup launched ProtectMyAntenna.org, a website designed to inform its users about Aereo’s tech, which uses freely offered over-the-air HDTV signals to provide its customers with live and DVR digital TV viewing options. Basically, Aereo maintains that each of its… Read More
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Google’s Project Tango Includes Tech Apple-Acquired 3D Imaging Company PrimeSense
If you want a hint of what might be on the horizon at Apple, look to Google – or at least look to its Project Tango experimental 3D depth-sensing smartphone. Tango got a teardown just the other day, and later on iFixit determined that one of its key components comes from what is now an Apple subsidiary (via 9to5Google), thanks to a deal that wrapped up last November. PrimeSense, which is the… Read More
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Apple Patents Android-Like Gesture Unlocking Tech For Mobile Devices
Apple has a pair of new patent applications published by the USPTO today (via AppleInsider) which describe a gesture-based unlocking system for iPhone or iPad devices. The system is more sophisticated than existing implementations, however, and includes a number of provisions to make the encryption even harder to frustrate the current methods employed by Android devices. Apple’s patent… Read More
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Google Camera App Brings Lens Blur Background Defocus To Any KitKat Android Devices
Google has a new standalone camera app available in the Google Play app store, and it can be installed on any smartphones or tablets running KitKat 4.4 or higher. The new app will also be rolling out to other devices in the future according to Google, so that might expand beyond just KitKat to those on other versions of Android. The app offers a 100 percent viewfinder to show you exactly what… Read More
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Instagram Just Got A Whole Lot More Biden
What photo sharing network would be complete without U.S. Vice President Joe Biden? The answer is none, which makes Instagram the first network to qualify. The veep signed up and posted his first image today, though the first pic is actually from his office staff and not Biden himself, ol’ Joe will be posting his own shots too, and those will be signed by the man himself to distinguish them… Read More
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ShopLocket And PCH Launch Blueprint, A Media And Resource Site For Hardware Startups
When ShopLocket was undergoing its transformation from an ecommerce provider to a platform designed to support hardware startups from concept to consumer launch, it had a lot of learning to do. Key to making that transition was gathering resources and talking to industry experts to find out best practices and find examples of hardware startups that have successfully made the journey themselves. Read More
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Google’s Environment Sensing Project Tango Gets A Teardown
Google’s Project Tango prototype smartphone is armed with four cameras to allow it to take stock of its environment and record and use 3D depth-sensing info, and it’s basically just a bunch of cameras and sensor glommed onto a fairly impressive Android smartphone with a quad-core processor and 2GBs of RAM to crunch all that environment data. iFixit got to tear it down and have a look… Read More
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Facebook Will Be “Unbundling The Big Blue App” Through Its Creative Labs
Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg sat down with The New York Times’ Farhad Manjoo to discuss Facebook and its future, and much of the discussion centered on Creative Labs, the new internal initiative at Facebook that’s playing more with products outside the core social networking site, or spun out from that experience. Creative Labs is about “unbundling the big blue app,”… Read More
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Google’s Modular Ara Smartphone To Launch For The Public In January 2015
Google has been showing off its Project Ara modular smartphone in a lot more detail over the past few days, likely because it’s also hosting a developer conference for the device this week. Ara uses interchangeable modules to deliver a smartphone that can be whatever a user wants it to be, complete with first- and third-party components including sensors, cameras, radio antennas and more. Read More
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Google Releases Helpouts App For iOS
Google introduced Helpouts last year to HELP PEOPLE OUT (yeah that's where they got the name). The system works through Hangouts, letting people connect with experts for paid or free video chats that are about solving a specific problem, rather than just shooting the breeze with pals as we all do on Hangouts all the time. Now Helpouts is available on iOS thanks to a new app. Read More
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Hands On With The Xperia Z2 Smartphone And Z2 Tablet, Sony’s Waterproof Wonders
Both Samsung and HTC have new flagship Android phones out in the U.S., but Sony isn’t just sitting back and doing nothing. The company has its new 5.2-inch Z2 smartphone launching soon in select markets, including in Canada in May. The waterproof glass-encased handset has a lot in common with last year’s Z1, but goes the extra mile with new imaging options, noise cancellation features… Read More
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Amazon’s Smartphone Gets Its First Spy Shots Along With Rumored Specs
Amazon’s smartphone leaks are starting to pile up quickly, and today our own report about some of its 3D features and Android-based FireOS operating system was followed quickly by an extensive report about the phone’s supposed specs, complete with pics of the gadget housed in a case designed to keep its final look a secret. The pics and specs come from BGR, which reports that Amazon is… Read More
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Twitter Acquires Longtime Partner And Social Data Provider Gnip
Twitter has acquired Gnip, the social data provider that has long provided access to public Twitter data, and that has deepened its relationship with the social network over the years through a series of product and partnership announcements. The acquisition will lead to Twitter offering even more of its data to Gnip’s customer base, and existing customer relationships with Gnip will… Read More
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Gmail Now Lets You Insert Photos Automatically Backed Up From Your Smartphone Via Google+
I may not use Google+ all that often for social interaction, but its Auto Backup service for photos is incredibly handy, and now it’s even handier thanks to a new Gmail feature introduced today. The addition brings Auto Backup images right to the Gmail web interface, giving you access to all the pics you’ve uploaded automatically from your smartphone with a single click. Now when you… Read More
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Apple Patents Indoor Navigation System Based On Existing Wi-Fi Access Points
Apple has a new patent granted by the USPTO today (via AppleInsider), and it describes a for determining a user’s position when they’re indoors, using existing Wi-Fi infrastructure instead of requiring newer tech and hardware installations to support something like iBeacons. The system also incorporates GPS, and appears to describe tech similar to that Apple acquired when it bought… Read More
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Samsung Galaxy S5 Review: More Evolution Than Revolution Despite New Hardware Features
The Galaxy S5 (or S 5, if you ask Samsung) is the company’s latest flagship phone and sure to be a swift seller. The phone is, in its own way, beautifully designed and the materials, while clearly plastic, are durable and should maintain a luster over time. Is this an iPhone replacement? No, but it is a replacement for the S4 that should please shoppers already predisposed to Samsung and… Read More
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Google Patents Tiny Cameras Embedded In Contact Lenses
Google has a new patent application with the USPTO (via 9to5Google), which takes one of the basic concepts of Glass and extends it even further, embedding tiny cameras that could be embedded in contact lenses for various uses, including photographing what a wearer sees, or providing the basic input for a contact-based assistive device for the visually impaired. Google has previously detailed a… Read More
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Google Acquires Titan Aerospace, The Drone Company Pursued By Facebook
Google has acquired Titan Aerospace, the drone startup that makes high-flying robots which was previously scoped by Facebook as a potential acquisition target (as first reported by TechCrunch), the WSJ reports. The details of the purchase weren’t disclosed, but the deal comes after Facebook disclosed its own purchase of a Titan Aerospace competitor in U.K.-based Ascenta for its… Read More
