Technology

In some ways, this was not the best week for Amazon. The Federal Trade Commission sued it for improperly billing customers for games used by their children. And it continues to be enmeshed in a nasty public relations battle with the publisher Hachette. But Amazon still has the drones. In a filing with the Federal Aviation Administration that got widespread attention Friday, Amazon asked for permission to test its drone delivery system outdoors, a practice that is banned for safety reasons. Never mind for the moment the fact that the F.A.A. said a few weeks ago that there would be no commercial uses of drones in a memo that did not mention Amazon but pointedly excluded even the free shipping of items by drone. That’s a lobbying battle for another day. Delivery by drone was first mentioned by Amazon last year on “60 Minutes,” and quickly became a viral sensation despite, or because of, the fact that it was unlikely to happen anytime soon. If nothing else, it was a vivid demo

Sometimes you want a laptop that just has it all, but while you know it’ll be expensive, you still don’t want to pay the sticker price. Enter the Toshiba P50T, an excellently spec’d machine at the lowest price we’ve seen yet, thanks to a limited time $100 coupon. That helps knock the price down to $1530, a tidy 15% off. Toshiba’s Satellite P50T-BST2N01 is absolutely loaded with cutting edge features, highlighted by the gorgeous 15.6″ Ultra HD 3840×2160 touchscreen panel, an incredibly rich display that you’ll find on precious few other laptops out there. It also packs an overclockable Core i7-4700HQ processor and a 2GB GDDR5 AMD Radeon R9 M265X graphics card, so it will easily fly through even demanding tasks from hardcore gaming to professional multimedia creation. Pretty much no matter what you’re doing, this laptop will make it look easy. For your top dollar you’re also getting plenty of other notable specs. Data storage is taken care of on the speedy 1TB hybrid hard

After the release of Android L Preview source code for Nexus devices, we now have details on what features the new Camera 2 API includes and what Google has been working on from the past few months. Android Police reveals some of the features that the new Camera 2 API brings along and how it is bumped up over its previous interface. One of the most touted features of the Android L Camera 2 API is its ability to deliver full resolution images at the same speed the hardware is designed to capture. This means that the Nexus 5 , using the Camera 2 API, can capture videos at 30 frames per second in its maximum 8-megapixels resolution. The Android L's Camera 2 API also includes the burst mode, Digital Negative Format, HDR+ alongside a complete manual control on the post-processing features. Some of the other reported features included in Android L's Camera 2 API that can be controlled are exposure time, ISO sensitivity, frame duration, lens focus distance, flash trigger

Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson was kind enough to give us an early look at his line of  sport-friendly headphones  on stage  back at CES . Today, you get to see them out in the wild. As a refresher, there are on-ear and in-ear models and you can choose wired (Street) or wireless (Sync) varieties depending on how you roll. The on-ears come with a sweat-proof inner chamber and a rubberized coating to keep them looking box-fresh no matter how many laps you put them through, and there's even a sports "towel" (it's more of a cloth) included to mop your brow! The in-ears won't come with such luxuries, but they do come in the same striking blue, pink or yellow color options. The Bluetooth variants all support  aptX , which is more than can be said for the  other  rapper-backed sports buds  we saw recently . Prices are $80/$150 for the in-ears (wired/wireless) and $180/230 for the on-ears -- and we got an early look at some. Running with headphones is a divisiv

Another day and another  iPhone 6  rumour. This time a report out of China details an astonishing new launch date for the next iPhone from Apple, ahead of most dates in previous leaks. The report is accompanied with purported pricing details, as well as the name of the anticipated larger 5.5-inch iPhone 6 variant - iPhone Air. The report citing industry sources claims Apple will unveil the iPhone 6 on September 15, which falls on a Monday, while retail availability will begin on September 25, which falls on a Thursday. Apple traditionally starts sales of new iPhone models on a Friday to capture the weekend crowd, so the dates seem a little fishy. Previous leaks (including a purported internal communication from a German telecom carrier) had indicated a more credible launch date of September 19, which happens to be Friday. According to the China.com report (via GforGames), China will also be amongst the first countries to receive the iPhone. The report also details the prici

When I was a tiny tot, I watched  Knight Rider  and pretended I was  Michael Knight , talking to KITT on my watch. Yet now that there are real-life watches that can do even more things, I don't find myself quite as excited as my 5-year-old self was. Smartwatches have been around for over a decade already (remember Microsoft SPOT?), but the category hasn't evolved at the same pace as smartphones. It's not because there's a shortage of digital wrist-worn timepieces. The problem is that there's no common platform for third-party apps, which means there's little potential for growth. There also doesn't seem to be any vision. Some watches act as Android phones with SIM cards and tiny touchscreens, while others try to establish their own platform to entice developers. Still others have even tried to put fitness bands and smartwatches into one device, to limited success. Even worse, most of the watches on the market today are what you might call "fa

Facebook is acquiring video advertising company LiveRail in the internet social network's latest step to make video ads a bigger part of its business.  Facebook did not disclose a price for the San Francisco-based company, which was founded in 2007 and has offices in several countries.  LiveRail's technology automatically pairs video ads with the videos that appear on many websites, such as the sites for Major League Baseball, ABC and A&E Networks.  Facebook would not discuss plans for using the technology on its own website.  In March, Facebook began offering 15-second video ads from a limited number of companies on its website. The company has moved cautiously in introducing the video ads on its social network to prevent a backlash from users who might find the ads annoying.  Video ads command higher prices than other forms of online advertising such as banner ads. Facebook and internet rivals like Google are increasingly trying to grab a slice of lucrative TV-mark