2015
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Millions of kids used e-cigarettes last year
Stephen Dorff is apparently more influential than we all thought -- if the youth of America even know who he is. Last year 3 million middle-schoolers and high-school students used e-cigarettes as their preferred method of tobacco delivery, according to a report by the Center for Disease Control. The CDC says that this carries over from 2014, where e-cigs were the most used tobacco product among those surveyed. In 2011, e-cigs represented 1.5 percent of overall tobacco use among that population and in 2015 the number skyrocketed to 16 percent. That's despite cigarette and cigar usage dropping during the same period. So yeah, kids really like battery-powered smokes.
ICYMI: The best space, drone and car tech of the year
#fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-377507{display:none;} .cke_show_borders #fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-377507, #postcontentcontainer #fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-377507{width:570px;display:block;}try{document.getElementById("fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-377507").style.display="none";}catch(e){}Today on In Case You Missed It: We are rounding up our very favorite transportation stories since launching ICYMI in June and it wouldn't be us if we didn't talk about NASA taking applications for astronauts again. Couple that with NASA's Pluto fly-by this year and it's clear that the space agency is on the upswing.
ICYMI: The best health innovations of the year
#fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-766185{display:none;} .cke_show_borders #fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-766185, #postcontentcontainer #fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-766185{width:570px;display:block;}try{document.getElementById("fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-766185").style.display="none";}catch(e){}Today on In Case You Missed It: It's been a pretty magical year for medical innovation, with something for everyone but most especially Star Trek fans. The FDA approved 3D-printed medicine for the first time, prosthetic arms for kids got awesome and researchers helped a man with a severed spine walk, with sensor connections on either side of his spine.
ICYMI: The best robot news of the year
#fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-777059{display:none;} .cke_show_borders #fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-777059, #postcontentcontainer #fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-777059{width:570px;display:block;}try{document.getElementById("fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-777059").style.display="none";}catch(e){}Today on In Case You Missed It: We hit just over 120 episodes since our launch in June and from the beginning, we have been obsessed with robot innovation. That's why we put together a special year-end episode of ICYMI, rounding up our very favorite robot stories.
2015's big hacks, attacks and security blunders
The security breaches, blunders, and disasters of 2015 tanked our trust in health insurance providers, credit agencies, the IRS, car manufacturers, connected toys for kids, and even "adult" dating sites. These stories shaped 2015, and forever changed the way we see data privacy and security. Most importantly, these painful moments in computer security affected millions, shaped government policy and validated our paranoia.
Way is the smart skin sensor nobody needs
For a lot of people, devoting their life in a quest to look forever young is probably a bit too much effort, which is why a device like Way exists. Way is a semi-wearable sensor that monitors the moisture levels in your skin and reports that information to your smartphone. In addition, the donut-shaped gizmo sniffs out the local humidity and UV levels, giving you up-to-the-minute information on looking after your skin.
The shower of the future will save the planet, but at a high price
Aside from building a coal-fired power station, the thing that activates your brain's climate-guilt gland the fastest is taking a luxurious bath. Unfortunately, using a shower isn't that much better for the planet, which is why Dutch startup Hamwells has built the ultimate in eco-washing facilities. The company is showing off its first-generation e-Shower here at TechCrunch Disrupt, and the device does for showers what Dyson did for vacuum cleaners: makes it an object of desire. There's just one downside, and that's how much you're going to have to spend to own one.
Spotify's 'Year in Music' recaps your streaming in 2015
Spotify loves to make lists, and recently gave a global rundown of the year's most-streamed artists, topped by Rihanna and Drake. It's latest recap is more personal, however. The "Year in Music" page shows your top songs, artists and genres, first played song, top artists by season and total minutes of music listened to. It then summarizes all of it by showing the total number of songs and artists you played, and produces a playlist of songs it thinks you'll want to hear next year. If you're satisfied with your musical cred, you can share a snapshot of it across your various social networks (below). That way, your friends can see all the times you listened to Taylor Swift and Adele ... oh, wait.
Jawbone's fitness trackers will track more of your fitness
"Basically, we're fixing all of the things that people hate," is how one Jawbone rep here at IFA 2015 describes this mid-lifecycle update to Jawbone's range of wrist-worn fitness trackers. When we reviewed the Up3 earlier this year, we described it as a feature-packed disappointment, since while the wearable had potential to be useful, the execution was bungled. That's why the company has spent the last few months working on a firmware upgrade that, it's hoped, will make the device much more attractive to new customers.
IFA Day 1: 4K Smartphones and water-cooled laptops
#fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-124847{display:none;} .cke_show_borders #fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-124847, #postcontentcontainer #fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-124847{width:570px;display:block;} try{document.getElementById("fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-124847").style.display="none";}catch(e){} IFA started with a bang as Sony whipped out the Xperia Z5 Premium, a smartphone that comes with the "world's first" 5.5-inch 4K display. That was swiftly followed by the launch of Huawei's Mate S, a phone that's designed to kill the iPhone 6 Plus by basically copying its every design feature. Then there was ASUS' new gaming laptop that's so powerful it needs its own water pump to keep it cool. We took some time to bring you the most exciting announcements from the show floor, so don't hesitate before hitting that play button. Check out all the news from Berlin at our IFA 2015 hub!
Live from Sony's 2015 IFA press event!
Sony's press events at IFA are the very model of efficiency, with nearly every division of the company announcing some new product in just under an hour. The highlight of the show is likely to be the the Xperia Z5, a premium device that was unfortunately leaked last week. Still, while the headline act may not be a surprise, there should still be plenty of exciting things for the company to whip out on stage. If that sounds like fun, then come back to this page at 4:00pm CEST / 3:00pm GMT / 10:00am ET / 7:00am PT for the madness to begin. [Image Credit: AP Photo/Steffi Loos]
Google continues to make money thanks to mobile and YouTube
While Google has been enjoying consistent financial growth for quite some time, it was dinged the last two quarters for not living up to Wall Street expectations. But in today's Q2 earnings announcement, the Mountain View firm has made significant strides in rectifying that reputation. It reported a revenue of $17.7 billion this past quarter, which is an 11 percent growth year over year and a 3 percent growth since Q1. This has beat Wall Street estimates handily, causing its stock to climb by 11 percent at closing. What's contributing to this success? As CFO Ruth Porat puts it, it's all thanks to mobile, with YouTube playing a star role.
Apple's iPod touch gets the same chip as the iPhone 6 (update: tests)
The iPod may not be Apple's golden goose anymore, hell, it's not even an option on the company's site anymore, but that doesn't mean that the firm is ignoring it. The company is giving the iPods a seasonal refresh with the junior devices getting some new colors and the iPod touch getting more of the features we're used to seeing on the iPhone. Whereas the existing touch came with just a 5-megapixel camera, the new version gets an 8-megapixel shooter with burst and slo-mo -- just as you'd find on the iPad Air 2. Internals-wise, the new iPod comes with the 64-bit A8 CPU that you find in the iPhone 6, paired with the M8 motion co-processor that'll please the fitness enthusiast in your life.
LG sees its future in smartphones and cars
If you had to summarize LG's financial health in a few seconds, you could just shrug and say "life's good." That's because the Korean company is one of the few in the technology industry right now that's actually making a decent profit from the hardware it sells. In the last three months, the company managed to get 15.4 million smartphones out the door, largely due to the fact that LG phones are getting more popular in the US. It may not be an exciting thing to write about, but the company's white goods arm also brought home a sizeable chunk of cash.
Sony's latest Bravia TVs will come with YouView built in
When Sony announced its new Bravia TVs at CES, it wasn't just the razor-thin form factor that had attendees leaping for joy. At last, Sony had thrown out its own software efforts in favour of Android TV, Google's burgeoning TV platform. Now, we've found out that Brits are going to get something just a little bit different. Starting this summer, Sony's 2015 Bravia TVs will run two different platforms in the UK: Android TV and YouView. Exactly how these offerings will co-exist isn't clear, but the advantages are obvious; with YouView, Sony now has a proven platform that lets Brits watch both live TV and catch-up services such as BBC iPlayer and 4oD. Everything is accessible from a single guide, so for newcomers it's easy to scroll back and watch shows without launching separate apps. However, we're keen to see Sony's implementation. If you're forced to bounce between YouView and Android TV to access different apps, it could be an awfully confusing and irritating experience.
Sony's new TVs are thin... very thin
When visitors see your new Sony Bravia, the answer to their first question will be "4.9mm," because that's how thick these new TVs are at their thinnest point. If, however, your friends and lovers aren't impressed, then you might have to wheel out some other facts about your new home entertainment setup. The top-of-the-line XBR 900C 4K TVs come in 55-, 65- and 75-inch flavors, and gain a new X1 4K processor, which upgrades the picture quality of any 4K source and enhances the dynamic range and color.
Top stories from 2014, Google talks Title II and other stories you might've missed
Happy New Year, folks! To celebrate the start of 2015, we rounded up all stories that helped make the past 365 days so memorable -- and they're just a click away. Head on down to the gallery below for the stories that defined 2014 and more, including The Interview's aftermath, why sitting will kill you and Google's plan for Fiber under Title II. You know you want to.
The Think Tank: One MMO wish for 2015
Every year when we roll out our prediction articles with anything negative (because of course something negative is likely to happen in this industry over the span of a year), a commenter invariably accuses us of wishing for the negative thing to occur. It just ain't so. Predictions aren't wishes. In many cases, we're hoping to be wrong about our suspicions and hunches and dread. We're crossing our fingers that the wind turns and statistical likelihoods are flukily wrong. Can't bet the ranch on hopes and dreams. But wishes can be fun too. That's what we're doing in this first Think Tank of the new year. This, my friends, is what wishes look like.
The Nexus Telegraph: WildStar's past year and future
A year ago, I was excited for WildStar's future. Now I'm sitting here wondering how things went so very, very wrong. That's not true, though; I know exactly how things went wrong. I don't like thinking about it, but I do know. And so here I am, with a game I was hugely excited to play out and in the wild, and so much has gone wrong. It's easy to think that I've pretty much clocked out altogether. But that's also not true. I'll be the first to point out that I've said some decidedly unkind things about the state of the game and the choices that have been made thus far in terms of fixing them. The last column I wrote even posited that it might be too late for several of the changes being proposed to make any sort of impact when it comes to the game's image. This is why I really want the game to prove me wrong.
The Daily Grind: What MMOs will you be playing in 2015?
This is it, folks, the end of 2014. As we count down the final hours and minutes of the year, 2015 looms ahead of us full of possibilities and potential. So we might as well ask, what MMOs will you be playing next year? Maybe you'll continue your journeys in your current favorite games. Maybe you'll be looking at accomplishing goals in other MMOs. Or maybe you'll be anticipating diving into one of the newer titles that are on the way. What do you think you'll be doing come 2015? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
