You’re looking at the best piece of schwag ever doled out. Canon took the iconic shape of its 70-to-200mm L-series white lens and fabricated that into an insulated coffee cup. Too bad you had to be at the Olympic press center in Vancouver to get one for free — Canon bestowed them upon all members of the press corps who wanted one. Good thinking, Canon! Working the Olympics is a cold proposition, and you gave everyone a chance to keep their beverages warm while literally embracing your product. In the meantime, the company’s created a collector’s item. Canon, hand these [...]

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Researchers in Germany are working on a technology that will enable mobile phones to convert silent mouth movement in speech. Using electromyography, the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology team has developed a system that measures the electrical activity of muscle movements in the face and converts it into speech. The pickups can be turned on seamlessly during a regular conversation. The implications of this research are huge. Besides the obvious advantage of giving speech-impaired individuals another way to communicate, think about it for the average person. You can give sensitive password information [...]

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VANCOUVER: The 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics are now officially over, with yesterday (Sunday) being the final day. And there have definitely been some truly unforgettable moments, as well as new Olympic records set during this year’s Winter Games. It was Team USA that topped the list, with a total of 37 medals in all. The United States are now heading home with 9 gold medals, 15 silver and 13 bronze. Following behind the United States in second place, is Germany with an overall total of 30 medals. They won 10 gold medals, 13 silver and 7 bronze medals. And even though Canada came third in the [...]

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In celebration of its partnership with the 2010 Olympic Games this winter, Acer has released the Aspire 4810TZ, an ultraportable laptop that boasts superb power, usability and battery life. The 14-inch screen seems larger than other panels of this size and features a 1366 x 768-pixel resolution. Images are suitably sharp and colours look great, making the laptop as suited to watching films as it is reading spreadsheets. Working with multiple windows open is also simple. The laptop’s lid and chassis have been tastefully branded with the Olympic logo in a subtle fashion, and thankfully Acer [...]

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Two days earlier than expected, Motorola’s Milestone has become available to the public via Telus Mobility. For Canadians, that means that you can wrap your palms around one of the sexiest Android devices out for as low as $199.99 on a 3-year contract, while it’ll set you back $499.99 with a 2-year deal, $549.99 with a 1-year agreement or $599.99 outright. Americans – you should pay close attention that to last figure. A half dozen Benjamins (not including losses in currency conversion and the trip to go get one) will land you what’s essentially a 3G-enabled Droid for AT&T’s [...]

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When the 2010 Olympic Winter Games begin in Vancouver tonight, the athletes won’t be the only ones nervous and excited about the outcome. Our sister company NBC has exclusive rights to the Vancouver Olympics, standing ready to bring the world’s first all-HD Winter Olympics into your homes with a gigantic assortment of some of the most advanced broadcast technology the world has ever known. We have the inside scoop on what you’ll see, and the mind-boggling numbers involved. So what’s new? Among NBC’s newest innovations will be “Super Ski,” a graphic showing [...]

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Google has unveiled its Street View for the Winter Olympics that begin this Friday in Whistler, British Columbia, Canada. The Street View gallery covers the venues for many of the events at the Winter Olympics, ranging from cross-country skiing to the luge to, er, curling. Users can find the sites on Google maps at the click of a button. Rather than using the Google car or bicycle equipped with a camera, for this the team used a special snowmobile. The collaboration between Google and the Olympics committee was announced last November. See Vancouver, too According to newspaper reports, the virtual [...]

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The Mobile Premier Awards, perhaps the most prestigious startup competition in the mobile business, has named 48 companies to participate in its semi-final round. They were each nominated by their local MobileMonday chapters (groups that meet on a monthly basis around the world to talk about the hottest topics and issues in the industry). An international jury will select 20 finalists from this list that will each get a chance to pitch their company at the Mobile Premier Awards ceremony on Feb. 15 in Barcelona. The event will take place during the Mobile World Congress. Here is the list of nominees: Austria [...]

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Here’s the latest from VentureBeat’s Entrepreneur Corner: Ask the attorney: Securities laws - When friends or family want to invest in your start-up, do you need to comply with sercurities laws? Scott Edward Walker, founder and CEO of Walker Corporate Law Group, looks at what steps you need to take to protect yourself and your wannabe investors. Snatching victory from adversity – Sometimes, bad news can actually turn out to be the best thing you can hear.  Serial entrepreneur Steve Blank recounts the time he learned that a potential client had already invented the product his [...]

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Toyota plans to have more than 100 hydrogen fuel-cell cars on the road by 2013, the company has announced. While most of them will be given to government agencies and universities for testing in California and New York, expanding this pilot program is designed to attract consumers to the idea of hydrogen-powered cars before automakers introduce them to the market in 2015. This is the third pillar in Toyota’s robust green technology strategy. Already, Toyota’s Prius is the dominant brand in low-emissions vehicles, giving Toyota  the crediblity it will need to successfully launch the [...]

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