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How to sync iCloud Reminders with your Android device

For some users who are torn between switching from iOS to Android, the downside of giving up some iCloud features such as Calendar and Reminders (especially if there are shared calendars or reminder lists with other iCloud users) is too much to overlook.

Last July I covered an app called SmoothSync for Cloud Calendar that provided a solution for Android users to still have two-way sync with iCloud calendars. The app has been updated several times since last summer, with each update improving reliability, but until recently the option to sync Reminders was still missing. If you had set up … Read more

Digg Reader launching June 26

Digg will start rolling out its new RSS service next week with all users having access by June 26, the site announced in a blog post on Monday.

The first version of the reader -- which lets users import feeds and folders straight from the soon-to-be defunct Google Reader -- will have basic functions, along with a tool that allows users to push what they think are the most important stories to the top. Digg promises to add more over the next few months.

Google announced in March that it would sunset its RSS reader on July 1.

Digg said … Read more

Is cable holding back superfast broadband adoption on purpose?

The cable industry insists that it's ready and able to compete with Google Fiber when it comes to delivering ultra high-speed broadband.

Indeed, Comcast CEO Brian Roberts last week showed off a 3Gbps cable broadband connection at the industry's annual trade show in Washington, D.C. That's three times faster than Google Fiber, which itself is nearly 150 times faster than the current average broadband connection in the U.S. Armed with that capability, he confidently welcomed Google's challenge to deliver ultra high-speed broadband to consumers.

"I hope there's a demand for (Google Fiber),&… Read more

Google plans to wipe child porn from the Web

Photos and videos of child pornography on the Web have multiplied at an alarming rate over the past few years. In 2011, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children said it received 17.3 million images and videos of suspected child abuse, which is four times more than 2007.

Google has announced that it wants to help curb this proliferation of child pornography. In fact, the Web giant plans to take it even a step further -- it wants to completely eradicate child porn from the Internet.

"Behind these images are real, vulnerable kids who are sexually victimized … Read more

Google's Father's Day doodle celebrates dads' multiple roles

Sunday is the day when fathers are celebrated for what they are: bankers.

Well, and stoics, gardeners, philosophers, carpenters, tap dancers, soccer coaches, barbecuers -- and, of course, miserable, grouchy men.

For all these reasons and many more, Google would like you to celebrate the man whose chemicals helped bring you into the world.

In another touching little doodle, you click Google's second "o" and you see in the "l" a compendium of different dads' roles and personalities, as if it's just one day in a dad's life.

Naturally, Google would like to … Read more

Lewis Black gives middle finger to Google Glass and Xbox

Technology can be frustrating, especially when it's designed to oust you from your sense of being.

Who better, then, to offer a jaded human's perspective than Lewis Black, a man who makes lemons seems remarkably sweet?

Appearing on "The Daily Show," Black looked through a glass darkly at what he called the latest "space toys." You know, things like Google Glass that excite space boys.

You might imagine that Black's observations are both predictable and curmudgeonly.

You might conceive that he isn't the wisest commentator when it comes to new technology.

However, … Read more

Meet Google's 'Project Loon': Balloon-powered Net access

Google has officially announced "Project Loon," its plan to connect the entire world to the Internet that uses a decidedly 19th century technology: Balloons.

According to a post on the official company blog:

We believe that it might actually be possible to build a ring of balloons, flying around the globe on the stratospheric winds, that provides Internet access to the earth below. It's very early days, but we've built a system that uses balloons, carried by the wind at altitudes twice as high as commercial planes, to beam Internet access to the ground at speeds similar to today's 3G networks or faster.… Read more

LiveMap offers augmented-reality helmet for motorcyclists

Imagine a souped-up Google Glass built into a motorcycle or bicycle helmet that superimposes information and directions in front of your eyes as you speed down a highway or move through a congested downtown area.

LiveMap, a startup based in Moscow, is developing a motorcycle helmet with a head-mounted display, built-in navigation, and Siri-like voice recognition. The helmet will have a translucent, color display that's projected on the visor in the center of the field of vision, and a custom user interface, English language-only at launch, based on Android.

Unlike visor-mounted heads-up displays, which have been available for a … Read more

Google Glass search shown off in new video

This week Google's Project Glass team released a video demonstrating just how good the augmented reality specs are at what Google does best, search.

Much of the hype around Glass has centered on its ability to capture a true first-person perspective (we've already seen the first marriage proposal through Glass), but the 20 sample searches in the embedded vid below showcase the power of what's essentially Google Now at its best, integrated into the new hardware.

We've heard plenty of rhetoric from Sergey Brin and others at Google about using Glass as a means of getting the device out of the way; providing a more seamless experience that allows a user to search without having to translate a query into a series of swipes and taps. The video shows off some of the most realistic uses for a Glass search, such as accessing flight information while driving, checking last night's sports scores, and even the requisite pictures of cats in pajamas.… Read more