tom

At first glance, new numbers released by research firm IDC show that Apple has nothing to worry about regarding its control of the tablet market, but a closer look could raise some doubts.

While Apple is still the world's No. 1 tablet maker, Samsung is No. 2 and growing at a faster rate. Looking specifically at year-over-year growth from first quarter numbers, Apple grew by 65 percent -- not bad. But, Samsung grew by 282 percent, Asus grew by 350 percent, and Amazon grew by 157 percent.

The question is: Is this part and parcel of a bigger problem? … Read more

President Barack Obama has nominated former lobbyist and venture capitalist Tom Wheeler to serve as the next head of the Federal Communications Commission.

The White House made the announcement Wednesday. Wheeler's appointment as chairman of the agency was widely anticipated. His name had been on the shortlist of potential candidates for months, and several news agencies reported on the impending appointment.

Wheeler would replace current FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski, who has headed up the agency since 2009. Current FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn will serve as the interim chairwoman until the Senate confirms Wheeler's appointment.

Wheeler has the support … Read more

This may not be TomTom's first foray into the GPS sport watch business (that distinction came with the Nike+ SportWatch), but the announcement of the TomTom Runner and Multi-Sport are proof that the GPS hardware provider is getting serious about the fitness tech segment.

The Runner and Multi-Sport are based on identical core hardware but feature different software, wristbands, and accessories. The core unit uses a large, high-contrast, monochrome LCD display covered with Gorilla glass, so it should be up to being knocked around a bit. TomTom tells us that the display is not e-ink, but has been … Read more

TomTom breathes new life into its line of portable navigation devices with this week's announcement of the totally redesigned GO series.

Now, when I say completely redesigned, I don't mean that TomTom has reinvented the wheel. The new GO series still uses the same touchscreen on a suction cup form factor that all dashboard navigators have used for a decade. However, the new models have a more rounded design than before and now use a glass touchscreen that is available in just three sizes -- 4.3-inches, 5-inches, and 6-inches -- all of which are pretty big. … Read more

If you thought the Big Bang theory was boring and particle physics was hard to understand, you've never seen those things explained by a cartoon version of CERN physicist Tom Whyntie.

He's able to put the information from a three-month science course into an easy-to-understand three-minute TEDEd video with the help of animation team at Hornet. The British-voiced blob bounces around and explains how scientists study the Big Bang by replacing the heat, energy, and activity of the first few seconds of the universe. … Read more

Over the weekend, the TomTom app for iPhone and iPad devices updated from version 1.12 to 1.13. This 1/100th of a full version update included compatibility with Apple's new 7-inch iPad Mini and added support for Apple's iCloud data synchronization service.

After installing the update and establishing a connection with your iCloud account, TomTom automatically backs up your settings, recent destinations, and favorite POIs to the cloud where they can be recalled in the event you ever need to reinstall the app, switch devices, or need to sync your data across multiple devices. Data synchronization … Read more

The soul-selling industry used to be fraught with shady underground deals involving facing crossroads and meeting demons in dark alleys. A new site called Soul Compare is looking to bring the soul market out of the shadows.

Before you can sell your soul, however, you need to have a good idea of its worth. Soul Compare uses your Facebook presence to weigh your value. It looks at your friendships, photos, comments, and how many "Likes" you've spread around.

All your Facebook information is then translated into gigaMorgans. One gigaMorgan is equal to the value of television host Piers Morgan's soul. I ran the numbers and came in at 25.3 gigaMorgans. I'm guessing I should feel pretty good that I haven't sunk into negative gigaMorgans.… Read more

After nine years of colonizing the globe and corralling a billion people, Facebook has found a way to unlock the potential of its massive data collection -- a basic semantic search engine that will let it build smarter services for travel, food, recruitment, dating and other verticals that will generate revenue that could rival Google's.

Connecting people via News Feeds (what's going on in the world) and Timelines (who you are) will be remembered as Facebook's Renaissance era, weaving a social fabric into the Internet with 1 trillion connections. Graph Search is the beginning of the Enlightenment, … Read more