In a Montreal parking lot, Jean-Francois Beauchamp unhooks a power cable from his loaner car and cheerfully drives away, an enthusiastic user of a new service that is finding fans in equal measure among commuters and environmentalists.
"It's very quiet, pleasant and and doesn't use gasoline," says Beauchamp, 44, a web designer and frequent user of the electric cars made available for hourly rental by the Communauto car-sharing enterprise.
Full StoryGoogle expects India's Internet users to triple by 2014 as telecom carriers invest in high-speed wireless infrastructure and smartphones become cheaper, a report said Friday.
Google's country head in India, Rajan Anandan, told the Wall Street Journal that the company forecasts India will reach at least 300 million Internet users by 2014, up from about 100 million now.
Full StoryA trio of small Japanese robots will be working together in the Ironman triathlon race in Hawaii next month in a show of their inner strength -- rechargeable batteries.
Consumer electronics maker Panasonic will use one set of three rechargeable batteries for the whole 2.4-mile (3.8-kilometre) swim, 112-mile bike ride and 26.2-mile run to power the humanoid "Evolta" robots made by creator Tomotaka Takahashi.
Full StoryYouTube on Wednesday added an editing tool that lets creators of videos make changes to snippets after they have been uploaded to the popular website.
An "Edit Video" button allows changes such as adding effects, swapping soundtracks, or trimming clips right at YouTube, according to YouTube software engineer John Gregg.
Full StoryAOL, Microsoft and Yahoo! are proposing to offer space on each other's sites to advertisers in a bid to take on Google, The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday.
The newspaper said the system would launch later this year or early next year and would allow advertisers to buy display ads on AOL, Microsoft or Yahoo! sites that the Internet companies do not sell directly to marketers.
Full StoryEBay's name is synonymous with auctions, but that's created an image problem for the online marketplace.
These days, most of the things people purchase on the site aren't sold through auctions; they have fixed prices. And, the majority of items for sale are new —not musty antiques or old collectibles.
Full StoryHere's a consumer electronics riddle: What's the opposite of the iPad?
Answer: the Livescribe Echo "smartpen." It's as if Livescribe and Apple both looked at the old pen-and-pad combination, but completely disagreed on how to take it into the digital age.
Full StoryA startup little known outside Japan that offers games for cellphones is emerging as the new star at this year's Tokyo video game exhibition, usually dominated by big-name console makers like Sony and Microsoft.
Gree Inc., a social networking service that began just seven years ago in the founder's living room, had its first booth ever at the sprawling Tokyo Game Show, which previewed to media Thursday ahead of its opening to the public later this week at a hall in this Tokyo suburb.
Full StoryA French anti-racism group has threatened to sue Apple over an iPhone application called "A Jew or Not a Jew?" that allows users to consult a database of celebrities and public figures to determine whether they are Jewish or not.
SOS Racisme said the application, sold for 0.79 euro cents ($1.07) on the Apple Store France, violates France's strict laws banning the compiling of people's personal details without their consent.
Full StoryFollowing smartphones and tablet computers, motorists look set to be the next big market for connected devices as automakers wow crowds with the latest Internet-enabled models at the IAA motor show.
The times are long past when car shows reeked of motor oil and fans were obsessed with engine power and sleek designs.
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