A team of inventors from Seattle has won $900, 000 in a competition organized by the National Aeronautic and Space Agency, which aimed to develop the very first “space elevator.” Called the LaserMotive LLC machine, the robotic elevator was able to complete one of its climbs in a 2, 950 ft. cable in less than four minutes (3 mins 48 sec). The cable was dangling from a helicopter and was extremely difficult to climb, specially with the wind. But the Seattle team was able to make the climb fast enough for the second place win. The group designed the robot to receive power from... 

Despite increasing problems with the sales in its online marketplace, eBay Inc is making a different kind of progress through its online money transaction service called PayPal, which is set to overshadow its mother company’s revenue in the coming months. For the past two years, eBay has been trying to find a remedy to its ailing online auction website, which continues to worsen despite the end of the recession. But with the recent surge in the number of people using PayPal for all their money transactions, eBay is now eyeing expansion plans that could reestablish its place... 

Virgin Atlantic Airways has launched a new iPhone application that would help people deal with their phobia in flying by just pressing the “iButton.” The new iButton application, according to Virgin, has over 98 percent success rate in helping people to overcome their fear in flying. The App was designed to make people comfortable in situations that they fear most like unfamiliar aircraft rides, airplane noises, and dysfunctional airplane rides. “Millions of people around the world will benefit from our very first iPhone application. Because of the new technology, we are... 

A New Orleans jury on Monday ordered Dell Inc. to pay $12.8 million in damages in connection with a lawsuit filed by two companies for the alleged dysfunctional crime camera surveillance system used by the city. It will be recalled that the Active Solutions LLC and Southern Electronics Supply Inc. has filed for a $3.6 million lawsuit against the computer giant and former city technology chief Greg Meffert for allegedly tampering with their camera system. But the jury has dismissed the claims prompting the plaintiff’s lawyer Gladstone Jones to seek for an appeal. Jones has... 

Some 1.38 billion UK pound were lost every year due to workers’ low productivity brought by the excessive use of social networking websites like Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter during working hours, a new study showed on Thursday. Based on the study commissioned by the IT services and technology company Morse, some 57 percent of the 1, 500 respondents said that they are using online social networking platforms during working hours for personal reasons. The respondents added that they spend over 40 minutes a week in checking and browsing their social networking pages, which... 

In a bid to kick start sluggish demand for video games in Japan, gaming console manufacturer Nintendo Co on Tuesday announced the launching of the new version of its popular handheld device called Nintendo DSi, which features a larger screen. However, the gaming giant failed to mention the exact date of the release, saying that it will be as early as this year. It will be recalled that Nintendo has slashed the price of its Wii videogame console early in September and it is now looking forward in boosting demand for its new DSi, which has seen significant slow down in sales. The... 

World’s largest software manufacturer Microsoft Corp. on Friday expressed strong belief that PC sales around the world will soon catch up with the growing economy following the launch of the new Windows 7 Operating System, which was tagged as its “most important” release in past ten years. Microsoft is now vying for a larger share in the PC market after the launch of its new Windows 7, an upgraded and more efficient version of the Vista application. Recently, Apple Inc and Google Inc have made a strong push to slash several portion of the pie out of Microsoft, which currently... 

The world’s biggest online search engine Google Inc will join forces with leading record companies for the launching of its newest feature that is specially designed for music search, sources said on Friday. According to sources, the new feature in Google’s search engine will help users to browse for music files, to listen to sample songs, and to buy upcoming tracks from popular artists. With the launch of the new feature in Google Search, the recording industry hopes to close the gap in the plunging sales in the past few years. It can also help the labels to break new... 

Advertising Agencies in the US on Monday urged the Justice Department to finally approve the merger deal between online giant Yahoo and software manufacturer Microsoft Corp, citing that benefits it would bring among advertisers in the country. In a letter to the DOJ, the American Association of Advertising Agencies has asked antitrust commission, the one in charge of reviewing the deal, to approve the proposed online partnership of the two giants. According to the group, the search engine partnership between the Yahoo and Microsoft will further enhance the level of competitiveness... 

Wi-Fi Alliance, an industry group in charge of services and developments in the technology, on Wednesday announced that it is nearing completion of “Wi-Fi Direct,” which is designed to allow various kinds of gadgets to talk to each other without having to connect to a wireless network first. According to the group, staring in the second half of next year, new gadget designs like digital single lens reflex and digital cameras, mobile phones, music players, and other handheld device can now share files with each other without having to connect to a designated wireless network...