Modernization

Star Wars’ R2-D2: The Original Mobile Device

The bleep-blooping droid from "Star Wars" helped shape people's perceptions of how machines can be helpers.

Digital Government

Feds Will Require $5 Registration Fee for Drones

Drone companies are expecting big sales for the holidays, but the government just gave them a lump of coal.

Emerging Tech

Algorithms Will Manage Trillions of Dollars in a Few Years—Thanks to Millennials

Robo-advising—which relies on complex algorithms to manage wealth—is an up-and-coming area of financial technology.

Emerging Tech

Robots Are Now Fighting Fires in Australia

These fire-fighters can shoot out mists of water or foam from 60 meters away.

Emerging Tech

Video: Are Self-Driving Cars Really Safer?

Research shows that automated vehicles might not be accident free.

Digital Government

Tokyo Police Use Nets to Capture Rogue Drones

The idea of catching drones this way isn’t new, and Tokyo’s police chose the method after reviewing various anti-drone efforts underway in other nations.

Artificial Intelligence

Meet the Military-Funded AI that Learns as Fast as a Human

Today, it recognizes handwriting; tomorrow, it may vastly improve the military’s surveillance and targeting efforts.

Emerging Tech

The Promise and Peril of Universal Internet

Google’s audacious plan to provide “balloon-powered Internet for everyone” is gathering momentum. But can the tech giant be trusted?

Emerging Tech

Video: How Do You Build a Death Star? A NASA Engineer Explains

It wouldn't be created by launching pieces from a planet, which is how NASA built the International Space Station.

Emerging Tech

3 Things We Learned This Week from the White House’s Top Tech Officials

U.S. Chief Information Officer Tony Scott and Thomas Kalil, deputy director for policy at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, dropped a few notable soundbites and policy snippets.

Emerging Tech

Why Driverless Cars Are Like Elevators

It's another magic box with buttons in it.

Digital Government

The US Government Wants IBM to Build Quantum Computers for It

These machines could be used to develop new drugs, crack codes, or potentially even create true artificial intelligence.

Emerging Tech

Video: Car Crash Testing Goes Virtual

Computer-aided design is keeping us safe on the roads in new ways.

Emerging Tech

Trump Wants to Shut Down the Internet

It was designed to survive a nuclear war and not to rely upon a single system, so “shutting it down” would take a gargantuan effort.

Ideas

3 Ways to Maximize Your ROI on Internet of Things

The challenge for federal IoT is less about the devices themselves, and more about the IT resources needed to manage, share, analyze and ultimately derive real mission value from the IoT data explosion.

Emerging Tech

In-Q-Tel Invests in Firm That Says It Can Retrieve Evidence from Encrypted Devices

In-Q-Tel, the IC’s technology investment arm, did not disclose how much funding it will provide the Canadian-based Magnet Forensics.

Emerging Tech

Which 'Star Wars' Droid Would Be Helpful on a NASA Space Mission?

These might be the droids we're looking for.

Emerging Tech

DOT to Fund Midsize 'Smart City'

Secretary Anthony Foxx recently discussed DOT’s efforts to learn about, and potentially invest in, emerging technology.