According to NPD retail consumer technology sale fell by 2 percent last year to $143 billion, so you would think that Apple suffered a little in the downturn, as it happens though they managed to increase sales by 2.6%.

In 2011 Apples total consumer technology sales topped 17.3% of total tech sales in the U.S, and in 2012 that market share increased to 19.9%. Pretty astonishing still, but it isn’t just Apple raking in the cash as rival Samsung also saw a similar increase from 8.2 % to 9.3%.

Looking at the figures it comes as no surprise that Google want to get in on the action with their own retail stores rumored to open as early as this year.

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Technology is certainly making our lives a whole lot easier, and one of the best things to have happened should be online shopping. Although it has been around for a while, it has started to become a lot more convenient all thanks to a new way to shop for products. All you have to do is scan an item from an ad with your smartphone on your way somewhere, and the product gets shipped to your home later on.

The scan-now-buy-later way of shopping of course is not new. One of the earliest advertisements of this service was on the subway platforms in South Korea, and then it spread across Europe. And recently, US retailer Giant started advertising their Peapod online shopping service on the train platforms.

So instead of playing games on your smartphone while you wait for your train, you can use the handset to do some shopping. You just have to open the Peapod app on your device and scan codes from an image of products on photo shelves. The products will be delivered to your doorstep later, and that will definitely save you a lot of time.

But, all this is also a way to sell more products. If a customer won’t manage to find time to come to the products, retailers will make sure that the products go to the customers.

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Which raises the question, who ever trusted a bank in the first place?

Polling an “informed public” of 25 to 64 year-olds, the study asked participants how much they trust each industry “to do what is right” on a scale of 1 to 9. Only answers of 6 through 9 were counted as positive, bringing U.S. public trust of technology companies from 78 percent in 2008 to 73 today, but of automotive industries to 49 percent from 32 in 2009.

Only 25 percent of Americans now trust banks to do what’s right.

Edelman states that companies such as Toyota have taken advantage of a new trust architecture where a company promotes itself as a “profit with purpose” institution and leverages social media to build a personality, provoke engagement and create repetition of its message.

What do you think? Are companies doing enough to gain trust of a skeptic public? Weigh in with your comments below.

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Magnusson geared up with his wearable computer

Wishing you could get a little more intimate with your computer? Swedish researcher and entrepreneur, Martin Magnusson has created a wearable computer that stays very close by. The concept behind it is really quite simple, but the engineering within is what makes it so clever. First, Magnusson bought a cheap CD case, ripped out the CD pockets and replaced them with velcro, causing the case to open like a book for all of the components. It’s then attached via a shoulder strap so you don’t have to worry about holding it up constantly or the computer falling off. Magnusson then hacked a pair of Myvu media glasses, connected with his home made machine based on a Beagleboard single computer.   In order to get online, Magnusson uses bluetooth connected to his iPhone.  The Beagleboard is powered using four AA batteries, allowing it to last around three hours, and if that isn’t enough time, he believes you could add battery packs to last all day if need be.   “A computer is a window to the virtual world, but as soon as I get up and about, that window closes and I’m stuck within the limits of physical reality.” Magnusson says. “Wearable computers make it possible to keep the window open. All the time.”

A more realistic scenario would be for Magnusson to build a Bluetooth wireless transmitter for his Myvu glasses, projecting his iPhone display to the glasses and using that as the computer.  All other hardware is really unnecessary, but a fun project I’m sure if you are going for the cyborg look.

Gizmodo via Magnusson’s Blog

Computer case

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The story of an MI6 operative losing his memory stick resulting in a multi-million-dollar undercover drug operation being compromised is frightening for the ops, but could have been avoided had the secret service agency been equipped with encrypted flash sticks. Nothing could be worse than putting your life, or those of your colleagues in danger, but for the rest of us, keeping our bank account passwords and personal documents safe and secure is our prime directive.

Corsair has just announced a ruggedized Padlock 2 with OS-agnostic password protection via the keypad built into the unit, and 256-bit AES encryption on the all data stored in the memory chips inside. If it’s lost, you neednt worry as cracking 256-bit encryption is no easy feat. If you forget the pass there’s a method of resetting it, but that will result in wiping the data clean. 8GB units are available immediately for $59 US.

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The school administrators would remotely activate the webcams on the laptops issued to students, without their knowledge and watch them.  As creepy as it gets, the students and family have started a class action suit against the school district and are claming damages for invasion of privacy, theft of private information and unlawful interception and access to acquired and exported data and other stored electronic communications in violation of the Electronic Communications Privacy Act amongst one of many.

I’ve found a solution for those unsure of their computers security, it’s small piece of black electrical tape and it goes over the webcam when not in use.

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Scientists from the Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences in China were able to coat carbon nanotubes with a nanoporous layer of TiO2 (titanium dioxide) playing a crucial role in the development of new high-capacity batteries.

Carbon nanotubes and TiO2 have been investigated in the past but have never been found to be practical as electrodes until recently. ‘Titanium dioxide on its own is totally unsuitable for electrodes,’ said Joachim Maier of the Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research in Stuttgart, Germany, who collaborated on the research.

‘Although it can hold lithium ions effectively, they are slow to diffuse through the structure – and it can take years to fill a millimetre-thick crystal. However, if the TiO2 is only 10nm thick, it is filled in milliseconds,’ he says.

Images © Chemistry of Materials.

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