Carlo Orlando

Indian auction centers have been peddling tea the old fashioned way since 1861, selling it in crowded halls filled with traders and auctioneers. A good auctioneer can usually sell up to three lots in one minute, making tea trading a quick, but ... time-consuming process. But low tea prices, high government sanctions, and evolving times have led to online trading becoming an acceptable medium in India. The high-tech shift is much more economy-driven than it is fashionable. Electronic trading promises fairer prices and lower transaction costs for farmers. (Source: nytimes.com ) The advantage of ... (view more)

Police stations in Massachusetts have turned to modern technology to crack down on known stalkers. Those convicted as dangerous individuals are now being attached to satellite monitoring devices that electronically notify the authorities when a ... stalker is too close to their victim. The messages are sent automatically, meaning that the police could potentially stop an attack before the opportunity presents itself. (Source: topix.com ) For many people, it's their worst nightmare come to life: knowing the name, face (and sometimes) location of someone hoping to cause you physical harm. Realizing ... (view more)

Microsoft has joined the revolution, creating their own version of a data storage and web software system called "Live Mesh". Microsoft aims to further blur the distinction between software running on the Windows operating system and a number of ... other services that will be offered to all sorts of present and future electronic devices. Located through a web browser, Live Mesh will not be so much an online operating system as it will be a control page for document files. What is unique about the documents stored on Live Mesh is that they will have no specific location, allowing them to be sent ... (view more)

New technology out of Japan could ensure that you think twice about how your toothy grin will appear once a photo is taken. Omron Corp., a major electronics and health care company, has created new technology that works with virtually any type of ... modern camera to analyze a person's smile. The technology takes into account curved lips, eye movements and other facial features to determine how much a person is smiling. Multiply this feature by 100 faces within the same image and a simple photo becomes an interactive game of "who has the best smile". (Source: usatoday.com ) The technology has ... (view more)

Imagine the surprise of the Cuban nation (and the rest of the world for that matter) when one of the first orders of business for the new government of Raul Castro was giving the average Cuban citizen an opportunity to own their first cell phone. ... Previously, only employees of foreign firms or high-standing political officers were the ones to own a cell phone. (Source: npr.org ) When the current President of Cuba Raul Castro rose to power this past February, many feared that his political views would reflect the authoritarian style of his older brother. Under the Fidel Castro regime, many ... (view more)

In an effort to keep up with the special features available on the Sony PlayStation 3 and Nintendo Wii, Microsoft has inked a deal with major Hollywood producer Peter Safran to post original shows for distribution exclusively on the company's own ... gaming console, the Xbox 360. This is not the first time that Microsoft has tried to present its audience with original digital entertainment using non-traditional systems. Two years ago, Microsoft was the brains behind the poorly received "MSN Originals" online television hotspot. (Source: nytimes.com ) But nothing could ever compare to the " ... (view more)

Online classified advertising giant Craigslist is a handy tool for circumventing the lengthy delivery time that comes with other online purchasing sites like Ebay. However, unlike other sites that offer the security of knowing exactly who the seller ... is, Craigslist allows users to post items anonymously, which can lead to all sorts of devious behavior. An Oregon man recently returned home after spending a weekend away only to find up to 30 people rummaging through his personal belongings. Apparently, someone had posted a message on Craigslist announcing that all of the man's possessions were " ... (view more)

Have you ever wanted to star in your very own television show? Thanks to the rising popularity of YouTube, it seems as if everyone has their own online show, complete with all the copying, deleting and editing that goes into production. But, have ... you ever wanted to star in your very own LIVE television show? Complete with no script, no rules, absolutely LIVE as it happens? If you own a cell phone, get ready for your close-up! It's inevitable now; every mobile phone will soon have a cellular video camera installed in it. While still in its infancy stage, Qik.com, a small start-up company based ... (view more)

It's late (usually well past midnight) and you've just finished an eight-page term paper due at eight o'clock the next morning. You scroll over to click the print icon and then it happens...total darkness. After countless prayers and even more curse ... words, you finally come to the realization that your paper has been lost forever. While it takes everything you have to start from scratch, you begin to wonder: what if I had seen the crash coming, or at the very least, have seen what caused the crash to avoid future occurrences? Thanks to two researchers, this improbable concept has become a ... (view more)

It's a small world after all. The more advanced technology gets, the tinier it becomes. But, is it all good news? As major technology-based companies continue to play a game of "can-you-top-this" with one another, it seems as if the only way to stay ... ahead of the pack is to offer a product that stores the largest amount of data on the smallest device possible. The best example of this phenomenon is the surge in popularity of the USB drive. A simple memory stick no longer than 4x1 inches has replaced the bulky floppy disks of yesteryear. Now pardon the pun, but many are overlooking one "small" ... (view more)