A Look Back at Predictive Assistants and Lurching Giants
In 2012, hardware and software brought us usability advances, faster chips, and gesture control.
Contributors
Tom Simonite
Follow @twitterapiIT Editor, Software & Hardware
I’m MIT Technology Review’s IT editor for hardware and software and enjoy a diverse diet of algorithms, Internet, and human-computer interaction with chips on the side. Working in our San Francisco office, I cover new ideas about what computers can do for us, whether they spring from tech giants, new startups, or academic labs.
My journey to the West Coast started in a small English town called Wantage and took in the University of Cambridge, Imperial College London, and five years writing and editing technology news coverage at New Scientist magazine.
Tom Simonite's Stories
New Chromebook: Getting Better, but Its Internet Dependence Is Limiting
Google’s browser-based operating system is still shaky when offline, but Samsung’s Chromebook, priced at just $249, is a decent cheap laptop.
What Google Sees in New Hire, Futurist Ray Kurzweil
Kurzweil is best known for predictions of immortality but has also created speech recognition technology
Microsoft Has Been Watching, and It Says You’re Getting Used to Windows 8
Data collected from some users of the operating system suggest people are adjusting well to the radical departure from previous designs, says the company.
The Woman Charged with Making Windows 8 Succeed
In a Q&A, Julie Larson-Green explains why Microsoft felt it was necessary to rethink an operating system used by 1.2 billion people.
Will Dropbox Add a Music Player to its File Store?
The file-syncing company has bought a startup that streams a person's music collection over the Internet.
The iPhone Gets an Answer to Google Now
Siri gets some competition from an app that offers answers to search queries you haven’t even made yet.
Three Clues to Google’s Future from CEO Larry Page
Google's leader says the Web is less open, but expect more from Google+ and shopping search.
Google Now Becomes a Fitbit Competitor By Tracking Exercise
The smart assistant app Google Now is able to track how far a person walks or cycles.
A Personal Assistant Created from the Crowd by Smart Software
A service called Premier acts like a single smart assistant, on call 24 hours a day. It’s actually made from an ever-changing crowd of casual workers.
