Articles by John P. Mello Jr.

A strategic partnership with Microsoft was announced Tuesday by General Motors and Cruise aimed at speeding up the commercialization of shared self-driving vehicles In addition, Microsoft will be joining GM, Honda, and some institutional investors in adding US$2 billion to Cruise's coffers, bringing the value of the shared self-driving vehicle comp...

DuckDuckGo, the search engine that prioritizes privacy, reached a significant milestone last week, racking up more than 100 million searches in a single day According to the search engine's website, it recorded 102,251,307 searches on Jan. 11, a historical high for the 12-year-old company. For the month, it's averaging more than 90 million searches...

Smart devices, the cornerstone of the home of the future, can't seem to capture the imagination or open the wallets of a large number of Americans Some 46.7 million broadband households aren't ready to buy a smart home device, according to a survey released this week by Parks Associates, a market research and consulting company specializing in cons...

The PC market ended 2020 with a big bang, as shipments during the final quarter rose 25 percent over the same period in 2019, according to a report by research firm Canalys Shipments of desktops, notebooks and workstations reached a record 90.3 million units during the period, the report noted....

Porch pirates were busier than ever in 2020, according to an annual survey by a market research firm C+R Research, based in Chicago, found that 43 percent of Americans said they had a package stolen in 2020, a seven-point increase over 2019 when 36 percent revealed they'd been theft victims....

A new mobile processor announced by Qualcomm Technologies Monday is expected to spawn a wave of economically priced 5G smartphones Phones with the Snapdragon 480 5G Mobile Platform will be in the $125 to $250 price range, Qualcomm President Cristiano R. Amon predicted on Twitter in September....

Final rules governing unmanned aircraft, commonly known as drones, were released Monday by the Federal Aviation Administration, a move expected to open the door for delivery of consumer packages by air The rules establish minimum standards for safety so drones can fly over populated areas and at night, under certain conditions....

Eight of the top 10 states for mobile Internet coverage are in the Northeast, according to an analysis released by a consumer product and services comparison website The best mobile Internet coverage, though, isn't in a state at all but in the District of Columbia, WhistleOut revealed in its analysis....

A report that Apple is readying its own self-driving car for release in 2024 is being met with a healthy dose of skepticism by some analysts The new vehicle for consumers would include breakthrough battery technology developed by Apple that would "radically" reduce the cost of batteries and increase the vehicle's driving range, Reuters reported Mon...

Walmart on Monday raised the bar for service by an online retailer with its announcement of free home pickup of customer returns Called "Carrier Pickup by Fedex," the program allows items bought at Walmart's online store to be returned with a minimum of hassle by scheduling a home pickup from the store and printing a return label for the item....

A demand for a massive amount of data from nine technology companies -- including Facebook and Twitter -- has been made by the Federal Trade Commission in what could be a prelude to regulation on the handling of data by the industry The demand made Monday by the FTC seeks to obtain information on how many users the companies have, how active the us...

The Big Three makers of video gaming hardware on Monday announced a united front to make online gaming safe for all their players "All players deserve to have fantastic social gaming experiences in settings where respect and safety are mutual," Dave McCarthy, Microsoft's corporate vice president for Xbox operations, wrote at the Xbox news website....

During any holiday season, consumers have a tough time wrestling with each other for best-selling products, but now times have become even tougher, thanks to the proliferation of online "scalper" bots These robot shoppers emulate the activity of ticket scalpers in the real world....

Despite the proven effectiveness of smartphone contact-tracing applications in reducing COVID-19 cases and deaths, Americans seem to have little interest in using the programs An analysis by the Associated Press released Monday found that only 18 states make those apps available to their citizens and in those locales, only about one in 14 people ha...

Libra, the digital currency announced by Facebook last year, is getting a new name. Libra will now be Diem The new name will reenforce the currency project's independence, according to a statement released Tuesday by the Libra Association, which is also changing its name. From now on it will be the Diem Association....

For years the consumer virtual reality market has failed to fulfill the hype surrounding it, but that's going to change in the next five years, according to a report released Monday The forecast by Omdia, a market analysis firm based in London, predicts the value of the virtual reality hardware and software market to reach US$10 billion by 2025, up...

Spotlight, a new short video service launched by Snap on Monday, is set to take on the leaders in the space, TikTok and Instagram Reels Moreover, it has pledged to prime the creative engines of Snapchatters making videos by divvying up a daily pool of US$1 million for the day's best content....

Amazon on Tuesday announced that it's getting into the online pharmacy prescription business in a big way The e-commerce giant revealed it's setting up a new drugstore on its platform, Amazon Pharmacy, that will allow customers to complete a pharmacy transaction on their desktop or through the company's mobile app....

Apple pulled the wraps off its first computer models based on its new Apple Silicon chip at an online event aired Tuesday The Mac Air, Mac Mini and 13-inch MacBook Pro are all being refreshed with the company's new ARM-based M1 chip. The move is the beginning of a transition, expected to take two years, away from Intel chips and to Apple Silicon....

A social media platform that bills itself as a "non-biased, free speech" alternative to outfits like Twitter and Facebook has seen a surge in interest in its mobile app over the last week that culminated Sunday in it becoming the top free app at the Apple App Store According to Fox Business, the Parler app has been downloaded 310,000 times in the l...