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Smartphone technology has enabled users to make the process of finding or paying for a parking space infinitely easier, but as more app makers push the envelope for better deals, some cities are pushing back.

Five startup companies were selected for top honors yesterday at the DEMO Fall 2014 Conference held in San Jose, California. The honors, known as “The DEMO Gods,” recognize companies who successfully communicated the power and value of their emerging technologies before a high-level panel of investor judges in a pressure-packed four minute presentation during the two-day gathering.

With the explosion of wearable computing products like the Fitbit and rapid advances in virtual reality devices like the Oculus Rift, technology designers have a golden opportunity to add huge value to the next wave of innovative new products that will reshape how we experience the world.

At the Privacy Identity Innovation (Pii) Conference, held over three days last week in Palo Alto, California, there was a great deal of discussion over the need for new tools to protect online users from government or hacker intrusion. Conference attendees were treated to appearances and demos by the makers of innovative products in this space, despite concerns that some of these new tools may violate privacy boundaries as well.

Ten new startup companies unveiled their hardware products at the HAXLR8R Demo Day in San Francisco last week. The latest innovations were heavy on robotics, targeting a young audience and even a household pet.

Edith Ramirez, Chairwoman of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), said today that she believes there will be Congressional action to safeguard the rights of consumers in the handling and protection of their personal data.

Much of the conversation surrounding the cloud storage industry today is centered on managing the demands of big data. Yet the real story may well be how cloud technology vendors are moving to better search and organize the vast amount of data collected by Fortune 500 companies on a daily basis, and the potential problems this trend may cause for cloud storage firms such as Box or Dropbox.

Suitable Technologies, a smart presence systems company, has opened what is believed to be the first retail outlet by a remote telecommunications enterprise to sell its video telepresence devices directly to consumers.

In the past year, the 3D scanning and printing industry has made major advances to the point that the technology exists today to not only scan and print a model of the human body, but also the tissues inside that keep us alive.

When Apple announced this fall that the new iPhone 6 and 6 Plus would have built-in "contactless" payment technology for smartphone users, the news sparked a major resurgence of interest in NFC (Near Field Communication) which powers this kind of transaction.

The media got an early look Wednesday night at new gadgets and technologies that will likely be on full display during the upcoming holidays and at the big annual CES (Consumer Electronics Show) in Las Vegas next January. Based on what was showcased, consumers can expect to see new ways to record TV content and a continued array of technologies designed to complement the WiFi enabled home.

Doctors, hospital administrators, venture capitalists, and budding entrepreneurs gathered in San Francisco this week to assess the current state of technology adoption in the medical profession at the annual HealthBeat Conference. The overwhelming consensus was clear: the medical industry is woefully behind in using new tech tools available today and consumers will force them to fix that problem quickly.

Carolyn Everson, Facebook's global advertising chief, appeared at the Strategic Execution Conference in Santa Clara, California last week and talked candidly with the audience about the company's mobile strategy, consumer expectations, and CEO Mark Zuckerberg's leadership style.

Disney Studio head and Pixar co-founder Ed Catmull appeared at the Strategic Execution 2014 Conference in Santa Clara, California on Tuesday to share his highly successful management philosophy and memories of a lengthy partnership with Apple's Steve Jobs that dramatically reshaped how animated films are made today.

As pro-democracy protests continue in Hong Kong, demonstrators have been relying on an unusual new app that allows phone-to-phone communication without needing a live cellular signal.

At the fourth and final day of Dreamforce 2014, two legends from the worlds of politics and entertainment - Al Gore and Neil Young - took the stage in San Francisco with a common goal: to enlist the support of 135,000 technology-minded attendees and millions watching online in causes that matter a great deal to both men.

Musician and entrepreneur Will.i.am revealed his new wearable "Puls" wrist device yesterday at Dreamforce 2014 in San Francisco yesterday, answering many questions about his plans for entering the technology fashion market, but also leaving many key details still to be disclosed.

In a highly anticipated appearance before a packed convention hall at Dreamforce 2014 in San Francisco today, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called for less divisiveness, more trust, and a renewed focus on problem solving nationally and around the globe.

Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff kicked off this week's huge Dreamforce conference in San Francisco today by publicly chatting one-on-one with a top executive from bitter rival Microsoft, something he thought would never happen.

Billed as the "most dangerous and disruptive new startups," the Techmanity conference in San Jose, California last week showcased a host of small companies who are seeking to revolutionize everything from how we use our fingernails to resolving disputes with noisy neighbors.

Walter Isaacson, author of the definitive biography on Apple founder Steve Jobs, appeared at an Intel luncheon in San Francisco yesterday and was harshly critical of what he called "the collapse of government funding for basic science research."