Sony is set to begin selling its 55-inch and 65-inch XBR 4k Ultra HD TVs Thursday evening.

Sony launches smaller, less-expensive 4K Ultra HD TVs

Sony will begin selling smaller, less-expensive versions of its new XBR 4K Ultra HD TVs.

The Japanese tech company was one of the first to roll out 4K Ultra HD sets late last year. That technology is supposed to offer quadruple the resolution of current HD TVs and an even more crystal-clear image than before.

Sony's first foray with the new TV technology was an 84-inch set it began selling in November for $25,000. But starting Thursday evening the company's new 55-inch and 65-inch models will go on sale at Santa Monica's Video & Audio Center. The two models cost $4,999 and $6,999, respectively, and will be available at other retail stores this weekend.

PHOTOS: Top music subscription services

Although the 55-inch and 65-inch 4K Ultra HD TV models are much more expensive than regular HD TVs, Sony's model marks a significant price drop for the 4K Ultra HD technology. Sony's rivals, Samsung and LG, also sell sets, but theirs are only available in models larger than 80 inches with price...

More...
Steve Jobs, left, chairman of Apple; John Sculley, president and chief executive; and Steve Wozniak, co-founder of Apple, unveil the Apple IIc computer in 1984. The Apple II was a mass-produced success that improved upon the now rare and more valuable Apple I.

Apple I, handmade in 1976 and still working, could fetch $400,000

Apple’s newest iMac has at least 3,000 times more processing power than the company’s first computer model, but the older version could end up being 300 times as expensive.

One of the six original Apple computers that still works will be shown off to potential bidders Friday before going up for auction Saturday in Cologne, Germany.

Last year the same German auction house sold one of the other six working Apple I’s for $640,000 and a New York auction house sold one for $374,500. On its website, Auction Team Breker estimates that the computer being auctioned this weekend will go for $260,000 to $400,000.

PHOTOS: Top music subscription services

The value of vintage Apple productshas recently skyrocketed. An Apple I, designed and hand-built by Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, might have fetched a few thousand dollars a couple of years ago. The German auction includes a series of other oldies, including an Apple Lisa-1 that Breker estimates could reach a bid price of $40,...

More...
An event employee displays a Samsung Electronics Co. Galaxy S4 smartphone at the World IT Show 2013 in Seoul, South Korea, on Tuesday.

Samsung Galaxy S4 laps HTC One in sales

On its way to becoming the fastest-selling Android smartphone, the Galaxy S4 has been sold twice as many times as the HTC One in their first few weeks on the market.

Samsung announced this week that it has sold 10 million Galaxy S4 phones. Currently in either black or white, the phone manufacturer plans to sell the smartphone in more colors, such as blue, red, purple and brown, later this year. An HTC executive told the Wall Street Journal its device had been purchased 5 million times, but that production remains behind schedule because of parts shortages.

The One had been expected to hit the market ahead of the Galaxy S4. Instead, the phones came out at nearly the same time because of delays by HTC suppliers.

The One still isn’t available for Verizon Wireless. The Galaxy S4 became available for Verizon customers Thursday.

PHOTOS: The top smartphones of 2013

Reviewers generally credited the One with having top-of-the-line hardware and the S4 with containing innovative software...

More...
Apple introduced the iPhone 5 in September 2012. Unlike previous generations of the phone, the cost to fix it has not gone down after a few months.

Repairing iPhone 5 more costly than for past iPhones

Repairing the iPhone 5 costs far more than fixing its predecessors because of Apple’s tight control over the parts that make up its newest phone, according to a new report.

In some cases, just repairing an iPhone 5 screen can cost $30 more than the entire phone that's been purchased for $200 with a two-year service contract.

Normally, users can turn to third-party shops to fix their iPhones. But many phone shops are not willing to repair the latest iPhone because of the high costs of parts, Marketwatch reported. The repair firms that do work on the iPhone are charging as much as Apple, or even more, to fix the phone.

PHOTOS: Top music subscription services

Apple’s $99 warranty plan remains the cheapest option to fix an iPhone 5 screen. The company charges a $49 fee each time to fix up to two incidents of accidental damage during the two-year warranty term. Apple is rumored to be planning changes to the warranty that would make repairing phones a default step instead of...

More...
UCLA Health professionals ready a patient for a procedure to implant a brain pacemaker.

UCLA surgeons using Vine, Instagram to video tweet brain surgery

Even as hospitals struggle with keeping patient information secure in the digital world, more and more are finding that some patients are willing to publicly share intimate moments.

UCLA’s Health System became the latest healthcare provider to turn to social media to invite the public into an operating room.

Since 6:24 a.m. Thursday, the @UCLAHealth Twitter account has been using Vine and Instagram to chronicle the implant of a brain pacemaker. The device counteracts Parkinson’s disease, according to UCLA Health’s Facebook page. In one Vine, Dr. Nader Pouratian said it’s the 500th time that the operation has been done at UCLA.

PHOTOS: Top smartphones of 2013

The event marks yet another achievement for the 5-month-old Vine application, Twitter’s service for posting short videos to the Web. It’s quickly becoming Twitter’s answer to Facebook’s photo-sharing service Instagram. The patient is expected to awake during the surgery and play his...

More...
Vinod Khosla, co-founder of Khosla Ventures.

Google insider Ben Ling joins Khosla to unearth great Web ventures

SAN FRANCISCO -- Khosla Ventures is adding to its roster of top Internet executives with the addition of Ben Ling, a veteran of Google, Facebook and YouTube.

Ling, most recently the chief operating officer at Badoo, has joined the venture capital firm to invest in Internet companies, he said in an interview Thursday.

Khosla has been cleaning up on talent lately. Keith Rabois, the former chief operating officer at Square, recently joined the firm.

Rabois, one of Silicon Valley's best known and most accomplished executives and investors, resigned from Square after accusations of an improper relationship with a colleague emerged. He denied the allegations and no lawsuit has been filed.

PHOTOS: Top music subscription services

Ling and Rabois share a common trait: They are seasoned executives who have been inside fast-growing companies and have for years invested in them too, earning them a strong reputation as go-to advisers among Silicon Valley entrepreneurs.

Ling has an impressive track...

More...
Lyft, a ridesharing app famous for the big pink mustaches on its drivers' cars, has raised $60 million in funding, led by venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz.

Lyft lands $60 million in funding, led by Andreessen Horowitz

Coming up on the one-year anniversary of its ridesharing service, Lyft is celebrating with a new round of funding worth $60 million.

Known for the bright pink mustaches on the grill of its drivers' cars, Lyft is a service that lets smartphone users call drivers to their locations for rides. Using their own cars, the drivers take users wherever they need to go, much like a taxi service. At the end of the ride, the Lyft app suggests how much money users should donate to their driver. The transaction happens electronically through the app.

The service launched last June in San Francisco, but has been growing and expanding to more cities. In January, it launched in Los Angeles, and most recently, it launched in Chicago earlier this month. Lyft also operates in Seattle.

PHOTOS: Top music subscription services

But now with the funding, led by venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, Lyft may be able to expand to more cities and add more drivers faster than before. The company's chief...

More...
Twitter adds two-step verification option to help fend off hackers

Twitter adds two-step verification option to help fend off hackers

Twitter has rolled out a two-step verification, a feature users can turn on to give themselves more protection against would-be hackers.

The verification method makes it harder for hackers to take over Twitter accounts that don't belong to them by requiring that users enter their password as well as a special code that is sent to their phone when they try to log in. The code does not generate until the user attempts to log in, and it changes each time they do. You can see how the feature works in the video above.

The feature comes after a number of news organizations, most notably the Associated Press, fell victim to hackers who took over their account to send out tweets with false information. If news sites turn on the new feature, it should make it more difficult for hackers to compromise accounts, the company said.

PHOTOS: Top music subscription services

To enable the feature, users should head to their account settings and scroll down until they find a new option that reads...

More...
Nextdoor is like Facebook but for neighbors: a private network to find a baby sitter, borrow a cup of sugar, organize a block party or spread word of a break-in.

Nextdoor, the social network for neighbors, rolls out iPhone app

SAN FRANCISCO -- Nextdoor, which wants to be the go-to social network for neighborhoods, is rolling out an app for the iPhone and iPod Touch.

Nextdoor co-founder and Chief Executive Nirav Tolia said he expects the mobile app to fuel growth and increase the amount of activity in neighborhoods.

Nextdoor is being used by more than 12,600 neighborhoods in 50 states, he said. Some 30% of visits to the Nextdoor website come from mobile browsers.

Nextdoor is like Facebook but for neighbors: a private network to find a baby sitter, borrow a cup of sugar, organize a block party or spread word of a break-in.

It's not the first time a start-up has tried to network neighbors, but Nextdoor is one of the first to gain momentum.

Photos: Top 10 Southern California companies

An app for the iPhone and iPod Touch was the most requested feature from Nextdoor users, Tolia said, and took about eight months to build. The company is working on an Android app that should be out this summer, he said.

Neighbors...

More...
Six in 10 employees use computers at work for personal business, according to a survey conducted by a manufacturer of computer monitoring software.

Employees assume bosses track their work computers, survey finds

Workers spend more than half an hour each day shopping for new clothing, exchanging instant messages with friends and taking care of other personal matters on their work computers.  

That was one of the findings of a survey of 300 full-time workers by SpectorSoft Corp., which sells computer monitoring software to employers. About 60% of workers surveyed said they used their computers at work for non-work activities. A Salary.com survey last year found a similar percentage of workers use their work computers to browse the Web for personal reasons.

Privacy advocates have tried unsuccessfully during the last decade to gain more protections for employees as the use of monitoring software in work-site computers has grown. SpectorSoft’s survey showed few employees are happy about it, but 9 in 10 said they expected to have their employer watching over their shoulder at work.

MORE: What privacy rights do I have in the workplace?

Courts have generally allowed companies to monitor...

More...
Mailbox has a new app for the iPad.

Mailbox hits send on new iPad app

SAN FRANCISCO -- Mailbox is coming to the iPad.

The new app will be available starting Thursday and reflects the accelerating shift to tablets from laptops, especially among younger people, said Mailbox Chief Executive Gentry Underwood. An iPad app was one of the top requests from Mailbox users, and it's the first new product from Mailbox since it was bought by Dropbox in March.

"It's so hard for people like us who spend a lot of time in front of laptops to realize how many people use the iPad as a full-time computer," Underwood said. "People love the advantages of carrying a much lighter device and not being weighed down by a bunch of clunky hardware when you just want to do something simple like read a book or watch a video."

Photos: Top 10 Southern California companies

With more apps like Mailbox, which enables people to do more on a tablet, "I think more and more people are going to get won over to it," he said.

The new iPad app is much like the one for the iPhone. It's designed to...

More...
Advertisement
Connect

Video

Videos

Advertisement

World's First Bionic Eye

This is a video on the manufacturer of the world's first bionic eye, which resto...

This is a video on the manufacturer of the world's first bionic eye, which restores some sight to the blind.