Technology

When the last version of the Hypertext Transfer Protocol 1.1 (HTTP/1.1) was approved in 1999, fast computers were running 500MHz Pentium III chips, Bill Clinton was president of the United States, and software engineers were working hard at fixing the Y2K bug. As for the internet, the US Federal Communications Commission defined broadband as 200 kilobits per second (Kbps), and most users connected to it with 56Kbps modems. Things have changed, and HTTP, the web's fundamental protocol, is finally changing with the times, too.

Pro tip for any would-be online drug kingpins: Don’t post vacation pictures on Facebook.

Ross Ulbricht was convicted in a Manhattan federal court last week for his role operating the Silk Road online marketplace. He could serve 30 years or more behind bars.

Smart homes are here.

You can use motion sensors to trigger smart light switches. You can program smart thermostats to warm only the rooms that people are actually using. You can even control smart power outlets with your mobile phone, setting appliances to turn on and off at certain times of day.

My “aha” moment occurred in 2004 when, as a junior at the University of Illinois at Chicago, double majoring in physics and engineering, a research paper seized my interest. It was about the role that diamond could play as an electronics material — vastly uncharted territory at the time. I recognized then that diamond technology could spark a seismic change in the electronics industry and I knew I wanted to play a role in making diamond semiconductor a reality.

Believe it or not, scientists aren't yet finished discovering new ways to 3D print body parts. A team at the Feinstein Institute for Medical Research has developed a 3D printing technique that lets them produce cartilage for repairing damaged tracheas, better known to you and I as windpipes.

IBM quit making PCs in 2005, and it quit making servers last year. But it looks like Big Blue will keep pumping out its mainframes forever.

Researchers at Northwestern University and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have developed a simple new fabrication technique to create beautiful, complex 3D micro- and nanostructures with advantages over 3D printing for a variety of uses.

The 3-D printer being used by astronauts on the International Space Station recently reached its second big milestone—it was employed to print a usable tool after a data file was uploaded from Earth that gave the printer the specifications and directions for how to produce the tool.

2014 brought more attention to 4K and curved displays than on 3D and active glasses. Toshiba launched a 4K laptop in April, LG sells a 4K curved TV, and recently Samsung introduced a 4K curved PC monitor. Apple took it a step further and released a 5K iMac refresh, followed by Dell with a 5K "smart desk", and Samsung promised to release a phone with a foldable display in 2015. Toshiba is also following the 'retina' trend and is looking to bring smooth 8K broadcasts by 2020.

When you think of what 3D printing can do, you probably imagine simple plastic models and parts -- clever, but not exactly revolutionary. If you ask Dovetailed's Vaiva Kalnikaite and Make's Anna Kaziunas France, however, they'll tell you that 3D printers can accomplish much, much more. Dovetailed's 3D-printed fruit is just the start of what you can do with food, for example. Kalnikaite told Engadget Expand guests that 3D printing offers not just extra creativity with how you present meals, but a way to change the meals themselves. Do you like the taste of bananas, but not their texture?