Google’s self-driving car got its first license this week in the state of Nevada.  If you’re not totally up-to-date with this amazing computer-driven car – there is a great video here.  Google believes that this car will help save lives, because a majority of the 30,000 people killed each year in car crashes are due to human-driver error, and the addition of computer-driven cars could significantly reduce the number of deaths.

Google’s self-driving car uses sensors to watch cars, pedestrians and other obstacles, with additional technology and software that allows the car to read street signs and signals.  Google’s car also combines a number of technologies included in cars already, such as GPS tracking, wheel motion sensors and radar.

These modified Toyota Priuses are not available to the public yet, but the testing stages are proving that driver assisted technologies are working.

For the full story, go to: http://money.cnn.com/2012/05/10/autos/google-driverless-cars-safety/index.htm?source=cnn_bin

It’s hard to believe, but summer is just around the corner.  Thankfully, Mashable’s tech experts have put together their list of the 6 must-have gadgets that are perfect for summer 2012.

1. Eton Rukus Solar – This sleek, little number is great for sharing music (via pairing wirelessly with your phone) and gets any party going, especially because it doesn’t need an outlet or batteries.
2. Jawbone Jambox – This product is good for wireless, portable audio and speakerphone calls.
3. Pebble Watch – If you are an on-the-go individual and will be spending a lot of time running, swimming, biking and multi-tasking this summer, this watch allows you to access your smartphone apps from your wrist.
4. WowWee Cinemin Slice Pico Projector – This projector allows you to project movies from your smartphone or tablet, video games and photos anywhere that is dark.  The projected image can get up to 60 inches.
5. Cannon Powershot G1 X – This camera excels at shooting photos in challenging situations.  It has a retro design but it’s compact and is great for aspiring photographers who want to try out a more advanced camera than a point and shoot.
6. Eco Terra Rugged and Waterproof Boombox – Boomboxes are making a comeback and this one allows you to keep your smartphone or MP3 player protected from all of the party or environmental elements.

Tykoon aims to teach kids a different way of thinking about and using money.  The company is launching its first mobile app for iPhone, which will feature a “platform for earning, saving, giving and spending, the latter which includes kid-friendly access to a curated and controlled Amazon store.”  The company’s goal is to give kid’s a real platform in which to learn how to properly and responsibly  handle finances.

Kids will be able to earn cash and rewards by performing tasks, chores or hitting certain goals from their parents.  Parents will also be learning, as they will have to set up the services, provide reward amounts for each task and then make good on the payment upon completion.  The difference between this app and other allowance-tracking programs, is there is a “kid friendly” Amazon store that parents can customize and enable and disable categories, there is also an option for kids to donate some of their earnings to the World Wildlife Foundation or Habitat for Humanity.  Kids can then learn to either save their money, donate it or spend it in the store.  There is even a social aspect that allows kids to snap smartphone photos of items they want and add it to their wishlist.

This app is geared towards 8 to 12 year olds, but there is a plan to add a bank-issued, preloaded debit cards in 2013, which will then expand the platform to teenagers.

To learn more about this app, go to: http://www.tykoon.com/

Will you and your kids be trying this free service out?

There have been rumors and leaks for the past few weeks, but Google Drive has officially launched.  Google Drive, is Google’s new 5GB cloud-storage service that stores 30 different file types including PDFs, HD Video, and Illustrator & Photoshop images.  This product also integrates directly with Google Docs and allows you to access and collaborate on files (in real time) from anywhere.  The ability to work with others in real time (adding to and commenting on PDFs, images, video files, spreadsheets and documents) is going to be a huge advantage for the company. 

The product will also include a smart tagging feature, which allows users to tag items stored on their drive, so that the next time you do a search for a similar file or image, the tagged item will show up in your search.   

Finally, Google Drive will user image recognition, so when you drag and drop photos from a recent event or vacation and you want to do a search for that location later, those photos will show up, and Optical Character Recognition (OCR) which will also allow Drive to recognize text in scanned documents, making your searches easier and less time consuming.

Google is giving all users 5GB of storage for free! But if you need more, there are several tiers to choose from: 25GB for $2.49/month, 100GB for $4.99/month or 1TB for $49.99/month. When you upgrade to a paid account, your Gmail account storage also expands to 25GB.

Check out Mashable’s full walk through of the product at: http://mashable.com/2012/04/24/google-drive-hands-on/

After the announcement last week, dubbing Pinterest the 3^rd largest social networking site behind Facebook & Twitter, its no surprise that there are going to be a lot of similar websites emerging.  A website that isn’t new, but functions along the same lines is Springpad.  Springpad launched about 3 years ago and has 3 million users.  It began as a personal list service, but is launching a redesign that allows user notebooks to be made public.  Users can then follow other user’s notebooks and “spring” specific items onto their notebooks.

This redesign is looking like an enhanced Pinterest, because while Pinterest has a board of beautiful photos, Springpad’s notebook includes more details like maps and menu pages.  Springboard notebooks have the ability to be public or private and users can input lists manually or save items through web browsing.Watch Full Movie Online Streaming Online and Download

For more information, check out: http://mashable.com/2012/04/11/springpad-3-0/

Are any of our Rox readers one of the 3 million Springpad users? Do you love it? Do you prefer Springpad or Pinterest?

Social networks not only allow us to record every mood, vacation, celebration or heartbreak, but they also allow us to share these feelings and events publicly.  It’s definitely a different mindset from the diary-days where people would share their innermost thoughts and feelings in a personal notebook book and hide them away in a private place.  Since we have entered a time where sharing is now a part of life, there’s a new website that helps you remember the place you were exactly a year ago that day.  Timehop sets out to create an experience that allows you to realign your past with your present.

Timehop takes information from a user’s Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare and Instagram feeds and shows you what you were doing on the same day, last year.  This service provides users with a daily email that sums up all of the social information from last year’s date and organizes the check-ins, photos, status updates and tweets chronologically.  They are currently working on a feature that includes deals for events, activities or vacations that you previously took, as the site is getting a lot of feedback about how great it is to remember and relive some of these excursions.

To check out the site and to sign up for your digital diary reminders, go to www.Timehop.com.