SALT LAKE CITY — What does it take to build and command a vehicle capable of exploring Mars? Ninety students from around the world are about to find out. Next week, in a remote desert in southern Utah, 10 teams from the United States, Canada, India and Poland will compete in the annual University Rover Challenge. The competition is hosted by the Mars Society, a non-profit research organizati...    

Despite all the hoopla about an “open data” society, many consumers are being kept in the dark.    

An assortment of services can help you and your heirs organize the online accounts that you will eventually leave behind.    

Imagine playing through a level of the popular zombie shooter "Left 4 Dead" on a system that tracks your heart rate, eye movements, even how clammy your skin is getting, all to measure just how scared you are.For 250 lucky — or extremely unlucky — test subjects, fear-based gaming was a reality, at least in an experimental program led by the game studio Valve. If the game could sense that a player ...    

An Apple-1 computer, made in 1976 and originally priced at $666, sold for a record $671,400 at an auction in Germany.    

With the majority of communications taking place in cyberspace, one may wonder if there’s still a place for conferences and meetings with in-person, unscripted human interaction. For entrepreneurs seeking to grow their companies, and investors and others looking to preview new opportunities and re-connect with partners and friends, nothing can replace the spontaneity that occurs when creative and talented people come together. The Florida Venture Forum provided such a venue at its sixth annual…

The recent attacks seem to be aimed at sabotage rather than stealing information, United States officials say.    

The Associated PressCAPE CANAVERAL, Fla.— A new military communications satellite has been launched into space.An unmanned Delta IV rocket lifted off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on Friday evening. The satellite was the fifth Wideband Global satcom spacecraft to be launched.The satellite, which is being sent into an orbit that follows the earth's rotation 22,000 miles above the equator, w...    

By SPACE.com staffSmall space rocks are carving fresh craters into the Martian surface more often than previously thought, researchers say. A new study finds that there are more than 200 asteroid impacts on the Red Planet every year.These asteroids and comet fragments are usually no bigger than 3 to 6 feet (1 to 2 meters) across — about 10 times smaller than the meteor that exploded over Chely...    

    

Plans to launch the HTC First, aka the "Facebook phone," in the U.K. have been indefinitely delayed and pre-orders refunded, according Facebook and the carrier that was to carry the device exclusively. In the United States, after AT&T dropped the device's price, that seemed like confirmation that sales have been nowhere near what was hoped.The HTC First was announced in April; with bold colors...    

Being perched on the precipice of a new console generation has made video game developers reflect about their own relationship with technology. Ubisoft's new open-world game "Watch_dogs" is at once exceedingly ambitious and cripplingly self-conscious, asking players to live in a world where the tech industry's wildest dreams about interconnected smart devices and augmented reality systems are as u...    

    

Dish Network Corp. seems to have found some traction with its complaints of national security concerns surrounding Tokyo-based SoftBank Corp.’s deal to buy mobile phone carrier Sprint Nextel Corp. Dish, the Douglas County-based satellite TV company, wants Sprint, too. It has suggested SoftBank’s acquisition of Overland Park., Kan.-based Sprint should be scrutinized and federal officials should be worried about SoftBank’s use of Chinese telecom gear made by Huawei and ZTE. U.S. Sens. John…

Dallas’ Tech Wildcatters this week hosted its largest program since the group's inception five years ago. The seed accelerator, which works to develop companies, selected 11 startups and attracted 500 guests to its Pitch Day Thursday, the final event in the 12-week program. “With every single class, I wonder if they’re going to be better than the last,” said Gabriella Draney, Wildcatters CEO. “But every single time, they impress me.” Companies ranged from offering wedding planner programs…

A microbe discovered in the Canadian high Arctic thrives at the coldest temperature known for bacterial growth.Researchers found the newly discovered bacterium, Planococcus halocryophilus OR1, in permafrost — permanently frozen ground — on Ellesmere Island. The organism thrives at 5 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 15 degrees Celsius), and holds clues to adaptations that might be necessary for life on Ma...    

By Becky Oskin, LiveScienceThirteen years of supersized earthquakes, such as Friday's magnitude-8.3 in Russia, have contaminated GPS sites around the world, a new study finds.The Global Positioning System is a network of satellites and ground stations that provide location information anywhere on Earth. Except for spots in Australia, western Europe and the eastern tip of Canada, every GPS site...    

Memorial Day weekend marks the beginning of summer and all it evokes: vacations, slower workweeks, casual dress codes, getting the pool ready and pulling out the outdoor furniture.It would seem an ideal time to take a break, but our ability to unplug and relax is under assault. A three-day weekend? We can barely get through three waking hours without working, new research shows. The average smartp...    

By Mike Wall, SPACE.comA 3-D printer is slated to arrive at the International Space Station next year, where it will crank out the first parts ever manufactured off planet Earth.The company Made in Space is partnering with NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center on the 3-D Printing in Zero G Experiment (or 3-D Print for short), which aims to jump-start an off-planet manufacturing capability that co...    

Ridesharing service Sidecar has finally landed approval from the California Public Utilities Commission to continue its ridesharing operation, staying a cease-and-desist order and nixing a $20,000 fine levied by the state regulator. Through its mobile app, Sidecar connects passengers who need rides with people who are driving around nearby. It took months for the service to convince the CPUC that it was an information service (and shouldn't be regulated as a transportation company), and that the…