Progressive's perky Flo — the insurance brand's marketing mascot known for her bullet-proof hair — is pitching Snapshot in a new campaign that breaks today (watch above).

Bearing an unusual proposition — lower your auto insurance rates up to 30% based on your driving skills — Snapshot is the company's proprietary in-car monitor. It's also a technical innovation the company calls a major insurance industry game-changer.Continue reading...

IBM's tech smarts are bigger than Watson. When it comes to technical innovation, it's also at the forefront of smart grid technology — an area that IBM wants to make even smarter.

It's been investing heavily in its smart-grid business, a huge field that will generate an estimated $4.2 billion in annual revenue by 2015, according to Pike Research.

While GE and Cisco are also players when its comes to brands at the forefront of smart grid projects, IBM now boasts more than 150 different smart grid initiatives in major and emerging economies. In another significant win, it's now partnering with Progress Energy to bring smart grid tech to its operations.Continue reading...

As part of its new global marketing campaign, HP's VP and GM of product development Paul Donovan demonstrates HP's connected products and vision for how consumers will use technology with an augmented reality demonstration before an audience in Shanghai. 

As noted in today's New York Times, the brand is touting a A New HP World — a vision that includes new ways of interacting with technology, along with new computing models that aim to change the way processors transmit and store data.Continue reading...

Android is on the rise: its tablets took market share from Apple's iPad in the fourth quarter, it has overtaken Nokia's Symbian system as the most popular smartphone platform, and its Android 3.0 (aka Honeycomb) will be featured in a Google developers day on Wednesday. And it's featured in Sprint's adorable Wall-E-esque EVO campaign.

Yes, the new 1.3 version of Google Goggles, an application for Android phones, can now recognize print ads in magazines and newspapers and return web search results about the brands featured in the ads.

Sure, the new version of Goggles offers instant barcode scanning without even pressing a button; all you have to do is open Goggles and hold it over the barcode to get reviews, compare prices and check availability in stores.

But wait, there's more! The new version of Google Goggles can help you cheat on help you solve Sodoku puzzles!Continue reading...

We knew that Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer has an irreverent sense of humor — but we didn't realize how wacky until we checked out Chet. That's "Chet Logothestian," a touchy-feely character that Microsoft used to build viral buzz ahead of Ballmer's third annual kick-off keynote at the Consumer Electronics Show, which streamed on Facebook and at Microsoft.com.

The kooky "Creative Presentation Creative Consultant" was played up with a Facebook page and Twitter feed, while on YouTube the viral social marketing effort was mocked by commenters. (Watch Chet chat about CES with execs for Windows Phone, Xbox and Kinect, plus Elvis impersonators, after the jump.)

Ballmer's keynote presentation was nowhere near as kooky, with highlights including a tablet-ready version of Windows (dubbed System on a Chip), and the successful 4th quarter launch of Kinect, which sold 8 million units in its first 60 days.Continue reading...

Here's Google's official Consumer Electronics Show promo for Android 3.0. Also known as Honeycomb, it's an object of desire in the tablet frenzy at this CES, and the subject of some pre-CES tweaking by Motorola.Continue reading...

As the 2011 Consumer Electronics Show takes over Las Vegas, three major trends are evident: tablets, first and foremost, taking aim at the 800-pound gorilla that is Apple’s iPad; consumers expect "appified" technology; and a focus on connected driving, as executives from Ford and Audi deliver keynote speeches.Continue reading...