News Briefs

Twitter co-founder Biz Stone thinks a picture can be more meaningful than 140 characters of text.

That's the concept behind a smartphone application released Tuesday by Jelly Industries. Stone launched the San Francisco startup nine months ago without revealing what he was working on.

Jelly's free app for Apple Inc.'s iPhone and phones running Google's Android allows people to tap into the collective knowledge within their networks on Twitter's short-messaging service and Facebook's online hangout to find answers about things that puzzle them. The questions are accompanied with a photo of the object that triggered the curiosity.

Stone played an instrumental role in building Twitter Inc. into one of the Internet's most valuable companies. His exit from Twitter nearly two years ago raised a great deal of intrigue about what his next act would be.

Sony is delving further into the wearable computing market with SmartBand, a waterproof wristband that tracks everything from daily physical activities and nightly sleep patterns to how much you've socialized with friends.

The sensor-packed band has no display and interacts wirelessly with an Android smartphone or tablet through an app called Lifelog. It keeps a daily record of activities and recommends actions for the future.

SmartBand also informs its wearer of incoming calls and messages by vibrating. Users listening to music can use it to play, pause or skip tracks.

The band's core is removable and can be worn in various ways other than with the wristband.

Sony announced SmartBand on Monday and said it would be available this spring, but didn't give pricing. Sony's SmartWatch retails for upward of $70.

Dish Network Corp. has unveiled a new digital recorder system that can record eight TV shows at once and can be controlled by voice.

In a stunt worthy of the annual gadget show, International CES, Dish executive Vivek Khemka also showed off how its Hopper digital video recorder can be set to record shows using Google's high-tech eyewear, Google Glass.

The eight-show system involves Dish's Hopper DVR and a new Super Joey add-on box for separate rooms. The catch is that four of those shows have to be from the broadcast networks ABC, NBC, CBS and Fox.

Dish also unveiled partnerships with LG Corp. and Sony Corp. so that Hopper users can watch recorded shows in a second room without needing a Joey. Instead, the system uses an app on a smart TV or PlayStation game console.

The announcements Monday at the International CES gadget show come a year after Dish's Hopper with Sling was picked by More