Techno-News Blog

By Erica Naone, Technology Review

This week researchers will present a study showing what could happen if a determined hacker went after the computer systems embedded in cars. The researchers found that, among other things, an attacker could disable the vehicle’s brakes, stop its engine, or take control of its door locks. All the attacker needs is access to the federally mandated onboard diagnostics port– located under the dashboard in almost all cars today.

http://www.technologyreview.com/advertisement.aspx?ad=computing&id=56&redirect=%2Fcomputing%2F25339%2F%3Fa%3Df

by BBC

New York University’s Interactive Telecommunications Program, a graduate course for tech-savvy artists, has opened its doors to showcase student work in future technologies. Students with undergraduate degrees ranging from medicine to performance art flock to the two-year programme to study robotics, web development and mobile applications.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8683358.stm

By Maggie Shiels, BBC News

Video sharing website YouTube now gets more than two billion hits daily. That’s nearly double the number of people who tune into the US’s three prime time TV stations combined, its owners Google have said. The news comes as the site celebrates the day five years ago when the first beta version of YouTube was launched.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8676380.stm

By JOSHUA BRUSTEIN, New York Times

Discontent with Facebook has been spreading rapidly in recent weeks, set off by anger over the ubiquitous social networking service’s increasingly byzantine privacy policy, its accidental disclosures of supposedly private information, and a general sense of discomfort about the company’s approach to its users’ personal data.

http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/05/12/is-there-life-after-facebook/

By ASHLEE VANCE, New York Times

According to Gartner, Microsoft has maintained 94 percent of the office software market for the last three years, and over the last two quarters Microsoft’s consumer Office sales have risen in the double-digits despite the widespread presence of free alternatives.

http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/05/12/office-2010-a-tale-of-decadence-and-hand-to-hand-combat/

By NICK BILTON, New York Times

Since Apple announced its plans for the iPad, Amazon has shared few details about how it would respond to the competition for its Kindle. But over the last few weeks, it has offered some more clues. Lab 126, the division of Amazon responsible for building the Kindle, has been on a hiring binge, with dozens of new job listings on its Web site. Some are positions for testing and readying new products. And this suggests that the company might be preparing a new device.

http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/05/17/with-a-kindle-hiring-spree-amazon-gears-up-for-battle-with-apple/

by Alex Wilhelm, the Next Web

Are you annoyed enough with Facebook to completely quit the social networking giant? Are you sufficiently concerned about your privacy to finally sever the ties with the website? Controversy has been running hot in recent weeks as privacy and usability changes stemming from Facebook’s F8 conference have left many users feeling jilted and abused. Enough is enough, some people say, and they are organizing.

http://thenextweb.com/socialmedia/2010/05/17/quit-facebook-day-wants-you-to-take-your-leave/

by BBC

26m German homes have wifi according to official figures. German citizens are responsible for the security of their own private wireless connections, a court has ruled. The ruling comes after a musician sued the owner of a network connection that had been used to illegally download and file-share music. The owner had proof that the householder was on holiday at the time but the court ruled that the network should have been password-protected.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/10116606.stm

By Maggie Shiels, BBC

Peter Barron, Head of Communications at Google, says it was a mistake. Google has admitted that for the past three years it has wrongly collected information people have sent over unencrypted wi-fi networks. The issue came to light after German authorities asked to audit the data the company’s Street View cars gathered as they took photos viewed on Google maps. Google said during a review it found it had “been mistakenly collecting samples of payload data from open networks”.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8684110.stm

by BBC

“We got the calculations side down to about one minute. From their point of view it was fantastic.” As well as being useful, the Pilot ACE was highly profitable. For the first two or three years of their mass-production, each machine was, Mr Vickers recalls, making upwards of £30 per hour. In an era when highly respected scientists predicted that the UK could solve its computing needs with just three machines in the entire country, the Pilot ACE showed real potential of powerful computing.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8683369.stm

by Brian Prince, eWeek

Application security pros say HTML5 brings with it a new set of security concerns for developers to be aware of. The war on the words between Apple and Adobe Systems has prompted plenty of speculation about the fate of HTML5. But while HTML5 remains a work in progress, the one thing that is certain is developers who adopt HTML5 will have a new set of features to consider as part of their application security development lifecycle.

http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Security/HTML5-Security-Facts-Developers-Should-Keep-in-Mind-551353/?kc=rss

by Brooke Crothers, CNet news.com

Despite a lack of signs pointing to an Apple MacBook Air refresh, there are some indications of an impending update to the more pedestrian MacBook. The same Vietnamese Web site that purportedly did a teardown of an iPhone 4G now seemingly has a new MacBook in its hands, according to a video posted on YouTube (below). Specifications for the MacBook that appear in the video include an Intel 2.4GHz Core 2 Duo processor (updated from the current 2.26GHz chip) and Nvidia GeForce 320M graphics (updated from the aging Nvidia 9400M graphics silicon).

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13924_3-20005073-64.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20

by David Pogue, New York Times

Remember the old Avis car-rental slogan? “We’re Number 2. We try harder.” That slogan came to mind when a reader, an iPhone app developer, wrote to let me know how hard Google, maker of Android, the No. 2 app phone software, is trying to woo iPhone programmers to write their apps for Android phones instead.

http://pogue.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/04/19/android-tries-harder/

by Clint Boulton, eWeek

Google May 14 began rolling out its Google Voice phone management application to students, the search engine said. While the company is targeting college students with this new offer, a Google spokesperson told eWEEK any user with the .edu domain suffix may submit their e-mail address to procure an invite from the company. Google acquired Gizmo5 last year and is expected to take those assets and turn Google Voice into a Web calling service such as Skype. Google also expects to offer Google Voice to the enterprise through its Google Apps suite.

http://www.eweek.com/c/a/VOIP-and-Telephony/Google-Extends-Google-Voice-Invites-to-Students-521543/?kc=rss

by Brian Prince, eWeek

Application security pros say HTML5 brings with it a new set of security concerns for developers to be aware of. The war on the words between Apple and Adobe Systems has prompted plenty of speculation about the fate of HTML5. But while HTML5 remains a work in progress, the one thing that is certain is developers who adopt HTML5 will have a new set of features to consider as part of their application security development lifecycle.

http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Security/HTML5-Security-Facts-Developers-Should-Keep-in-Mind-551353/?kc=rss

by Jonathan Fildes, BBC News

The software has a familiar look Microsoft has unleashed its latest weapon in its ongoing battle with Google. The software giant has launched its flagship product Office 2010, aimed at businesses and home users. The latest version of the software has a free online component – called Office Web Apps.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/10107799.stm

By Jonathan Fildes, BBC

The co-founders of Adobe have published an open letter in which they say that Apple threatens to “undermine the next chapter of the web”. The software firm has also started an adverting blitz in newspapers and on popular technology news sites. Some of the online adverts contain the tongue-in-cheek slogan “We heart Apple”.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/10113915.stm

by BBC

Over the last few weeks the social network has been battered by complaints from users, analysts and governments about what is seen as its heavy-handed approach to privacy. Facebook’s privacy policy divides the world into three types of people. Friends, friends of friends and everyone. Adjusting the privacy and information sharing settings usually involves deciding, of these groups, who should see the data in question. Facebook privacy seetings are under the account tab For its part, Facebook claims that users have a lot of control over the information they share.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/10117106.stm

by Don E. Sears, eWeek

Systems engineers, from engineering students to experienced professionals, are expected to have strong salaries and real opportunities for career growth. They also have the weight of academia and major technology vendor IBM behind them.

http://www.eweek.com/c/a/IT-Management/Systems-Engineers-Have-Bright-Future-288616/?kc=rss

by Alex Wilhelm, The Next Web

New data today coming from the SmashSummit puts Twitter in new light. Sure, Compete says that Twitter is stagnant or shrinking but that is hardly the case. Twitter, now some 105,779,710 users strong is growing by 300,000 users a day. That works out to over 8% growth a month. Facebook by comparison has over 400 million active users, and is growing by over 500,000 new users daily.

http://bit.ly/bpRZQB

by BBC

Social media and mobile phones were highly valued. There are positive links between access to technology and feelings of well-being, a study claims. BCS, the Chartered Institute for IT, analysed the results of a survey of 35,000 people around the world. Access to communication devices was found to be the most valued. It found that women in developing countries, and people of both sexes with low incomes or poor education, were most influenced emotionally by their access to technology.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/10108551.stm