Techno-News Blog

January 31, 2012

Google Privacy Policies Rile Users, Regulators With Zero Opt-Out

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By Clint Boulton, eWeek

Google risked drawing the ire of privacy pundits and federal regulators Jan. 24 with its augmented privacy policies. The practices, which kick-in March 1, call for a single, unified privacy policy to preside over 60 of Google’s 70 products that previously had disparate privacy rules. What this means is users of Google search, YouTube, Gmail and Google Docs and Calendar will all be using the services under the banner of one privacy policy. This may sound fantastic to some users and for government regulators who lament complex, long-winded legalese—until you get down to the other details. Going forward, Google account users may have their data from Gmail or YouTube cross-pollinated with Google search, Calendar and dozens of other Google applications. Users can’t opt out of these privacy changes without closing their Google accounts, a radical measure for most users. The eWEEK slide show examines the policy details and the public backlash that is already gathering strength.

http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Security/Google-Privacy-Policies-Rile-Users-Regulators-With-Zero-OptOut-513281/

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Google Earth Meets Google+, Includes Seamless Imagery

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By: Clint Boulton, eWeek

Google continued its wholesale integration of Google+ with its existing applications, launching Google Earth 6.2 with the capability to let users share their virtual images with their contacts on the social network. Google Earth 6.2 includes the option to let users share a screenshot of their current Google Earth image, as well as images of places they’ve already “virtually traveled” with contacts in their Circles.

http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Search-Engines/Google-Earth-Meets-Google-Includes-Seamless-Imagery-545422/

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America’s first ‘WhiteFi’ network goes live

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Jonathan Angel, eWeek

America’s first public “WhiteFi” network, leveraging spectrum previously occupied by analog TV channels, has been launched in North Carolina. Running at 1.5 to 3.1 MB/sec., the service will initially be used mostly for municipal functions such as surveillance cameras and transmitting water quality data, according to reports. White space networking — sometimes also known as “WhiteFi” — relies on radio spectrum that was previously reserved for TV stations. Because available frequencies vary from location to location, the technology involves access points and clients fitted with cognitive radio equipment, which can detect interference and automatically switch frequencies when they need to.

http://www.windowsfordevices.com/c/a/News/Americas-first-WhiteFi-network-goes-live/

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January 30, 2012

Apple iPad 3: 10 High-Priority Features We Want in the New Tablet

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By Don Reisinger, eWeek

The time has come once again to think seriously about Apple’s iPad. Only this time, the focus isn’t on the iPad 2 but on Apple’s iPad 3. That tablet, which is rumored to be launching in March or April, could very well be a groundbreaking option for consumers and enterprise users alike. The excitement and speculation has been building for months already. That excitement becomes all the more impressive when one considers that the device’s details have yet to be announced. In fact, Apple hasn’t even acknowledged that that it will launch an upgraded tablet model this year. For now, in official channels, Apple’s focus is solely on the iPad 2. But those who have been following Apple over the years know better. Apple will release a new tablet this year and there’s a solid chance the slate will come with a host of features to appeal to customers. But just what features should be built into this new tablet?

http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Enterprise-Networking/Apple-iPad-3-10-HighPriority-Features-We-Want-in-the-New-Tablet-739540/

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Innovation High, Attendance Dips at Macworld 2012

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By: Chris Preimesberger, eWeek

Despite all the fresh new ideas on display for the Apple world from exuberant third-party companies, it matters quite a bit that the Apple mothership isn’t here with her children. For the third consecutive year since the event began way back in 1985, Apple was nowhere to be found at the Macworld 2012 conference and expo here at the Moscone West center. Despite all the fresh new ideas on display for the Apple world from exuberant third-party companies, it matters quite a bit that the mothership isn’t here with her children.

http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Apple/Innovation-High-Attendance-Dips-at-Macworld-2012-299045/

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Stanford Takes Online Schooling To The Next Academic Level

Filed under: Uncategorized — admin @ 12:16 am

by KOSU

Thrun’s colleague Andrew Ng taught a free, online machine learning class that ultimately attracted more than 100,000 students. When I ask Ng how Stanford’s administration reacted to their proposition, he’s silent for a second. “Oh boy,” he says, “I think there was a strong sense that we were all suddenly in a brave new world.”Ng says there were long conversations about whether or not to give online students a certificate bearing the university’s name. But Stanford balked and ultimately the school settled on giving students a letter of accomplishment from the professors that did not mention the university’s name. “We are still having conversations about that,” says James Plummer, dean of Stanford’s School of Engineering. “I think it will actually be a long time — maybe never — when actual Stanford degrees would be given for fully online work by anyone who wishes to register for the courses.”

http://kosu.org/2012/01/stanford-takes-online-schooling-to-the-next-academic-level/

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January 29, 2012

EU-Proposed New Data Privacy Laws to Impact U.S. Internet Giants

Filed under: Uncategorized — admin @ 12:40 am

By: Fahmida Y. Rashid, eWeek

The unveiled rules for the EU’s data privacy law revamp includes 24-hour breach notification, appointing a data protection officer and required user consent for online data access. The European Commission on Jan. 25 unveiled its proposed changes to existing data privacy laws that would force Internet companies to better protect user information or face fines. The European Commission introduced new rules to update the 17-year-old data privacy laws to better protect Internet users on Jan. 25. The laws are intended to improve online defenses that protect children from online predators, simplify data protection laws across all European Union countries and reduce bureaucracy.

http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Security/EU-Proposed-New-Data-Privacy-Laws-to-Impact-US-Internet-Giants-587985/

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Attackers Using DNS Poisoning to Hijack Website Domains, Divert Traffic

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By: Fahmida Y. Rashid, eWeek

Instead of just launching distributed denial-of-service attacks, cyber-attackers have started hijacking domain names and redirecting traffic from legitimate sites to malicious ones. The hacker group Anonymous recently managed to hijack the Domain Name System record for CBS.com and redirected all traffic to another Web server that displayed an empty directory structure. It appeared as if the contents of CBS.com had been wiped, but it was actually a different server altogether. CBS.com managed to regain control of its domain after the DNS poisoning attack.

http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Security/Attackers-Using-DNS-Poisoning-to-Hijack-Website-Domains-Divert-Traffic-555640/

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Secret Government Talks Create Treaty Stricter Than SOPA, PIPA

Filed under: Uncategorized — admin @ 12:14 am

By: Wayne Rash, eWeek

The U.S. Trade Representative apparently negotiated in secret a new intellectual property treaty with restrictions far more onerous than SOPA or PIPA to avoid a congressional review and public objections. Imagine, if you will, SOPA with even more restrictions than the bill that was shelved by Congress last week. Now imagine that it’s administered by a shadowy international organization that has no accountability under U.S. law, but can still order your ISP to monitor your personal communications. Finally imagine that this organization can order you disconnected from the Internet and could also order your ISP offline. Welcome to the ACTA treaty.

http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Security/Secret-Government-Talks-Create-Treaty-Stricter-than-SOPA-or-PIPA-522416/?kc=rss

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January 28, 2012

Startup Makes ‘Wireless Router for the Brain’

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By Courtney Humphries, Technology Review

Optogenetics has been hailed as a breakthrough in biomedical science—it promises to use light to precisely control cells in the brain to manipulate behavior, model disease processes, or even someday to deliver treatments. But so far, optogenetic studies have been hampered by physical constraints. The technology requires expensive, bulky lasers for light sources, and a fiber-optic cable attached to an animal—an encumbrance that makes it difficult to study how manipulating cells affects an animal’s normal behavior.

http://www.technologyreview.com/biomedicine/39512/?p1=MstRcnt

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Electron Holography Produces First Image of a Single Protein

Filed under: Uncategorized — admin @ 12:20 am

by KFC, Technology Review

The behaviour and function of proteins is largely determined by their shape. So one of the great ongoing quests in biology is to understand and model the structure of proteins. That’s a tricky task. Biologists currently do it using techniques such as X-ray crystallography, which requires millions of protein chains to form into a crystal. The trouble is that most proteins don’t form crystals. And even when they do, not all the molecules will be in the same conformation and so the diffraction pattern can end up being a kind of average of several different shapes. That’s why biologists know the shape of less than 2 per cent of the proteins in humans.

http://www.technologyreview.com/blog/arxiv/27520/?p1=blogs

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Smallest-Ever Nanotube Transistors Outperform Silicon

Filed under: Uncategorized — admin @ 12:16 am

By Katherine Bourzac, Technology Review

A nine-nanometer device shows that nanotubes could be a viable alternative to silicon as electronics get even tinier. The smallest carbon-nanotube transistor ever made, a nine-nanometer device, performs better than any other transistor has at this size. For over a decade, researchers have promised that carbon nanotubes, with their superior electrical properties, would make for better transistors at ever-tinier sizes, but that claim hadn’t been tested in the lab at these extremes. Researchers at IBM who made the nanotube transistors say this is the first experimental evidence that any material is a viable potential replacement for silicon at a size smaller than 10 nanometers.

http://www.technologyreview.com/computing/39532/?p1=A1

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January 27, 2012

Google+ User Engagement Questioned Amid Facebook Rivalry

Filed under: Uncategorized — admin @ 12:25 am

by Clint Boulton, eWeek

Where Google’s accounting gets fuzzy is in user engagement, or how many people are actively logging into Google+ to post status updates and share links, photos and videos. That’s the metric social media experts are most interested in, and fairly so considering rival Facebook’s social engagement disclosures. Facebook said half of its 800 million-plus users log into its Website on any given day. That’s an incredible 400 million-plus users coming to chat virtually or share info each day. Facebook offers this oft-updated stats page as a beacon against all social network challengers, loading it with such metric morsels as the fact that the average user is connected to 130 friends, family members and other people on the network.

http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Enterprise-Networking/Google-User-Engagement-Questioned-Amid-Facebook-Rivalry-332227/

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Microsoft’s Windows 8 on Tablets a Necessity: Analyst

Filed under: Uncategorized — admin @ 12:20 am

By: Nicholas Kolakowski, eWeek

Microsoft’s Windows 8 on tablets is more than a sideline or gimmick, according to an analyst. Instead, it’s a necessity for the Windows franchise. Microsoft had precious little choice when it came to importing Windows onto tablets, according to a new analyst report. Softening PC sales—which translated into declining Windows revenue—meant the company needed to look at ways to extend its business model onto new, more mobile devices. For its second quarter fiscal 2012, Microsoft saw its Windows and Windows Live division revenue dip some 6 percent from the prior period, to $4.74 billion. Company executives on a Jan. 19 earnings call highlighted recent flooding in Thailand, which curbed the global supply of hard drives, as a reason behind the recent decline in PC sales and attendant drop in Windows revenue.

http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Enterprise-Networking/Microsofts-Windows-8-on-Tablets-a-Necessity-Analyst-608166/?kc=rss

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Tech or Tech-no? Why IT Education Reforms Are Better Late Than Never

Filed under: Uncategorized — admin @ 12:15 am

by Jade Lane, Huffington Post

Michael Gove, UK education secretary, has finally done the right thing, and realised that IT education in England is ”demotivating and dull”. Even better, he’s gone one step further and announced an overhaul of the IT National Curriculum, which will focus on web design, computer programming and computer science to reflect today’s technological needs. It goes without saying – our lives are taking on a digital and technological element. We use our phones for virtually everything – from updating our Facebook to ordering our shopping from a major supermarket. We use our computers for writing a letter to producing the next Number 1 single. Our reliance on technology is ever-growing – I use my phone to tell my Sky+ box to record Holby City when I’ve forgotten to tell it myself (hell hath no fury if I missed an episode). Whether this is positive or negative has yet to be seen, but ultimately, it makes sense that we need a strong workforce to be able to maintain and evolve these technological advances.

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/jade-lane/it-education-gove-reforms-better-late-than-never_b_1212595.html?ref=uk

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January 26, 2012

SOPA, PIPA Shelved as Congress Looks for Alternative Plans

Filed under: Uncategorized — admin @ 12:25 am

By: Fahmida Y. Rashid, eWeek

SOPA and PIPA appear to be temporarily shelved, but not dead, as Congress tries to figure out the best way to fight online piracy. The controversial Stop Online Piracy and Protect IP acts have been temporarily shelved as congressional lawmakers figure out their next move. The Senate will postpone the vote on PIPA that was originally scheduled for Jan. 24, House Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said Jan. 20. He made the decision after weeks of intense lobbying by technology companies and industry associations opposed to the bill, which culminated in a one-day Internet strike led by online site Wikipedia. Google collected over 4 million signatures on its petition protesting the bill.

http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Security/SOPA-PIPA-Shelved-as-Congress-Looks-for-Alternative-Plans-204025/?kc=rss

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Get remote computer support from friends

Filed under: Uncategorized — admin @ 12:20 am

by Kate Russell, BBC

Collaborating is now much simpler thanks to Join.Me, a browser-based screen sharing tool. Share the cost of a ride to the airport at transferwithme.com which can connect you with other people looking to make the same journey. aRMadillo is an iPhone and Blackberry app that lets you search and download company credit reports for more than 200 million businesses in 220 countries. For those concerned about the controversial Sopa act, No Sopa is a Chrome extension that tells you if the website you’re browsing is known to support the bill. And the organisers of the Brit Awards have just released their first iPhone app, where users can get the latest news, view exclusive photos and even vote for their favourite acts.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/click_online/9682226.stm

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Anti-piracy efforts divide web users

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by the BBC

The past week has seen parts of the web in tumult. On Wednesday Wikipedia, WordPress and thousands of other sites took their content offline. Webmasters offered warnings of the potential damage posed by the Stop Online Piracy Act (Sopa) and the Protect Intellectual Property Act (Pipa) – two bills being considered by members of the US Congress. On Thursday the Department of Justice announced that it had shut down Megaupload, one of the internet’s biggest file-sharing sites, and had charged several of its employees with copyright infringement. On Friday “hacktivists” who align themselves under the name Anonymous mounted attacks against websites belonging to the US authorities, music companies and other advocates of a piracy crackdown.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-16658923

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January 25, 2012

At CES, a Preview of Tomorrow’s Wearable Computers

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By Tom Simonite, Technology Review

The Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas isn’t just a place to see new products from gadget giants like Samsung and Sony; it’s also a place to see small companies with disruptive ideas that become big consumer technologies in the future. This year, several of the most promising small exhibitors were showing off technology that could free us from having to peer down at our mobile devices—glasses that can overlay digital data onto the world around us. One of those companies was Lumus Optics, based near Tel Aviv, Israel. It demonstrated prototype glasses that display translucent, almost opaque imagery that fills the wearer’s view like a 10-foot-wide TV two feet in front of his face. Ari Grobman, business development manager for Lumus, told Technology Review that his company was working with “a number of top 10 consumer device companies” interested in commercializing the technology.

http://www.technologyreview.com/communications/39471/?p1=MstRcnt

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Computer Model Replays Europe’s Cultural History

Filed under: Uncategorized — admin @ 12:19 am

by KFC, Technology Review

Some 15 years ago, the American political scientist Robert Axelrod put forward a remarkable model of the way cultural diversity persists in society. His idea was that people are more likely to interact with others like them. The more similar two people are, the more likely they are to adopt each other’s traits. That’s how traits spread but it is also why diversity persists. Since then, the power and simplicity of Axelrod’s approach has led complexity theorists to study numerous variations on the original theme. The model lends itself to computer simulation because people can be modelled as nodes on a grid influenced by those closest to them. Whatever the starting conditions, a computer can go through through millions of iterations to see how traits spread.

http://www.technologyreview.com/blog/arxiv/27507/?p1=blogs

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Yahoo Predicts America’s Political Winners

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by Christopher Mims, Technology Review

The effort combines a variety of data-driven approaches. Data scientists at Yahoo are using prediction markets—along with polls, sentiment analysis on Twitter, and trends in search queries—to create the mother of all political prediction engines. The project involves Web-based prediction markets like Intrade, in which large numbers of people bet on the outcomes of elections. The researchers behind this effort, David Rothschild, an economist at Yahoo Research, and Dave Pennock, a computer scientist at Yahoo Research, call their effort the Signal. They plan to produce data visualizations that best convey probability to a lay audience, and to publish work on machine learning and fundamental economic models based on the effort.

http://www.technologyreview.com/web/39487/?p1=A3

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