TechNewsWorld: All Tech

London's Burning Over Government Surveillance Plans

Friday - May 18, 2012

The UK government has proposed plans to monitor the electronic communications of everyone in that country. It claims it's not seeking to read the content of the communications, according to reports, but instead wants to know who the senders and recipients of messages are, the places from which messages are sent, and other details such as the length of messages and their formats. The proposed legislation "is about granting law enforcement authorities and government agencies access to current and historical Internet data ..." said Gus Hosein, director of Privacy International. [More...]

SpaceX Dragon to Soar to Launch History on Falcon's Wings

Friday - May 18, 2012

When the SpaceX Dragon capsule blasts off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station atop the company's Falcon rocket Saturday morning, it will be doing more than just setting off on another cargo-laden trip to the International Space Station. Rather, as the very first commercial attempt ever to fly to the ISS, this test launch will be making history. [More...]

TECH TREK
Iran Threatens to Sue Over Google Maps Slap

Friday - May 18, 2012

Today in international tech news: Still irked about Google Maps' non-labeling of the Persian Gulf, Iranian state-run media says the country is considering legal action against the search company. In the UK, police implement a system to extract data from mobile devices of detained suspects, while Sky News talks with police about the broadcast of a rape victim's name via a televised Twitter feed. [More...]

iPhone 5 Screen: Will Things Get Ugly?

Friday - May 18, 2012

Should Apple decide to increase the display size of the next version of its bestselling iPhone, it could present developers with new sets of both challenges and opportunities. Speculation about Apple boosting the screen found on the next edition of its smartphone isn't new, but it was renewed this week with a report predicting the new iPhone would have a display of at least four inches. [More...]

ANDROID APP REVIEW
Scalado Album's Photo-Mapping Skill Earns It a Niche

Friday - May 18, 2012

Have you ever found yourself scrolling endlessly around your phone's chronologically arranged photograph album -- called "Gallery" in Android -- looking for a photograph you've captured? If you can remember the specific place but not the date, then Scalado Album may be for you. I say "may be" because there are some downsides to using it over the stock "Gallery" app, which I'll get to. [More...]

MED TECH
Paralyzed Woman Takes Sip of Joe Using Mind-Powered Robo Arm

Thursday - May 17, 2012

Researchers have developed a robotic arm that has enabled a paralyzed woman to drink a cup of coffee -- by directly controlling it with her mind. The development has raised the question of whether this approach could perhaps restore some mobility to similarly affected people in the future. [More...]

Google's Knowledge Graph Answers Questions Searchers Haven't Yet Asked

Thursday - May 17, 2012

Google is extensively updating its search function with the rollout of a new Knowledge Graph. The heart of the Knowledge Graph is a database Google has compiled, via its own research and through its acquisition of MetaWeb Technologies, of 500 million people, places, things and points of history. [More...]

Android: What, Me Fragmented?

Thursday - May 17, 2012

There are nearly 4,000 different types of devices running Android, OpenSignalMaps has found. More than 1,300 of them have custom ROMs that tweak the android.build model. Android brands are almost as diverse as the models, OpenSignalMaps discovered. Further, the application programming interface level, meaning the Android version, has also become more fragmented over time. [More...]

HOW TO
Leaving Your Mark on the Web

Thursday - May 17, 2012

There are a lot of photographs out there. Photo sharing and album network Flickr alone reckons it hit the 6 billion image upload mark last year. If you consider Picasa, Facebook, and the current darling known as Instagram, we're talking gazillions of images floating around -- all freely downloadable. It may be time to start protecting your work. [More...]

TECH TREK
DDoS Blitz Floods The Pirate Bay

Thursday - May 17, 2012

Today in international tech news: The Pirate Bay is hit with a massive DDoS attack. Meanwhile, Evernote launches its Chinese service, saying, "It's like we unlocked a whole new Earth that we didn't even know existed." Also: China is poised to overtake Japan in IT spending by 2013, and a Russian steel tycoon is poised to cash in big time on a Facebook gamble he made back in 2009. [More...]

LINUX BLOG SAFARI
A Tale of Two Suites: Do We Still Need OpenOffice.org?

Thursday - May 17, 2012

Would a rose by any other name still smell as sweet? Or would it, perhaps, end up sweeter? That, essentially, is the question at the heart of the forking process, which in turn is at the heart of a key situation today. Namely: Now that we have LibreOffice, do we still need OpenOffice as well? In the wake of Apache OpenOffice's new update, that's been the question du jour down at the Linux blogosphere's Punchy Penguin Cafe. [More...]

SCIENCE
Quantum Teleportation Leaps to New Distance Record

Wednesday - May 16, 2012

Scientists in China have transmitted quantum bits, or qubits, over a record distance of 97 km, or roughly 60 miles. This is more than six times the distance of the previous record of 16 km, set by another team of Chinese researchers in May of 2010, as reported in Nature.com. [More...]

Can a Fresher Flickr Be Yahoo's Ray of Sunshine?

Wednesday - May 16, 2012

Flickr announced a redesign recently, introducing larger onscreen displays for high-res images. The photo sharing site launched what it calls its "liquid layout," stating that "Large sizes + Low compression = Beautiful photos." Since Flickr uses less compression than many other image sharing sites, it claimed, the detail and color of Flickr photos is richer. [More...]

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