TechNewsWorld: All Tech

Huawei Muscles In on Samsung, Apple Smartphone Turf

Tuesday - June 18, 2013

Huawei on Tuesday announced the Ascend P6, its first high-end smartphone. The China-based company is the largest telecommunications equipment provider in the world, but it also has a device manufacturing business among its many operations. In the smartphone realm, it is perhaps best known for its low-end line. That could be about to change. Billed as the world's slimmest smartphone, the Ascend P6 runs the Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean operating system and has a mix of leading-edge and trailing technologies. [More...]

PODCAST
Weighing the Importance of Google's Waze Win

Tuesday - June 18, 2013

After months of courtship, social navigation app Waze ultimately chose to partner -- for $1 billion-plus -- with Google, rejecting Facebook and Apple. The price tag shows how valuable Waze has become, and that's to say nothing of the overtures it received from the world's tech giants. "I think what's really surprising is that Facebook allowed the deal to die," said tech correspondent David Shamah. [More...]

TECH TREK
Spotify Gets Pink Floyd to Break Down Wall

Tuesday - June 18, 2013

Honoring a previous agreement, legendary British rock group Pink Floyd has given the green light to music streaming outfit Spotify to host the band's catalog. Pink Floyd announced earlier this month that it would resist releasing its music on Spotify until the 1975 classic "Wish You Were Here" hit 1 million streams. Well, the song hit 1 million, and Pink Floyd's tunes are now unlocked. [More...]

APP REVIEW
Airmail Flies Into Sparrow's Email Space

Tuesday - June 18, 2013

Two schools of thought have begun to emerge about email. One says the technology has passed its prime and needs to be replaced by some kind of social networking technology along the lines of Facebook. The other maintains that email can be saved by better software, like Airmail. Airmail is being compared to Sparrow, a popular email client that became too popular for its own survival. [More...]

Google to Pit Technology Against Child Pornographers

Monday - June 17, 2013

Google is spearheading an initiative to build a picture-sharing database aimed at ridding the Web of child pornography. The company's new database will rely on "hashing" technology; once an image has been flagged as offensive, it uses an algorithm to identify that photo elsewhere on the Web. Despite widespread efforts to combat it, child pornography online is only growing. [More...]

Tech-Hungry 'Crazy Ants'? Not So Fast

Monday - June 17, 2013

To read some reports in the tech press lately, one might think there's an electronics-hungry menace from South America on a march of conquest through the Southeastern United States and Texas, leaving a trail of destroyed smartphones and other precious devices in its wake. It's known as the "crazy ant," and recent reports of its arrival derive from an article published in April. [More...]

SPOTLIGHT ON SECURITY
Hackers Find WordPress Easy Pickings

Monday - June 17, 2013

Adobe Reader and Oracle Java aren't alone in having a bull's eye painted on their code. WordPress also is becoming a popular target for Internet outlaws. It's quite a large target, too. About 18 percent of the sites on the Web -- about 60 million of them -- use WordPress. One reason WordPress is attracting hacker attention is that it's so easy to write plug-ins for it. [More...]

OPINION
Ending the US' Cyberwar Against Its Citizens

Monday - June 17, 2013

I'm into fixing problems -- in fact, for much of my life I've been employed as someone who is brought in to fix a difficult problem. I don't see much point in just complaining -- either try to fix it, ignore it, or move someplace where it doesn't affect you. The current problem is that the U.S. appears to be conducting a cyberwar against its citizens. [More...]

TECH TREK
Up, Up and Away: Google Balloons to Beam Internet Access

Monday - June 17, 2013

Regardless of how this turns out, at least they nailed the name. Google is launching about 30 superpressure balloons that will beam Internet access back to the ground. With equal parts brevity and self-deprecation, the effort has been dubbed "Project Loon." Taking flight from New Zealand, the balloons will sail around the world on a controlled path. [More...]

LINUX BLOG SAFARI
Pondering Life in a PRISM World

Monday - June 17, 2013

Not a single week goes by here in the Linux blogosphere without some assortment of news and events to keep life interesting. It's not often, however, that something comes along with the magnitude of PRISM. Linux Girl was comfortably ensconced on her favorite barstool when the news broke down at the Punchy Penguin Saloon, and it's been chaos ever since. [More...]

IPAD APP REVIEW
Froguts Illuminates More Than a Frog's Insides

Monday - June 17, 2013

Dissecting frogs in high school biology classes used to be a rite of passage. It was a physical, visceral method for teaching kids that living organisms have common pieces and parts: organs, muscle, nerves and connective tissue. Kids learned that even frogs have hearts, lungs and brains. With a real dead frog, though, the lesson seems to be larger than just the anatomy. [More...]

OPINION
It Was a Mad, Mad Gaming World at This Year's E3

Saturday - June 15, 2013

Another Electronic Entertainment Expo video game show has come to a close, and more than ever, the battle lines were drawn as Microsoft and Sony both unveiled new systems. Sony may have gotten the upper hand by announcing that its PlayStation 4 will be $100 cheaper than the Xbox One and free of restrictions on the buying and selling of used games, but a lot can happen in the next few months. [More...]

Apple Exec Points Finger at Publishers in E-Book Trial

Saturday - June 15, 2013

Apple SVP Eddy Cue gave testimony Thursday in the e-book price-fixing trial under way in the New York U.S. District Court. Cue, who was Apple's primary negotiator with most of the publishers during the run-up to the launch of iBookstore in 2010, told the court that it was not surprising that publishers began increasing pricing for e-books after Apple entered the market. [More...]

Ouya, ESA Scrap Leaves Both Bruised

Friday - June 14, 2013

Indie startup Ouya had a showdown with ESA at E3 this week, momentarily overshadowing the rivalry between Microsoft and Sony. The brouhaha actually involved real police and took place on the streets of Los Angeles. It seems Ouya opted to introduce its open source gaming console not on the floor of the trade show, but in a parking lot across the street. [More...]

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