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Latest Wrinkle in Data Security: Time Cloaking June 08, 2013 
If a message isn't read, does it exist? Bishop Berkeley would say no, and a temporal cloak that creates a gap in time during the transmission of a message might prove him right. Researchers at Purdue University have created such a cloak: It can hide about 46 percent of the time required to transmit data over a fiber optic cable, making half the transmission invisible.
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Tech Industry Could Pay Stiff Price for PRISM June 07, 2013 
Technology firms in the United States might be impacted adversely by the National Security Agency's controversial PRISM program. Classified documents about the program leaked to The Washington Post and The Guardian indicate that major U.S. high-tech companies provide it data. This data is the major source of raw intelligence for the NSA's analytical reports, according to the agency.
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Nuclear Power, Part 1: A Smaller, Safer Future June 07, 2013 
Keeping the lights on in the global industrial world -- never an easy task -- never seems to get any easier. Nuclear energy, which provides nearly 20 percent of our nation's electricity, is at a crossroads. Can nuclear reactors -- the torrid, pulsating, heat-generating hearts of nuclear power plants -- ever be safe enough? Thanks to several new technologies, the outlook is promising.
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Amazon Polishes Apple's case at E-Book Trial June 07, 2013 
The antitrust trial pitting the DoJ against Apple over fixing e-book prices began this week, and it didn't take long for the company's lawyers to poke a hole in the government's case. On Wednesday, they showed through questioning that a key element of the DoJ's case had less to do with Apple colluding with publishers to hike e-book prices than with standard business practices.
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Government Prying Into Verizon Customer Records Exposed June 06, 2013 
The National Security Agency reportedly has been collecting the phone records of millions of Verizon users in the United States under a secret court order. Specifically, Verizon has been required to provide an ongoing account of all telephone calls on its systems, including those inside the U.S. and between the U.S. and other countries.
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ITC Slaps Apple in Samsung Infringement Case June 06, 2013 
The U.S. International Trade Commission has partially reversed an earlier ruling and found that Apple infringed one of Samsung's patents after all, leading it to ban the import of certain older iPhones and iPads. The ban includes such products as the iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, original iPad 3G and iPad 2 3G. The iPhone 5 and the fourth-generation iPad remain unaffected.
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Bose Gets Tiny and Tinier With Earbuds and Mini-Speaker June 06, 2013 
The world can be a very loud place, and New York City's Grand Central Terminal served as a perfect backdrop for Bose to demonstrate how it can address and even combat that noise. In the famous station's Vanderbilt Hall, the company this week introduced two new audio products, including its first in-ear noise-canceling headphones and a Bluetooth speaker that fits in the palm of the hand.
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How to Password-Protect Your Digital Life June 06, 2013 
It's no longer acceptable to use birthdates, pet names and so on for passwords. These easily guessed words were never secure, but it didn't matter much in the past. Who cared if a black hat got into your email account? So what? However, things are much different today, because our lives are now digitally enveloped. Everything from banking to relationships is now inexorably online.
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When Apple Whispers to Devs, Consumers Read Lips June 06, 2013 
When Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference kicks off next week in San Francisco, it won't just be application developers watching. While the company speaks to business partners and professionals who use core Apple tools every day, the rest of the Apple enthusiast world will be paying close attention. What will Apple reveal? A new iWatch? The next iPhone? No and no.
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Obama Takes a Swing at Patent Trolls June 05, 2013 
The Obama administration on Tuesday targeted patent trolls with a number of initiatives aimed at curbing activity it blames for stymieing innovation in America. The initiatives include five executive orders and seven legislative recommendations. Patent trolls have been accused of abusing the system to squeeze money from just about anyone using technology containing their intellectual property.
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London Police Now Pen Pals With BitTorrent Operators June 05, 2013 
Britain's National Fraud Intelligence Bureau has begun sending letters to people it suspects of operating websites that provide access to unauthorized content for "criminal gain." The letters state that law enforcement authorities are working with the government and "industry bodies" and go on to say that operators of copyright-happy sites are in breach of the Serious Crimes Act.
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Even Hands-Free Phone Use May Be Hazardous in Cars June 05, 2013 
We all know by now that using a cellphone while driving can be a dangerous practice, but talking on a hands-free phone may not be much better. That's because people talk on the phone so regularly that they have developed learned habits that take over their awareness, according to Robert Rosenberger, an assistant professor in the School of Public Policy at Georgia Institute of Technology.
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It's Game On for Wikipad June 05, 2013 
After considerable delay and a significant redesign, Wikipad announced that it will release its gaming tablet on June 11 at a price of $249. A global launch is planned for this summer. Featuring a capacitive, multitouch 7-inch screen, the new tablet runs Android 4.1 Jelly Bean and slips into a cradle that adds digital and analog controls to make the Wikipad 7 a full-fledged game device.
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Can Zynga's Pink Slips Save the Farm? June 05, 2013 
Zynga said this week that it is slashing 18 percent of its workforce in an effort to better allocate costs across the company as it attempts to develop more gaming hits across multiple digital platforms. It will eliminate about 520 positions by August. Cutting Zynga's "brothers and sisters" was necessary, said CEO Mark Pincus, but not something the company ever expected to face.
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Jury Duty in the Social Media Era June 05, 2013 
It's nothing new for trial lawyers to investigate potential jurors in the hopes of making sure those assigned to their cases are likely to find in favor of their clients. What is new is that social media services today can enhance that research considerably -- adding complexity and new dynamics to both the jury selection process and the behaviors that are permitted in court.
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No 'Big Yellow Duck' on Chinese Twitter June 04, 2013 
The anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre in 1989 has prompted Chinese authorities to expand the list of words and phrases barred from Sina Weibo, the country's Twitter-like platform. This is par for the course in China, where in 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009 -- basically every year social media has been huge -- the Net police have exerted extra authority to squelch conversation about the event.
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The Internet Against the World June 04, 2013 
Last December, the United Nations-sponsored World Conference on International Telecommunications accomplished... well, not a ton. Disagreement abounded, as Western democracies aligned against predictable foes to ensure that the proceedings ended at loggerheads. Despite the December stalemate, the UN's International Telecommunication Union hasn't given up.
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Twitter's Vine Climbs Over to Android June 04, 2013 
Twitter's Vine has sprouted on Android, allowing users to post 6-second videos with tweets. Vine became available for Apple's iOS months ago, but until now, Android users have been left out of the fun. Now they can get into the thick of it as well. "Android owners: Welcome to Vine," said Android engineer Sara Haider. "Starting today, you can begin to shoot, share and watch short looping videos."
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Google Glass Won't Know Your Name - for Now June 03, 2013 
Google will not add facial recognition capabilities to Google Glass until it can add appropriate privacy protections to the new technology, the company said in a post on Google+ late Friday. "As Google has said for several years, we won't add facial recognition features to our products without having strong privacy protections in place," the post reads.
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US, China to Hold Regular Cybersecurity Chats June 03, 2013 
Increasingly testy rhetoric and increasingly legitimate concerns have prompted the United States and China to announce that they will hold regular high-level talks on standards of cyberbehavior. The announcement precedes a meeting between President Obama and Chinese president Xi Jinping scheduled for Friday.
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