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Technology News and Updates Related: Gadgets and the Future
Fri, Jan 27 04:59 PM
CNET takes a hands on look of the new MOG online music system in a BMW 650i. Relying on an iPhone, the MOG interface lets the driver choose from 14 million tracks.CNET News
Fri, Jan 27 04:58 PM
RIM's newly appointed CEO said he has embarked on a wide-ranging turnaround of the BlackBerry maker's operations that involves putting founder Mike Lazaridis in a more "visionary" role.WSJ.com: What's News Technology
Fri, Jan 27 04:56 PM
Facebook could file papers for its initial public offering as early as next week, as anticipation mounts for what is likely to be one of the biggest debuts for a U.S. company.WSJ.com: What's News Technology
Fri, Jan 27 04:51 PM
The bean counters at Sony need to make up their minds on how they are pricing PS Vita games.CNET News
Fri, Jan 27 04:49 PM
The D-Link DIR-827 is a very good true dual-band router that needs a firmware upgrade so it can live up to its potential.CNET News
Fri, Jan 27 04:41 PM
Instead of complaining about the FCC's decision to squash the T-Mobile merger and blaming the agency for raising prices, AT&T needs to needs shut up and move on.CNET News
Fri, Jan 27 04:41 PM
Instead of complaining about the FCC's decision to squash the T-Mobile merger and blaming the agency for raising prices, AT&T needs to needs shut up and move on.CNET News.com
Fri, Jan 27 04:34 PM
ContributorNetwork - Google has decided to unify all 60 of its services under one umbrella privacy policy. Records of searches done on Android phones, the Internet and YouTube will be combined to create ultra-personalized advertising. Users won't be able to opt out of the policy, although web browsing history settings can be changed to avert the use of web browsing statistics for advertising purposes.Yahoo! News: Digital Video/TV Technology
Fri, Jan 27 04:30 PM
If Google+ and Google search aren't two different things, there's no conflict in emphasizing Google+ in search results. Right?CNET News
Fri, Jan 27 04:30 PM
Coded magnets could introduce new means of data transfer and user interfaces, indicates patent application uncovered by Patently Apple.CNET News
Fri, Jan 27 03:59 PM
A newly unearthed e-mail exchange between Apple's Steve Jobs and Google's Eric Schmidt shows Jobs actively telling Google not to try to hire its employees, resulting in the firing of at least one recruiter.CNET News
Fri, Jan 27 03:19 PM
LiveScience.com - Did Princess Diana fake her own death to escape the public eye? Or was she killed by a rogue element of the British secret service?Yahoo! News: Science News
Fri, Jan 27 03:17 PM
Reuters - The activist hacker group Anonymous attacked three Mexican government websites on Friday in protest at a proposed bill that seeks to toughen local laws about online file-sharing.Yahoo! News: Technology News
Fri, Jan 27 03:15 PM

Review copies of Electronic Arts's Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning are starting to reach critics, who have made a surprising collective discovery: an insert containing a code to download a "House of Valor" content pack featuring "seven additional single player quests."

EA has confirmed to Ars Technica that this downloadable content will be included free with all new copies of the game, including digital copies purchased on the PC through Origin, Steam, or other services. Players who would rather purchase a pre-owned copy, however, will presumably have to pay an additional fee if they want to access to this portion of the game.

Charging used game players for such an "Online Pass" is nothing new in the game industry, of course. But implementing an Online Pass in the single-player Kingdoms of Amalur represents a continuing tumble down a slippery slope for the entire game industry.

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Ars Technica
Fri, Jan 27 03:07 PM

FILE - In this May, 26, 2010 file photo, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg talks about the social network site's new privacy settings in Palo Alto, Calif. The Wall Street Journal reported Friday, Jan. 27, 2012 that Facebook is preparing to file initial paperwork for an offering that could raise as much as $10 billion and value the company at $75 billion to $100 billion  (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez, File)AP - When Facebook makes its long-expected debut as a public company this spring, the social-networking company will likely vault into the top ranks of the largest public companies in the world, on par with the likes of McDonald's, Amazon.com and Bank of America.


Yahoo! News: Technology News
Fri, Jan 27 02:52 PM

If you’re like most people, you’re annoyed by passwords. You’ve got dozens to remember — some of them tortuously complex — and on any given day, as you read e-mails, send tweets, and order groceries online, you’re bound to forget one, or at least mistype it. You may even be one of those unfortunate people who’ve had a password stolen, thanks to the dodgy security on the machines that store them.

But who’s to blame? Who invented the computer password?

Like the invention of the wheel or the story of the doorknob, the password’s creation is shrouded in the mists of history. Romans used them. Shakespeare kicks off Hamlet with one — “Long live the King” — when Bernardo must prove he’s a loyal soldier of the King of Denmark. But where did the first computer password show up?

It probably arrived at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the mid-1960s, when researchers at the university built a massive time-sharing computer called CTSS. The punchline is that even then, passwords didn’t protect users as well as they could have. Technology changes. But, then again, it doesn’t.

Nearly all of the computer historians contacted by Wired in the past few weeks said that the first password must have come from MIT’s Compatible Time-Sharing System. In geek circles, it’s famous. CTSS pioneered many of the building blocks of computing as we know it today: things like e-mail, virtual machines, instant messaging, and file sharing.

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Ars Technica
Fri, Jan 27 02:30 PM
The European Commission OKs Sony's buyout of the Sony Ericsson brand, bringing us one step closer to Sony-branded mobile phones.CNET News.com
Fri, Jan 27 02:16 PM
Yahoo! News - Is Apple finally getting tough on their abusive Chinese suppliers? Maybe. Intent on stemming the increasing complaints from the public and investors alike, Apple CEO Tim Cook fired off an email yesterday to combat claims from "people questioning Apple's values," detailing what …Yahoo! News: Technology News
Fri, Jan 27 02:11 PM
Yahoo! News - Welcome to Just Show Me on Tecca TV, where we show you tips and tricks for getting the most out of the gadgets in your life. In today's episode we'll show you two amazing to-do apps for your iPhone. In addition to the Reminders …Yahoo! News: Technology News
Fri, Jan 27 01:50 PM

Physicists have been working for decades on a "theory of everything," one that unites quantum mechanics and relativity. Apparently, they were being too modest. Yesterday saw publication of a press release claiming a biologist had just published a theory accounting for all of that—and handling the origin of life and the creation of the Moon in the bargain. Better yet, no math!

Where did such a crazy theory originate? In the mind of a biologist at a respected research institution, Case Western Reserve University Medical School. Amazingly, he managed to get his ideas published, then amplified by an official press release. At least two sites with poor editorial control then reposted the press release—verbatim—as a news story.

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Ars Technica
Fri, Jan 27 01:40 PM

This screen shot shows a portion of the Twitter blog post of Thursday, Jan. 26, 2012, in which the company announced it has refined its technology so it can censor messages on a country-by-country basis. The additional flexibility is likely to raise fears that Twitter's commitment to free speech may be weakening as the short-messaging company expands into new countries in an attempt to broaden its audience and make more money. But Twitter sees the censorship tool as a way to ensure individual messages, or 'tweets,' remain available to as many people as possible while it navigates a gauntlet of different laws around the world. (AP Photo/Twitter)AP - Twitter, a tool of choice for dissidents and activists around the world, found itself the target of global outrage Friday after unveiling plans to allow country-specific censorship of tweets that might break local laws.


Yahoo! News: Technology News
Fri, Jan 27 01:22 PM
In the first test of Nokia Chief Executive Stephen Elop's turnaround plan, the handset maker said sales of its first Windows smartphones were off to a good start even as its overall shipments continued to slide.WSJ.com: What's News Technology
Fri, Jan 27 01:09 PM
There is something frightening going on at Monster Worldwide. And what the online job-search firm reported seeing in the U.S. doesn't seem to jibe.WSJ.com: What's News Technology
Fri, Jan 27 12:53 PM

Map shows states that have adopted California clean car standardsAP - Seeking to influence other states and Washington, California air regulators passed sweeping auto emission standards Friday that include a mandate to have 1.4 million electric and hybrid vehicles on state roads by 2025.


Yahoo! News: Science News
Fri, Jan 27 12:51 PM
Will Facebook help the venture-capital industry win some friends it can count on? VC fund raising has had a healthy bump in the last two years, but an outright venture-capital renaissance is a ways off.WSJ.com: What's News Technology
Fri, Jan 27 12:32 PM
Twitter says it can now make content selectively available to users based on geography, and plans to use that ability to enter countries with "different ideas" about freedom of expression as a human right.WSJ.com: What's News Technology
Fri, Jan 27 12:15 PM

Kinect's vision and depth perception technology could soon be integrated into laptops. The Daily has seen two prototypes, believed to be from Asus, that incorporate an array of sensors above the top of the screen, replacing the traditional webcam. Below the display are a set of LEDs. Sources at Microsoft confirmed to The Daily that the laptops contain versions of the Kinect sensor.

Asus has dabbled with Kinect-like systems before. Its Xtion PRO PC peripheral uses sensor and software technology licensed from PrimeSense—technology also found in Microsoft's Kinect sensor.

What the sensor might be used for is anybody's guess. The Kinect for Windows—a version of the Xbox 360 accessory with revised firmware to support close-up operation—will be released in February, and with that, third-party applications that use the sensor will start to arrive. Windows 8 might even include direct support for Kinect-powered features: documents leaked in 2010 hinted at Kinect integration with automatic user switching using face detection.

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Ars Technica
Fri, Jan 27 11:50 AM

On almost any given day, Twitter receives a handful of requests to delete tweets that link to pirated versions of copyrighted content—and quickly complies by erasing the offending tweets from its site.

That fact itself is probably unsurprising to people familiar with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) takedown process, which gives sites like Twitter a "safe harbor" against lawsuits related to user behavior and uploads—so long as the sites don't knowingly tolerate pirated material or links to such material.

But Twitter has taken the unusual step of making DMCA takedown notices public, in partnership with Chilling Effects, a project of the Electronic Frontier Foundation and several universities. The site shows 4,410 cease and desist notices dating back to November 2010. While most of 2011 shows daily or near-daily activity, there is just one notice in January 2012, suggesting either that Twitter is suddenly receiving fewer DMCA takedown notices or that the database is not quite up to date. (If we find out from Twitter or Chilling Effects, we'll update the story.)

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Ars Technica
Fri, Jan 27 11:45 AM
The Web giant's two-month-old music service now offers users the ability to download songs in bulk, easing the process of restoring a PC music library.CNET News.com
Fri, Jan 27 11:28 AM
In its push to reinvent itself in the Web era, the New York Public Library releases the Stereogranimator, a tool that lets users create flickering 3D GIFs from its archive of "stereographs."CNET News.com
Fri, Jan 27 10:49 AM
The WSJ reports that Facebook could file next Wednesday to raise as much as $10B, and that Morgan Stanley may be its lead underwriter.CNET News.com
Fri, Jan 27 10:31 AM
This edition of Ask Maggie explores whether or not it's worth it for couples to combine their cell phone service into a family plan.CNET News.com
Fri, Jan 27 10:09 AM

File-In this July 13,2008 file photo a livestock helicopter pilot rounds up wild horses from the Fox & Lake Herd Management Area from the range in Washoe County, Nev., near the town on Empire, Nev. A federal judge in Nevada that handed horse protection advocates a rare victory last fall has rejected their latest request to block government roundups of free roaming mustangs in the West, saying they’ll have to go to Congress if they think the animals need more protection. (AP Photo/Brad Horn,File)AP - A federal judge in Nevada who handed horse protection advocates a rare victory last fall has rejected their latest request to block government roundups of free-roaming mustangs in the West, saying they'll have to go to Congress if they think the animals are being treated inhumanely and need more protection.


Yahoo! News: Science News
Fri, Jan 27 09:21 AM
Jon Rubinstein, who was brought into the fold after Hewlett-Packard acquired Palm, is leaving the company after a failed bid to turn WebOS into a mobile powerhouse.CNET News.com
Fri, Jan 27 06:49 AM
It's another blow to Samsung Electronics' increasingly back-and-forth legal battle with Apple.CNET News.com
Fri, Jan 27 06:16 AM
Thorsten Heins backtracks to clarify earlier comments that suggested a lack of urgency to make changes at RIM, which set off a wave of concern.CNET News.com
Fri, Jan 27 06:00 AM
Facebook Timeline is now a requirement, not an option. Are you digging the new profile look--with its long history and constant friend updates--or are you pining for the old days?CNET News.com
Fri, Jan 27 05:27 AM
Strong sales of its Android smartphones helped propel both revenue and profit for the Korean consumer electronic giant.CNET News.com
Fri, Jan 27 05:19 AM
Appolicious - Start your weekend with all the best videos the Internet has to offer with Frequency, an iPad app that makes finding and organizing great videos from all over the place a snap. It’s our top Fresh App today, followed by Steam Mobile, an iOS app that ties to the popular digital video game download portal and lets you impulse-buy during Steam’s crazy game sales no matter where you are. A big update with new levels to RAGE HD tops off our games picks for this weekend, followed by a new, free edition to the Baseball Superstars series from Gamevil.Yahoo! News: Digital Video/TV Technology
Fri, Jan 27 05:00 AM
E-commerce site Fab.com claims it's the fastest growing site on the planet. Now can we please have some more details?CNET News.com
Fri, Jan 27 04:50 AM
Unsightly mosaic artifacts no longer mar Google Earth's high-altitude views. But for an even more singular look at the planet, check Flickr's latest NASA contribution.CNET News.com
Fri, Jan 27 04:32 AM

Debris and oil from the Deepwater Horizon drilling platform float in the Gulf of Mexico after the rig sank, off Louisiana April 22, 2010, in this handout photograph. REUTERS/U.S. Coast Guard/HandoutReuters - Oil giant BP has lost its attempt to shift over $15 billion of costs related to the Gulf of Mexico oil spill onto contractor Transocean, increasing the possibility BP may have to foot the entire $42 billion clean up bill.


Yahoo! News: Science News
Fri, Jan 27 03:27 AM
Flickr automatically charges credit cards to renew premium accounts. That change is smart but nowhere near what's needed to restore an ailing brand.CNET News.com
Fri, Jan 27 03:24 AM
AP - The Czech government has signed a deal for Prague to host the headquarters of an ambitious satellite navigation system that is meant to become the main rival to the U.S. Global Positioning System.Yahoo! News: Science News
Fri, Jan 27 12:52 AM

FILE - In this Monday, Oct. 31, 2011 file photo, elephants are fed with fresh sugarcanes at the elephant camp in Ayutthaya province, central Thailand. Thailand's revered national symbol, the elephant, may face a new threat of extinction: being poached not just for their tusks, but for their meat. Two wild elephants were found slaughtered in December 2011 in a national park in western Thailand, alerting authorities to the new practice of consuming elephant meat. (AP Photo/Apichart Weerawong, File)AP - A new taste for eating elephant meat — everything from trunks to sex organs — has emerged in Thailand and could pose a new threat to the survival of the species.


Yahoo! News: Science News
Thu, Jan 26 09:57 PM

Shoppers look at Samsung Electronics devices at the company's showroom in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Jan. 27, 2012. Samsung Electronics Co. reported a 17 percent jump in fourth quarter profit on the strength of sales in flat panels and smartphones even as the company battled claims it had copied Apple's iPhone. (AP Photo/ Lee Jin-man)AP - Samsung Electronics Co. reported a 17 percent jump in fourth quarter profit on the strength of smartphone sales even as the company battled claims it had copied Apple's iPhone.


Yahoo! News: Technology News
Thu, Jan 26 07:46 PM
AP - Haiti and the neighboring Dominican Republic could be in for a period of periodic powerful earthquakes, according to a scientific study released Thursday.Yahoo! News: Science News
Thu, Jan 26 07:27 PM
AT&T posted a quarterly loss as it took a $4 billion charge for its failed T-Mobile USA takeover bid, and the phone giant continued to lag behind rival Verizon Wireless in the race to add new subscribers.WSJ.com: What's News Technology
Thu, Jan 26 06:25 PM
Reuters - DirecTV and Sunbeam Entertainment have broken bread and ended the carriage dispute that caused customers in Boston and Miami to miss both the Packers-Giants NFL playoff game and the Golden Globes earlier this month.Yahoo! News: Digital Video/TV Technology
Thu, Jan 26 04:19 PM
Mashable - A gathering of entrepreneurs in the Bay Area on Thursday offered a window into how ambitious techies' visions become reality. It started with a presentation from a go-getter named Adam Ghetti. Dressed casually in a dark tee-shirt, Ghetti stepped to the front a conference room at the Silicon Valley venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz on Thursday afternoon. He launched into an intense, rapid-fire pitch and test drive of his cloud security startup Social Fortress.Yahoo! News: Technology News
Thu, Jan 26 04:01 PM
AP - DirecTV Inc. and the owner of TV stations in Miami and Boston have resolved a dispute over fees the satellite provider pays to run broadcast programming.Yahoo! News: Digital Video/TV Technology
Thu, Jan 26 10:34 AM

Netflix's Chief Executive Officer Reed Hastings speaks during an interview with Reuters in Buenos Aires September 7, 2011. REUTERS/Enrique MarcarianReuters - Netflix Inc won back Wall Street's affections on Thursday after adding more U.S. subscribers than expected in the fourth quarter, a rebound that prompted analyst upgrades and the company's biggest one-day stock jump in two years.


Yahoo! News: Digital Video/TV Technology
Thu, Jan 26 09:48 AM
Mashable - Building off its homepage redesign in December, YouTube is rolling out design updates to other aspects of its site. The changes include updates to the Browse page, Video Editor and Video Manager and align with the overall rebranding that Google has pushed out to the majority of its sites and products.Yahoo! News: Digital Video/TV Technology
Thu, Jan 26 08:16 AM
Mashable - Each day, Mashable highlights one noteworthy YouTube video. Check out all our viral video picks.Yahoo! News: Digital Video/TV Technology
eWEEK Technology News
Several senior executives at Apple Inc took home 2007 cash bonuses that doubled their salaries but Chief Executive Steve Jobs maintained his annual pay of $1 and took no additional compensation.eWEEK Technology News
Motorola said it will post an operating loss in the current quarter as recovery in its cell phone business is taking longer than expected, dashing Wall Street expectations. eWEEK Technology News
Yahoo is planning to announce cutbacks later this month that will likely lead to hundreds of job losses at the nearly 14,000 employee company, a source familiar with the plan said.eWEEK Technology News
The U.S. Federal Reserve slashed interest rates by a hefty three-quarters of a percentage point, the biggest rate cut in more than 23 years, in an emergency bid to lend support to a U.S. economy some fear is on the verge of recession.eWEEK Technology News
New Jersey Democrat Rep. Rush Holt recently introduced a measure that would provide financial relief for states that jumped into electronic voting only to find those systems increasingly unreliable.eWEEK Technology News
Sprint Nextel, the #3 U.S. mobile service, will cut about 4,000 jobs and close 8 percent of its stores, predicting further pressure on its ability to attract subscribers and turn a profit in 2008. eWEEK Technology News
IBM said that revenue from the Americas rose 5 percent, slower than other regions as overseas units showed the strongest gains, and said computer hardware sales declined.eWEEK Technology News
Time Warner Cable Inc said it is planning a trial to bill high-speed Internet subscribers based on their amount of usage rather than a flat fee, the standard industry practice.eWEEK Technology News
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke threw his support behind efforts to craft a fiscal stimulus package and repeated that the U.S. central bank was ready to act aggressively to counter recession risks.eWEEK Technology News
Brocade Communications former CEO was sentenced to 21 months in prison for backdating stock-option grants in a scandal that has ensnared scores of U.S. companies and led to billions of dollars of restatements.eWEEK Technology News
Ben Bernanke has tried hard not to follow his predecessor Alan Greenspan into the political arena by commenting on fiscal policy, but the Federal Reserve chief will find it difficult to stay above the fray.eWEEK Technology News
Voters are growing increasingly concerned about a recession, and the malaise is filtering into their views on the presidential election, according to a Reuters/Zogby poll.eWEEK Technology News
Oracle won a three-month-long campaign to buy BEA Systems by raising its bid for the business software maker by 14 percent to $8.5 billion.eWEEK Technology News
Boeing Co is close to announcing a further delay to its 787 Dreamliner, The Wall Street Journal reported, threatening to push deliveries of the new, hot-selling plane even further back and increasing the risk of costly penalty payments to airlines.eWEEK Technology News
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