China’s Internet Population Hits 649 million – 86 Percent on Phones
According to the China Internet Network Information Center, the country’s total Internet population increased by 31 million in 2014. The country had 649 million internet users by the end of 2014. Up to 557 million of those used mobile sets to get online.
A Day in the Life of a Social Media Addict
They’re out there -– social media and cell phone addicts, walking in a daze. Writer and management consultant Steve Tobak paints a creepy picture of social media addicts as society becomes increasingly obsessed with technological gadgets.
A Book That Uses Facial Recognition to Judge Whether You Deserve to Read It
Dutch artist Thijs Biersteker has created a book that uses facial recognition to determine if you are worthy of reading it. The book, which scans the customer’s face to determine his/her emotional state, will lock itself shut if it decides that your frame of mind is not suitable for reading.
Malicious Google Play Apps (May Have) Hosed Millions of Android Handsets
Researchers with antivirus provider Avast have again found malicious apps on Google Play that were downloaded by millions of Android users and installed as many as 15 million times. The apps look and behave normally, until the device is rebooted. Users only begin to realize something is wrong a week or even a month later –- that’s how long some of those apps hibernate before revealing their ugly face.
WhatsApp Bug Shows Private Pictures to Strangers
A 17-year-old security researcher, Indrajeet Bhuyan, found a bug in WhatsApp that makes a user’s profile photos viewable to just about anyone, even if they are set to be seen only by friends. Apparently, this happens if the phone app is not properly synched with What’sApp’s new Web interface.
Could These 3-D-Printed Bricks Replace Air Conditioning?
They’re called Cool Bricks; and they are printed in a way that makes them function like a sponge. The company that makes them, Emerging Objects, based them on the zeer pot, a passive refrigeration device that’s thousands of years old.
