Showing Archived Posts

USBs Fight N. Korea’s Media Ban; Facebook’s Dilemma in India

Posted February 9th, 2016 at 11:07 am (UTC-4)
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Today’s Tech Sightings: Old USB Drives Fight North Korea’s Media Ban The New York-based Human Rights Foundation and Silicon Valley nonprofit Forum 280 have launched a new initiative to collect USB flash drive donations and then ship them to the Koreas. Once activists in Seoul, such as the non-profit North Korean Strategy Center, receive the […]

How Facebook Censors Some Posts; Alibaba’s Shopping Site Hacked

Posted February 4th, 2016 at 11:20 am (UTC-4)
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Today’s Tech Sightings: Facebook Censorship Under the Microscope OnlineCensorship.org – a non-profit looking at social media censorship – has been collecting data about posts blocked by Facebook. Surprised? There are some topics that Facebook will block if you try to post stories about them, such as drone strikes or some topics related to conflict zones. […]

Amazon Takes on Math; Bitcoin’s Future Could Be in Developing World

Posted February 2nd, 2016 at 11:45 am (UTC-4)
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Today’s Tech Sightings: Think You Stink at Math? Amazon Wants to Change That Amazon, in collaboration with Stanford University and the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, is launching a new initiative to help kids and teachers look at math in a more favorable way. The initiative – With Math I Can – has a […]

North Korea Online Population: 0.03 Percent; Death of the Java Plug-in

Posted January 28th, 2016 at 11:40 am (UTC-4)
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Today’s Tech Sightings: There Are Just 7,000 Web Users in North Korea That there are any people online in North Korea is refreshing. But a new survey from marketing Group We Are Social found only 7,200 Web users in the country. The survey says only about 0.03 percent of the population are allowed to go […]

iPhones Too Pricey for Poorer World; Malaysia Blocks ‘Medium’

Posted January 27th, 2016 at 11:39 am (UTC-4)
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Today’s Tech Sightings: Tim Cook Basically Admits Price of iPhones May Be Too High for World That’s Growing Poorer Apple’s earnings report shows iPhone sales declining. But CEO Tim Cook’s also conceded while addressing the report that one of the reasons for the decline is Apple’s policy of charging the highest possible prices to protect […]

New Memory Chips Emulate Human Brain; Browsing the Ad-blocked Web

Posted January 20th, 2016 at 11:00 am (UTC-4)
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Today’s Tech Sightings: Memory That Learns Could Help Tomorrow’s Intelligent Computers Researchers at New Mexico-based start-up Knowm are working on a new generation of computer chips that can emulate more closely the way the human brain works. While existing chips can store a lot of information, the new breed, called memristors, can help artificial intelligence […]

Android Malware Hijacks Bank Accounts; Facebook’s Dilemma in India

Posted January 13th, 2016 at 11:00 am (UTC-4)
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Today’s Tech Sightings: Android Malware Steals Banking Passcodes, Hijacks Accounts Protected by Two-factor Authentication Internet security firm Symantec has warned that an updated Android malware, called Bankosy, can intercept one-time passcodes that help safeguard online banking accounts. While banks have moved to relay the codes by phone, instead of email, the updated malware forwards all […]

3-D-printing Damaged Heritage Sites; Scaling Mount Everest in VR

Posted January 7th, 2016 at 11:58 am (UTC-4)
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Today’s Tech Sightings: How 3-D Printers Can Help Preserve Heritage Sites Historical heritage sites have paid a heavy toll for the exploits of Islamic State fanatics in the Middle East. But a joint venture between the Institute for Digital Archaeology, Harvard University, the University of Oxford and the Museum of the Future in Dubai is […]

2015: End of Cybersecurity, Rise of the Robots, Digital Amnesia

Posted January 1st, 2016 at 10:47 am (UTC-4)
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In many ways, 2015 saw the demise of cybersecurity as hackers violated website after website, taking security breaches to new levels and compromising the personal data of millions of users around the world. The year also witnessed the steady advance of robotics and artificial intelligence, frequently giving shape to the idea that the future might […]

Egypt Bans Facebook’s ‘Free Basics’; Twitter Under Fire for Diversity Pick

Posted December 31st, 2015 at 11:30 am (UTC-4)
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Today’s Tech Sightings: Following India, Egypt Shuts Down Facebook’s ‘Free Basics’ Service Once again, Facebook’s efforts to provide free internet services are running into trouble in some parts of the world. Egypt on Wednesday joined India in temporarily banning the company’s Free Basics app. Critics argue the service violates net neutrality by favoring some websites […]