Today’s Tech Sightings:

A bird flies over the grounds of the Temple of Heaven amid heavy air pollution in Beijing on Dec. 8, 2015. Half of Beijing’s private cars were ordered off the streets on Dec. 8 and many construction sites and schools were closed under the Chinese capital’s first-ever red alert for pollution. (AFP)

IBM Broadens Push in China, India to Predict Pollution Patterns

An International Business Machines Corporation division – IBM Research – will be working with the Delhi Dialogue Commission to understand the correlation between traffic and pollution. The initiative is similar to IBM’s effort in China, where it is testing artificial intelligence to teach a computer system how to predict pollution trends in advance.

Mystery Attackers Bombard Servers at Internet’s Core

The Internet’s core server networks came under sustained Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks between November 30 and December 1. The networks allow people to search for websites by domain names. A report from root-servers.org said the attacks reached up to five million queries per second and disrupted normal queries.

Half a Million Users’ Credit Card Data Left Wide Open

People making smartphone purchases on several major websites are putting their personal and financial information at risk, according to a new report from data security and management firm Wandera. The report says websites that include Chiltern Railways, Aer Lingus, AirAsia, Air Canada and 11 other companies are not encrypting customer purchase and private data.

Could Social Media Connections Hurt Real World Relationships?

According to an NBC News State of Kindness poll, 70 percent of Americans believe technology is hurting their relationships. But about 35 percent of social media users between the ages of 18-34 believe technology helps strengthen relationships.

More:

• Powered Exoskeletons Could Replace Wheelchairs One Day

• Millions of US Teens Use New App to Post Anonymously

• MIT Invents Untraceable SMS Text Messaging System

• Mozilla Bows Out of Mobile Race

• Yahoo Shelves Plan to Spin off Alibaba Stake

• Microsoft Warns of Possible Attacks After Xbox Certificate Leaked