Microsoft Edge Security Flaws; Surprising Numbers About Video Gamers

Posted December 16th, 2015 at 11:40 am (UTC-5)
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Today’s Tech Sightings:

A computer screen shows features of the Windows 10 operating system, including Microsoft's new Web browser, Edge, at the bottom left corner, Garden City, New York July 29, 2015.  (Reuters)

A computer screen shows features of the Windows 10 operating system, including Microsoft’s new Web browser, Edge, at the bottom left corner, Garden City, New York July 29, 2015. (Reuters)

With Edge Inheriting One-quarter of Internet Explorer’s Flaws, Is It Any More Secure?

On the surface, Microsoft’s Internet browser, Edge, is a new, faster and better reincarnation of its now-dead predecessor, Internet Explorer (IE). But writer Zack Whittaker questions the security of the new browser, given how much it has in common with the old, insecure IE. A recent analysis revealed 25 vulnerabilities in Edge that plagued the old browser. In fairness, IE had reportedly as many as 100 vulnerabilities.

New Social Network Koko Focuses on Mental Health

A new mobile social media network called Koko helps users under stress connect with others for a fresh look at their troubles. The app asks users to choose a topic and describe the worst-case scenarios of their problem. Once posted, other users can pitch in to help troubled individuals look at their problems from a different, more positive perspective.

Gender, Age Breakdown of Video Gamers Might Surprise You

Did you know that 25 percent of adults aged 65 and older also play video games? That’s according to a new study from the Pew Research Center. The traditional thinking is that kids and young men are the typical video gamers. And while the study found that men aged 18-29 comprise the biggest gamer demographic, it turns out up to 58 percent of adults 30-49 also play video games.

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Aida Akl
Aida Akl is a journalist working on VOA's English Webdesk. She has written on a wide range of topics, although her more recent contributions have focused on technology. She has covered both domestic and international events since the mid-1980s as a VOA reporter and international broadcaster.

Reigning in Artificial Intelligence; IoT Spending Leaders

Posted December 15th, 2015 at 11:54 am (UTC-5)
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Today’s Tech Sightings:

FILE - Tesla Motors Inc Chief Executive Elon Musk. (Reuters)

FILE – Tesla Motors Chief Executive Elon Musk. (Reuters)

Elon Musk Takes On Saving the World From Artificial Intelligence

Tesla Motors’ CEO Elon Musk, along with several tech heavyweights, just founded a non-profit, billion-dollar outfit called OpenAI to research artificial intelligence (AI) in a way that benefits humanity. Musk had expressed concern that artificial intelligence could take over the world.

Ready or Not, the Internet of Things Is Taking Over

The Asia-Pacific region is projected to lead the way in Internet of Things (IoT) spending in the next few years, according to a report from International Data Corporation (IDC). The region accounted for 40 percent of the world’s IoT spending in 2015.

Europe Wants to Raise Age of Internet Consent to 16

The EU’s data protection rules are expected to get an amendment to raise the age of Internet consent to 16. Teens are clearly unhappy about the move. Once approved, the amendment has to be ratified by the European Parliament next ear. Teens using restricted services probably will not be affected.

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Aida Akl
Aida Akl is a journalist working on VOA's English Webdesk. She has written on a wide range of topics, although her more recent contributions have focused on technology. She has covered both domestic and international events since the mid-1980s as a VOA reporter and international broadcaster.

CyArk Gives World Heritage Digital Second Life

Posted December 11th, 2015 at 11:35 am (UTC-5)
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Caught in the crossfire of war and extremism, many of the world’s ancient monuments, particularly in Iraq and Syria, are being destroyed. But one California-based non-profit is on a mission to digitally preserve as many of these sites as possible in the coming year.

“We’ve seen a real increase in the … intentional destruction of cultural heritage in the Middle East,” said Elizabeth Lee, Vice President of CyArk, a group that uses new technology to create a free, online 3-D library of endangered cultural heritage sites.

Alarmed by the level of damage being inflicted on heritage sites, Lee said CyArk is working “as quickly as possible” to digitally render and preserve as many at-risk sites as possible.

The push is part of CyArk’s Project Anqa, launched in mid-2015 in collaboration with the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS). In Arabic, the word Anqa means phoenix – a reference to the legendary bird that is reborn out of its own ashes. The initiative seeks to deploy international and local professionals to document endangered sites in 3-D before they are destroyed or altered.

CyArk has already finished the first project – the Great Ziggurat of Ur, in southern Iraq. One of the largest and best-preserved ziggurats of ancient Mesopotamia, the Ur ziggurat was built around 2100 BC by King Ur-Nammu in honor of the god Sin.

But completing the full Anqa project could take up to 18 months.

“What we’re doing in the first phase of the project is specifically looking at Syria and Iraq and targeting about a dozen sites that are at high-risk but are still accessible,” said Lee in an interview. “And then in the second phase, the project will be expanding to other countries in the region and seeking to do about 200 sites.”

Some heritage sites are inaccessible, particularly in conflict zones. But barring security concerns, CyArk hopes to focus efforts on highly-endangered sites and complete about 20 or 30 of them in the coming year as it moves into the second phase of the Anqa project.

The initiative goes hand in hand with the CyArk 500 challenge, which aims to accelerate the digital capture of 500 sites within five years. Twenty percent of the targeted sites have already been completed, including Somaliland’s Laas Geel, which means “The Camel’s Well.”

The 3-D model below shows rock art at Laas Geel’s shelters. The shelters, made of naturally occurring rock formations, feature some of the best preserved rock paintings in Africa

Credit: (CyArk)

So how does this work?

CyArk’s digital recording consists of three phases. The first involves establishing a “point cloud” where 3-D scanners bounce laser light off a surface to measure millions of points per second and create a data set.

In the second stage, the data points are joined together to create small triangles, which in turn form a wireframe. They are then used to form a solid surface which generates a 3-D model similar to the one shown in the Laas Geel animation above.

Finally, the 3-D model is colored with photographs taken from the structure. It is then available for study or conservation.

“The data that we collect is highly-accurate,” said Lee. “So rather than just simply [take] a photograph of the site, with the information that we collect, you’re able to extract blueprints – information that can be used to help in the reconstruction or restoration of monuments.”

The digital records, backed up and secured offline in a Pennsylvania bunker, will give future generations access to these monuments should anything happen to them. They can also be used for virtual reality applications and other immersive technologies, although, as Lee put it, “there is no substitute for being able to visit these sites in person.”

“When we think about the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, all we have are artists’ illustrations of what those sites might have looked like – you know, the Colossus of Rhodes and the Hanging Gardens of Babylon,” she mused. “Wouldn’t be fantastic if we could – even if it’s just virtually … experience those places the way that they were? And that’s what this technology allows us to do.”

Aida Akl
Aida Akl is a journalist working on VOA's English Webdesk. She has written on a wide range of topics, although her more recent contributions have focused on technology. She has covered both domestic and international events since the mid-1980s as a VOA reporter and international broadcaster.

Smart Tech Can Fight Gun Violence; Non-Verbal Autistic Users Get New App

Posted December 10th, 2015 at 11:57 am (UTC-5)
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Today’s Tech Sightings:

FILE - A man holds a prototype of a smart gun by Armatix in Nuremberg, Germany. The smart gun, the first of its kind, has a fingerprint recognition security system and can only be unblocked if its owner is recognized by a compatible security watch. (Reuters)

FILE – A man holds a prototype of a smart gun by Armatix in Nuremberg, Germany, March 13, 2009. The smart gun, the first of its kind, has a fingerprint recognition security system and can only be unblocked if its owner is recognized by a compatible security watch. (Reuters)

Smart Tech Offers Ways to Reduce Gun Violence

Writer Preston Gralla argues that technology might hold the key to helping save some lives from the vicious cycle of gun violence in the United States, so long as gun fanatics can be reigned in. He suggests introducing smart-gun technology with fingerprint readers that would prevent anyone but legitimate owners from firing the gun. Coupled with RFID or Radio Frequency Identification technology, fingerprint readers are only fitted on guns whose owners wear a specific identifying object.

Swiftkey Launches Symbols to Help People With Non-verbal Autism Communicate

Swiftkey’s newly-released Symbols Android app, geared for young users, allows people with non-verbal autism to communicate. Its predictive language keyboard, machine-learning capabilities and hand-drawn symbols all combine to help users begin to form sentences.

Election Rules Facebook in 2015, and Not Just for Americans

The topic the world talked about most on Facebook during 2015 was the U.S. presidential election, despite the fact that it is still almost a year away. Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump had a lot to do with that. Right now, the second-most searched term related to Trump is a petition signed by thousands of people in the UK to ban him from visiting their country.

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Aida Akl
Aida Akl is a journalist working on VOA's English Webdesk. She has written on a wide range of topics, although her more recent contributions have focused on technology. She has covered both domestic and international events since the mid-1980s as a VOA reporter and international broadcaster.

IBM AI to Fight Beijing Smog; Is Social Media Hurting Relationships?

Posted December 9th, 2015 at 11:38 am (UTC-5)
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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)

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.

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Aida Akl
Aida Akl is a journalist working on VOA's English Webdesk. She has written on a wide range of topics, although her more recent contributions have focused on technology. She has covered both domestic and international events since the mid-1980s as a VOA reporter and international broadcaster.

VTech Under Fire; Apple’s Awkward Battery Case Raises Eyebrows

Posted December 8th, 2015 at 11:50 am (UTC-5)
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Today’s Tech Sightings:

The logo of toy maker VTech, which has been in the spotlight since it a November hack attack compromised the personal data of millions of kids and their parents. (AP)

The logo of toy maker VTech, which has been in the spotlight since it a November hack attack compromised the personal data of millions of kids and their parents. (AP)

VTech Slammed for ‘Unforgivable’ Security Lapse

Toy maker VTech is in the crosshairs following the November hack attack that compromised account data for more than six million kids in the company’s app store. Some experts claim a lot of the stolen information was available online for a while before it was taken down, including the names, dates of birth and gender of a lot of the children whose data was stolen.

Apple Creates iPhone 6 Smart Battery Case With Questionable Design

Apple’s new iPhone 5 and 6 battery case is already getting some heat for departing from the company’s typical obsession with physical design. The battery case, which offers 25 hours of additional talk time, looks like the company just stuck a huge battery in a silicone case.

Google Turns on Safe Browsing in Chrome for Android

Google has turned on Safe Browsing for Chrome and Android mobile users. Previously, the feature was only available on Desktops and for users of Goggle’s optional data compression service.

Mozilla Launches Firefox-Branded Ad blocker for iOS

The new content blocker is called Focus by Firefox and can be downloaded from the Apple App Store. Apple recently changed a policy that prohibited third-party browsers to use its rendering engines, a move that has allowed Mozilla to embrace the iOS platform.

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Aida Akl
Aida Akl is a journalist working on VOA's English Webdesk. She has written on a wide range of topics, although her more recent contributions have focused on technology. She has covered both domestic and international events since the mid-1980s as a VOA reporter and international broadcaster.

Why Virtual Whyville Still Inspires

Posted December 4th, 2015 at 10:47 am (UTC-5)
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Whyville is a virtual island located off the coast of Southern California. Citizens visit the many locations on the map to chat, play games and learn together. (Numedon)

Whyville is a virtual island located off the coast of Southern California. Citizens visit the many locations on the map to chat, play games and learn together. (Numedeon)

Virtual worlds have been immersing people in fantastical, computer-simulated environments for years – using only avatars. One of the oldest is Whyville, the first learning and game-based virtual world for children.

I am now 27 years old and am a qualified lawyer and accountant who is a director of a large wholesale company … in Australia, and yet I still find it inspiring to visit the website that played such a major role in my childhood and educational development – Benita McKay, Australia

Whyville was designed for kids 8-15-years-old as an inquiry-based learning ecosystem for science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). The name reflects the founders’ interest in the “why” of things. The site, social by design, is built on the idea that collaboration and cooperation are an important part of learning.

Its co-founder and Numedeon, Inc.CEO, James Bower, said Whyville is recognized in the industry as the first of the virtual worlds.

“It innovated many aspects which have become sort of standard features of virtual worlds now, you know – avatars and … children being able to make their own, pick avatars, virtual world currency, all sorts of things, including safety which we’ve been focused on for a long time,” he said.

Whyville's game design platform, sponsored by AMD, allows citizens to design games together.  Other citizens play and rate the published games, and the game designers earn clams when their games are played. (Numedeon)

Whyville’s game design platform, sponsored by AMD, allows citizens to design games together. Other citizens play and rate the published games, and the game designers earn clams – Whyville’s virtual currency –  when their games are played. (Numedeon)

Unlike virtual worlds that use fantasy backgrounds for interaction or gameplay, Whyville mirrors the real world, allowing users to track sharks, for example, or visit a simulated coral reef. They can make their own games and engage in activities sponsored by AMD, NASA, the Getty Foundation and many others.

“We believed that the closer Whyville was to the real world, the easier it would be for children to translate from what they’re learning in Whyville to the real world,” said Bower, a neuroscientist by training.

The average Whyvillian is 14-years-old. And 78 percent of users are girls – a statistic that prompted the National Science Foundation to gauge the girls’ unexpected interest in a STEM environment.

Bower said girls “tend to like to learn in more collaborative settings than boys do.” In Whyville, it was okay for girls “to be smart” and to be “interested in science,” he said. In the real world, it was harder for them to “express an interest in science and math because of social pressure.”

Whyville taught me that science is not the subject of intimidation. Rather, it is a fun and intriguing subject that I learned to love after overcoming my fears – Miranda Bowman

Citizens visit the WhyPower Station to play games relating to power plants and energy efficiency.  (Numedeon)

Citizens visit the WhyPower Station to play games relating to power plants and energy efficiency. (Numedeon)

Miranda, now 23, said the things she learned at Whyville helped her with science in school and later showed her the way to her career path as a graphic designer and part-time YouTuber.

Whyville provided a combination of art and science during my childhood. I thought it was just a game and that such a combination [was] too good to be true. Suddenly, I realized that the very things that made me happy as a child could become a reality – a career, even.

Many Whyvillians, now grown up, still keep in touch. Danielle M., who joined at 12, didn’t expect that she would keep coming back.

When I first joined, I was really excited about being able to customize [my] own avatar and make friends with other kids online. I really had no idea how helpful and influential Whyville would become, and that I would still be using it at age 24.

Twenty-one-year-old Zachary Townsend suffered from Tourette’s syndrome and had to put up with a lot of harassment in middle school because of his physical and verbal tics. It was hard for him to make close friends, so he turned to video games, social media, and youth groups. But he said it was Whyville and the lifelong friends he made there “that have been most constructive for my self-worth, confidence, and anxiety”

I never disclosed my condition to anyone on Whyville because I never had to, and I was accepted for who I was there. By becoming one of the richest citizens, and having a lot of valuable ‘face parts,’ I was able to experience what it was like to be at the top of the social ladder.

Derek O’Brian. 26, was already interested in science and math when he joined Whyville at 13.

But Whyville brought science, technology, engineering, and art into a single mini economy where I was incentivized to compete and work together with others. In this way, without ever demanding anything from me in return, Whyville provided me with so much. And I still log on from time to time to see how it’s growing and developing and to help new citizens find their feet.

Why and why not

When Numedeon, a spin-off from the California Institute of Technology, launched Whyville in 1999, the idea was to evaluate how digital technology can enhance learning. Throughout that process, Whyville built what Bower called “an engine which itself represents the basis for a learning ecosystem” and which includes many digital forms of engagement.

He argued that realizing the promise of technology for learning requires a deep effort to take existing knowledge and even traditional forms of learning and “merge it, morph it into this technology.”

That is the premise of a new collaboration with educational organizations for math education that will help “fundamentally change and improve the way that young children learn math,” according to Bower.

Also in the works is Whynotville, a site for older kids over the age of 15. The new world will be designed by current and former Whyvillians, some of whom, like Miranda Bowman, now work in digital design in the real world.

Aida Akl
Aida Akl is a journalist working on VOA's English Webdesk. She has written on a wide range of topics, although her more recent contributions have focused on technology. She has covered both domestic and international events since the mid-1980s as a VOA reporter and international broadcaster.

Dropbox Malware Found; Google Denies Deception in Tracking Kids

Posted December 3rd, 2015 at 11:55 am (UTC-5)
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Today’s Tech Sightings:

FILE - An analyst looks at malware code in Idaho Falls, Idaho. (Reuters)

FILE – An analyst looks at malware code in Idaho Falls, Idaho. (Reuters)

New Malware Found Hidden Inside Dropbox Account

Researchers at U.S.-based security firm FireEye have discovered a new malware in Hong Kong that hides its Command and Control server in Dropbox accounts. The hackers, called ‘admin@338,’ are thought to have ties to the Chinese government. The malware targets media organizations and creates a backdoor to their systems that renders them vulnerable.

Google Claims Innocence in Accusations That It Deceptively Collects Student Data

Writing in a blog post, the Director of Google Apps for Education, Jonathan Rochelle, denied claims that the company was deceptively tracking and storing student data. A digital advocacy group, the Electronic Frontiers Foundation, filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission Tuesday, claiming Google was using its educational services to track school children in violation of the Student Privacy Pledge, a binding agreement to only use student data for educational purposes.

South Korea Develops World’s First ‘Color 3D Hologram’

South Korea’s Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute announced the development of technology that creates a multi-colored 3-D hologram. The effort, undertaken in collaboration with 16 other businesses, including LG Display, renders a floating Rubik’s cube on a tabletop display that can be seen from any angle.

Amazon Wants Holograms in Your Living Room

Amazon has filed a new patent for technology that could turn your living room into an area for hologram-viewing without the usual headgear required for virtual reality experiences. The idea is to have a ceiling node track all movement in the area and then send the data to a projector. The projector would then use the information to create holograms that can be manipulated by hand.

Facebook Launches Instant Articles in Asia

Facebook’s Instant Articles feature has gone live in Asia for iPhone users and will be available on Android devices by the end of the year. The service allows up to 50 media partners to load content and interactive features faster within their news feeds.

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Aida Akl
Aida Akl is a journalist working on VOA's English Webdesk. She has written on a wide range of topics, although her more recent contributions have focused on technology. She has covered both domestic and international events since the mid-1980s as a VOA reporter and international broadcaster.

Microsoft, Apple Share Holiday Cheer; Is Google Tracking Kids?

Posted December 2nd, 2015 at 12:06 pm (UTC-5)
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Today’s Tech Sightings:

Microsoft Employees Serenade Apple Employees for ‘Peace on Earth’

Tech rivals Apple and Microsoft have been at each other’s throats for decades. But as the season of giving approaches, Microsoft’s Manhattan store employees took a special message to their old friends at a nearby Apple store in New York.

Google Accused of Tracking School Kids After It Promised Not to

A complaint filed Tuesday by the Electronic Frontier Foundation claims Google has been collecting data about children’s browsing habits despite pledging not to do that. The digital rights group asked the U.S. Federal Trade Commission to investigate if Google is violating the Federal Communications Act.

VTech Hack: Four Crucial Takeaways for Every Parent and CEO

Hong-Kong-based tech toy maker VTech, which was hacked recently, is still trying to figure out what really happened. But a weakness in its systems apparently let hackers get away with all kinds of personal data that belongs to parents and their kids. Writer Zach Whittaker takes a look at the potential long-term implications of this attack.

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Aida Akl
Aida Akl is a journalist working on VOA's English Webdesk. She has written on a wide range of topics, although her more recent contributions have focused on technology. She has covered both domestic and international events since the mid-1980s as a VOA reporter and international broadcaster.

Wireless-tracking Chip; Kids, Parents’ Info Hacked in VTech Products

Posted December 1st, 2015 at 12:03 pm (UTC-5)
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Today’s Tech Sightings:

To match analysis DRAM/

Former BlackBerry Execs Create Wireless-Tracking Chip

Developed by Cognitive Systems Corp., the chip, called R10, can pick up and analyze wireless radio signals from various devices, including routers and television remote controls. Built on top of that is Amera, a wireless tracking technology that can sense motion by detecting changes in wireless signals that connect mobile devices to their networks.

Microsoft Revamps Its Navigation Headphones for the Blind

Microsoft is working on experimental headphones to aid the visually impaired as part of the Cities Unlocked initiative – a partnership with UK-based charity Guide Dogs. The headphones use a Bluetooth-connected smartphone to provide users with audio prompts and directional aids.

Singapore Consumers Warned of Malware Targeting Mobile Banking Services

The Association of Banks in Singapore issued a statement advising users of iPhone and Android smartphones to be wary of a malware that targets banking systems. The malware prompts the user to download a malware-infected app, to grant permission to certain apps or update existing apps. Once the device is infected, it then accesses confidential information including credit card data and SMS one-time-passwords, which are then used to authenticate some banking services as well as online transactions to make fraudulent online purchases.

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Aida Akl
Aida Akl is a journalist working on VOA's English Webdesk. She has written on a wide range of topics, although her more recent contributions have focused on technology. She has covered both domestic and international events since the mid-1980s as a VOA reporter and international broadcaster.