Today’s Tech Sightings: Microsoft, Apple Look to Reinvent the Desktop PC Microsoft’s Windows 10 event Wednesday in San Francisco officially added the Surface Studio all-in-one Desktop PC – what CEO Satya Nadella calls “a new category” – to its line of hybrids. Perfect or not, writer Tom Warren argues that Microsoft has succeeded in reinventing […]
The Race to Reinvent the PC; NASA Denies Facebook Viral Spacewalk
More IoT-based Cyberattacks Coming; AR, VR Help With Low Vision
Today’s Tech Sightings: Friday’s IoT-based DDoS Attack Has Security Experts Worried Many experts believe cyberattacks that exploit Internet of Things (IoT) connected devices are just getting started. The massive Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack that took down major websites last Friday reportedly exploited Internet-enabled webcams and digital recorders. Experts have been warning for some […]
Stephen Hawking Warns of AI Risks; India Suffers Massive Cyberattack
Today’s Tech Sightings: Stephen Hawking: AI Could Be ‘Worst Thing to Happen to Humanity’ Renowned physicist and cosmologist Stephen Hawking again warned against the dangers of advancements in artificial intelligence. Speaking at the launch of The Leverhulme Centre for the Future of Intelligence (CFI) in Cambridge, England, Hawking said more advanced AI could lead to […]
UK Snooping on Citizens for Years; Bill Gates, Tim Cook for VP?
Today’s Tech Sightings: UK Spies Have Been Snooping on Citizens Since 1998 Britain’s Investigatory Powers Tribunal found that intelligence agencies have been running bulk data-collection programs for the last 17 years, in violation of EU privacy protections in many cases. Web traffic, location and device data, biographies, and financial activities were all collected for years […]
Samsung’s Exploding Nightmare; Android Ransomware Spreading
Today’s Tech Sightings: Samsung’s Exploding-smartphone Nightmare Is Getting Even Worse Samsung is in the middle of a global recall of its new Galaxy Note 7 after its Lithium-ion batteries started catching fire and exploding, and has been replacing them with “safe” smartphones. But the “safe” replacement started smoking on a U.S. flight Wednesday, prompting an […]
Internet ICANN Move Hits Congressional Block; Google Launches Allo
Today’s Tech Sightings: The Internet Belongs to the World, Not to Ted Cruz The United States is supposed to hand over control of internet domain management to ICANN on October 1. ICANN is short for the nonprofit Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, a nonprofit organization. The problem now is that the U.S. Congress […]
Goodbye, iPhone Headphone Jack; Ireland Backs Apple Against EU Fine
Today’s Tech Sightings: Eulogy for the iPhone Headphone Jack Twitter burst into a flurry of activity Wednesday when Apple declared the death of the iPhone headphone jack at its iPhone 7 event in San Francisco. The tech giant replaced the jack with wireless earbuds, outfitted with their own communications chip. Apple described the move to […]
Apple’s Changing World; Facebook News Feed Turns 10
Today’s Tech Sightings: Today’s iPhone Event a Test of Trust for Apple Apart from some updates and perhaps a couple of new devices, Apple’s big event Wednesday puts the tech giant face-to-face with new challenges amid declining iPhone and iWatch sales. Apple also faces criticism on its lack of innovation as iPhones maintain the same […]
Filtering Cuba’s Text Messages; Free Smartphones for India’s Voters
Today’s Tech Sightings: Cuba Has Been Filtering Texts Containing Political Dissent Internet connectivity has been a difficult transition for Cuba’s Communist government, which apparently is filtering out and blocking democracy and human rights key words from mobile phone text messages, according to an investigative report. The report, by blogger Yoani Sanchez and journalist Reinaldo Escobar, […]
Apple CEO Slams EU; Tech Firms Forge Artificial Intelligence Ethics
Today’s Tech Sightings: Apple’s Tim Cook: EU Ruling on Apple’s Irish Tax ‘Total Political Crap’ Apple CEO Tim Cook described the European Union’s demand that his company pay nearly $14.5 billion in back taxes as “total political crap.” The EU had said Apple was getting illegal state aid in Ireland, whose government is divided on […]