Today’s Tech Sightings: Mozilla Blocks Flash Player on Firefox Mozilla has blocked all versions of Adobe Flash Player in its Firefox browser due to its vulnerability to attack. Last week’s breach of the Italian company Hacking Team was made possible by a Flash Player bug that hackers exploited. While Adobe issued a patch, there appear […]
Mozilla Blocks Flash; Nadella’s Microsoft; Google’s Photo Mishaps
Posted July 14th, 2015 at 3:09 pm (UTC-4)
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Virtual Warsaw; IBM’s Power Chip; Sexism in Games; Windows 10
Posted July 9th, 2015 at 3:33 pm (UTC-4)
Today’s Tech Sightings: How the Blind Led Warsaw to Internet of Things A project that started in Warsaw, Poland, a few years ago to help the visually impaired get around the city has taken on new life. The service, which provided an app that gave real-time traffic and navigation information based on the user’s location, […]
China’s Privacy Law; Gender on Facebook, Google; Mobile Addiction
Posted July 8th, 2015 at 3:32 pm (UTC-4)
Today’s Tech Sightings: China’s Draft Cybersecurity Law Could Boost Censorship A draft cybersecurity law just published by China’s parliament boosts privacy protection from hackers and information peddlers, but strengthens government powers to obtain records and block information that might be deemed illegal under Chinese law. The move could have significant implications for Internet service providers […]
AI Demons; the Solar Race; Bitcoin; Cybersecurity; Firefox
Posted July 7th, 2015 at 4:16 pm (UTC-4)
Today’s Tech Sightings: Five Ideas to End the Demonization of Artificial Intelligence The Future of Life Institute recently announced 37 winners of research grants in the field of Artificial Intelligence (AI), following concerns and warnings from luminaries such as Elon Musk, Stephen Hawking and Bill Gates about the dangers of Artificial Intelligence. The project is […]
Leap Second; 3-D-Printed Building; VPN Leaks; Apple Price Fixing
Posted June 30th, 2015 at 3:20 pm (UTC-4)
Today’s Tech Sightings: The Leap Second Is Coming to Confuse the Internet Today It’s June 30; and that could be a problem. Just before midnight in London tomorrow, the world’s atomic clocks will gain a second before reverting back to 00:00:00. The extra leap second is needed to keep the clocks synced with the Earth’s […]
Mind-Controlled Robots; Samsung Updates; Flash, Android Woes
Posted June 24th, 2015 at 3:46 pm (UTC-4)
Today’s Tech Sightings: Mind-Controlled Telepresence Robots Could Restore Mobility to the Disabled Researchers at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology’s Defitech Foundation Chair in Brain-Machine Interface in Lausanne are developing a brain-computer interface that will allow disabled people to control telepresence robots with their minds. After training, disabled users participating in early tests were able […]
Future Toilets; Creepy Facebook Algorithm; Privacy; Free Windows 10?
Posted June 23rd, 2015 at 3:44 pm (UTC-4)
Today’s Tech Sightings: Gates-Funded Toilet of the Future Is Built So Anyone Can Repair It Funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Caltech’s Group’s “toilet of the future” uses solar power to turn human waste into clear, sterilized water. After testing it in India, the group decided to tackle maintenance issues, should the toilet […]
Cuba Expands Wi-Fi; WeChat; iPhone OS X Flaw; Ello Goes Mobile
Posted June 18th, 2015 at 3:32 pm (UTC-4)
Today’s Tech Sightings: Cuba Says It is Expanding Wi-Fi Access, Making it Cheaper Cuba’s government announced Thursday that it is expanding Wi-Fi access in state-run Internet centers and slashing hourly online costs by more than half. Cuba’s state communications company said 35 computer centers around the country will have Wi-Fi access, beginning in July. WeChat […]
Internet Connectivity; Galaxy Flaw; Apple; a Zuckerberg Snapshot
Posted June 17th, 2015 at 3:31 pm (UTC-4)
Today’s Tech Sightings: Airbus, OneWeb to Compete With Internet.org in Worldwide Internet Race The race to connect the world to the Internet is heating up with another company getting into the fray. OneWeb has a plan to bring satellite connectivity to billions of people around the globe in partnership with Airbus, which will build more […]
Facial Recognition; Cybersecurity; Java Legacies; Twitter Out Loud
Posted June 16th, 2015 at 3:30 pm (UTC-4)
Today’s Tech Sightings: Privacy Advocates Unsatisfied With Government Plans on Facial Recognition A large group of privacy advocates dropped out of talks with the U.S. government over disagreements on facial recognition safeguards. The group, backed by tech giants that include Google, Microsoft and Facebook, argues that users should have an opt-in feature for facial recognition […]