Today’s Tech Sightings: Eagles Take on Dutch Drones After months of training and trials, Dutch police now believe the birds they have trained can tackle and take down illegally-operated drones. This is the first project of its kind, and Dutch police are now buying their own eagle chicks to breed and train to deal with […]
Dutch Drones Meet Their Match; Black Interns Take on Silicon Valley
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, […]
India to Probe WhatsApp Privacy; DeepMind, UK Join to Fight Cancer
Today’s Tech Sightings: WhatsApp in Hot Water in India Over Privacy Policy Changes Messaging service WhatsApp’s about-face on privacy has raised eyebrows in the U.S., Europe, and now in India. New Delhi’s High Court has asked the government and telecom regulators to look into WhatsApp data-sharing after some users complained about changes in its privacy […]
Drones for Refugees; Tim Cook’s Apple, 5 Years Later
Today’s Tech Sightings: How a Former Refugee Uses Drones to Help Others Survive Dangerous Sea Crossings “Drones for Refugees” is a project designed to help rescue workers move swiftly to locate and rescue refugees making the treacherous crossing of the Aegean and Mediterranean seas to a better life. The project was founded by drone expert […]
Best Mobile Connectivity Is in Korea; Web Tracking Is on the Rise
Today’s Tech Sightings: OpenSignal: Koreans Enjoy Best Mobile Internet, Dutch Spend Most Time on Wi-Fi A new report from wireless signal mapping company OpenSignal places South Korea at the top of the list of countries enjoying 3G mobile connectivity 93 percent of the time, followed by Japan and Israel. The U.S. took 17th place with […]
Chesky’s Airbnb – From Bodybuilding to Tech; Linux Bug Hits Android
Today’s Tech Sightings: How a Former Bodybuilder Became One of America’s Richest Young Tech Founders His name is Brian Chesky. And the 34-year-old New Yorker and founder of Airbnb was in his younger days more interested in bodybuilding and hockey than in technology. But overbooked hotels triggered an idea and drove him to launch a […]
Dealing With Augmented Reality Cities; Facebook Under Fire Over Ads
Today’s Tech Sightings: Games Will Reshape Cities As the Pokemon GO craze continues unabated, many countries are restricting and zoning urban areas to prevent players from meandering into government sites and other sensitive areas to hunt Pokemon characters. Writer Geoff Manaugh argues that once this game is forgotten, new augmented reality games that place a […]
Smart Cars Vulnerable to Hackers; Older Workers Just as Tech Savvy
Today’s Tech Sightings: Half of Smart Cars’ Vulnerabilities Give Hackers Control A recent study from IOActive says half of the vulnerabilities it found in the smart cars of a “leading vehicle manufacturer” could give a hacker full control of the car. Researchers also found that nearly three quarters of the vulnerabilities could be easily exploited. […]
Twitter Account Verification Now Open; Indian Teen Wins Google Award
Today’s Tech Sightings: Twitter Opens Up Account Verification Twitter used to award its “verified account” blue badge to celebrities who might contend with fake accounts using their names. Now, any public Twitter account can apply to get the verification, provided users fill up a form with information about their influence level and various personal data. […]