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Internet’s Missing Second; Skeleton Key; Android Exploits; iPhone Addiction

Posted January 13th, 2015 at 2:18 pm (UTC-4)
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Today’s Tech Sightings: ‘Leap Second’ Threatens to Break the Internet According to the International Earth Rotation and Reference Systems Service announced, the Earth’s rotation has slowed by a second. That means the planet — and its computer systems that will have to grapple with this issue – need an extra second to catch up. This is […]

Autistic Kids Find Safe Haven on Minecraft Server

Posted January 9th, 2015 at 2:20 pm (UTC-4)
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Minecraft has ensnared millions of gamers in its textured, cubic world of gathering, mining and creative building — an exercise which autistic children find particularly alluring. But bullying on some servers led one developer to build a unique space for the autistic community to play in peace. “I know a lot of autism parents in […]

Apple Malware; Biometrics; Super Cookies; CES

Posted January 8th, 2015 at 2:00 pm (UTC-4)
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Today’s Tech Sightings: New Undetectable Apple Malware Can Infect Any Thunderbolt Device Using a new exploit called Thunderstrike, hackers can infect an Apple Thunderbolt peripheral with malware, then load it into a system’s firmware interface using the Thunderbolt device’s Option ROM. Robot Comforts Children Through Chemotherapy The robot, MEDI, short for Medicine and Engineering Designing […]

Tech Diversity; Wearable Computers; IoT Privacy Risks

Posted January 7th, 2015 at 2:00 pm (UTC-4)
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Today’s Tech Sightings: Intel Announces $300 Million Tech Diversity Initiative Given the bleak diversity numbers that keep coming out of Silicon Valley, Chip giant Intel has pledged $300 million over the next five years to increase diversity in its workforce to include more women and minorities. Intel CEO Brian Krzanich said in a speech at […]

Turning Sewage to Water; Sony CEO Speaks; Musk a Gaming Nerd?

Posted January 6th, 2015 at 2:00 pm (UTC-4)
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Today’s Tech Sightings: Bill Gates’ Plan to Help Developing World Profit From Sewage The OmniProcessor, designed by Janicki Bioenergy and funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, is a new low-cost waste treatment plant that transforms sewage into clean water. Elon Musk, Gaming Supernerd When he’s not stretching the limits of space exploration or […]

2014: A Wearable, Heartbleed, Sony-esque Kind of Year

Posted January 2nd, 2015 at 2:00 pm (UTC-4)
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2014 saw Artificial Intelligence, 3-D printing and wearable technology expanding into new areas and new gadgets. It marked a turning point with increasingly sophisticated cyberattacks. It was a year of upheaval that cast doubt on the viability of cryptocurrencies even as new methods of digital payments were born. And 2014 continued the lack of diversity […]

Lizard Squad; Mt. Gox; Twitter; Killer Tech

Posted January 1st, 2015 at 2:00 pm (UTC-4)
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Today’s Tech Sightings: Activist plans to Air Drop ‘The Interview’ into North Korea South Korean activist Park Sang-hak reportedly plans to carpet bomb North Korea with DVD and USB copies of Sony Pictures Entertainment’s “The Interview.” But South Korean newspaper Chosun Ilbo notes that a North Korean three-star general and a dozen other officials have […]

RoboSimians; IT Nightmares and the Great Firewall of China

Posted December 30th, 2014 at 2:00 pm (UTC-4)
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Today’s Tech Sightings: The Great Firewall of China is Nearly Complete Officially called the “Golden Shield,” China’s decade-old Internet firewall, which recently blocked Google Gmail and typically blocks Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Google search, is the most effective in the world. The program restricts content deemed sensitive and blocks thousands of websites, including some Voice […]

Tracking Santa; the Eyes Have It; Death of Voicemail?

Posted December 24th, 2014 at 2:00 pm (UTC-4)
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Today’s Tech Sightings: It’s Christmas Eve and the Battle of NORAD vs. Google Santa Trackers Has Begun! Santa and his reindeer are traveling somewhere around the world; and Google is racing to track his every movement ahead of Microsoft and its North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) partner. You can find Google’s Santa Tracker here and […]

Privacy; North Korea; and the Spider Dress

Posted December 23rd, 2014 at 2:08 pm (UTC-4)
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Today’s Tech Sightings: Downing North Korea’s Internet Not Much of a Scalp North Korea lost its Internet connectivity for half a day Monday, though the reasons for the blackout remain unclear. But that is hardly a major loss for a country that barely has 1,000 Internet addresses, one Internet service provider and one connection to […]