Efficient, Useful Blue-light LED Draws Nobel Prize in Physics Japanese professors Isamu Akasaki and Hiroshi Amano, and American professor Shuji Nakamura won the 2014 Noble Prize in physics for inventing blue light-emitting diode (LED) technology, currently used for high-speed networking, data storage, water purification and home illumination. Software, Robots Will Take One in Three Jobs […]
Tech Sightings, October 2, 2014
Posted October 2nd, 2014 at 2:00 pm (UTC-5)
Twitter Wants MIT to Make Sense of Your Tweets Social media giant Twitter is offering MIT $10 million and a five-year commitment to back the creation of the Laboratory for Social Machines. The aim is to access real-time tweets, old and new, and develop technologies that can distinguish patterns across social media and digital content. If […]
Tech Sightings, October 1, 2014
Posted October 1st, 2014 at 2:00 pm (UTC-5)
iOS Trojan Spies on Hong Kong Protesters Lacoon Mobile Security has revealed that the phones of protesters demanding more democratic reform in Hong Kong are being targeted by “Xsser mRAT,” which is spyware believed to be the work of the Chinese government. The spyware is disguised as a fake application aimed at monitoring protesters’ communications. […]
Tech Sightings, September 30, 2014
Posted September 30th, 2014 at 2:00 pm (UTC-5)
Hong Kong Protesters Turn to Mesh Networks to Evade China’s Censorship As tens of thousands of students fill Hong Kong Streets as part of the Umbrella Revolution, demanding democratic reform, Beijing blocked Hong Kong social media sites to keep mainland China in the dark. But the protesters are a step ahead with an app called […]
Tech Sightings, September 25, 2014
Posted September 25th, 2014 at 2:09 pm (UTC-5)
The Man on a Quest to Open-Source Cancer Research His name is Isaac Yonemoto. He is a chemist; and he is experimenting with open source software to make cancer research available to the world. The goal of his patent-free project, funded by the bitcoin cryptocurrency, aims to revive work on an anti-cancer compound called 9-deoxysibiromycin, […]
Tech Sightings, September 24, 2014
Posted September 24th, 2014 at 2:08 pm (UTC-5)
Taiwan Probes Xiaomi on Cybersecurity Taiwanese authorities launched an investigation into whether China’s leading smartphone maker, Xiaomi, poses a cybersecurity risk. The probe started following reports that some of Xiaomi’s phones automatically send user data to its servers in mainland China. The results of the investigation will be released in three months. Facebook to Start […]
Tech Sightings, September 23, 2014
Posted September 23rd, 2014 at 2:07 pm (UTC-5)
Alibaba’s Jack Ma Rises to Top of China Rich List Alibaba executive chairman Jack Ma has become China’s richest man with an estimated fortune of $25 billion. According to Hurun Reports of China’s super-rich for this year, Ma has relegated to second place Wanda property group chief Wang Jianlin, whose fortune is estimated at $24.2 billion. […]
Tech Sightings, September 18, 2014
Posted September 18th, 2014 at 2:35 pm (UTC-5)
Make Peace, Not War The United Nations Alliance of Civilizations, the United Nations Development Program, and Build Up have teamed up to sponsor PEACEapp, a competition intended to showcase the work of game developers who create games to channel cultural dialogue and conflict management. October 15 is the deadline for entries. China’s Signal Hijacks Have […]