82201351
submission
Meshach writes:
Today it has been announced that Facebook and WhatApp have both discontinued support for Blackberry smartphones including BlackBerry 10 and BBOS platforms. Apparently Blackberry fought to have the support continue but in the end they were not successful. BlackBerry has had to replaced their official Facebook App with a native app that uses a simple web interface.
54454119
submission
Meshach writes:
The FBI has caught the student who called in a bomb threat on December 16. The student used a temporary anonymous email account routed through Tor but the FBI were able to trace it because it originated in the Harvard wireless network. He could face as long as five years in prison, three years of supervised release and a $250,000 fine if convicted.
49540577
submission
Meshach writes:
A study in journal Computers & Education found that students who took notes on a laptop got lower marks then student who took notes the traditional way with pen and paper. The study's author hypothesized that using a laptop leads to multitasking (i.e. surfing the net or checking email) which reduces concentration.
48377575
submission
Meshach writes:
Some fans of The Simpsons have built a real life version of Homer Simpsons dream car. In the Simpson's world Homer finds out that he has a long lost cousin named Herb Powell, (voiced by Danny DeVito) who owns a car company in Detroit. Herb is so delighted to meet Homer that he lets Homer design a car that eventually ruins the company. This real vehicle is a working replica of the infamous car from the series.
45775851
submission
Meshach writes:
Recent study in the Washington Post verifies that using hands free or voice activated texting is no safer then texting with your hands while you are driving a car. Using a hand-held device to tap out a text message while driving has been banned in many states and provinces with the expectation that using hands free is safer.
40439889
submission
Meshach writes:
Google has been found guilty for refusing to take down a libelous search result in an Australian court. Music promoter Milorad Trkulja sued Google for refusing to take down links to website articles promoting libelous claims Trkulja was connected to organized crime in Melbourne. Google has told Trkulja to contact the sites on which the offensive materials were posted, as those webmasters controlled the content but the supreme court found Google was responsible for removing the damaging links the moment Trkulja asked it to remove the content. As a result of the jury's decision in the case, Google will have to pay $200,000 in damages to Trkulja.
39074673
submission
Meshach writes:
Research has suggested that human activity triggered an earthquake in Span that killed nine and injured over three hundred. Drilling deeper and deeper wells to water crops over the past 50 years were identified as the culprit by scientist who examined satellite images of the area. It was noted that even without the strain caused by water extraction, a quake would likely have occurred at some point in the area but the extra stress of pumping vast amounts of water from a nearby aquifer may have been enough to trigger a quake at that particular time and place.
37926587
submission
Meshach writes:
There is an article in the Globe and Mail that says that ase for Blackberry has stopped growing the first time in the companies history and speculates that this is the beginning of the end of RIM. The main problem seems to be that RIM's new Blackberry models like Bold and Torch are selling poorly and their production costs are so much higher then other products manufactured in China. A recent research report says that after BB10 the company will need to sell or drastically change its business model.
30172163
submission
Meshach writes:
Google has been pressuring applications and mobile game developers to use its costlier in-house payment service, Google Wallet for quite some time. Now Google warned several developers in recent months that if they continued to use other payment methods — such as PayPal, Zong and Boku — their apps would be removed from Google Play, The move is seen as a way to cut costs for Google by using their own system.
28061666
submission
Meshach writes:
The release of the new Google+/Picasa has elicited harsh words from Twitter's general counsel (who ironically used to work with Google). He claims that the changes will make information harder to find for users and be bad news for news publishers. Some analysts are wondering if this is a prelude to a legal battle similar to Microsoft's bundling of IE.
27312116
submission
Meshach writes:
The United States is asking scientific journals publishing details about biomedical research to censor articles out of feat that terrorists could acquire the information. The panel cannot force the journals to censor their articles, but the editor of Science, Bruce Alberts, said the journal was taking the recommendations seriously and would most likely withhold some information. Are we heading for another rorschach-style cheat sheet being developed?
26853830
submission
Meshach writes:
The terms of service for Microsoft's newly launched Windows Store allows the seller to remotely kill or remove access to a user's apps for security or legal reasons. The story also notes that MS states purchases are responsible for backing up the data that you store in apps that you acquire via the Windows Store, including content you upload using those apps. If the Windows Store, an app, or any content is changed or discontinued, your data could be deleted or you may not be able to retrieve data you have stored.
25838330
submission
Meshach writes:
The New York Times has an interesting article about how Google has revealed some of the inner workings of the Google Search service. The main change is that sites that are not in English will be translated then included in the search results. Google said it has also improved the way it recognizes official Web sites, like those published by the government, and will give those sites higher ranking in search results. Google does not usually reveal such details but the article speculates governments have been pushing for more transparancy.
25559136
submission
Meshach writes:
Interesting story at WSJ.com about how Barnes & Noble Inc. lobbied the Justice Department to open a new antitrust probe against Microsoft regarding their abuse of the patent system. BN saw Microsoft filing a slew of frivolous patents in order to stop the development of their handheld. Apparently MS attempted a similar racket against Google with the recent release of Android and Google complied but BN does not have the cash reserves of Google and is fighting back.
23994468
submission
Meshach writes:
Recently Canada's telecommunications regulator revealed that net neutrality was failing and that throttling was taking place. Apparently several months later things have not improved and Canada's telecommunications regulator on Friday gave Rogers Communications Inc., mere days to stop throttling online games.
