Buzz

You get Facebook timeline whether you like it or not

CNN, 1/24/12 Thursday, January 26, 2012

(Mashable) -- Facebook announced in a blog post Tuesday that Timeline will be coming to all users in the next few weeks.

According to a Facebook blog post Tuesday -- or rather, an update to the post published when Timeline became available to all users -- you will have seven days to preview your Timeline and hide content you don't want out in the open.

Read more here.

You can be forced to decrypt your laptop

CNET, 1/24/12 Thursday, January 26, 2012

American citizens can be ordered to decrypt their PGP-scrambled hard drives for police to peruse for incriminating files, a federal judge in Colorado ruled today in what could become a precedent-setting case.

Judge Robert Blackburn ordered a Peyton, Colo., woman to decrypt the hard drive of a Toshiba laptop computer no later than February 21--or face the consequences including contempt of court.

Read more here.

Magnetic soap for oil spills

Thursday, January 26, 2012

Scientists have created the world's first soap that can be controlled by magnets.

That's right: magnetic suds.

The breakthrough may revolutionize industrial cleaning products and the response to environmental disasters such as oil spills, reports the research team from Bristol University in England.

Read more here.

Google says Murdoch talking nonsense

CNET, 1/15/12 Sunday, January 15, 2012

Murdoch, a Twitter user for only the past several weeks, used the service to fire a barrage of accusations Saturday night against President Obama and Google.

He accused the White House of being in the employ of "Silicon Valley paymasters." Murdoch claimed Google was profiting from advertisements sold against pirated materials. He also called the search company a "piracy leader." (Read more about Murdoch's Twitter tirade here).

In an e-mail sent to CNET on Sunday afternoon, Google responded to Murdoch's statements.

Read more here.

Google ditching search

CNET, 1/13/12 Sunday, January 15, 2012

Twitter and others are complaining that Google is throwing its massive 65 percent plus market share weight around and quashing smaller competitors. The reason Twitter and others are so threatened is that the pattern of shared links within Google+ provides a decent enough indicator as to what links are interesting. What's important is what's trending, and algorithms can get a sense of that with just a subset of everything that's getting shared on the Web.

The most interesting aspect of Google's move, however, is its tacit acknowledgement that its stalwart search links are largely irrelevant and might as well be replaced with social results. Google search results are essentially gamed results produced by search optimizers.

Read more here.

New breed of 4G phones

CNN, 1/13.12 Sunday, January 15, 2012

Las Vegas (CNN) -- The International Consumer Electronics Show, the giant gadget convention that wrapped up on Friday, has brought some frustrating news for AT&T or Sprint customers who bought a cutting-edge 4G smartphone last year.
That phone will soon be outdated.

AT&T Mobility and Sprint Nextel unveiled some of the first smartphones that will tap into their new, even faster fourth-generation networks.

But wait, Sprint has been talking about its 4G network since launching one in 2008 followed by its premier phone, HTC's Evo 4G, in 2010. And AT&T began adding "4G" to the names of many of its smartphones early last year.

Read more here.

Mercedes shows off future of driving

CNN, 1/13/12 Sunday, January 15, 2012

Las Vegas (CNN) -- Imagine a future in which icons flash on your car windshield, hologram style, as your car approaches restaurants, stores, historic landmarks or the homes of friends.

Simply point your hand at them, and the icons open to show real-time information: when that bridge over there was built, what band is playing at that nightclub on the left, whether that new café up the street has any tables available. Wave your hand again, and you've made a restaurant reservation.

Mercedes-Benz showed off this vision of the future of driving -- complete with augmented-reality and gesture-controlled features -- this week at the International Consumer Electronics Show.

Read more here.

Weird and whacky apps for your iPad

MSNBC, 1/13/12 Sunday, January 15, 2012

Yes, the iPad has over 140,000 apps. But did you know you can put it on a leash? Put it on your leg? Wear it like a purse? Give it balls (to protect it from short drops)? Attach a bicycle-like horn as a speaker?

These and other crazy-but-useful iPad accessories were shown at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas:

A leg up
Sometimes you might find yourself out and about with your iPad, and even though you have a case for for it, you have no way to hold it — your arms are full of other goodies or a baby or a small doggie whose canine Martha Stewart tote bag you left at home.

Read about here.

Casinos sprouting up as states look for money

MSNBC, 1/15/12 Sunday, January 15, 2012

NEW YORK — A Malaysian company's plan to build a $4 billion convention center and big-time casino on the outskirts of New York City could be the biggest shot fired yet in a tourism arms race that has seen a growing number of Eastern states embrace gambling as a way to lure visitors and drum up revenue.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced last week that he would work with the Genting Group, one of the world's largest and most successful gambling companies, to transform the storied, but sleepy, Aqueduct horse track into a megaplex that would eventually include the nation's largest convention center, 3,000 hotel rooms, and a major expansion of a casino that began operating at the site in October.

Read more here.

Photo posting etiquette in the New Year

CNN, 12/29/2011 Thursday, December 29, 2011

Your photo-happy friends may be capturing posed group shots and crazy candids at New Year's Eve parties this weekend, but sometimes you just don't want to be photographed.

Maybe you're having a bad hair day, an "I feel fat day" or you'd simply prefer that the whole world (including your boss) not see any racy details.

But now, almost everyone, it seems, has a camera and video recorder in their pocket, thanks to smartphones. We've created a society of constant shutterbugs who love to immediately share those pics on social media for all to see.

Read more here: http://www.cnn.com/2011/12/29/living/deal-with-facebook-photos/index.html?eref=rss_tech&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+rss%2Fcnn_tech+%28RSS%3A+Technology%29

Twitter case may set new precedent

CNN, 12/28/2011 Thursday, December 29, 2011

Who, exactly, owns your Twitter account? It's a potentially complicated question when an account is used both professionally and personally. Now a case regarding whether a Twitter account belongs to a company or its former employee has raised questions about the use of the social media phenomenon.

PhoneDog, a website devoted to all things mobile products and services, sued former employee Noah Kravitz for $340,000, according to the complaint filed in US District Court in the Northern District of California.

The lawsuit, which was filed in July, alleges that Kravitz' continued use of a Twitter account he was "given use of" while employed with PhoneDog was a misappropriation of trade secrets and damaged the company's business, goodwill, and reputation.

Read more here: http://www.cnn.com/2011/12/27/tech/lawsuit-who-owns-twitter-account/index.html?eref=rss_tech&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+rss%2Fcnn_tech+%28RSS%3A+Technology%29

Get more computer memory without touching BIOS

EXAMINER, 12/01/11 Thursday, December 15, 2011

Corsair, a top manufacturer of PC gaming components, have announced a new line of Vengeance laptop memory kits for laptops equipped with 2nd-gen Intel i5 and i7 processors.

The new memory does not require any BIOS adjustments to take advantage of the quicker speeds and are designed to work with any PC or notebook that takes DDR3 SODIMMs.

Read the rest of the story here.

New technology makes mobile shopping faster

FRESH NEWS, 12/13/11 Thursday, December 15, 2011

SAN FRANCISCO -- (BUSINESS WIRE) -- TapBuy, a new quick-checkout technology that developers, shopping aggregators and retailers can imbed in their own mobile apps, is now available. TapBuy dramatically increases conversion rates because it stores shoppers’ billing and shipping preferences, which then allows consumers to check out from any supported app from any supported merchant with just a few taps. TheFind has already licensed TapBuy and launched it in the company’s iPhone comparison shopping app.

In early trials, TapBuy increased sales conversion for retailers up to 15 times. A Software Developer’s Kit (SDK) is available for licensees.

Read more here.

Intel opportunity in drive shortage

NEW YORK TIMES, 12/12/11 Thursday, December 15, 2011

SAN FRANCISCO — Intel will not let a good crisis go to waste.

The company, the world’s largest maker of semiconductors, announced on Monday that its revenue this quarter would fall to $13.7 billion, from $14.7 billion, because floods in Thailand had sharply cut the world’s supply of disk drives. Without the drives, manufacturers will make fewer personal computers and computer servers, which means fewer semiconductors will be needed.

While clearly bad news for Intel in the short run, the shortage of both components and finished personal computers could prove an opportunity for Intel as it tries to fight the onslaught of tablet computers, particularly Apple’s.

Read more about it here.