April 12, 2013
April 10, 2013
IRS believes it can read your emails, chats, and more without a warrant
Looks like the IRS believes it can read your emails, Facebook Chats, Twitter Direct Messages, SMS messages, and more without needing to obtain a search warrant beforehand. However, a ruling in the 2010 case, U.S. v. Warshak, by the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals states that accessing someone’s email messages without obtaining a warrant first violates the Fourth Amendment. According to an IRS 2009 Search Warrant Handbook discovered by the American Civil Liberties Union, the IRS says,
“Emails and other transmissions generally lose their reasonable expectation of privacy and thus their Fourth Amendment protection once they have been sent from an individual’s computer.”
Slash Gear
April 9, 2013
Amazon Secretly Removes "1984" From the Kindle
Thousands of people last week discovered that Amazon had quietly removed electronic copies of George Orwell's 1984 from their Kindle e-book readers. In the process, Amazon revealed how easy censorship will be in the Kindle age.
In this case, the mass e-book removals were motivated by copyright . A company called MobileReference, who did not own the copyrights to the books 1984 and Animal Farm, uploaded both books to the Kindle store and started selling them. When the rights owner heard about this, they contacted Amazon and asked that the e-books be removed. And Amazon decided to erase them not just from the store, but from all the Kindles where they'd been downloaded. Amazon operators used the Kindle wireless network, called WhisperNet, to quietly delete the books from people's devices and refund them the money they'd paid.
i09
In this case, the mass e-book removals were motivated by copyright . A company called MobileReference, who did not own the copyrights to the books 1984 and Animal Farm, uploaded both books to the Kindle store and started selling them. When the rights owner heard about this, they contacted Amazon and asked that the e-books be removed. And Amazon decided to erase them not just from the store, but from all the Kindles where they'd been downloaded. Amazon operators used the Kindle wireless network, called WhisperNet, to quietly delete the books from people's devices and refund them the money they'd paid.
i09
The future is now: Navy to deploy lasers on ships in 2014
The Pentagon has plans to deploy its first ever ship-mounted laser
next year, a disruptive, cutting-edge weapon capable of obliterating
small boats and unmanned aerial vehicles with a blast of infrared
energy.
Navy officials announced Monday that in early 2014, a solid-state laser prototype will be mounted to the fantail of the USS Ponce and sent to the 5th fleet region in the Middle East for real-world experience.
Navy officials announced Monday that in early 2014, a solid-state laser prototype will be mounted to the fantail of the USS Ponce and sent to the 5th fleet region in the Middle East for real-world experience.
April 5, 2013
Future of organs? Synthetic tissue built with 3-D printer
Scientists have built a 3-D printer that creates material resembling
human tissues. The novel substance, a deceptively simple network of
water droplets coated in lipids, could one day be used to deliver drugs
to the body -- or perhaps even to replace damaged tissue in living
organs.
The creation, described in the journal Science, consists of lipid bilayers separating droplets of water -- rather like cell membranes, whose double layers allow the body’s cells to mesh with their watery environments while still protecting their contents.
“The great thing about these droplets is that they use pretty much exclusively biological materials,” said study co-author and University of Oxford researcher Gabriel Villar, making them ideal for medical uses.
Los Angeles Times
The creation, described in the journal Science, consists of lipid bilayers separating droplets of water -- rather like cell membranes, whose double layers allow the body’s cells to mesh with their watery environments while still protecting their contents.
“The great thing about these droplets is that they use pretty much exclusively biological materials,” said study co-author and University of Oxford researcher Gabriel Villar, making them ideal for medical uses.
Los Angeles Times
April 4, 2013
Arthur Frommer buys travel guides back from Google to keep print editions alive
Google acquired Frommer’s Travel Guides from Wiley in 2012 — and then, last month, reportedly decided
to stop publishing them as print editions. Now Arthur Frommer, the
83-year-old founder of the brand, has bought Frommer’s back from Google
and will continue publishing the travel guides in print and digital
editions.
The AP reported the news Wednesday night and quoted Frommer saying, “It’s a very happy time for me. We will be publishing the Frommer travel guides in ebook and print formats and will also be operating the travel site Frommers.com.” Google confirmed the news to Engadget, saying, “We can confirm that we have returned the Frommer’s brand to its founder and are licensing certain travel content to him.”
The purchase price was undisclosed. Google reportedly paid Wiley $22 million for Frommer’s last year. The travel site Skift first reported that Google would stop publishing the Frommer’s guides in print.
Frommer’s had published over 300 guidebooks since its founding in 1957.
paidContent
The AP reported the news Wednesday night and quoted Frommer saying, “It’s a very happy time for me. We will be publishing the Frommer travel guides in ebook and print formats and will also be operating the travel site Frommers.com.” Google confirmed the news to Engadget, saying, “We can confirm that we have returned the Frommer’s brand to its founder and are licensing certain travel content to him.”
The purchase price was undisclosed. Google reportedly paid Wiley $22 million for Frommer’s last year. The travel site Skift first reported that Google would stop publishing the Frommer’s guides in print.
Frommer’s had published over 300 guidebooks since its founding in 1957.
paidContent
April 3, 2013
The first cellphone call was made 40 years ago today
Martin Cooper changed the world when he made the first cellphone call 40 years ago.
The former Motorola vice president and division manager made the call on the company's DynaTAC phone while standing in front of the New York Hilton on Sixth Avenue. His first call: to the head of research at Bell Labs, which had also been racing to build the first cellphone.
Cooper's call did more than untether people from their traditional fixed phone lines; it opened the door to true mobility and continues to affect virtually every aspect of our lives.
cnet
The former Motorola vice president and division manager made the call on the company's DynaTAC phone while standing in front of the New York Hilton on Sixth Avenue. His first call: to the head of research at Bell Labs, which had also been racing to build the first cellphone.
Cooper's call did more than untether people from their traditional fixed phone lines; it opened the door to true mobility and continues to affect virtually every aspect of our lives.
cnet
April 1, 2013
The Risks of Parenting While Plugged In
WHILE waiting for an elevator at the Fair Oaks Mall near her home in
Virginia recently, Janice Im, who works in early-childhood development,
witnessed a troubling incident between a young boy and his mother.
The boy, who Ms. Im estimates was about 2 1/2 years old, made repeated attempts to talk to his mother, but she wouldn’t look up from her BlackBerry. “He’s like: ‘Mama? Mama? Mama?’ ” Ms. Im recalled. “And then he starts tapping her leg. And she goes: ‘Just wait a second. Just wait a second.’ ”
Finally, he was so frustrated, Ms. Im said, that “he goes, ‘Ahhh!’ and tries to bite her leg.”
The New York Times
The boy, who Ms. Im estimates was about 2 1/2 years old, made repeated attempts to talk to his mother, but she wouldn’t look up from her BlackBerry. “He’s like: ‘Mama? Mama? Mama?’ ” Ms. Im recalled. “And then he starts tapping her leg. And she goes: ‘Just wait a second. Just wait a second.’ ”
Finally, he was so frustrated, Ms. Im said, that “he goes, ‘Ahhh!’ and tries to bite her leg.”
The New York Times
Russia Censors Sites Like Facebook, Twitter to Protect Children
Russia is using a new law to block certain internet content that is considered unsafe for children's eyes.
The law, passed in November 2012, allows the Russian government to remove internet content on websites like Facebook and Twitter if it is deemed harmful for children.
DailyTech
The law, passed in November 2012, allows the Russian government to remove internet content on websites like Facebook and Twitter if it is deemed harmful for children.
DailyTech
November 3, 2012
Technology Changing How Students Learn
Technology Changing How Students Learn, Teachers Say
There is a widespread belief among teachers that students’ constant use of digital technology is hampering their attention spans and ability to persevere in the face of challenging tasks, according to two surveys of teachers being released on Thursday.
New York Times
Meanwhile...
Meanwhile...
iPads work well for little kids in new preschoolsTacoma News Tribune
In the preschool at Arlington Elementary School, “A” is for apple. It also stands for app – as in application. The 4-year-olds in this South Tacoma school are learning to use digital-world apps that turn their classroom iPads into reading, writing, spelling, speaking, coloring, counting and sorting tools.
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