Technology news

• VIDEO: Solar-powered plane set for global flight

  20-01-2015 23:54 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Mark Lobel reports on the solar-powered plane, Solar Impulse 2, which a team will attempt to fly around the world using only the sun's energy.
  
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• OPINION: Can Windows 10 and Xbox One erase the divide in gaming?

  20-01-2015 23:54
  
  Windows 10 holds a lot of potential for Microsoft to make up for lost ground, especially in one of their bread-and-butter areas: gaming. "How?" you, and the roomful of other Microsoft execs, might ask. The way we see it there are three big areas: cloud streaming, Windows Live integration and cross-platform communication.Microsoft showed up late to the cloud streaming race and there's no better place to start catching up than on Xbox One. The One currently utilizes the most basic of clo
  
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• Justice Department settles case after DEA set up fake Facebook page in woman's name

  20-01-2015 23:51
  
  Deal comes after federal drug agents used information from New York woman’s cellphone to set up a fake Facebook page in her name Continue reading...
  
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• Overstock.com is starting its own streaming video service

  20-01-2015 23:38
  
  Watching a company like Netflix thrive in the streaming entertainment world - including with its own, original programming - isn't surprising, but when online retailers like Amazon are doing the same some eyebrows are bound to rise.The bookseller just won a Golden Globe for its original show Transparent, and now the apparent entertainment industry gurus over at online retailer and Amazon rival Overstock.com are seeing dollar signs.Overstock has announced that it will launch its own streaming vid
  
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• Microsoft to roll out Windows 10 as it jostles with Google and Apple

  20-01-2015 23:37
  
  First major update of operating system under new CEO Satya Nadella could be turning point for tech giant struggling to win back mobile customers Continue reading...
  
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• Government health care website quietly sharing personal data

  20-01-2015 23:28
  
  The government's health insurance website is quietly sending consumers' personal data to private companies that specialize in advertising and analyzing Internet data for performance and marketing, The ...
  
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• IBM 4Q revenue continues to sag, 2015 outlook disappoints

  20-01-2015 23:27
  
  ARMONK, N.Y. (AP) — IBM's fourth-quarter net income dropped 11 percent as revenue in most categories continued to decline, and its outlook for the year disappointed investors.
  
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• IN DEPTH: I wore Google Glass for one year and here's what I experienced

  20-01-2015 23:19
  
  Cherished memories of an admitted GlassholeToday is the first day Google Glass isn't available through the official Google Play Store, even if you have the $1,500 (£1,000) in hand and shout "Okay, Glass, shut up and take my money."Wearing the now-retired Explorer Edition prototype for a little over a year, I saw important messages beamed to my eye and captured parts of my life via the first-person perspective.It made the sci-fi-looking wearable worth owning. But while I found Google X
  
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• Netflix reels in 4.3M more subscribers 4Q; stock surges

  20-01-2015 23:13
  
  SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Coming off its best quarter yet, Netflix is hoping to hook millions more Internet video subscribers with the lure of original programming as the company tries to build the leading network for the digital-streaming age.
  
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• Industry Voice: The Top CES Trends Driving Cloud Adoption

  20-01-2015 22:59
  
  With another Consumer Electronics Show behind us, it's time to reflect on some of the new devices in the market and trends we can expect to develop in 2015. We observed a number of trends that will have a significant impact on cloud adoption over the next year.1. The Internet of Things has become a reality: From connected cars, to home appliances and wearable devices, even light bulbs – pretty much every object with an electronic component is being connected to the internet, allowing consumers
  
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• Updated: Best gaming laptops: top 5 gaming notebooks reviewed

  20-01-2015 22:58
  
  Update: The Nvidia GTX 970 is proving to be one heck of a mobile graphics card and it's helped lift the Digital Storm Triton into our pantheon of the best gaming laptops. Delivering excellent performance with a thin and great looking chassis to boot, all the while it won't cost an arm and a leg at just over 1,500 clams.You don't even need to tell us what happened when you told your friends that you want to buy a gaming laptop. Their inner elitist got the best of them, and bashed you for not just
  
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• Facebook tackling hoax news stories

  20-01-2015 22:49 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Hoaxes and fake stories in your News Feed should be a thing of the past, if Facebook's updated algorithm works.
  
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• Facebook is getting better at weeding out News Feed spam

  20-01-2015 22:47
  
  For a lot of Facebook users logging on and checking the News Feed has become less about catching up with friends than about being bombarded with low quality posts that make outlandish claims in the hopes poor suckers will click on them.Now Facebook is doing something about it: reducing the distribution of these posts and adding an annotation to posts that have been flagged by users as hoaxes.Facebook Software Engineer Erich Owens and Research Scientist Udi Weinsberg note in the site's announceme
  
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• IBM tops 4Q profit forecasts but revenue continues to sag

  20-01-2015 22:46
  
  IBM's fourth-quarter net income dropped sharply as revenue in most categories continued to decline, but earnings topped analyst expectations. Revenue fell 12 percent, missing expectations, and shares slipped ...
  
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• Netflix shares up on strong earnings

  20-01-2015 22:40 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Shares in internet TV streaming service Netflix jump over 12% in after-hours trading after the company reports better-than-expected fourth quarter earnings.
  
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• Samsung's Tizen smartphone makes poor first impression in India

  20-01-2015 22:07
  
  By Nivedita Bhattacharjee MUMBAI (Reuters) - Samsung Electronics Co Ltd's first smartphone to run on its own operating system received a frosty welcome after its launch in India, with reviewers and consumers criticising its low-resolution cameras and dearth of software applications. The South Korean giant's latest handset stands out not so much for its no-frills specifications but for what lies under the hood - the Tizen operating system Samsung has developed to rival Google Inc's
  
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• Alibaba, Tencent spend billions in race to be China's one-stop online shop

  20-01-2015 22:05
  
  By Paul Carsten and John Ruwitch BEIJING/SHANGHAI (Reuters) - Alibaba and Tencent spent more than $8 billion last year alone backing often strikingly similar ventures, as the Chinese Internet giants race to create online one-stop-shops to win the digital loyalty of a tenth of the world's population. Before China became the biggest smartphone market, there was little overlap between the businesses of e-commerce leader Alibaba Group Holding Ltd, social networking firm Tencent Holdings Ltd and
  
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• Silk Road 2.0 founder's 'right hand man' Brian Farrell arrested in Washington

  20-01-2015 21:32
  
  The 26-year-old was arrested on Friday on a charge of conspiracy to distribute heroin, methamphetamine and cocaine in connection with his alleged role as a staff member for the Silk Road 2.0 website Continue reading...
  
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• Facebook clamps down on fake news stories

  20-01-2015 21:23
  
  By Alexei Oreskovic SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Facebook Inc said on Tuesday it has taken steps to clamp down on "hoaxes" and fake news stories that can spread like wildfire on its 1.35-billion member online social network. Facebook said it will not remove fake news stories from its website. "A post with a link to an article that many people have reported as a hoax or chose to delete will get reduced distribution in the News Feed," Facebook explained. Facebook has become an inc
  
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• Cicret wearable aims to turn your skin into your tablet - but is it hype or reality?

  20-01-2015 21:00 via zdnet.com
  
  Cicret brings the concept of wearable tech to a new level, projecting information from your phone directly onto your skin. Could this be the future of wearables - or just vapourware?
  
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• U.S. charges man says linked to Silk Road successor site in drug scheme

  20-01-2015 20:42
  
  U.S. authorities announced charges Tuesday against a Washington state man they say assisted in the management of the successor website to Silk Road, an online black market bazaar where drugs and other illicit goods could be bought with bitcoin. Brian Farrell, 26, was arrested late Friday on a charge of conspiracy to distribute heroin, methamphetamine and cocaine in connection with a criminal complaint filed in federal court in Seattle that outlined his alleged role as a staff member for the Silk
  
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• Samsung Galaxy S6 could use a new type of wireless charging

  20-01-2015 20:36
  
  We've been hearing about "magnetic resonance" wireless charging for years, with rumors connected to tech ranging from TVs to Apple accesories.But the latest says the Samsung Galaxy S6 will be the first commercial gadget to actual use the new wireless charging tech.That's according to an alleged Korean report cited by Patently Apple, which notes that the Galaxy S6's magnetic resonance charging could "push the entire industry" to finally start using it.Still waitingMagnetic res
  
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• Sony's 'The Interview' surpasses $40 million in digital sales

  20-01-2015 20:22
  
  LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - "The Interview," the Sony Pictures comedy believed to have triggered a cyber attack on the studio, has racked up over $40 million (26 million pounds) in sales from 5.8 million digital downloads, the studio said on Tuesday. Michael Lynton, chief executive of Sony Corp's entertainment arm, called the $40 million mark "a significant milestone" for the studio's unprecedented online and pay television release, on platforms such as Google Inc'
  
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• Bletchley Park ‘girls’ break code of secrecy for book launch

  20-01-2015 19:58
  
  Women who worked together throughout war meet – some for the first time – to mark publication of new book featuring their memories Continue reading...
  
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• US government healthcare website passes personal data to outside firms

  20-01-2015 19:03
  
  HealthCare.gov can share details such as age, income and Zip codeRevelations come as Obama set to address cybersecurity in State of the Union Continue reading...
  
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• Police radar looks through walls

  20-01-2015 18:57 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The use of a radar device that can see through walls has been questioned by privacy experts in the US.
  
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• Robot dance troupe does 'the robot' in Tokyo - video

  20-01-2015 18:18
  
  One hundred robots perform a group dance routine in Tokyo on Monday. Weighing just one kilogram each, the 100 Robi dance troupe executed a three-minute routine flawlessly. The project was the brain child Tomotaka Takahashi, chief executive officer of Robo Garage Co and project associate professor of Research Centre for Advanced Science and Technology at the University of Tokyo Continue reading...
  
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• 'Buggy ended my life' ad goes viral

  20-01-2015 17:57 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The wife of an eBay seller who listed a used buggy describing it as the item that ended his "happy, carefree life" says the couple have been amazed by its popularity on social media.
  
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• Sky blocks pornography 'by default'

  20-01-2015 17:33 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Sky is to activate pornography filters on all broadband accounts unless users specifically opt out.
  
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• Herculaneum texts buried by Vesuvius eruption can be read using x-ray imaging – video

  20-01-2015 17:13
  
  A video reconstruction shows how x-ray imaging can be used to reveal the writing on hundreds of papyrus scrolls buried in Herculaneum by the eruption of Vesuvius in Italy in 79 AD. The carbonised papyri are fragile and would be damaged or destroyed by any attempt to open them by hand to read their contents Continue reading...
  
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• Apology over WeChat US flag 'glitch'

  20-01-2015 16:52 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Users of the Chinese messaging app see American flags when typing "civil rights".
  
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• End of the Windows XP effect sends desktop sales tumbling, but laptop sales jump

  20-01-2015 16:40 via zdnet.com
  
  The PC says that reports of its death have been greatly exaggerated.
  
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• EU regulators resume Orange, Jazztel 3.4 billion euro merger scrutiny

  20-01-2015 16:31
  
  European Union antitrust regulators have resumed their scrutiny of Orange's bid for Spanish peer Jazztel after the French telecoms operator provided details of the 3.4-billion-euro (2.6 billion pounds) deal as requested. The European Commission, which halted its probe on Jan. 14, said on Tuesday that it would now decide on the proposed takeover by April 30 versus a previous deadline of April 24. A person familiar with the deal said regulators had a list of as many as 60 questions to which t
  
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• How ​AWS is powering up its wind farm plans for cloud datacenters

  20-01-2015 16:31 via zdnet.com
  
  As part of its renewable energy ambitions, Amazon Web Services has signed a deal to buy most of the power generated by an Indiana wind farm for its US datacenters.
  
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• Google mulls SpaceX investment to supply global internet access by satellite

  20-01-2015 15:57
  
  Internet giant considers partnership with Elon Musk’s spaceflight company to increase satellite internet coverageGoogle is reportedly considering a billion-dollar investment in SpaceX, Elon Musk’s spaceflight company, in order to boost its deployment of cut-price satellite internet.The investment, the exact size of which is unknown, puts a value on SpaceX of more than $10bn. Continue reading...
  
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• Facebook increasing staff by 14% amid new ventures

  20-01-2015 15:01
  
  Virtual reality headset maker Oculus Rift, drones that provide internet access and additional data centres are set to increase the social network’s staff numbers by 1,200 Virtual reality goggles, drones and data centers are all driving a hiring spree at Facebook that is set to swell its ranks as much as 14% in the near term, according to a review of job listings on the company’s website. The social networking company aims to add nearly 1,200 new employees, the outgrowth of aggressive investm
  
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• Ex-MI6 chief calls for new compact between internet firms and spy agencies

  20-01-2015 14:57
  
  Sir John Sawers says Snowden revelations shattered informal relationship but cooperation is necessary to prevent attacks Continue reading...
  
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• New York City council to consider regulation of Airbnb sharing economy

  20-01-2015 14:10
  
  Short-term rentals trigger debate around affordable housing shortageGenerally illegal in New York to rent out apartment for under 30 daysAirbnb calls for ‘smart regulation’ like collection of hotel taxes as in other citiesWith home-as-hotel sites like Airbnb doing booming business, New York City lawmakers are scrutinising how the trend affects the housing market and economy.A city council hearing on Tuesday is shaping up to be a wide-ranging face-off over the pros and cons of short-term apar
  
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• Moog goes back to the future with re-issues of classic synthesisers

  20-01-2015 14:04
  
  US company plans to hand-build a limited run of three large-format synthesisers first released in 1973 - with price tags ranging from $10,000 to $35,000Moroder. Kraftwerk. Numan. Without Moog, chances are that none of these artists would have their place in the music hall of fame. Half a century after Dr Robert Moog unleashed his first synthesiser on the world, Moog Music has announced plans to release a limited run of its three most sought-after large format, modular synthesisers: the System 55
  
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• Rule of law on internet cracks down on cybercrime: Cisco

  20-01-2015 14:00 via zdnet.com
  
  The Cisco 2015 annual security report has revealed that while governments are providing more assistance to reduce online crime, criminals are finding new ways to unleash attacks on organisations.
  
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• 'Imitation Game' site Bletchley Park recreates WWII Britain

  20-01-2015 13:53
  
  As a tourist site, Bletchley Park has been something of a well-kept secret. That's because it was a government secret as well. But the once-classified home of Britain's World War II code-breakers is finally ...
  
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• Intel's diversity drive should focus on internal changes, advocates say

  20-01-2015 13:32
  
  By Sarah McBride and Noel Randewich SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - When Intel Corp said this month it would spend $300 million (197.92 million pounds) on increasing diversity in its workforce, Silicon Valley lauded its plan to improve the "pipeline" of candidates by helping more women and minorities study computer science and engineering. Chief Executive Officer Brian Krzanich surprised a mostly male crowd at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas by unveiling a 2020 goal for Intel to e
  
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• Xbox, Sony hackers hit by hack attack

  20-01-2015 13:24 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Hacking group Lizard Squad has been hit by an embarrassing attack that exposed the entire database of people who signed up to use its services.
  
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• Microsoft designs a lamp that could charge your smartphone

  20-01-2015 13:21 via zdnet.com
  
  Microsoft smart lamp proof-of-concept detects a phone sat on your desk and recharges it by directing a beam onto solar panels.
  
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• Adventure Time: new mobile game gets kids to create their own levels

  20-01-2015 13:08
  
  Game Wizard app encourages children to draw and share their ideas using either the touchscreen or pens and paper Continue reading...
  
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• Shoe retailer warned on data breach

  20-01-2015 12:50 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The Information Commissioner's Office warns online shoe retailer Office to take better care of customer data, following a breach.
  
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• Indian bank allows payments via Twitter

  20-01-2015 12:47
  
  ICICI Bank lets users ‘tweet to pay’ and top up mobile phone credit their using Twitter usernames and direct messagesIndia’s ICICI Bank has launched a new service called “icicibankpay” that allows customers to transfer money using Twitter.
  Customers simply need to follow the bank’s Twitter account to register their mobile phone with the bank and then send @icicibank a direct message with the recipient’s user name and the amount to be transferred. The recipient does not need to be
  
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• Charlie Hebdo launches app version featuring prophet Muhammed cover

  20-01-2015 12:29
  
  Latest issue of French satirical magazine available in Apple and Google Play storesA new app for French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo has been released for iOS, Android and Windows devices, letting readers worldwide get hold of a copy without queueing at newsagents.The app is illustrated with the current cover, a cartoon of the prophet Muhammed, in a change from the norm for Apple’s notoriously censorious App Store which has previous banned satirical and controversial apps. Continue reading
  
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• Review: Garmin Fenix 2 trail running watch

  20-01-2015 12:09 via feedproxy.google.com
  
  Garmin is a big player in fitness wearables. In the basic tracker market, its Vivosmart is basic but still a cut above most rivals. For more serious runners, the Forerunner 920XT is seriously attractive. The Fenix has more in comparison with the latter, but with an emphasis on rural trail running rather than urban pavement pounding. In fact, Garmin's marketing blurb describes the Fenix 2 GPS running watch as "for the casual runner and the demanding trail runner," which in reality are two
  
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• Retailer Office warned after 1m customers' details 'exposed' by hacker

  20-01-2015 12:08
  
  Shoe shop avoids fine from UK’s privacy regulator after a hacker gained potential to access details through an unencrypted database Continue reading...
  
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