‘No, I CAN’T write code myself,’ admits woman in charge of teaching our kids to code
The government’s “Year Of Code” scheme to bring computer programming into schools for children as young as five has degenerated into a political bunfight. “The word ‘coding’ has been hijacked and abused by politicians and media who don’t understand stuff,” the Raspberry Pi foundation’s director of educational development and a former teacher, Clive Beale, tweeted […] more…Wi-Fi patent troll will only get 3.2 cents per router from Cisco
Innovatio IP Ventures has become arguably the most infamous sender of patent demand letters in recent memory, besides the $1,000-per-worker “scanner trolls” we covered last year. Innovatio bought old Broadcom patents and then sent out more than 13,000 letters asking for individual chain hotels and coffee-shops to pay between $2,300 and $5,000 in licensing fees, […] more…What’s next for the Microsoft insiders who didn’t get the CEO nod
Now that it’s official that Satya Nadella is Microsoft’s next CEO, it’s time to ponder what happens with some of the other leading company insiders who didn’t get the nod. As part of the search process, the Microsoft CEO search committee considered not only more than a few outsiders, but also a number of internal […] more…Report: Steve Jobs proposed running OS X on Sony VAIO notebooks
Even as Sony dodges questions concerning recent rumors that it may sell off its Windows-based VAIO PC division, an interesting historical wrinkle has popped up on the Internet that claims the company could have walked down a much different path with its notebooks. Tags: Apple Sony Hardware Industry News OS X more…Comcast customer surprised to learn new router is also public hotspot
Comcast customer Ronaldo Boschulte didn’t know exactly what he was getting when the company swapped his malfunctioning modem for a new one. The cable modem doubles as a Wi-Fi router—that much he was expecting. But he didn’t realize the router would, by default, broadcast a public Wi-Fi network that anyone with a Comcast account could […] more…Lenovo hires ex-CIA bod to push through Moto deal
Lenovo Group Ltd. (LNVGY) has turned to national security insiders to win U.S. approval to buy Google Inc. (GOOG)’s Motorola Mobility phone unit and International Business Machines Corp. (IBM)’s low-end server business, people familiar with the two deals said. Tags: Lenovo CIA Industry News more…Interview with Woz: To innovate, get personal
Many of us in the tech press say that we’ve hit a lull in technology innovation, after an amazing run of truly disruptive new technologies from cloud computing to social networking, from mobile devices to voice services, in the last decade. Steve “Woz” Wozniak is not so sure, but he does believe that innovations can’t […] more…Target works on security-heavy credit cards, after breach
Target is still reeling from the massive security breach, which affected as many as 110 million customers. Now, as the retailer gets back on its feet, it’s becoming more security focused. Target Chief Financial Officer John Mulligan wrote an opinion piece for The Hill on Monday saying that the company was speeding up its implementation […] more…Google, Yahoo, Microsoft reveal how many accounts are snooped by gov’t
After the NSA leaks began last summer, tech companies asked for permission to reveal more information about what kind of user data they provide in response to Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court orders. Tags: NSA Privacy Microsoft Yahoo Industry News more…Cycloramic hits top of App Store after Shark Tank appearance, $500k investment & 100k downloads in an hour
What happens when your app gets featured on ABC’s Shark Tank, the TV show where rich investors listen to pitches from wannabe entrepreneurs looking to raise funds? For app developers Egos Ventures it means shooting up hundreds of spots on the App Store charts to become the top paid app in the store overnight. The […] more…GoDaddy owns up to role in epic Twitter account hijacking
GoDaddy has acknowledged that one of its employees fell victim to a social engineering attack allowing a hacker to take over a customer’s domain names and eventually extort a coveted Twitter user name from him. PayPal, which the victim claimed also played a role in the attack, denied the accusations. Tags: GoDaddy Security Twitter Industry […] more…Snowden: CSEC used airport Wi-Fi to track Canadian travellers
A top secret document retrieved by U.S. whistleblower Edward Snowden and obtained by CBC News shows that Canada’s electronic spy agency used information from the free internet service at a major Canadian airport to track the wireless devices of thousands of ordinary airline passengers for days after they left the terminal. After reviewing the document, […] more…Cisco IOx brings apps to network edge in latest Internet of Things play
First there was cloud computing. Now Cisco is going deeper with what it refers to as “fog computing.” The networking giant has unveiled a new platform, once again revolving around the Internet of Things. Tags: Cisco more…New 3D Printer by MarkForged Can Print With Carbon Fiber
Gregory Mark co-owns Aeromotions, which builds computer-controlled racecar wings. To make those wings both strong and lightweight, they use carbon fiber. No surprise there—it’s the material of choice for many advanced motorsports parts. The problem is that making custom racecar parts out of carbon fiber is daunting. The only real method available is CNC machining, […] more…AMD reveals its first ARM processor: 8-core Opteron A1100
AMD announced plans to build ARM server CPUs back in 2012. Today the company took a big step towards making those chips a reality, announcing that an 8-core ARM System-on-Chip would begin sampling in March. Tags: AMD ARM more…Cryptography experts pen open letter against NSA surveillance
The pressure on the US government to reform the NSA’s surveillance programs is growing. Apple, Google, and Microsoft all called for change last month alongside a petition from international authors calling for an end to mass surveillance. President Obama announced big changes to government surveillance programs, but most of them centered around the NSA’s bulk […] more…More information
- Resolved: Adobe Connect is slow
- Japan defence ministry investigating potential hack of next-gen missile details
- Samsung bringing 85-inch ultra high definition TV to CES
- China’s Salt Typhoon Hacked Critical Infrastructure Globally for Years
- Two highly dangerous OpenSSL security bugs have been patched
- Gain access to your PC without the logon password
- Microsoft attracting more interns as the company becomes ‘cool again’
- Making sense of the PS4 game lineup
- Apple reportedly plans on bringing back a more secure Touch ID for the iPhone
- Robot that was “busted” for buying drugs on the Dark Web is back