Gadget Ogling: A Touchless Thermometer, Flashing Audio, and a Mesmerizing Mattress Cover
JoyWing's Wishbone is a fancier thermometer than what you or I will have seen on any trip to the doctor. It's a smartphone attachm...
Gamergate Bleeds Into Wikipedia
The Gamergate controversy, which centers on sexism and sexual violence in the video game industry, has made things hot for Wikipedia, whos...
Google Gives WebView the Cold Shoulder
Google has decided not to fix vulnerabilities in WebView for Android 4.3 and older, sparking heated discussions among developers. Those ve...
SpaceX Video Stirs Excitement for Falcon Heavy
SpaceX on Thursday released a computer-generated animation demonstrating how the three Falcon 9 cores of its Falcon Heavy rocket, schedule...
Canada Levitates Data from File-Sharing Sites
Canada's spy agency, the Communications Security Establishment, has been eavesdropping on 102 free file upload sites, including Sendsp...
There's a GHOST in Linux's Library
Patches for GHOST, a critical vulnerability in glibc, the Linux GNU C Library, now are available through vendor communities for a variety ...
Tech-Savvy Cubans Build Their Own Private Internet
Because Cuba's government makes it difficult for all but a handful of Cubans to access the Internet, people in Havana and other parts ...
POS Terminals Rich Vein for Gold-Digging Hackers
Hackers are like gold miners. Once they find a rich vein for their malware, they mine it until it's dry. Point-of-sale terminals are s...
Oculus VR's Story Studio to Create Cinematic Virtual Reality Experiences
Oculus VR on Monday unveiled a new project at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah. Oculus Story Studio will produce movies in vi...
Wikileaks Steamed Over Google's Lengthy Silence on FBI Snooping
Google may have contributed to violating the First Amendment rights of three journalists working for WikiLeaks two and a half years ago, w...
Debian Forked: All for Devuan and Devuan for All?
A group of developers made good on their threats to fork Debian Linux late last year, after the community's leadership voted to replac...
Walk Like a Man: The DARPA Robotics Challenge
The humanoid Atlas robot made by Google company Boston Dynamics has gotten an overhaul to be stronger, lighter and more independent, and t...
Microsoft's Windows Reboot Could Be Legendary
I was one of the launch analysts for Windows 95, and the launch of that product is widely held -- including by Bill Gates -- as the compan...
Gadget Ogling: A Microsoft Marvel, an Eensy Keyboard and an Ingenious Desk
Microsoft had a major surprise up its sleeve for those awaiting details about the Windows 10 launch: its holographic headset, HoloLens. Bi...
Zenwalk Linux - A Walk on the Quirky Side
The developmental path and sketchy developer website may cast an unfavorable impression about Zenwalk's trustworthiness as a serious c...
The Brave New World of Windows 10
Microsoft on Wednesday unveiled a slew of new features and capabilities coming in Windows 10: the convergence of the desktop and mobile; t...
Quinn's Crash Override Combats Cyberbullying
Crash Override made its official debut last week, promising a new way to support people who become the targets of online bullying and hara...
Acer Designs Chromebooks for Students' Rough Handling
Acer on Wednesday announced two new ruggedized Chromebooks geared for classroom use. Both will go on sale in February. The Acer Chromebook...
Could Microsoft's Foggy Windows 10 Plan Be Any Smarter?
The most important and daring move that Microsoft made Wednesday is far and away making the upgrade to Windows 10 free. Seems dirt-simple ...
Ubuntu Aims to Make the IoT Snappy
Canonical on Tuesday unveiled Snappy Ubuntu Core, a new rendition of Ubuntu targeting the Internet of Things. Snappy Ubuntu Core offers a ...
Microsoft Just Handed Us Our Holographic Future
Microsoft on Wednesday announced Windows Holographic, a feature in Windows 10 that will let users create their own holograms and print the...
Verizon Offers Connected-Car Service Even Beaters Can Use
Verizon last week unveiled a new connected-vehicle service at the Detroit auto show. Verizon Vehicle, which will go live this spring, will...
Businesses Waste Big Bucks Fighting Phantom Cyberattacks
Businesses spend an average of $1.27 million a year chasing cyberthreats that turn out to be dead ends. That is one of the findings in a r...
From the Blogosphere With Love: A FOSSy Farewell
The past week has afforded plenty of fodder for conversation here in the Linux blogosphere: the MintBox Mini; the Steam for Linux file-del...
Sid Meier's Starships on the Horizon
2K Games and Firaxis have announced Sid Meier's Starships , an interstellar strategy game of exploration and conquest. It will arrive ...
Keeping Score in the Google vs. Microsoft Zero-Day Games
Google's recent publication of Windows' vulnerabilities -- two within a week -- predictably raised Microsoft's ire. "Risk...
Adobe Opens Lightroom's Door to Android
Adobe last week released an Android mobile app as a companion to its Lightroom desktop application and cloud service. Lightroom is a photo...
Warning Sony of Coming Storm Wasn't NSA's Department
The United States National Security Agency reportedly knew in advance that North Korea was about to hack into Sony's systems. The NSA ...
Fuel Cells, EVs, Autonomous Driving Shape Auto Industry's Future
The North American International Auto Show, held in Detroit, last week held a preview for industry insiders and the media before opening i...
What If IBM's Rommetty and Apple's Cook Were to Swing for the Fences?
IBM's z13 mainframe launch last week brought back a lot of memories, because I was at IBM when the era of the mainframe collapsed. I a...
Gadget Ogling: A New Galaxy, Awesome Audio, and One Ring That Doesn't Rule
Welcome to Gadget Dreams and Nightmares, the column that takes freshly announced gadgets out for a hypothetical test run, rendering judgem...
Texas May Be Ground Zero for Musk's Hyperloop Dreams
Billionaire high-tech entrepreneur Elon Musk has announced plans to build a test track, most likely in Texas, for his envisioned Hyperloop...
Xiaomi Launches Galaxy Note Killers in China
Xiaomi on Wednesday announced two new flagship smartphones in Beijing, the Mi Note and the Mi Note Pro. The Mi Note has a metal frame and ...
3 Reasons Apple Won't Pull the Rug Out From Under GoPro
Despite having the most popular camera on the planet in the form of the iPhone, the odds of Apple pulling the rug out from under GoPro by ...
Virtual Traffic Lights Could Revolutionize City Driving
The average American worker spends almost half an hour commuting each day, but virtual traffic lights could cut that almost in half. If tr...
Cameron Takes Hard Line on Encrypted Communications
UK Prime Minister David Cameron, who is standing for re-election, has vowed to ban personal encrypted communications apps such as WhatsApp...
Microsoft's 'Spartan' Browser Will Bulge With Features
Rumors about Microsoft's new browser, code-named "Spartan," have been heating up: It will be an app; no, it will not. It wil...
Facebook Adds Amber Alerts for Missing Kids
Facebook on Tuesday announced that it has begun a new effort to help find missing children by incorporating Amber Alerts into the news fee...
Google Translate App Gets Silver Tongue
Google on Wednesday released a new version of its Translate app for Android and iOS. The app now lets users instantly translate text in fo...
Google's Project Ara Smartphone Puzzle Is Coming Together
Google has shed fresh light on Project Ara, its modular Android smartphone initiative, including plans to pilot the project in Puerto Rico...
Sony Sortie's Smoking Gun Still Missing
Recent research from security firm Cloudmark has raised doubt about the purported connection between North Korea and last November's i...
Loving Linux in a Touchscreen World
Well it was a fairly quiet week here in the Linux blogosphere, as much of the mainstream tech world staggered directly out of their New Ye...
The Convoluted Trail Linking North Korea to Sony
FBI Director James Comey has "very high confidence" that North Korea was behind last November's cyberattack on Sony, he said...
LG's WebOS: 3rd Time's the Charm?
LG turned up at last week's CES with a smartwatch that apparently runs webOS. LG used the watch to unlock an Audi at the show. "L...
Google Translate to Convert Talk to Text
Google soon will update its Translate mobile app to render words spoken in popular languages into written text, according to reports. This...
Volkswagen, Ford Win Vehicle of the Year Laurels
Volkswagen's Golf has been named the 2015 North American Car of the Year, and Ford Motor's F-150 is the 2015 North American Truck/...
The Secret Stories of CES
By this time, you likely are getting a bit sick out of folks talking about wild new products that won't be on the market for weeks or ...
Gadget Ogling: A Swank Walkman, a Brainy Grill, and Oh, So Much More From CES
Welcome to the year's first edition of Gadget Dreams and Nightmares, the column that offers infallible opinions on the latest gadget a...
Researchers Turn Computer Into Poker Shark
A computer program dubbed "Cepheus" has solved the game of poker, researchers at the University of Alberta announced. The Comput...
Google Joins Charlie Hebdo Solidarity Movement
Google has donated nearly $300,000 to help French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo make its largest print run ever, following the massacre ...
