Big Content strikes back after a week of anti-SOPA protests, getting the US government to take down Megaupload and its bizarre founder, Kim Dotcom. Megaupload dominated the news in the week after the takedown, but our top stories in tech also include in depths look at how Amazon and Google handle "big data" and $25 Linux box that "outperforms the iPhone 4S GPU." As an eleventh story bonus, we feature the word "wombat" in a headline[......]
Archive for the ‘Software’ Category
Beyond Siri: simplifying commands Showing off to non-iPhone owning friends has never been easier. Pick up your phone in the pub, confidently say 'Siri, what's the circumference of the Earth divided by the radius of the Moon?' and barely seconds later, you're the only one there who knows the answer is 23.065. It's a magical experience, and a great toy. [......]
Here are some recent stories on TechCrunch Gadgets: A Really Nice Flying Ornithopter Video For Your Friday Enjoyment Disney, Q-pot Choco, Honey Bee: Japan Gets 3 Extra-Cute Android Phones Mujjo Conductive Gloves Let You Slide To Unlock With Your Begloved Knuckle [......]
Fernando Corbató at MIT in the 1960s. Was MIT's CTSS computer the first one to use passwords? If you’re like most people, you’re annoyed by passwords. [......]
The Windows release of Kinect is coming up in a couple days , but for most people that won’t be a major event: the Kinect they have is sitting on their TV or in a drawer, waiting to be taken out for an impromptu Dance Central 2 party. [......]
The man Microsoft accuses of creating the Kelihos botnet has contacted the BBC to say he is "shocked and surprised" by the accusation and will prove his innocence. Read More: BBC , Ars Technica Read the comments on this post [......]
We took a break from the Android round-up in December because, well, to be honest I was on vacation. But January gave us a few extra smartphones and the holidays are over, so we’re back. [......]
On almost any given day, Twitter receives a handful of requests to delete tweets that link to pirated versions of copyrighted content—and quickly complies by erasing the offending tweets from its site. That fact itself is probably unsurprising to people familiar with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) takedown process, which gives sites like Twitter a "safe harbor" against lawsuits related to user behavior and uploads—so long as the sites don't knowingly tolerate pirated material or links to such material. [......]
The thinking heads at Redmond envision laptop users shaking their rumps and gyrating in front of their notebooks in the not-too-distant future. [......]
The hardest part about watching a nerd fight is knowing which side to root for. Such is the position we find ourselves in as two security giants squabble over claims the other is making[......]
The Pirate Party of Catalonia is organizing the equivalent of a class-action lawsuit against the FBI in a Spanish court, claiming damages to legitimate users of the file-sharing site Megaupload. [......]
Over the vocal protests of opponents, 22 European nations signed the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) on Thursday. A statement by the Japanese foreign ministry, which hosted the signing ceremony, indicated that the remaining EU member states were expected to sign the agreement "on the completion of respective domestic procedures." The United States, Canada, Japan, and several other nations signed the agreement in October[......]
Big things might be in store for Motorola Mobility if Google's acquisition is able to proceed unabated, but for the fourth quarter of 2011, the mobile device maker posted a net loss of $80 million, albeit that figure is largely the result of write-off costs related to the proposed takeover. Still, it's a complete reversal of fortunes compared to the fourth quarter of 2010 when Motorola Mobility posted an $80 million profit. Net revenue totaled $3.4 billion in Q4 2011, falling flat compared to one year prior, and $13.1 billion for the full year, up 14 percent compared to 2010[......]
The Wii U brand is a bit underwhelming. At best it builds upon a very successive product. But at worst the name suggests its simply an add-on rather than a completely revamped system. [......]
Nintendo President Satoru Iwata announced a new digital network for the 3DS handheld and upcoming Wii U consoles that will finally bring the company's online operations up to par with its competitors, or so Nintendo hopes. [......]
