NSA uses Google cookies to pinpoint targets for hacking
The National Security Agency is secretly piggybacking on the tools that enable Internet advertisers to track consumers, using “cookies” and location data to pinpoint targets for government hacking and...
One standard to sync them all: AllSeen Alliance forms to accelerate Internet of Things adoption
Eighteen months ago, Qualcomm SVP Rob Chandok succinctly explained how the internet of things had failed. Instead of working together, manufacturers designed their smart televisions and appliances …
Apple launches 2013 “12 Days of Gifts” app on iTunes, available in U.S. for the first time
Apple has just launched its annual 12 Days of Gifts campaign for 2013. In previous years, this campaign was available only in a few select countries, but not in the United States.
Twitter Apps Updated With New Swipeable Design And Photo Support In Direct Messages
Today, Twitter has announced an update to its apps that bring a renewed focus on direct messaging. The app now features a direct link to DMs in the tab bar and allows you to send photos inside direct...
Facebook Wants to Be a Newspaper. Facebook Users Have Their Own Ideas.
Most people think of Facebook in a similar way: It's a place to share photos of your kids. It's a way to keep up with friends and family members. It's a place to share a funny, viral story or LOLcat...
The Pirate Bay Moves to .AC After Domain Name Seizure
A few hours ago Pirate Bay users were shocked to discover that their favorite torrent site was no longer loading. — Without warning the nameservers were removed from thepiratebay.sx domain, making i...
Pandora for iOS gets an alarm clock for waking up to your favorite station and new design for iOS 7
Pandora today updated its iOS app with a new alarm clock feature and a design just for iOS 7. You can download the new version now directly from Apple's App Store.
Apple's iTunes Radio Hires Sales Exec From Cumulus Media
Former Cumulus Media Exec Michael Pallad Started Last Week — Apple's iTunes Radio has poached a top radio ad exec as it prepares to offer the service widely to advertisers in 2014. — Former Cumulu...
Nokia's “Normandy” phone uses a forked variant of Android, a la Kindle Fire
This is Nokia's Android phone — Codename Normandy is ‘full steam ahead’ — Nokia has been building its own Android phone according to multiple sources familiar with the company's plans.
Windows Threshold may have options to run metro apps in windowed mode, bring back start menu
Further Changes Coming in Windows “Threshold” — After previous revelations about Windows “Threshold,” a release we might think of as Windows 8.2, some more information has emerged about Microsoft's ...
Yahoo Tells SEC: 31% Of Our Revenue Comes From Microsoft
Yahoo has revealed in a US Securities & Exchange Commission filing that nearly one-third of its revenue last quarter — 31% — came from its search deal with Microsoft, according to a Bloomberg report.
How Does Apple Really Feel About Bitcoin?
Over the past couple of months, there have been a few Bitcoin app rejections by Apple that have made some waves. First, the venture-backed startup Coinbase had its app removed entirely from the App S...
Apple patents tech for making curved touch surfaces, displays
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on Tuesday awarded Apple a patent that describes a method for forming curved touch sensors with high structural rigidity, suggesting the company is experimenting w...
New documents show how the NSA infers relationships based on mobile location data
Everyone who carries a cellphone generates a trail of electronic breadcrumbs that records everywhere they go. Those breadcrumbs reveal a wealth of information about who we are, where we live, who our...
Yahoo acquires QuikIO, yet another startup to add to its video team
Early this morning, the creators of a little known but excellent cross-platform video streaming app called QuikIO sent a farewell note to its users. After December 31, the “FedEx of media files” woul...
Android Action Bar overflow changes could mark beginning of the end for hardware menu button
When Android started making the move away from hardware buttons, and giving manufacturers the option to present users with fully on-screen virtual buttons, it sounded like we were moving towards …
Chromecast gets Plex, Vevo, RealPlayer, Viki and more with massive app update
A few months ago, a developer source told me that Google planned to release apps for its Chromecast streaming stick in waves. Well, guess what: The first wave is here, and it's a massive one …
Fred Wilson On Bitcoin, Unbundling, Data Leakage And Health Care
During the 10th edition of the LeWeb conference in Paris today, New York-based investor Fred Wilson explained the “mega trends” that currently influence which companies he invests in. — Wilson stres...
Vuzix develops Google Glass-like smart glasses — but with superior optics and standard eyeframes
but with superior optics and standard eyeframes — Vuzix says it has superior optics for augmented reality glasses. The M2000AR is aimed at industrial markets. — Vuzix is unveiling an optical techn...
Step aside iBeacon, Qualcomm has low-cost Gimbal Proximity Beacons
Apple's iBeacon is already tracking where you are in Apple Stores in order to present a more personalized experience. It's not the only game in town though. Qualcomm's Gimbal Proxmity Beacons are no...
Dell joins the Chromebook club with the Dell Chromebook 11
This 11-inch laptop, running Chrome OS, is targeted at schools. — Dell is officially announcing its first Chromebook on December 11. The system, to be called the Dell Chromebook 11 (HP also has a s...
DARPA makes games of finding software vulnerabilities
DARPA creates a set of games that covertly search for software vulnerabilities — The U.S. Department of Defense may have found a new way to scan millions of lines of software code for vulnerabilitie...
Amazon's Kindle FreeTime Becomes An Even Better Babysitter
Kindle FreeTime, Amazon's parental control software built into its line of Kindle Fire devices, is being upgraded ahead of the holidays …
NimbleTV Brings TV Everywhere to New York, Without Permission From the TV Industrial Complex
Want to watch the TV you've already paid for, anywhere you want to watch it, whenever you want to watch it? — You can't. * But NimbleTV says it can change that.
Google Makes Creating Online Exhibitions Easy For Anyone With Google Open Gallery
Google has been working with museums to populate its Google Cultural Institute, an online collection of virtual exhibitions from around the world. Today, it's opening up that project to anyone who wa...
“We cannot trust” Intel and Via's chip-based crypto, FreeBSD developers say
Developers of the FreeBSD operating system will no longer allow users to trust processors manufactured by Intel and Via Technologies as the sole source of random numbers needed to generate cryptograph...
Three hops from one phone number may let NSA analyze sizable proportion of US phone records
MetaPhone: The NSA Three-Hop — Co-authored with Patrick Mutchler. — MetaPhone is a crowdsourced study of phone metadata. If you own an Android smartphone, please consider participating.
Promotion in the App Store
Two interesting articles last week, better together. — First came TheInformation's1 maiden piece about How Apple Gives Some Apps an Edge (subscription required): … The next day came news that Cut th...
Firefox 26 arrives with Click to Play for Java, new Home screen plus Bing and Yahoo search options on Android
Mozilla today officially launched Firefox 26 for Windows, Mac, Linux, and Android. Additions include Click to Play turned on by default for all Java plugins, more seamless updates on Windows …
Samsung has shipped 10 million Galaxy Note 3 devices since its launch 2 months ago
Samsung announced today that the Galaxy Note 3, its latest large-screen so-called ‘phablet’ device that follows on from the successful Note and Note II, has just surpassed 10 million units in shipment...
EU warns Nokia not to become ‘patent troll’
Europe's top regulator has warned Nokia not to try to become a “patent troll” after the Finnish company sold most of its cellphone-making business to Microsoft Corp. this year but retained its patent ...
HP EliteBook Folio 1040 G1 Sports Pressure-Sensitive Touchpad
HP is refreshing its line of EliteBook Folio notebooks with its thinnest addition to the family yet- the 1040 G1. The 14-inch $1,299 laptop, which is available starting today, measures just 15.9 mm t...
Mad Catz now shipping its $249.99 ‘Mojo’ Android game console
Mad Catz has officially joined the crowded field of Android-based game consoles. The company has announced that its $249.99 Mojo box is now shipping. The device — which we previewed back at E3 in Ju...
Google Scraps Plan to Build Hong Kong Data Center
Internet giant Google Inc. has scrapped a plan to build its own data center in Hong Kong and will instead expand its facilities in Taiwan and Singapore. — “While we see tremendous opportunity and po...
Online backup service SugarSync moves to paid-only model
SugarSync, which has offered 5GB of free capacity since its founding, today announced it will only offer that as a trial and that all capacity after the trial will have to be paid for. — SugarSync, ...
Microsoft Releases 3rd Generation Of Photosynth, Turns 3D Images Into Video-Like Experiences
Microsoft this morning lifted the veil on the next generation of Photosynth, its 3D image technology, with the release of a technical preview of the new Photosynth.
Microsoft's Socl social network gets iOS, Android and Windows Phone 8 apps
The Microsoft Research team launched Socl in beta form a little over a year ago — and yes, it is still very much alive. Now, Redmond's experiment could potentially have a more extensive reach …
Snowden document shows Canada set up spy posts for NSA
CSEC conducted espionage activities for U.S. in 20 countries, according to top-secret briefing note — A top secret document retrieved by American whistleblower Edward Snowden reveals Canada has set ...
New York Asks Cellphone Carriers to Explain Why They Rejected Antitheft Switch
SAN FRANCISCO — New York State's top prosecutor is investigating why American cellphone carriers have yet to embrace antitheft software on Samsung smartphones, raising questions about possible coordin...
FCC halts AT&T plan to raise Internet prices on Sprint and other rivals
The Internet. It's just a series of tubes. — Kendrick Erickson — The Federal Communications Commission yesterday halted a plan by AT&T to raise prices for “special access” customers, a potential ...
Stealth Networking Startup VIPtela Raises $33 Million From Sequoia
There's a new stealth mode company to start watching in the software-defined networking space, and it is already raising some significant money. — Sources familiar with the matter tell AllThingsD th...