Google Fined in Australia for Automated Search Result Suggestions
What do you do when Google suggests you are associated with criminals? Sue them, of course. A man in Australia has sued Google (and won) for defamation after having his name linked to mobsters and career criminals.
In 2004 Milorad Trkulja was shot in a restaurant. Much of the press assumed that it was a professional hit, and that Trkulja was a criminal, too. Five years later, Trkulja confronted Google about the fact that a search for his name still linked him to criminals, which he claimed was defamation.
Google, of course, pointed out that the content...
New Battlestar Galactica Series Streaming Online, for Free, Legally
Good news for those waiting for the next installment of the Battlestar Galactica universe: the show is finally here. Battlestar Galactica: Blood and Chrome focuses on the exploits of a young Admiral Adama back in the first Cylon war. At that time, he was little more than a hotshot Viper pilot, but we know what's in store for him. The series promises to bring the space fights and action, if it gets picked up for a full season.
As it is now, the show is getting the same treatment Sanctuary did: several short episodes streamed online that, if...
Wired Editor-in-Chief Chris Anderson Leaves for Drone & Robot Startup
Wired has been a staple of the tech scene for decades. Thanks to the efforts of Chris Anderson, who has been controlling the content for the last 11 years, the magazine has managed to remain relevant in a world extremely toxic to the magazine. And now he's leaving, off to do something else amazing.
That next amazing step happens to be 3D Robotics, a new startup company that sells drones and drone parts to amateurs at home. As the airways are opened up and restrictions relaxed, we're likely to see far more drones take to the sky. ...
Disney Buys Lucasfilm, New Star Wars Coming 2015
Are you a Star Wars fan? If so, you might want to brace yourself. Disney, the company that brought you Pirates of the Caribbean, Tron, and other live action films, has decided to purchase Lucasfilm. Not only that, they have decided that Lucasfilm is going to go ahead and make a Star Wars 7 regardless of whether George Lucas ever intended to or not.
So how do you fall on this? So far, reaction to the news seems split. Half the people are excited that we'll be seeing a new Star Wars movie, one that has...
Self-Published Ebooks Triple over course of 5 Years
Need more proof that ebooks are changing the way that business is done? Take a look at this stat: self published ebooks have tripled over the last 5 years. Yes, that's right, books published digitally, often without a traditional publisher, have grown 287% since 2007. That's a tremendous statistic.
Lest you think that this number is meaningless, because ebooks accounted for very little of the market in 2007, well, ebooks now account for 43% of all published books in 2011. And that ebooks grew by only 129% between 2006 and 2011, so most of that growth has...
Foxconn Admits to using Child Labor
We've suspected that Foxconn isn't the fine, upstanding company they purport themselves to be. After all, the company came to the public's attention after a slew of suicides and riots. But now we have confirmation that the company has been using underaged laborers.
China prevents children under the age of 16 from working at places like Foxconn. And yet, when the company did an internal investigation, trainees were found as young as 14, two full years younger than labor laws permit.
Foxconn, for their part, did report this situation to the press as soon as it came to light....
Antivirus Industry Preps for Supervirus Attacks
It's no secret that there's a cyberwar going on. First, the US hit Iran with Stuxnet, a virus that caused extensive damage to the country's nuclear program. Then, another party released Flame, a virus that, while technically simpler than Stuxnet, brought in one critical innovation: a built-in language interpreter. Now we've seen variations on both viruses making rounds, wreaking damage and attacking financial institutions. People are, understandably, nervous.
Which is why Kaspersky has decided to make their own operating system just for utilities. With a complete focus on security over features, it will be limited, but...
Buy Kindle Ebooks? You're probably getting a refund!
Remember that price fixing case that Apple and a bunch of major publishers faced? Well, it looks like things are coming to a close. Amazon shot out an email letting us know that we should be getting a refund on some of our book purchases "as a result of legal settlements between several major e-book publishers and the Attorneys General of most U.S. states and territories."
The publishers have apparently agreed to refund a small amount on each purchase made at the artificially inflated book price, which means you can expect between $0.30 and $1.32 back on your purchases....
Sprint to be Bought by Japan's Softbank
Sprint is a massive player in the global telecom game, but it might not be for much longer. The telecom giant is confirmed to be in talks with Softbank, telecom from Japan. The estimated price? $12 billion.
The rumors first started flying this morning, when the Wall Street Journal, Reuters and several other smaller news sites all got a hold of confidential information about the talks. Then, just a little bit ago, the two companies confirmed it with a press release. Not much information was given, but the press release did confirm that the two companies...
Consumer Groups worry about Crowdfunding Companies
Kickstarter and its ilk have revolutionized financing small projects. But until next year, it is illegal to finance a company through similar methods. It is a leftover from the Great Depression, when fraudsters spun up phoney businesses and solicited cash from thousands of people. Congress has passed a law rolling back the restrictions, finally opening up crowdfunding to greater enterprises.
But not everyone is happy about that. Several consumer advocate groups have come out against the change, claiming that the new rules will lead to 'chaos.'
Now, to be fair, their complaints aren't strictly about crowdfunding, but about...
Congressional Report Claims ZTE, Huawei 'Cannot be Trusted'
Huawei and ZTE both manufacture telecom equipment. They are both quite good at it, but there is a catch: they're Chinese companies. And, according to Congress, that means they are a security risk. Or at least, that was the finding of a 11-month investigation. The report was to be published today, but Reuters managed to get a copy early.
According to the report, ZTE and Huawei refused to cooperate with investigations, didn't explain their relationship with the Chinese government, and were subject to "credible allegations" of "bribery, corruption, discriminatory behavior and copyright infringement."
Many details seem to have...
Starbuck Supporting Square Wallet Starting this November
Well, this could make my daily coffee easier. Starbucks has announced that it will be supporting Square Wallet starting early this November in 7,000 of its stores. In addition, Starbucks will be investing $25 million into Square to help flesh out the product and reduce the company's processing fees.
For those not in the know, Square Wallet is an app from Square--the same company that created those miniature credit card processing phone accessories that have taken the world by storm-that lets you pay for things without ever having to take out a credit card, wallet, or even a phone....
Apple Shuts Ping Down
Bid farewell to Apple's first attempt at social networking, Ping. The music-oriented social network shut down today, surely to the dismay of all ten of its users.
It seems like a rare thing when Apple fails. Their hardware is hotly coveted, their software widely respected. Even their one hobby, the Apple TV, has had success thanks to a redesign to a streaming media player. Ping, however, was a utter failure, one that never managed to find an audience.
Ping was first announced back in 2010, at a special even focused on music. It was supposed to be...
Instagram now sees more traffic on Mobile than Twitter
The mobile phone has long been Twitter's dominion--the social network's short-form content is perfect for the mobile phone, being easily created and digested on even the smallest screen.
But another social network has managed to take over Twitter's traffic, and it's one you might not have expected. Instagram now sees more daily users than Twitter.
Instagram has exploded in popularity. Even as soon as last March, Instagram had as few as 1 million daily users. That compared to Twitter's user count of just shy of 6 million. Over the intervening months, however, Instagram has had exponential growth. ...
Apple Had a Year Left on its Google Maps Contract
So, Apple's hot new mapping product kinda sucks. That's alright. Google was sticking it to them, right? They had no choice! Turns out, that's wrong. According to The Verge, Apple still had a year left on its mapping contract with Google. They could have taken another year to finish their product, to make it like the Apple products of yore: complete.
And yet they chose not to, choosing instead to force people to use their broken, incomplete, and fairly unuseful mapping solution instead.
Now, there were some points of concern. Google wasn't shipping turn-by-turn directions...
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