Category: Biz Tech

Short takes and quick hits for the week of November 11-17, 2016. 'Yahoo is not safe to use,' former company engineer says Posted December 16, 2016 14:10 PSTAn absolutely brutal article in The Parallax by

Solid examples of IoT applicability are sometimes hard to articulate. But agriculture provides a use case that is quite concrete, even if in rural environments. (via PCMag)

Lady Gaga has just released a brand-new music video for the track "Million Reasons" from her recently released album Joanne. The clip for the emotional tune has already racked up millions of views and is currently one of the top trending videos on YouTube. Gaga's "Million Reasons" Promotional Push The release of a video for "Million Reasons" follows the singer's performances of the song on a wide range of media outlets, including Saturday Night Live, The Howard Stern Show on SiriusXM Radio, her

In 2009, my TV cable bill went over $100 a month, and I decided enough was enough. I cut my cable. It wasn't easy then. The internet streaming devices were primitive, and

General Motors seems determined not to get sidelined by the recent flurry of announcements in the self-driving car category such as those issued by Waymo and Uber. GM's Chairman and CEO Mary Barra presided a rare press conference last Dec. 15 to declare that GM's autonomous vehicle called Chevrolet Bolt is now prowling the streets of southeast Michigan. Fleet of self-driving Bolts have already been unleashed in San Francisco and Scottsdale, Arizona. Like other fully autonomous vehicles such as the UberX, the Bolt vehicles

Lately, there has been discussion of a "blurring" of Agile methodologies with design thinking. These are two philosophies with different terminologies, practiced by different groups of people, that have the same goal -- to provide

South Korea's IT export for November rose 3.3 percent compared to a year ago thanks to semiconductors and displays, the country's trade ministry has said.The rise ends 14 straight months of decline caused by the rise

A drone pilot has captured rare footage of several killer whales ganging up on a single shark and devouring it while it was still alive. Slater Moore was touring California's Monterey Bay with the Monterey Bay Whale Watch (MBWW) on Tuesday, Dec. 13, when they came across two adult killer whales and two calves at sea. The sea creatures appeared to be busy eating something, so Moore decided to fly his drone to check and see what they were nibbling on. Moore and

Commissioner of Taxation Chris Jordan has announced an independent review into the "unprecedented failure" of the Australian Taxation Office's (ATO) storage hardware that took its online services offline earlier this week.The ATO's website, tax agent, and

If you or someone on your holiday list wants flagship smartphone at a discounted price, B&H has some great deals to check out. The retailer is offering the Samsung Galaxy S7, S7 edge, LG G5, Google Nexus 6P, and free extras as part of its holiday sale. ( Samsung )For anyone looking to get a great deal on some of the most popular flagship smartphones, B&H has got you covered. The retailer is offering steep discounts on handsets such as the

The National Australia Bank (NAB) has taken "full responsibility" and apologised for the sending of personal data of 60,000 customers to an "incorrect email address".The email contained each customer's name, address, email address, branch and account

The Food and Drug Administration warned, Dec. 14, that repeated or long term use of general anesthesia or sedation drugs for children, who are younger than three years old or pregnant women, who are in their third trimester could affect the child's developing brain. The warning is the result of a comprehensive analysis of the most recent research in the field, according to the agency. Anesthesia And Brain Development In Infants FDA issued a drug safety communication to inform people who are medical care

(Image: file photo)Evernote is walking back proposed changes to its privacy policy, which would have allowed its employees to read users' private notes.The company said in a blog post late Thursday that it will not implement

The Australian government has tweaked its digital transformation agenda in a new digital roadmap for 2017, which will see the enhancement of services such as myGov, reforms to health and aged care, improvements to its service

Women who regularly take painkillers may place themselves at increased risk of damaging their hearing. Findings of a new study have revealed that taking just two ibuprofen or paracetamol pills weekly for more than six years would be enough to cause hearing loss. Ibuprofen, Acetaminophen And Risk Of Hearing Loss For the new study, researchers looked at the data of more than 54,000 women who were between 48 and 73 years old. By analyzing the participants; use of aspirin, ibuprofen, and acetaminophen, as

Adobe delivered strong fourth quarter financial results Thursday as the company continues to push an aggressive cloud strategy toward record-setting revenue growth.

Users will soon deem switching to Periscope unnecessary for livestreaming purposes, with the recent introduction of a new in-app feature that will let Twitter users stream live video directly from the Twitter app. Make no mistake; it's still Periscope's handiwork, only now more streamlined. Go Live On Twitter Starting Wednesday, Dec. 14, any Twitter user can now start their own broadcast by tapping the "Live" button housed inside the compose screen on the Twitter app for iOS and Android. Instead of being whisked

US intelligence officials have acknowledged that Russia worked to influence the outcome of the US election, and the New York Times has an excellent rundown of what occurred. It's a fascinating look at what might be a blueprint for future electoral meddling. But perhaps the most startling fact is that something as large, complex, and arcane as an American election was attacked without touching a single voting machine. We're now fighting an information war. Hacks and Leaks As NPR noted in October,

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler announced Thursday that he will step down on January 20 -- inauguration day for incoming US President Donald Trump. Wheeler was appointed to the top position at the FCC more

A drug used in treating narcolepsy could help food addicts lose their weight, reports a recent study. Some people are addicted to food not only because of lack of self-control but also because they could be physically addicted to fat and sugar. Generally, when delicious food is eaten, there is a strong release of dopamine in the reward points of the brain, indicating the feeling of pleasure. Addiction For Food People addicted to food often have deficiency in certain type of dopamine, which leads

Everyone is gaga over the idea of frictionless grocery shopping: tap your phone on a turnstile device upon entry, retrieve food from the shelves, and walk out; your bill is charged to the credit card connected to your device. No waiting in line; no chit chat as your groceries are rung up. In other words, say hello to Amazon Go, which will be tested in Seattle starting next year. I am not as enthusiastic about this idea as most others, and

NASA's Curiosity rover, currently studying Martian mountains for ancient environmental changes, has zeroed in on wet environments and their evolution over billions of years. The new data indicate that past environment in Mars was supportive of microbial life though the exact time frame is up for debate. This was mooted by NASA and Los Alamos National Laboratory researchers at the American Geophysical Union meeting in San Francisco. "There is so much variability in the composition at different elevations, we've hit a jackpot," said John

The Australian Minister for Communications Mitch Fifield has called on the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) to only declare domestic mobile roaming if there is an overwhelming case for it, and not simply as a

Last week, the Library of Congress (LOC), the nation's largest library, announced a partnership with the Digital Public Library of America, the nation's largest digital library. The first fruits of that collaboration—5,000 maps from the Revolutionary War, Civil War, and panoramic map collections—are available immediately, with many more to come. However, you don't have to be an historian or cartographer to appreciate why this partnership is a big deal. The Library of Congress isn't just the nation's de facto library, but

The time people spend playing Pokémon GO does not count as a workout, according to new research. The team analyzed the effort and the movement of players, reaching the conclusion that the physical activity done while hunting Pokémon does not add much to the overall movement requirements for an adult. According to the World Health Organization, people need to do a lot more exercising than what playing Pokémon GO involves. Pokémon GO Doesn't Enhance Physical Activity Significantly Pokémon GO has registered more than 500 million downloads since July

The AWS cloud now has 42 Availability Zones in 16 regions but the two empty circles in France and China represent the location of two more regions coming online next year.

Pokémon GO is all jazzed up with new Pokémon, but you have to hatch some eggs to get the new baby pocket monsters. Niantic released the first major update to Pokémon GO on Dec. 12 as expected, rolling out the highly anticipated content expansion complete with some new Pokémon to boot. The update drew some criticism because players were expecting more Pokémon and additional features, but Niantic has yet to address complaints. Until it does, here's how to get a hold of the new Pokémon

Telstra is addressing the skills shortage in the technology sector through the launch of their Business Technology Services (BTS) academy, which will see a handful of new recruits trained as security or network specialists by the

Daydream, Google's platform for virtual reality, is one of the new features that were included in the Android 7.1 Nougat update. Through Daydream, users will be able to watch 360-degree videos, play VR games, and watch movies in a VR cinema, when used alongside a compatible VR headset. However, the current devices that are compatible with Daydream are only Google's Pixel and Pixel XL smartphones, along with the Moto Z, Moto Z Droid and Moto Z Force Droid of Motorola, cutting off

China's Ministry of Culture on Tuesday ordered all operators of live streaming platforms in China to apply for a permit from relevant authorities, which shall clearly state that its business scope includes "online performance".The new requirement

The Google self-driving car has already split from the search company after Alphabet decided that it should be a separate entity with its own business unit under Alphabet, Google's parent company. It also assumed a new name and it is now called Waymo. These fresh developments signify that the driverless car is nearly poised for official launch. To get things going further, Alphabet has appointed John Krafcik as Waymo's CEO. He used to head Hyundai North America and is now steering

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has advised the Minister for Communications Mitch Fifield that an allocation limit be placed on the upcoming April auction of remaining 700MHz spectrum.In advice released by the Department of

Blizzard has released the Winter Wonderland update for Overwatch, bringing the holiday spirit into the massively popular multiplayer shooter with the new seasonal event. An invitation was sent out last week by Blizzard to all Overwatch gamers in the form of a GIF featuring a snow-capped version of the King's Row map, a few weeks after discovered sound files in the game hinted that a holiday event could be coming. The Winter Wonderland update has now arrived, bringing with it holiday loot boxes, a