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"Bitcoin Internet Payment System (BIPS), a Denmark-based Bitcoin payment processor, suffered a denial-of-service (DDoS) attack."

"India has started using a system that allows security agencies and income tax officials to directly intercept phone calls and emails without any court or legislative oversight, Reuters reported this summer."

"There it is. If you run a business, and the FBI or NSA want to turn it into a mass surveillance tool, they believe they can do so, solely on their own initiative. They can force you to modify your system. They can do it all in secret and then force your business to keep that secret. Once they do that, you no longer control that part of your business. You can't shut it down. You can't terminate part of your service. In a very real sense, it is not your business anymore. It is an arm of the vast U.S. surveillance apparatus, and if your interest conflicts with theirs then they win. Your business has been commandeered."

"Now that we have finalized our systems for the acquisition and processing of Americans' location data (using data from cell phone and license plate readers as well as other sources), I wanted to give you a quick taste of our new system's capabilities in the domestic policing context."

"Mozilla, the foundation behind Firefox, an open-source web browser, wants Ousmane's customers to have the option of a device that speaks their language. Smartphones with its operating system (OS) are already on sale in 24 countries, including Bangladesh, India and Mexico, for as little as $33. Other countries will be added as it makes more deals with handset manufacturers. And Bambara is one of dozens of languages into which volunteer "localisers" are translating the OS."

"One prototype system that Wood has helped developed, called Second Skin, can be worn by patients with neuromuscular disorders to stimulate nerve activity and advance rehabilitation. He says that soft- and micro-robotic devices may one day be used inside the body to aid minimally invasive medical procedures."

"Security researchers have discovered a vulnerability in the system software used in millions of computers, opening the possibility that attackers could execute arbitrary commands on web servers, other Linux-based machines and even Mac computers."

"XKEYSCORE is a secret NSA program that indexes data slurped up from covert fiber-taps, hacked systems, and smartphones, including "full take" data and metadata. "

"In theory, when the conventional financial system is experiencing turbulence, alternative currencies such as bitcoin should have their time to shine. The decentralised nature of the currency means that it's impossible for any central bank to impose controls on it, while the pseudonymity at its core could make it the perfect vehicle to get money into and out of the country while avoiding legal reprisals."

"Many hope to reach the economically stable countries in northern Europe, and use WhatsApp's messaging system as a virtual road map to help them navigate their journey. They stick to groups of their countrymen, connecting through friends of friends. Unlike some other ways of communicating, WhatsApp is free, and only requires that the user have access to the internet."

New York healthcare provider, California's higher education system and the U.S. Department of Energy have become the latest targets of data bandits.

Energy storage has seen a new innovation from A123 Systems.

Recently at CES, Mr.Ballmer over-excitingly shows the Slate-PC which is a tablet with a screen on it which has the power to actually run their latest operating system, Windows 7. 

Wow here is an interesting and real use of augmented reality beyond all those silly games and iPhone apps...

Apple is slowly becoming a dangerous competitor again Microsoft, but the Windows operating systems still dominate the business world. What does this mean for Apple?

Be careful of articles like these as they are really dealing with business but not in terms of the technology or a social and ethical issue. Equality of access for these businesses is only a by product - unlike for something like the OLPC where it was the main issue...

"Hackers breached the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), the organization that coordinates unique web addresses all across the world, but luckily didn't hit the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority, an important leg that keeps the Internet running smoothly. Attackers used "spear fishing" to break into the system in late November, according to a post on ICANN's website this week. Staffers received email messages that appeared to be coming from ICANN's own domain; several ICANN staffers' emails were compromised."