In one of the more headscratching hires of recent times, Google has hired 4chan’s founder Chris Poole. The man known online as “moot” will work on Google’s social media offerings, notably Google +. At its most basic, 4chan is simply an image posting board with particularly relaxed rules on content and user identity, but it’s […]
The Department of Defense has challenged computer experts to hack the Pentagon. However, you’ll have to register first or face serious consequences. The idea is to run a more crowdsourced versions of programs where businesses and government agencies ask “white hat” hackers to test their cyberdefenses. Whereas those often involve a flat fee, the DoD […]
Just 27 years after Nintendo’s Power Glove, Sony has patented its own gaming glove. The patent documents also reveals the PlayStation virtual reality headset could be a standalone console. The details come in three patent filings that have just been approved and publicly published. One is for a device with a working title of “Glove […]
The head of Wikimedia’s parent organization has resigned over plans to create a search engine. Contributors were upset about both the move itself and a lack of transparancy over the plans. Lila Tretikov announced her departure as executive director of the Wikimedia Foundation, the non-profit organization that oversees a range of websites, most notably Wikipedia. […]
Google is offering to protect news sites large and small from DDos attacks. It’s extending Project Shield, which was originally only for selected websites. The free service launched a few years ago for around 100 sites which had limited tech resources but were at particular risk of such attacks, including those highlighting human rights and […]
An Australian prisoner who denied having a cellphone has produced evidence to the contrary — via his rectum. The Triple murderer is in a Supermax facility and has repeatedly breached bans on owning cellphones, including at one point updating his Facebook status. After the latest handset sighting, the man denied having a handset even after […]
You’d think delegates at Mobile World Congress would be security conscious with their phones. However, one security firm says it found more than 2,000 users who fell for a pretty basic trick. Avast researchers went to Barcelona, host city for the event, and set up three Wi-Fi networks in the airport at a peak time […]
HTC has announced its Vive virtual reality headset will cost $799, making it clear the idea is to compete on quality rather than price. The cost is $200 more than the Oculus Rift, though the package does include two controllers, something that will carry a separate charge for Oculus. The package will also include two […]
The Federal Communications Commission says cable TV companies should not force customers to rent a cable box but instead let them use third party equipment if they want. It’s an attempt to achieve a goal set down in law 20 years ago. Way back in 1996, the Telecommunications Act set down a requirement for the […]
Researchers say they could put the text of every book every written onto a single glass disc that will outlive the human race. But hopefully they’ll find some more practical uses. The University of Southampton’s Optoelectronics Research Centre believe the disks could be a way of archiving large collections of data in a theoretically permanent […]