Pro Publica and the New York Times have revealed previously unknown details of the “highly collaborative” relationship between AT&T and the NSA. Helping them connect the dots were an obscure acronym and a 1996 story in New World.
A look back at the most memorable tech-related happenings of 1990.
When I read the quotes attributed to Google CEO Larry Page, I thought perhaps they were taken out of context. But you can listen for yourself starting at minute 16 of the video, or skip to the excerpts below.
If you've ever ridden a hot streak "too long" at a blackjack table or left in a huff after the dealer hit 21 three times in a row, then you are no better at gambling than a rhesus monkey.
I can understand why millionaire NFL team owners would lobby the FCC in an effort to dissuade that regulatory body from ditching its so-called "TV blackout rule." After all, the rule requires that 85% of an NFL team's ridiculously priced "non-premium" seats be sold or a game cannot be shown on TV (free or otherwise).
A look back at the most memorable tech-related happenings of 1989.
South Korean electric folds up to conserve parking space
The radio ad caught my attention: Microsoft is opening one of its new retail stores in the nearby Natick Mall on June 8 and the ceremonies will be followed by a free concert that evening by ... Weezer?
Followed by millions, they follow no one (or only one) in return
Sure, the headline gives away the answer, but if you had been asked to guess which state has the highest rate of reported identity theft you'd likely have chosen Florida: A large population of vulnerable retirees and a generally high crime rate all but guarantee the distinction.
Marketing consultant Mark Schaefer recently published a blog post headlined: "The best digital business idea that just never worked." It's about being at the SXSW conference recently and noticing that even that collection of digerati remains stubbornly dependent upon paper: paper programs, paper posters, paper flyers and paper name tags.
Twit Cleaner is a popular web app that has been used by hundreds of thousands of Twitter users to clear deadwood from their accounts.
From the No Good Deed Goes Unpunished Department: Security experts trying to tell a Pennsylvania hospital that a pile of its sensitive data belonging to staff -- and possibly patients -- was sitting exposed on the Internet were stymied for five days recently by the fact that no one at the medical facility would respond to their repeated warnings.
Episode 1: Last week the administrators of 7,000 university websites were being called upon to change their .edu domain account passwords after a server security breach. Trouble was that the breach had been reported to the admins by Educause -- the non-profit higher-education IT group that runs .edu -- via an email that some recipients complained bore the familiar markings of a phishing attempt.
An iPhone case that doubles as a cup holder? Looks positively ... well, ludicrous, doesn't it? Yet that detail didn't dissuade a fair number of journalists from covering the contraption's funding appeal on Indiegogo in an entirely too serious manner.