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The password as we know it is in critical condition. These days, with big-name security breaches popping up seemingly as often as Justin Bieber scandals, we’ve had to try to find new ways to secure our online identities. One finger in the dike has been the “strong” password, or the practice of sprinkling numbers, symbols Continue Reading →

The Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board, a White House watchdog group that condemned the Obama administration’s phone surveillance program earlier this year, has released another report — and civil liberties groups aren’t happy about it. The report took on Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which the NSA, CIA, and FBI have Continue Reading →

The web-based integration service If This Then That, which is trying to tie your physical connected devices to your digital services (and everything to each other), now supports the Nest thermostat. Or rather the Nest thermostat, which is the subject of a new open developer program, now supports IFTTT. So now readers could geo-fence their Continue Reading →

“I have a weird question for you,” I stammered, sitting in a hotel room across from Matias Duarte and Jon Wiley, the Google design leads for Android and Search, respectively. As a reporter, you tend to ask a lot of stupid sounding questions, and it’s generally no big deal. But I was about to ask Continue Reading →

Facebook has just bought video ad tech startup LiveRail, which connects marketers to publishers on web and mobile to target 7 billion video ads to visitors per month. Facebook tells me it will invest in keeping LiveRail running and is evaluating how to intermingle their data, but it plans to use its use data to Continue Reading →

Ericsson recently used a whole lot of frequencies in the 15 GHz band to pack capacity into a wireless transmission in its lab in Krista, Sweden. The result: a whopping 5 Gbps connection and what Ericsson is calling a successful “5G” trial. 5 Gbps is definitely impressive, though Ericsson left out some key details that Continue Reading →

In a sign of growing consolidation in the digital music business, Google announced on Tuesday that it had bought Songza, a three-year-old app that competes with Pandora and others in making customized playlists of recommended songs. The price was not announced. But a person briefed on the deal, who was not authorized to speak about Continue Reading →

The Federal Aviation Administration is “significantly behind schedule” in its attempt to meet Congress’ September 2015 deadline for integrating commercial drones into U.S. airspace, according to an audit report. The report by the Department of Transportation’s Inspector General warns that the FAA will miss the deadline for adding drones, also known as Unmanned Aircraft Systems Continue Reading →

Microsoft has joined Qualcomm and other technology companies in a bid to establish standard ways for household devices like light bulbs and thermostats to talk to each other. The Qualcomm-backed AllSeen Alliance is among a growing number of efforts for companies working alone or in groups to promote protocols for how smart devices should work Continue Reading →

University of Virginia associate professor Kamin Whitehouse thinks people want to know where everyone is in their house: Who’s taking the long shower? Who left the air conditioner on when they left the house? “Today’s smart home sensors are about appliances, lights, and devices in the home, but not really about the people,” said Whitehouse. Continue Reading →