Techno-politics

Anyone that follows the Associated Press on Twitter just heard “news” of an unprecedented national crisis. “Two Explosions in the White House and Barack Obama is injured,” the AP’s account tweeted moments ago. Thankfully onlookers were quick to call fake on the tweet, no doubt aided by the fact that no other news agencies are Continue Reading →

Google has been fined €145,000 (around $189,000) for what a regulator called “one of the biggest data protection rules violations known.” The fine comes after it was proved Google’s Street View cars illegally collected data from open Wi-Fi networks between 2008 – 2010. German prosecutors dropped criminal proceedings against the search giant last fall after Continue Reading →

Last week Vine made its debut in the political world with the fist 6-second animated attack ad. On Monday, the White House joined the Vine bandwagon, publishing its first Vine through its official Twitter account. The Vine was posted to announce the annual White House Science Fair, an event at which President Barack Obama invites Continue Reading →

Apple is agreeing to pay $53 million to settle a class action accusing the company of failing to honor warranties on iPhones and iPod Touches, according to an agreement obtained today by Wired. The settlement, (.pdf) set to be filed in a San Francisco federal court in the coming weeks, provides cash payouts to potentially Continue Reading →

It’s well known that it’s not okay to text while driving, and presumably the same should apply to tweeting, checking email or most other cellphone interactions. But what about checking driving directions or looking at a map? After all, lots of cars have built-in navigation systems, and plenty of those are touch-controlled. It’s still not Continue Reading →

A recently released Pew study declared, “The reaction on Twitter to major political events and policy decisions often differs a great deal from public opinion as measured by surveys.”  Sometimes Twitter reaction is more liberal than public opinion, sometimes more conservative, said Pew.  But when it comes to Twitter reaction regarding the 2012 elections and President Obama’s Continue Reading →

A federal appeals court has ruled that Aereo’s TV-anywhere service doesn’t violate copyright law, opening the door for the startup to expand a service that lets consumers watch television on their mobile device for as low as $1 a day. The decision amounts to a major victory for cord cutters and could hasten the end Continue Reading →

Apple’s application for the “iPad mini” trademark must be more descriptive if the US Patent and Trademark Office is going to approve it. A document from the USPTO surfaced online over the weekend, indicating that the office was unlikely to give Apple the trademark based on its initial description. Although some have interpreted the letter Continue Reading →

Google’s motto is “Don’t be evil.” But what would it mean for democracy if it was? That’s the question psychologist Robert Epstein has been asking in a series of experiments testing the impact of a fictitious search engine — he called it “Kadoodle” — that manipulated search rankings, giving an edge to a favored political Continue Reading →

For years, many a music fan has wondered what we first posited back in 2008: “Can I resell my MP3s?” After all, as we’ve pointed out in the past, nearly all digital good sales are really licenses rather than sales as conventionally understood. The question here is, can such a license be bought and sold Continue Reading →