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Tech devices in your home could be spying on you

February 21, 2017March 3, 2017

We’re living in a digital world where being connected is critical to almost everything we do. Some of the tech devices inside homes could be spying on you and tracking every move you make, but there are some things you can do to stop it. Tech experts say technology today is watching, copying, and even sharing that information and you may not realize it. From teapots to toasters to refrigerators, is your technology spying on you? Jerry Irvine, a member of Homeland Security’s Cyber Task Force says home technology is…

Verizon to buy Yahoo for $250m less as deal to go ahead despite data breaches

February 20, 2017March 3, 2017

Verizon will press ahead with plans to buy Yahoo despite the two historic data breaches the internet giant revealed it had suffered last year. The US telecoms giant Verizon has renegotiated its $4.8bn (£3.85bn) deal to buy Yahoo to pay around $250m less in the wake of the record-breaking cyber attacks, according to Bloomberg. The sale, which was due to go ahead in the first three months of 2017, was delayed and almost derailed after Yahoo revealed hackers had stolen details from around 1.5bn accounts in two separate attacks back in 2013 and…

Google’s AI Duet lets you make music with a virtual pianist

February 17, 2017 Dianne Jacobs

Google’s latest artificial intelligence experiment is a music-playing piano bot that digests whatever keyboard melodies you give it and tries to respond in kind. The neat tool is called Artificial Intelligence Duet, and it’s part of an ongoing push from Google’s Creative Lab division to help the public familiarize themselves with AI and all the ways it can mimic human behavior — and even create art. According to the Verge, a collection of music-focused Artificial Intelligence tools were first shown off last fall, but now AI Duet in particular has…

Microsoft Outgrows the Cloud Competition

February 17, 2017March 3, 2017 Staff Writer

As security continues to improve and enterprises increasingly move from on-premise data centers and infrastructure to the cloud, Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) and Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) are positioned to soak up the largest shares of the unfolding market. A report from IDC estimates that public cloud spending will increase from $70 billion in 2015 to $140.1 billion in 2019 that’s a lot of potential business up for grabs for service providers. Amazon currently has a big lead in the space thanks to its multi-year head start, but Microsoft’s Azure offers comparable service and is…

Yahoo paying small price for big hacks

February 16, 2017March 3, 2017 Staff Writer

Yahoo is on the verge of cutting the price of its core-business sale to Verizon Communications by $250 million to $350 million, less than a 10 percent discount to what was originally agreed, according to media reports. That would be a small price to pay for massive hacks that affected over 1 billion users’ account data reports Reuters. In an effort to add online value to its increasingly commoditized telecommunications business, Verizon acquired onetime internet darling AOL and last July agreed to buy $40 billion internet company‘s advertising and search…

Chinese tech giant Baidu bets on AI and virtual reality

February 16, 2017 Dianne Jacobs

Several tech giants and visionaries have been rallying around artificial intelligence (AI) and augmented and virtual realities (AR/VR) as the next big developments in technology. The Chinese online search giant Baidu Inc embarked on this strategy as it announced its first venture capital firm focusing next-generation technologies, such as artificial intelligence, augmented reality and virtual reality. According to a recent report by China Daily, the new company Baidu Venture, will mainly focus on early-stage AI, AR and VR projects. In an official statement Baidu says that new venture company will…

The Internet of Things has Inspired a New Startup Niche

February 15, 2017March 3, 2017 Staff Writer

The Internet of Things has hugely expanded the number of home security products on the market reports The Entrepreneur. Computers were pretty much the only devices that connected to the internet some years back. These days, that idea is a fairytale. The reality is an incredible number of products are now connected to the web, from refrigerators to watches, clothing, cars, thermostats, light bulbs, and alarm systems. By 2020, an estimated 20-plus billion items will belong to the so-called “Internet of Things” (IoT). The Internet of Things has made possible unprecedented innovations in home…

Google ordered to pay $20M for ripping off anti-malware patents in Chrome

February 15, 2017March 3, 2017

Google has been ordered to pay $20m damages after its Chrome browser was found to have infringed four anti-malware patents. According to The next web, Google is tremendously dedicated to improving its Chrome browser, but it appears the search engine giant might’ve gotten a little carried away in the process – and now it has to pay the piper. A District Court in Texas ordered the tech giant to spew out $20 million in damages for infringing four anti-malware patents in Chrome. The verdict was delivered on Friday following a jury…

Apple granted patent for fingerprint-reading touchscreen

February 15, 2017March 3, 2017 Staff Writer

Apple has been granted a patent for an “interactive display panel with IR diodes” — a method that would let users activate a device through a virtual home button placed within the touchscreen. The technology, described in a filing made public Tuesday by the US Patent and Trade Office, could replace the physical home button that’s traditionally occupied the space below the iPhone’s screen reports The Cnet. The patent says, “Exemplary methods and systems use a micro light emitting diode (LED) in an active matrix display to emit light and…