After Expanding To Android, Addappt’s CEO Breaks Down Its Growth Plans

Mrinal Desai, founder and CEO of Addappt, is betting that people need a better way to keep their cell phone contact information up to date. Addappt, a smartphone app — iOS and Android — syncs contact information between users, allowing for individuals to remotely update their data on the phones of their friends. (For a more detailed dive into how Addappt works, TechCrunch has… Read More

Tradeshift Takes Over All The Invoicing For The UK’s Health Service

E-invoicing platform Tradeshift has landed a partnership with a company which processes transactions for the UK’s NHS, one of the biggest public sector bodies in the world. The NHS Shared Business Services will be using the Tradeshift platform instead of processing 30,000 paper invoices daily. Tradeshift has made a speciality of winning big corporate clients including DHL, the French… Read More

Heartbleed-Weary Tech Firms Show OpenSSL a Little Love

Remember Heartbleed? Several weeks ago, the exposure of this security bug chilled the Internet, highlighting once again that even the seemingly unbreakable can be hacked. In the case of the Heartbleed vulnerability, encrypted data was at risk of theft. Sites potentially vulnerable to Heartbleed urged users to change their passwords. They ranged from Canada's Revenue Agency to Amazon Web Services to Yahoo to Reddit. Although angst waned following a massive patching effort, Heartbleed has emerged from its bunker.

Google Puts Cute Little Rides on the Road

Google this week unveiled a prototype that it will test on California roads to learn more about how to make safe and efficient autonomous cars a mainstream reality. For about four years, Google has been developing self-driving technology that could make the roads safer, and its newly revealed prototype is the latest step in the project. The tiny vehicle is reminiscent of a Smart car, except for the sensors on top. They're designed to eliminate blind spots and provide a view of more than the length of two football fields in all directions.

What To Expect At Apple’s WWDC 2014

Starting Monday, Apple will be unloading a week’s worth of news and resources for software makers at its annual Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco at the Moscone Center. Apple always kicks things off with a keynote at the beginning of the show, wherein it reveals new and exciting things for both developers and consumers alike. This year will be no exception, but what… Read More

The Real Reason Apple Bought Beats: Addiction

I get the sense that a good many Apple enthusiasts are confused by its acquisition of Beats Electronics. Sure, many are nodding their heads, saying that Beats is good for Apple and makes total sense. The headphones are selling well. With 250,000 paying subscribers, the Beats Music service is taking off fast, and it can only be elevated by Apple's global brand and infrastructure. However, there's an undercurrent of concern, too -- a bit of head-scratching and scrambling to make sense of what this really means.

Deepin's Functionality Is a Bit Too Shallow

Deepin Linux is something totally new. It is an Ubuntu-based distribution built around its own desktop environment called "DDE" or "Deepin Desktop Environment." The Deepin desktop design is snazzy yet simple to use. It is one of the first Linux distros to take advantage of HTML 5 technology. Add its home-grown applications such as the Deepin Software Center, Deepin Music Player and Deepin Media Player, and you get an operating system that is tailored to the average user.

Iranians Caught Cyber Snooping on High-Value US Targets

A cyberespionage campaign with links to Iran for at least three years has been targeting U.S. military and congressional personnel, journalists and diplomats, as well as U.S. and Israeli defense contractors and members of the U.S./Israel lobby, according to a new report from iSight Partners. Using more than a dozen phony identities on online social networks, the spy ring managed to rope into its web of deceit more than 2,000 high-value targets, harvesting credentials or planting malware capable of stealing data from infected systems.

Next on the Open Source Horizon: 3D Printing

3D printing is not yet a mainstream business activity, but the technology has progressed to the point where users can print three-dimensional objects and manufacture their own prototypes and replacement parts with relative ease. Three-dimensional printing is much more than a hobby industry today. Home users can download design files from websites and print a variety of products. Business users are creating functional products that let them jump-start their product lines with computer-assisted drafting software and desktop 3D printers.

Con Artist Harasses Aussie Apple Customers in Ransomware Attempt

Apple on Tuesday aimed to calm anxiety among its iCloud users with reassurances that the service hadn't been breached in a ransomware-style attack. "Apple takes security very seriously and iCloud was not compromised during this incident," reads a company statement. The referenced "incident" is a collection of reports on Apple forums by iPhone users, most of them in Australia, of early morning calls demanding they pay a ransom if they ever wanted to use their phones again.

Getting Away With Privacy Murder

Snapchat in May agreed to implement a comprehensive privacy program and be audited for the next 20 years to settle U.S. Federal Trade Commission charges that it had, among other things, lied to users when it said messages sent through its service would be erased after a designated period of time. However, Snapchat's privacy violation is infinitesimally small compared to the repeated violations perpetrated by major players such as Facebook and Google. Both companies repeatedly have flaunted privacy rules.

Iranian Court Wants a Word With Zuckerberg

Facebook cofounder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg has been summoned by an Iranian court over privacy-violation concerns, according to news reports on Tuesday. The court in question, located in Iran's southern province of Fars, reportedly also opened a case against Facebook-owned social networking services WhatsApp and Instagram and ordered that they be blocked. Either Zuckerberg or an appointed attorney must appear in court, an Iranian official told state news agency ISNA.

Payments Firm Swipely Raises $20M More As Its Processing Tally Crosses The $2B Mark

Payments company Swipely has announced that it raised a Series C round totaling $20 million. This round, led by the Pritzker Group and including previous investors Shasta Ventures and First Round Capital, brings the company’s tally to more than $40 million. Swipely had recently announced that its payment processing rate had doubled to $2 billion on an annual basis, but declined to… Read More

Next on the Open Source Horizon: 3D Printing

3D printing is not yet a mainstream business activity, but the technology has progressed to the point where users can print three-dimensional objects and manufacture their own prototypes and replacement parts with relative ease. Three-dimensional printing is much more than a hobby industry today. Home users can download design files from websites and print a variety of products. Business users are creating functional products that let them jump-start their product lines with computer-assisted drafting software and desktop 3D printers.

Con Artist Harasses Aussie Apple Customers in Ransomware Attempt

Apple on Tuesday aimed to calm anxiety among its iCloud users with reassurances that the service hadn't been breached in a ransomware-style attack. "Apple takes security very seriously and iCloud was not compromised during this incident," reads a company statement. The referenced "incident" is a collection of reports on Apple forums by iPhone users, most of them in Australia, of early morning calls demanding they pay a ransom if they ever wanted to use their phones again.

Apple May Connect the Smart Home of Your Dreams

The hottest tech rumor of the week is here, and it's only Tuesday: Apple is finally breaking into home automation -- connected lights, thermostats, security systems and home appliances. And the key? the iPhones that already are carried by millions of consumers. The rumor hit Monday, and it's exploded with a flurry of newsy posts and opinions. So where did it come from? And why now? The now is easy: Next week Apple will hold WWDC, the worldwide conference where it typically reveals new Mac OS X, iOS and developer-focused ecosystem initiatives.

CENTR Cam Is A GoPro Competitor That Captures Everything Around You

While smartphones have decimated the point-and-shoot camera market, the emergence of GoPro as a $1 billion company has shown that there’s still an audience willing to pay for a device that can take great footage at big events or during outdoor activities like hiking or snowboarding. But for most people, a $200+ camera is overkill when smartphones are increasingly capable of taking… Read More

Chinese Media: Cisco Is Playing on US Cyberspy Team

Cisco has been accused of being in bed with U.S. cyberspying efforts, according to a Chinese state media outlet. Cisco "carries on intimately" with U.S. spying apparatuses, the outlet claims, and plays "a disgraceful role" in efforts to prop up U.S. power over the Web. Cisco denied the accusations. Beijing definitely seems to have taken umbrage with last week's U.S. indictments of five members of China's People's Liberation Army, accused by the Justice Department of cyberespionage.

Enterprise Fund Notion Capital Gets Close To Startup Wiseguys Accelerator

London-based and enterprise-focused fund Notion Capital has announced it’s going to back the early stage Startup Wise Guys accelerator based out of Estonia. What does that mean? The form of this backing is going to be through the application process, program execution, mentoring and post program funding — in other words about €50,000 will go to the best team(s) that make it… Read More

China's Payback for US Hacker Indictments Begins

The Department of Justice last week unsealed indictments against five members of the Chinese military who were accused of hacking into the computer systems of U.S. companies to steal everything from trade secrets to confidential corporate correspondence. China's initial response was to deny any wrongdoing and charge that the U.S. had hacked into the systems of Chinese companies for purposes of espionage -- but Beijing wasn't finished there. Shortly thereafter, China announced that its government agencies would not be upgrading their Windows OS.

Iranian Court Wants a Word With Zuckerberg

Facebook cofounder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg has been summoned by an Iranian court over privacy-violation concerns, according to news reports on Tuesday. The court in question, located in Iran's southern province of Fars, reportedly also opened a case against Facebook-owned social networking services WhatsApp and Instagram and ordered that they be blocked. Either Zuckerberg or an appointed attorney must appear in court, an Iranian official told state news agency ISNA.

Apple May Connect the Smart Home of Your Dreams

The hottest tech rumor of the week is here, and it's only Tuesday: Apple is finally breaking into home automation -- connected lights, thermostats, security systems and home appliances. And the key? the iPhones that already are carried by millions of consumers. The rumor hit Monday, and it's exploded with a flurry of newsy posts and opinions. So where did it come from? And why now? The now is easy: Next week Apple will hold WWDC, the worldwide conference where it typically reveals new Mac OS X, iOS and developer-focused ecosystem initiatives.

Tales of Distros Tried and True

Well it was another tempestuous week here in the Linux blogosphere, thanks not just to the ongoing controversy over Systemd, but also the apparent arrival of DRM on none other than our favorite free and open source browser. "Mozilla holds its nose and supports DRM video in Firefox" is Linux Girl's favorite headline of the lot; "Can This Web Be Saved? Mozilla Accepts DRM, and We All Lose" is a close second. It's an emotional subject, no doubt. Luckily, we here in the blogosphere have a time-tested remedy for getting through tough times.

Sony, China Strike PlayStation Deal

Japanese electronics giant Sony has inked a deal in China to manufacture and sell PlayStation consoles in the Middle Kingdom. The partnership creates two joint ventures with Shanghai Oriental Pearl, which will enable Sony to operate out of Shanghai's free trade zone. China's early-2014 approval of videogame consoles from foreign companies, which reversed a years-long ban, requires that said companies operate out of the free trade zone. Chinese officials long have decried the erosive effects of videogames.

China's Payback for US Hacker Indictments Begins

The Department of Justice last week unsealed indictments against five members of the Chinese military who were accused of hacking into the computer systems of U.S. companies to steal everything from trade secrets to confidential corporate correspondence. China's initial response was to deny any wrongdoing and charge that the U.S. had hacked into the systems of Chinese companies for purposes of espionage -- but Beijing wasn't finished there. Shortly thereafter, China announced that its government agencies would not be upgrading their Windows OS.

Weev Talks About His Time In Prison And Why He Trolls

Andrew “Weev” Auernheimer would like you to try to understand him but doesn’t care if you don’t. He admits he’s a troll, he revels in it, and his efforts are, according to him, a form of comedy. Like Andy Kaufman with a keyboard, he wants to be subversive, insulting, and irrational. But his mission isn’t just to get a rise out of people. He’s… Read More

Microsoft Opens .Net, Hops on Devops Bandwagon

Microsoft recently established a .Net foundation and open sourced substantial parts of the popular programming language, continuing to spread its newfound love for open source software. However, it's another movement -- devops -- that may be more of a driving factor in Microsoft's .Net move. In establishing the independent .Net Foundation and making more key pieces of .Net open source, Microsoft was promoting collaboration and community, it said. Many open source technologies exist for .Net, including the recently released .Net compiler platform codenamed "Roslyn."

Fly Or Die: Microsoft Surface Pro 3

Forget everything you thought you knew about the Microsoft Surface tablet, as the latest generation of the Windows-powered Surface Pro is a clear step up from the Microsoft slates of yore. In terms of specs, the 12-inch tablet packs a Core i7 processor, and is thinner, lighter, and more powerful than anything Microsoft has put on the table. The Surface Pro 3 also sports a brand new… Read More

On The Set Of HBO’s “Silicon Valley”

Thanks to an unlikely series of events, I, a civil/environmental-engineer-turned-tech-media type, found myself on the set of HBO’s Silicon Valley last fall, serving as a consultant to HBO, which was trying to recreate a TechCrunch Disrupt in a Hollywood (well Culver City) studio. You probably don’t realize the insane amount of work that goes on before the actors show up in the studio. Read More

NASA Gives Space Archeologists OK to Put Old Craft Back to Work

A group of scientists and engineers have their sights set on re-establishing communication with a long-abandoned satellite, and NASA has given them the thumbs up to pursue the mission. The agreement is the first of its kind. The group is attempting to reboot the International Sun-Earth Explorer, a satellite originally launched in 1978 to collect information on the solar wind that streams toward Earth. The craft completed that mission in 1981 and got a new assignment. As the International Cometary Explorer, it was used to study two comets.

Surface: The Embodiment of Microsoft's Vision

Surface largely was the brainchild of Steve Ballmer, the last CEO of Microsoft, and it resulted from a similar thought process that created Zune. In other words, the OEMs weren't building a product that was competitive with Apple, and Microsoft got frustrated and felt it could do a better job. In both cases, the conclusion that ultimately should have been drawn was that OEMs alone weren't at fault. However, that didn't mean Zune had to fail -- nor does it mean Surface will fail. The latest iteration actually is quite good.

Minecraft Stakes Next-Gen Claim

Mojang on Thursday announced that its popular game Minecraft soon will be available to users of the Xbox One, Playstation 4 and Playstation Vita consoles. "Apologies for the delay, but putting Minecraft on new consoles is a serious business," explained Owen Hill, Mojang's chief word officer. All three editions are due to arrive in August. "Minecraft is unique amongst most other games," said Ted Pollak, a senior analyst for the gaming industry with Jon Peddie Research.

Croatian Incubator ZIP Poised To Raise A Fund Via Seedrs Crowd Equity

ZIP, a start-up programme based in Croatia, has decided to dump the idea of raising a fund via Limited Partners and has turned instead to equity crowd funding. And it’s poised to hit its target (here) of £50,000, raised through the UK-based Seedrs platform. ZIP is co-founded by entrepreneurs and angels Ivo Spigel, Mihovil Barancic and Sasa Cvetojevic and Damir Sabol, who successfully… Read More

Microsoft Opens .Net, Hops on Devops Bandwagon

Microsoft recently established a .Net foundation and open sourced substantial parts of the popular programming language, continuing to spread its newfound love for open source software. However, it's another movement -- devops -- that may be more of a driving factor in Microsoft's .Net move. In establishing the independent .Net Foundation and making more key pieces of .Net open source, Microsoft was promoting collaboration and community, it said. Many open source technologies exist for .Net, including the recently released .Net compiler platform codenamed "Roslyn."

NASA Gives Space Archeologists OK to Put Old Craft Back to Work

A group of scientists and engineers have their sights set on re-establishing communication with a long-abandoned satellite, and NASA has given them the thumbs up to pursue the mission. The agreement is the first of its kind. The group is attempting to reboot the International Sun-Earth Explorer, a satellite originally launched in 1978 to collect information on the solar wind that streams toward Earth. The craft completed that mission in 1981 and got a new assignment. As the International Cometary Explorer, it was used to study two comets.

China Calls for Increased Testing of IT Products

The ever-testy cyberstandoff between the U.S. and China got a new twist when Beijing announced that it would start "cybersecurity vetting of major IT products and services" used for national security and public interests. The vetting is designed to prevent suppliers from using their products to control, disrupt or shut down clients' systems, or from using the systems to scoop up information. Companies that don't pass muster will be barred from supplying products and services in China.

The Apple-ization of Microsoft's New Surface

Microsoft is positioning its new Surface Pro 3 tablet as a laptop replacement device -- instead of competing head-to-head with the Apple iPad. However, the Surface Pro 3 naturally invites comparisons to both the MacBook Air and the iPad Air. Plus, Microsoft has had plenty of time to smooth the rough edges from Windows 8 and build a more competitive mobile device... . So what's great -- or overblown -- about the Surface Pro 3? And can it really be a laptop replacement?

Minecraft Stakes Next-Gen Claim

Mojang on Thursday announced that its popular game Minecraft soon will be available to users of the Xbox One, Playstation 4 and Playstation Vita consoles. "Apologies for the delay, but putting Minecraft on new consoles is a serious business," explained Owen Hill, Mojang's chief word officer. All three editions are due to arrive in August. "Minecraft is unique amongst most other games," said Ted Pollak, a senior analyst for the gaming industry with Jon Peddie Research.

iMessage Flaw Bugs Apple

Apple vowed Tuesday to fix a persistent bug in its iOS mobile operating system that punishes former iPhone users. The flaw, which has been in iMessage since the release of iOS 5, prevents former iPhone users from receiving SMS messages from current users. Apple recently fixed a server-side iMessage bug that was causing an issue for some users, and it will provide an additional bug fix in a future software update, it said. Users still experiencing an issue were invited to contact AppleCare.

Iran Releases Fans Detained Over Music Video

Iran has released at least some of the people who appeared in a music video for a song by American pop artist Pharrell Williams. The video, set to the Williams tune "Happy," showed people dancing on rooftops of the capital of Tehran. The original video received more than 250 million views on YouTube, and spawned numerous alternate versions. It is not clear if all of the people arrested for making the Tehran-based video have been released or if they later will be put on trial. Their release reportedly was contingent upon posting a hefty bail sum.

Google+ Helps Prolific Photogs Tell Short Stories

Many shutterbugs are familiar with this bugaboo: They shoot scads of photos of a vacation or event, but they never quite get the time to put the pics in a form where they can be shared with friends and family. Google now has an app for that. It's called "Stories." Google on Tuesday added Stories to its Google+ social network. Stories "can automatically weave your photos, videos and the places you visited into a beautiful travelogue," said Product Management Director Anil Sabharwal. "No more sifting through photos for your best shots."

The Apple-ization of Microsoft's New Surface

Microsoft is positioning its new Surface Pro 3 tablet as a laptop replacement device -- instead of competing head-to-head with the Apple iPad. However, the Surface Pro 3 naturally invites comparisons to both the MacBook Air and the iPad Air. Plus, Microsoft has had plenty of time to smooth the rough edges from Windows 8 and build a more competitive mobile device... . So what's great -- or overblown -- about the Surface Pro 3? And can it really be a laptop replacement?

All Things Appy: 5 Best Firefox Themes

If you're a daily Internet user, there's a good chance that you're also a daily Internet browser user. If your choice is Firefox, you may be tired of its look -- it hasn't changed much recently. However, Firefox allows you to customize its background look with more than 300,000 themes. Plus, with complete themes, a more in-depth form of theme, you can separately personalize the address bar, buttons, menu, tabs and window frame. Following are the five best free mods you can perform on your Firefox browser.

Blue Pup Distro: Pride of the Puppy Linux Litter

It had to happen sooner or later. It turned out to be sooner. It is here. The Blue Pup Linux distro brings the Metro view to the Linux desktop. This arrangement is not a true Metro interface the likes of the much criticized Windows 8. Instead, it is a Puppy Linux derivative distro, or Pupplet, built around the Chromium Web browser with a Chrome extension. Blue Pup version 3 was released in late April. It uses a run-or-raise feature activated by toggling the left or right Windows key.

Google+ Helps Prolific Photogs Tell Short Stories

Many shutterbugs are familiar with this bugaboo: They shoot scads of photos of a vacation or event, but they never quite get the time to put the pics in a form where they can be shared with friends and family. Google now has an app for that. It's called "Stories." Google on Tuesday added Stories to its Google+ social network. Stories "can automatically weave your photos, videos and the places you visited into a beautiful travelogue," said Product Management Director Anil Sabharwal. "No more sifting through photos for your best shots."

Facebook Gets Nosier Than Ever

Facebook recently made it even simpler to pry into your friends' private affairs on the social network. Specifically, the Ask button -- which already has been available to those seeking more information about many other aspects of a given user's life -- now is an option when it comes to a user's relationship status as well. "This feature provides an easy way for friends to ask you for information that's not already on your profile," said MoMo Zhou, a Facebook spokesperson. "For example, a friend could ask where you work or for your hometown."

Founder Stories: Wanelo’s Deena Varshavskaya On The Evolution Of Being A CEO

Everyone knows starting a company and building it up into something is very hard. For Deena Varshavskaya, CEO of Wanelo (“wa-ne-lo” for want, need, love), the path is slightly more difficult being a solo and nontechnical founder building a company that has, to date, raised a decent chunk of financing from some of the Valley’s most savvy investors and grown into one of the… Read More

Google's EU Migraine Rears Up

Yeah, about that breakthrough between Google and European antitrust regulators... The European Union's antitrust chief might pursue a tougher stance on Google than the one outlined in a February agreement, which was believed to have end -- finally -- the legal circus between the two sides. Google had agreed to display rivals' links more prominently in its search results, a chief concern among European regulators. Joaquin Almunia, the EU's antitrust chief, hailed the EU-Google agreement as "far-reaching."

Airbnb Agrees To Provide Anonymized Host Data To New York Attorney General

Airbnb and the New York Attorney General’s Office announced this morning that they’ve come to an agreement around the AG’s subpoena seeking records for Airbnb hosts. The company says it will be sharing host data as requested, but with any personally identifiable information removed. The agreement appears to end the legal back-and-forth between the peer-to-peer lodging… Read More

All Things Appy: 5 Best Firefox Themes

If you're a daily Internet user, there's a good chance that you're also a daily Internet browser user. If your choice is Firefox, you may be tired of its look -- it hasn't changed much recently. However, Firefox allows you to customize its background look with more than 300,000 themes. Plus, with complete themes, a more in-depth form of theme, you can separately personalize the address bar, buttons, menu, tabs and window frame. Following are the five best free mods you can perform on your Firefox browser.

Highland Capital Partners Europe Closes €250M Tech Growth Fund

Highland Capital Partners Europe is perhaps best known for investments including Matchesfashion.com (London), GetYourGuide (Berlin), NewVoiceMedia (London), TalentSoft (Paris), Outfittery (Berlin), Wooga (Berlin) and AMCS (Limerick). It’s now announced it’s closed a sizeable Europe Tech Growth fund of €250 million, with nine investments since first close. This is a significant… Read More

The Inescapable Logic of Language Localization

Tailoring language translations for software documentation and GUIs can make or break an open source project. Localizing language is a unique undertaking, with a number of moving parts. Developers often have to choose between tight development cycles or less harried ones that might let competitors advance first. The process of translating language in releases for different target markets presents costly cultural and language translation barriers that often are beyond the financial abilities of the open source community.

A Walk Through The Surface Pro 3, Microsoft’s Ultralight Laplet

To top off our cavalcade of Surface coverage today, I present a very quick walk-through of the Surface Pro 3 with a special guest star. So far, the laplet (laptop-tablet) is quite an improvement over the original Surface. Make no mistake: This is a full PC. Read More

Facebook Gets Nosier Than Ever

Facebook recently made it even simpler to pry into your friends' private affairs on the social network. Specifically, the Ask button -- which already has been available to those seeking more information about many other aspects of a given user's life -- now is an option when it comes to a user's relationship status as well. "This feature provides an easy way for friends to ask you for information that's not already on your profile," said MoMo Zhou, a Facebook spokesperson. "For example, a friend could ask where you work or for your hometown."

Microsoft Boldly Goes Bigger With Surface Pro 3

Microsoft has unveiled its latest iteration of the Surface tablet at a New York City event. The Surface Pro 3 is slightly larger, with a screen size of 12 inches diagonally, instead of the 10.6 inches of previous models. It is also thinner, at 0.36 inches, and weighs a mere two pounds. The Surface Pro 3 will sport such business-essential software as Photoshop, which has been adapted to be compatible with the device's hardware. Its chief selling point, though, is the Surface Pro 3's ability to serve as both a laptop and a tablet, Microsoft said.

Hackers Paint Bull's-eyes on Cybercurrencies

Another digital currency was brought to its knees last week when the administrators of Doge Vault had to suspend operations after they discovered their online wallet service had been attacked by hackers. Following an investigation of the incident and the reconstruction of some of their damaged information from a backup, the administrators contacted users. "After salvaging our wallet, we have ascertained that around 280 million Dogecoins were taken in the attack, out of a total balance of 400 million kept in our hot wallet," they said.

Anonymous Philippines Harasses China

Anonymous Philippines, the Philippines branch of the hacktivist collective Anonymous, defaced more than 200 Chinese websites over a territorial dispute between the two countries. The group announced the move on its Facebook page, offering a detailed list of all websites it had infiltrated. The hacking spree stems from the dustup over Scarborough Shoal, also known as "Huangyan Island," which sits between the China and the Philippines in the South China Sea. The dispute has been going since 2012, but has intensified of late.

'I Am Google': Pride Comes Before a Fall

Last week, I observed repercussions from one of the most arrogant moves I've ever seen an executive make. A small uproar occurred when Google's CTO learned there were fewer people than he'd expected at an event he'd volunteered to speak at. As he stormed out, he uttered the immortal words, "I Am Google," to the event organizer -- whom he apparently thought was a booth babe, which in itself is troubling. The incident prompted a massive Twitter firestorm with #IAMGOOGLE going viral, and his name is now synonymous with "jerk."

US Toughens Stance on Chinese Cyberspying With 5 Criminal Indictments

The U.S. Justice Department on Monday kicked up a notch the Obama administration's efforts to curb China's economic espionage activity against American businesses. A grand jury indicted five members of the Chinese army on DoJ allegations they conspired to hack into the networks of U.S. companies to steal information that would be useful to their competitors in China. The case "represents the first ever charges against a state actor for this type of hacking," said U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder.

Survios Snaps Up $4M To Lead The Next Generation Of Virtual Reality Tech

Survios, a San Francisco startup that aims to pioneer the next-generation of virtual reality (VR) technology, has raised $4 million in series A funding. The round, which was reported this morning by VentureBeat, was led by Shasta Ventures, whose founder Rob Coneybeer will be joining Survios’ board of directors. Also participating in the round were Mavent Partners’ Michael Chang, World… Read More

Hackers Paint Bull's-eyes on Cybercurrencies

Another digital currency was brought to its knees last week when the administrators of Doge Vault had to suspend operations after they discovered their online wallet service had been attacked by hackers. Following an investigation of the incident and the reconstruction of some of their damaged information from a backup, the administrators contacted users. "After salvaging our wallet, we have ascertained that around 280 million Dogecoins were taken in the attack, out of a total balance of 400 million kept in our hot wallet," they said.

Russian Rocket, Satellite Don't Quite Make It

A space-bound satellite designed to provide Internet access to remote regions in Russia and neighboring states was destroyed when its ride blew apart mid-flight. The Proton-M rocket, affixed with a European-built Express AM4R satellite, seemed to be doing well until nine minutes into the flight, when it exploded some 93 miles above Earth. The exact cause of the crash apparently was not known, but the head of the Roscosmos, the Russian space agency, said that preliminary information suggested an "emergency pressure drop in a steering engine."

The Neverending Systemd Saga

In the Linux blogosphere, controversies come and go like the wind, leaving a trail of broken chalk and empty whiskey bottles in their wake. Most pass quietly into the annals of time of their own accord, however, so when a luminary such as Eric Steven Raymond weighs in with an opinion, it's a safe bet there's something big going on. That's what happened in March on the topic of Systemd, and the conversation recently surfaced again. "I find myself faced with a dilemma," wrote systemDead in a post entitled, "Practical Alternatives To Systemd?"

Xiaomi Serves Up Apple-Flavored Mi Pad

Xiaomi fired a new salvo in its attempt to compete with major names like Apple and Samsung as it introduced its first tablet, the Mi Pad. The 7.9-inch Android device -- which has the same-size surface as the iPad mini -- uses an Nvidia quad-core Tegra K1 processor and will be manufactured by Foxconn, cofounder and CEO Lei Jun announced. The Mi Pad includes 2 GB of RAM, WiFi connectivity, and either 16 GB or 64 GB of on-board storage, though it can support up to an additional 128 GB of storage through microSD connectivity.

'I Am Google': Pride Comes Before a Fall

Last week, I observed repercussions from one of the most arrogant moves I've ever seen an executive make. A small uproar occurred when Google's CTO learned there were fewer people than he'd expected at an event he'd volunteered to speak at. As he stormed out, he uttered the immortal words, "I Am Google," to the event organizer -- whom he apparently thought was a booth babe, which in itself is troubling. The incident prompted a massive Twitter firestorm with #IAMGOOGLE going viral, and his name is now synonymous with "jerk."