Technical News - 19 Dec 2011

• 5 Leadership Lessons From Tim Tebow's Game-Time Audio
  December 18, 2011
  Guest post written by Kevin Kruse
  
• North Korean leader Kim Jong-il dead, son hailed as heir
  December 18, 2011
  SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korean leader Kim Jong-il died of a heart attack while on a train trip, state media reported on Monday, sparking immediate concern over who is in control of the reclusive state and its nuclear program.

  

  
  
• Exclusive: Secret U.S., Taliban talks reach turning point
  December 18, 2011
  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - After 10 months of secret dialogue with Afghanistan's Taliban insurgents, senior U.S. officials say the talks have reached a critical juncture and they will soon know whether a breakthrough is possible, leading to peace talks whose ultimate goal is to end the Afghan war.

  

  
  
• Google and Airtel share what Indians searched in 2011
  December 18, 2011
  It is that time of the year.
  
• S.F. Financier Warren Hellman Dies At Age 77
  December 18, 2011
  The San Francisco financier Warren Hellman died Sunday evening from complications related to leukemia, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. He was 77.
  
• Lenovo-backed Game Console for China Hit by Delays
  December 18, 2011
  The launch of a Lenovo-backed video game system for China is being delayed again in order to make improvements to the product, according to a spokesman with the...
  
  
  
  
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  December 18, 2011
  
  
• Coinstar: Too Cheap?
  December 18, 2011
  Looks for a Monday bounce for shares of Redbox parent Coinstar, after a bullish profile of the company in Barron's over the weekend by my friend Andrew Bary.
  
• Blast At Pegatron Factory In Shanghai Injures 61 Workers
  December 18, 2011
  An explosion Saturday at a Shanghai plant run by a subsidiary of electronics manufacturer Pegatron has injured 61 workers, sending 23 to the hospital, Reuters reported early Monday.
  
• MIT to offer labs, certificates to virtual students
  December 18, 2011
  BOSTON (Reuters) - The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is developing technology that will allow students taking courses online to use simulated labs, interact with professors and other students, and earn certificates.

  

  
  
• North Korean Dictator Kim Jong Il Dead at 70
  December 18, 2011
  
  
  As reported by numerous sources, Kim Jong Il has died at the age of 70 (69 by some tallies), after 17 years as the brutal head of North Korea. While the cause of death is uncertain, Bloomberg News says "Kim probably had a stroke in August 2008 and may have also contracted pancreatic cancer, according to South Korean news reports."
  Read more of this story at Slashdot.
  
  
• MIT to offer labs, certificates to virtual students (Reuters)
  December 18, 2011
  Reuters - The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is developing technology that will allow students taking courses online to use simulated labs, interact with professors and other students, and earn certificates.
  
• 'Occupy' Should Target Apple, Former SF Mayor Brown Says
  December 18, 2011
  Clearly, former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown is part of the 1%.
  
• Another Billionaire Joins Space Race
  December 18, 2011
  Richard Branson has one. So do Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk. Those wealthy entrepreneurs all have spaceflight companies. Now add Microsoft billionaire Paul Allen to the list.
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• The Lord Gave To NYC Tech Start-Ups And Universities, And The Lord Hath Taken Away
  December 18, 2011
  Big news out of New York City: Stanford pulled out of Bloomberg's applied sciences university "competition" after Cornell got an enormous donation, leaving the upstate university the front runner to build a new campus, likely on Roosevelt Island. This comes with up to $100 million in state subsidies, plus free land and invaluable planning acquiescence.
  
• Online holiday spending rises 15 percent: comScore (Reuters)
  December 18, 2011
  Reuters - Consumers spent $30.9 billion toward online purchases during the current holiday season, a 15 percent increase from the year-ago period, as shoppers took advantage of free shipping and other online deals, according to comScore.
  
• BT Files Patent Suit Against Google
  December 18, 2011
  British Telecommunications has filed a civil suit in a Delaware court alleging that some Google products and services including Android, and its search, music...
  
  
  
  
• Eurozone to pursue crisis action, Fitch doubts outcome
  December 18, 2011
  BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The euro zone will tackle its debt crisis this week by offering more cash to the IMF and long-term liquidity to banks, while moving toward tighter fiscal rules, after ratings agency Fitch cast doubt on its capacity to respond decisively.

  

  
  
• Samsung expands patent row with Apple in Germany
  December 18, 2011
  SEOUL (Reuters) - Samsung Electronics has filed new claims in its patent war with Apple Inc over alleged patent infringements in Germany, a spokesman for the company said on Monday.

  

  
  
• App makers rushing to beat Apple's holiday deadline
  December 18, 2011
  On Thursday, says The New York Times, Apple will let its app reviewers go on an eight-day holiday break. That means anyone wanting to get something new into the App Store in time for the holidays had better think about pulling an all-nighter.
  
• Files on Manning's computer linked to WikiLeaks site
  December 18, 2011
  FORT MEADE, MD (Reuters) - Classified files downloaded to the computer of Army intelligence analyst Bradley Manning matched those that later showed up on WikiLeaks, an investigator testified on Sunday, the first time the government has linked Manning to the whistleblowing website.

  

  
  
• Philippines mulls mass graves after typhoon kills hundreds
  December 18, 2011
  CAGAYAN DE ORO, Philippines (Reuters) - Disaster agencies Monday rushed to deliver body bags, food, water, and medicine to crowded evacuation centers in the southern Philippines as officials considered digging mass graves for hundreds killed in weekend flash floods.

  

  
  
• Apple supplier Pegatron reports blast at Shanghai plant
  December 18, 2011
  TAIPEI (Reuters) - Apple Inc supplier Pegatron Corp reported a small explosion at a subsidiary's plant in Shanghai over the weekend that it said had injured 61 workers, the latest in a series of incidents that have spotlighted safety concerns at factories in China.

  

  
  
• Cool Effect on Google Search with Let It Snow
  December 18, 2011
  Type let it snow in Google Search. Snow will start trickling down the Google search page.
  
• MapReduce For the Masses With Common Crawl Data
  December 18, 2011
  
  
  New submitter happyscientist writes "This is a nice 'Hello World' for using Hadoop MapReduce on Common Crawl data. I was interested when Common Crawl announced themselves a few weeks ago, but I was hesitant to dive in. This is a good video/example that makes it clear how easy it is to start playing with the crawl data."
  Read more of this story at Slashdot.
  
  
• Report: Apple Stalking TV Market
  December 18, 2011
  Did Apple founder Steve Jobs figure out a way to reinvent the TV for the Internet age before he died? We may soon find out. 
  
• British Telecom sues Google over Android (and almost everything else)
  December 18, 2011
  The world's oldest telecoms company, BT, is suing Google over... well, pretty much everything, from Android to Google Maps, and even at the core of the company: Google Search.
  
• Voice-controlled Apple TV in the works?
  December 18, 2011
  Apple has its sights on a TV set that will incorporate voice commands and wireless streaming, sources tell The Wall Street Journal.
  
• Crew fled with life vests as packed Indonesian boat sank
  December 18, 2011
  SYDNEY (Reuters) - The crew and captain of an Indonesian boat packed with illegal immigrants grabbed life vests and swam away as it sank during a heavy storm, leaving more than 200 passengers missing, Australian media reported on Monday.

  

  
  
• AT&T, T-Mobile asset sales talks go cold: report
  December 18, 2011
  NEW YORK (Reuters) - Talks over potential asset sales as part of AT&T Inc's efforts to get approval of its $39 billion purchase of T-Mobile USA have gone cold, according to The Wall Street Journal on Sunday.

  

  
  
• Apple briefs media execs on TV plans
  December 18, 2011
  Apple sees its devices controlling and Apple TV and executing content handoffs between its various products.
  
• News to know: Julian Assange, Goodbye 'open' web, and what was Google's top search?
  December 18, 2011
  News to know -- December 12-18: A look back at the news from London, the UK and wider Europe, on all the bits that were missed during the week's coverage.
  
• Touchless phones 'to be out soon'
  December 18, 2011
  Gesture-controlled devices are just around the corner
  
• Dell Ditches Netbooks
  December 18, 2011
  
  
  angry tapir writes "Dell has ceased production of Inspiron Mini netbooks; in effect ending its pursuit of the receding netbook market, at least for consumer sales. When Dell ran through its stock of the netbooks several months ago, it declined to manufacture more units."
  Read more of this story at Slashdot.
  
  
• 2011: The year Android had Multiple Personality Disorder
  December 18, 2011
  In 2011 Google's Android brought us splits in versions, open source commitment, carrier and OEM implementations, preferred device vendors and application ecosystems.
  
• British Telecom sues Google over Android, other services
  December 18, 2011
  The venerable telephone company claims that Google's Maps, Search, and Google+ infringe on six of its patents.
  
• Hello World On PS Vita, Thanks to Buffer Overflow
  December 18, 2011
  
  
  YokimaSun writes "Mamosuke, a PSP Homebrewer from Japan, has posted the first Hello World on the PS Vita which comes from the PSP Emulator in the console. Using a buffer overflow, he has found a way into the PSVita, and with many PSP Game exploits still around and not published for the whole homebrew and hacking community this means that in the short term homebrew is here on the PSvita. Lets hope this is the start of a true PSVita homebrew scene."
  Read more of this story at Slashdot.
  
  
• Cyberbullying: Can we just blame the kids?
  December 18, 2011
  Most of Generation Y have come in contact with cyberbullying. We often blame the problem on teenagers alone - but is this actually the case?
  
• Google wants you to buy a Chromebook: Should you? (Review)
  December 18, 2011
  Google really, really wants you to buy one of the newly reduced in price Chromebooks. Is it worth it?
  
• How To Thwart the High Priests In IT
  December 18, 2011
  
  
  GMGruman writes "You know the type: They want to control and restrict any technology in your office, maybe for job security, maybe as a power trip. As the 'consumerization of IT' phenomenon grows, such IT people are increasingly clashing with users, who bring in their own smartphones, use cloud apps, and work at home on their own equipment. These 'enemies' in IT are easy to identify, but there are subtler enemies within IT that also aim to prevent users from being self-sufficient in their technology use. That's bad for both users and IT, as it gets in the way of useful work for everyone. Here's what to look for in such hidden IT 'enemies,' and how to thwart their efforts to contain you."
  Read more of this story at Slashdot.
  
  
• Everybody pirates: RIAA, Homeland Security caught downloading torrents
  December 18, 2011
  Since the release of a website that monitors nearly 20 percent of all public BitTorrent downloaders, even more pro-SOPA figures have been found downloading copyrighted material.
  
• New Apple ad says Siri-reliant Santa is a slob
  December 18, 2011
  A new Apple ad, one that doesn't even mention the iPhone 4S, shows Santa relying on Siri as his one, indispensable little helper.
  
• Cartoon: SOPA Opera
  Oh, SOPA - you do know how to hold an audience. The Stop Online Piracy Act (or the Shut Off Pretty much Anything act, depending on your perspective) has been delayed with Friday's adjournment of the House Judiciary Committee, and exactly when a vote might be scheduled is still up in the air. And less than two weeks after I ran a cartoon here about Reddit's popular AMA (Ask Me Anything) discussion threads, committee member Rep.
  
  
  
• Apple needs a better App Store refund method
  December 18, 2011
  My personal experience with Apple's refund policy and App developer assistance. I also offer a solution, if anyone's listening.
  
• Facebook gives Timeline to iPhone users
  December 18, 2011
  App update also gives mobile users access to their friend lists, subscribers, and subscriptions.