While most sectors of the economy are tanking and the consumer electronics industry, in particular, has been hit by massive layoffs and plant closures in the face of disasterous big-ticket item sales, the game console industry has come through relatively unscathed. So, we should not be surprised to hear, in the midst of general doom […]

The annual Internet Enemies Report by anti-censorship organization Reporters Without Borders (RWB) paints a gloomy picture of the status if Internet freedom worldwide. The 39-page Report lists 22 ‘offenders’,and singles out a dozen of them for special disdain… The 12 ‘Enemies of the Internet’ – Burma, China, Cuba, Egypt, Iran, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Syria, […]

Internet security giant McAfee’s March, 2009, Spam Report waxes philosophical about the nature and future of spam. In 2004, Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates publicly predicted that, “Two years from now, spam will be solved.” It wasn’t. The U.S. CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 hasn’t killed the beast, either. Why haven’t we been able to conquer spam? […]

Earlier this week, TLP reported that Australian law enforcement agencies were being given the right to secretly hack into any Australian’s Internet-connected computer and perform ‘remote searches’ in certain criminal cases. Civil rights and free speech activists were outraged by the plan. Now, leading Internet security vendors including Symantec (‘Norton’), Sophos and Kaspersky have stated […]

Researchers at Osaka University in Japan have successfully demonstrated a new hands-free headset which can not only deliver music but control a host of devices, literally with a wink of your eye. The Mimi Switch incorporates a set of tiny infrared sensors, connected to a microcomputer, which detect equally tiny movements inside the ear canal […]

The compact disk is officially 30 years old this week. And, thanks to the rampaging popularity of its successor, the DVD, the CD is celebrating quietly, at home, with close friends and family… But, as popular gadget blog Gizmondo quips, “Compact discs weren’t always impromptu drink coasters. Once, in the not-so-distant past, they played music, […]

British YouTube fans will no longer be able to view music videos on the popular site. At least, for now. Talks broke down yesterday, between You Tube and British royalty-collecting agency PRS for Music, on a deal that would have let YouTube continue to deliver music videos royalty-free to UK users. “Our previous license from […]

Apparently so. Bell Canada last week announced it has agreed to acquire national consumer electronics retailer The Source. The Source (formerly Radio Shack) was orphaned by the bankruptcy late last year of the U.S. Circuit City empire. In addition to its current lineup of consumer electronics products, The (new) Source will carry the full array […]

Hundreds of Twitter accounts were hijacked this past weekend by a new cyber attack apparently aimed at twenty-something men. The lure was a tweet encouraging users to chat with a 23 year old woman with a Web cam: “Hey! 23/Female. Come chat with me on my Web cam thingy here.” The tweet included a link […]

In an effort to rate the impact of twenty-first century technology on a sport that dates back to ancient Egypt, Geico (the insurance company with the erudite cockney lizard for a mascot) sponsored the first ever U.S. Professional Bowling Association (PBA) ‘Plastic Ball Championship’ earlier this year. What was the catch? The participating bowlers had […]

It wasn’t long ago that major cell phone service providers gave handsets away if you were willing to tie yourself into a long enough contract with them. Late last year, several European cell phone providers turned tail on the notion of the few phone or for handset upgrade, all of a sudden waxing environmentally responsible […]

Google, Yahoo!, Microsoft and AOL are among the Internet giants backing a new set of interactive advertising privacy guidelines for targeted online advertising services that track users’ browsing activities in an effort to identify individuals when they visit targeted ad-equipped sites and then serve each visitor ads the system deems of specific interest to them. […]