TheRepublic.com - Computing and information technology News

NSA director says plot against Wall Street foiled

Wed, 19 Jun 2013 00:23:32 -0400

WASHINGTON - The U.S. foiled a plot to bomb the New York Stock Exchange because of the sweeping surveillance programs at the heart of a debate over national security and personal privacy, officials said Tuesday at a rare open hearing on intelligence led by lawmakers sympathetic to the spying.

Kentucky editorial roundup

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 17:09:49 -0400

Recent editorials from Kentucky newspapers:

Chinese supercomputer named as world's fastest

Mon, 17 Jun 2013 23:40:07 -0400

BEIJING - A Chinese university has built the world's fastest supercomputer, almost doubling the speed of the U.S. machine that previously claimed the top spot and underlining China's rise as a science and technology powerhouse.

McCain presses Obama on secret emails

Mon, 17 Jun 2013 15:43:28 -0400

WASHINGTON - Republican Sen. John McCain on Monday questioned President Barack Obama about his political appointees' use of secret government email accounts at work, saying that Congress cannot tell the American people what its government is doing if it creates a "secret alternate communications network."

Raven teams with Google to provide Internet access

Sun, 16 Jun 2013 10:53:36 -0400

SIOUX FALLS, South Dakota - Raven Industries is teaming with Google to provide high-speed wireless internet to rural, remote and underserved areas of the world.

Russian tycoon wants to move mind to machine

Sat, 15 Jun 2013 17:50:26 -0400

NEW YORK - Can the City That Never Sleeps become the City That Never Dies? A Russian multimillionaire thinks so.

Google begins launching Internet-beaming balloons

Sat, 15 Jun 2013 12:16:44 -0400

CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand - Google is launching Internet-beaming antennas into the stratosphere aboard giant, jellyfish-shaped balloons with the lofty goal of getting the entire planet online.

Yale doctor's mindfulness training helping smokers

Sat, 15 Jun 2013 03:05:16 -0400

NEW HAVEN, Connecticut - A Yale doctor's research into a technique called mindfulness training and how it can help smokers quit is now available as an app.

Microsoft brings Office to iPhone, but not tablets

Fri, 14 Jun 2013 18:58:46 -0400

NEW YORK - Even as a pared-down version of Microsoft's Office software package arrived on the iPhone, the company is holding out on extending that to the iPad and Android devices as it tries to boost sales of tablet computers running its own Windows system.

Lawmakers seek credit monitoring for veterans

Fri, 14 Jun 2013 18:49:05 -0400

WASHINGTON - A bipartisan group of lawmakers asked the Veterans Affairs Department on Friday to offer credit monitoring to veterans and dependents whose personal information, including birth dates and Social Security numbers, might have been disclosed when its computer systems were hacked.

Review: Office for iPhone helpful for subscribers

Fri, 14 Jun 2013 18:11:17 -0400

NEW YORK - The wait is over for the iPhone version of Microsoft's Office software.

Ideas for keeping your data safe from spying

Fri, 14 Jun 2013 14:40:27 -0400

LONDON - Phone call logs, credit card records, emails, Skype chats, Facebook message, and more: The precise nature of the NSA's sweeping surveillance apparatus has yet to be confirmed.

Obama to take advantage of advances in wireless

Fri, 14 Jun 2013 11:48:04 -0400

WASHINGTON - The White House says President Barack Obama is taking advantage of advances in the wireless industry to help create jobs.

Summer camp ignites students' interest in science

Fri, 14 Jun 2013 11:05:55 -0400

SOUTH BEND, Indiana - It looks like a crafts class, as students slice Styrofoam cups in half and thread strings so they cross into a peace sign, but they are really building a robotic "grappler" for space stations.

Va. state senator victim of attempted email scam

Fri, 14 Jun 2013 10:04:19 -0400

NORFOLK, Virginia - A Virginia state senator says her email account has been hacked by someone who says she's stranded in France and needs money to get home.

US: No wide data breaches at firms in cyberattack

Thu, 13 Jun 2013 18:17:41 -0400

NEWARK, New Jersey - Federal prosecutors in New Jersey have provided new details on how an international cybercrime ring broken up this week accessed some customer accounts at more than a dozen leading financial institutions and payroll services.

Progress Software selling Apama to Software AG

Thu, 13 Jun 2013 09:22:30 -0400

BEDFORD, Massachusetts - Progress Software Corp. is selling its Apama product to Software AG so that it can concentrate on cloud and mobile application development technologies.

Forecast sees big payoff for Google's mobile ads

Thu, 13 Jun 2013 08:06:11 -0400

SAN FRANCISCO - Google will sell more mobile advertising than the rest of its rivals combined for the second straight year, according to a new forecast that highlights the expansion of the Internet search leader's moneymaking prowess from personal computers to smartphones and tablets.

Utah home to NSA's new mega-warehouse for data

Thu, 13 Jun 2013 04:38:16 -0400

BLUFFDALE, Utah - The nation's new billion-dollar epicenter for fighting global cyberthreats sits just south of Salt Lake City, tucked away on a National Guard base at the foot of snow-capped mountains. The long, squat buildings span 1.5 million square feet, and are filled with super-powered computers designed to store massive amounts of information gathered secretly from phone calls and emails.

URI oceanographer tests robotic research boat

Thu, 13 Jun 2013 03:14:51 -0400

NARRAGANSETT, Rhode Island - A University of Rhode Island oceanographer has started testing a robotic boat he helped design for research missions on coastal currents.

Panel backs introduction of digital learning in US

Wed, 12 Jun 2013 22:29:29 -0400

WASHINGTON - A week after President Barack Obama's call for U.S. schools to be outfitted with high-speed Internet within five years, an independent panel that studied the lack of technology at school says digital learning, including the super-fast Internet connections, can be introduced even sooner.

Yahoo to release IDs of inactive email accounts

Wed, 12 Jun 2013 16:44:46 -0400

SAN FRANCISCO - Yahoo is trying to breathe new life into inactive email accounts by giving away the identifications beginning next month.

Cheap translations, but not replacement for humans

Wed, 12 Jun 2013 15:10:21 -0400

JERUSALEM - An Israeli startup says it has come up with a way to overcome language barriers when conducting international business: an automated service that provides quick translations between English and seven other languages with nothing more than a telephone.

Voice-operated dashboard technology still risky

Wed, 12 Jun 2013 12:43:32 -0400

WASHINGTON - Dashboard technology that lets drivers text and email with voice commands - marketed as a safer alternative - actually is more distracting than simply talking on a cellphone, a new AAA study found.

W.Va. gives Internet routers to colleges

Wed, 12 Jun 2013 12:05:28 -0400

CHARLESTON, West Virginia - Universities and colleges are getting high-capacity Internet routers that the state bought for $24 million with federal stimulus funds.