In The News

There’s No Such Thing as Anonymous Data

Scott Berinato February 13, 2015
Analysis of huge datasets offers the potential for lifesaving health care, productive economies and workplaces, and smooth highway traffic. Yet consumers must assume that every electronic transaction could be compromised, suggests Scott Berinato for Harvard Business Review. Berinato reports on a paper published in Science by Yves-Alexandre de Montjoye showing how “anonymous credit card data can...

Apple Lets Down Its Asia Users

Vanson Soo February 5, 2015
Apple’s Asian fans may soon rethink their commitment to iPhones and iPads. “Apple Inc. has caved in to Chinese demands for security inspections of its China-made devices including iPhones, iPads and Mac computers,” reports security consultant Vanson Soo for Asia Sentinel. “If only Apple users managed to chuck away their cult mentality and come to their senses about their privacy and security...

Earth's Dashboard Is Flashing Red – Are Enough People Listening?

Dennis Dimick February 4, 2015
The year 2014 was the warmest on record, and evidence that human activity contributes to climate change is overwhelming. A Pew Research Center survey suggests only half of Americans accept evidence that carbon trapped in the atmosphere is putting the planet under stress, writes Dennis Dimick for National Geographic: “We are burning record levels of coal, oil, and natural gas to fuel modern...

China Further Tightens Grip on the Internet

Andrew Jacobs January 30, 2015
An open internet nurtures innovation as well as dissidence, yet regulations fail to discern between the two. Chinese attempt to block sites that allow privacy and select sharing could backfire, actually instigating more protests by frustrating China’s most productive users. “By interfering with Astrill and several other popular virtual private networks, or V.P.N.s, the government has complicated...

Bill Gates Drinks Water Distilled From Human Sewage

January 16, 2015
Janicki Bioenergy based in Seattle has devised an Omni Processor system that takes raw sewage, boils it, separating solids from water vapor. The solids are then used to produce electricity – with the extracted water used for drinking. Sewage contains about 80 percent water and 20 percent biomass; untreated, such sewage can be toxic to ingest. Bill Gates drank a glass of water made from sewage to...

Cellphones Can Spark Change in North Korea

Christopher Mims January 5, 2015
North Korea has about 2 million cell phones, accessed by the wealthiest in the urban centers. “In a 14-month span between 2012 and 2013, the number of mobile-phone subscribers in North Korea doubled to two million from one million, and it now may exceed 2.5 million, according to Orascom Telecom Media & Technology Holding of Egypt, which provides cell service to North Korea in a joint venture...

A Football Stadium Covered in This Solar Cloth Could Power a Small Town

Megan Gambino January 2, 2015
Flexible, lightweight fabric could extend the possibilities for solar power and fit in places not practical for large panels. While the idea is not new, one startup has covered a 12-space parking lot with fabric containing photovoltaics that generate 15 kilowatts per hour, reports Megan Gambino for Smithsonian Magazine. A company goal is for solar technology not to compete for productive farmland...