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Stephen Hawking joins international think tank to defend humanity from futuristic threats

Stephen Hawking wants to stop the rise of the machines.

Stephen Hawking turned  71 on January 8th and has joined the board of an international think tank devoted to defending humanity from futuristic threats. The newly founded organization, the Cambridge Project for Existential Risk, researches existential threats to humanity such as extreme climate change, artificial intelligence, biotechnology, artificial life, nanotech, and other emerging technologies. Skype cofounder Jaan Tallinn and Cambridge professors Huw Price and Martin Rees founded the project in late 2012.

 

 

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Analysis, App, Business, Science & Technology News

The hidden costs of the ‘free’ app ecosystem

“Paid apps work because they provide the great experience people deserve as customers.”

Time is money, and apps don’t last forever. All the weeks you spent on your apps and you’re never going get back all those hours you spent on them.  And all of the free apps are dangerous, yet free is the dominant business model most mobile apps are taking these days.  The idea is to grow as quickly as possible then insert ads of some kind or get acquired.  For consumers it offers a crummy set of choices: either losing the countless hours you put into the app or have your private data sold to marketers — since as well all know, when the product is free, you are the product.

 

 

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Analysis, government, Internet, Science & Technology News

Iran’s ‘smart’ approach to censorship of the internet

An internet cafe in Tehran.

Iran has an intense relationship with the internet.  The country has made many attempts to curtail its citizens’ use of social media.  Iran’s  supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in May, issued a fatwa against anti-filtering tools that have helped citizens to access blocked material on the Internet.  In December, they launched Mehr, its own version of YouTube, which allows users to upload and view content they create, and to watch videos from IRIB, Iran’s national broadcaster.  They have also been building a national intranet – a government-run network that would operate “largely isolated” from the rest of the World Wide Web.  Reporters Without Borders named Iran to its 2012 “Enemies of the Internet” list with Iran’s intensified online crackdowns, increased digital surveillance of citizens, and the imprisonment of web activists.

 

 

 

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Analysis, Business, Latest Trend, Science & Technology News

Most smartphone and tablet users don’t care if they run iOS, Android, or Windows

The survey found there is no widespread loyalty among consumers about operating systems.

Google and Apple better watch out.  According to a new study by Accenture,  two-thirds of smartphone and tablet owners don’t have strong brand loyalty to any one particular operating system.

 

 

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Analysis, Latest Trend, Science & Technology News

TV still king in media consumption: Nielsen

Here is one more 2012 year-in review report from Nielsen, which examined how Americans have been consuming content over the course of the past year.  Of the 289 million U.S. TV owners, the report found that 119 million own four or more television sets, making TV still the device to beat when it comes to watching and recording programs, among other things.

 

 

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Analysis, Latest Trend, Science & Technology News

Consumers becoming ‘digital omnivores’ as they are adopting more smart, web-connected technology

Consumers are becoming “digital omnivores.”

The Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas begins this week and the state of digital consumption is looking good.  Consumers are adopting all sorts of smart, web-connected consumer technology and becoming “digital omnivores.”

 

 

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Analysis, New Discoveries, Science & Technology News

Researchers achieve temperatures colder than absolute zero

When heated atoms can move with different levels of energy, from low to high. With positive temperatures (blue), atoms more likely occupy low-energy states than high-energy states, while the opposite is true for negative temperatures (red).

The coldest temperature possible is most often thought to be absolute zero.  Researchers have now shown they can achieve even lower temperatures for a strange realm of “negative temperatures.”

 

 

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Business, Internet, Latest Trend, Science & Technology News

Wired magazine brings in 50% of its ad revenue from the web

The 50 percent digital revenue share also didn’t come as a result of a decline in print advertising sales.

One of the first big magazines devoted to technology and the internet is Wired.  Half of Wired magazine’s ad revenue was generated from the internet in Q4 2012.  This is a first for the magazine.

 

 

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