Voices | VIEWS FROM THE STREET Feb 3, 2014
by Mark Buckton
The Japan Sumo Association has just introduced a pay-per-view system for live streams of top tournaments. Costing $10 per day and $15 for the final day, or $120 for the entire tournament, the concept drew sharp criticism from overseas fans.
Business / Tech Feb 2, 2014
Should we be scared by the rise of Zuck?
by John Naughton
On Tuesday, Facebook will turn 10 years old. It has 1.23 billion users. Ponder those two facts for a moment. A company that did not exist 10 years ago now has as many users as India has people. If you wanted a case study in ...
Commentary / World Jan 28, 2014
At last, Yale surrenders to technology
by Stephen L. Carter
Yale University ran up the white flag last week in its battle to keep twin seniors Peter Xu and Harry Yu from creating an easier-to-use and more informative version of its online course catalog. As the school's real battle was against technological change, defeat ...
Commentary / World Jan 14, 2014
Economic inequality by the click
by Adair Turner
Free markets are expected to distribute the fruits of some new technologies in dramatically unequal ways. Will the relative losers, satiated by computer games and Internet entertainment, and provided with the basics of a minimally acceptable life, be too docile to revolt?
Commentary / World Jan 7, 2014
Preparing for the age of disruption
by Dominic Barton
By 2020, the quantity of stored data could be 50 times greater than it was in 2010. Many pundits regard this massive explosion of data as the new oil, even a new asset class.
Business / Tech Dec 26, 2013
With misinformation rife on social media, users could do with a tool that can sift truth from fiction. Now Sejeong Kwon and colleagues at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology have designed an artificial intelligence system that, they claim, does this correctly around ...
World Dec 14, 2013
NSA can crack cellphone security, decode private conversations
The cellphone encryption technology that is used most widely across the world can be easily defeated by the National Security Agency, an internal document shows, giving the agency the means to decode most of the billions of calls and texts that travel over public ...
World Dec 9, 2013
Major U.S. tech companies call for strict limits on surveillance
Eight of America's largest technology companies have called on President Barack Obama and Congress to impose strict new curbs on surveillance that, if enacted, would dramatically reshape intelligence operations that U.S. officials have portrayed as integral to the war on terrorism. The uncommonly unified front ...
World / Social Issues Dec 9, 2013
'Privacy' services thwart investigation of rape video sites
by Craig Timberg
Researcher Garth Bruen long has investigated the seamier corners of the Internet, but even he was shocked to discover Rapetube.org, a site urging users to share what it called "fantasy" videos of sexual attacks. Bruen gradually discovered dozens of sites offering attacks on drunken women, ...
World Nov 30, 2013
Key officials back splitting NSA, Cyber Command
by Ellen Nakashima
Key senior administration officials have advocated splitting the leadership of the largest U.S. spy agency from that of the military's cyberwarfare command as a final White House decision nears, according to individuals briefed on the discussions. At a White House meeting of senior national security ...
Business / Financial Markets Nov 28, 2013
It's been an amazing month for Bitcoin, the decentralized payment network that got a surprisingly positive reception last week at a pair of Senate hearings. At the start of this month, one Bitcoin traded for just a bit more than $200. By midmonth, it had ...