Carlo Orlando

Microsoft is being accused of manipulating comments about the soon-to-be released Xbox One on social media site Reddit. Reddit users (called 'Redditors') can post news articles, reviews, photos, etc., on the site and have the public vote a ... submission "up" or "down" in an effort to rank the post and determine its position on the site's pages. Now, a Redditor using the alias "mistysilver" claims Microsoft representatives have been voting up positive comments about the Xbox One and voting down negative posts about the console, which is expected to be released later this year. Microsoft Employees ... (view more)

Motorola is experimenting with new methods for securing personal technology devices. The firm is actively searching for alternatives to the standard password. At the recent All Things D(igital) conference in California, Motorola's head of Advanced ... Technology and Projects, Regina Dugan, suggested transforming the human body into a walking verification center. The first method involves an electronic tattoo, whereby an individual would be able to literally wear a passcode on their skin. To pursue this idea Motorola has teamed with an electronics company MC10, which currently offers tattoos with ... (view more)

Lockset manufacturer Kwikset has introduced a keyless front door entry system. Called Kevo, the two-part system connects a mechanical door lock with a smartphone app for easy access. Once an individual has changed over their current deadbolt to the ... one provided by Kevo (a process that takes about 5 minutes to complete), they program their smartphone app to create an administrator account. From there, the owner can sync the phones of other family members to the Kevo deadbolt, granting them access to the front door. Users Tap Smartphone for Access Anyone who has an administrator account can ... (view more)

A Romanian man convicted of ripping off ATM machines is hoping to make amends by offering an iron-clad way to protect those same machines. Valentin Boanta, who is currently six months into a five-year prison term, first started working on his ... project while awaiting trial back in 2009. Boanta's system uses a Secure Revolving System (SRS) that can be installed in any ATM machine. Its appearance resembles a metallic box measuring about 6 inches long and features a card slot in the middle. (Source: torontosun.com ) Internal Rotation Prevents Skimming SRS allows the bank card to be inserted for a ... (view more)

Microsoft has issued a warning about a new type of malware that assumes the form of a Google Chrome extension and Firefox add-on. The Trojan horse is reportedly designed to target the Facebook accounts of its victims and, once a machine is ... compromised, performs a number of automated social media tasks, including "liking" certain pages and posting comments. The malware, which was first detected in Brazil, is named 'Trojan:JS/Febipos' and operates by checking to see if the current user is logged into Facebook. If this is the case, the bug attempts to download a configuration file that contains ... (view more)

A team of researchers has developed a smartphone capable of folding and contorting when receiving a phone call, text message, email, or social media post. The device, which is being developed by researchers at Canada's Queen's University, is called ... 'MorePhone' and features a flexible plastic exterior. Internally, shape-memory alloy wires contract and bend based on electronic signals and are able to reform to the original shape of the device on command. Message and Caller-Specific Curls The technology also can be programmed to alter the phone in a way that suits the owner. In other words, ... (view more)

Intel and a team of Carnegie Mellon University researchers have successfully created a "smart automobile headlight" prototype designed to reduce the number of hazardous incidents caused by inclement weather. The design features a three-part interior ... comprised of a projector, camera, and processor. The projector extends outward, as would the headlight of a standard vehicle. Beneath the projector sits a camera that is able to capture the speed and outline of a falling rain drop, snowflake, etc. The camera relays this information to the adjoining processor, which makes a prediction as to the ... (view more)

Apple has admitted to retaining private personal data collected by services Siri and Dictation for a period of 18 months. The disclosure came after one civil liberties group complained that Apple is not doing enough to inform its customers of their ... privacy rights. In response, Apple has revealed the kind of customer information that is collected and stored. In a recent interview, Apple spokeswoman Trudy Muller explained how her company performs their data collection. Siri (available on iOS devices) and Dictation (available on both iOS and OS X devices) send speech-to-text messages wirelessly ... (view more)

A team of PhD students from IT University of Copenhagen has developed new software that eliminates the need to physically touch a mobile device in order to perform simple tasks, like scrolling up and down a web page. Instead, the new technology uses ... eye movements to perform these same functions. The students initially pursued their idea -- which has since been branded "Eye Tribe" -- as a collaborative submission for their European StartupBootcamp accelerator program back in 2011. The team has since grown into a small startup company, including twelve full-time employees who continue to build ... (view more)

Plans for a summer 2013 release of the Apple iPhone 5S have reportedly been delayed as the company looks to put the finishing touches on a few new features. Among those features providing a delay: fingerprint-sensing technology that is appearing on ... a smartphone for the very first time. Originally it was believed the iPhone 5S would ship in June. Now, experts are suggesting component problems could delay a launch to late summer or even the fall. (Source: forbes.com ) According to KGI Securities analyst Ming-chi Kuo, the problem stems from interference between the touch sensors that appear on ... (view more)