John Lister

Elon Musk, the head of Tesla Motors and several other companies, has unveiled a design for a train that could get from Los Angeles to San Francisco in just half an hour. Musk described the solar-powered 'Hyperloop' train as a cross between a Concord ... jet and an air hockey table. Musk says he came up with the design because he was disappointed by the California government's plans to spend $68 billion on a more traditional high-speed rail link that would make the LA-San Francisco trip around two hours and forty minutes long. He argues that's too much time given the project's enormous cost. Musk' ... (view more)

Microsoft has unveiled new mouse and keyboard packages that feature special keys designed to make accessing Windows 8 features easier. The unusual-looking accessories are also designed to combat carpal tunnel syndrome and other injuries. The ... package, known as 'Sculpt Ergonomic', includes a mouse, a keyboard, and a separate number pad. The keyboard has a large wristpad, but the keys themselves are arranged in two blocks angled towards one another. The four rows of numbers and keys are split about a third of the way across (between the 6 and 7 keys, the T and Y keys, and so on), with a gap of ... (view more)

Fisher Price has been accused of producing misleading advertisements for 'educational' applications aimed at children. The allegations come from the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood (CCFC). It has filed formal complaints with the Federal ... Trade Commission (FTC) against Fisher Price and Open Solutions. The CCFC says Fisher Price claims its 'Laugh and Learn' range of apps can help young children advance their math and language skills. Open Solutions makes similar claims about apps featuring reading and spelling challenges. According to the CCFC, "neither company offers any evidence to ... (view more)

Xerox has admitted that some of its scanners mix up numbers. It's a problem that could prove costly for business users. Surprisingly, the problem isn't related to optical character recognition, which turns a scanned document into text; instead, the ... mixed-up numbers are right there on the scanned image. David Kriesel, a computer scientist in Germany, discovered the problem when scanning construction documents. The documents Kriesel scanned were related to three rooms of different sizes. However, after making the scan Kriesel found the document showed all three rooms as the same size -- a clear ... (view more)

Google has announced it will begin highlighting the search results that best answer a user's query. It represents a whole new approach for the ubiquitous search firm. In recent years, Google has focused on trying to answer a user's query quickly ... rather than providing them with the website that best answers their question. (That was partly a response to Microsoft's launching of Bing, which that firm promoted as a "decision engine" rather than a search tool.) The best example of Google's focus on speed over quality: Google Knowledge Graph, the box that appears on the right of the results page ... (view more)

Those people who paid more than $5,000 for a high-tech 'smart' toilet could be in for a shock. A major design flaw means it's easy for hackers to cause annoyance, irritation -- even financial loss. The Satis toilet boasts a wide range of ... computerized features, such as an automated bidet and air drier and built-in speakers that play a personalized selection of music. The toilet can even be programmed to release a soothing fragrance. Owners control these features using a special app for Android devices (though it can also be controlled through buttons on the toilet itself). The app offers ... (view more)

Facebook is reportedly planning to present users with television-style advertisements. However, marketing types be warned: advertising on the social networking site won't be cheap, with prices for each ad spot exceeding $2 million. Rumors of the ... video advertisements began circulating earlier this year. Now, it's been revealed the company has cemented plans to launch TV-style advertising in the coming months. According to reports, there were delays in finalizing plans because the firm wants to make sure the ads aren't too disruptive or intrusive. Video Ads Aimed At Mass Market Audience ... (view more)

A newly-published report says that more than four in five of the most popular smartphone and tablet applications put users' personal data at risk. The problem: these apps send critical user information to app developers. The study comes to us from ... Appthority, a company that specializes in monitoring mobile applications. It looked at 400 apps, including 100 of the most-purchased and 100 of the most-downloaded apps for iOS and Android. (Source: appthority.com ) Overall, the firm found that 83 per cent of apps (including 93 per cent of free apps and 78 per cent of paid apps) displayed "risky ... (view more)

Microsoft has revealed it generated $853 million in revenue selling its Surface tablet computer. Embarrassingly, that's less than the amount it recently wrote off in stock it no longer expects to sell at full price. The revelations come just days ... after company chief executive officer Steve Ballmer reportedly told staff "we built a few more [Surface] devices than we could sell." That appears to be an understatement, to say the least. This is the first time Microsoft has publicly discussed Surface sales in any detail. The information was made available through a filing with the Securities and ... (view more)

Security researchers at the University of Texas have reportedly used global positioning system (GPS) technology to remotely take control of a ship. Shockingly, they pulled off the scheme without being detected by the ship's crew. Fortunately, the ... attack was part of a controlled experiment carried out with the permission of the ship's owners. The researchers were able to use bogus GPS data to control the ship's navigation. It's the first time researchers have been able to successfully alter GPS data rather than simply blocking or "jamming" a signal. The researchers say they were able to change ... (view more)