As I write this, NASA’s Curiosity rover is hurtling through space as it has been for the past eight months, but that all changes tonight. With any luck (scratch that — with a staggering amount of luck), that Mini Cooper-sized envoy will survive its tricky seven minute atmospheric entry, after which it will roam...
While summer is usually a quiet period for media news, this year has been a notable exception so far - partly because of the Olympics, but not only. Here’s a summary of this week’s top stories. Behind #NBCFail’s debacle The Olympics didn’t start well for NBC, as US viewers took to Twitter to protest about...
Apple and Microsoft are at it again. Emboldened by their successful purchase (via the consortium Rockstar Bidco) of Nortel’s patent trove in February, the would-be competitors have allegedly teamed up with the notorious patent troll Intellectual Ventures (IV) to bid for Kodak’s patents. With IV serving as the “attack dog,” Apple and Microsoft can go...
Entrepreneurship has an attractive set of freedoms: create any kind of business, set your own hours and manifest an ever changing job description, one free of geographical bounds. Thanks to the Internet, you can choose to start up anywhere in the world that you want to. But just like selecting a home for your...
Anyone excited to watch NASA’s Mars rover, called Curiosity, land on the surface of the red planet on Sunday night can all but rest assured that too much demand won’t kill the stream. NASA teamed with an application-testing specialist called SOASTA to ensure the world can keep watching even if demand spikes or servers...
Even though I’ve been using email since Excite Mail was popular (remember that?) and I consider myself to be literate, email is still one of the most time-consuming habits in my life. Ding goes the email client, and boom go the endorphins in my brain. Email is an addiction and as with any addiction,...
New agency Thomson Reuters suffered its second Web security breach in 48 hours after hackers took control of its Twitter account dedicated to technology news, changing the focus to the Middle East and posting a series of pro-Syrian government tweets to its 17,500 followers. The issue was first noticed late Saturday (US time –...
IBM‘s aggressive stance against the use of unsanctioned applications grabbed headlines a few months ago, but the trend toward “Bring Your Own Device” (BYOD) has put pressure on IT in all businesses, large and small. As a manager of cloud products at Symantec, I frequently work with chief information security officer (CISOs) who are sweating over...
Email More YouTube When it comes to viral videos, a perfect storm nearly happened when the U.S. Olympic swim team lip-dubbed Carly Rae Jepsen’s “Call Me Maybe.” Uploaded just over a week ago, the video already has over 4.4 million views and is this week’s most watched YouTube video. Everyone from Michael Phelps to...
Editor’s Note: This guest post is co-authored by Nir Eyal, Andrew Martin, and David Ngo. Nir is a regular contributor to TechCrunch and blogs at NirAndFar.com. Andrew and David are seniors at Stanford University working in conjunction with the Stanford Persuasive Technology Lab and Trinity Ventures. This week, fans packed stadiums in London wearing their nation’s colors like rebels ready for battle in...