Category: Government

Apple Government

Chinese state-run newspaper accuses Apple of lacking openness

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As reported on Engadget. By Sharif Sakr The People’s Daily newspaper has slammed Apple’s behavior in China, accusing the company of being “empty and self-praising” in the way it has shrugged off customer complaints and refused journalists’ requests for interviews. The paper’s comments, as reported by the Wall Street Journal, refer to a saga that has been brewing for a while, in which Chinese customers have claimed they’re not receiving the same quality of after-sales care as those in…

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Government Mobile

U.S. Department Of Defense Reportedly Planning To Buy 650,000 iOS Devices After Nixing BB10 To Cut Costs

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As reported on TechCrunch. by CATHERINE SHU The U.S. Department of Defense will order 650,000 iOS devices to replace older BlackBerry devices that are incompatible with the new BlackBerry 10 operating system after the sequester is over, reports Electronista. The DOD will order 120,000 iPads, 100,000 iPad minis, 200,000 iPod touches, and 210,000 various iPhones models. Electronista has been told that “more than half are headed to the battlefield, afloat, and to associated support commands. Most of…

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Government Military Security

Drones over US soil: the calm before the swarm

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As reported on The Verge. By Ben Popper An explosion of advanced flying vehicles is about to hit the skies, but regulation lags way behind technology It was a muggy spring morning in South Texas almost one year ago when Gene Robinson arrived at the swampy waters near Sam Houston Lake Estates. All that week the area had been a hive of activity, as authorities searched along the banks, diving underwater with scuba gear, and flying…

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Government

FAA and FBI investigating pilot’s report of a drone over Brooklyn (updated)

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As reported on The Verge. By Adi Robertson An Alitalia jet pilot claims he saw a small unmanned aircraft flying over New York on Monday afternoon. According to CNN, the pilot was landing at JFK Airport when he saw the plane: “We saw a drone, a drone aircraft,” he’s quoted as saying in a broadcast picked up by LiveATC. Other pilots apparently did not see the plane, and the pilot was able to land safely. Now, the FAA tells CNN it’s…

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Government

North Korea to grant mobile internet access to visitors, but not citizens Mobile

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As reported on Engadget. By Alexis Santos In just a few days, visitors to North Korea will be able to surf the web from 3G-enabled devices. According to the Associated Press, customers of telecom company Koryolink living in Pyongyang received word that the firm will launch a 3G internet service exclusively for foreigners no later than March 1st. While citizens of North Korea have access to things including MMS, video calls, and a subscription to the state-run newspaper over 3G, a…

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Government

Library of Congress unveils plan to preserve early US sound recordings Alt

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As reported on Engadget. By Alexis Santos Historic audio recordings aren’t exactly easy to access and play back since they’re often in obscure or aging formats and sit within giant repositories and private collections, but the Library of Congress is gearing up to help change that for researchers and the average joe. The outfit’s freshly announced National Recording Preservation Plan is headlined by a recommendation to create a publicly accessible national directory of sound recordings that’ll act as an “authoritative discography” with…

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Government

Spy Bases: 9 Secretive HQs of the World’s Intelligence Agencies

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As reported on Wired. BY ROBERT BECKHUSEN View as gallery Architecture is a language, one used by institutions to say something about themselves. The same basic principle is true for the world’s spy agencies. All show their secrecy in their buildings, while some may appear starkly utilitarian, and some may even be frightening and alienating. But they also have their quirks and differences, whether it be an isolated complex hidden by trees, in a location that’s…

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Government Story

DOJ declines to reveal policy memos on GPS tracking

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As reported on Engadget. By Jon Fingas The US Supreme Court might have ruled last year that GPS tracking is equivalent to a search, but that doesn’t mean the government’s practices are transparent. If anything, they may be more opaque than ever. The Department of Justice has responded to an ACLU Freedom of Information Act request for a pair of GPS tracking policy memos by providing almost completely redacted versions that, effectively, say nothing. Not surprisingly, the ACLU isn’t…

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Government Legal Story

Wiki Weapon Project takes aim at gun control proposals with 3D printed ‘high-capacity’ magazine

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As reported on The Verge. By Adi Robertson Defense Distributed, a group dedicated to making viable 3D printed firearms, has enjoyed increasing publicity during the recent debates over gun control. Now, it’s directly addressing efforts to ban one of the most frequently criticized components: rifle magazines holding over ten rounds, often referred to as “high-capacity” magazines, like those used at the attack in Newtown, CT. In a video posted yesterday, the groupdemonstrated shooting from a 30-round AR-15 magazine…

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Government Hacking

The FBI Needs Hackers, Not Backdoors

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As reported on Wired. BY MATT BLAZE AND SUSAN LANDAU Photo: dustball / Flickr   Just imagine if all the applications and services you saw or heard about at CES last week had to be designed to be “wiretap ready” before they could be offered on the market. Before regular people like you or me could use them. Yet that’s a real possibility. For the last few years, the FBI’s been warning that its surveillance capabilities are “going dark,” because internet…

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