palm

Leaked from today's 404 episode:

- The first call from a cell phone was made 40 years ago today.

- The Verge interviews Marty Cooper, father of the cell phone.

- Recalling 1993: Step back 20 years in NYC's past.

- Catching up with the TV show release group responsible for recording, distributing torrents.… Read more

Leaked from today's 404 episode:

- Cell phone towers disguised as trees are a puzzling attempt at aesthetics.

- You know you're rich when you have the luxury of turning down an iPad.

Bathroom break video: ASMR keyboard raindrops… Read more

Leaked from today's 404 episode:

- Fiery meteor explodes over Russia's Ural Mountains; 1,100 injured as shock wave breaks windows.

- Watch asteroid 2012 DA14 fade out via streaming video.

- Iceland wants to ban Internet porn.

- Chubby Checker in a twist over an old app.

- One Direction's new toothbrush streams sound vibrations through your teeth.… Read more

A lot of apps are designed by boys.

Because a lot of boys are quite linear, they design largely with boys in mind.

Boys then buy these apps, which are often based on relatively puerile forms of humor and behavior, for which boys are quite renowned.

However, occasionally boys design with girls in mind. And therein lies disaster.

One such disaster has affected Chubby Checker's pants. For he has them in a twist about an app that's called, well, Chubby Checker. (Must I explain the derivation?)… Read more

Apple, Google, Intel, Adobe, and other companies had agreements in place during the mid-2000s not to steal employees from each other and other technology players, court documents suggest.

A series of e-mails posted today by The Verge point to a paper trail of apparent non-poaching agreements among a variety of companies.

The revelation follows a civil lawsuit filed in 2011 by five workers against Apple, Google, and others alleging that the companies purposely tried to keep down wages through non-poaching agreements.

The civil suit is being weighed by Judge Lucy Koh to determine if it can move forward as a class action suit, … Read more

Passwords could become a thing of the past if new technology from Intel makes its way to laptops and mobile devices, Reuters reports.

The traditional security method, even when linked to different verification methods, remains an exploit that cybercriminals can pursue. Connectivity online often means that users will keep to the same password, or similar variants -- and once one account is breached, that information can be used to tap into financial information, online payment systems, or sensitive work documents.

But if Intel's prototype "Client-Based Authentication Technology" is successful, biometrics may be the latest defense against cyberattacks.… Read more

Technology is taken for granted by those who design it, grow up with it, or worship it as if it's a digital deity.

Yet not everyone believes that, for example, giving 24-Hour Fitness your fingerprint in order to lose a little blubber is such a natural, safe act.

Take certain parents at Moss Bluff Elementary School in Louisiana. Their arms are raised up high in celestial fright at the school's heathen attempts to introduce a palm scanner into the cafeteria.

As KPLC-TV reports it, the parents see the devil in the details.

Mamie Sonnier, a very concerned parent, … Read more

The Apple iPad is a deceptive little monster. And the companies that are getting caught up in its deception are paying dearly for it. HP Palm fell for it. RIM fell for it. Others fell for it to a lesser degree, and some are still in danger of suffering from it.

The problem is that when most of the traditional technology companies look at the iPad, they see the wrong things. They see an oversized smartphone screen that's extremely limited in what it can do. So they've said to themselves, "We can build one of those, add … Read more

My watch is an iPod Nano. It's not perfect. In fact, there are many ways I'd like it to be better. But, it works. It also looks cool.

Those are two seemingly small details that are in fact quite major when considering a smart watch these days. "Working" is a matter of opinion and design in some cases, but the point is that the iPod Nano-as-a-watch does exactly what you think it does, and it does it well. So far, that can't be said for Sony's SmartWatch, a confusing remote for Android phones that ends up doing less than you expect it to, yet somehow is hard to even work in that limited capacity. I had a chance to try one out here at CNET, and was surprised at how Sony's solution was good-looking, but a complete slave requiring Bluetooth and an Android phone to get anything done -- even tell the time. That's a problem. A good watch can't mess that part up.… Read more