Technology

Via CBS News: Yes, there’s nothing like reaching out and touching someone from a phone booth. They used to be everywhere, but they are now rare coin-operated curiosities. Mo Rocca looks into the history of the once-ubiquitous phone booth, and of the wi-fi kiosks that are now replacing them in New York City.

Newsweek reports: The CIA allegedly developed tools to infect Apple Macs and iPhones in order to spy on them, according to documents released by WikiLeaks on Thursday. The Dark Matter leaks are the second tranche of the whistleblowing organization’s Vault 7 cache of classified documents, which WikiLeaks claims to have obtained from a former CIA contract worker. Projects undertaken by …

The New York Times reports: Republican senators moved Thursday to dismantle landmark internet privacy protections for consumers in the first decisive strike against telecommunications and technology regulations created during the Obama administration, and a harbinger of further deregulation. The measure passed in a 50-to-48 vote largely along party lines. The House is expected to mirror the Senate’s action next week, …

This isn’t exactly news that most of us here can use, but the technology is interesting. CNN reports: “Fertility is a big problem. Men are embarrassed to go to their urologist for infertility testing,” said Dr. Hadi Shafiee, assistant professor of medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School, who led the study. “This is going to be …

CNET reports: Apple on Tuesday unveiled a variant of its flagship phone as part of the (Red) program, which funds programs that combat HIV and AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa. The special edition of the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus will come in 128-gigabyte and 256GB configurations, starting at $749. They will go on sale Friday. While Apple has long …

Get away from her, Amazon! Via Gizmodo: What would you do if you were a billionaire? Elon Musk is trying to get to Mars. Peter Thiel wants to live forever. And Jeff Bezos, well, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos apparently wants to rule the world in a gigantic robot. At least that’s the impression you might get from the photos and …

The Dallas Morning News reports: David Taffet came home last week to find his husband, Brian Cross, a little disoriented. Cross hadn’t eaten yet, so Taffet made him some dinner. But after he ate, Cross lay down, went to sleep and started snoring. Then Cross suddenly stopped snoring. The 52-year-old, whom Taffet met at a protest against the Defense of …

From the Consumer Reports company blog: In our recent CR Consumer Voices survey, 65 percent of Americans told us they are either slightly or not at all confident that their personal data is private and not distributed without their knowledge. We think it’s unfair and unrealistic to expect consumers to constantly play defense when the products and services they use …

Holy crap. Wait for it to jump. From the clip description: Handle is a research robot that stands 6.5 ft tall, travels at 9 mph and jumps 4​ ​feet vertically. ​It uses electric power to operate both electric and hydraulic actuators, with a range of about 15 miles on one battery charge. ​​​Handle uses many of the same dynamics, balance …

Yes, really. Quartz reports: Robots are taking human jobs. But Bill Gates believes that governments should tax companies’ use of them, as a way to at least temporarily slow the spread of automation and to fund other types of employment. It’s a striking position from the world’s richest man and a self-described techno-optimist who co-founded Microsoft, one of the leading …

NBC News reports: Twitter, Uber, Google and Apple were among 97 companies to file a friend-of-the-court brief early on Monday with a federal appeals court hearing challenges to President Donald Trump’s executive order on immigration. “The order effects a sudden shift in the rules governing entry into the United States, and is inflicting substantial harm on U.S. companies,” the amicus …

The Hill reports: The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on Friday suspended its probes into whether thee major telecommunications companies violated net neutrality rules. The FCC’s wireless telecom bureau sent letters to AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile informing them that the probes were over. The letters are a sign that the FCC is changing under new Chairman Ajit Pai, a Republican who …

NBC News reports: Business is anything but usual for some of America’s largest companies, as they question — or blatantly decry — President Trump’s immigration ban. Google, Amazon, Starbucks, and Facebook are just a few of the big names to have stepped forward and denounce Trump’s executive order, which restricts the entry of refugees and citizens from seven Muslim-majority countries, …

Newsweek reports: Donald Trump’s Twitter account is a “security disaster waiting to happen,” according to security experts, who say it should be protected with the same technology used by the military to shield nuclear launch codes. The president-elect’s often erratic tweets have already proven they can swing stock markets, sway public opinion and affect foreign relations. This influence combined with …

GeekWire reports: The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is committing up to $140 million to help Boston biotech company Intarcia Therapeutics develop an HIV prevention device. The funds will help Intarcia adapt its Medici technology program to deliver a steady stream of HIV medication to healthy patients over an extended period of time. The matchstick-sized device is similar to a …

AFP reports: A giant South Korean-built manned robot that walks like a human but makes the ground shake under its weight has taken its first baby steps. Designed by a veteran of science fiction blockbusters, the four-metre-tall (13-foot), 1.5 ton Method-2 towers over a room on the outskirts of Seoul. The hulking human-like creation bears a striking resemblance to the …

TIME Magazine reports: Beginning Jan. 22, 2018, travelers from nine states will no longer be able to travel with only their driver’s licenses. Residents of Kentucky, Maine, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, and Washington will have to use alternate ID forms (passport, military ID, or permanent resident card) to pass TSA security checkpoints—even for domestic travel. On Thursday, …

Go Upstate reports: An Upstate legislator is hoping to prevent anyone who buys a computer in South Carolina from accessing pornography. State Rep. Bill Chumley, R-Spartanburg, said the Human Trafficking Prevention Act would require manufacturers or sellers to install digital blocking capabilities on computers and other devices that access the internet to prevent the viewing of obscene content. The bill …

The Associated Press reports: Uber is bringing a small number of self-driving cars to its ride-hailing service in San Francisco — a move likely to excite the city’s tech-savvy population and certain to antagonize California regulators. The Wednesday launch in Uber’s hometown expands a public pilot program the company started in Pittsburgh in September. The testing lets everyday people experience …

Via Esquire: Though even diehard fans of the music it inspired are largely unfamiliar with its story, the 808 is revered within the industry. The documentary, which premieres Friday on Apple Music, includes commentary by everyone from Lil Jon, to Pharrell, to the Beastie Boys, to Rick Rubin, to Afrika Bambaataa himself. “You get all of these guys, these big, …