digitizing

After more than 25 years since the passage of the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA), Sen. Patrick Leahy is hoping to get the out-of-date privacy law up to speed by introducing a new bill in the Senate Judiciary Committee today, according to Ars Technica.

The key component of this new bill is that law enforcement officials would no longer have the ease of freely being able to read people's personal e-mail and online communication -- they'd need a warrant first. As the law now stands, police are allowed to get individual's private correspondence by simply asking e-mail … Read more

Leaked from today's 404 episode:

- Ho-hum. The iPhone 5 isn't going to wow anyone

- Don't kid your selves, Apple's dock connector change is awful

- Planning for winter: the worst accessory for your new iPhone

- "Tupac hologram" maker Digital Domain files for bankruptcy

- Emoticon creator says emojis are "ugly"

Bathroom break video: 770 pounds of eggs spill onto the road in China, gets looted… Read more

Photokina hasn't even started yet and I'm ready to declare it Full-Frame Fest based on what Sony's unveiled today and what I know is coming. Sony alone is rolling out three full-frame devices aimed at a variety of different types of photographers, albeit all of them professionals.

Sony may be first to market with a compact full-frame camera, but at a price of almost $2,800, the Cyber-shot DSC-RX1 is cruelly out of reach for a lot of the enthusiasts who will stare longingly at it online only to settle for an RX100. Is it even fair … Read more

Leaked from today's 404 episode:

- Google Glass makes catwalk debut at New York Fashion Week.

- The Fifth Element inspired: Remote-controlled roaches to the rescue.

- Odd "digital rituals" we perform to make technology serve us.

- Will putting a car remote under your chin increase its range?

Bathroom break video: Pong traffic light in Germany.

Video voice mail: Matt is now the ultimate trucker.

WD today made the good old portable hard drive concept something totally new again.

The storage vendor announced a new family of portable external hard drives for Macs and Windows PCs, called My Passport Edge, that's ultrasleek and ultraslim.

There are minor differences between the Mac version and the Windows version of the new drive.… Read more

WD has just upgraded its storage solutions for Macs on both USB and Thunderbolt fronts.

The storage vendor today announced its first USB 3.0-based portable drives for Macs, the My Passport for Mac, and a new Thunderbolt drive, the My Book VelociRaptor Duo.

Apart from USB 3.0, the My Passport for Mac also increases the capacity to 2TB while remaining compact and portable. The reason WD waited until now to release a Mac portable drive that supports USB 3.0 is because USB 3.0 has just been added to the new version of the MacBook Pro and … Read more

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. -- The journey to the heart of the operation reminded me of the late '60s TV show "Get Smart," where one heavily fortified door leads to another locked entryway followed by more complicated defenses in a seemingly never ending series of entry points requiring PINs, badges, and irises or fingers scans. I balked at the DNA test. Joking. Actually, I was just along for the exclusive tour, flanked by a group of engineers and executives with high-level security clearances.

This is the belly of Symantec's Certificate Authority operations, where the company creates digital certificates … Read more

Once-hot digital photo frames are now relegated to the holiday gift sales section at department stores. But the digital frame may be about to get its groove back thanks to Instacube, an Instagram-specific display.

The bigger-is-better concept is alive and well with this Kickstarter project. The squared-off Instacube streams your Instagram photo feed in a much larger format than you can view on your little smartphone screen.… Read more

The debate over personal data on the Internet and how it is used is always heated, but it becomes even more so when it involves children.

Nearly two dozen children advocacy groups are reportedly teaming up this week to file at least five separate complaints with the Federal Trade Commission against some very large global corporations, such as McDonald's and General Mills, which heavily depend upon business from kids and their parents.

Specifically, the Web sites in question in the complaints are HappyMeal.com, Nick.com, ReesesPuffs.com, SubwayKids.com, TrixWorld.com, and CartoonNetwork.com.

Groups such as … Read more