Internet

Israel: Don't blame the Flame cyberattack on us

The Flame worm has put the Middle East and neighboring regions on high alert and caused several security experts to look for the source. And although some media reports have linked Israel to the attack, the country has denied all involvement.

The trouble for Israel started recently when the country's vice prime minister, Moshe Ya'alon, said on Israel's military radio station, Army Radio, that "there are quite a few governments in the West that have rich high-tech [capabilities] that view Iran, and particularly the Iranian nuclear threat, as a meaningful threat -- and can possibly be … Read more

Meet the tireless entrepreneur who squatted at AOL

It was 6 a.m. when Eric Simons was jolted awake by the yelling.

After working until 4 a.m, the 19-year-old entrepreneur had finally passed out. A few hours of sleep would help with the day ahead.

But unlike most people working at AOL's Palo Alto, Calif., campus who were surely still hours from showing up at the sprawling complex, Simons was already there. He'd been living there for two months, hiding out at night on couches, eating the company's food, and exercising and showering in its gym. And now, with an angry security guard bellowing … Read more

Lego for girls, this time hardware-hacker style

For Limor Fried, a hardware hacker and leader in the booming maker and do-it-yourself movements, there was never a question of waiting for someone else to jump in and do a better job of inspiring girls than Lego has done with its widely-panned Lego Friends set.

The product was featured on the cover of Bloomberg Business Week last year and drew worldwide attention as the global toy company's first major attempt at showcasing girls in a new set. Still, many Lego fans were upset that the company had focused on well-worn stereotypes and had ignored the modern reality that girls can do pretty much anything they want, whether or not there's pink or purple involved.

For Fried, who runs open-source hardware developer Adafruit Industries, it sounded like it was time for a little culture hacking.

For Silicon Valley VC, a Leap from great advice to big rewards

SAN FRANCISCO--Sitting in the windowless basement level of a nondescript building in the shadow of the Bay Bridge, Andy Miller is doing one of his most essential -- and rewarding -- jobs: helping smart and talented, but young and inexperienced, entrepreneurs navigate the crucial steps needed to move their new company forward. After all, great technology can only get you so far. It takes great business strategy and decisions to build a truly successful company.

Miller, a general partner at Highland Capital Partners who once reported directly to Steve Jobs as Apple's vice president of mobile advertising, is seated … Read more

Leap Motion: 3D hands-free motion control, unbound

Hands-free motion control, a technology pioneered by Nintendo's Wii and later improved upon by Microsoft's Kinect, just took a very big leap forward. Industries from gaming to surgery to architecture, engineering, and design may never be the same.

With the unveiling today of its Leap 3D motion control system, a San Francisco startup called Leap Motion has, well, leapfrogged the state of the art in this young field, giving users the ability to control what's on their computers with hundredth of a millimeter accuracy and introducing touch-free gestures like pinch-to-zoom.

Leap, which comprises both a small USB … Read more

The real business of the DIY movement

PALO ALTO, Calif.--Since 2006, Maker Faire has offered tens of thousands of people an annual celebration of the best and brightest in the do-it-yourself movement.

But while everyone from individual tinkerers who have built small rockets to two people doing amazing things with Diet Coke and Mentos to paper airplane masters and crafters making magic out of felt has had a venue for the last five years to showcase their innovative projects, there's never been a forum for the growing number of people and companies that are developing the new business platforms that are merging manufacturing and making. … Read more

Comcast denies favoring Xfinity video content

In response to charges that Comcast favors content streaming via its Xfinity app on the Xbox over that of its competitors, the cable giant denied giving preferential treatment to its app and said its traffic policies are in compliance with the FCC's Open Internet rules.

Comcast announced in March that it will stream Xfinity on-demand content to Microsoft game consoles. The fact that Comcast content streamed directly to the Xbox console will not be counted against subscribers' total bandwidth usage caps prompted accusations that the cable provider is giving its Xfinity app an unfair advantage over the apps of … Read more

Here's looking at you kid: 'Casablanca' free on Facebook

This could be the start of a beautiful relationship.

Facebook users tomorrow will be able to watch "Casablanca" for free, directly on the hit social network. According to a release from Warner Bros., the screening is timed to the release of the 70th anniversary "Casablanca" three-disc Blu-ray and DVD set.

The movie, often referred to as the best film of all time, will be shown starting at both 7 p.m. ET and 7 p.m. PT on the Casablanca Facebook page, although viewers must begin watching by 9 p.m. PT, and can only watch … Read more

Diablo III Amazon's most preordered PC game ever

Diablo III isn't just Blizzard's most preordered effort ever; it's also Amazon's most preordered PC game of all time.

A representative of the online retailer told GameSpot this morning that the action role-playing game today became the site's most preordered PC game ever, beating out previous Blizzard efforts like Starcraft II and World of Warcraft: Cataclysm.

Read more of "Diablo III Amazon's most preordered PC game ever" at GameSpot.… Read more

Pebble smart watch sells out on Kickstarter

There's a very interesting sociological experiment going on over on Kickstarter right now, where the Pebble smart team watch has unwittingly tested the old notion that you can't have too much of a good thing. Apparently, though, you can.

That's right -- Pebble doesn't want any more of your money. It's drowning in cash. Earlier this week, with 75,000 watches already spoken for, it announced that only 10,000 more would be made available in exchange for a pledge of cash (essentially a preorder). Now they're all gone. All reward levels that would earn supporters their own smart watch are now all sold out.… Read more