Faire

Global cyber-espionage operation uncovered

A widespread cyber-espionage campaign stole government secrets, sensitive corporate documents, and other intellectual property for five years from more than 70 public and private organizations in 14 countries, according to the McAfee researcher who uncovered the effort.

The campaign, dubbed "Operation Shady RAT" (RAT stands for "remote access tool") was discovered by Dmitri Alperovitch, vice president of threat research at the cyber-security firm McAfee. Vanity Fair's Michael Joseph Gross was first to write about the findings. The targets cut across industries, including government, defense, energy, electronics, media, real estate, agriculture, and construction. The governments hit … Read more

Buzz Out Loud 1510: Google + is Bieber-free! (Podcast)

On today's show, we talk to Ken Parks, director of content at Spotify, who lays down the one rule of music licensing negotiations: you don't talk about music licensing negotiations! Plus, Amazon's tablet is incoming, 41 percent of Netflix users plan to take their ball and go home, and girl power at the Google science fair!

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Whip-smart whippersnappers at Google Science Fair

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.-- Earlier this week, I spent the day at Google's first-ever Science Fair, and I'll admit it was a little hard not to be intimidated.

After all, I was surrounded by high schoolers who are inventing new types of sailboats, preventing trains from ever derailing again, or who seem on the verge of curing cancer.

The event could well be one of the globe's biggest science competitions, with more than 10,000 13- to 18-year-olds from around the world entering a total of 7,500 projects in the hopes of walking away with the … Read more

Crave 43: Meeting the Makers (podcast)

What better venue for an episode of Crave than the annual Maker Faire in San Mateo, Calif.? We rub elbows with robots, learn the art of making a Master Chief costume, and meet a group of teens who take Rock Band to its fiery extreme.

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This Day in Tech: First look at new Nook, Windows Phone update

Too busy to keep up with the tech news? Here are some of the more interesting stories from CNET for Tuesday, May 24.

Exclusive hands-on: Windows Phone update to integrate apps into hubs CNET gets a close look at four big changes that pertain to apps in Windows Phone 7's next update, code-named Mango. More

B&N's new Nook: Better than Kindle? Barnes & Noble has officially unveiled the second-generation Nook, a touch-screen e-ink e-reader that the company is branding as the "Simple Touch eReader." CNET's David Carnoy gets up close and personal with … Read more

This Day in Tech: Explosion at iPad factory, CNET visits Maker Faire

Too busy to keep up with the tech news? Here are some of the more interesting stories from CNET for Monday, May 23:

Foxconn: No delays in iPad supply after explosion Production was suspended at Foxconn factory in China, pending investigation into last week's explosion that killed three people. More

B&N gets set to launch new Nook (live blog) Barnes & Noble will be showing off a new Nook Tuesday morning. Get the full skinny in real time as we live blog the unveiling. More

Spying elite toys at the Cannes Film Festival This epicenter for international … Read more

Watching the makers make Maker Faire

SAN MATEO, Calif.--"They're putting Josh in the cage!"

It was early this afternoon, and a group of school kids were excitedly screaming those words over and over. And it was true. A kid called Josh was being put inside a cage that was part of a performance by a group called Arc Attack. Soon, the cage would be bombarded with electricity from two of Arc Attack's signing Tesla coils. No Joshes would be harmed in this experiment. But an awful lot of grinning would be done.

This is Maker Faire. Well, almost. The famous DIY festival begins in earnest tomorrow morning, and over the course of the weekend, in excess of 100,000 people may well get themselves to the San Mateo County Event Center here to see countless examples of do-it-yourself robotics; 3D printing; steampunk kinetic sculptures; and much, much more.

But today was setup day, the day the thousands of so-called "makers" arrive, drop their gear, and start building the projects they'll show the tens of thousands of visitors over the next two days. Being at Maker Faire on setup day is both a treat--it's always great to see the process behind something as cool as Maker Faire, and it's nice not to have to compete with 50,000 people to see something--and a curse: Only about half the projects are finished.

One thing that's definitely cool about being on hand for setup day is that each and every time you return to a specific spot, there's more there than there was the last time you went by. Even if that was just 30 minutes ago. A steady stream of trucks, vans, cars, and other conveyances arrive, and with them, the festival comes to life.

Maker Faire started here in 2006, and is now a worldwide phenomenon. From 20,000 visitors that first year to 80,000-plus last year, attendance figures are now expected to hit six figures. At the same time, the festival has planted its flag in other cities, such as Austin and New York. … Read more

LED bulb makers target 100-watt brightness

With a federal lighting efficiency mandate looming, lighting companies are developing LED bulbs designed to replace 100-watt incandescent lights.

Osram Sylvania today showed off a prototype of an LED bulb that gives off 1,500 lumens--as much light as a 100-watt incandescent--and consumes 14 watts. It also said that its 75-watt equivalent will be available in July.

Another company, Switch Lighting, today announced its own 100-watt equivalent which it said produces 1,700 lumens of white light and will be available in the fourth quarter, according to a representative. A version with a warmer light is due in mid to late 2012.

The announcements were made in conjunction with the LightFair lighting conference, where a number of new efficient LED lighting products are being introduced.

Osram Sylvania said its dimmable 100-watt equivalent will come in the A19 shape and have a color temperature of 2700, similar to an incandescent bulb. The color rendering index, a measure of light quality, will be over 80 and the bulb is rated to last 25,000 hours, or 25 times more than incandescent bulbs.

It has a shape meant to disperse light evenly to make it suitable for many uses, such as desk lamps or overhead lights. The company didn't announce pricing but its current general-purpose LED bulb, a 60-watt equivalent, costs about $40.

Switch Lighting, a venture capital-backed start-up based in San Jose, Calif., has an unusual design to ensure even light and long life. The small coin-size LED light sources are placed around the edge of the bulb, rather than at a single point. … Read more

Reporters' Roundtable: Inside the mind of the Maker Faire

The Maker Faire is a county fair for geeks. At the upcoming (Saturday and Sunday) Bay Area Faire, instead of jam competitions, there will be radio-controlled battleship shoot-outs. Instead of rows of people hawking snake-oil cleaning products, there are workshops teaching you and your kids how to make model rockets. If you're a nerd, Maker Faires are the events you wish you had when you were a kid.

The Maker Faire is put on by the technical publisher O'Reilly Media, and is in large part the brainchild of Dale Dougherty, who's our guest on this Roundtable. Dougherty is also the editor and publisher of Make Magazine, the magazine of projects you really should find the time to do.

This interview took place at the O'Reilly labs, where the team was preparing for Maker Faire and working on projects for Make Magazine. We talk about more than just these two projects, of course. There's an emerging technology do-it-yourself culture, a growing understanding that buyers of technology do not have to be slaves to it. Furthermore, the tough economy is pushing more people to do hands-on projects. People are learning about, inventing, and re-using technology in ways they never have before, and that's the topic of our discussion with Dougherty.

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Some of our discussion points… Read more