Matt's Favorites: Cool LTU Event, Kim Dotcom Extradition, Disappearing Pope Tweets, Groupon Founder Gone, And Much More
So what's the latest in the amazing, fascinating world of tech? I had so much fun finding out... and sharing it all with you.
* First of all, thank you to all of you who attended Thursday morning's Lawrence Technological University panel on BYOD, or Bring Your Own Device, and the challenges this new trend poses to the folks running corporate and institutional networks. To boil it down: See a lawyer, get a policy, there are serious privacy and security implications here. Now, elsewhere...
* The U.S. Friday won a court appeal in its battle to extradite Internet entrepreneur Kim Dotcom from New Zealand.
* Part of the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI is the deletion of all his tweets from @Pontifex.
* Online deals pioneer Groupon said Thursday it fired founder and CEO Andrew Mason amid worries that people are tiring of the myriad of online restaurant, spa and Botox deals that Groupon built its business on.
* Nut-cracking monkeys don't just use tools. They use tools with skill. That's the conclusion of a new study that finds similar tool-use strategies between humans and Brazil's bearded capuchin monkeys, which use rocks to smash nuts for snacks.
* When Elizabeth Bennet finally comes around to Mr. Darcy at the end of "Pride and Prejudice," she resolves to forget their former friction and, to the collective sigh of readers, accepts his proposal. Now psychologists have confirmed what Jane Austen knew 200 years ago: In love, "a good memory is unpardonable."
* Yahoo Chief Executive Marissa Mayer's decision to ban telecommuting sparked outrage around the country, but left many in Silicon Valley wondering what the fuss was all about. Working from home is common enough in the Valley, but that is in addition to -- not instead of -- the 40-plus hours spent working in the office.
* Hollywood studios, which for years have waged a war against online piracy, are now going after so-called "rogue" mobile apps that use images from movies and television shows without their permission.
* Facebook Inc said on Thursday it had agreed to buy advertising technology from Microsoft Corp that measures the effectiveness of ads on its Web site, which should help in its fight with Google Inc for online advertising revenue.
* When you hear the word "drone," you probably conjure up a winged, weaponized tool of war. But drones come in all shapes and sizes and while you're not likely to see a fully equipped, unmanned military aircraft flying overhead on your way to work, smaller surveillance-minded drones are beginning to pop up coast to coast.
* Manufacturing isn't dead in the U.S. But when it comes time to pump out products on a large scale, the pull of overseas economies and investors becomes too strong to resist. That's one of the conclusions from a group of MIT researchers tackling a wide-ranging study of the American production economy.
* Army Pfc. Bradley Edward Manning pleaded guilty Thursday to 10 charges that he illegally acquired and transferred U.S. government secrets, agreeing to serve 20 years in prison for leaking classified material to WikiLeaks that described U.S. military and diplomatic efforts in Iraq, Afghanistan and around the globe.
* An article at Wired shows just how close we are to an automobile produced by 3D printing.
* An unmanned SpaceX ship is readied for a Friday launch to the International Space Station.
