Matt's Favorites: Thursday's LTU Event On Tape, Super Bowl Tech, More Chinese Hacking
What's the latest from the wonderful world of high tech? Try these bons mots on for size...
* First of all, thanks to everybody who showed up for Thursday morning's Last Thursdays Unwired @ Lawrence Technological University session on IT security. If you missed it, the event audio is available at my podcast page on CBSDetroit.com.
* A look at Twitter's six-second video app, Vine.
* And here's a selection of Super Bowl hashtags and apps.
* And here are 22 creative Super Bowl car commercials.
* The Obama administration is considering more assertive action against Beijing to combat a persistent cyber-espionage campaign it believes Chinese hackers are waging against U.S. companies and government agencies.
* The Wall Street Journal said the Chinese hacked it, too, after it ran critical coverage of a Chinese government official.
* A look at the Shuttle Columbia's doomed mission, which ended 10 years ago today, and why the crew was never told of possible damage to the heat shield.
* More charmingly, here's a cartoon on the life of a real-life astronaut.
* And in happier NASA news, a major new communication satellite in launched.
* And an asteroid half the size of a football field will buzz the earth inside the orbits of geosynchronous satellites on Feb. 15. Even if it hit, the impact of a 50-yard stone asteroid wouldn't be cataclysmic -- unless you were within maybe 15 or 20 miles of it.
* Submitted without comment: The International CES electronics show ditches CNet's News.com as the Official Arbiter Of What's Coolest At CES after CNet's treatment of a gizmo that allows TV time-shifters to skip commercials.
* Speaking of disrguntlement, a former employee lets loose on the UK's HMV on the company's Twitter feed.
* It turns out elite athlete's edge is as much in their minds as in their bodies -- their brains excel at motion tracking.
* Twitter had another outage Thursday morning. And so did Amazon.com, Thursday afternoon.
* Imagine stumbling upon stinky whale barf on the beach. Well, not so bad if it's worth $68,000, like this piece of stinky whale barf was.
* BlackBerry shares slide as its new devices face an uphill battle.
* A lawsuit filed on Thursday alleges Microsoft Corp. has been infringing patents that allow Internet search engines to most effectively place advertisements.
* Here's a look at Silicon Valley before the tech industry, its early days.
* Google is reportedly giving the EU an antitrust probe settlement offer.
