Computing Now's News Podcast: Recent Episodes
IEEE Computer Society
Computing Now's News Podcast covers the most important and interesting topics from industry and research.
A Linux bug representing a major Internet threat, the US requiring faster speeds for broadband, and big tech firms settling a lawsuit over accusations that they unfairly limited workers' wages.
Three advanced technologies beginning to improve mobile telephony, researchers developing an application that wins at poker, and familiar names at the top of 2014's list of worst passwords.
French websites defaced, bug that enables eavesdropping on cell calls, and NASA's ape-like robot.
Hackers attacking the Internet naming authority, companies working on ways to let mobile apps communicate with one another, and California prisoners being taught to program.
Sony hit with a devastating attack, a new Bluetooth version that connects to the Internet, and the father of the home video console dying recently.
E-commerce websites crashing under the weight of holiday traffic, breaking up Google in Europe, and a new project promising to help make the Web more secure.
Malware that has been spying on victims for six years, a company at the center of a controversy over the future of cloud services and TV broadcasting declaring bankruptcy, and virtual reality that could make gamers sick.
Microsoft telling users to patch a potentially catastrophic Windows flaw, researchers finding that many children’s apps violate users’ privacy, and a group wanting permission for players to revive discontinued online games.
Extensive law-enforcement operation taking down dark websites allegedly involved in criminal activity, hackers stealing employee data from the US Postal Service, and scientists designing robotic penguin chicks to monitor real penguins.
China reportedly attacking Apple’s iCloud, a game company forcing the shutdown of a gamebot maker, and a new system letting babies isolated in incubators feel their mothers' heartbeats.
Another serious flaw in a major Internet-security technology, a consortium working on new Ethernet approaches, and a new text service that could help spot Ebola outbreaks in Africa.
Another serious flaw in a major Internet-security technology, a consortium working on new Ethernet approaches, and a new text service that could help spot Ebola outbreaks in Africa.
Hackers breaching European ATMs and withdrawing cash, the US rejecting more software patents than in the past, and a new trend in which wearable technology adheres to skin.
Silicon Valley legend Hewlett-Packard splitting into two companies after 75 years, support growing for a new software approach that could boost cloud computing, and some security experts saying mobile malware is finally about to become a problem.
Hackers starting to exploit the critical Shellshock vulnerability, new technology making security just a heartbeat away, and a potato-salad crowdfunding joke that turned into a boon for charity.
A flaw that exposes personal data in government databases, the top five US universities whose computer science bachelor's degree recipients make the most money, and three exotic Web-tracking tools threatening privacy.
A tiny radio that could help enable the Internet of Things, a high-powered version of TCP rendering firewalls and other security products useless, and Google testing drones to provide Internet access to remote areas.
The recent digital crime wave, NATO being ready to approve a pledge of mutual defense in case of a major cyberattack, and researchers using visible light for car-to-car communications.
Commercial systems that secretly track cell phone owners' movements gaining popularity, ransomware hitting Android phones, and huge robot swarms self-assemble into complex shapes.
Hackers steal customer data from supermarket chains and a major healthcare system; technology to help poorer parts of the world connect to the Internet; and Intel's new fanless, energy-efficient chip that could lead to ultrathin mobile devices.
IBM announcing a new type of chip inspired by the brain; security researchers listing the cars most and least vulnerable to hacking; and a US court rejecting a settlement in a wage-fixing collusion suit against big Silicon Valley companies.
Researchers working with a highly efficient technique to replace TCP/IP, Russian hackers stealing more than a billion passwords, and the US National Football League using RFID sensors to track players during games.
Hackers using Amazon's cloud service to launch denial-of-service attacks, a study saying that widespread Internet connectivity imperils important systems, and researchers developing robotic furniture that can assemble itself.
Hackers placing potentially dangerous malware "bombs" in the Nasdaq stock exchange's computer system, cloud computing causing problems for digital-forensics investigators, and applications changing the way we park cars.
The recent World Cup becoming the biggest social-media event ever, researchers setting a speed record for data transmissions over copper wiring, and an industry group proposing a new smart-home wireless technology.
A Microsoft anti-malware operation inadvertently taking millions of servers offline, a new development road map for OpenSSL, and many UK and US theaters banning Google Glass.
A US court decision that has sparked fears for cloud services' future, a new approach that promises a Web-development revolution, and a hacker operation that threatened the US energy industry.
A recent report showing the slowed growth in supercomputer performance, a new technology that increases wireless bandwidth, and virtual reality coming to gaming.
World Cup technology, reinventing the computer, and hackers using weak passwords, just like their victims.
Hardening systems to fend off government spying, governments cooperating to disrupt two major cyberattack systems, and a new technique for baking robot components to make them self-assemble.
Applications for the Internet of Things, high-tech cars' vulnerability to hackers, and Google launching satellites to provide internet access to unserved and underserved areas of the world.
eBay and security breaches, Google as the world’s most valuable brand, and MIT scientists developing a way to provide satellites with ultrafast communications.
International law-enforcement sweep netting people for allegedly distributing malware; the European Court of Justice supporting the right to be forgotten; and the US formally charging Chinese military officials with extensive business cyberspying.
Hospital equipment vulnerable to hacking, IBM experimenting with electronic-blood technology to power and cool supercomputers, and police using crowdsourcing in investigations.
Verdict in the second epic Apple-Samsung patent lawsuit, a US report saying that the Internet of Things could cause serious privacy problems, and researchers demonstrating how hackers could compromise networked traffic-control gear and cause roadway gridlock.
A serious Internet Explorer flaw, a group to support key open source projects to avoid problems like the critical Heartbleed flaw, and developing robots that can teach other robots to play games.
The Heartbleed flaw, the US Supreme Court hearing an important case that could change the future of TV broadcasting and cloud-based services, and a laser-based technology that could quadruple Internet speeds.
Qualcomm developing technology that triples Wi-Fi speeds, researchers designing a deep-learning system for smartphones, and a new "antisocial" iPhone app helping users avoid people they don’t want to see.
Hackers seeking ransom to stop DoS attacks they launch, content providers challenging service providers over slow network speeds, and European governments paying for continued Windows XP support.
Journalists under fire from hackers, security problems when Windows XP support ends on 9 April, and Facebook working on drones and satellites to bring the Internet to remote areas.
Smart homes as easy targets for hackers, a virtual-reality gaming headset, and researchers developing a drone that could steal data from smartphones it flies over.
The US giving up administrative control of the Internet, a European Parliament committee vote challenging Net neutrality, and an open source project aiming to build mobile networks inexpensively.
Java as malware developers' favorite target, a headset that beams video directly into user's eyes, and a tiny computer that a user wears in the ear and controls with facial movements.
The US power grid and cyberattacks, IPv4 addresses, and a new technology that lets Wi-Fi users tap into unused bandwidth from nearby networks.
Security problems with healthcare-related companies' networks that could compromise patient privacy, Google's prototype smartphone that can view the word around it in 3D, and a mobile app that helps drivers fight parking tickets.
A recent DDoS attack being the biggest ever measured, privacy concerns about a major US airport's information-gathering lighting system, and a new energy-saving trend in which supercomputers are kept cool by immersing them in liquid.
Problems with bitcoin threatening the virtual currency's viability, a new technology called GOTCHA that provides online security, and experts warning Olympic Games attendees to expect hacking and cybersurveillance.
Microsoft choosing a new CEO, car-to-car network communications, and annual smartphone sales passing 1 billion for the first time in 2013.
Hackers conducting the first Internet of Things attack, an apparent mistake by Chinese censors diverting a huge volume of China's Internet traffic to a small US company, and the increased connectivity of cars causing privacy concerns.
A federal court overturning the US's controversial Net neutrality policy, the theft of credit-card data that could affect 40 percent of South Korea's population, and Google developing a smart contact lens.
Yahoo's European advertising website serving malware to hundreds of thousands of visitors over the New Year's holiday period, businesses increasingly working with open source software after years of resisting its use, and 3D chips gaining in popularity.
The aftershocks of the huge security breach that the Target company experienced, a boost for an organization that is trying to reduce online activities' dependence on passwords, and a high-tech tennis racket that helps players improve their games.
Yahoo Mail experiencing a long outage, actions and statements by various governments hurting the bitcoin virtual currency, and headgear that notifies coaches about head injuries that athletes experience.
A plan by companies to design a framework for the Internet of Things, DARPA's development of video games that could help identify software vulnerabilities, and researchers finding two flaws that could let hackers attack smartphones.
A flaw in a vital communications protocol used by utility companies, mobile broadband adoption increasing rapidly except in countries with less-developed economies, and research on biometric systems designed to recognize people's bodies.
Attacks in which hackers hijack Internet traffic, a new system designed to help people who suffer accidental falls, and the first accredited university to let students pay for tuition with bitcoins.
The Anonymous hacking group attacking US government sites and stealing information, the Stuxnet worm infecting the International Space Station, and researchers using GPS to track a giant iceberg that could threaten shipping lanes.
A plan to close the WHOIS system for domain-name registration records, a program offering bug bounties for the entire Internet, and a study showing that streaming media consumes the greatest amount of bandwidth on most networks.
Scientists have developed a way to hide data within voice-over-IP packets, enabling people to secretly send information to others while having a normal phone conversation.
The announcement that 141 million smartphones run an application that allegedly captures information about users has caused a storm of controversy, including denials from the software’s vendor.
A company has designed a tiny, inexpensive chip that can wirelessly transmit signals at up to 1.5 Gbits per second now and possibly 30 Gbps in the future.
A team of researchers has used computer analysis, machine translation, and other technologies to crack an encrypted 18th-century document that had previously resisted decryption.
Hackers and security researchers are increasing efforts to find problems with the control systems that run factories, nuclear-power plants, and other critical facilities.
A research team has developed a relatively inexpensive device for writing Braille that solves the problem of blind users having to find keys on a virtual keyboard that appears on a flat glass touchscreen.
German researchers have found serious security problems with two cloud systems and say these flaws probably exist in other cloud architectures.
Researchers have developed a system designed to prevent hackers from attacking implantable medical devices such as heart pacemakers..
University of Washington scientists have built a transistor that uses protons to send information, potentially enabling devices that could communicate with living things.
Japanese researchers have developed a pedestrian navigation system that uses haptics so that users can watch where they’re going and not have to look at maps or a device.
Rice University researchers have developed a full-duplex wireless technology that could double network throughput inexpensively without requiring new hardware.
A Swiss semiconductor vendor has developed a system for mobile devices that determines a user’s location when neither GPS nor Wi-Fi is available.
Engineers have developed flexible circuitry that can be mounted on a user’s skin to perform tasks such as health monitoring.
IBM and 3M have announced plans to jointly design adhesives that could enable the stacking of 100 chips, thereby enabling ultrafast processors.
MIT researchers are developing energy-efficient microchips that could operate within wearable or implantable devices that monitor medical patient for health problems.
A group representing companies and government agencies has approved the first smart grid standards.
A new type of antenna uses plasma to focus radio waves and enable ultrafast wireless networks.
MIT researchers have developed a system that promises to make it easier for systems to recover from security breaches.
A company has developed a recommendation engine that uses AI to anticipate what users want even before they have a chance to ask.
As more people use smartphones as mobile computers, manufacturers are increasingly placing powerful, energy-efficient dual-core chips in the devices.
European academic researchers have developed a constellation of sturdy, lightweight flying robots using wireless communications that could be employed in mapping, remote sensing, ground searches, and other similar operations.
A company has designed a lighting-fixture-based system that offers an access point to the Internet or any backbone network to which a user can connect.
US National Institute of Standards and Technology has released a testing tool designed to cut costs by finding software flaws more efficiently than similar approaches.
Researchers have developed a high-tech brush that lets users create art by picking up images, video, audio, colors, and textures from objects and painting them onto a touch-screen canvas.
Personal mobile hotspots let users wirelessly access network services even when no traditional Wi-Fi hotspots are nearby.
Concerned organizations say basic flaws in Web-security design may be causing many websites that display padlock icons-designed to show that they're secure-to be unsafe.
Two scientists have developed a system that uses ambient radio waves to generate energy, potentially eliminating the need for batteries in mobile devices. Article link: http://doi.ieeecomputersociety.org/10.1109/MC.2010.263
Academic researchers have developed an approach that promises to make object-recognition systems efficient users of system memory and thus also of computational resources. Article link: http://doi.ieeecomputersociety.org/10.1109/MC.2010.263
A new product promises to help users determine the most relevant results of their online searches. Article link: http://doi.ieeecomputersociety.org/10.1109/MC.2010.263
A researcher has developed visualization techniques and a toolkit that let users comb through disease-related statistics in otherwise unexamined sources - such as patient records and newspaper articles - to discover geographic trends that could help control the spread of illnesses. Article link: http://doi.ieeecomputersociety.org/10.1109/MC.2010.236
Purdue University researchers are working on a small device that converts laser pulses into radio signals, which could enable high-speed wireless communications in place of many of the wired transmissions currently used in home and office systems. Article link: http://doi.ieeecomputersociety.org/10.1109/MC.2010.236
A Carnegie Mellon University doctoral student has developed a prototype system that could let users turn their arms or hands into keyboards or display screens via acoustic vibrations produced by tapping their skin. Article link: http://doi.ieeecomputersociety.org/10.1109/MC.2010.236
Researchers are beginning to work on an approach they call social TV, which seamlessly combines social networks and traditional television viewing. Article link: http://doi.ieeecomputersociety.org/10.1109/MC
A Canadian university researcher is working on ways to provide security for RFID technology. His approach would let users know when a reader is accessing information on an RFID tag or enable them to control access to the data. Article link: http://doi.ieeecomputersociety.org/10.1109/MC.2010.204
A proposed specification that would standardize Web-based fonts promises to enable rich typography on the Web. Article link: http://doi.ieeecomputersociety.org/10.1109/MC.2010.178
Researchers have developed a new approach to steganography that could conceal information on CDs in a way that makes it unreadable by conventional CD players but detectable by specially designed devices. Article link: http://doi.ieeecomputersociety.org/10.1109/MC.2010.178
A standards organization has finished work on Bluetooth 4.0, which will offer high data rates and work with low-power devices such as medical and physical-fitness sensors. Article link: http://doi.ieeecomputersociety.org/10.1109/MC.2010.178
For centuries, academic libraries have faced challenges in preserving and storing important written documents. Now, they face a new set of hurdles in preserving and storing born-digital material. Article link: http://doi.ieeecomputersociety.org/10.1109/MC.2010.141