By JULIA ANGWIN (See Correction & Amplification below .) Sens. John Kerry and John McCain proposed legislation Tuesday to create a “privacy bill of rights” to protect people from the increasingly invasive commercial data-collection industry. The bill, labeled the Commercial Privacy Bill of Rights Act of 2011, would impose new rules on companies that gather [...]
By MICHAEL HSU Harry Campbell for The Wall Street Journal I HAVE TWO ROBOTS that clean the floors in my apartment: the Evolution Robotics Mint and the iRobot Roomba 530. The Mint sweeps and mops. The Roomba vacuums. Total retail cost for my live-in cleaning staff: $500. The point of deploying these devices is to [...]
The paucity of hotel tech offerings, particularly when it comes to internet access, has become a common bugbear for guests — with many objecting to paying a hefty surcharge for a service they’d get for the price of a latte in a local coffee shop. See also: Why are we still paying for hotel Wi-Fi? [...]
By KATHERINE ROSMAN Celina McPhail’s mom wouldn’t let her have a Facebook account. The 12-year-old is on Instagram instead. Her mother, Maria McPhail, agreed to let her download the app onto her iPod Touch, because she thought she was fostering an interest in photography. But Ms. McPhail, of Austin, Texas, has learned that Celina and [...]
I am writing this paragraph on an iPhone. But I am not typing it on the phone’s virtual keyboard. I am dictating it using a little-known feature that allows you to employ your voice, instead of your fingers, wherever text entry is possible on the device. Many users of iPhones and Android phones are unaware [...]
Facebook — the once-underdog social network founded by a kid in a hoodie in a dorm room — may have officially cemented its status as a titan of the tech establishment it once challenged. What changed? Facebook — no longer a feisty startup but a 3,000-person, soon-to-be-public corporation with $3.9 billion in cash and an [...]
But while Ford’s unveiling of its latest car at Mobile World Congress — a major cell phone industry event — this week may have heralded a new automotive age, it also heightens fears that our technology-crammed cars could be hijacked by hackers. Just like our PCs and smartphones, the computerized components that have infiltrated almost [...]
World of Warcraft's developers have confirmed they are looking at porting the hit video game to mobile devices. In an interview with Eurogamer, Blizzard Entertainment also linked a drop in subscribers to the launch of a rival Star Wars-themed title. The firm revealed in November that WoW had 10.3 million subscribers, down from a peak [...]
Apple has unveiled a new iPad with a high-definition screen. It said the resolution of the display was 2,048 by 1,536 pixels. The tablet is also powered by a new A5X chip with improved graphics performance. Chief executive Tim Cook claimed to have "redefined once again the category Apple created". Apple dominates the market but [...]
F. Martin Ramin for The Wall Street Journal IN CONTROL | The PS Vita has a directional pad, two analog joysticks, a touch screen and a rear touch pad. I’m a lapsed gamer. I mean, I can steal helicopters in “Grand Theft Auto IV” in my sleep, but for the most part, other than playing [...]