The Week: Most Recent Science & Tech:Technology

Four ways Apple has changed under Tim Cook

The Week — Fri, 25 May 2012 13:06:00 -0400

A new Fortune cover story takes a look at current Apple CEO Tim Cook, who isn't, as many have pointed out, his predecessor Steve Jobs. When the two execs' careers overlapped, many viewed the level-headed operations chief Cook as the calm yin to the Jobs' famously brash yang. Yet, when Cook took over after Jobs' 2011 death, some worried that his cool approach wouldn't be enough to maintain Apple's momentum. How is Cook's leadership style changing the world's most valuable company? Here, four ways Apple is already different, for better or worse:

1. Cook is willing to release less-than-perfect product...

The New Yorker story that's being published one tweet a time

The Week — Fri, 25 May 2012 12:41:00 -0400

Last year, Jennifer Egan, a novelist and short story writer, won a Pulitzer Prize for fiction for her book A Visit From the Goon Squad. Now, Egan, whose work has appeared in a number of illustrious publications including Harper's and The New York Times, is publishing an original short story that she wrote for The New Yorker — on Twitter. The magazine will release the 8,500 words of "Black Box" one tweet at a time, on its @NYerFiction feed. How will this work? Is it a terrible idea? Here, a brief guide:

How will the story-tweeting work?
The New Yorker began publishing...

6 photos that Facebook controversially banned

The Week — Fri, 25 May 2012 11:11:00 -0400

Facebook has famously earned the disdain of privacy advocates for encouraging massive oversharing by its more than 900 million users. But there are some photos even Facebook won't let you share — and, of course, the site has gotten blowback for that, too. The latest picture it's censored depicts a topless woman, but not erotically: A British woman, celebrating her cancer-vanquishing mastectomy, posted a shot of her breastless self only to see it promptly removed. Here's that story, and the tales of five other photographs that prudish Facebook deleted — and sometimes restored, after...

The trolls of the internet: A guide

The Week — Fri, 25 May 2012 10:37:00 -0400

What are trolls?
They’re the anonymous provocateurs who flood the internet with inflammatory insults, threats, and profanity. The term originates from the fishing technique of dragging a baited hook behind a moving boat; someone who uses offensive language to provoke a response is said to be "trolling." The practice has existed since the earliest days of the internet, and was long considered to be harmless, if annoying. But in recent years, trolls have become a scourge. Reasoned political discussion is often so overwhelmed by venomous, tit-for-tat name-calling that websites have to shut down...

A robo-housekeeper: The secret to advanced tidiness?

The Week — Thu, 24 May 2012 11:36:00 -0400

The video: Cornell roboticists have built and successfully tested a canny new housecleaning bot. Of course, building a machine that "knows" where to put your things isn't easy: The robot has to survey a room, identify the components of the mess you've made, and figure out where everything belongs — before actually getting to work. Cornell's unnamed robo-housekeeper uses advanced algorithms and a 3D Kinect camera to identify misplaced dishes, groceries, books, toys, and trash before putting them in their proper places with a mechanical arm. (Watch a demonstration below.) Though the...

Did the Facebook debacle destroy the IPO market?

The Week — Thu, 24 May 2012 07:34:00 -0400

Facebook continues to reel from its botched IPO, which has already prompted shareholder lawsuits and a public outcry over alleged backroom dealing between the social network and Wall Street. The company's stock price on Wednesday closed at $32, 16 percent below its opening price of $38, and investors are complaining that Facebook hasn't come even close to matching the breathless hype that accompanied its debut. The controversy has also awakened broader concerns that other companies, wary of repeating Facebook's mistakes, will become more reluctant to publicly trade their shares. Did Facebook's...

Facebook's botched IPO: Winners and losers

The Week — Wed, 23 May 2012 15:34:00 -0400

Facebook's rocky debut on the stock market has taken another turn for the worse. Shareholders have filed lawsuits against the company and the banks handling its IPO, claiming that Facebook and its partners duped prospective investors. The suits cite a Reuters story reporting that Morgan Stanley, the chief underwriter of the IPO, lowered its forecast for Facebook's revenues just before the IPO and shared that information with only a handful of its big-time clients. Government regulators are also investigating Morgan Stanley on suspicions of foul play. Meanwhile, Facebook shares remain ...

Leap: Control your computer with Minority Report-style gestures

The Week — Wed, 23 May 2012 08:37:00 -0400

A small device by a start-up company called Leap Motion lets users control their computers using 3D air gestures, meaning the stylish finger flicks and arm waves associated with the futuristic computers in Minority Report and The Avengers are coming soon to a device near you. Here's what you should know about the cool new tech that has the blogosphere hyped:

What is it?
The Leap is a small Lego-sized motion sensor you can plug into your computer's USB. The technology behind it is similar to Microsoft's Kinect, which reads a user's arm and leg movements to control onscreen action. Leap goes even...

SceneTap: The creepy app that scans bar-goers' faces

The Week — Wed, 23 May 2012 07:40:00 -0400

A new smartphone app called SceneTap made a big splash with its recent launch, but not all of the reviews were entirely favorable. The app employs facial-detection software and cameras placed strategically in bars and nightclubs to tell users the age and gender makeup of an establishment they're thinking of visiting. The problem is that the patrons being scanned by cameras don't necessarily know that they're being monitored. Some privacy advocates call it "creepy." Is it an invasion of privacy for your neighborhood watering hole to install cameras and scan your face? Here, a brief guide to the...

Who's to blame for Facebook's stock debacle?

The Week — Tue, 22 May 2012 17:55:00 -0400

Facebook stock has been sliding nonstop since Friday, when, to much fanfare, it debuted on the Nasdaq at $38 a share and sold a hefty $16 billion worth of stock. The share price hovered around $38 on Friday, but closed at just over $31 on Tuesday, an 18 percent plunge. With 900 million users, Facebook is the biggest social network in the world, and many had expected the stock to pop as soon as the shares hit the market. So what went wrong? Here, five possible culprits for Facebook's abysmal performance:

1. Morgan Stanley
The investment bank was in charge of Facebook's IPO, and it's being criticized...

Discovered: Facebook... for cavemen?

The Week — Tue, 22 May 2012 15:35:00 -0400

Before Facebook, MySpace, or even Friendster, humans had... rock-etched status updates? Archaeologists from Cambridge are currently analyzing a "prehistoric version of Facebook," which, they argue, is one of the earliest examples of social networking on record. Here, a concise guide:

What is it they're studying, exactly?
Researchers are analyzing thousands of images strangely left on soccer-field-sized rock faces at two archaeological sites in Sweden and Russia. The etchings were found alongside river networks, where Bronze Age tribes would return year after year to add new images of animals, people...

Facebook's underwhelming IPO: Proof the stock was overhyped?

The Week — Mon, 21 May 2012 18:12:00 -0400

To much fanfare, Facebook began selling shares on the Nasdaq stock exchange last week, capping an improbable journey from Mark Zuckerberg's Harvard dorm room to global tech supremacy. However, while the company sold an enormous $16 billion worth of shares, its stock price climbed a puny 23 cents over the course of the trading day, closing at $38.23 a share. And on Monday, the stock plunged by more than 10 percent, ending at $34.26. Is Facebook's troubled debut evidence that the company was overhyped?

Yes. Ordinary investors got suckered: Many people had expected Facebook's stock to pop on the...

So.cl: A guide to Microsoft's confusing new social network

The Week — Mon, 21 May 2012 18:00:00 -0400

In the aftermath of Facebook's IPO, Microsoft quietly launched its own experimental social network called "So.cl" (which it insists is pronounced "social," defying phonetic reason) over the weekend. The software giant calls it an "experiment in open search," and intends the service to supplement existing social networks rather than replace them. What does that even mean? Here, a brief guide to the confusing new kid on the block:

What is So.cl supposed to be?
The service, which combines elements from more established sites like Google+ and Pinterest, is being positioned by Microsoft as a search...

Mark Zuckerberg's surprise wedding: Why now?

The Week — Mon, 21 May 2012 09:10:00 -0400

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg had quite the momentous week. He turned 28 last Monday, the same day longtime girlfriend Priscilla Chan graduated from medical school at the University of California, San Francisco. The rest of the week he was gearing up one of the most-anticipated IPOs ever, which on Friday turned Zuckerberg's theoretical Facebook billions into real money — about $19 billion — officially making him one of the world's wealthiest people. And somehow, amid all of this activity, he and Chan managed to secretly plan their wedding, so that when 100 or so guests showed...

Facebook's historic IPO: By the numbers

The Week — Fri, 18 May 2012 12:09:00 -0400

After pricing its initial public offering at $38 per share, Facebook stock hit the market at $42 a pop Friday morning, vaulting the social network to a valuation of well over $100 billion, and positioning Facebook to raise some $16 billion, making it one of the largest IPOs in U.S. history. Company founder Mark Zuckerberg, dressed in a half-zipped hoodie, remotely rang Nasdaq's opening bell from Facebook's California office at 9:30 a.m. EST, following an all-night company party to celebrate the occasion. "It's official," says Mike Isaac at All Things D, "$FB has arrived." Here, a look at Facebook...

The rumored 4-inch iPhone screen: Is bigger better?

The Week — Thu, 17 May 2012 17:54:00 -0400

Steve Jobs famously ordained that the iPhone's current 3.5-inch touchscreen was the perfect size for consumers, and Apple had been reluctant to veer from its celebrated founder's vision since the smartphone's unveiling in 2007. But now, The Wall Street Journal reports that Asian factories where the phone is manufactured have started placing orders for a new 4-inch display, and will soon begin production for a fall launch. (Reuters confirmed the report.) Androids, especially those in Samsung's Galaxy line, continue to push phones with screens four inches and larger, and sales seem...