Bytes: What’s new in tech

A safe way to send photos

Sharing pictures by email may no longer be exactly “cutting-edge,” said Greg Scoblete in Your-Digital-Life.com. But just because it’s old-fashioned “doesn’t mean it’s necessarily worse.” In fact, we have all learned by now that posting photos on the Web, especially via services like Facebook, can have damaging unintended consequences. But “email privacy settings don’t change with anything like the head-spinning rapidity of social networking services,” so going old-school is one of the best ways to protect your privacy—and your audience will appreciate it, too. Whereas “Facebook and other social networks are built around oversharing,” email is curated by no one other than yourself. “It’s bad form to send dozens of photos by email, which means we pay more attention to the photos we do send.”

Taking your DVR wireless

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DVR users can finally cut the cord, said Janko Roettgers in Gigaom.com. Simple.tv’s new DVR, which will go on sale next month for $250, features two network TV tuners that let users stream content wirelessly to their devices. And that’s just the opening volley, since there’s already a potential competitor on the horizon: Canada-based Nuvyyo has launched a crowdfunding campaign to produce Tablo, which is also “a networked DVR that streams to mobile devices.” Developed “with tablet apps in mind,” it will allow users to stream content within their home networks and over the Internet. “Tablo will be available with both a two-tuner and a four-tuner version, with the company shooting for pricing around $200 and $250, respectively.” Let the battle begin.

Bitcoins come to politics

Voters can put their Bitcoins to at least limited political use, said Fredreka Schouten in USA Today. Lawyers for the Federal Election Commission have recommended that the agency approve the virtual currency “as in-kind contributions to federal campaign committees.” If the FEC adopts the proposed rules, political campaigns couldn’t spend or donate Bitcoins directly, but could accept them as donations on the condition that they sell them for U.S. dollars “and deposit the money in a campaign account before passing the funds on to others.” The decision came after a conservative political action committee sought a ruling on using virtual money to pay vendors and donate to candidates.