• Nokia stock rises on rumors of Huawei acquisition (Tue, 18 Jun 2013 20:01:00 GMT)
  

  Nokia shares are up in Tuesday trading on speculation that Chinese telecommunications company Huawei may be interested in acquiring the Finnish firm.

  The rumors stem from a Financial Times report that quoted Richard Yu, Huawei’s head of consumer business, as saying that Huawei is considering “these sorts of acquisitions” depending on how willing Nokia would be to a deal. Nokia did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

  Read full article >>

      

  
  
  
  
• Google challenges U.S. gag order, citing First Amendment (Tue, 18 Jun 2013 19:39:00 GMT)
  

  Google asked the secretive Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court on Tuesday to ease long-standing gag orders over data requests it makes, arguing that the company has a constitutional right to speak about information it’s forced to give the government.

  Read full article >>

      

  
  
  
  
• Is it time for the 'mixer movement'? (Tue, 18 Jun 2013 19:12:13 GMT)
  

  Here's what we're reading/watching today:

  1) Quick, what 's the first thing you think of when you read the phrase "maker movement"? Perhaps it's the image of a technology enthusiast — more than likely male — in his garage with a 3D printer, spools of PLA, a few Raspberry Pis scattered around and soldering iron in hand. It's a stereotype, of course. Makers, as they've come to be called, have a variety of interests and include men and women — young and old. Also, they're not just making: They're fixing, repurposing, re-engineering and otherwise breathing new life into old things — sometimes, very old things. So, is it time to rebrand the "maker movement"?

  Read full article >>

      

  
  
  
  
• Why you should care about Solar Impulse and renewable energy's long, long journey (Tue, 18 Jun 2013 17:04:37 GMT)
  

  It has now been more than 45 days since Solar Impulse took off from San Francisco for an across-the-nation journey powered only by the sun, and already there's fatigue in some corners. When Solar Impulse finally landed in Washington, DC this weekend, there were no jubilant crowds of the type that met Charles Lindbergh when he arrived in Paris after his epic transatlantic flight.

  Read full article >>

      

  
  
  
  
• Yahoo joins other tech firms by releasing request data, calling for looser restrictions (Tue, 18 Jun 2013 15:32:27 GMT)
  

  Yahoo has joined fellow technology firms Facebook, Microsoft, Apple and Google in releasing broad numbers outlining the data requests it received from the U.S. government between Dec. 1, 2012 and May 31, 2013.

  Read full article >>

      

  
  
  
  
• Why Silicon Valley likes Obama's patent troll offensive (Tue, 18 Jun 2013 14:01:57 GMT)
  

  Technology companies may have backed the President's executive actions to curb patent trolling. But my first thought when reading about the move was that Obama was merely paying lip service to the technology community over an issue that cuts to the heart of innovation and job creation. Obama had failed, I thought, to go far enough. And watching White House press secretary Jay Carney hold up a picture of a crossed-out toy troll in a superhero outfit under the slogan "innovation, not litigation" didn't help lead me to believe otherwise.

  Read full article >>

      

  
  
  
  
• FCC nominee Tom Wheeler to face Senate committee (Tue, 18 Jun 2013 12:52:00 GMT)
  

  Tom Wheeler, President Obama’s nominee for chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, is set to speak before the Senate Commerce Committee Tuesday for his nominations hearing.

  A former tech and telecom lobbyist and venture capitalist, Wheeler will focus on his years of experience in the industry to illustrate his knowledge and ability to read shifting trends in the technology space, according to written testimony obtained by The Washington Post ahead of the hearing. But Wheeler may face questions about how he will transition from his role as industry advocate to regulator.

  Read full article >>

      

  
  
  
  
• White House, NASA want help hunting asteroids (Tue, 18 Jun 2013 12:50:07 GMT)
  

  Continue Reading

  Read full article >>

      

  
  
  
  
• Trying to build a bomb that won't blow up (Tue, 18 Jun 2013 12:39:10 GMT)
  

  Continue reading

  Read full article >>

      

  
  
  
  
• China now has the most powerful supercomputer in the world (Mon, 17 Jun 2013 21:51:39 GMT)
  

  Continue Reading

  Read full article >>

      

  
  
  
  
• Digg’s Google Reader alternative is on its way (Mon, 17 Jun 2013 20:23:00 GMT)
  

  When Google announced earlier this year that it was going to retire Google Reader , the July 1 deadline it set seemed like a long way away. But with June more than halfway over, the time to find your preferred alternative is nigh.

  Read full article >>

      

  
  
  
  
• Facebook may be planning Vine-like service for Instagram, report says (Mon, 17 Jun 2013 19:41:00 GMT)
  

  Facebook is planning something for an event this Thursday, and rumor has it that the social network is looking to launch a video service similar to Twitter’s Vine.

  The latest round of speculation comes courtesy of a TechCrunch report that cites an unnamed source saying that Facebook is planning to add the ability to release short videos to its Instagram service.

  Read full article >>

      

  
  
  
  
• Jay-Z, Samsung want to give you a free album (Mon, 17 Jun 2013 15:02:14 GMT)
  

  Jay-Z and Samsung have teamed up for a major giveaway, passing out free copies of the artist’s forthcoming album, “Magna Carta Holy Grail” to certain Samsung smartphone owners. Getting your hands on the album is a fairly easy process, if you have the right phone.

  Read full article >>

      

  
  
  
  
• Apple received more than 4,000 government requests for customer data over six months (Mon, 17 Jun 2013 12:48:00 GMT)
  

  Apple has released information on how many data requests it receives from U.S. law enforcement, as it joins Facebook, Microsoft and others in pushing for looser restrictions on what tech companies can share with their customers.

  Read full article >>

      

  
  
  
  
• State photo-ID databases become troves for police (Mon, 17 Jun 2013 01:31:00 GMT)
  

  The faces of more than 120 million people are in searchable photo databases that state officials assembled to prevent driver’s-license fraud but that increasingly are used by police to identify suspects, accomplices and even innocent bystanders in a wide range of criminal investigations.

  Read full article >>

      

  
  
  
  
• Court decisions, cost concerns drive growth in business for e-discovery firms (Sat, 15 Jun 2013 22:15:00 GMT)
  

  They are the data crunchers of the legal world, doing the digital equivalent of sifting through reams of documents in search of key phrases that can be used by companies as evidence to fight lawsuits or respond to subpoenas.

  Read full article >>

      

  
  
  
  
• Facebook, Microsoft release number of data requests from government (Sat, 15 Jun 2013 03:56:00 GMT)
  

  Facebook and Microsoft for the first time on Friday said they had gotten data requests from the government under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, but they added that the U.S. government did not permit them to provide specific figures.

  Read full article >>

      

  
  
  
  
• NSA-proof encryption exists. Why doesn't anyone use it? (Sat, 15 Jun 2013 03:51:00 GMT)
  

  
  
  Computer programmers believe they know how to build cryptographic systems that are impossible for anyone, even the U.S. government, to crack. So why can the NSA read your e-mail?

  Last week, leaks revealed that the Web sites most people use every day are sharing users' private information with the government. Companies participating in the National Security Agency's program, code-named PRISM, include Google, Facebook, Apple and Microsoft.

  Read full article >>

      

  
  
  
  
• Google to use balloons to provide free Internet access to remote or poor areas (Sat, 15 Jun 2013 03:20:00 GMT)
  

  Google has a truly sky-high idea for connecting billions of people to the Internet — 12 miles in the air to be exact — through giant helium balloons circling the globe that are equipped to beam WiFi signals below.

  Read full article >>

      

  
  
  
  
• White House will explore idea of sharing government spectrum with telecom companies (Fri, 14 Jun 2013 23:39:40 GMT)
  

  The White House ordered federal agencies to explore ways to release wireless spectrum used for government purposes to telecom companies struggling to keep up with consumer demands for mobile airwaves.

  The administration’s announcement comes amid growing pressure from the telecommunications industry to address the finite supply of airwaves available for an ever-growing number of mobile devices, from smartphones and tablets to wearable technology that is expected to explode onto the market soon. It also follows the Federal Communications Commission’s decision in February to offer incentives to television and radio firms to auction off their spectrum holdings to mobile companies.

  Read full article >>

      

  
  
  
  
• Eddy Cue: Steve Jobs originally didn’t want an iBooks store (Fri, 14 Jun 2013 18:20:00 GMT)
  

  Apple is facing serious questions over the way it’s chosen to price e-books, but one of the firm’s top executives said Thursday that he had to work hard to make the iBooks store happen at all.

  CNET reported that Eddy Cue, senior vice president of internet and software services, said in testimony at the Apple e-books trial that his late boss, Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, wasn’t originally sold on the idea. According to the report, Cue said that while he thought that company would benefit from having a bookstore for the Mac and iPhone, Jobs didn’t agree.

  Read full article >>

      

  
  
  
  
• White House will explore idea of sharing government spectrum (Fri, 14 Jun 2013 15:33:00 GMT)
  

  The White House said Friday that it will explore ways that it can free wireless spectrum currently used for government purposes to meet consumer demands for mobile airwaves.

  President Obama released a plan that calls on government agencies to explore how spectrum being used by federal agencies can be reallocated for use by private-sector companies in the future. The White House also announced that it is investing $100 million to fund research into technology that deals with spectrum sharing.

  Read full article >>

      

  
  
  
  
• Microsoft Office makes the leap to iOS with iPhone app (Fri, 14 Jun 2013 14:35:00 GMT)
  

  A surprise popped up in the iTunes Store on Friday: an iPhone version of Microsoft Office.

  The app has its limitations. It’s free to download but works only for those who subscribe to Microsoft’s Office 365 service, which costs $10 a month or $100 a year. It’s not for the iPad, though it would benefit from the tablet’s larger screen that would make it easier to work with documents. And it works only with the suite’s three core programs: Word, Excel and PowerPoint.

  Read full article >>

      

  
  
  
  
• Here come the real Terminators (Fri, 14 Jun 2013 13:32:24 GMT)
  

  The two-year DARPA Robotics Challenge, which will hand out innovation prize money to teams that can build a robot capable of walking over rubble, manipulating complex tools, driving utility vehicles and performing a number of other disaster response operations, has the potential to create the first generation of emergency first-responder robots. Despite the daunting scale and scope of the challenge, DARPA, or the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, anticipates that at least one winning team will be able to create a robot capable of performing eight different tasks as part of one continuous physical disaster scenario by December 2014.

  Read full article >>

      

  
  
  
  
• Apple senior executive defends company at e-book price-fixing trial (Fri, 14 Jun 2013 00:58:00 GMT)
  

  NEW YORK — Apple senior executive Eddy Cue said in federal court Thursday that some popular e-book titles may have gotten more expensive after his company got into the business but that Apple was not to blame for those price hikes.

  Read full article >>

      

  
  
  
  

_{Copyright 2012 Washington Post Company}

• NASA wants backyard astronomers to help track asteroids (Tue, 18 Jun 2013 22:15:37 GMT)
  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - NASA called on backyard astronomers and other citizen-scientists on Tuesday to help track asteroids that could create havoc on Earth.
  
  
  
• AstraZeneca picks site for new global home in Cambridge (Tue, 18 Jun 2013 08:38:19 GMT)
  LONDON (Reuters) - AstraZeneca has chosen a science park on the southern outskirts of Cambridge, England, next to the world-renowned Addenbrooke's Hospital, for its new $500 million global headquarters and research center.
  
  
  
  
  
• Solar plane lands at Washington on journey across U.S. (Sun, 16 Jun 2013 23:19:32 GMT)
  (Reuters) - An airplane entirely powered by the sun landed in Washington on Sunday after a flight from St. Louis, the next-to-last leg of a journey across the United States intended to boost support for clean energy technologies.
  
  
  
• Exclusive: Antitrust probe of Lockheed-Boeing rocket venture (Thu, 13 Jun 2013 02:16:52 GMT)
  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. regulators have opened a probe into whether a Lockheed-Boeing joint venture that launches U.S. government satellites into space has flouted antitrust laws.
  
  
  
  
  
• Japan mulls hosting global collider project - Nikkei (Wed, 12 Jun 2013 21:00:13 GMT)
  (Reuters) - The government has decided to solicit construction in Japan of the International Linear Collider (ILC), a next-generation particle accelerator that will allow physicists to explore rudimentary questions about the universe, the Nikkei said.
  
  
  
• Restrictive drug laws censor science, researchers say (Wed, 12 Jun 2013 04:19:02 GMT)
  LONDON (Reuters) - The outlawing of drugs such as cannabis, magic mushrooms and other psychoactive substances amounts to scientific censorship and is hampering research into potentially important medicinal uses, leading scientists argued on Wednesday.
  
  
  
  
  
• China's latest 'sacred' manned space mission blasts off (Tue, 11 Jun 2013 15:46:55 GMT)
  BEIJING (Reuters) - A Chinese manned spacecraft blasted off with three astronauts on board on Tuesday on a 15-day mission to an experimental space lab in the latest step towards the development of a space station.
  
  
  
• Weather satellite revived after suspected micrometeoroid hit (Mon, 10 Jun 2013 22:55:58 GMT)
  CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - A weather satellite that failed just before the start of an expected busy hurricane season is back in service, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said on Monday.
  
  
  
  
  
• China's latest manned space mission to launch June 11 (Mon, 10 Jun 2013 13:55:10 GMT)
  BEIJING (Reuters) - China will launch its next manned space flight on Tuesday, carrying three astronauts on a 15-day mission to an experimental space lab, the National Space Administration said, in the latest step towards the development of a space station.
  
  
  
• Asteroid the size of a small truck buzzes Earth: NASA (Sat, 08 Jun 2013 14:29:45 GMT)
  CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - An asteroid the size of a small truck zoomed past Earth four times closer than the moon on Saturday, the latest in a parade of visiting celestial objects that has raised awareness of potentially hazardous impacts on the planet.
  
  
  
  
  
• Second rover finds hint of a life-friendly ancient Mars (Sat, 08 Jun 2013 00:21:47 GMT)
  CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - A Martian rock analyzed by NASA's rover Opportunity contains clays formed in non-acidic water, an environment potentially suitable for the chemistry of ancient life to brew.
  
  
  
• In Alaska's oilfields, drones countdown to takeoff (Fri, 07 Jun 2013 13:28:35 GMT)
  (Reuters) - No pilot was required when the Aeryon Scout took off into the leaden skies of Alaska to inspect a stretch of oil pipeline. The miniature aircraft was guided by an engineer on the ground, armed only with a tablet computer.
  
  
  
  
  
• U.S. farmer lawsuit filed against Monsanto over GMO wheat (Thu, 06 Jun 2013 21:11:50 GMT)
  (Reuters) - American wheat farmers and a food safety advocacy group filed a lawsuit Thursday against biotech seed developer Monsanto Co, accusing the company of failing to protect the U.S. wheat market from contamination by its unauthorized wheat.
  
  
  
• Russian Arctic-mapping satellite malfunctions: Ifax (Thu, 06 Jun 2013 09:22:03 GMT)
  MOSCOW (Reuters) - A Russian satellite launched last year to map the Arctic has stopped working, a space industry source told the Interfax news agency on Thursday, in the latest disappointment for the country's once-pioneering space program.
  
  
  
  
  
• U.S. management of wild horses flawed, scientific report finds (Thu, 06 Jun 2013 00:55:51 GMT)
  SALMON, Idaho (Reuters) - A federal agency working to rein in the population of wild horses in the West should rely more on fertility control than roundups because it would be more effective, a National Academy of Sciences review said on Wednesday.
  
  
  
• Fetch! Robot retrievers compete in $1.5 million NASA contest (Wed, 05 Jun 2013 18:41:06 GMT)
  BOSTON (Reuters) - Eleven robots faced off in a Massachusetts field on Wednesday, showing off their ability to independently track down objects in a hunt for $1.5 million in prize money at a NASA-sponsored contest aimed at speeding technological development.
  
  
  
  
  
• Genomics and particle physics top the scientific charts (Wed, 05 Jun 2013 05:08:43 GMT)
  LONDON (Reuters) - Genomics and particle physics - offering different perspectives on the fundamental nature of life and the cosmos - are the two hottest areas of scientific research.
  
  
  
• Nobel contender sees multiple cosmic mysteries (Tue, 04 Jun 2013 19:32:08 GMT)
  GENEVA (Reuters) - Francois Englert, the Belgian physicist widely tipped to share a Nobel prize this year with Britain's Peter Higgs, said on Tuesday many cosmic mysteries remain despite the discovery of the boson that gave shape to the universe.
  
  
  
  
  
• Kansas wheat farmer sues Monsanto over rogue wheat release (Tue, 04 Jun 2013 15:52:13 GMT)
  (Reuters) - A U.S. wheat farmer has sued Monsanto Co, accusing the biotech seed giant of gross negligence for not containing an experimental genetically modified wheat discovered in an Oregon field that has put U.S. wheat export sales at risk.
  
  
  
• China's latest manned space mission to launch this month (Mon, 03 Jun 2013 21:49:39 GMT)
  BEIJING (Reuters) - China will launch its next manned rocket in the middle of this month, carrying three astronauts to an experimental space module, state media said on Monday, the latest stage of an ambitious plan to build a space station.
  
  
  
  
  
• Large asteroid, with small moon in tow, to fly by Earth (Fri, 31 May 2013 20:12:43 GMT)
  CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - A large asteroid accompanied by its own small moon was approaching Earth on Friday, the latest in a string of celestial visitors drawing attention to the potential dangers of objects in space.
  
  
  
• Trip to Mars would likely exceed radiation limits for astronauts (Fri, 31 May 2013 00:00:31 GMT)
  CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - Radiation levels measured by NASA's Mars Curiosity rover show astronauts likely would exceed current U.S. exposure limits during a roundtrip mission to Mars, scientists said on Thursday.
  
  
  
  
  
• Asteroid mining company wants to put your face in space (Thu, 30 May 2013 06:37:19 GMT)
  CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - A privately owned asteroid mining firm, backed in part by Google Inc's founders, launched a crowd-funding project on Wednesday to gauge public interest in a small space telescope that could serve as a backdrop for personal photographs, officials said.
  
  
  
• International crew takes short cut to space station (Wed, 29 May 2013 03:52:02 GMT)
  CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - A Russian spaceship took a shortcut to the International Space Station on Tuesday, delivering a veteran cosmonaut, a rookie Italian astronaut and an American mother on her second flight to the outpost in less than six hours.
  
  
  
  
  
• International crew blasts off for space station (Tue, 28 May 2013 21:17:54 GMT)
  CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - A veteran Russian cosmonaut, a rookie Italian astronaut and an American mother on her second flight blasted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Tuesday for a six-hour ride to the International Space Station.
  
  
  

_{All rights reserved. Users may download and print extracts of content from this website for their own personal and non-commercial use only. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters and the Reuters sphere logo are registered trademarks or trademarks of the Reuters group of companies around the world. � Reuters 2013}