Weekend America Voices
John Moe
Recent Stories
-
Underground sensors could change border enforcement
Representatives of the U.S. and Mexican governments met this week to discuss border management issues. This in the same week that U.S. Border Patrol agent Brian Terry was killed in a gunfight with bandits who target immigrants crossing the border into the U.S. But an innovation in fiber optic technology may change the way border security is conducted.
-
How powerful is Comcast about to become?
Soon you'll likely be able to watch TV from NBC, owned by Comcast, or movies from Universal, owned by Comcast, coming to you through Comcast Internet service or Comcast cable TV. If that's not enough, you can see what's on the Comcast DVR or pull up web content available only to Comcast cable TV subscribers. What will that world be like?
-
Why does the FCC want to regulate wireless less than broadband?
Let's say you go to a website on your home computer and then visit that same website later on your smartphone. It looks like the same site but the rules governing how you get to it might end up being very different if a new FCC proposal passes. The latest FCC plan involves stricter rules for broadband, more lax rules for wireless. We find out why and what that will mean to you.
-
Can your online passwords be both secure AND easy to remember?
Hackers busted into the database of blog company Gawker Media over the weekend, accessed 1.3 million user names, passwords, and emails, and proceeded to post that information online. An online chain reaction soon happened where Twitter accounts started spitting out spam because people used the same passwords for different sites.
-
How to stop the next Wikileaks
One Lady Gaga CD. That, apparently, is what this whole Wikileaks mess can be traced back to. Private First Class Bradley Manning says he was able to copy all those zillions of sensitive documents onto a CD innocently marked "Lady Gaga" and simply walk out the door. Now the military is taking the step of banning the use of CDs, DVDs, and thumb drives on their SIPRNET computers.
-
Who's in that picture? The Library of Congress needs your help
The Library of Congress has a bunch of photographs and they need your help identifying who's in them. You're not going to know any of the subjects personally, though. The photos, all portraits, were taken during the American Civil War and while some of them have part of a name or perhaps a location on them, most are mysteries.
-
You may be shutting down Wikileaks. Yes, you.
Following the release of their latest batch of confidential information, Wikileaks's actual site has come under attack and been shut down numerous times. This is due to what are called Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks. We learn what they are and how you may be involved and not even know it.
-
Arrest made in Vegas may rid the world of one-third of all spam
We have some good news and some bad news today. The good news: an arrest has been made of a guy who is said to be behind one third of all spam being sent in the world today. The bad news: your computer may be part of that zombie army and it's really hard to do anything about it.
-
Comcast, Netflix, Level 3, and what it means for your checkbook
This week we heard about a story involving Level 3 Communications complaining that Comcast was charging Level 3 fees because of Netflix traffic. Soon, the story had morphed into fears that Comcast would block Netflix. We wanted to unpack this situation, find out what's really going on, and what it all means to you.
-
Can the FTC protect your privacy? And is privacy even real?
The Federal Trade Commission issued a massive report on consumer privacy on Wednesday, including a list of recommendations on how websites could do more to help people protect themselves. But given how much data people are sharing online, how realistic is the expectation that we can keep our lives hidden from the Internet?
-
Kinect will be more than a video game system
The Kinect video game system is selling like crazy. 2.5 million units have already been sold, according to Microsoft, and five million are expected to sell between now and Christmas. It's going to be very significant to the video game industry but the technology of the controller-less controller could mean a lot to the world outside of gaming as well.
-
Could a Do Not Track list become a reality?
The idea of a Do Not Track list for web users has been kicked around for a while. After the relative success of the Do Not Call telemarketing list, it seems like an easy and practical way for people to choose not to be tracked around the Internet by online advertisers.
