Hasta La Gadget!

Sometimes, it’s the behind-the-scenes deals that matter the most. See Aptina’s newly signed patent cross-licensing agreement with Sony as an example: the pact lets the two imaging veterans use each other’s know-how in camera sensors for everything from dedicated cameras through to smartphones and TVs. We know customers of both companies will be glad to see technology spreading beyond corporate borders, but we have a feeling that Nikon will be the happiest. When Nikon is using Aptina sensors in its 1 series mirrorless cameras and Sony sensors in its DSLRs, it’s likely to reap the benefits, regardless of which sensor maker got the better deal.

Filed under: Cellphones, Cameras, Nikon

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Source: DPReview

Senator Jay Rockefeller has introduced a Do Not Track bill, which would require the FTC to make standards regarding consumers’ ability to opt-out of having their information collected. This is following the first Do Not Track report we saw back in 2011, which was a variant of the current bill. Consumer Watchdog has jumped into the mix, backing the bill.

The report published in 2011 was called Protecting Consumer Privacy in an Era of Rapid Change,” which sought for a Do Not Track functionality to be implemented for consumers. The big difference is that it was a call to voluntary action instead of the pursuit of legislation, giving the digital world a chance to regulate itself. According to Consumer Watchdog, this method has not worked, and so it is time for legislation to be issued.

This hasn’t been due to a lack of effort, however, with W3C creating the Tracking Protection Working Group and having it draw up two Do Not Track standards, one that details the existence of the Do Not Track message sent from consumer to website, and the second for the website that receives the message and how it should respond. While Consumer Watchdog’s Privacy Project director John M. Simpson has been involved with this, he still feels that more action is needed, having said:

“It’s now clear that Rockefeller’s action is necessary to ensure consumers get the protection they deserve and expect. Self-regulatory efforts to develop a Do-Not-Track standard have stalled. Rockefeller’s bill may spark action in such forums as the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), but at the end of the day, we’ll need legislation to get this done. Industry has had no real incentive to agree to a meaningful standard.”

[via International Business Times]

Rockefeller introduces Do Not Track bill, is backed by Consumer Watchdog is written by Brittany Hillen & originally posted on SlashGear.
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We have seen our fair share of videos in the past where the BigDog robotic mule is concerned, and have also spotted changes made to this robotic pack mule that might eventually be an indispensable battlefield assistant for our men and women who spearhead charges into enemy territory. The BigDog is wonderful to carry loads of equipment without tiring out, and has a special sense of balance in addition to not complaining about working conditions.

Thing is, BigDog is noisy when moving, so it cannot be used for covert missions. Still, another advancement has been made to the BigDog recently, where the BigDog has been given the ability to make use of its arm that was capable of picking up a lying cinder block, while carefully using the strength of the legs and torso to maintain its balance. Enemies of the good ol’ US of A, beware! There are far more terrors on the battlefield that you might soon face other than the battle hardened Marines. If only there were retractable arms in the BigDog to make it a six-limbed monster…

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Pentagon Opens Networks To iOS Devices Next Year, Robot Octopus Developed By Army,

Acer has big plans for 2013. Really big plans. I ain’t kidding you, especially when the Taiwanese company has stepped forward to say that they intend to increase their tablet shipments by a whopping 400% this year, with a total of 10 million throughout the year, where out of this 10 million, 7 million of them will run on the Android operating system, with the remainder being powered by Windows-based models.

Right now, Acer is said to be shipping approximately 200,000 to 300,000 Iconia B1-A71 tablets monthly, with the B1 that you see above being an entry-level device which is powered by Android 4.1 Jelly Bean as the operating system of choice, in addition to a 7-inch display at 1024 x 600 pixels, a dual-core 1.2GHz MTK 8317T processor, 512MB RAM, a choice between 8GB and 16GB of internal memory, a VGA camera and a microSD memory card slot. We do hope to see more affordable Android-powered tablets from Acer down the road, with whispers of a 10-inch and 8-inch models in the pipeline.

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Corning Willow Glass At Least 3 Years Away From Appearing In Consumer Products, Fujitsu Prototypes Tablet That Watches You Type A Nonexistent Keyboard,

While Washington was obsessing Wednesday over whether or not the oh-so-intimidating Gene Sperling had threatened Bob Woodward over his deeply misguided take on the budget sequester, another veteran Democratic number-cruncher skated by: The Senate confirmed Jack Lew to be secretary of the Treasury, by a vote of 71 to 26.

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