Hasta La Gadget!

In what is both an unfortunate and odd incident, London’s Victoria Line has been shut down following a flooding of what is being called a fast-setting concrete in the signal … Continue reading

Emojis look cute in your inbox and chat windows, but they reveal nothing about the true nature of the person on the other end. Of course, you can probably vouch for people you actually know.

But what about strangers who chat you up because they find your avatar pretty or because they find your username clever? You might know better than to fall for such lines and assume that you’re chatting with a nice person because of the plethora of smiling and winking emojis he’s sending your way – but kids don’t. That can easily make them susceptible to online predators who prey on the young and innocent.

With this in mind, international non-profit Innocence en Danger commissioned ad agency Rosapark to create a series of images using creepy, real-life emoticons to raise awareness on these dangers kid can encounter online.

The posters and gargantuan emoji-fied faces are beyond creepy. Hopefully, the campaign will encourage more parents to pay attention to what their kids are doing online.

[via Laughing Squid]

Apple and the FTC have announced a settlement that parents who have been charged money for purchases made by children will appreciate. As a parent with a daughter that likes to play games on my iPhone, I know from experience how some of the apps don’t do a good job telling you what things cost real money in the games.

I really hate it when you see something in the game and it doesn’t say if it costs money or not and then when you click the item it pops up for your password. Once your password is entered, charges can be billed.

Some parents have reported thousands of dollars in charges to Apple that happen this way. The FTC settlement will see Apple pay at least $32.5 million to settle claims that it didn’t warn parents of potential charges.

The settlement will also see Apple changing its billing terms. The FTC took Apple to task over not warning parents that by entering their password to download an app, they were also opening a window that allowed in-app charges for 15 minutes.

“This settlement is a victory for consumers harmed by Apple’s unfair billing, and a signal to the business community: whether you’re doing business in the mobile arena or the mall down the street, fundamental consumer protections apply,” said FTC Chairwoman Edith Ramirez. “You cannot charge consumers for purchases they did not authorize.”

Apple CEO Tim Cook has pressured the company board on pay, though not the way you might imagine: the chief exec has demanded his salary be more closely linked to … Continue reading

ARM server startup and Intel threat Calxeda has unexpectedly shut down, after running out of cash before it could convince the enterprise that lots of smaller chips made better sense. … Continue reading