From the Lab

News from top technology labs and research groups around the world

by Chris Nerney

Trusted Voice

Chris Nerney writes about research news and the latest discoveries in the areas of science, technology, space and psychology.

How many of us are being spied on through our laptops?

Posted May 04, 2011 - 03:10 pm

It's easy to treat the story about the Wyoming couple suing a PC rental chain for spying on its family through a rented laptop as an "offbeat" news item. But the tale actually raises a troubling thought: More of us probably are being spied on by the computers we have in our homes, offices and in between than we know.
Aaron's, Byrds
Saving someone's life? There's an app for that

Posted Dec 02, 2010 - 06:55 pm

Here you go, Apple: You've been handed the perfect advertisement for your App Store.
basketball, Eric Cooper
Red Hat shares soar after hours following Q4 results

Posted Mar 23, 2011 - 06:07 pm

Shares of Red Hat (NYSE: RHT) skyrocketed almost 11 percent in after-hours trading Wednesday following the release of the open-source software vendor's fiscal fourth quarter earnings report.
(Also see: Red Hat Defends Kernel Code Obfuscation)
Jim Whitehurst, open source
Video: Watch this sinkhole totally swallow several large trees

Posted Aug 22, 2013 - 10:43 am

Officials from a parish in south Louisiana videotape several trees being pulled underwater by a large sinkhole.
Louisiana, sinkhole
The (literally) unbelievable UFO war in Antarctica

Posted Oct 29, 2012 - 03:41 pm

You may not have heard about this, what with all the coverage of Hurricane Sandy and the U.S.
aliens, antarctica
Tech stocks: A half-year scorecard

Posted Jul 02, 2011 - 12:04 pm

Pretend for a moment that you invested in a bunch of tech stocks last New Year's Eve. How would you have fared through June 30, the mid-point of 2011? Below are the Dec. 31, 2010 and June 30 closing prices for 22 tech stocks, along with the percentage change for each. (Warning: The ones at the bottom aren't pretty.)
AAPL, Dell
Bizarre stuff you never knew about Venus and Mars

Posted Oct 02, 2012 - 10:09 am

You'd think after a few billion years of living next to each other, you'd know everything about your neighbors.
atmosphere, carbon dioxide
Great databases in honor of Black History Month

Posted Feb 19, 2013 - 07:27 pm

If you're interested in learning more about the African American experience during Black History Month, there are a number of databases available online.
African American, Black History Month
Microsoft, setting new (low) standards for success

Posted Feb 23, 2011 - 10:17 pm

What would you think if an airline ran an ad promising a 90 percent chance that passengers would reach their destinations? Or if a restaurant bragged in a radio commercial that 90 percent of its customers actually get the meals they ordered?
bricking, Microsoft
Distracting sounds linked to diminished focus, memory, according to LSU study

Posted Sep 18, 2012 - 02:51 pm

A new study concludes that sounds unrelated to a listener’s immediate task – otherwise known as “distractions” – can hurt cognitive performance. The Louisiana State University research appears to provide yet more evidence that multitasking – engaging in multiple activities simultaneously – diminishes a person’s focus and productivity.
Emily Elliott, Louisiana State University

October is...
Unified Communications Month

BY THE NUMBERS: UC&C

HOW-TO: Look alive and professional in Web meetings

TIP: Use your cell phone as a WiFi VOIP phone

TOOLBOX: Six alternative tools for small business collaboration

CASE STUDY: Enterprise social network moves ad agency into the future

Microsoft's Security Essentials isn't the best antivirus program, according to Microsoft

2 comments
AMD pushes forward with new video cards and a few surprises

2 comments
Change Microsoft Office 2013's default search engine from Bing to Google

2 comments
See - and hear - what it was like to surf the web 20 years ago

1 comment
Valve completes its trifecta of announcements with the Steam Controller

1 comment

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