Articles by David Vranicar

Cisco has been accused of being in bed with U.S. cyberspying efforts, according to a Chinese state media outlet Cisco "carries on intimately" with U.S. spying apparatuses, the outlet claims, and plays "a disgraceful role" in efforts to prop up U.S. power over the Web.

Iran has released at least some of the people who appeared in a music video for a song by American pop artist Pharrell Williams The video, set to the Williams tune "Happy," showed people dancing on rooftops of the capital of Tehran.

Yeah, about that breakthrough between Google and European antitrust regulators The European Union's antitrust chief might pursue a tougher stance on Google than the one outlined in a February agreement, which was believed to have end -- finally -- the legal circus between the two sides....

Anonymous Philippines, the Philippines branch of the hacktivist collective Anonymous, defaced more than 200 Chinese websites over a territorial dispute between the two countries The group announced the move on its Facebook page, offering a detailed list of all websites it had infiltrated....

A space-bound satellite designed to provide Internet access to remote regions in Russia and neighboring states was destroyed when its ride blew apart mid-flight The Proton-M rocket, affixed with a European-built Express AM4R satellite, seemed to be doing just fine until nine minutes into the flight, when it exploded some 93 miles above Earth. The f...

This week's landmark ruling from the European Court of Justice, which says that Google and other Internet companies could be forced to remove search results upon request, has been a hot topic around the globe * The ruling was "astonishing," according to Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales, who said that it was "one of the most wide-sweeping Internet cens...

In a move that could complicate the creation of any more Terminator movies, United Nations diplomats on Tuesday discussed international laws to govern, or simply ban, the use of killer robots This was the first time that a UN meeting was devoted entirely to the topic, which makes sense given that the robots in question don't yet exist.

Nintendo won't include same-sex romantic activities in English editions of an upcoming life simulator game The company has faced pressure, including a fan-fueled social media campaign, to let users have gay relationships in Tomodachi Life, a game whose characters are modeled after real people....

Tesco, a British-born multinational grocery store chain, plans to launch its own smartphone by the end of the year The device will reportedly run on Android software and have specs comparable to the Samsung Galaxy S5. Of course, the Galaxy doesn't come equipped with preinstalled Tesco services; the new phone will....

Nokia has created a US$100 million fund earmarked for investing in firms that specialize in connected and smart vehicles. The move comes days after the Finnish firm forked over its handset unit to Microsoft....

The French government is considering a ban on GPS-enabled apps that allow would-be passengers to track down nearby drivers The issue is being fueled by irked taxi unions that increasingly are frustrated with -- and helpless against -- ride-sharing apps. Thus has the government drafted recommendations that include banning services that display maps ...

Google has launched a new feature on Street View that enables users to browse through images dating back as far as 2007, as well as images from different seasons and at night ...

Pavel Durov, the founder of Russia's most popular social network site, claims he has been ousted by allies of President Vladimir Putin -- who went ahead and took over the site while they were at it Durov, who ran the mega-popular VKontakte, had reportedly run afoul of the Russian government for refusing to heed requests to censor posts on the site....

The Sports Torrent Network, a brazenly named file-sharing site, shut down after UK police threatened to put its operators behind bars for up to 10 years TSTN was a hotbed for illicit broadcasts of European soccer, the National Hockey League, Formula 1 races and more. The site reportedly had about 20,000 members, making it, in the words of Torrent F...

The chief executive of one of Germany's biggest media companies penned an open letter criticizing Google, saying that his company is afraid of Google and its ever-swelling power The letter, written by Mathias Dopfner, the chief executive of media giant Axel Springer, opines that Google's technology platforms spread more quickly and more efficiently...

Shanghai WinSun Decoration Design Engineering, a Shanghai-based company, has created 10 3D-printed houses Each house reportedly cost less than US$5,000 and took less than 24 hours to construct. The printer used to create the homes was about 100 feet long, 33 feet wide and more than 20 feet tall. The "ink" was made from high-grade cement and glass f...

Samsung, longtime patent foe of Apple, will partner with Swiss Federal Railways, another -- unlikely -- patent foe of Apple While the deal itself may not be groundbreaking -- Samsung will supply the state-owned rail company with 30,000 mobile devices -- it is interesting given the litigious background that both parties have with Apple....

Twitter has agreed to close some accounts in Turkey, but the two sides are still at loggerheads over allegations of tax evasion and whether or not Twitter must maintain a physical presence in the country Twitter Vice President of Global Public Policy Colin Crowell led a delegation of sorts to address the country's multifaceted grievances with the s...

Having become the first company to formally meet the European Union's data protection rules, Microsoft is trying to turn its trustworthiness into business in privacy-wary Europe "For customers who care about privacy and compliance, there is no more committed partner than Microsoft," wrote Microsoft General Counsel Brad Smith in a Thursday blog post...

French President Francois Hollande has imposed a ban on mobile phones during cabinet sessions, forcing ministers to leave their devices at the door The move is designed to help "focus on what we must do," a spokesperson said, and will ensure that government folk "talk and listen to what is said and will no longer be able to tap away at this magnifi...