Articles by David Vranicar

Fresh off his trip to North Korea -- and right behind Apple CEO Tim Cook's trip to China -- Google chairman Eric Schmidt joined a panel discussion at the "Geek Park" conference in Beijing, according to Tencent Tech Schmidt reportedly reminded the developers in attendance that despite Apple's popularity in China -- the iPhone 5 sold more than 2 mill...

A study has tabbed iPhone 5 users as Europe's biggest data-gobblers, consuming -- on average -- more than four times more data than people still using the iPhone 3G The study, released by data analysis firm Arieso and reported by Reuters, said that a single iPhone 5 user is equal to about four iPhone 3G users. What's more, iPhone 5 users reportedly...

Speaking to reporters after a four-day jaunt to North Korea, Google Chairman Eric Schmidt called on North Korea to end its ban on Internet access North Korea's refusal to allow more Web access "is very much going to affect their physical world," Schmidt said, adding that it's time for the nation's totalitarian authorities to loosen their grasp on t...

U.S. government officials and security experts are convinced that a recent cyberattack on American banks was executed by Iran, according to The New York Times The U.S. has not yet divulged any evidence to corroborate their accusations, but The Times reports that security experts say the attack displayed a level of sophistication not possible for an...

Flanked by former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, Google chairman Eric Schmidt arrived Monday in North Korea Richardson, who also is a former UN ambassador, has characterized the trip as a "private humanitarian mission" -- a far more hospitable description than ones coming from the U.S. State Department (which said the jaunt was "not particularly ...

France has stymied an Internet service provider's attempt to let users block ads, according to The New York Times Free, a French telecommunications company with more than 5 million users, had said it would allow its customers to block online advertising. Google, the world leader in online advertising, was mum about Free's move, which "raised alarm ...

The U.S. State Department gave a measured but clear rebuke of Google Chairman Eric Schmidt's upcoming trip to North Korea News broke this week that Schmidt will join former New Mexico governor Bill Richardson on a humanitarian mission to the impoverished nation. The itinerary and exact purpose of the trip has not been revealed, but enough is known ...

Don't expect google.nk anytime soon, but hey, it's a start Eric Schmidt, the executive chairman of Google, will travel to North Korea for a "private, humanitarian mission," according to the Associated Press....

On New Year's Eve, armed burglars lifted thousands of dollars -- and potentially more than US$1 million -- worth of merchandise from an Apple store in central Paris, according to Reuters The hit targeted a flagship Apple store, which carried a full array of products including iPhones, iPads and Macs. Police declined to comment on reports that put t...

A Chinese court fined Apple 1 million yuan, or roughly US$160,000, because its App Store hosted third-party applications that were peddling pirated e-books Bloomberg reports that the ruling stems from a suit brought by a group of Chinese authors earlier this year. The group originally was seeking 10 million yuan....

Lonely Planet, the travel guide and guidebook giant, has temporarily closed Thorn Tree, a popular online travel forum, because of pedophilia-related posts, according to The Age The BBC, which bought out Lonely Planet in 2011, made the decision to take Thorn Tree offline. BBC executives, who were reportedly tipped off by a user who pointed out "swe...

The Great Firewall of China might start requiring ID for admittance On Monday, China's National People's Congress began discussing a draft decision that would force Internet users to use their real names in order to register for services, according to state-run Xinhua....

The postponement of Google's deal with the Federal Trade Commission may have been caused, at least in part, by Europe's tough stance with the company As of a few days ago, reports suggested that Google was close to hashing out a deal with the FTC, but that the European Commission's two-year antitrust investigation was far from resolved. Now, howeve...

The European Union gave Google a January deadline to devise detailed proposals to resolve a two-year antitrust investigation into whether Google used its market dominance to thwart rivals, according to Reuters The Union's antitrust chief, Joaquin Almunia, issued the deadline Tuesday in Brussels to Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt. Should Goog...

Google is expected to agree to changes in the way it displays search results, a move that will likely allow it to skirt an antitrust investigation in the U.S. However, things are still unresolved between Google and the European Commission The Guardian reports that the Federal Trade Commission is expected to announce a deal this week that will end t...

Gary McKinnon, the British man who hacked into U.S. government files to search for evidence of UFOs, will not face prosecution in the United Kingdom In October, UK officials rejected the United States' extradition request in the decade-old case....

Belgium down -- a bunch more to go Google has struck a deal with Belgian newspapers that will allow it to avoid paying large copyright fees.

Pope Benedict XVI made his Twitter debut on Wednesday in front of a congregation of more than 1 million faithful Benedict has eight separate accounts to deliver messages in various languages, including Polish, Portuguese, Arabic and English, according to The Guardian.

In an attempt to harmonize the various patent systems used throughout the European Union's 27 nations, the European Parliament adopted a uniform patent system Tuesday The unified system, which is expected to come into effect in early 2014, could alleviate the "impediments to innovation" caused by the EU's various patent systems, according to The N...

Britain's music industry body is preparing to take the Pirate Party UK to court for offering access to The Pirate Bay, which has been blocked in the UK The British Pirate Party -- the Pirate Party is a political party in many European countries that is opposed to virtually any restrictions on the free-flow of information -- has set up a proxy serv...