Brian Bergstein
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/ 27 November 2007

Using technology to stop software piracy

If the experience of the world’s largest software vendor is any guide, the industry’s best hope for reducing piracy rests with anti-copying technologies rather than in policing the legalistic user agreements that restrict how software can be used. Microsoft is locking software down through a programme it calls its Genuine Software Initiative.

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/ 13 October 2007

Wear technology, don’t carry it

From clothes riddled with sensors to name tags that detect our moods, computing’s next wave could unleash small devices that increasingly augment everyday activities with digital intelligence. That was the vision at a conference on "wearable computing" this week in Boston, where researchers showed off prototypes.

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/ 16 August 2007

Who’s editing what on Wikipedia?

What edits on Wikipedia have been made by people in congressional offices, the CIA and the Church of Scientology? A new online tool called WikiScanner reveals answers to such questions. Many of the edits are predictably self-interested, but others hint at procrastinating office workers.

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/ 23 October 2006

IBM sues Amazon for violating patents

IBM filed two lawsuits against Amazon.com on Monday, claiming key aspects of the internet retailer’s websites violate patents held by Big Blue. Amazon is accused of infringing on five IBM patents, including technologies that govern how the site handles customer recommendations, advertising and data storage.

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/ 20 July 2005

Visa, American Express cut ties with card processor

Visa USA and American Express are cutting ties with the payment-processing company that left 40-million credit and debit card accounts vulnerable to hackers in one of the biggest breaches of consumer data security. CardSystems Solutions ”has not corrected, and cannot at this point correct, the failure to provide proper data security for Visa accounts,” said Rosetta Jones, a vice president at Foster City, California-based Visa.