Since 2009, Google has been blocked from providing software downloads to Iran. However, Google announced on its blog that some of the US government's export controls and sanctions programs that prohibited software downloads to Iran have been lifted.The search giant has made mapping, photo-sharing, and Web browsing software available for the first time to people in Iran. "For the first time, we are making Google Earth, Picasa and Chrome available for download in Iran," Google export compliance programs manager Neil ...

Science fiction has long forewarned the rise of the machine and the ultimate end of humanity. It's usually the realm of late night geek discussions, or perhaps lunatics wrapped snugly in straitjackets.In the popular movie “Terminator” an artificial intelligence network called Skynet becomes self-aware and initiates a nuclear holocaust on mankind. “The Matrix” depicts a future in which reality as perceived by most humans is actually a simulated virtual reality created by sentient machines to pacify and subdue the ...

Legendary Apple Inc. chief Steve Jobs stepped aside on a high note as the company he saved from ruin raked in a blockbuster US$6-billion profit amid unrelenting demand for iPhones and iPads.In a carefully managed chain of events, Jobs announced he was taking an indefinite leave of absence for medical reasons the day before Apple reported its record net profit as revenue soared to an unprecedented US$26.74 billion in the quarter ending December 31.The Cupertino, California-based company said it sold ...

It has come to my attention that people are getting rather confused about what constitutes freedom and openness in web standards. Over the past few days there has been a lot of buzz around Google’s decision to drop support for H.264 format in HTML5 video and, to my surprise, a large number of people are actually against the move.I'll try to sum up the arguments from the perspective of all the players involved.A bit of backgroundH.264 was developed ...

After being dogged by complaints about its privacy protection during 2010, Facebook has finally taken heed of the issues that users have with its privacy policies. On Tuesday, the social networking giant delayed a plan to share home addresses and mobile phone numbers of its members with outside developers of applications.Four days earlier, Facebook announced on its developer blog that it would begin granting developers access to home addresses and mobile numbers but the social network followed up with another ...

Some people study and work for years trying to build, test and develop successful games for the internet age. Others seem to create smash hits without even breaking a sweat. Bubble Ball, a new game for Apple and Android, falls squarely into the latter category. The physics puzzle game that is taking the world by storm was developed by Robert Nay, a 14-year old schoolboy from Utah over 'a couple of months'.Bubble Ball challenges players to use objects and ...

A few weeks back Mark Zuckerburg was spotted in Beijing, strutting through the headquarters of Baidu - China’s dominant search engine and resident Google killer. A couple of days later similar photos popped up after a visit to Sina.com, the Nasdaq-listed online content and social networking powerhouse.The tech press and the blogosphere went crazy, predicting Facebook’s imminent arrival in the Chinese market and just how this may work given the Chinese government's iron grip on social networking and communication technology. ...

American blogger, Dan Zarrella -- an award-winning writer and author of two O’Reilly Media books, has uncovered a screenshot of the original Blackberry Messenger (BBM) notice that was the source of the Nelson Mandela Twitter "death" hoax.Over the weekend, news of the world icon's "death" went viral and trended internationally on Twitter, prompting strong denials from the Nelson Mandela Foundation, the African National Congress (ANC) and worldwide outrage at the distasteful hoax.The source of the original BBM hoax message remains ...

I came away from the North American International Auto Show (NAIAS) with a sense of symbiosis about the mutual influence that the automotive and technology industries are having on each other, and how the success of this collaboration will affect every one of us.With 800-million cars on the road today, growing to an estimated 3-billion by 2035, the automotive industry exists because of our basic need to travel. Not only is it imperative for most of us to commute ...

Everyone hopes that their New Year will bring a renewal of good fortune. And in my experience, the feeling of optimism that comes with the 1st of January tends to last a few weeks before reality sets in and you realise that your life hasn’t really improved that much -- and is unlikely to improve much -- since last year.There are the exceptions of course. Some people really do get lucky and end up with a much better year ...