The Upload: Your tech news briefing for Monday, February 23
A federal judge has dismissed an antitrust lawsuit that charged Google harmed consumers by forcing Android handset makers to use its apps by default, saying the plaintiffs didn't show that the practice resulted in higher prices. A complaint over the practice in Russia by a leading Internet search company there last week generated an investigation by the country's Federal Anti-Monopoly Service.
Other apps use the same vulnerable technique as Superfish adware
While Lenovo was busy with apologies and remedies last week after it came out that the Superfish adware preinstalled on some of its computers created a big security problem for users, it came out that other programs apparently also have used the same flawed traffic interception mechanism. Superfish used a man-in-the-middle proxy component to interfere with encrypted HTTPS connections, undermining the trust between users and websites. Researchers have since found that the component, called the SSL Decoder/Digestor and made by an Israeli company called Komodia, is integrated into other software programs as well.
Enterprise IoT grows by Verizon's count
Verizon has estimated that as of last year there were 1.2 billion devices connected to the Internet, re/code reports, and manufacturing industries are pushing the technology the fastest. Verizon research shows IoT growth in that sector of more than 200 percent from the year before. Also growing at faster than 100 percent year-on-year are finance and insurance, and the media and entertainment arena.
Snowden documentary wins Oscar, more movies coming
CitizenFour, a film about the NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden, won the Oscar for best documentary feature on Sunday, keeping the spotlight on the issue of widespread government surveillance of individuals' Internet and telecom use. There's also a dramatization in the works by director Oliver Stone, starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt, set for a release on Christmas Day 2015, while Sony has the movie rights to a book on the affair by investigative journalist Glenn Greenwald, who has worked closely with CitizenFour's creator Laura Poitras.
Cyberwarfare between U.S. and Iran heated up after Stuxnet
The U.S. and Iran have increasingly used cyberweapons against each other for both sabotage and spying, the New York Times reports citing newly disclosed documents. The nearly two-year old NSA briefing paper acknowledged that U.S. attacks on Iran's nuclear infrastructure, "kicked off the cycle of retaliation and escalation that has come to mark the computer competition between the United States and Iran."
Apple putting €1.7 billion into new European green data centers
Apple said Monday that it is investing in two new data centers, in Ireland and Denmark, that will be completely powered by renewable energy sources to support its online services in Europe. It will spend €1.7 billion on the centers, expected to begin operating in 2017.
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One last thing
What are the tech playthings introduced at the recent Toy Fair really teaching kids Mike Elgan looks at a Barbie that eavesdrops and considers a brave new world.