News Byte

Twitter Open-Sources Mobile Testing Software Clutch.io

Attention, mobile wonks: Twitter is making it easier for you to test your homegrown iOS apps. The company announced Thursday that it will open-source Clutch.IO, the recently acquired code library that helps developers make, test and deploy iOS applications. Twitter acquired Clutch two months ago; open-sourcing the code allows others to continue to use Clutch after Twitter shuts down the service on Nov. 1.

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Researchers Turn Book Into DNA Code

In the latest attempt to corral society’s growing quantities of digital data, Harvard University researchers encoded an entire book into the genetic molecules of DNA, the basic building block of life, and then accurately read back the text.

Happy 100th Birthday, Alan Turing. Love, Silicon Valley.

Silicon Valley certainly owes a lot to the famed British codebreaker and math genius.

App Makers Craft Code for Protesting SOPA

Today, an estimated 7,000 Web sites are going dark to protest the SOPA and PIPA anti-piracy bills. Want to institute your own blackout? There are, of course, apps for that.

Viral Video: Secret Code About Apple’s New York Media Event

Apple is having a publishing-focused event in New York at the end of the month — simple as that.

Horse Flash: Apple’s Steve Jobs on Adobe Vendetta in 2010 at D8 (Video)

Why Apple put the popular software technology out to pasture.

Godspeed on That Investing Thing, Yertle–But I Still Have Some Questions for Your Boss, Arianna

Would it surprise you to know that BoomTown doesn’t really care anymore if TechCrunch editor Michael Arrington sidelines as a blogger while he makes investments in tech companies his tech news site covers? Especially after reading his post yesterday that made a good argument about who he is and, frankly, who he has always been. But that does not mean his boss, AOL content head Arianna Huffington, doesn’t have some ‘splainin’ to do.

Facebook Communications Kingpin Joins Pixazza as Strategic Adviser and Board Observer

Pixazza, the Mountain View start-up that has nicknamed itself “AdSense for images,” has added someone who might know a thing or two about it. Former Googler Elliot Schrage–who is now Facebook’s global communications, marketing and public policy head–is joining the start-up’s board as a strategic adviser and observer.

Video: Pixazza's Bob Lisbonne Talks About "AdSense for Images"

Recently, BoomTown took a walk down digital Memory Lane with Bob Lisbonne, CEO of Pixazza, the photo-tagging service that has nicknamed itself “AdSense for images.” That’s because Lisbonne used to be a big wheel at Netscape Communications. We talked about the old days, of course, but more about the new days and his business focused on putting all kinds of advertising within online images.

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Hackers Luring Victims Using Japan Disaster

Security researchers say that hackers are using the unfolding disaster in Japan by appealing to people’s sense of altruism–or, in some cases, voyeurism–by sending spam email that contain links laden with malicious code. Some of the links are supposed to be of footage of the earthquake or tsunami, some purport to be from relief organizations, while others claim that recipients have inherited $12 million from victims in Japan.