News Byte

Twitter’s Alert Service Crosses the Pond

Twitter on Monday extended its Alerts service to users in the United Kingdom and Ireland. The program allows official government agencies and public emergency services to send out mobile push notification and text messages to followers on Twitter, in order to deliver relevant information in times of crisis. At launch, Twitter signed up 57 government agencies in the U.K. and Ireland.

Why the NSA Hates Tor, the Network That Protects Internet Anonymity

The good news: Even the NSA can’t quite break it. The bad news: It hasn’t stopped trying.

What the NSA Might Have Wanted to Learn From Tracking Your Phone

A mobile phone’s location is a rich trove of useful data, so it’s no wonder that the spy agency experimented with it.

HP’s Autonomy Sells Off Stake in Video Search Company Blinkx

Who knew HP even owned it?

China Retakes Supercomputing Crown With a Lot of American Chips

Titan, America’s previous champ, is now No. 2.

Tweet Is Now a Real Word, and the Oxford English Dictionary Says So

Which came first, tweet or retweet?

News Byte

Twitter Account of U.K.’s Largest TV Network Falls to Syrian Hackers

A Twitter account belonging to ITV, Britain’s largest TV broadcaster, is the latest victim of a hacking campaign by the Syrian Electronic Army. The network confirmed to Reuters that the account was compromised. It’s the latest attack on a Twitter account controlled by a Western media organization by the pro-Assad group. Previous targets include the Associated Press, the Financial Times, the Onion and CBS News. Twitter has recently instituted new security measures to help prevent incidents like these.

Q&A With HP CEO Meg Whitman and CFO Cathie Lesjak: The Turnaround Is on Schedule

All is going according to plan.

Voices

U.K. Lawmakers Challenge Google Over Tax

U.K. lawmakers Thursday accused Google Inc. of manipulating how it characterized its business in Britain to lower its tax bill, a claim denied by the Internet giant which says it complies fully with tax laws.

News Byte

Gaming Company Digital Chocolate to Launch Real-Money Gaming in the U.K.

Digital Chocolate, a social gaming company, will launch Slots! Pocket UK, the first of its real-money gambling games in the United Kingdom. The game’s gambling back end is powered by Betable, a platform which handles all the identity, fraud prevention and real-money wagering aspects of a digital online game.

Will That Be Sir Jonathan, or Sir Jony?