Google’s phone unit gets ready for Waterloo hiring spree……

Half-Life fans face Friday of disappointment……

Second transparency report shows slight increase in data requests……

Nerval’s Lobster writes “In 2012, hurricane Sandy smacked the East Coast and did significant damage to New Jersey, New York City, and other areas. Flooding knocked many datacenters in Manhattan offline, temporarily taking down a whole lot of Websites in the process. Now that fall (and the tail end of hurricane season) is upon us…

Microsoft is removing the Microsoft-imposed five-device app-installation limit for Windows 8 and 8.1 devices. Starting next month, the new upper limit is 81 devices…….

Alex Kiessling puts himself in three places at once by getting remote robots to mimic his sketching…….

One NSA worker did it “out of curiosity,” another for “practice.” Agency’s letter in response to query from US senator gives glimpse of romance-related — and other — misuses of surveillance system…….

bednarz writes “In four days, the health insurance marketplaces mandated by the Obama administration’s Affordable Care Act are scheduled to open for business. Yet even before the sites launch, problems are emerging. Final security testing of the federal data hub isn’t slated to happen until Sept. 30, one day before the rollout. Lawmakers have raised…

Major League Baseball’s app incorporates Apple’s iBeacon technology, Google Search handles your complex questions, and Xbox Fitness tracks your heart rate with the Kinect…….

Linguist John McWhorter offers up a lesson in how fantasy languages become real languages…….