Articles by Nick Kolakowski

• The Science Behind 'Elysium'

  [caption id="attachment_11432" align="aligncenter" width="618"] Matt Damon (l) and Sharlto Copley (r) have a reasoned discussion about inequality. Just kidding, they spend the whole movie shootin…
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  How Bezos Buying The Washington Post Could Strengthen Amazon

  [caption id="attachment_11410" align="aligncenter" width="510"] Amazon's Kindle Fire.[/caption] Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos has purchased The Washington Post, one of the largest U.S. newspapers still s…
• Hurricane Season Coming: Prepare Your Datacenter

  [caption id="attachment_11401" align="aligncenter" width="500"] It pays to be prepared.[/caption] It’s August, and that means hurricane season for the U.S. East Coast is rapidly approaching. In 2…
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  Hacking a Bluetooth-Enabled Toilet

  Think it’s bad when someone hacks your PC or smartphone? Welcome to our interconnected future: thanks to Bluetooth, a determined hacker can now do malicious things to your Bluetooth-enabled toile…
• Supercomputer Launches World's Largest Neuronal-Network Simulation

  Researchers in Japan and Germany have carried out what’s being described as the largest neuronal network simulation to date. That simulation leveraged open-source NEST software running on K compu…
• NSA Director Tries Playing Nice With Black Hat Hackers

  U.S. Army General Keith Alexander, director of the National Security Agency, pled for a bit of understanding from attendees at this year’s Black Hat security conference in Las Vegas. “You’re the…
• Google Play Edging Ahead of Apple’s App Store in Downloads: App Annie

  Google Play is beating Apple’s iOS App Store in total app downloads, according to the App Annie Market Index. (App Annie builds analytics platforms and statistical tools that parse out data about…
• IBM Still Pushing Out Big Data Hardware

  [caption id="attachment_11277" align="aligncenter" width="618"] Meet the new box. Not quite the same as the old box.[/caption] IBM may have poured considerable effort into developing a hardy clou…
• Facebook’s Games Initiative Could Spell Trouble for Zynga

  [caption id="attachment_11269" align="aligncenter" width="618"] Sad day in FarmVille.[/caption] If struggling online-games developer Zynga thought things were bad before, they could be turning a…
• An iPhone Fingerprint Scanner Could Boost BYOD

  [caption id="attachment_11265" align="aligncenter" width="618"] iOS 7's lock screen might get a little more touchy-feely.[/caption] For years, unlocking your smartphone or tablet meant entering a…