Tech Today w/ Ken May

Now that Graph Search has finally rolled out to the entire Facebook world, the newest covetable feature has been bestowed onto a small subset of users. Starting today, Facebook is rolling out Graph Search for posts. Read more…        

Facebook updated its Graph Search feature today to include posts and status updates. Now, you can find posts your friends have made about certain topics, from specific locations, or that you’ve commented on. Check out Facebook’s full blog post for more info, as well as our favorite clever uses for Graph Search . Read more…        

With an average global broadband connection speed of just 3.1 Mbps, the internet has become one enormous bottleneck for those that send large amounts of data across it. At that speed, a 100 GB file would take around three days to transfer completely, eons too long in a digital era measured by millisecond pings. But a new double-duty satellite launched yesterday could cut that transfer time to just 90 minutes. Read more…        

If you’re planning on stealing anything from the London Borough of Brent, you might want to think twice—or at least hope you look good in green. The Brent Police Department has a crazy new secret weapon that covers crooks head to toe in a semipermanent emerald, ultraviolet glow. And they have no idea until it’s too late. Read more…        

AaronW writes “Scientists and engineers at the US DOE SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory and Stanford University have developed an advanced accelerator technology smaller than a grain of rice. It is currently accelerating electrons at 300 million volts per meter with a goal of achieving 1 billion EV per meter. It could do in 100 feet what the SLAC linear accelerator does in two miles and could achieve a million more electron pulses per second. This could lead to more compact accelerators and X-ray devices.” Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Hugh Pickens DOT Com writes “Los Angeles Unified School District started issuing iPads to its students this school year, as part of a $30 million deal with Apple. Now Sam Sanders reports at NPR that less than a week after getting their iPads, high school students have found a way to bypass software blocks on the devices that limit what websites the students can use. The students are getting around software that lets school district officials know where the iPads are, what the students are doing with them at all times and lets the district block certain sites, such as social media favorites like Facebook. ‘They were bound to fail, ‘ says Renee Hobbs, who’s been a skeptic of the iPad program from the start. ‘There is a huge history in American education of being attracted to the new, shiny, hugely promising bauble and then watching the idea fizzle because teachers weren’t properly trained to use it and it just ended up in the closet.’ The rollout of the iPads might have to be delayed as officials reassess access policies. Right now, the program is still in Phase 1, with fewer than 15, 000 iPads distributed. ‘I’m guessing this is just a sample of what will likely occur on other campuses once this hits Twitter, YouTube or other social media sites explaining to our students how to breach or compromise the security of these devices, ‘ says Steven Zipperman. ‘I want to prevent a “runaway train” scenario when we may have the ability to put a hold on the roll-out.’ The incident has prompted questions about overall preparations for the $1-billion tablet initiative.” Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Amazon’s really laid off the pomp and circumstance this year. Between a new Paperwhite e-reader and a trio of tablets , the company’s hosted nary a press conference; just a couple of small-scale meetings. In the case of the Paperwhite, the reason seems clear. From the name on down, nothing about the device screams “major upgrade.” Both the hardware and software received some tweaks, sure, but, well, if this were an Apple product, it would almost certainly be called the Kindle Paperwhite S . Then again, we loved the Paperwhite the first time around , so why mess with near perfection?%Gallery-slideshow99545% Filed under: Amazon Comments

Ever wonder if your iPhone 4 really was weirdly slow? Or if iOS 7, despite its bells and whistles, just has a longer boot time than your old 3G? Well wonder no longer. You’re about to find out for sure. Read more…        

dmfinn writes “It was back in 2011 when Stefano Ampollini and two accomplices cheated a French casino out of over €90, 000 thanks to the help of Chinese-made infrared contact lenses. According to French authorities, Ampollini and two casino workers marked cards using an invisible liquid that would be picked up by the infrared lenses, which Ampollini then used to read his competitors’ cards. Though the contacts themselves cost over €2, 000, the crew managed to take €71, 000 in their first night. However, the trio was finally caught when a lawyer working for the casino became suspicious after Ampollini folded with an unbelievably good hand, which suggested he knew the croupier’s cards. This week, a French court sentenced Ampollini to two years in prison and a €100, 000 fine. His main accomplice was handed an even harsher sentence; he was forced to pay the same fine and given a 36-month sentence. It appears, despite their best efforts and advanced tactics, that the men were still unable to beat the house without raising significant alarms. So, at least for now, it seems modern technology still can’t simulate good old ‘luck.’” Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Obviously, the most important feature of an antivirus program is the ability to catch viruses—but it’d also be nice if the program was fast and lightweight, too. The team over at Soluto put together a graph that shows how many seconds some anti-viruses add to your boot time. Read more…