A Popular Ad Blocker Also Helps the Ad Industry
Millions of people use the tool Ghostery to block online tracking technology—few realize that it feeds data to the ad industry.
Contributors
Tom Simonite
Follow @twitterapiIT Editor, Software & Hardware
I’m MIT Technology Review’s IT editor for hardware and software and enjoy a diverse diet of algorithms, Internet, and human-computer interaction with chips on the side. Working in our San Francisco office, I cover new ideas about what computers can do for us, whether they spring from tech giants, new startups, or academic labs.
My journey to the West Coast started in a small English town called Wantage and took in the University of Cambridge, Imperial College London, and five years writing and editing technology news coverage at New Scientist magazine.
Tom Simonite's Stories
Type
Bitcoin Millionaires Become Investing Angels
Early investors in Bitcoin got rich. Now they are the cryptocurrency’s most powerful gatekeepers.
Companies Complying with NSA’s PRISM May Face E.U. Lawsuits
U.S. companies that pass data from European Union citizens to the NSA’s PRISM surveillance program could be breaching the E.U.’s data-protection laws.
As Data Floods In, Massive Open Online Courses Evolve
As online education companies track students’ behavior and experiment with different delivery methods, assumptions about effectiveness are being challenged.
Microsoft and IBM Researchers Develop a Lie Detector for the Cloud
A way to check whether calculations have been tampered with could make cloud computing more reliable, and boost privacy.
Wanted for the Internet of Things: Ant-Sized Computers
A computer two millimeters square is the start of an effort to make chips that can put computer power just about anywhere for the vaunted “Internet of Things.”
Trained on Jeopardy, Watson Is Headed for Your Pocket
The software that obliterated human champions on Jeopardy will now be talking to customers of banks and other companies through websites and mobile apps.
Bitcoin Hits the Big Time, to the Regret of Some Early Boosters
The first major conference for the digital currency suggests it is gaining legitimacy, but in a manner disappointing to some early enthusiasts.
Smartphone Tracker Gives Doctors Remote Viewing Powers
Here’s the smartphone technology that alerts a doctor when patients are headed for trouble.
With Personal Data, Predictive Apps Stay a Step Ahead
Apps that proactively help people with their lives represent a significant departure from earlier approaches to software.
