By Kelly Faircloth 5/07 4:45pm

Hackathons

Bullshit the N wasn't running. (Photo: flickr.com/anniemole)

Stalk Your Favorite Subway Buskers With the Winner of the MTA’s Transit Hackathon

Your smartphone is useful for more than Bejeweled now that there’s Wifi in many stations, and the MTA is trying to use that connectivity to make your commute better. (Just don’t ask when your train is getting a countdown clock.)

This weekend, techies gathered in Brooklyn at NYU Poly’s MetroTech Center campus for the first official, MTA-approved transit hackathon. Participants threw together a total of 17 submissions judged by authorities like Rachel Haot, General Assembly cofounder Matt Brimer and AT&T New York president Marissa Shorenstein. Read More

By Jessica Roy 11/27/12 8:56am

Privacy Police

(Photo: Getty)

The NYPD Could Be Reading and Saving Your Call Logs Without a Court Order

Perhaps it’s time for a burner phone? The New York Times reports that the NYPD has begun quietly and methodically accumulating heaps of call logs and putting them into a searchable database called the Enterprise Case Management System.

It works like this: When someone has their cell phone stolen, the NYPD frequently subpoenas the call logs for that phone, hoping that if the thief used the phone, the recordings will provide evidence that can help track him or her down. But instead of deleting the logs after closing the case, they continue to exist in the NYPD’s database, and could “conceivably be used for any investigative purpose.” Read More

By Steve Huff 11/20/12 6:08pm

Hack Hack Hack Hack It Apart

Not one of the hacked iPads, we guess.

Goatse Security’s Andrew Auernheimer Found Guilty Of Charges Related to Massive AT&T Hack

Goatse Security hacker Andrew Auernheimer, age 26, has been found guilty on federal charges related to downloading the data of over 100,000 iPad owners from AT&T’s website. Wired reports that the jury that heard Mr. Auernheimer’s trial in a New Jersey federal court only took hours to reach a verdict, finding him guilty of identity fraud and conspiring to access a computer without authorization.

Mr. Auernheimer, using the Twitter handle @rabite, tweeted that he knew “there would be a guilty here” and he will appeal. Read More

By Jessica Roy 11/08/12 9:21am

Going Mobile

(Photo: Twitter/swissmiss)

Verizon Waives Two Weeks of Voice and Text Charges for Sandy Victims

Anyone in the New York/New Jersey region knows how hard it was to make a call or send a text message in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy’s devastation. Simply dialing up your parents to let them know you were okay resulted in many a frustrating dropped call, “mobile network not available” message or weird busy signal. Not to mention that those who lost power were left without a way to charge their typically omnipresent communication devices. Read More

By Kelly Faircloth 10/01/12 8:45am

Where Did I Put My Data?

I can has affordable wireless bill? (Photo: flickr.com/joshsemans)

With Dirt Cheap Data, Can FreedomPop Crack U.S. Smartphone Market?

What’s a girl got to do to get some affordable data service around here? Americans are putting more money than ever towards their smartphone bills, and carriers don’t seem inclined to cut their rates any time soon. But the Wall Street Journal says one company wants to break the stalemate, with dramatically less expensive 4G offerings. The question is whether they can pull it off.

FreedomPop, which launched today, will offer users five gigabytes of data for $35, and one gig for $10. Compare that to the $80 or so six gigs will run you at Verizon, and suddenly you’ve got a lot more money for steak dinners.

There are, however, a couple of bumps in the road to adoption. Read More