Tech Jott / Nuevas Tecnologías

WikiLeaks.com has opened the debate over the lack of privacy on the Internet. Photo: Nicholas Kamm/Agence France-Presse - Getty Images

Internet privacy for many individual users is hard to handle if they’re not careful. However WikiLeaks has recently published delicate United States government information. The secret cables are said to have revealed critical information that was meant to stay secret. The revealed information is believed to have a negative effect on foreign affairs because they reflect critical commentary of foreign representatives.

However many may think that government should not keep secrets from the public. Yet a WikiLeak critic said that in order for countries to be able to come to agreements, government officials should be able to say what they think in a confidential setting. As a result some comments and discussions should be kept secret because criticism is just human nature and often lead to a better understanding of others. WikiLeaks has opened the debate over the lack of privacy on the Internet and the action that should be taken when such privacy is not respected. The ability of an individual to publish information on the Internet is now being of great concern for government and its secret cables. In recent postings WikiLeaks also published information from the Mexican government. The founder of the website is facing great criticism. WikiLeaks.com is not currently available.

Turkish automaker Karsan’s model taxicab is a finalist of New York's “Taxi of Tomorrow" contest. Photo: Karsan

New Yorkhas launched a contest to find the city’s future taxi. The contest “Taxi of Tomorrow” has been searching for an innovative taxi model that will be used throughout New York. This competition is looking for a model that is safe and eco-friendly. The winning model will be New York’s exclusive taxicab for ten years said officials. Many automakers are competing to win New York’s taxicab contest. A tough contender has been Turkish automaker Karsan’s model taxicab. The Turkish automaker was one of the few who build the taxicab model from scratch. Executive Director of Karsan Jan Nahun said being named a finalist represents great opportunity for future of the Turkish automaker industry.

The Turkish auto industry may seem as an odd contender for creating New York’s taxicab of the future. However Turkey has been prospering in the auto making industry. In addition this contest is itself is an innovative contest for New York and the taxi business. This is the first time that a taxicab model will be chosen to be exclusibly used in New York. Currently there is a variety of taxicab models and from different automakers. The winner of New York’s “Taxi of Tomorrow” will be announced early next year and the new taxicab will make its debut in 2014.

MailOnline.com has about 32 million user visits a month. Photo: guardian.co.uk

Online newspaper websites are gaining many readers in Britain. One of the most popular newspaper websites on Britain is Mail Online. This website focuses on reporting celebrity news. MailOnline.com is has 32 million users visit the site every month said research firm comScore. This British website has had an incredible growth considering that it was created only two years ago. At the moment MailOnline.com has the second largest audience. NYTimes.com has the largest web audience. MailOnline is an example of how well a newspaper website is doing in the declining print newspaper industry.

However not everything is perfect and profitable. For example Mail Onlines’ owner reported that the company has a profit of $18.7 million. It’s a significant amount of money but compared to its 32 million users every month is somewhat low. This situation opens the problem of websites not knowing how to effectively profit from their success. MailOnline.com offers free access to their website. Many newspaper website continue to debate the benefits and drawbacks of offering free versus paid access to their content. Nevertheless Mail Online has also been able to market itself through search engines such as Google. MailOnline.com creates headlines that result in Google featuring them in top search results.

Art Professor Wafaa Bilal will undergo surgery to attach a camera to the back of his head. Photo: AP

Art Professor Wafaa Bilal will undergo surgery to attach a camera to the back of his head. This art professor is known for undertaking body modifications for art projects and installations. Bilal, who teaches at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, will keep the camera attached to the back of his head for one year. The camera will take one still image every one minute. The 10 mega pixel camera will try to record Bilal’s life through an entire year.

However not everyone is eager to be part of his surveillance project. For example New York University has requested Bilal’s camera to be covered when he’s on campus to protect students’ privacy. Nevertheless Bilal has agreed to the schools request and will just be posting the time and location when his on the NYU campus. Bilal is known for taking risks and creating controversy with his projects. Another project that was somewhat controversial was titled “…and Counting”. This project resulted in Bilal tattooing his back with the names of Iraqi cities as well as 5,000 red dots representing U.S. military deaths and 100,000 UV ink dots representing the deaths of Iraqi citizens. Bilal will start recoding still images on December 15, 2010.

Online merchant Vitaly Borker was arrested for fraud in Brooklyn, New York. Photo: Robert Stolarik for The New York Times

Shopping online is often considered convenient by a great number of shoppers. However buying online can be dangerous. An online shopper needs to be careful to who they are giving sensitive information such as names, addresses, and credit card numbers. Giving this type of information to a fraudulent online seller can result many problems. On December 6 a New York online merchant was arrested for mistreating some of his clients. Merchant Vitaly Borker said he mistreated clients because he wanted to increase his profile through Google web searches. He is being charged with mail fraud, wire fraud, making threats, and cyberstalking. All of these chargers can result if found guilty to 50 years in prison.

Borker claimed that Google search didn’t differentiate between acclaim and complaints it just generated search buzz for his online store. The New York Times was the first to report Borker’s numerous actions. How did Google react to this situation? Google published on their blog that they were going to change their search formula in a way that poor rated merchants will be penalized for their awful service. Borker’s court trial will continue to unfold while many of his clients accuse him of threatening them with violence.

Google and Yahoo have created a new partnership in Japan. Photo: Wired.com

Google and Yahoo Japan are teaming up to provide local Web searches. However this partnership will mean that in Japan these two companies will have power over the search market. Search businessmen in Japan are not happy about the partnership and are in favor of creating Japan’s own search engine. This domestic search engine will weaken Japan’s perceived dependence from overseas technological tools. Japan’s Fair Trade Commission is approved the alliance of Google and Yahoo Japan without any problems. In Europe it’s a whole different situation. Google in Europe is under investigation for antitrust issues.

Companies that are competing against each other in the United States may be allies in other parts of the world. For example Yahoo and Microsoft’s Bing are allies in the U.S. In addition Google and Microsoft’s Bing compete for users. However in Japan Google and Yahoo are teaming up because they have a whole different business structure. Yahoo U.S. owns only 35% of Yahoo Japan meaning that it has the power to make independent decisions. Japan is a very important market because of the fact that it represents the third largest country with the highest number of Internet Users. The first two countries with high number of Internet users are the U.S. and China.

Bespoke Innovations is a San Francisco based company that plans to use new technology to create custom prosthetic limbs. The innovative 3-D printing technology would allow Bespoke Innovations the opportunity to produce personalized prosthetic limbs for patients. Bespoke Innovations co-founder Scott Summit explains that a 3-D printed limb would cost one tenth of what a traditional made limb would cost.

Scott Summit, co-founder of Bespoke Innovations, with a prosthetic limb.

This type of 3-D printer technology is based on creating objects by layering plastic or metal material. The origin of 3-D printing stems from manufacturers and designers using it as a tool to create prototypes. The explosion of this technology has caused the creation of new businesses that are producing iPhone cases, lamps, jewelry, perfume bottles, and architectural models. One of the most appealing qualities of this 3-D printing technology is the fact that the cost of many of the products is lower than their traditional counter parts.

The possibilities of this 3-D printing technology seem to be endless even a California business is working on building houses. A positive aspect of this technology is that ordinary people with worthy ideas will have the opportunity to create a model that would otherwise be only available to big manufacturers. 3-D printing technology is a sign of what the future holds for manufacturing consumer goods.