Pebble, the first widely available smartwatch, cleared $10.2 million on the site. Ouya, an affordable game console running Android, cleared $8.6 million. Virtual-reality system Oculus Rift got a $2.4 million start, and rock legend Neil Young turned to Kickstarter to fund Pono, a high-quality digital music player, to the tune of $6.2 million.
The report demonstrates that “we have the means to limit climate change,” said Rajendra Pachauri, chairman of the IPCC, in a statement. “The solutions are many and allow for continued economic and human development. All we need is the will to change, which we trust will be motivated by knowledge and an understanding of the science of climate change.”
Andy Rubin, co-founder and ‘father’ of Android, has left Google to set up a startup incubator for technology hardware. Rubin sold his Android company to Google in 2005, heading up its development until March 2013 when he moved to take the lead in Google’s “moonshot” robotics projects. “I want to wish Andy all the best with what’s next,” Google chief executive Larry Page said in a statement. “With Android he created something truly remarkable – with a billion-plus happy users. Thank you.”
Voice-control features designed to make PCs and smartphones easier to use, especially for people with disabilities, may also provide ways for hackers to bypass security protections and access the data stored on those devices. Accessibility features are there for a good reason—they make it possible to control what’s happening on the graphical user interface without typing. But if they aren’t designed carefully, these features can be abused.
Facebook is making it easier for users of the Tor anonymising service to access the social network, by launching a .onion address. The company is describing it as “a way to access Facebook through Tor without losing the cryptographic protections provided by the Tor cloud”, in an effort to convince Tor users that their anonymity will be maintained.