Tech News

In its early years, information theory was dominated by research on error-correcting codes: How do you encode information so as to guarantee its faithful transmission, even in the presence of the corrupting influences engineers call "noise"? Recently, one of the most intriguing developments in information theory has been a different kind of coding, called network coding, in which the question is how to encode information in order to maximize the capacity of a network as a whole. For information theorists, it was natural to ask how these two types of coding might be combined: If you want to both minimize error and maximize capacity, which kind of coding do you apply where, and when do you do the decoding?

Researchers who applied computer analysis to a database of movie scripts think they may have found the secret to a memorable movie line - use familiar sentence structure but incorporate distinctive words or phrases, and make general statements that could apply elsewhere.

In this week's Q&A, I chat with Mikko Hypponen, the Chief Research Officer of F-Secure on the current state of the cybercrime ecosystem.

Social CRM consolidation: Bazaarvoice acquires rival PowerReviews for $152 million, closing the loop on a strategy that stretches from small businesses to big box retailers.

The social network's new photography app appears to replicate many features of Instagram which it is buying for $1bn.

The government is considering introducing filters to block adult material as a default for internet customers to help parents stop their children seeing inappropriate material.

I don’t know what the language of the year 2000 will look like, but I know it will be called Fortran. - CA Hoare, 1982

I regularly read Internet user groups filled with messages from people trying to solve software incompatibility problems that, in terms of complexity, make the U.S. Tax Code look like Dr. Seuss. - Dave Barry