dreams

Questions persist about NSA surveillance

CNET Update wants answers:

In this episode of Update:

- Get up to speed on the latest developments in the NSA spying flap and how it extends to contents of U.S. phone calls. Apple, Microsoft and Facebook are only able to disclose limited details on government requests for customer data.

- Speed things up on MetroPCS with new phones that work on T-Mobile's 4G network.

- Keep the kids entertained next year with DreamWorks television shows on Netflix.

- Learn how to leave a video message for anyone on Skype.

- Speculate on rumors about Facebook's news announcement on Thursday. … Read more

Crave Ep. 121: Wake up to a dancing iPhone

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This week on Crave, we take a look at Tim-e, an iPhone dock that wakes you up in the most annoying ways possible. We salute Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield on making space travel cool again, and demonstrate Petswitch, which lets you put your face on your cat's visage. … Read more

Dream Chaser space plane to begin NASA flight tests

In another sign of ever-increasing commercial spaceflight activity, Sierra Nevada's Dream Chaser space plane has arrived at NASA for testing.

Wrapped in plastic, the craft arrived at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., where it will eventually undergo its first autonomous free flight Approach and Landing Test (ALT).

Part of NASA's Commercial Crew Program along with SpaceX and Boeing, the Dream Chaser is designed to launch vertically on top of an Atlas 5 rocket, dock with the International Space Station, and then return to Earth like a glider, landing on a runway. … Read more

U.S. Navy uses laser to take down drone

CNET Update is powering up the laser cats:

Lasers are coming soon to a battleship near you. The U.S. Navy posted a video of a laser weapon that set fire to a drone, and it plans to put one on a ship by the end of the year. One shot of energy from the laser costs about $1.

Also featured in this tech roundup:

- The Galaxy Note 8 is an impressive 8-inch tablet that's tripped up by a $400 price tag. But if you like a stylus, you might not mind that it's more expensive than … Read more

Scientists find a way to see your dreams

At the ATR Computational Neuroscience Laboratories in Kyoto, Japan, Yukiyasu Kamitani and his colleagues have spent a long time trying to assemble the data they need to image a sleeper's dreams on a screen -- and it looks like they might be nearly there.

Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), which examines the flow of blood in the brain to monitor activity, the team has managed to create an algorithm that can accurately display in real time what images are appearing in a dream. This is the first time, it is believed, that objective data has been collected from … Read more

Netflix, DreamWorks team up on original series for kids

With "House of Cards" now officially a smashing success for Netflix, it's no surprise the company is looking to expand its programming.

The company announced today that it has teamed up with DreamWorks Animation to launch another original series on its streaming service. The show, "Turbo: F.A.S.T." will debut in December and is a spin-off of "Turbo," the DreamWorks Animation film premiering in theaters July 19.

Netflix's first original series, "House of Cards," starring Kevin Spacey, has been critically acclaimed for its depiction of U.S. politics. … Read more

Sherlock Holmes to play Assange in WikiLeaks movie

It can't be easy to create a movie in which the hero is seen by some as the villain.

Yet that is the difficult task for the production team behind "The Fifth Estate," a movie whose filming has already begun.

This DreamWorks opus traces the rises, falls, and drips of pathos surrounding Julian Assange and his WikiLeaks enterprise.

The Associated Press reveals that Assange will be played by Benedict Cumberbatch, one of the many who have impersonated Sherlock Holmes on film.

Cumberbatch is quite posh, so he should quite easily be able to express that touch of … Read more

Six features you don't want to miss in Android 4.2

Android 4.2 is full of new features, some are fairly minor, such as the Settings shortcut in the notification bar. Other features, such an improved photo editing process, are bound to have a bigger impact on the overall user experience.

Here are five new features you can find in Android 4.2 Jelly Bean, with the sixth item being a workaround should you decide against lock-screen widgets.

Developer Options Developer Options is an important settings menu for developers and those who like to fiddle with their Android device. For whatever reason in Android 4.2, Google hid the Developer … Read more

Supposed untethered jailbreak for iOS 6 ends up being fake

An unidentified hacker behind a hack called Dream Jailbreak pulled a fast one on countless iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch owners today with the announcement and heavy teasing of an untethered iOS 6 jailbreak, or software that lets users gain deep access to their device without fear of losing it all after rebooting.

In a proof-of-concept video posted earlier, the unidentified hacker connects his iPhone 5 to a computer via USB; accesses a Web site through Safari (the identity of the site is blurred in the vid); and then runs an application called Dream (coming to Windows and Mac) on his computer. After a few flashes of code, the iPhone 5 reboots with popular third-party app and code installer Cydia in place and a world of third-party software just a tap away.… Read more