Security

When China's homegrown J-20 stealth fighter took to the air on its first test flight, it let the world know – albeit quietly – that China's air force won't take an ejection seat to anyone.

Much has been written in an attempt to make some sense out of the shootings involving U.S. Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords in Tucson, Arizona and the subsequent deaths of her aid, a judge and four others. Suspected shooter Jared Lee Loughner's social media footprints are being examined for clues as to his motives. But perhaps we are following the wrong trail of evidence. Political extremists who are effective in radicalizing certain segments of society are also using social networks to rally support for their causes.

Once again the popular microblogging site of Twitter is caught at the vortex of a political maelstrom where human rights are at issue. Differing from the Iranian election protests of 2009, this time the U.S. is appearing to be the heavy-handed oppressor. On December 14, the government's Department of Justice issued a court order to Twitter to the attention of its "Trust & Safety" department.

Professor Nicholas Fang of the University of Illinois has created an acoustic cloak that hides objects from standard sonar waves - and it fits in the palm of his hand.

Want to look really good while reading a speech off of a blank sheet of paper?  These glasses will allow you to do just that...

The Great Firewall of China is alive and well as companies like Google have been forced to relocate its operations to Hong Kong, and movers and shakers like Mark Zuckerberg while allowed to tour the country - is saddled with his social network being sequestered in "404 Not Found Territory" on China's Internet. But what about Skype - the Voice-over-Internet-Protocol (VoIP) provider? Surely, China's Big Brother doesn't want to censor phone calls, as well?

Access to water during a fire or emergency is a must, but can often be difficult to find. Now, the Crack Mask offers mobile moisture during a panic. 

The game-changing technology of the iPad and WikiLeaks fast became part of the world zeitgeist this year. Under normal circumstances disruptive technology is a stand-alone innovation setting a new path for technology that went before. If iPad disrupted the laptop and eReader industries, and WikiLeaks was a political game-changer in the world of journalism - how did they cross paths to motivate one to reject the other?

Our world was full of acronyms even before social media came onto the scene. In business, someone could be SOL because he was in deep water with his boss. Or a member of the military might be AWOL for taking too much time off for R&R and didn't CYA. But today, acronyms of all sorts have popped into our lexicon as the result of smartphones and Twitter -  where it became even more important to find quicker ways to communicate with a limited number of characters for a tweet or text message.

The Swiss Army has the Swiss Army knife, Arthur Dent had his towel, and China has the latest in multifunctional do-it-all tools: the Chinese Military Shovel WJQ-308! Surrender now, resistance is futile... can you dig it?

Handguns are a danger in any industrialized country, and despite active gun registries and police presence, their use only seems to be increasing. Now, designer Sun Xiaotian has come up with a novel way of protecting the peace and the "piece" - the Fingerprint Gun.

Anyone who has seen the movie, The Social Network is familiar with how in the early years, Mark Zuckerberg pitted young students against each other in a heated competition as to who could "code" the fastest. The most savvy cognoscenti won a chance to join Facebook's start-up team back in 2004. On a recent installment of 60 Minutes, Lesley Stahl noted that "Hacker" posters papered the walls of FB's HDQ. Which begs the question - what determines whether hackers are heroes or villains?

From the days of Napster to Peter Sunde most recently facing millions in damages and an actual prison sentence for his illegal music and video sharing on The Pirate Bay, torrent files are prompting the government to intervene. And with the release of Michael Jackson's posthumous album "Michael" being leaked via file-sharing sites this week, Big Brother may enact more forceful censorship laws.

Some baby monitors tend to pick up signals from outside the home.  As annoying as it can be to have these extra sounds coming through your monitor, it is also kind of creepy to think about the fact that someone else may be picking up sounds from yours.  The Philips Avent Basic Baby Monitor with DECT Technology keeps your nursery completely private with encrypted signals.

With hilarity that seems almost too on-point to be real, the Playmobil "Security Check Point" has seen a sudden resurgence of interest online.

Work, family, social obligations and household upkeep take up a lot of time, which means that many people are forced to fit in their workouts at the end of the day.  For those who enjoy outdoor activities this means that exercise often takes place in the dark.  This is when having a device such as the Ila Sport Pedometer Alarm can really come in handy.

The founder of WikiLeaks is not only a wanted man by the American authorities, his now infamous Web site WikiLeaks is also under attack by notorious hackers, while its services are being cut-off by Amazon and EveryDNS.net. Although not officially announced, Julian Assange might be considered today's public enemy number-one, taking the place of the illusive Osama bin Laden. Not since 9/11 has any one figure reached such notoriety due to what many consider acts against a state.

When Howard Stern titled his 1997 movie, "Private Parts," it was of course a double entendre that exposed the bad boy radio jock's origins while also referencing his obsession with the physical anatomy. When the video chat site Chatroulette graced (or disgraced, dependent on your point of view) our computer screens, that social network gave a whole new meaning to the psychological term "penis envy." With the recent launch of HowRandom.com, a new social media site looks to eliminate visuals from the chatting equation.

Are Internet bubbles on a 10-year cycle? Like the economic booms and busts that have occurred over the course of last 30 years, similar Internet peaks and valleys seem to follow suit according to John Doerr of Kleiner Perkins Caulfield & Byers. He refers to them as "waves" and it appears that we are currently transitioning from a simmer to a slow boil presently.