Wireless carriers have begun to realize that when you offer flat-rate, all-you-can-eat deals, it tends to bring out the pig in people. Whether it’s food or beer or cellular data, customers will gorge themselves on it, and the buffet arrangement can quickly turn into a money-losing proposition if you don’t plan it out just right. That’s especially true when your customers have constant access to the resource you have on offer — like mobile data through those cellphones they carry with them 24/7. 
The UK government has proposed plans to monitor the electronic communications of everyone in that country. It claims it’s not seeking to read the content of the communications, according to reports, but instead wants to know who the senders and recipients of messages are, the places from which messages are sent, and other details such as the length of messages and their formats. The proposed legislation “is about granting law enforcement authorities and government agencies access to current and historical Internet data …” said Gus Hosein, director of Privacy International. 
Iran has threatened to sue Google over Google Maps’ labeling — or non-labeling, rather — of the Persian Gulf, according to CNN. Iran raised the issue earlier this month and heightened the rhetoric this week. From CNN: “On state-run Press TV, the Iranian regime warns it may take legal action against Google for not labeling the Persian Gulf.” Iran went so far as to accuse Google of carrying out the objectives of Iranian enemies, according to CNN. 
Have you ever found yourself scrolling endlessly around your phone’s chronologically arranged photograph album — called “Gallery” in Android — looking for a photograph you’ve captured? If you can remember the specific place but not the date, then Scalado Album may be for you. I say “may be” because there are some downsides to using it over the stock “Gallery” app, which I’ll get to. Scalado organizes images based on geographic tags in addition to a classic chronological arrangement using folders. This Android app simply takes advantage of the image geo-tagging functionality prevalent in Android hardware. 
Should Apple decide to increase the display size of the next version of its bestselling iPhone, it could present developers with new sets of both challenges and opportunities. Speculation about Apple boosting the screen found on the next edition of its smartphone isn’t new, but it was renewed this week with The Wall Street Journal predicting the new iPhone would have a display of at least four inches. Reuters, with a little more precision, pegged it at 4.6 inches. 
When the SpaceX Dragon capsule blasts off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station atop the company’s Falcon rocket Saturday morning, it will be doing more than just setting off on another cargo-laden trip to the International Space Station. Rather, as the very first commercial attempt ever to fly to the ISS, this test launch will be making history. “It’s almost like the lead-up to Apollo, in my mind,” said Mike Horkachuck, NASA’s project executive for SpaceX. “You had Mercury, then you had Gemini, and eventually you had Apollo. “This would be similar in the sense that … we are in the beginnings of commercializing space.” 
Researchers have developed a robotic arm that has enabled a paralyzed woman to drink a cup of coffee — by directly controlling it with her mind. The development has raised the question of whether this approach could perhaps restore some mobility to similarly affected people in the future. The 58-year-old woman was one of two participants in the BrainGate 2 project who controlled a robotic arm with their thoughts. Implants the size of baby aspirin tablets in the subjects’ brains let them control the robotic arms. 
There are nearly 4,000 different types of devices running Android, OpenSignalMaps has found. More than 1,300 of them have custom ROMs that tweak the android.build model. Android brands are almost as diverse as the models, OpenSignalMaps discovered. Further, the application programming interface level, meaning the Android version, has also become more fragmented over time. These facts bear out the general impression that Android is a fragmented operating system. However, that’s not necessarily a bad thing. 
Google is extensively updating its search function with the rollout of a new Knowledge Graph. The heart of the Knowledge Graph is a database Google has compiled, via its own research and through its acquisition of MetaWeb Technologies, of 500 million people, places, things and points of history. That, coupled with a refined approach to search, will yield an experience aimed at better determining the searcher’s intent and then providing a more-targeted, detail-rich list of responses. 
Last week, file-sharing site The Pirate Bay condemned a DDoS attack launched against British ISP Virgin Media. This week, The Pirate Bay got hit with a DDoS attack. The DDoS attack — which stands for distributed denial of service — severely limited accessibility to The Pirate Bay, according to the BBC. From BBC: “A provider of DDoS defense systems said that it was unlikely that the attack came from hacking group Anonymous.” 
