Yahoo pays a large sum for Summly
Yahoo was already around two years old by the time app developer Nick D'Aloisio was born. Now the Internet giant is paying the teen millions of dollars to acquire his mobile start-up, Summly.
Neither side has released details of the deal. But we do know the 17-year-old will go to work for Yahoo... while still doing homework.
D'Aloisio tells News Stream, "I’ll be focusing on other projects on the side as well as finishing my A-level exams. But I’m really going to be focusing on integrating summarization technology at the heart of Yahoo’s mobile solution. These summaries that we provide make it a lot easier for users to consume content and information when they’re on their mobile screen. So it’s really exciting to be working with Yahoo and Marissa Mayer on this."
But this deal is notable for much more than D'Aloisio's age. It tells us that Yahoo's Marissa Mayer is interested in making Yahoo relevant for the mobile space.
A string of CEOs before her have tried and failed to figure out what Yahoo does. Mayer has made many internal changes since taking the helm. But her broader vision for the company still remains to be seen.
"Rules of the road" for U.S.-China cyberspies
Cyber espionage was on the agenda in Beijing this week as Chinese Premier Li Keqiang met with U.S. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew.
Hacking also came up when Lew met China's new president Xi Jinping on Tuesday.
But how big is the threat? Why is China engaging in hack attacks directed at the US? And, as hacking is allegedly happening by both the US and China, how bad is it going to get?
For insight into U.S.-China cyberwarfare, I talked to Christopher Johnson, a senior adviser at the U.S.-based Center for Strategic and International Studies.
He points out that not all the attacks from China are state-sponsored, as there are so-called patriotic hackers and industrial cyber-spies at work as well.
As for any meaningful dialogue between the US and China to set up rules to regulate cyber-warfare, Johnson is optimistic.
"What we're looking for between the two sides in these negotations is a genaral set of rules on the road," he says.
"For example, things like critical infrastructure are red lines for both sides and therefore off the table."
So go ahead and try to hack into my network - just don't hack the hospital.
Witness to a cyber takedown
South Korea has been on heightened alert after a suspected cyber attack on major media outlets and banks.
But what is it like to experience a computer outage that may in fact be a cyber attack?
I talked to Seoul resident and KBS employee Luke Cleary about the massive computer outage in South Korea.
Cleary was among the first to tweet a screengrab of what the outage looked like.
"First I thought it was just my computer, and slowly we started to realize other people in the office were being affected as well," says Cleary.
Pressing issues for President Xi
You can officially call him "Mister President" now.
Xi Jinping has taken the title from Hu Jintao, completing the country's leadership transition. It comes four months after Xi became General Secretary of the Communist Party.
Political commentator and columnist Frank Ching says, "I think Xi Jinping knows that the main problems of China are domestic. When he first became the party leader back in November, he came out and met the international press. He gave a speech and said not a word about foreign policy. It was all domestic. So I think that's where the emphasis is going to be."
The question is where to start.
How data stopped SARS
10 years on, SARS survivor Cathy Kong is still haunted by the outbreak.
Outside the Amoy Gardens housing estate, her former home and site of the biggest community outbreak of SARS in Hong Kong, Cathy tells me how she used her willpower to cast the virus away.
“I talked to the virus,” she tells me. “I talked to the disease: ‘go away, go away.”
The SARS outbreak killed 780 people and infected over 8,000 more. It crossed borders and triggered an international health scare.
A decade ago this week, the World Health Organization first named SARS - the deadly virus that would infect 29 countries before it was finally contained four months later.
And, looking back, what was the most indispensable tool that ended the outbreak?
According to Dr. Isabelle Nuttall, WHO Director of Global Capacities Alert and Response, it was data.
One in a million: The plight of Syria's refugees
The United Nations says more than one million Syrians are now refugees. That means nearly one out of every 22 citizens have fled for safety.
The news come as the country approaches the second anniversary of its civil war.
The U.N.'s refugee agency tweeted this picture after announcing the alarming new number. It says, "Meet Bushra, the millionth registered refugee from Syria."
The sign in her hands says, "One in a million." It's a reminder of the many, many others who share her desperate situation.
She also holds a small child. The U.N. says around half of the refugees are children. Most are under the age of eleven. It's hard to imagine the things they have seen and experienced in their young lives.
As Syria's deadly conflict grinds on, more and more people are making the difficult decision to seek shelter in another country. The UNHCR notes, "They arrive traumatized, without possessions and having lost members of their families."
The U.N. estimated there would be 1.1 million refugees by the end of June. But more than 400,000 Syrians have fled their homes since the start of 2013. And it's only March.
How do sinkholes happen?
Sinkholes happen fairly often in Florida. But rarely do they occur with such drama.
A 36-year-old man is presumed dead after a sinkhole suddenly opened beneath his bedroom Thursday night. The victim's brother says the crash of the collapse sounded like a car driving through the house.
The sinkhole in suburban Tampa was originally reported to be 100 feet (30 meters) across. An engineer says that is actually the diameter of the safety zone, while the sinkhole is about 20 to 30 feet across.
Sinkholes can suddenly happen when bedrock dissolves but the surface stays intact. The void eventually collapses.
Authorities in Florida currently believe this one happened naturally, meaning the rock was probably eroded away by groundwater. Sometimes manmade situations, such as water main breaks, can be responsible.
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