Bits Blog: Today’s Scuttlebot: Planetary Destruction Survivors, and Rubber-Band Faces

Here are some of the more interesting items that the tech reporters and editors of The New York Times found on the Web recently. More Scuttlebot can be found here.

Distorted Portraits Using Rubber Bands
Wired.com |  Not very flattering portraits of people wrapped in rubber bands. Actually, these photos are rather disturbing. — Nick Bilton

Characters Who Survived Their Planets’ Destruction
Visualnews.com |  From “Star Wars” to “Doctor Who,” a fun graphic showing which science-fiction characters have survived earth’s destruction. — Nick Bilton

Redesigning Everything Apple-Style
wired.com | Here’s what Star Wars, Dark Side of the Moon would look like if they got the iOS 7 treatment from Jonathan Ive. —Nick Wingfield

Jony Ive Redesigns Things
jonyiveredesignsthings.tumblr.com | Great parodies of the Apple designer’s unique aesthetic. Love the ‘Star Wars’ poster. — Vindu Goel

Bits Blog: Today’s Scuttlebot: Cyberwarlord for the U.S., and Power Strips on the Road

Here are some of the more interesting items that the tech reporters and editors of The New York Times found on the Web recently. More Scuttlebot can be found here.

Meet the Spy Chief Leading Us Into Cyberwar
Wired | For years, Gen. Keith Alexander has been building a secret army capable of launching devastating cyberattacks. — Ashwin Seshagiri

The Road of Tomorrow Is Electric
News.volvogroup.com |  Instead of just using batteries, Volvo is talking about building electric cars powered by strips in the road. — Quentin Hardy

Dictionary Allows New Definition of ‘Tweet’
Betabeat |  Finally, “tweet” is no longer jargony slang, but Oxford English Dictionary-approved English! — Amy O’Leary

Hell Freezes Over: Microsoft Office Arrives for iOS
Ars Technica |  After much speculation, Microsoft is now releasing a iPhone app for Office, available to Office 365 subscribers. — Amy O’Leary

A Smartphone Breath Sensor That Detects Serious Disease
Bigthink.com |  Yet another use for your smartphone: detecting diabetes, or lung cancer.  — Amy O’Leary

Bits Blog: Today’s Scuttlebot: Web Page No. 1 and Amazon in China

Here are some of the more interesting items that the tech reporters and editors of The New York Times found on the Web recently. More Scuttlebot can be found here.

Stop Watching Us
Optin.stopwatching.us |  Mozilla urges Firefox users to join privacy coalition demanding full disclosure of N.S.A. spying. — Vindu Goel

Search for First Web Page Takes Detour Into North Carolina
Hosted2.ap.org |  A page created in 1991 is locked in a NeXT computer, behind a password long forgotten. — Ashwin Seshagiri

Apple’s War Against ‘Jailbreaking’ Now Makes Sense
ZDNet |  How Apple’s new anti-theft Activation Lock feature may disrupt the practice of “jailbreaking” iPhones, or freeing them from limitations imposed by Apple or the carrier.  — Amy O’Leary

Amazon’s Kindle Goes on Sale in China
Minyanville.com |  You know what’s hard? Selling books in China. Actually, selling anything in China is hard. Even if you are Amazon.  — Howell Murray

Inside the N.S.A.’s Ultra-Secret China Hacking Group
Foreign Policy |  Foreign Policy on N.S.A. hacking: “It turns out that the Chinese government’s allegations are essentially correct.”  — Nicole Perlroth

Prism Suit
Scribd.com |  And the Prism class action lawsuits begin.  — Nicole Perlroth

Developers Conference Explained in One Photo
Twitter.com |  The gender divide in tech, perfectly captured in a photo from Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference.  — Claire Cain Miller