Oopsie! Google Accidentally Harvested WiFi Data

Google today revealed in a blog post that the company's street view cars had been accidentally collecting data from open WiFi networks.

Google today admitted that, in the years that it's been photographing the streets of the world for Google Maps, it has also been unintentionally collecting payload data from open WiFi networks and public hotspots. The revelation came after the German Data Protection Authority asked to audit the WiFi data collected by the Google Street View cars.

Dell Demos Streak, Confirms AT&T

Michael Dell whipped out the Streak Thursday at the Citrix Synergy conference in San Fransisco.

On Thursday, during the Citrix Synergy conference in San Francisco, Dell founder and CEO Michael Dell reached into his pocket during the keynote speech and whipped out Dell's upcoming Android-powered, 5-inch Streak MID (mobile Internet device). This was the first time anyone had seen the device since Engadget's hands-on preview with a prototype back in February.

We already know the specs of Dell's Streak: a 1 GHz Snapdragon processor, a 800 x 480 capacitive touch-screen display with multi-touch zooming, a 5MP camera with a dual-LED flash, Wi-Fi and 3G support, and more. What wasn'tspecified in Dell's surprise demo were changes to the device hardware--if any--since February's preview.

German Court Says Secure Your Wi-Fi or Get Fined

Be responsible netizens, says Germany.

If you live in Germany, then you'd better put a password on your wireless router now.

A German court ruled that those with internet connections hooked up to a wireless access point must put a password to secure it or else face a fine of up to 100 euro, or around $126.

"Private users are obligated to check whether their wireless connection is adequately secured to the danger of unauthorized third parties abusing it to commit copyright violation," the court said, according to the AP.

This ruling came after a musician sued an internet user whose open wireless connection was used to illegally download music over a file sharing network.

The courts, however, will not be holding users responsible for what happens over their wireless network. So, it seems that making a password mandatory is the sensible measure of legal responsibility to put on internet subscribers.

Google Translation Now Supports Urdu Language

Google translation, a tool to translate from one language to 57 another languages, has added Urdu in the list.

Meaning that, now you can translate 57 languages into Urdu and from Urdu to 57 well known languages of the world.

This remarkable achievement will greatly help in localizing the content by presenting foreign language websites in Urdu language through Google’s web page translation tools.

Is Sony Prepping PlayStation Portable 2 for E3?

One of the bigger announcements at E3 this year will be Nintendo's 3D handheld console, the 3DS. However, if unnamed industry sources are correct, Nintendo is going to have to fight for the limelight with Sony.

MCV says it has been informed of significant increases in Q4 2010 marketing spending at two key publishers. This, coupled with the fact that the PSP is quite out of date and the PSPGo was a non-starter has led to speculation that these companies are laying the groundwork for new hardware.