Google Glass doesn't like cursing, U.K. public Wi-Fi porn block: This week in off-beat tech stories
This week, the phone makers were criticized for turning is back on smartphone crime, the first ever Web page was reactivated for its 20-year anniversary and stem cells helped save a little girl's life.
Looking back at some of the off-beat stories this week, we explore what happens if you swear at Google Glass and the saddest day of 2013 -- so far.
Google Glass doesn't like foul language
Anything that's not fit to publish may not appear on Google Glass. The search giant allegedly censors curse words that are said to the augmented-reality glasses, Geek.com reports. It could pose a problem for people who actually want to use foul language because voice-input is the only way you can write emails and text messages with the wearable computer. According to NBC News, the only workaround is to append the "dot com" after the offending word, but otherwise it cannot be turned off.
Game maker enlists unwitting users to mine Bitcoins
E-Sports Entertainment (ESEA), which hosts gaming tournaments with popular titles like "Counter-Strike," allegedly experimented earlier this year with Bitcoin "mining" -- a process that uses massive computing power to run algorithms to create the virtual currency.
According to Wired, a rogue employee reportedly distributed the Bitcoin mining code without permission into the users' desktop application and began to generate the currency without their knowledge. ESEA was eventually outed by its own community. The gaming company apologized and said it would donate the money it inadvertently generated to the American Cancer Society.
C U L8R SMS: Text messaging on the decline in the U.S.
According to The Wireless Association (CTIA), U.S. cell phone users are sending fewer text messages. The industry group said that Americans sent 2.2 trillion text messages during the year -- down by about 5 percent from 2011. But free instant messaging and chat apps are slowly replacing texting.
WhatsApp and Facebook are slowly eating into the text messaging market share, but you can still use the 30-year-old technology without data coverage, suggesting it won't die out any time soon.
U.K. doesn't want people watching porn on public Wi-Fi
Although it may not be common to see someone browsing porn on their laptops at your local Starbucks, apparently it's becoming more of a problem in British society. It's been such and issue that U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron said he will intervene, by promoting "good, clean Wi-Fi" in local cafes and other public spaces where children may be present.
However, critics have already warned that such proposals will be difficult to implement. Techdirt's Mike Masnick wonders if it truly is a phenomenon and argues that "most people sitting at a computer in a public space aren't likely to be surfing porn anyway."
April 15: The saddest day on the Internet
A detailed analysis of millions of tweets this year determined that the saddest day of 2013 was April 15. According to Hedonometer, a research site that monitors around 10 percent of all tweets posted daily, by analyzing certain key words it can be determined how happy or sad wider society is, using Twitter as a sample group. Although it was tax day, the Boston bombings likely caused the somber mood.