Marketplace Tech Report (Science-Technology)

The advertising arm of Google is getting a lot of heat lately about tracking people who use Apple's Safari and Microsoft's Internet Explorer web browsers. Safari does allow for some cookies to be placed on users but only from the site that they’re actually visiting, and Safari is not supposed to accept advertising cookies. There’s now a class action lawsuit against Google from a group of Safari users. Also, another installment of Tech Report Theater.

Congress is debating a cybersecurity bill that would make the Department of Homeland Security responsible for evaluating and regulating companies that are considered critical to American infrastructure. But the bill has a lot of critics. Also, we hold a three-part tech funeral for technologies that have passed into the spirit realm.

Apple has announced that it will change the policy on apps and will require the app developers to get user permission before grabbing data off the device. That means that an app like Twitter has to get your permission before it looks through your address book to find out which of your friends is also on Twitter. The rules were changed because some apps were exporting the data to servers, where the info could remain for months. Also, the U.S. Senate has introduced a cybersecurity bill aimed...

Remember MySpace? Not all that long ago, it was out on the bleeding edge of social media. It had 76 million users, everybody loved it, musicians flocked to it, it was the place to be, Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. paid nearly $600 million for it. And then -- crickets. But now, MySpace is showing signs of life.

Imagine if your car insurance company and your in-car navigation device started talking to each other. Progressive and other insurance companies in the U.S. have been playing with this general idea of tracking you while you drive -- and it's already happening in the U.K. Also, The Pew Center for the Internet and American life says adults are mostly happy when they’re using social networks.

Path is a relatively new social network that has garnered a lot of critical praise. But it turns out the iPhone app has been gathering up a user's address book information and transmitting it, unencrypted, back to Path. And Path isn't the only app in the world to use your information. Also, the booming app economy is a jobs bonanza.

Wael Ghonim's memoir, "Revolution 2.0: The Power of the People is Greater than the People In Power," arrives about a year after the uprisings in Egypt. Ghonim was a Google marketing executive when the Egyptian uprising began, and he took to the Internet to call Egyptians to action. He tells his story of what happened in that tumultuous time. Also in this program, shipments of smartphones surpassed shipments of PCs last year.

Facebook has finally filed to become a publicly traded company. So how does a publicly held Facebook act different than a privately held one? Big web companies have traditionally had a hard time sticking around. And there’s the issue of balancing privacy and profitability when the business model depends on getting users to share information. Also in this program, The Robot Roundup: Animal Edition.

Facebook Timeline is rolling out to all users. A new report indicates that people aren't real excited about the change. Some of that discomfort might stem from the fact that Timeline is becoming mandatory rather than opt-in. And remember the old saying about free services like Facebook: If you're not paying for it, you're not the customer -- you're the product. When it comes to Facebook, it's always useful to look at what's in it for advertisers. Also in this program, Wayne Coyne of The...

The Pentagon aims to cut $487 billion from its budget over the next 10 years. That means a reduction of 100,000 troops, base closures, and cutting back on ships and aircraft. One area that is not slated for reduction, however, is the UAV program. Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, commonly referred to as drones, are going to see a 30 percent increase under the new plan. Also in this program, Motorola has filed a patent infringement suit against Apple, charging that Apple has violated patents...

The President's annual State of the Union address touched on a lot of tenets that are central to his administration and his campaign for re-election. President Obama talked about how the tax laws should be adjusted so that Warren Buffett doesn't pay a lower tax rate than his secretary. Mr. Obama called for more control over interest rates for student loans and breaks for homeowners struggling to pay their mortgages. He stressed the need for investment in renewable energy sources.

A new book explores the digital trail you leave behind when you visit a site and what advertising companies are able to determine about you based on your activities. And this kind of data mining and profiling isn't just being used to sell you detergent, it's used in political campaigns as well -- you may be seeing a different candidate than someone else sees, all based on where you went online and the trail you left behind. Also on the show, the number of tablets and readers is spiking up.

Apple holds an event today in New York City that is widely expected to be aimed at electronic textbooks. And although you have to pay attention whenever Apple puts some muscle behind a new line of business, this is territory that many people are already deeply involved with -- there are a lot of different publishers and a lot of different platforms. Also, time for another Robot Roundup.

24 million accounts at Zappos.com have been hacked, according to notifications sent out to customers. According to the online shoe retailer, which is owned by Amazon.com, no credit card information was stolen, instead it was personal data like names, addresses, phone numbers, and emails, as well as the last four digits of a credit card number (traditionally used for verification).

The Stop Online Piracy Act, or SOPA, is a proposed law that would basically block access to websites that feature or distribute copyrighted content without permission. Hollywood loves the rule. The Internet community hates it. Reddit.com says it'll black-out its site on Jan. 18th to protest the legislation. Wikipedia is considering doing the same. If other major sites follow, it could make an impact.