“Think about it. If it’s taking pictures, it’s not a cell phone. If it has, um, a McDonald’s app to tell you where McDonald’s is based on your GPS location, that’s not a cell phone. If you can get Wikipedia or get Google, that’s not a cell phone. If you can watch YouTube, that’s not a cell phone – or Netflix…think about it.”

Apparently, Gingrich wants help in deciding what we should call these futuristic devices. Here’s what he has to say on his YouTube channel:

To call this a “cell phone” or a “handheld computer” fails to capture the change that has taken place. It is a change in kind, not just a change in scale, and just as drivers of the earliest cars called them “horseless carriages”, our language has not caught up. So having failed for several days to come up with an adequate term for the device we call a “cell phone,” we want to open the discussion up to you. Let us know in the comments what you think we should name it, and we’ll feature the best ones in a future newsletter.

It’s a smartphone, Newt. A smartphone. I kind of get what you’re saying, but it’s a smartphone.

Check out the bizarre video below:

The methodology is simple enough. The EFF looks at 18 prominent tech companies including Facebook, Twitter, Google, Yahoo, Apple, and Amazon, and judges them based on 6 different categories (up from 4 last year). It then awards stars to the companies if their actions in those categories are on the side of protecting user rights.

This year, Twitter and ISP Sonic.net were the only two companies to receive full 6-star ratings from the EFF. Last year, they were the top two performers in the report, scoring a 3.5 and 4 star rating, respectively.

Here are the 6 categories that the EFF looks at for their report:

1. Does the company require a warrant for content of communications?
2. Does the company tell users about government data requests?
3. Does the company publish transparency reports?
4. Does the company publish law enforcement guidelines?
5. Does the company fight for users’ privacy rights in court?
6. Does the company fight for users’ privacy in Congress?

Verizon and Myspace received zero stars, while Apple, AT&T, and Yahoo received 1 star. On the flip side, Dropbox, Google, LinkedIn, and Spideroak got nearly perfect marks, coming in with 5 stars out of 6.

Readers of this year’s annual privacy and transparency report should be heartened, as we are, by the improvements major online service providers made over the last year. While there remains room for improvement in areas such as the policies of location service providers and cellphone providers like AT&T and Verizon, certain practices – like publishing law enforcement guidelines and regular transparency reports – are becoming standard industry practice for Internet companies.

And we are seeing a growing, powerful movement that comprises civil liberties groups as well as major online service providers to clarify outdated privacy laws so that there is no question government agents need a court-ordered warrant before accessing sensitive location data, email content, and documents stored in the cloud.

Remember: you entrust most of these companies with almost everything in your digital life – photos, personal info, location, financial info. It’s important to know exactly where each stands in terms of protecting that info against prying eyes. The EFF warns that the absence of a star doesn’t necessarily mean that the company is thwarting user rights in that category – it simply may mean that they haven’t been given the chance to defend user rights in that arena. Here’s the EFF’s full star report:

And this year’s list seems to be full of techies – more so than past year’s lists.

In no particular order, here are some of the tech names that grace this year’s TIME 100:

• Elon Musk, founder of both Tesla and SpaceX, who Richard Branson calls”a man who can see many things at once”
• Oh-Hyun Kwon, CEO of Samsung
• Kevin Systrom, Instagram co-founder
• Ren Zhengfei, founder and CEO of Chinese telecom giant Huawei
• Ted Sarandos, Netflix’s Chief Content Officer, who Jeffrey Tambor says is “helping create the future of entertainment”
• Markus Persson and Jens Bergensten, Minecraft developers
• Sam Yagan, OkCupid co-founder and CEO of Match.com
• David Einhorn, President of Greenlight Capital
• Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook COO
• Jony Ive, Apple design leader
• Andrew Ng and Daphne Koller, co-founders of Coursera
• Marissa Mayer, Yahoo CEO, who Google’s Eric Schmidt calls “pathbreaker and a trailblazer and an inspiration to women everywhere
• Perry Chan, CEO of Kickstarter
• Kai-Fu Lee, tech incubator

If you want to check out this year’s and previous TIME 100 lists, they’ve got every list all the way back to 2004 available on the Time 100 hub.

The letter was signed by over 100 Presidents, CEOs, partners, and chairmen of both major and minor tech companies. Some of the notable names include Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Google Chairman Eric Schmidt, HP CEO Meg Whitman, and Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer.

It was addressed to President Obama, Speaker of the House John Boehner, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.

Here’s a bit from the letter:

As you know, the United States has a long history of welcoming talented, hard-working people to ourshores. Immigrant entrepreneurs have gone on to found thousands of companies with household nameslike eBay, Google, PayPal and Yahoo! to name just a few. These companies provide jobs, drive economicgrowth and generate tax revenue at all levels of government.

Yet because our current immigration system is outdated and inefficient, many high-skilled immigrantswho want to stay in America are forced to leave because they are unable to obtain permanent visas. Somedo not bother to come in the first place. This is often due to visa shortages, long waits for green cards,and lack of mobility. We believe that numerical levels and categories for high-skilled nonimmigrant andimmigrant visas should be responsive to market needs and, where appropriate, include mechanisms tofluctuate based on objective standards. In addition, spouses and children should not be counted againstthe cap of high-skilled immigrant visas. There should not be a marriage or family penalty.

They go on to say that bipartisan legislation like the Immigration Innovation Act of 2013 and the Startup Visa Act and startup Act 3.0 are good steps to “encouraging innovation here in the U.S. by allowing American companies to have access to the talented workers they need while simultaneously investing in STEM education here in the U.S.”

Tech companies have a history of lobbying congress to free up green cards and temporary worker visa for high-skilled workers. This new push is a continuation of that message – that we need to keep the best and brightest inside our borders.

Tech CEO letter by JMartinezTheHill

[via The Hill]

It’s actually because I’m just an embarrassingly sloppy noodle slurper. I would splash porky, miso-y juice all over my device. It wouldn’t be pretty.

Design company MisoSoupDesign unveiled their idea for a hands-free iPhone dock ramen bowl back in November, but it’s just now gaining traction on the interwebs.

The ramen bowl, dubbed the “Anti-loneliness” bowl, allows noodle eaters to slurp while browsing the web. Or while watching a movie, or whatever else noodle eaters like to do when they are eating. The design is simple, but useful.

Just a few minutes ago, in a Facebook post, the company said that due to all of the interest in the ramen bowl they are currently accepting a limited number of pre-orders. You can express your interest by sending them a Facebook message or shooting them an email.

[MisoSoupDesign via CNET]

Anyway, it’s garbage. But it’s always nice to see some guy explain why it’s garbage in a simple, well-constructed video.

Simply put: The American Government didn’t fake the Moon landing because they couldn’t have faked the moon landing. Technologically speaking.

“Please understand, I’m not saying this defend the honor of the United States. The U.S Government lies all the time about all kinds of things. And if they haven’t lied to you today, maybe they haven’t had coffee,” says our narrator.

But the fact remains. In 1969, we had the technology to send a man to moon but we didn’t have the technology to fake send a man to the moon.

[sgcollins via Gizmodo]

Published and showcased via Leanpub, “The Startup Chef” currently sports 75 recipes from people all over the tech spectrum. It’s the work of YouTube’s Hunter Walk and ABC News’ Maya Baratz.

“What does the founder of the most popular blogging platform on the internet make for breakfast? What type of creative pastry do Randi Zuckerberg and her sister Donna whip up for their family during the holidays? It’s all in here, with their own personal stories and recipes, for you to make and enjoy (in a totally non-creepy, non-Single-White-Female sort of way).And of course it wouldn’t be a launch if there wasn’t that ‘one more thing’: all proceeds from the book will go to charities aiming to end hunger — ranging from feeding hungry children in the US to helping feed families severely affected by Hurricane Sandy,” they say.

Here are some recipes from some notable people that you’ll find in the ecookbook:

• Double Marinated Tenderloin / Fillet of Beef by Daniel Ek, CEO Spotify
• Porcini Mushroom Pasta Sauce by Soraya Darabi, Foodspotting
• Mom Crowley’s Sausage Soup by Dennis Crowley, Foursquare
• Eggnog Cinnamon Chip Scones by Donna & Randi Zuckerberg, Zuckerberg Media

They suggest that you pay $20 for the cookbook, but will accept $10. They say that the book will receive new recipes and updates as they come in, and you’ll receive all of those for free. You can sample the cookbook here.

[via Business Insider]

Wired reports that Google has snatched up Ron Medford to be the new Director of Safety for Self-Driving Cars. Ron Medford is the current Deputy Director of the National highway Traffic Safety Administration.

According to the report, Medford will resign his position at the NHTSA on November 30th, and officially take the position within Google on January 7th. Serving closely with Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, Medford used his position to shine a light on the prevalence of distracted driving, as well as push the new fuel economy guidelines set to go into effect in the next decade or so.

Back in September, California Governor Jerry Brown signed Senate Bill 1298 at Google HQ in Mountain View. That law forces the state to start adopting rules and regulation for the implementation of driverless cars, while also making their operation legal on public roads. California isn’t the only state making significant strides in brining driverless technology to their roadways. Nevada has legalized self-driving cars, begun developing regulations, and issued Google an autonomous vehicle license.

Google, who has logged well over 300,000 miles without incident with their driverless cars initiative, is clearly on the fast track to making all of this a reality. With this new hire, they find a way into the dark, cavernous void of federal governmental policy. Some analysts have predicted that self-driving cars could account for 75% of the traffic on the road by 2040. Maybe that’s not such a far-fetched idea after all.

Meet “Vibrative,” a new processing solution for smartphones.

This interesting concept design comes from Florian Kraeutli a student at Goldsmiths, University of London. It works by measuring and then assigning vibration levels to a virtual keyboard setup – each key sends a different signal, so the program is able to decipher which letters the users is trying to say. According to Kraeutli, it gets it right about 80% of the time, and number which could be improved with the addition of a better accelerometer.

It’s unlikely that you’ll see his virtual keyboard program in use any time soon, as it’s just a proof of concept. But who knows, maybe something like this could find a way on the market some time in the future. People are always looking for easy typing solutions for their mobile devices.

[The Telegraph via BGR]

For just $129 you can purchase this first-world camping accessory that lets you stay connected to the modern world while also allowing you to stay green.

“Using BioLite’s patent-pending thermoelectric technology, BioLite Stoves convert heat to electricity that powers a fan to make the fire ultra-efficient. Extra electricity can be used to charge small electronics like mobile phones and LED lights,” says the company.

According to BioLite, the CampStove needs about 1.6oz of wood to boil one liter of water – and that will take about 4.5 minutes depending on the fire’s intensity. For an iPhone 4S, the device can provide an hour of talk time in 20 minutes of charging.

Camping +1.

Apparently, camping isn’t the only scenario where this gadget could come in handy.

“The CampStove isn’t just for camping; it’s great to have on hand when the power goes out in a storm or other natural disasters. You’ll be able to cook and keep electronics charged while power lines are down,” says BioLite.

With Hurricane Sandy serving as a reminder that Mother Nature is one undiscriminating, unforgiving mama, it never hurts to have more options out there for alternative power.

[via Business Insider]