Tech News: Apple boosting security

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September 19, 2011, 8:19 am

A DAY AFTER A REPORT surfaced that an Apple employee had lost a prototype for a new but unreleased iPhone at a Northern California watering hole, two job listings appeared on Apple's website for managers of "new product security."
Such workers would join a team at the $350 billion company that has included ex-FBI agents and other highly trained pros with backgrounds in intelligence and law enforcement.

Mr. Beams Home Power Outage Lighting System
If the power goes out, you don't have to be in the dark. The Mr. Beams Home Power Outage Lighting System features battery-operated emergency lights that automatically turn on during a power outage. Set up is simple: Plug a power detector into a wall outlet. When the power goes out, the power detector will turn on the emergency LED lights via a wireless signal. Priced at $100, the Power Outage Lighting Set from Wireless Environments contains a power outage detector, two ceiling lights and a stair and path light. Other packages are available

Lookout for Falling Objects
U.S. space officials say they expect a dead satellite to fall to Earth in about a week.
NASA has been watching the 6-ton satellite closely. On Friday officials moved up their prediction for its arrival to Sept. 23, give or take a day.

NASA scientists have calculated the satellite will break into 26 pieces as it gets closer to Earth. The odds of it hitting someone anywhere on the planet are 1 in 3,200. The heaviest piece to hit the ground will be about 350 pounds, but no one has ever been hit by falling space junk in the past.

Netflix adding Qwikster
There’s nothing like losing sixty percent of your subscribers to get your attention. Netflix is adding video games to its DVD-by-mail service and naming it Qwikster. The changes are part of Netflix's plan to separate its DVD service from the company's movie streaming service, which will retain the Netflix name. The two services will have separate websites and customers will be billed separately for them.

Netflix CEO Reed Hastings admitted in a blog post that the company had "messed up" in the way it announced steep price increases in July. The price hikes mean people who subscribe to both the DVD and streaming services are paying about 60-percent more.