Seven Must-Read Stories (Week Ending November 1, 2014)

Another chance to catch the most interesting, and important, articles from the previous week on MIT Technology Review.

October 31, 2014

Alert! Websites Will Soon Start Pushing App-Style Notifications
A new feature of most browsers will let them issue alerts through a PC or mobile operating system.
Your Retirement May Include a Robot Helper
As industrial robots become more capable, they could start helping out around the home.
A Credit Card Terminal That Takes Apps
A former head of Google Wallet rolls out a “smart” terminal for all kinds of payments.
Will a Breakthrough Solar Technology See the Light of Day?
A startup that might have a record-breaking solar cell is in danger of going out of business.
Materials Trick Might Help Move Computers Beyond Silicon
Ferroelectric materials could take computing beyond digital logic.
Google’s Secretive DeepMind Startup Unveils a “Neural Turing Machine”
DeepMind has built a neural network that can access an external memory like a conventional Turing machine. The result is a computer that mimics the short-term memory of the human brain.
Computers Could Talk Themselves into Giving Up Secrets
Malware might use a voice synthesizer to bypass some security controllers, researchers say.