First photo of Earth from space was from deadly rocket

Reference http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn27036#.VQ0ghdKUfZJ

(Image: Johns Hopkins University via Bloomsbury Auctions)

We have the world's first ballistic missile to thank for taking the first ever photograph of Earth from space.

This scratchy image is an original print of the photo, taken in 1946 by a camera in the nose of a V-2 r

Awesome photos from Europe's biggest solar eclipse

ESA's Sun-watching Proba-2 minisatellite had a ringside seat of the solar eclipse from orbit. Its SWAP imager views the solar disc at extreme ultraviolet wavelengths to capture the turbulent surface of the sun and its swirling corona(Image: ESA)

Umbraphiles all over the country headed outside for the biggest UK solar eclipse in 16 years. Some were

Target will pay hack victims $10 million

Target will pay customers who suffered from a 2013 data breach up to $10,000 each in damages.

Reference www.cnn.com

On Thursday, a federal judge in St. Paul, Minnesota approved a $10 million offer by Target to settle a class action lawsuit, according to an attorney representing those who were hacked.

But don't get excited. It's unlikely anyone will actually receive $10,000.

Under the terms of the settlement, Target customers who can prove they were damaged by the data breach will get the first shot at the $10 million. For example, victims will be reimbursed for unauthorized credit card charges, bank fees or costs related to replacement IDs -- so long as they are documented.

There was rampant card fraud after the Target hack. But in reality, banks typically reimburse customers 100% in cases of card fraud.

Facebook Plans To Turn Messenger Into A Platform

Reference http://techcrunch.com/2015/03/19/facebook-messenger-platform/

Next week at its F8 developer conference, Facebook will announce new ways for third parties to offer experiences through its Messenger app, according to multiple sources. Facebook hopes to make Messenger more useful, after seeing Asia’s chat apps WeChat and Line succeed as platforms that go beyond just texting with friends.

At first, Facebook will focus on how third parties can build ways for content and information to flow through Messenger. Depending on the success of the early experiments, Facebook may then mull bringing more utilities to Messenger.

Google investigation dropped by US regulators

reference- http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-31981498

Google narrowly escaped being prosecuted by the US government in 2012, reports the Wall Street Journal.

Regulators at the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) had been investigating complaints from Google's rivals about its dominance of the internet search industry.

An internal report obtained by the paper showed that some FTC officials had wanted to prosecute.

Instead, the regulator persuaded Google to change the way its software worked.