Associated Press reports that Apple stores are now using iBeacons to provide precise location information as you walk around different parts of the store.

On Friday, Apple Inc. began using the technology at its 254 U.S. stores to send you messages about products, events and other information — tailored to where you are inside, provided you have downloaded the Apple Store app and have given it permission to send notices based on your location. You must have Bluetooth turned on and have the latest operating system, iOS 7.

Using the iBeacon feature, the app will notify you if the computer you ordered is ready for pickup, for example. Show a clerk your screen with the order number, and the clerk will get it for you. Walking by an iPhone table? You may get a message asking if you want to upgrade, check your upgrade availability and see if you can get money for trading in your old phone.

One of the benefits (and concerns, depending on which side of the fence you’re on) about Bitcoin is the level of anonymity that you get, along with the ease of moving money between Bitcoin wallets. With that in mind, you can understand when a stash of at least 5,400 Bitcoins were stolen, it caused a furore. At the time, 5,400 of Bitcoins would roughly be worth slightly above $5.4 million.

While Bitcoin can hide your identity, Bitcoin wallets are public record, which allowed a bunch of folks on Reddit to try and trace the stolen Bitcoins. It’s a long story, and the chase included following a wallet with 96,000 Bitcoins (about $100m), but in the end yielded nothing.

Tracing stolen money is never easy, so it wouldn’t be too surprising if the stolen Bitcoins are unable to be recovered.

Washington Is Finally Learning That Technology Can’t Be Contained

Small bitcoin transactions can be laundered using a “tumbler”, which takes money from multiple sources, mixes it all together in one wallet, and spits it out the other side. Someone following the cash sees it get split and recombined over and over, until it’s impossible to separate from the money being tumbled by other users.

But that plan falls apart when trying to launder $100m of bitcoin. What the bitcoin thief found was that the sheer quantity of cash they were tying to hide overwhelmed every other transaction being tumbled at the same time: 96,000 bitcoins went in at one end, and 96,000 came out at the other. It seemed like their money had been successfully traced to one final address where it eventually came to rest.

Using the Digital Millenium Copyright Act (DMCA) to prevent users from unlocking mobile phones is downright crazy. Unfortunately, being crazy doesn’t mean that it’s not backed by the law. Depending on whether you are living in the year 2006 or 2009, unlocking your phone without your carrier’s permission could be legal, or illegal.

Let’s not forget that it wasn’t too long ago that we had the proposed SOPA and PIPA laws, which saw major Internet sites such as Wikipedia go dark in protest. Despite fending off those threats, there are more laws like it trying to be passed, so be prepared for plenty of “Washington VS the Internet” fights.

Washington Is Finally Learning That Technology Can’t Be Contained

Back in 1998, Congress was drafting the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. The law — created after heavy lobbying by record labels and Hollywood studios — was supposed to make it harder for people to copy files. One particular element, section 1201, made it illegal to crack open digital locks designed to prevent copying.

But the language was so broad that phones got swept up too. Mobile-phone companies encrypt the software that locks a phone to a network, so they started claiming that breaking that encryption — unlocking a phone — was illegal under the DMCA.

When someone says that they want to learn programming, the mental image that you’ll have is usually of someone tapping away at their desktop keyboard and reading reference materials in order to get started. Codeacademy is looking to change that.

The Codecademy: Hour of Code iPhone app which was just released aims to teach users the basics of programming within one hour. This is meant to be achieved in short bursts throughout the day.

While I’m not sure if learning to program from your phone and in short bursts is the way to go, but you can be rest assured that Codeacademy knows how to teach programming. The online programming tutor was founded back in 2011 and has raised a good $12.5 million in order to achieve its goal of bringing programming to the masses.

If you’re planning on learning how to code and want to get your feet wet, give it a shot.

Codecademy: Hour of Code app teaches programming skills to iPhone owners

The company’s first mobile app is starting with a simpler goal: to help iPhone owners “learn the basics of coding in under one hour” through a set of quick demonstrations and exercises designed to be completed in short bursts throughout the day.

Not to be confused with hacking in the movies.

Thanks to Edward Snowden, encrypted messaging has been increasingly in demand. While there are already solutions out there like iMessage, the effectiveness of it is still debatable. There are also other independant solutions being developed, such as Hemlis.

Now CyanogenMod is going to give users a hand too. It has teamed up with Open Whisper Systems to integrate encryption directly into the firmware. What this means is that text messages between CyanogenMod users will be automatically encrypted. Your initial thought might be that since it requires both parties to be running CyanogenMod, there aren’t that many instances where this would work, but there are already 10 million known users of CyanogenMod, and after taking into account that users have an option to not be counted, that figure could rise by several million.

This update will be rolled out to version 10.2 of CyanogenMod first, then added to earlier versions. As of now, there are over 670,000 CyanogenMod users on 10.2.

CyanogenMod rolls out encrypted text messaging by default

Cyanogen teamed up with Open Whisper Systems, which makes open source apps for secure texting and phone calls, in order to integrate encryption seamlessly into a phone’s firmware. Install CyanogenMod, and your texts to other users of CyanogenMod and Open Whisper System’s TextSecure will automatically be encrypted. You can still use whatever SMS app you like.

Business insider reports that Dell has started asking employees to leave the company.

Dell has announced an optional, global and voluntary separation program for eligible team members who choose to leave the company in exchange for the offer of a separation package to support their transition. Would note that we’ve taken steps to optimize our business, streamline operations and improve efficiency over the past few years. And we been consistent in saying that a critical element of our strategy has been, and always will be, about improving our cost structure and freeing up capital to make the investments in growth areas that matter to our customers.

This comes after Michael Dell started asking employees to work from home. This latest move is another way of cutting expenses. Will it be enough to save the company or will it be forced to take more drastic measures?