We’ve been talking a lot about privacy, surveillance, and the transfer of information this week. But here’s a related headline you may have missed: Chinese scientists claim to have bounced single photons off an orbiting satellite and detected them back on the Earth’s surface. So what? Well, that’s something to cross off the list in the scientific race for what’s called quantum teleportation. 

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg has laid out a $20 billion plan for fortifying his city from future giant storms like Sandy. The plan includes everything from installing storm surge barriers to setting resiliency requirements for telecom providers. Whether and when these 250 recommendations will be implemented remains to be seen. But some of the city’s tech-minded residents aren’t waiting around. And, behold, the Facebook hashtag is upon us.

Google has confirmed it will acquire the mapping and traffic app Waze. The news comes after reports of intense interest from Apple and Facebook. Unnamed sources put Google’s offer at over a billion dollars. And, a thing you never would have imagined was useful: cockroach mind control. A company is selling tiny electrode systems that use small electronic pulses to tell roaches they’ve hit something with their feelers and to go the other way.

Techies have descended on San Francisco for Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference. Yesterday the company unveiled a new music streaming service, a new look for its mobile operating system, and a new line of MacBook Air laptops. Also, we take a look at a new Fantasia that you can orchestrate.

Today Apple will kick off its annual World Wide Developer’s Conference. Much of the buzz so far has been about what new software and hardware may be announced for consumers. But at the end of the day, WWDC is for developers. So we talked to one. And the company Planetary Resources has put up a Kickstarter campaign for the world’s first crowdfunded space telescope. Why? To encourage space exploration of course. But also to detect asteroids that could be captured and mined for precious metals. One of the campaign’s supporters is Bill Nye the Science Guy. 

Surveillance of Americans by the National Security Agency and the FBI apparently goes beyond phone records. The Washington Post is reporting that these federal government agencies are also tapping the servers of nine large U.S. tech companies. And what the government learns from that data is being delivered to the president on an increasingly regular basis. It’s part of a large scale secret program called PRISM — the logo of which, incidentally, may look familiar.

Tens of thousands of people in Turkey are protesting against the government. Many are calling for the resignation of Turkey’s Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan. Meanwhile Erdogan is calling the likes of Facebook the worst menace threatening society. This week 25 people were arrested in Turkey for what police called spreading misinformation on Twitter. Because of this, downloads of software that help obscure the identity and activities of online users are skyrocketing.

Here’s a story that sounds like a Steven Spielberg movie — and it is about a Steven Spielberg movie, E.T. the Extra Terrestrial. Atari created a video game based on the hit film, which is still called the worst video game ever. But here’s where it gets weird: Atari reportedly attempted to bury the game — literally — in the desert, in New Mexico. 30 years later, Canadian gaming company Fuel Entertainment is trying to find out if the stories are true, and if so, dig it up.

In response to privacy concerns over Google Glass, Google says it won’t allow facial recognition apps in its Google Play Store. How are app developers responding? And Turkey’s prime minister is blaming Twitter for civil unrest in the country, calling social media the worst menace to society.