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21 Jan 2012 15:35

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Tech: MegaUpload founder’s arrest: Electronic locking devices + sawed-off shotguns

  • Despite our staff clearly identifying themselves, Mr Dotcom retreated into the house and activated a number of electronic-locking mechanisms. … Once they gained entry into [Dotcom’s safe room], they found Mr Dotcom near a firearm which had the appearance of a shortened shotgun. It was definitely not as simple as knocking at the front door.
  • Organised and Financial Crime Agency New Zealand Detective Inspector Grant Wormald • Describing the insane chain of events that led to the arrest of Kim Dotcom (also known as Kim Schmitz), the founder of MegaUpload, on Friday. Among the things removed from the house included two cars, one of which is a Rolls-Royce Phantom Drophead Coupe — which has a retail price of $443,000. No matter how you feel about MegaUpload, Kim Dotcom certainly carries himself like a criminal mastermind, or more correctly, a James Bond villain. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

17 Jan 2012 23:05

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Tech: Russian “Koobface” cyber-hackers gave themselves away

  • “Koobface” sounds like the cyberbully cousin of Scooby Doo. You might have been a victim of the Koobface gang. This Russian cybergang is responsible for viruses that spread through Facebook and other social network sites. Technically, none of the members are under investigation by law enforcement; it’s hard to prosecture people that you can’t find. Recently, the group has been “checking in” on Foursquare, completing their location with coordinates and pictures. With more and more information being leaked about the group, perhaps citizens, companies and governments will band together to help shut this group down — but even if they finally do, don’t click on anything you don’t trust. source
Posted by samimain • 0 Comments • Permalink

15 Jan 2012 10:05

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Tech: SOPA fight leaning towards opponents, as Rupert Murdoch’s feed suggests

  • So Obama has thrown in his lot with Silicon Valley paymasters who threaten all software creators with piracy, plain thievery.
  • Rupert Murdoch • Posting on Twitter yesterday afternoon about the Obama administration’s stance on SOPA, which discouraged the bill in its current form. CNET’s Greg Sandoval says that Murdoch’s reaction is a strong sign that the entertainment industry is starting to lose the battle, with a key provision of PIPA and SOPA — which involved the DNS system — getting removed from both acts. Murdoch, meanwhile, was quick to rip Google for what he perceived as their strong influence on the White House statement: “Piracy leader is Google who streams movies free, sells advts around them. No wonder pouring millions into lobbying,” he said on Twitter. On the plus side, at least Rupe isn’t making gambling jokes that could be misinterpreted. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

13 Jan 2012 00:52

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Tech: Reddit, Wikipedia want the Internet to imagine a life with SOPA

  • downtime To demonstrate what Internet life might be like with SOPA/PIPA in the mix, Reddit will be shut down on Jan. 18. Instead, users can watch a livestream of a House Oversight and Government Reform Committee meeting on DNS and search engine blocking, where the site’s co-founder, Alexis Ohanian, will offer remarks to Congress.
  • backup Wikipedia co-founder, Jimmy Wales, has expressed his support of Reddit’s move, and may even work with the site, potentially creating a similar shutdown of Wikipedia. With big websites explicitly showing users what a life with SOPA/PIPA is like, could public outrage crop up? And will Google or Facebook join in? source
Posted by samimain • 0 Comments • Permalink

06 Jan 2012 19:52

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Tech: Michael Bloomberg: Possibly a coder? Depends on how his resolution goes.

  • cool Codecademy wants to encourage people to learn how to program, and they did so by creating a game-based platform that encourages reward-based learning.
  • cooler In a spark of genius and a great kick in the pants, the company created a New Year’s resolution idea called #Codeyear, which allows users to resolve to code in 2012.
  • coolest El Bloombito himself — NYC mayor Michael Bloomberg — revealed he plans to take part. Sounds like someone’s going to learn a new language: Ruby. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

04 Jan 2012 20:37

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Tech: Scientists successfully invoke “temporal cloak” for a very short time

  • 50 trillionths of a second appeared to just “disappear” in a test source
  • » So, ever watch a TV show where the lead character breaks the fourth wall? Say, like “Malcolm in the Middle” or “Saved by the Bell”? They might even re-order things in time and space while talking to the audience. The other characters might be unaware of the gap in time created. Now imagine scientists doing that — with the help of lasers and special lenses called “time lenses.” The process, called “temporal cloaking,” is a bit more complex than that, and is a scientific novelty more than something the regular person can do something with at this point — but that doesn’t make it any less awesome-sounding. Hop over to the full article for a deeper explanation.
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

02 Jan 2012 11:41

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Tech: Wikipedia’s parent raises tons of cash from yearly fundraiser

  • $20 million in donations raised by the Wikimedia Foundation source
  • » Wikimedia’s best year ever: More that 1 million people donated to the Wiki-cause, a campaign that draws a bit of parody over the somewhat in-your-face nature of the fundraising calls. Honestly, they seemed a little bit more in your face in 2011 than 2010. Do you think Wikipedia should just start running modest ads? As one of the largest sites on the internet, they could easily hit the $20 million mark with some text ads. It’d be a lot less in-your-face, that’s for sure.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

30 Dec 2011 22:26

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Tech: Knight of the night: That’s SIR Jony Ive to you, unworthy Windows users

  • But seriously, this is awesome: Jony Ive, the industrial design icon who became Steve Jobs’ right-hand man during his second run at Apple, will honored as a Knight Commander of the British Empire (KBE) next year. Jobs, who called Ive his “spiritual partner” in the biography released weeks after his death, enabled Ive to help create radical, minimalistic designs that have defined the company since the release of the original iMac. It’s not his first honor from the British government — in 2005, he was made a Commander of the British Empire (CBE). This is an upgrade for the design icon — the equivalent of moving from a Mac Mini to a Mac Pro. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

30 Dec 2011 11:48

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Tech: Amazon sold a bunch of Kindles, but don’t expect a specific count

  • 4 million Kindles sold in December … well, at least we think so source
  • » It’s an estimate based off of Amazon’s evasiveness. They said that customers “purchased well over 1 million Kindle devices per week” in the month of December. Sales of Kindle e-books were up 175% from last year’s period between Black Friday and Christmas; so while Amazon may not give us clear numbers, the company seems to be doing well in the fields it created.
Posted by samimain • 0 Comments • Permalink

29 Dec 2011 13:17

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Tech: D’Addario founder speaks out against perceived support of SOPA

  • In the last few days, we have seen countless comments on various forms of social media and received many email messages, both pro and con on this issue. While the D’Addario family is committed to protecting its trademarks and family name, that commitment does not take priority over our respect for the U.S. Constitution and our right to free speech under the First Amendment.
  • D’Addario & Company, Inc. founder Jim D’Addario • Discussing his company’s perceived support of SOPA, as a result of having been placed on an alleged list of supporters of the act. D’Addario (which makes great guitar strings that sound really good with Cm7 chords) has dealt with numerous counterfeiting issues in the past (“7 out of 10 sets of D’Addario strings sold in Chinese music stores are fakes!”), and when his company signed onto a list asking for further help in fighting against counterfeiting, his company did not assume the result would be SOPA. We spotted his letter because he cited our defense of the companies on a list distributed by the Chamber of Commerce, but we think  — again — it’s worth pointing out that when D’Addario and other companies signed onto the list, they were asking for something far different than SOPA. Protest with care. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
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