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26 May 2011 16:14

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Politics: Disney abandons plan to trademark “Seal Team 6”

  • then In the aftermath of the killing of Osama bin Laden, when most people were either earnestly celebrating, or having thoughtful discussions about why they weren’t, Disney was trying to trademark “Seal Team 6,” the name of the unit that did the deed.
  • now With the Navy applying for trademarks on both “Navy SEAL” (nobody ever tried to trademark “Navy SEAL” before?) and “Team 6,” Disney has scrapped their plans, citing “deference to the Navy.” We think the initial idea sort of discredits that notion. source

30 Aug 2009 22:07

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Tech: Got a Fwix on a big story? There’s an iPhone app for that

  • Journalism now fits in your pocket. With a new iPhone app coming this week, hyperlocal startup Fwix is ready to get in on the journalism-as-it-happens game. The app allows regular people to file news reports (which can include photos and videos) onto the company’s Web site, allowing for a kind of journalism that Twitter kind of allows already, but pushed even further. Are we replacing professional journalists with iPhone apps? Good question. Maybe a necessary one to ask. source

23 Aug 2009 12:05

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Tech: A Facebook quiz designed to make you question your privacy

  • Clever. And scary. Back in June, the American Civil Liberties Union noted that Facebook quizzes can essentially take any information they want about you and your friends for purposes of a stupid, useless quiz. To prove a point, someone developed a quiz based on the ACLU’s article – one that actually takes said information. Keep this in mind next time you take a stupid quiz, guys. source

14 Jul 2009 16:39

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Offbeat, Tech: The newest iPhone app: a purity ring pledge

  • That’s one way to show you’re committed.
    A company in the UK has jumped on the iPhone bandwagon in the holiest way possible – by creating a virtual purity ring application. For “just 59p”, or $0.99 this side of pond, you can take a vow of abstinence and display a silver ring on your screen. Well, you’ve gotta give them points for being entrepreneurial. source

02 Jul 2009 01:30

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Tech: Yo Twitter & Facebook: What the F*&# is “session test”?

  • I get a Session Test every time I try to install the twitter app. I finally gave in and joined twitter and I can’t use with FB. How many days does it take to fix a bug. And who or what is Session Test?
  • Roy Moskowitz • An (understandably) annoyed Facebook user who can’t integrate his account with Twitter because an application called “session test,” whose main purpose seems to be preventing Twitter functionality with Facebook if you’re a new user. Old ones don’t have any problems, but new ones get an error message that says “Error while loading page from ‘session test,'” which sounds like the most cryptic error message ever. And worse, neither company is racing to fix this problem. Screw you Bob McTest, whoever you are. • source

20 Apr 2009 21:20

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Music, Tech: Are you in a band? Want an iPhone app? Meet MobileRoadie.

Now your band can make a cool iPhone app without all the complications of knowing what you’re doing. source

30 Mar 2009 22:20

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Tech: Got an iPhone? Lacking morals & money? Try out app piracy

  • level A quarter of the App Store’s 25,000 programs have been cracked to run for free.
  • ease A single 5.4-gigabyte torrent file includes 808 cracked apps for you to use.
  • usage The maker of one popular pay app, BeeJive, says 60% of its users have a pirated version.
  • why? Users of cracked apps say they do it because you can’t try the apps first. source
 

20 Feb 2009 15:41

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Tech: Missing: One MS prototype phone. Rips off Apple heavily.

  • Windows Mobile 6.5! Stolen! Egads! Sol Trujillo, the CEO of Australian mobile phone company Telstar, was given a phone with the top-secret Microsoft mobile OS on it. He gave that to an executive. And that executive got pick-pocketed during the conference he was at. So some five-fingered dude in Barcelona gets to exclusively see how MS yet again fails at besting Apple at something. Good for them! source

19 Feb 2009 20:40

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Music, Tech: Somehow, it still feels like this iPhone app costs too much

  • iPhone apps are exploding, including for musical artists, but nobody’s done anything like this.
  • Dave Dederer • former singer and guitarist for the Presidents of the United States of America. Dederer is the vice president of business development for app developer Melodeo, and Melodeo released a $3 PUSA iPhone app which allows you to stream the band’s entire catalog for cheap. You could just buy “Lump” and “Peaches” and save a buck. • source

15 Feb 2009 16:27

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Offbeat, Tech: Pull my finger: This iPhone lawsuit is a total gas

  • One fart app vs. another fart app. iFart Mobile and Pull My Finger, two apps which are the driving force, we’re sure, behind the iPhone’s incredible popularity, are ensnared in a lawsuit over the use of the phrase “pull my finger.” Personally, we think someone should make an open-source farting application so we don’t have to use either one. source