Saturday, January 26, 2013

Mashable: Latest 29 News Updates - including “Anonymous Hacks U.S. Government Site, Threatens Supreme ‘Warheads’”

Mashable: Latest 29 News Updates - including “Anonymous Hacks U.S. Government Site, Threatens Supreme ‘Warheads’”


Anonymous Hacks U.S. Government Site, Threatens Supreme ‘Warheads’

Posted: 25 Jan 2013 11:57 PM PST


The hacktivist group Anonymous hacked the US federal sentencing website early Saturday, using the page to make a brazen and boisterous declaration of "war" on the U.S. government.

The group claims mysterious code-based "warheads", named for each of the Supreme Court Justices, are about to be deployed.

As of midnight Pacific time, the front page of Ussc.gov -- the Federal agency that establishes sentencing policies and practices for the Federal courts -- is filled with a long screed in green on black, together with this YouTube video:

All areas of ussc.gov other than the front page appear to be functioning normally. In other words, there's no denial of service attack or widespre…
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More About: Aaron-Swartz, anonymous

It’s Official: George Lucas Hands Star Wars to J.J. Abrams

Posted: 25 Jan 2013 10:43 PM PST


After an agonizing wait of more than a day to confirm the widespread rumor, Disney and its newest subsidiary Lucasfilm have made it official: J.J. Abrams will direct the still-unnamed Star Wars Episode VII.

The news was announced late Friday night -- at exactly midnight EST -- on StarWars.com. None other than George Lucas was quoted, effectively handing the baton of directing Star Wars to Abrams personally. Here's how the Star Wars creator put it:

"I've consistently been impressed with J.J. as a filmmaker and storyteller. He's an ideal choice to direct the new Star Wars film and the legacy couldn't be in better hands."

Kathleen Kennedy, the new head of Lucasfilm, offered her own pr…
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More About: George Lucas, jj abrams, Star Wars

This GoPro Camera Shows What It’s Like to be Lion’s Prey

Posted: 25 Jan 2013 08:48 PM PST


Just as expected -- when a lion walks toward you, it's equally menacing and adorable.

But this GoPro Camera had to learn that the hard way. When the camera's owner spotted this lion in Kenya, he strapped his GoPro 2 onto a $60 toy car and drove it slowly toward the adolescent male.

SEE ALSO: A Dog's Life: GoPro Camera Shows Canine's Point-of-View

At first, the lion only pawed at it, but after a few moments it decided that this futuristic E.T. thing was clearly the enemy and lunged appropriately. It's ok Simba, at times we all feel equally terrified by the power of technology.

Luckily, the lion slobber didn't harm the footage and we still got to see life as the prey of a li…
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More About: cute animals, gopro

Google Officially Responds to Safari-Tracking Lawsuit

Posted: 25 Jan 2013 08:24 PM PST


Last winter, a Stanford researcher discovered Google was bypassing iPhone users' privacy settings in the mobile Safari browser in order to serve them ads tailored to their browsing history. Even though Google apologized, paid $22.5 million in fines and chalked the whole thing up to a technical error, several people sued Google over the affair, which was consolidated into a class-action lawsuit.

Now Google is asking the court to tell those people to get lost. The search giant filed an official motion to dismiss the lawsuit this week, stating the plaintiffs' claims "lack standing," mainly because they suffered no demonstrable injury over the ads, and that Google never obtained anyo…
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More About: cookies, do not track, Google, iphone, safari

Clean up Your Facebook Profile With FaceWash

Posted: 25 Jan 2013 07:57 PM PST


We've all been there. Your grandmother just joined Facebook, your boss sent you a friend request or you're applying for that dream job. Suddenly, you're scrambling to purge your profile of last night's pictures plus everything else you wouldn't want Grams to see.

Painstakingly filtering through your Timeline isn't going to cut it, but FaceWash makes it easier. Three Kent State University undergrads created a web app that cleans your profile of incriminating content to give you a "fresh face."

The app allows users to search the profile with a "dirty word" list, a precompiled set of offensive or distasteful terms. You can also input your own words, and the returned results are displayed…
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More About: cleanup, Facebook, Social Media, social networking, web app

Two Dazzling Comets Headed Our Way

Posted: 25 Jan 2013 07:26 PM PST


The year 2013 may someday be known as "the year of the comets." If all goes well we may see two of the brightest comets in many years, and possibly one of the brightest in history.

More About: astronomy, comet, space

Two Major Soap Operas to Premiere on iTunes and Hulu

Posted: 25 Jan 2013 06:52 PM PST


Two major soap operas will return this spring -- but not the way you might expect.

All My Children and One Life to Live will reach viewers via Hulu, Hulu Plus and iTunes, The Online Network announced on Friday.

New half-hour episodes of each show will air every weekday. Exact premiere dates will be announced later. Fans using the Hulu Plus subscription service or free Hulu.com will be able to watch via tablets, PCs or connected TVs. iTunes users can watch via iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch or Apple TV.

Jeff Kwatinetz, CEO of Prospect Park, the production company that owns The Online Network, released a statement framing the move as a key way for the network to stay relevant in a changi…
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More About: Entertainment, soap operas

LEGO PancakeBot Is Deliciously Nerdy Innovation

Posted: 25 Jan 2013 06:24 PM PST


Behold: the PancakeBot, an awesome breakfast-making machine made largely of LEGO bricks.

More About: Lego, Watercooler

Facebook, Twitter, Stop Fighting!

Posted: 25 Jan 2013 05:53 PM PST


Mashable OP-ED

Guys, please. I know you've got serious differences, but you still love us users, right? Right?

A Cold War has been brewing between the two major social media services for the better part of a year -- and it heated up Friday. That's when Facebook effectively sent Twitter a little passive-agressive note about why it was blocking access to the Facebook Friends list on Twitter's Vine app.

The blog post in question never mentioned Twitter or Vine by name. But Facebook did respond to Mashable's request for a comment on the Vine blockage by simply forwarding the post to us.

There's no doubt who it refers to when it calls out "apps that are using Facebook to either repl…
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More About: Facebook, instagram, Twitter, Vine

Animation Offers Unique Look at Week-Long Cold Snap

Posted: 25 Jan 2013 05:07 PM PST


It's been colder than usual this week in most of the U.S. If you've been watching weather reports and the maps that go with them, you've seen snapshots depicting that cold air blanketing the nation.

To get a more comprehensive view of what's been happening all week, take a look at this fascinating animation from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), commonly known as the National Weather Service. Those trusty weather watchers say a drop in the jet stream caused a week-long cold snap across the country.

This animated graphic shows how temperatures changed across the U.S. between last Saturday and today. To create the animation, the NOAA used a series of data…
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More About: animation, NOAA, Watercooler, Weather

Is Your Business Guilty of These 6 Blogging Mistakes?

Posted: 25 Jan 2013 04:29 PM PST


Whether you're just launching a blog for your business, or you've been blogging for awhile, it's easy to fall into some blogging bad habits. Avoid these six.

More About: blogging, contributor, features, SEO, Small Business

Ravens Coach John Harbaugh Pranks His Parents

Posted: 25 Jan 2013 03:24 PM PST


On Feb. 3, 2013, the Baltimore Ravens and The San Francisco 49ers will redefine sibling rivalry.

Yeah, yeah, there's that whole Super Bowl thing that night, but we're more interested in how the head coaches -- and brothers -- of the rival teams deal with the family affair.

It appears that Ravens coach John Harbaugh is dealing with the whole thing smoother than a pigskin: He's just taking this as an opportunity to prank his parents.

SEE ALSO: Super Bowl Coach Jim Harbaugh Was Once on 'Saved By The Bell'

And considering the Harbaugh parents have a no-win situation on their hands (but, seriously, whoever wins is clearly going to be their favorite), they could use the laughs.…
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More About: Superbowl

The 25 Most Buzzed-About Universities of 2013

Posted: 25 Jan 2013 03:02 PM PST


The Massachusetts Institute of Technology has ranked the most buzzed-about university on the Internet for the second time in a row, ahead of Harvard, Columbia and Stanford.

The Global Language Monitor's TrendTopper MediaBuzz survey measures the schools with the most Internet clout. One major trend this year is the rise of public universities on the list, as 13 of the top 25 schools ranked are now state institutions. Two public universities, the University of California, Berkeley, and the University of Texas, Austin, placed in the top 10.

"The higher education world is in the midst of a major upheaval that has only begun to sort itself out," said Paul JJ Payack, president of the Global…
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More About: education, Social Media, universities

Largest Multi-Touch Screen in U.S. Installed at Cleveland Art Museum

Posted: 25 Jan 2013 02:51 PM PST


Museums are places we often go to connect with our pasts. The Cleveland Art Museum, however, is also giving us a glimpse of the future.

The museum recently installed what it claims is the nation's largest multi-touch screen, where as many as 16 visitors at a time can explore the 3,500 works in the permanent collection on display. Pieces are presented as thumbnails on a 40-foot-wide moving grid. Visitors can click on individual images to pull up more information, and to discover similar items by category (such as African art), artist, medium or period.

The wall, housed in a space called Gallery One, is designed to foster stronger engagement between visitors and individual items in the c…
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More About: art, cleveland, cleveland art museum, ipad app, museums

Why Google Flu Trends Will Not Replace the CDC Anytime Soon

Posted: 25 Jan 2013 02:38 PM PST


The search giant's software has the uncanny ability to assess the severity of an influenza outbreak. But it's missing something essential -- a human factor.

More About: CDC, flu season, Google, Google Flu Trends

How Social Media Can Reunite Lost Children With Their Families

Posted: 25 Jan 2013 02:30 PM PST


In November 2011, Tony Loftis's 13-year-old daughter Allie ran away from their suburban hometown of Wayland, Mass. Allie was last seen boarding a Peter Pan bus to New York from downtown Boston, and Loftis assumed she'd headed to Brooklyn where Allie had frequently visited family.

Not a stranger to social media, Loftis took it upon himself to spread word that he was looking for his daughter on email, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.

"We tweeted the heck out of it," Loftis told Mashable.

After a few days, Allie's story was picked up by The Huffington Post, the New York Daily News, the Boston Herald and four TV stations. On day 12, following a live TV appearance, Loftis received word…
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More About: family, Lifestyle, Social Good, Social Media

Listen to the Strokes’ New Song ‘One Way Trigger’

Posted: 25 Jan 2013 02:18 PM PST


The Strokes are back. Almost two years after the release of their last album, the band posted audio for "One Way Trigger" on their website on Friday.

More About: downloads, Music, soundcloud

iPhone vs. Android: Cold-Weather Texting Smackdown

Posted: 25 Jan 2013 02:13 PM PST


Which phone is better for texting in the bitter cold, iPhone or Android? We pit the two platforms against each other in a cold, cruel race of the thumbs.

More About: android, challenge, cold, htc, interns, iphone, Text, texting, winter

Steve Wozniak Says Scene From Steve Jobs Movie Is ‘Totally Wrong’

Posted: 25 Jan 2013 02:06 PM PST


The first released scene from jOBS, the upcoming independent film about tech icon Steve Jobs, emerged online Thursday. Soon after, Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak expressed dismay over Ashton Kutcher's portrayal of Jobs and Josh Gad's portrayal of him.

"We never had such interaction and roles," Wozniak told Gizmodo. "I'm not even sure what it's getting at ... personalities are very wrong although mine is closer."

The scene shows Jobs telling Wozniak his "operating system" can be sold to the masses.

The film — not to be confused with the one Sony Pictures is creating based on Walter Isaacson's biography of the late tech luminary — will…
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More About: ashton kutcher, celebrities, Entertainment, films, Josh Gad, mashable video, Movies, steve jobs, steve wozniak, sundance

Facebook Explains Why Vine Can’t Access Your Friends

Posted: 25 Jan 2013 01:58 PM PST


Facebook has clarified its platform policies in response to the news that it has shut off friend-finding access to Twitter's new video sharing app, Vine.

Within hours of Vine's launch, the ability for users to find Facebook friends also using Vine disappeared. The move was not unlike a decision Twitter made in July to prevent Instagram users from continuing to find contacts using Twitter.

In a post on its Developer Blog, Facebook clarifies some of its platform policies. While not mentioning Vine by name, it's clear this is the app the company is referring to when it writes:

For a much smaller number of apps that are using Facebook to either replicate our functionality or bootstr…
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More About: Facebook, Twitter, Vine

Square’s COO Resigns After Sexual Harassment Claim

Posted: 25 Jan 2013 01:56 PM PST


Square announced late Thursday that COO Keith Rabois was leaving the company to pursue other opportunities. Now, the Wall Street Journal is reporting that his resignation came after a sexual harassment claim from an unnamed employee at Square.

The Journal reports hearing from Square that a lawyer representing the employee in question accused Rabois of sexual harassment and said that the company had failed to take necessary action. Rabois denied the charges to the Journal: "I'm completely confident that all the facts will come out and I will be vindicated."

In a lengthy post on his Tumblr, Rabois explained that he had a physical relationship with a man who he then recommended to intervi…
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More About: Square, startup

RIM’s BlackBerry to Run First Super Bowl Ad

Posted: 25 Jan 2013 01:46 PM PST


Research in Motion will run its first Super Bowl ad, which will spotlight its new BlackBerry 10 smartphone and platform.

The company did not disclose any details about the ad. London's AMV BBDO is creating the ad.

"A Super Bowl commercial is a great opportunity to show the redesigned, reengineered and reinvented BlackBerry to tens of millions of consumers on the largest advertising stage of the year," said Frank Boulben, Chief Marketing Officer, Research In Motion, in a statement. "BlackBerry has 30 million social media fans, and we're looking forward to continuing to encourage them and all NFL football fans to see the power of BlackBerry 10 for themselves."

In addition to the 30…
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More About: Advertising, BlackBerry 10, Marketing, Super Bowl

The World’s Biggest Ant Colony Is No Match for Facebook

Posted: 25 Jan 2013 01:21 PM PST


If you look at it the right way, the universe can astound you with its scale. Astrophysicist Carl Sagan once said we live on an "insignificant planet of a hum-drum star lost in a galaxy tucked away in some forgotten corner of a universe." The scope of the space around us and within us is practically inconceivable.

Similarly, we are beginning to harness the power of technology to create, send, store and receive more data than at any time in history. This digital world is just as striking in its seemingly infinite depth -- the Internet routinely processes more data than humans have exchanged in 5,000 years of civilization. This is the decade of the digital universe, after all.

SEE ALSO:
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More About: big data, features, infographics, nature, space

This Case Turns Your iPad Into the Ultimate Gaming Machine

Posted: 25 Jan 2013 01:17 PM PST


What if you could have an iPad case that gives you better control over your games? That's the promise of Audojo, the case with joysticks and buttons that its makers say can turn your iPad into the ultimate gaming machine.

The cool thing about this iPad case is that it makes up for the weaknesses of the iPad when it comes to gaming. Attach an iPad 2, 3 or 4 to this case, and you'll have precise control using a couple of actual analog joysticks. In addition, you'll have two physical trigger buttons that are sorely missed when gaming on an iPad, especially with first-person shooter games.

Just above the joysticks are a couple of stereo speakers that but are designed to sound better than…
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More About: Audojo, Gaming, ipad, iPad Cases, kickstarter

How a Group of Michael Jackson Fans Sunk a Book on Amazon

Posted: 25 Jan 2013 01:05 PM PST


A new book about Michael Jackson shows the strength of fan groups and how online reviews can be "gamed" to read a certain way.

More About: amazon, book review, michael jackson

How to Share Vine Videos on Tumblr

Posted: 25 Jan 2013 01:03 PM PST


When Twitter launched Vine Thursday it omitted one important social network from its sharing options: Tumblr. Looped GIF images are extremely popular on Tumblr, so the audience there for Vine videos is potentially huge.

Just because there's no native way to share Vines on Tumblr, doesn't mean you can't share your creations on the site. Here are few different ways you can include Vine videos in your Tumblr posts:

Upload Directly To Tumblr
If you want to share your Vine on Tumblr, one of the easiest ways is to just upload it directly to your Tumblr from your iOS device using Tumblr's app.

Every Vine you create is automatically saved to the camera roll on your device. To upload…
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More About: tumblr, Twitter, Vine

London: The Hottest Tech Scene Since Silicon Valley?

Posted: 25 Jan 2013 12:40 PM PST


London's so-called "Silicon Roundabout" east of downtown can appear underwhelming. The attached Tube station is decrepit, the shops below ground are tatty, and at night its psychogeography seems deliberately designed to attract muggers and thieves.

It doesn't get much better above the surface. Traffic swirls around the unwieldy Old Street roundabout , which is dominated by a huge billboard. Nearby City Road stretches north for a mile from the Thames and the City of London, home to London's banks and finance.

The cityscape is depressing. Nothing seems to have been built since the area's halcyon days of printing in the 1970s and 1980s, when it served the newspaper industry on nea…
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More About: contributor, features, Startups, Tech, World

Woman Sues Match.com After Date Stabs Her

Posted: 25 Jan 2013 12:38 PM PST


A Las Vegas woman is suing Match.com for $10 million after she was brutally attacked by a man she met on the dating website.

Mary Kay Beckman claims the site misled her and failed to alert her to the dangers of online matchmaking, leading to an ambush attack in her garage. The assault left her with 10 stab wounds and multiple surgeries, for which she's seeking compensation.

Beckman joined the online service in August 2010 and met her "match," Wade Ridley, a month later. After several online conversations and 10 days of dating, she decided to end the relationship. Beckman claims Ridley sent threatening texts to her days after the break-up and in January 2011, hid in her garage with a…
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More About: lawsuit, Match.com, online dating

Cory Booker Saves Freezing Dog

Posted: 25 Jan 2013 12:31 PM PST


Cory Booker, the mayor of Newark, N.J., who's become an Internet legend for his Twitter antics and real-world heroics, added another act of valor to his resume Thursday: He saved a freezing dog left in the cold during a below-zero night.

The dog was brought to Booker's attention by local WABC reporter Toni Yates, who tweeted a plea for help to the mayor. Yates was using Twitter to help residents without heat, while Booker had been tweeting to advise people about staying warm.

#pets cold Yay! Newark for its heat help. Make pet owners get their dogs out of the cold. Saw 2 dogs freezing @eyewitnessabc7 @corybooker— Toni Yates (@ToniYates7) January 24, 2013

@delia716 @corybooker
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More About: cory booker, Politics, Twitter, US

‘Glee’ Airs ‘Baby Got Back’ Cover Despite Copyright Controversy

Posted: 25 Jan 2013 12:15 PM PST


Fox's "Glee" aired its version of "Baby Got Back" — despite objections that the cover's composition was copied from singer-songwriter Jonathan Coulton.

More About: copyright infringement, Entertainment, GLEE, jonathan coulton, TV

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