The hacktivist group Anonymous may be setting its sights on the city of Orlando, Florida next, if an anonymous press release which has landed in our inbox is to be believed (see bellow). The group is threatening to take down a different city-related website every day, starting with Orlando Florida Guide, which doesn’t even appear to be owned by the city of Orlando (it is registered to an organization called Utopia, administered by a man named Steven Ridenour). So any random website extolling the virtues of Orlando could be targeted.
The DDOS attacks are justified in the press release as retaliation for the repeated arrests of members of a non-profit group called Food Not Bombs, which feeds homeless people in a park without a permit. The leader of the group, Keith McHenry, was also recently arrested. “This is a declaration of war,” writes Anonymous in its press release describing “Operation Orlando.” → Read More
Last month saw the introduction of a new Sandy Bridge-enabled S series from Sony, and now we see their more powerful, full-on Z series get a boost. The new Zs have a standard (not low-voltage) Core i7, 256GB SSD, and a 13.1″ screen at 1600×900 (interesting resolution!). They tip the scale at just over 2.6 pounds and are 16.65mm thick, with a “full-flat” body, though the significance of that term isn’t really explained.
Perhaps most interesting is the combination Light Peak and USB port on the side there. Is it Light Peak? Is it USB? Is it Thunderbolt? Let’s apply our critical thinking skills! → Read More
When you think of wireless networks, you generally think either of a personal wi-fi network like that at your house or a cafe, or the cellular networks that power our phones. Both these are consumer networks, intended for delivering things like media and instantaneous communication. But not every network has the same needs. On-Ramp Wireless intends to empower a new kind of network, one that covers thousands of square miles with just a few dozen nodes. The trade-off? Bandwidth. → Read More
We knew that the T-Mobile MyTouch 4G Slide was on the way — or, at least, we had a pretty darn good reason to believe as much. Sure enough, it’s the real deal: ol’ Magenta has just painted it up with a proper press release, announcing that it’ll it the stores sometime in July for an as-of-yet-undisclosed price. T-Mobile’s decided to take a somewhat rarely taken route with the marketing behind this one. Rather than playing up the 1.2 Ghz processor, the “4G” connectivity (with “4G” in quotes, of course, because T-Mobile’s 4G is arguably not actual 4G), or the 3.7″ WVGA (800×480) SuperLCD display, they’re pointing all of their hype machine’s energy at a different component: the camera. → Read More
These concept cameras, or whatever they are, probably aren’t indicative of any future Nikon products, but it’s always fun to see what imaging companies have cooking deep in the labs. French Nikon site Nikon Hub caught a few at Paris’s Cité des Sciences et Industrie over the weekend. There sure as hell isn’t a lot of info, but I like the modular idea of that first one. [via Nikon Rumors] → Read More
So it looks like a pita pocket. So what? If you’ve got a nice little wireless mouse for on-the-go gaming or productivity and don’t want it clattering around your bag, this thing sounds great. And it turns into a tiny mousepad! How can you say no? How, I ask you? Only $15 at Smartfish. Get one, even though it looks like robot food. → Read More
While Samsung’s sexy little Series 5 Chromebook is already shipping, a lot of people (“the people” meaning “people interested in Chrome OS,” which probably isn’t that many people right now) are probably waiting for the cheaper AC700 from Acer. You can pre-order one now, of course, but shipping date was pretty much a mystery… until now. → Read More
The All -Terrain Roomba isn’t brand new but recent updates have made it a formidable opponent to stairs, lumps of dirt, and other obstacles that stand between you and a completely clean Martian surface. The DIY kit uses a modded Roomba and unique chassis to offer stability and impressive speed to this little robot. → Read More
If you’ve ever wondered why they can’t take these tiny SSD units and just pack ‘em into a thumbdrive case, this one’s for you. The new RC8 from Super Talent is in every way a real SSD, except perhaps that it’s not sitting in your PC’s case with a SATA connection. This one’s USB 3.0 and it appears to really cruise. We’re looking at over 200MB/s reads and writes. → Read More
The world has been waiting for an official Facebook tablet app, and waiting, and waiting. But that app may not appear on the iPad first (although Facebook is working on an iPad app for sure). Instead, Facebook’s first tablet app will appear on the HP TouchPad, which comes out this Friday and runs the WebOS it bought with Palm. Unless the iPad app also launches this week, the TouchPad will become the first tablet with an official Facebook app. Given the tension between Apple and Facebook, a concurrent launch on the iPad seems unlikely. Update: Facebook has reached out to clarify that “this app was not built by Facebook but by HP.”
How do I know? I got my hands on some screenshots of the Facebook app for the TouchPad. You can see them here. But what I wonder is if this is also what the app will look like on the iPad. All I can say for sure is that these pics are from Facebook’s tablet app running on WebOS. → Read More
We’ve confirmed the rumors of Myspace layoffs with our own inside source; From what I’m hearing the company expects to lay off at least 150 of its around 400 employees tomorrow (37.5% of its staff). According to the source, another group of around 150 employees will be put on a transition plan, where they will still be laid off but can work with pay for a few weeks while they search for another job.
Myspace cut around 47% of its staff back in January and these new layoffs come as Myspace is preparing itself for a sale, which we’re hearing will be signed tomorrow and announced on Friday. While there are multiple rumors circling regarding who exactly will be buying the beleaguered social network, the names being tossed around include a bidding group fronted by Activision CEO Bobby Kotick, Buzzmedia, and even LivingSocial. → Read More
Last month, founder David Karp noted that Tumblr was now seeing over 250 million pageviews a day. As we noted, that was incredible since as recently as July of 2009, they were seeing 250 million pageviews for the entire month. But it turns out that the numbers are much more incredible than they first appeared.
I noticed this when Tumblr President John Maloney posted earlier today that Tumblr was now doing north of 8.4 billion monthly pageviews. That number was around 7 billion just a month ago, and when I drilled down into Tumblr’s publicly available numbers on Quantcast, I noticed a massive surge in pageviews in the last few weeks. So massive, in fact, that the data looks more like a solar flare. → Read More
Fellow Seattlite and Etsy seller Erica Hanson has put together a great little tool bag for discerning bikers: the Mopha. It’s waxed canvas and consists of ten of little pockets for you to put your patch kits, hex wrenches, spare tube, and all that jazz. Then roll it up and strap it to your frame. Hell of a good-looking thing, and the simple, rugged construction seems like it should last quite a few years. I’d hide snacks in it too, I think. At $38 (plus $6 for shipping), I’d say it’s a pretty good deal. Update: Oops, someone bought it. Try this one if you still want one. [via Cool Material and The Awesomer] → Read More
Disrupt runners-up, Cloudflare have been getting a lot of attention recently, thanks to the company’s role in helping LulzSec’s website stay online. In fact the hackers even gave Cloudflare a shoutout on their Twitter feed — offering to trade rum for a premium account — leading to a surge in customer sign-ups.
Of course, co-founder and CEO Matthew Prince is quick to point out that the company takes — at best — a neutral approach to hosting LulzSec, and that protecting the hackers has only served to make Cloudflare’s systems more resilient for all of its other customers. Still, it’s a pretty ironic twist for a company which promises to protect websites against DDOS attacks and other nefarious activity.
Keen to understand the company’s position on helping hackers and on sharing user data with the authorities, I invited Prince into the TCTV studio for a quick interview. → Read More
Back in the old days, in Europe, TV selection was pretty limited. When they started offering satellite, you had a few free channels and a few paid channels but enterprising hackers figured out how to decode all of the channels using a breakout cart and the C64′s super processor. The resulting solution cost about $120 way back when and saved a bunch of Euro-hackers quite a bit of money. → Read More
Earlier this morning Twitter released “Twitter for Newsrooms,” its primer on how to use Twitter to gather and report news in the 21st century.
#TfN is Twitter’s official nudge to old school reporters, a heavy handed reminder to get with the program and embrace Twitter as media production and consumption device. → Read More
Ambitious goals are nothing new to HTC. As last year came to a close, the Taiwan-based phone maker promised to sell 60 million handsets in 2011, three times what it sold in 2010. With a good six months left before we see if that last goal will be met, HTC has vowed to add another 1,370 retail stores in mainland China, bringing its total to 2,000. → Read More
A new iPhone is approaching — this, everyone knows. While WWDC came and went without an announcement, this was expected. Instead, this year it will be all about the fall — with new hardware hitting just in time for the formal launch of iOS 5. But what exactly will the new hardware be? An “iPhone 5″ or an “iPhone 4S”? Or, better yet, both?
That’s the latest rumor making headlines today, based on a report by Deutsche Bank’s Chris Whitmore, an analyst. Now, analysts typically have a horrible track record when it comes to correctly predicting Apple moves. And when I say “horrible”, I mean that you’d have a better shot correctly predicting what Apple is going to do by throwing darts at a board… with a blindfold on. But — there has been some evidence that backs up this latest claim (which is probably why they made it in the first place). → Read More
