YouTube Turns the Lights Off - Earth Day

Google has enabled the ability to turn off the "lights" on Youtube. When you turn the lights off everything turns to a darker colour instead of the original white colour.

Personally I would prefer having it dark ALL of the time. It's easy on the eyes and even saves a little bit of power!

StumbleUpon and Kickstarter Combined Make KickStumbler

A new website called KickStumbler is StumbleUpon and Kickstarter combined.

You can "stumble" random projects at KickStumbler like how you can "stumble" web pages at StumbleUpon.

This is a very unique idea for projects. It lets people find your project randomly which then can be liked etc.. A very neat idea. Check out KickStumbler when you get the chance.

Google Plans to Build 1000 Satellite Dishes

Google is asking the FCC for permission to build 4.5 meter satellite dishes on 1000 acres of land next to Google`s data center in Iowa.

The land where the satellite dishes would be built can easily be seen on Google Maps, right beside Google`s $600 million data center.

This would be a huge step for Google since it wants to expand its uber-fast network around the U.S..

The Google fiber isn`t available to many people currently. Hopefully is will spread to all of North America!

The New Reddit-Originated Free Internet Bill (FIA)

A new user-made bill called the Free Internet Bill, has sparked up on Reddit. The bill is designed to protect the Internet. 

A Reddit user who goes by the name of "RoyalWithCheese22" started the whole group. Royal came up with this idea from the recent bills such as SOPA and PIPA which sparked up recently. Royal doesn't consider himself to be a leader of the group even though he is a moderator. 

A quick explanation can be found on the sidebar of the subreddit: 

“To promote prosperity, creativity, entrepreneurship and innovation by preventing the restriction of liberty and preventing the means of censorship. FIA will allow internet users to browse freely without any means of censorship, users have the right to free speech and to free knowledge; we govern the content of the internet, governments don’t. However enforcements/laws must also be put into place to protect copyrighted content.”

Another user on Reddit who's named "Downing_Street_Cat" saw Royal's post and created a subreddit on FIA.

There is no sign if FIA will actually become an actual bill. 

The group has become very popular in a short amount of time. It continues to gain popularity. Make sure to check out FIA and upvote it while you're there!

Get Ready for Angry Birds Space

Angry Birds Space will be released next month. The release is set to happen on March 22.

Rovio, the creators of Angry Birds, have recruited NASA and National Geographic as partners of Angry Birds Space. The reason is unknown. The only reason I can think of is they could help out in the design such as the gravity.

This twist of the original game will mainly have new features such as gravity. This will bring a new aspect of the game. I will be sure to try the trial of the game when it's available!

Mass Effect 3 Launches Into Space

This really is no joke. The release of Mass Effect 3 is closing in and BioWare is making it even better by launching copies of Mass Effect 3 into space.

Six copies will be launched into space at six cities including Berlin, Paris, London, New York City, Las Vegas, and San Francisco. The copies will be launched by using a weather balloon. Each copy will have a GPS on it for tracking. They will be shown on the game's website so everyone can see where they end up. The copies will then land back to Earth. Whoever finds them will be able to play Mass Effect 3 before its release on March 6th.

If you don't plan on running to the landing locations you can try the game out with the demo which is available for Xbox, PlayStation 3, and PC.

The U.S. Army Orders 1100 Recon Bots

The U.S. Army has ordered 1100 recons bots from ReconRobotics Inc. on Wednesday.

Each robot kit contains one robot, one carrying case, and one charging system which is either AC or a charger that uses military radio batteries to the charge the lithium power battery which the robots use.

"The Recon Scout XT enables you to conduct video reconnaissance in cluttered indoor environments as well as in outdoor landscapes of dirt, sand and rocks", the company describes.

The Recon XT robot is equipped with powerful motors, and strong wheels. The Recon Scout XT has the speed, maneuverability, and power to master the battlefield.

This order is the largest order ReconRobotics Inc. has received yet. The future of ReconRobotics Inc. is quite bright. They have sparked a solid interest from the U.S. Army.

Samsung's Galaxy Note Ad Sparks Best Super Bowl Ad

Samsung's Note commercial which aired during the Super Bowl has been voted one of the best ads on Twitter.

The advertisement was advertising Samsung's new smartphone, the Galaxy Note, during the Super Bowl. A poll was started on Twitter asking viewers to vote for their favourite ad. The fans voted using the hashtag #VoteForNote which received 13.4% of the votes. The second ad at 12.4% was The Avengers trailer.

Do you think the Galaxy Note was the best commercial during the Super Bowl 2012? There definitely were some great commercials during the Super Bowl. Some other ones would have come pretty close to the Galaxy Note commercial.

The iPad 3 Will Be Using 4G

The iPad 3 is set to run on AT&T and Verizon's speedy 4G networks.

AT&T and Verizon both sell the iPad 2 which runs on their 3G network. The iPad 3 will be upgrading to 4G.

Many rumours are still floating around such as the 10 hour battery life. Some question if Apple will design the iPad 3 to truly have the 10 hour battery life.

The iPad 3 will be released next month. Get ready for the new model of the iPad!

Department of Justice Approves Google's Purchase of Motorola Mobility

The United States Department of Justice (DOJ) approved Google's acquisition of Motorola Mobility which took place today.

Google's Vice President said on his blog, "the combination of Google and Motorola Mobility will help supercharge Android".

Google now will be able to purchase Motorola Mobility. This will greatly help Google with its mobile operating system, Android.

Father Shoots Daughter's Laptop Over Facebook

A video has gone viral as a father shoots his daughter's laptop with hollow point rounds.

The daughter of this dad wrote a rebellious post on Facebook complaining about the chores she does and how her life is hard. The daughter attempted to hide her Facebook with security settings but failed. The father was uploading pictures to their dogs Facebook and then found out about the post from there. The dad created a video, reading the post and describing his thoughts on it. In the end he shot his daughter's laptop with a .45 pistol with nine hollow-point rounds.

This video has gone viral considerably in a short amount of time. The video currently has 15 million hits and counting. I recommend watching the entire video. It is definitively worth it!

Organic Computer Made Out of Biomolecules

Scientist at Scripps Research Institute in California and Technion Israel Institute of Technology have recently developed a "biological computer."

The "biological computer" is made of biomolecules which decipher images which are encrypted on DNA chips. The general computer is created out of hardware. This computer uses biomolecules to create a unique computing system.

"Our biological computing device is based on the 75-year-old design by the English mathematician, cryptanalyst, and computer scientist Alan Turing," Keinan explained, "He was highly influential in the development of computer science, providing a formalization of the concepts of algorithm and computation, and he played a significant role in the creation of the modern computer".


The definition of a computer is a "machine made of four components, hardware, software, input, and output".

"In contrast to electronic computers, there are computing machines in which all four components are nothing but molecules," Keinan explained.

This new technology could be the future of computing. Technology and humans could possibly combine in a way. What do you think?

250 000 Signatures Sent to Apple Protesting About Labour Conditions in China

Apple has received over 250 000 signatures from fair-labour organizers.

Apple stores in six cities across the world received tons of signatures. One of Apple's factories, called Foxconn, started these protests. It has been known for inhumane working conditions for the employees.

Foxconn has been accused of making its workers work long hours, and work in poor working conditions. This includes working with dangerous chemicals. Suicides were also taken place at the factory.

The protesters want Apple to make the working conditions for the Chinese workers safe. No one should work under those conditions. I'm sure no one would ever want to.

Nokia Plans to Cut 4 000 Jobs Throughout the Year

Nokia is planning to cut 4 000 jobs throughout the course of this year.

The cuts will be affecting the factories in Salo Finland, Komarom Hungary, and Reynosa Mexico. The factories originally focused on device assembly but will instead be focusing on smartphone customization. The device assembly will be moved to Asia. “Asia is where the majority of component suppliers are based,” Nokia says.

The 4 000 jobs will be cut throughout this year.

Nokia's lost $1.4 billion in the fourth quarter. The revenue dropped 21% from last years fourth quarter revenue.

The company did the same thing in April 2011 when they cut another 4 000 jobs.

Nokia struggles to keep profits positive. Will Nokia be able to get through the hard times?

Syrian Offices Hacked by Anonymous

Syrian offices have been attacked by Anonymous. Anonymous leaked hundreds of emails on Monday.

Anonymous hacked Syrian Ministry of Presidential Affairs' mail server. 78 email inboxes were accessed and leaked. A quite easy password used by some staff was "12345" and could have been guessed by anyone.

Some of the information in the email accounts included an interview with Barbara Walters and the Syrian President which took place on December 2011. The email read “We don’t kill our people,” Assad told ABC “No government in the world kills its people, unless it’s led by a crazy person.”

Other news involving the President of Syrian involves the United Nations and the Syrian President. The President of Syrian, Bashar al-Assad, has been requested by world leaders to step down this week. So far the President of Syrian hasn't agreed.

If the passwords of employees which work for the Syrian government are "12345", is it even a legit government? First they deny killing their own people, now they can't even think-up good passwords. I think it's time for a change in leadership in Syria.

Google Tests Mystery Product in Employees' Homes

Google is testing a mystery product in employees' homes for 7 months.

Google applied for a Federal Communications Commission (FCC) experimental licence to test this product. Not much is known about this product except that it will use wireless to connect to the Internet and Bluetooth to connect to other devices.

Google's will be testing the mystery product from January 17th 2012 to July 17th 2012.

“From this testing we hope to modify the design in order to maximize product robustness and user experience,” the application --- Utilizing the requested number of units will allow testing of real world network performance and its impact on applications running on the device, so that any problems can be discovered and addressed promptly." - Richard Whitt, Google’s director and managing counsel for Telecom and Media, submits.

Hopefully in the future Google will release more information on this mystery Google product. So Google, what are you hiding?

Happy Birthday Facebook Your Officially 8

Facebook has turned 8 today. It's been just 8 years since Facebook started in 2004.

Facebook launched on February 4th 2004. When Facebook first started it was intended for college and university students. Now it is open to mostly everyone except young children. It started with just a few employees but now has over 3000.

Facebook continues to grow as it is now at 845 million active members.

Happy Birthday Facebook!

FBI Admits to Anonymous Tapping Into FBI Conference Call

The FBI has admitted to Anonymous tapping into a FBI conference call.

The conference was between FBI officials and UK authorities. The FBI admitted to Anonymous eavesdropping on the call but says the phone call itself wasn't hacked. The FBI said Anonymous somehow obtained the email which had the login information to the conference call. The login information was sent to 44 people including the FBI and overseas agencies on January 13th.

One thing discussed during the conference call talked about the hacking of Steam last year. They talked about the hacker (TEHWONGZ) who hacked Steam.

Since the tapping the FBI has been investigating the hack. "The information was intended for law enforcement officers and was illegally obtained," said the FBI.

I was surprised to hear the FBI admitted to a hack. I was expecting them to attempt to hide it and keep it low key.

Sony's Loss for 2011 is in the Billions

Sony forecasted a lower loss in 2011 which turns out to be worse. Sony's new forecast for 2011 is $2.9 billion.

Sony blamed this increase due to the Thailand floods, foreign exchange rates, and failed ventures with Samsung.

The third quarter revenue dropped 17.4%. The PlayStation 3 also lost revenue when the price was cut from $300 to $250.

Since this has happened Sony has changed its CEO from Howard Stringer to Kazuo Hirari.

Sony is still trying to recover from the hacks which took down Sony for a month.

Mark Zuckerberg Spends $700 000 on Private Jet

Once Facebook's IPO was released some interesting expenses were shown. This includes Mark Zuckerberg spending $700 000 on private jet expenses.

These expenses were “chartered in connection with his comprehensive security program and on which family and friends flew during 2011.” The $700 000 includes fuel, crew, catering, and more. 

Mark Zuckerberg's salary last year was $483 333 plus a bonus of $220 500. The $700 000 was considered "other compensation." Another $90 850 was for “costs related to estate and financial planning.” 

The total "other compensation" was totalled at $783 529. That is on top of Zuckerberg's initial salary plus the "bonus" of $220 500.

Mark Zuckerberg is spending an awful lot on things which really aren't needed. I wonder what the outcome will be of this since everybody now knows about it.

Google Starts Country Specific Censorship for Blogger Blogs

Blogger, Google's blogging service, will begin redirecting your blogs domain name to country specific ones.

If you don't have a personal domain name which you purchased and are using Google's default domain it may be redirected to a country specific one.

For example if a domain was located in Australia the domain would be changed:

ex. unknownware.blogspot.com ----> unknownware.blogspot.com.au

The domain will be changed by your IP address.

“Over the coming weeks you might notice that the URL of a blog you’re reading has been redirected to a country-code top level domain, or “ccTLD.” For example, if you’re in Australia and viewing [blogname].blogspot.com, you might be redirected [blogname].blogspot.com.au. A ccTLD, when it appears, corresponds with the country of the reader’s current location.” Google explains.

Google is doing this to have specific censorship in certain countries.

Twitter's New Recruiting Video Goes Viral

Twitter's new recruiting video has gone viral on the weekend hitting nearly 500 000 visitors.

The recruiting video was uploaded on January 27, 2012 and since then has reached nearly 500 000 visitors. The video has received great feedback as even the director of Justin Bieber's videos wants to apply for Twitter.

Twitter explained that an employee used their old camera for the low quality scenes. The video was created during Hack Week.

Supposedly the video costed absolutely nothing. So technically it was free promotion for Twitter. The video is pretty entertaining to watch. Make sure you watch it!

Angry Birds Launching to Facebook on Valentine's Day

Angry Birds is coming to Facebook on Valentine's Day. The Facebook version of Angry Birds will possibly have a twist.

The Facebook version of Angry Birds won't be exactly the same as the mobile version. Rovio, the studio who created the game, say the Facebook version of Angry Birds will have new aspects as well as a collaborative feel. It will also focus on the pigs.

Nothing is certain for what the difference will be with this version. But it will still focus on the core of the game.

 

Android Malware Infects 5 Million Users Worldwide

A malware campaign aimed at Android smartphones has infected nearly 5 million users worldwide.

Symantec called the malware'Android.Counterclank.' The malware was embedded in 13 different apps from 3 different publishers.  The 13 apps were all free.

The malware didn't use a rebundled tactic. This tactic involves repackaging a legitimate app with malware and posting it on the Android Marketplace. The attacker then hopes customers will mistake the app as the real one.

The malware was suspected to be downloaded by nearly 5 million users. The malware collects information such as the Android ID, IMEI, IMSI, MAC address, and the SIM serial number. The malware also changes the browser so the homepage is different.

The malware apps were shut down on Friday, 27th 2012.

Lego Project Space - Lego 'Astronaut' Reaches Space

A Lego figurine was launched into space using a helium weather balloon.

Mathew Ho and Asad Muhammad of Agincourt, Toronto created this project on free weekends. The craft was made of a helium weather balloon, a point-and-shoot camera, a wide-angle camera, and a GPS enabled cellphone. A parachute was also included for the landing.

The craft was launched on a Saturday afternoon. The craft was calculated where it was going to land before lift off. It took 32 minutes to descend and 2 hours to return to Earth. The Lego craft look 1 500 pictures as well as video clips.

Google Changes Privacy Policy in March

Google has announced it will be changing its privacy policy. This new privacy policy will merge most of the Google products into one privacy policy.

The new privacy policy will treat the user as one instead of separate on all products. There are 70 individual privacy polices for all of Google's products. That will be cut down to just one privacy policy.

The new privacy policy has sparked concerns for privacy. The new privacy policy will allow Google to track all of your moves when using Google products such as Gmail, Calendar, Docs, and Youtube. However, this tracking will help Google help you when searching and advertising. Google also claims that it may be able to remind you if you are late for an appointment since Google tracks your Calendar and Gmail.

Certain Google products won't be merged such as Google Wallet, Google Books, and Google's web browser.

The new privacy policy will be released on March 1st 2012.

Facebook App Says Your Last Words When You Die

A brand new Facebook app called "If I Die" is out. This app lets users create a final message which will be posted when they die.

The message is posted when three friends agree that the person is dead. You pick people to do this when you create your final message. The message is posted on the users Facebook profile once the three friends confirm. This message can either be text or a video message.

Apps have covered topics you usually wouldn't suspect. Will you use this app?

Tumblr Reaches 15 Billion Monthly Visitors - With a "B"

Tumblr has reached 15 billion monthly visitors. Tumblr has officially exploded with visitors!

Yes, that is a "B" and not just a typo. Tumblr has grown very popular and has proven itself with the huge amount of traffic. Tumblr also receives 120 million unique visitors monthly.

The last time Tumblr announced its numbers was in September of last year when it got 13 billion monthly visitors.  That is 2 billion more visitors in a short amount of time.

Tumblr continues to grow and is very popular in the teen market. Tumblr just needs to get the future teens on it earlier to ensure continuous traffic.

SOPA and PIPA on Hold

SOPA and PIPA have been put on hold due to the massive protests on the web and in cities.

Protect IP was originally scheduled for January 24 but has been pushed back. The uprising has grown greatly since Wednesday. Popular sites like Wikipedia and Reddit blacked out their websites for the day to protest against SOPA and PIPA.

These two bills are probably not going to pass since the Wednesday protests. This is good to hear but this isn't for sure. These two bills cannot be passed! They will alter how the Internet is used.

Google+ Reaches Ninety Million Users

Google+ has finally reached ninety million users. Google+ continues to climb the user count.

Google+ doubled its user count compared to last quarter. Over sixty percent of users are active daily and over eighty percent of users are active weekly.

Some sources are complaining about Google+'s personnel search. Twitter and other social networks say it is unfair that Google promotes its social network using its popular search engine.

Google+ has grown steadily but will need time to get anywhere near Facebook. Like I've said in another post Facebook has a lot of fake accounts so the numbers are closer than they appear.

Barrack Obama Supports Anti-SOPA

Barrack Obama declared that he does not support SOPA.

Earlier this week popular sites such as Wikipedia and Reddit shut down for the day to protest against SOPA. Now Barrack Obama has declared he doesn't support it either. This will definitely help fight against SOPA.

But there is another bill to worry about, Protect IP. This bill is also a threat to Internet users and should be a concern. This bill is to pass before the Senate by January 24th.

These bills pose a huge threat to Internet users. These bills need to be taken care of to protect the Internet as we know it.

IBM's Vision of Future Technology

It's IBM's sixth annual "Next 5 in 5" where IBM displays its vision of future technology.

There were five sections discussed.

• Energy
• Security
• Mind Reading
• Mobile
• Analytics

Energy

Energy could come from new areas such as running water, bicycles and walking.

Security

Passwords won't be needed. Eyes and speech will be the new password.

Mind Reading

Scientists could test brain patterns to help understand autism.

Mobile

Mobile phones will help countries communicate more.

Analytics

Spam will be controlled more effectively and your devices will know what you want to see.

Personally I don't think all of these ideas will happen. Having cell phones accesible to third world countries isn't something you would expect. They may need proper electricity before that will happen. I have to agree with the new security more than anything else listed. We are already starting to see that in some places. I liked the idea about energy. Using everything that moves as a generator would be a neat idea. It is a little hard to accomplish but it is a neat idea. Overall there could have been other interesting ideas added but nonetheless this was interesting to read.

Wikipedia Plans to Black Out Against SOPA

Wikipedia will be blacking out the English-language Wikipedia in the matter of hours. This is Wikipedia's way of protesting against SOPA.

The black out will begin at 05:00 UTC on Wednesday, January 18th. The blackout will last for 24 hours and then Wikipedia will resume back to normal.

A public statement signed by User:NuclearWarfare, User:Risker and User:Billinghurst said:

"Over the course of the past 72 hours, over 1800 Wikipedians have joined together to discuss proposed actions that the community might wish to take against SOPA and PIPA. This is by far the largest level of participation in a community discussion ever seen on Wikipedia, which illustrates the level of concern that Wikipedians feel about this proposed legislation."


This type of protesting is very interesting. It is a great method to get the word out to everyone who uses the English version of Wikipedia. Just hope no one needs to use Wikipedia tomorrow!

The Revolutionary PowerTrekk System - Power Your Gadgets With Water

Hiking in the woods with electronics can be tricky. Signa Chemistry has created a mini charger which charges your devices with only one tablespoon of water.

This mini charger only uses water to power devices. Just by adding one tablespoon of water the charger acts as four AA batteries. This charger would give approximately ten hours of phone battery life. Only one tablespoon is needed to power a phone for ten hours.

Into the scientific part of this charger is interesting. Basically the metal tin can -- where you put the water -- contains a chemical called sodium silicide. This chemical reacts with the water to produce hydrogen gas. The gas then passes into a membrane where the gas mixes with oxygen which produces electricity. Water vapour is also created but evaporates away. Basically this charger is a hydrogen fuel cell.

The PowerTrekk system as its called is being produced and should be available by May in REI stores. The charger will cost approximately $200.

iCrossing Predicts Facebook to Reach One Billion Users by August

iCrossing, an online analytics firm, has examined the trends on Facebook and predicts Facebook will reach one billion users by August 12 2012.

Facebook reached 800 million users in September Facebook reported. iCrossing has looked over Facebook trends and came up with a prediction of when Facebook will reach one billion users worldwide. The exact date is August 12 2012.

Personally I don't think these stats are completely true. Any person can simply create multiple accounts on Facebook and they are counted as new users. So even though the number of accounts may reach one billion, not all those accounts are really people.

These large numbers are simply making Facebook look bigger then it truly is. What do you think?

Eggs Thrown at Beijing Apple Store on Friday

On Friday, eggs were thrown at an Apple store in Beijing after customers were told Apple was cancelling iPhone 4S sales.


Customers had been waiting countless hours for the iPhone 4S to come out last Friday but were greeted with nothing. Customers were told Apple was cancelling iPhone 4S sales in Beijing. One customer decided to throw eggs at the store when they were told this bad news. Police arrived shortly after to clear out the disappointed customers.


After this incident occurred Apple said it will be suspending iPhone 4S sales at its five stores in Beijing. 


What most customers didn't know is that the iPhone 4S has been sold in other outlets in China. Nicole Peng, a research director with analyst firm Canalys said "They can get the device from other outlets, rather than go to the main Apple store. What surprised me was many people didn't get the message."


All five Apple stores in Beijing were packed with many people waiting for the iPhone 4S to come out while they could have gone to other outlets. This would reduce these huge line-ups and disappointments.

Microsoft Plans to Create Real-Time Threat Feeds

Microsoft has announced it will be creating a real-time feed that it and its partners can use to evaluate threats and build better defences against threats.

So far Microsoft has begun internal beta tests. Microsoft collects infected nodes with the Kelihos bot and then shares it with partners such as ISPs, private organizations, government agencies, and CERTs.

A report on Kaspersky Labs explains, “Microsoft collects the data by leveraging its huge Internet infrastructure, including a load-balanced, 80gb/second global network, to swallow botnets whole -- pointing botnet infected hosts to addresses that Microsoft controls, capturing their activity and effectively taking them offline.”

Microsoft hasn't said when this threat feed will be released.

This idea Microsoft has is interesting. If all companies were to unite and share this kind of data, threats could be controlled effectively.

Google Introduces Search Plus Your World

Google announced the release of Search Plus Your World yesterday. Search Plus Your World includes personnel results, profiles in search, and profiles and pages when you search.

Search Plus enables personnel content from Google+ to affect your searches. Your personnel results include photos and posts which then end up in your searches. For example if you were to search your favourite dog and you just so happened to have posted a picture of it on your Google+ account it would end up in your search results. This also includes people in your circles. If they also had pictures of your favourite dog they would also end up in your search results.

You do have the option to turn off these personnel searches if you don't want it.

Twitter has raised a concern on Google's new feature. Twitter claims it will be harder to find timely Twitter posts about news from protesters in Egypt and Syria.

The problem with Twitter raising this concern is that it didn't renew its search result agreement with Google in July. So a lot of Twitter's data has been walled off.

This new feature is a neat thing to use but sometimes you just aren't searching for personnel content. Luckily you can simply turn Search Plus off at anytime you want. When you want to use Google Search for personnel searching you can simply turn it on.

Vacation

Hey there everybody, I will be on vacation for the next week. I will begin posting again on January 10th. Happy New Years everyone!

**Been changed to January 11th**