Meet the LulzSec Leader Arrested by British Police Today
British police announced today that they arrested a 19-year-old hacker in Scotland's isolated Shetland Islands who used the nickname “Topiary” online. Here's what we know about this core member of th...
Next iPhone to feature thinner, tapered design according to new silicone cases
Yesterday, a purported case mold schematic for the fifth-generation iPhone emerged, pointing to a complete re-design for Apple's handset. This mold points to a larger display, a larger home button, a...
BBC iPlayer goes global with iPad app launch in 11 countries
Western Europe first for subscription-based service, with US to follow later in 2011 — BBC Worldwide is launching its global iPlayer service today, via an iPad app that will be made available in 11 ...
A message to PayPal, its customers, and our friends
Dear PayPal, its customers, and our friends around the globe, — This is an official communiqué from Anonymous and Lulz Security in the name of AntiSec. — In recent weeks, we've found ourselves out...
On Safety: A Word From Airbnb
Brian Chesky is the CEO of Airbnb. In this guest article he discusses the recent Airbnb user safety incident we reported on earlier today. — On June 22nd, we learned that the home of one of our San...
Apple Charges Customer 122 Times for Lion
John Christman purchased OS X Lion on July 23, and paid $31.79 after sales tax. Then, his PayPal account was charged $31.79 an additional 121 times, for a total of $3,878.40. — Clearly Mr. Christma...
Fourth Law Firm Withdraws From Representing Paul Ceglia in Facebook Case
Paul Ceglia, who claims he deserves half of Facebook based on an arrangement with Mark Zuckerberg from 2003, has lost another law firm as his case continues. — Edelson McGuire, which had only taken ...
The Moment Of Truth For Airbnb As User's Home Is Utterly Trashed
Important updates to post at end — Until now everything has been just great for Airbnb, a service that lets people rent out their homes and become a sort of mini-hotel. The company launched in 2008...
Netflix is for Movies, Hulu is for TV Shows. Neither Is for Your iPad or Your iPhone.
Lots of you are using your phones to watch YouTube. But Netflix and Hulu? Not so much. — That's one of the take-aways from a new Nielsen report about viewing habits on the two online video service...
The Verizon small bang
As Verizon has reported iPhone sales for one and a half quarters, it's time to try to discern the impact on the product. There were several hypotheses floating around prior to the “big bang” of Veriz...
The White House just Rickrolled a Twitter user
We've known since 2008 that US President Obama has pushed for more social media interaction. With a Twitter Town Hall meeting and now sending his own tweets, it seems that somebody on the staff has d...
Google Maps 5.8 for Android adds photo uploads, My Places, and more
My Places as a simple way to manage the Places you've starred and recently viewed — Descriptive terms for Places in search results — Add a new Place on-the-go when checking in — Photo upload for a...
Old Java Emails May Bite Google In Android Patent Suit
It may be wiser for Google to settle its patent infringement showdown with Oracle than take it to trial. New documents emerging from early hearings in the case suggest the search giant may have a tou...
A Cleaner Layout for Google Search
Google is testing a fresh and cleaner layout for web search and other search properties. — The new Google design uses a single column layout while the old sidebar options appear between the search b...
Rogue Academic Downloader Busted by MIT Webcam Stakeout, Arrest Report Says
Hacker and activist Aaron Swartz faces federal hacking prosecution for allegedly downloading millions of academic documents via MIT's guest network, using a laptop hidden in a networking closet.
Lodsys fiercely opposes Apple's motion for an intervention
Lodsys had an (extended) deadline today to respond to Apple's motion for an intervention in a patent infringement litigation in which Lodsys is suing 11 app developers, five of which are rather small.
Another Helping of Mango for Devs
Last month, we released Beta 2 of the Windows Phone SDK 7.1. Yesterday, Windows Phone Engineering CVP Terry Myerson announced Windows Phone OS RTM. Today, I'm excited to announce that we are offerin...
Aggressive Google: Gmail Team Asks You to Do an Email Intervention
Google under Larry Page is uber aggressive, and the latest salvo comes in the form of EmailIntervention.com, a slick website that enables you to do an intervention with your Yahoo, Aol and Hotmail-usi...
Ex-NASA CTO builds cloud dream team, launches Nebula
The cloud computing world has been anxious to hear former NASA CTO Chris Kemp's plans since he left his post in the spring to pursue a startup venture, and on Wednesday morning, he introduced his new ...
Colleges Join Plan for Faster Computer Networks
A coalition of 28 American universities is throwing its weight behind a plan to build ultra-high-speed computer networks — with Internet service several hundred times faster than what is now commercia...
Coastal And Mid-Atlantic States Have Way Faster Internet
Congratulations, Pocatello Idaho. You have American's slowest Internet. That's according to a new study by Pando Networks that tracked Internet download speeds and completion rates across the countr...
Qualcomm's Awesome Augmented Reality SDK Now Available For iOS
Back around July of last year, Qualcomm launched a software development kit for building Augmented Reality apps on Android. The idea was to allow Android developers to build all sorts of crazy AR stu...
Groupon Accounting Is Prolonging SEC Review
Concerns from regulators about Groupon's accounting metrics are prolonging the company's pre-initial public offering document review, according to people familiar with the matter. The Internet group-...
EA: our fastest growing platform is the iPad
There was a time when the majority of games were played on dedicated consoles like the Xbox or PlayStation but, as they say, “those times are a'changin.” Speaking to IndustryGamers, EA CEO John Ricci...
Microsoft confirms fall store opening at University Village
We've known this was happening for a while, based on my previous digging into city permit filings, but Microsoft today made it official, confirming on Facebook that it's planning to open a retail stor...
Microsoft's MS-DOS is 30 today
MS-DOS is 30 years old today. Well, kind of. On 27 July 1981, Microsoft gave the name MS-DOS to the disk operating system it acquired on that day from Seattle Computer Products (SCP), a hardware com...
DHS Fears a Modified Stuxnet Could Attack U.S. Infrastructure
One year after the discovery of a sophisticated worm that was used to attack centrifuges in Iran's nuclear program, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security told Congress it fears the same attack coul...
Quora Testing User Credits For “Ask To Answer” Questions
Quora has just launched a bundle of interesting initiatives over the past day or so, all signs that the Q&A site is trying to figure itself out. — First of all, the company has begun testing somethi...
T-Mobile responds to Sen. Al Franken's recommendation against AT&T merger
Minnesota Senator Al Franken sent a letter to the heads of the Federal Communications Commission and the Department of Justice earlier this week, stating that AT&T's proposed $39 billion acquisition o...
Find nearby deals with Google Shopper 1.5 for iPhone
We've recently made a few new changes to Google Shopper for iPhone that makes it easy to find nearby deals when you're on-the-go. In the latest version of Google Shopper, in addition to the ‘Shop’ ta...
Google+: Overall visits decreases, male users increase
Google+ has been around for nearly a month now, still locked down under invite-only mode. Traffic has decreased slightly, but it's not time to spell out the end of the site just yet. — Last week, E...
ComScore Report: 27% of Facebook Browsing on News Feed, Just 10% on Apps
Today, internet marketing research company comScore released a white paper detailing which Facebook features receive the most usage and where users interact with branded content. The report shows tha...
White spaces standards are here. Next up: devices!
Another hurdle was removed today for “Wi-Fi on steroids,” as the IEEE published a wireless standard that could bring high-speed broadband to rural areas. The 802.22TM-2011 standard will be used on fr...
Samsung Is Only Tablet Maker Giving iPad 2′s Display a Run for Its Money
Although the first wave of Android tablets couldn't hold a candle to Apple's iPad 2 when it came to screen quality, analysis firm DisplayMate says the latest Galaxy Tab model offers a significantly be...
Dropbox Leases Giant New SF Office, Plans To Grow To 400+ Employees
Dropbox, the startup that makes it super-easy to sync files between your computers, phones, and other devices, is growing. A lot. As in, they're about to hire hundreds of people — and they're gettin...
In ‘Anonymous’ Raids, Feds Work From List of Top 1,000 Protesters
It turns out there's a method behind the FBI's raids of suspected Anonymous members around the country. The bureau is working from a list, provided by PayPal, of the 1,000 internet IP addresses respo...
Nice timing: Facebook debuts “Facebook for Business”
Facebook on Tuesday debuted a step-by-step online guide aimed at helping small businesses use the social networking site. The company is billing the new webpage, found at Facebook.com/business, as an...
Colleges Join Plan for Faster Computer Networks
A coalition of 28 American universities is throwing its weight behind a plan to build ultra-high-speed computer networks — with Internet service several hundred times faster than what is now commercia...
Bitcoin befuddles U.S. customs agents, thwarting Seattle visit by digital currency guru
A developer who specializes in the Bitcoin digital currency says he was sent back to China last week after he arrived at Sea-Tac Airport with only $600 in cash and wasn't able to convince U.S. Customs...
The Telling Story of a Once Faithful Google Apostle Saved
A man who once called himself a Google apostle has had his account restored after Senior Vice President Vic Gundotra personally looked …
Ars Technica's OS X Lion review made $15,000+ in 24 hours on the Kindle
Will people pay for quality digital content? It's an argument that has been on the table for quite some time, with naysayers pointing towards downloads of discographies instead of paying attention to...
Why European VCs are lean, mean and more extreme
You've probably all heard the cliches about European startups and investors: venture money in Europe is more conservative, entrepreneurs are afraid of risk, the businesses are less ambitious and there...
NSA Lawyer Questioned Over Cellphone Location Tracking of Americans
Is the government using cellular data to track Americans as they move around the U.S.? — According to the general counsel of the National Security Agency, it may have that authority.
Why Microsoft Won't Dump Bing
Many Microsoft shareholders, employees, partners and customers would like Steve Ballmer to resign (or be ousted) as CEO. Almost as many are agitating for Microsoft to push Bing out of the Redmond nes...
OneNote Mobile for iPhone gets major update
Microsoft has announced today that they are releasing a major new version of OneNote for the iPhone, presumably to bring it into line with the features that Windows Phone 7 offers. — In a post on th...
Cornell software fingers fake online reviews
See the bottom of this post for the answer. — (Credit: Myle Ott, Cornell University) — If you're like most people, you give yourself high ratings when it comes to figuring out when someone's tryin...
AdSense For Images Pixazza Rebrands As Luminate, Launches Platform For In-Image Apps
Pixazza, a Google Ventures-backed photo tagging service that has been compared to an “AdSense for Images,” is rebranding as Luminate today, and debuting a new platform for in-image apps.
The GOOGLE+ Punch List (21 Items Google Must Add to Plus)
We asked Google+ users—on Google+—what Google had left out of the service. Here's what they said, with a little added analysis. — Must Haves — 1. Brand pages: Based on the brouhaha we've seen ove...
Apple reportedly “evaluating” solar panels for use in future products
According to a report from Digitimes, Apple, among other companies like Samsung, is currently evaluating the use of solar panels for future products. Even more exciting is that Apple is reportedly co...