'Hacktivists' Lulz Security Disbands After 50-Day Spree

Lulz Security, the group that claims to have been behind the massive computer hacks suffered by Nintendo, Sony, some FBI affiliates and the U.S. Senate, has announced it is disbanding. Known primarily as Lulzsec, the group has been on what they are referring to as a "50-day cruise" of hacking everything it could, whether the sites were government, corporate or public-related. Lulzsec began its reign over the Internet in May, compromising the account of some 77 million Sony PlayStation Network users. Its last hack, completed over the weekend, allegedly exposed information from a variety of groups, including...

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Appstore Fragmentation Comes to Apple's iPhone

"Fragmentation" is a word people use to mean this: There are a lot of different Android phones out there. It's confusing for buyers, because they don't know what kind of phone to get. And it's frustrating for app developers, because it's hard to write apps that work on all of them. Especially now that thanks to the Amazon Appstore, there are even multiple app markets for Android. "So what?" you ask. "How does that affect the iPhone? We don't have to deal with stuff like apps that don't work on our phones. Like when Angry Birds Rio came out; we just got it from the App Store like always, while Android...

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Motorola Triumph: High-End Prepaid Android Smartphone Coming July 19

This is a Triumph; a Motorola Triumph, that is! And when it goes on sale July 19 for $299, it'll be one of the most powerful prepaid Android smartphones out there, on Virgin Mobile's network or any other. What makes the Triumph so, well, triumphant? The specs, and what they mean The Motorola Triumph will have a 1-gigahertz single-core processor and 512 MB of RAM, making it roughly equivalent to a high-end Android smartphone from 2010 like the HTC Evo. It will have a 4.1 inch screen, much larger than the iPhone 4's and closer to other large Android smartphones'....

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Archos Unveils $349 10-Inch Tablet with 250 GB Hard Drive

Faster, better, cheaper: Pick any two. Archos seems to have chosen better and cheaper for its upcoming "G9" Android tablets, where "better" means "more powerful" and "more storage space." But will that make either of them a better choice than the iPad 2? The specs, and what they mean The Archos G9 will come in two flavors, the 8-inch and the 10.1-inch. Both will have a 1.5 GHz dual-core processor, which may make them more powerful than similarly-priced PC laptops. These are Android tablets, though, so you're not going to be running PC apps on them. What will...

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Harkat-ul-Majahideen Places U.S. in Another Catch-22 with Pakistan

COMMENTARY | Reuters reports that a cell phone recovered during the raid on Osama bin Laden's compound included contact numbers for members of Harkat-ul-Majahideen. For years, there have been rumors of ties between Harkat-ul-Majahideen and the Pakistani government intelligence system. This opens up an interesting can of worms for the United States. Harkat-ul-Majahideen is a group that has been known for kidnapping, assassinations and the hijacking of Indian Airlines Flight 814. President George Bush considered them a threat back in 2001, though they still operate to this day. If direct connections can...

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Verizon Droid 3 Rumor Roundup: A Look Beneath the Speculation

COMMENTARY | It's on its way! The Droid 3 has just been unveiled in China, and it's already gotten cleared by the FCC here in the States. And while the Chinese will have to wait till this fall to buy it, word on the street has it that we'll get the Droid 3 July 7. (UK Android fans, unfortunately, may not see it at all.) So what is this little smartphone that's got so many people excited? The next generation of Droid The Droid series is Verizon's flagship line of Android smartphones. And while Verizon has introduced a whole slew of alternate Droid models, like...

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It Doesn't Matter How Many Apps Android Has

COMMENTARY | As David from 37signals pointed out, "the established wisdom now is that you cannot win without hundreds of thousands of apps" if you're trying to buy or make a new smartphone. That's why companies like Motorola and HTC are playing along with Google to make Android smartphones; they could take the open-source Android code and run with it, but if they're not in Google's good graces, so their customers don't get to buy apps from the Android Market. In a survey by Business Insider, though, only 8.1 percent of respondents said "App selection" was the most important factor to them when choosing...

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Low Barrier to Entry Lets Great Android Apps Stand Out

The rise of the mobile app has led to a new category of lifestyle business, where indie app developers work alone at home or in small teams. Even hobbyists have been getting on board, as books that teach programming can be easily found at the library or downloaded online. And for a one-time fee of $45, anyone can submit unlimited free or paid apps to the Android Market, Google's online app market for Android smartphones and tablets. Partly because of this, the huge numbers of apps on the Market -- Google's smartphones have more free apps than Apple's -- don't mean as much as you'd think. A lot of those...

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Roger Ebert Jumps Gun with Tweets about Ryan Dunn's Death

COMMENTARY | Roger Ebert and Ryan Dunn had little in common before this week. Although Ebert reviewed Dunn and his Jackass co-stars in their three movies together, there weren't many other reasons to link the two together. As such, when Dunn was killed in a drunk driving accident Monday, the last person expected to cause a controversy about it was the most famous film critic in the world. Nevertheless, Ebert started a firestorm when he wrote on Twitter that "friends don't let Jackasses drink and drive." By attacking Dunn for his drunk driving just hours after his death, it caused many fans and followers...

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June 30: National Handshake Day, Ice Cream Soda Day, Meteor Day, Social Media Day

National Handshake Day You reveal a lot with your handshake. Are you extroverted, expressive, shy or neurotic? According to a University of Alabama study, your handshake provides a tactile way to read you. Before you extend your hand during the next social, professional or diplomatic event, consider your own handshake. Do you have a firm grip? Is your hand a comfortable temperature and is it dry? Do you keep eye contact? Miryam S. Roddy of Brody Communications advises everyone to practices their handshakes on National Handshake Day, occurring on the last Thursday in June annually. Brody Communications...

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June 30: National Handshake Day, Ice Cream Soda Day, Meteor Day, Social Media Day

National Handshake Day You reveal a lot with your handshake. Are you extroverted, expressive, shy or neurotic? According to a University of Alabama study, your handshake provides a tactile way to read you. Before you extend your hand during the next social, professional or diplomatic event, consider your own handshake. Do you have a firm grip? Is your hand a comfortable temperature and is it dry? Do you keep eye contact? Miryam S. Roddy of Brody Communications advises everyone to practices their handshakes on National Handshake Day, occurring on the last Thursday in June annually. Brody Communications...

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Why Android Has More Free Apps Than the iPhone

It's official: There are now more free apps available in the Android Market than in the iTunes App Store. But is this really a good thing, for Android or Android phone owners? On the surface, it seems like it. Who doesn't like getting free apps? When you look deeper, though, you realize that the reason there are so many free Android apps is one of the same reasons Android apps tend to be ugly: The extremely low barrier to entry. Undiscriminating taste As I explained in that article, it's a lot easier to get an app on the Android Market than it is to get one on the App Store....

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Why Android Has More Free Apps Than the iPhone

It's official: There are now more free apps available in the Android Market than in the iTunes App Store. But is this really a good thing, for Android or Android phone owners? On the surface, it seems like it. Who doesn't like getting free apps? When you look deeper, though, you realize that the reason there are so many free Android apps is one of the same reasons Android apps tend to be ugly: The extremely low barrier to entry. Undiscriminating taste As I explained in that article, it's a lot easier to get an app on the Android Market than it is to get one on the App Store....

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Well-Educated but Obnoxious Cell Phone User Ejected from Train

High five to the New York Metro North train employee who asked the loud, offensive cell phone user to tone it down. Thumbs down to the cell phone user who informed the train employee that she was "too well educated" to be asked to quiet down and stop using the F-bomb. Methinks the lady doth protest too much. The NY train passenger was caught on cell phone ranting to the train employee who had asked her to quiet down. Numerous times, the rider repeated that she was not "some little hoodlum". That's a bizarre and slanderous comment to make about kids. Kids aren't the only people who inappropriately use cell...

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Why Android Tablets Fail

I don't mean "fail" as in "perform badly." In a world where Google's Android operating system powered the only "tablet" devices, they'd be magical and best-selling. But this is not that world. The iPad is the elephant in the room, and it dominates both buyers' and app developers' preferences. By "fail," what I mean is that they're failures in the marketplace. The first "real" Android tablet to sell, the Xoom, was basically a flop. And the only one to make headlines or sell out these days is the Asus Transformer, which (perhaps not coincidentally) is also the cheapest Android tablet, at $399. ...

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British Juror Sentenced to Eight Months for Contempt for Contacting Defendant on Facebook

Yet another case in which the Internet and social medium allows people more opportunities to get into trouble occurred in Great Britain where a juror was jailed for contempt for contacting a defendant via Facebook. Joanne Fraill, a juror in a multimillion-pound case taking place at a High Court in London, apparently chatted on Facebook with Jamie Steward, a defendant in the trial. It is unknown whether they knew one another before the trial or made contact after the trial began. In any event, the trial collapsed in a mistrial and Justice Igor Judge was compelled to sentence Fraill to eight...

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Has Politics Killed High-Speed Rail in the U.S.?

COMMENTARY | Imagine a trip by train between Boston and Washington in three hours. Or a faster one from San Francisco to Los Angeles, in which you're meeting with colleagues instead of sitting in a cramped airplane seat, spilling coffee on your laptop? That's the vision of high-speed rail proponents, who see it as the future of mass transportation and one solution to unemployment and environmental problems. Several new HSR systems have been proposed across the United States and are in various stages of development. For example, there is the Northeast Corridor project, serving major East Coast...

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British Juror Sentenced to Eight Months for Contempt for Contacting Defendant on Facebook

Yet another case in which the Internet and social medium allows people more opportunities to get into trouble occurred in Great Britain where a juror was jailed for contempt for contacting a defendant via Facebook. Joanne Fraill, a juror in a multimillion-pound case taking place at a High Court in London, apparently chatted on Facebook with Jamie Steward, a defendant in the trial. It is unknown whether they knew one another before the trial or made contact after the trial began. In any event, the trial collapsed in a mistrial and Justice Igor Judge was compelled to sentence Fraill to eight...

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Five of the Most Bizarre Celebrity Kids Names

COMMENTARY | Robin Williams likes the video game character Zelda so much that he named his daughter after her. Apparently, the 21-year-old Zelda Williams doesn't mind. They recently appeared together in a commercial for Nintendo, in which Zelda asks her father, "Are you mixing me up with Princess Zelda again?" If you think that's a little strange, here are five other celebrity children with names that might be a bit unusual. Jason Lee's son Pilot Inspektor I like Jason Lee, but I wonder what he was thinking when he named his son Pilot Inspektor. Maybe he thinks by naming him something so different...

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How Will Social Media Impact the 2012 Presidential Election?

COMMENTARY | The 2012 presidential election race is fast approaching and the top candidates are emerging from both parties. During the 2008 election, we saw the proliferation of social media in politics. Then-Senator Barack Obama was the trail blazer utilizing social media websites like Facebook to connect with voters. Obama also recruited savvy tech moguls to spearhead his social media campaign. As a result the Obama campaign was able to mobilize young voters, who for many were first time voters. The Obama administration is taking it one step further in preparation for the 2012 election by...

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Five of the Most Bizarre Celebrity Kids Names

COMMENTARY | Robin Williams likes the video game character Zelda so much that he named his daughter after her. Apparently, the 21-year-old Zelda Williams doesn't mind. They recently appeared together in a commercial for Nintendo, in which Zelda asks her father, "Are you mixing me up with Princess Zelda again?" If you think that's a little strange, here are five other celebrity children with names that might be a bit unusual. Jason Lee's son Pilot Inspektor I like Jason Lee, but I wonder what he was thinking when he named his son Pilot Inspektor. Maybe he thinks by naming him something so different...

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Tweet, Lie, Confess, Resign: A Weinergate Postmortem

COMMENTARY | In a progression that's all too familiar, Anthony Weiner resigned today after a scandal involving lewd and sexually explicit internet communications with several women. The scandal began when Weiner accidentally posted a suggestive photo to his public Twitter feed instead of sending it as a private message to a single recipient. Weiner maintained that his accounts had been hacked, only to confess several days later In the days before and after his confession, more pictures came to light. Several additional women came forward saying that they, too, had participated in racy text...

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Despite Resignation, Weiner Might Still Have Surprises Left

COMMENTARY | Congressman Anthony Weiner held a press conference Thursday to announce his resignation from office. Since graduation from State University of New York, Weiner has worked in various aspects of New York politics. According to CNN, he was first elected to the House in 1998 and has been a strong liberal voice for the Democratic 9th district, which includes parts of Brooklyn and Queens. At only 46, it is probably safe to say that regardless of this scandal, he is not done with politics. Why he took the path he did is hard to understand, though. Not only was he on a fast track career-wise, he was not unfamiliar with...

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Keeping His Job was Always a Long Shot for Anthony Weiner

COMMENTARY | Anthony Weiner's wife, Huma Abedin, returned to the U.S. Wednesday after a period in absentia with her boss, Hillary Clinton. Abedin accompanied Clinton on a diplomatic mission to North Africa while her beleaguered husband turned on a spit of press headlines, public forums discussion, social network postings, and water-cooler conferences. Congressman Weiner's raunchy tweeting to female "followers" on Twitter has caused an explosion of interest in a scandal that has eclipsed the Democrats' agenda in Congress. For this and other reasons, top Democrats have been pressuring Weiner to resign. ...

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Weinergate: The Latest Chapter in the American War of Morals and the Law

COMMENTARY | As I'm sure you know by now, New York lawmaker Anthony Weiner has been under intense pressure to resign since the news of his online affairs with several women broke over the past week and a half. After initially denying it, the Democratic congressman admitted to sending lewd pictures of himself to at least six different women on Twitter and other social media sites, both before and after he was married. Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi was the first high profile Democrat to call for his resignation and was soon after followed by the number two and three congressional Democrats -- DNC Chair Debbie...

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