Bcstevieb

Welcome to the roundup of the best new Android applications, games, and live wallpapers that went live in the Play Store or were spotted by us in the previous 2 weeks or so.

This edition focuses only on new games. The app roundup is coming up soon.

• [New Game] Star Wars Force Collection Available Now, Because There Aren't Enough Card Games In The Play Store Already
• Ultima Forever: Quest For The Avatar Trailer Shows Off 400 Hours Of Classic RPG Action
• All Wings Report In: Angry Birds Star Wars Begins Its Attack Run On The Play Store
• [New Game] Old-School Crawler Dungeon Quest Lets You Loot To Your Polygonal Heart's Content

21 Best New Android Games From The Last 2 Weeks (9/3/13 - 9/16/13) was written by the awesome team at Android Police.

No operator or manufacturer will have exclusive access to the messaging platform when it comes to Android

It seems as though some communication lines may have gotten crossed today when Samsung Mobile Nigeria seemed to imply that it would have a three-month exclusivity on BlackBerry's upcoming launch of BBM on Android. After hearing from an official Samsung Twitter account indicating that this was the case and reaching out to the companies, we've heard back directly from BlackBerry with the following statement:

The tweet, though very exciting, is incorrect ... I want to clarify that no one will have an exclusive on offering BBM. We’ll be bringing the app to Android and iPhone users across the globe soon.

Now this doesn't give us any official confirmation for when exactly we can get our hands on BBM, but it does let us know that no particular operator or manufacturer will have it exclusively locked up.

British government working with O2, Vodafone and EE to test alerts

The UK could join the U.S. with a nationwide mobile emergency alert system if trials of the technology are successful. BBC News reports that trials are to take place in Easingwold, in North Yorkshire, Leiston, in Suffolk, and Glasgow city centre, with up to 50,000 people receiving emergency notifications. Three of the four major mobile networks — O2, EE and Vodafone — are participating in the pilot, the broadcaster reports.

Both traditional SMS messages and cell broadcast messages will be tested as part of the trial, which is expected to begin later this month and run through until November. A report in 2014 will then determine whether the system should be implemented nationwide, and if so what form it should take.

Countries already using mobile emergency alerts include the U.S., Australia and the Netherlands, and other areas prone to natural disasters are in the process of implementing similar systems. Stateside, emergency alerts have been used to inform the public of events like prison escapes, disappearances and severe weather since late 2011.

Source: BBC News

In a recent talk at LinuxCon 2013, Valve CEO Gabe Newell reaffirmed his belief that Linux, and open source platforms in general, are the future of gaming. Valve launched the Steam online gaming store on Linux in February of this year and the store is already host to 198 games. Valve is infamously tight-lipped about upcoming projects, but the prospect of a Linux-based "Steam Box" has been in the works for quite some time, and Newell remarked during his talk that more information about the future of Valve in the living room might be right around the corner.

Continue reading...

Microsoft has redesigned Bing’s logo and user interface as it seeks to position the search engine as a developer platform.

Bing’s new logo and search page was designed to fit in with the rest of the visual makeover Microsoft has gradually rolled out for the entire company. The Bing logo’s makeover, meant to look “simple, real and direct,” uses a version of Microsoft’s corporate font Segoe. The entire logo is now in the same orange as the dot in the previous version, which is also the color of the lower-right quadrant of Microsoft’s corporate flag logo.

The new look was unveiled along with Bing’s upgraded search experience, which gives users answers to their questions in a more interactive format than the typical list of links.

Preview windows will connect users to the section of a Web site most relevant to their search or help them refine their query by giving a look at potential results (like a more visual version of the Autosuggest tool). Bing’s new Pole Position answers questions about local weather, while Snapshot, which was first announced a year ago, produces an information summary about certain topics as well as relevant links. Bing’s social search, which includes content culled from Facebook and other social networks, will be consolidated into a single side bar.

Bing’s new features makes it easier for Microsoft to integrate Bing into products used by their customer, such as Xbox consoles and Windows Phones, as well as predict their future search queries. It also ties into Redmond’s efforts to move Bing away from being just a search engine to a platform. In June, Microsoft announced that it will open Bing up as a platform for developers, allowing apps within its own platforms, including Windows 8, 8.1 and Xbox One, to use Bing entities such as natural user interfaces, optical character recognition and its mapping and visualization capabilities. As Frederic Lardinois noted, if Microsoft decides to make Bing services available to developers on all platforms, this can help Microsoft better compete against Google.

Can snake-like robots do a better job exploring Mars than the wheeled rovers humans have previously sent to the red planet? That's the working theory of researchers at the Foundation for Scientific and Industrial Research (SINTEF), who believe that such a bot could help tackle the primary challenge in navigating Mars: maneuverability. A snake robot could slither into tight, confined areas that a larger rover simply wouldn't be able to access, they say. This would allow scientists to collect invaluable samples from regions of Mars that have previously been difficult or impossible to reach.

Of course, the tiny size of such a robot presents other hurdles, and SINTEF's researchers think the ideal solution would pair a snake robot with a...

Continue reading…

With every generation of iOS, there's always a device that's left behind. This year, it's the iPhone 3GS' turn to become outdated, as the four-year-old smartphone will not be updated to Apple's new iOS 7. The inevitable march of technology, however, has often left users unable to download many apps that require the latest version of iOS — until now. A Reddit user reveals that Apple now allows users with older devices to download an older version of an app.

It's a very good move from Apple: the under-the-hood changes between iOS 6 and 7 are huge, and it's likely that many developers will quickly move to take advantage of the new APIs and features. The decision will allow developers to continue to improve upon their apps with less...

Continue reading…

Boing Boing pal Chris Holmes, who works with Paul McCartney, sends a couple of videos that will be of interest to fans of the artist and former Beatle. Above, an impromptu a capella/acoustic version of "New," a track from his forthcoming album of the same title which comes out October 14, 2013.

And below, a video of the album version of that same song. "This video was put together by Charlie Lightening," says Chris, "It features some footage from our Outside Lands show." Chris has a little mini cameo in it, as he was deejaying a set before the show.

Every week we cover new Android apps with Fresh Meat on Wednesday, followed by Android Gaming on Thursday and Top 10 app updates on Friday. On Mondays we look back to see which ones were the most crowd-pleasing among our audience. Read on for the 10 most popular Android apps among your peers from last week.

1. Evomail

Evomail is an alternative to the stock mail client with support for Gmail, Yahoo and other email accounts.

2. Flashlight Illuminus

There are a ton of flashlight apps out there, but Flashlight Illuminus adds some cool sci-fi elements.

3. Ultimate custom widget (UCCW)

UCCW is one of the most popular widgets out there with thousands of customization options.

4. Wanam Xposed

Wanam Xposed is a great app to add additional customization to your rooted Samsung device.

5. Timetable

Students looking to organize and manage their classes and homework will appreciate what Timetable offers users.

6. Simplenote

Simplenote is another good application for creating notes, lists and storing ideas.

7. Genius Scan

If you’ve ever found yourself wishing you could quickly scan a document and save it, you need to download Genius Scan now.

8. Action Launcher Pro

Action Launcher Pro is a great launcher alternative to your stock device.

9.  Snapshot Text Editor

Adding text to your images is simple with Snapshot Text Editor.

10. Minimalistic Text

Minimalistic Text allows you to create text-based widgets on your device.

Note:  To ensure apps receive a fair chance to make the list, we will retire any app that has made the list for 3 consecutive weeks and will place it in our Android and Me App Hall of Fame. We will post this Hall of Fame list every 3 months in a dedicated series.

The popular movie review aggregation site Rotten Tomatoes is expanding its reach beyond feature films. Variety reports that tomorrow the site will launch "TV Zone," an area focused solely on television ratings. It will collect reviews and assign seasons of television — not individual episodes — a "Fresh" or "Rotten" rating as appropriate. Along with covering the new fall shows, Rotten Tomatoes will also be offering up ratings for primetime shows that have received coverage over the last four years. The section will not cover reality television, but long-running programs that have reached a certain level of cultural prominence — Mad Men and Breaking Bad are listed as examples — will have all of their seasons reviewed.

Moving...

Continue reading…

Jacob Appelbaum of the Tor Project and Wikileaks addressed the European Parliament on the issue of surveillance and freedom. It was a remarkable speech, even by Appelbaum's high standards. An amateur transcript gives you a sense of what's going on, but the video is even better: "Is it used for coercion? Is data passed to autocratic regimes? Is it used to study groups? Is it used to disrupt? Yes, yes, and yes. Might they force or forge data? Absolutely."

When Obama says that we don't need to be afraid, first of all, it's insulting to every single one of you in the room. When he says to Americans "Don't worry, we don't spy on Americans." I think "What about every other human being on this planet?" And I apologize on behalf of my incredibly insulting President for saying that about each and every one of you, because that is not acceptable. He's also wrong, because in my experience with Wikileaks, Americans actually have more to be afraid of. The reason is that there is a system and culture of repression that is so total that in some cases, people will not pick up the phone to talk for fear of the meta-data linking that person to my telephone. So in the US I basically don't have a telephone that people know about. I have one for emergencies that is never powered on.

Is it used for coercion? Is data passed to autocratic regimes? Is it used to study groups? Is it used to disrupt? Yes, yes, and yes. Might they force or forge data? Absolutely. In fact, I've been detained at borders where they've let me know how utterly in trouble I was going to be but that they could not arrest me, which is a very fascinating thing. I'm not allowed to see this file, I'm not allowed to correct this file, I'm not allowed to know it. They've accidentally let me see the file while holding me in an interrogation cell. Their two-way mirror wasn't quite so good. In this case I said "hey, that data's wrong." They said "you can't see that data." I said "but I already did" They said "no, you didn't." "okay." So, clearly, someone makes mistakes, and whether or not it's an intentional mistake is a good question.

How do we detect this kind of surveillance? It's easy. Do you have a phone? You have a tracking device. You make a call? It was probably intercepted.

J. Appelbaum Speaks at Euro Parliament - Addresses issues of Privacy, Security, Encryption, Spying, and Govt Abuses of Journalists

Android/iOS: Despite modern advancements in file transfer technology, transmitting pictures or links between two devices is still a pain sometimes. Chirp makes it as easy as listening to a two-second sound clip.

Chirp allows users to send pictures, notes, and links to each other without having to designate an email address, pair via Bluetooth, or anything else. It simply generates a short audio clip that any device nearby can pick up if it has the app open. While it's not good for secure transfers per se, it's handy if you want to send files to multiple people at once.

Chirp | iTunes App Store

Chirp | Google Play Store via MakeUseOf

Measuring butter or shortening almost always wastes a bit since you can't dig every dollop out of your measuring cup. Make it easier to remove the ingredients with a piece of plastic wrap.

Before you measure out what you need, line the inside of your measuring cup with a piece of plastic wrap. Fill in as much as you need then simply lift the plastic out and scrape/pour it off into the pot. Not only will this save a bit of your butter, it will also leave you with a clean, dry measuring cup for the next thing you need to dole out.

Tip for Measuring Shortening | via BuzzFeed

In a blog post today, Bump CEO and founder David Lieb announced that his company had been acquired by Google. Bump builds a set of proprietary technologies that allow devices to share data. The selling point is that users can exchange photos or contacts by simply bumping their phones together. What makes Bump different is that this transfer of data is not enabled by near-field-communication, or NFC, which is what normally powers this kind of exchange.

Continue reading…

Box is unveiling an online word processor called Box Notes, in a move that could help to put the cloud storage service's features closer on par with that of Google Drive. Though it's just getting started, it appears that Box Notes should have a fairly mature feature set right out the gate, including collaborative and offline editing, version history, and mobile apps for iOS and Android. Box is accepting registrations for a beta test now, and The Next Web reports that it intends to formally launch the service next year.

Though it offers free accounts to consumers, Box has been focused primarily on the enterprise market, with many of its more robust features reserved for paying members. With Box Notes, the service can help to...

Continue reading…

Dom and Brian do the quarter-mile-at-a-time stare

With the cast and crew of Fast & Furious 7 already busy zipping around California locales in production on the film, duties in releasing the first sort-of official image in the marketing campaign have fallen to a familiar source: Vin Diesel’s Facebook page. Take a look at the image below.{First Official Fast And Furious 7 Pic Online}

Yes, the prolific poster – who almost single-handedly got the word out about Riddick – is back on digital duty, throwing up an image of himself and co-star Paul Walker as Dominic Toretto and Brian O’Connor looking pensive at a lake. We’re going to go ahead and assume it’s not because the pair pause in their high-octane behaviour to feed some ducks, although there are always quieter, emotional scenes between the crew peppered between shots of them jumping from cars, crashing tanks and racing down the longest runway you’ve ever seen so maybe they will.

Fast & Furious 7 finds the usual team contemplating life as free men and women, albeit ones with targets on their backs after they took out Luke Evans’ Owen Shaw in the sixth film. They have his brother Ian (Jason Statham) hunting them down.

Regulars like Tyrese Gibson, Michelle Rodriguez, Ludacris, Dwayne Johnson and Jordana Brewster are back, joined by new recruits including Djimon Hounsou, Tony Jaa, Ronda Rousey and – assuming he’s definitely made a deal – Kurt Russell. With James Wan shepherding the vehicular mayhem, it’s set to arrive on July 25, 2014.

If your old laptop has a few broken parts, or has just gotten too slow to use as your everyday machine, you can give it new life as a treadmill entertainment center.

This isn't the first time we've discussed turning an old laptop into a wall-mounted PC, but this one looks a little easier to tackle. Essentially, you have to unhinge the machine, and mount the various parts into a styrofoam base, taking extra care to keep the fans exposed. Your specific build will vary depending on the computer, and how you want to set it up in your house, but the finished product is the ultimate way to watch Breaking Bad while working up a sweat. Check out the source link for some more details.

Treadmill Entertainment | imgur via Hack A Day

A multilingual petition to Bob Iger asks for Disney's CEO and top management to do something about the (frankly, pretty terrible) condition of Disneyland Paris, a park I've stopped visiting (though it's closest to me), due to the poor staffing, poor maintenance, bad (and expensive) food and hotels, and large number of out-of-service attractions and shows.

1. Maintenance

The upkeep of parks, attractions and hotels has been neglected so often during the past 20 years that many facilities are not “Disney standard”. Many themed elements are decaying and crumbling, while others are literally falling apart.

On a positive note, an extensive rehabilitation program has been put into place in recent years, aiming to fix many of the broken, outdated or deteriorated rides, effects and theming. While this indicates that Disneyland Paris’ management is seriously taking notice of its shortcomings,it only touches the tip of the iceberg. The many years of neglect have taken their toll on the most beautiful Magic Kingdom ever designed; the cost of bringing it back to its former glory is now higher than it would have been, had things been fixed sooner.

2. Budget Cuts

The Tarzan Encounter show at the Chaparral Theater, The Legend of the Lion King show at Videopolis, and the iconic night-time parade Disney’s Fantillusion! were all cancelled this year. Meanwhile, other show venues, such as Le Théâtre du Château, have been left disused and empty for years. In addition to that, several rides as well as countless restaurants and boutiques are now open for limited hours: e.g. from 11:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. while the park is open from 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. Furthermore, bad maintenance is dramatically reducing the capacity of certain attractions over time. For instance, Thunder Mesa Riverboat Landing (open from 11:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.) has been operating with just one of the two available paddlewheel steamships for many years and a few of the roller coasters are operating with fewer trains, thus reducing capacity.

The lack of maintenance combined with the budget cuts have created a never-ending cycle of ride breakdowns, which affects all types of rides. These breakdowns, together with lowered capacity, make the park constantly overcrowded while Disneyland Paris keeps beating attendance numbers year after year; the resort welcomed 16 million guests in 2012. As a result, a day at Disneyland Paris has become a succession of walks between what is open and what is not.

3. Food

The food offerings in the resort vary greatly, but overall the quality is never as good as what’s offered in your American parks. The majority of restaurants offer either counter service fast food or all-you-can-eat buffets. Just a small group of table service restaurants remains; initially more were available but several have been turned into counter service restaurants, such as the Explorer’s Club being turned into Colonel Hathi’s Pizza Outpost, a standard pizza restaurant.

In recent years, the quality of the food offered at the more expensive table service restaurants has been declining. Dishes of industrial pre-cooked meals are served in mere minutes after taking up the order, an indication the food was not made-to-order. The fast food offerings are steep in price and cannot compete with the better known alternatives, such as McDonald’s which is just a few minutes’ walk from the parks in Disney Village.

What is perhaps even more concerning, besides the low food quality at premium prices, is the opening hours of some of the restaurants. When Disneyland Park closes at 11:00 p.m., you would expect to be able to have a nice evening dinner, not to discover the restaurant closed at 7:30 p.m.. These short opening hours make it impossible to book a meal for later in the day; you either have to plan ahead or settle for counter service offerings in Disneyland Park or Disney Village.

4. Walt Disney Studios Park

The smallest Disney theme park, the only park to open without a traditional Disney dark ride, the park that is struggling with its identity; in short the park that never met the “Disney standard”. The lack of attractions, the bare environment, the unclear overall theme, the poorly designed master plan, the low capacity of the new attractions, etc., are all major issues. This park needs a serious placemaking project and a complete reevaluation of its theme to bring it up to the standards of your company.

Beyond these four main categories (Maintenance, Budget Cuts, Food, Walt Disney Studios Park), there is also plenty of work to be done on the ageing Disney Village, the mediocre-quality merchandising and its lack of diversity, and the outdated Disney Hotels that offer poor services at extremely high rates.

Mr Bob Iger, CEO The Walt Disney Company: Save Disneyland Paris

(Image: Happiest algae bloom on Earth, Disneyland Paris, Paris, France.jpg)

On Monday, TechCrunch founder Michael Arrington wrote that he would press the CEOs, VCs, and other Silicon Valley leaders who he was interviewing at TechCrunch Disrupt about the NSA scandal.

“I’m scared of our government and I’m disgusted by what little Silicon Valley has done to fight it,” Arrington wrote. He continued:

“I’ve brought this up in every one of my preparation meetings with the people I’ll be interviewing.

There has been some pushback. Some people don’t want to talk because lawyers. Others say this isn’t their fight and they can’t effectively lead their organizations from behind bars.

Others say they are willing to speak their mind.”

Over the course of the three day conference, Arrington interviewed 13 of the most influential people in the tech industry on stage, including Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer. Dropbox founder Drew Houston and Paypal co-founder Max Levchin also discussed the NSA with other TechCrunch writers.

Let’s take a look at the highlights from their talks. Full videos of each speaker’s comments regarding the NSA, and some analysis, are below.

Ron Conway, David Lee and Brian Pokorny

Arrington called out Conway in his original post, saying, “I am going to ask Ron Conway, who has pushed for gun control via his Sandy Hook Promise for nearly a year now, hasn’t said a word about Silicon Valley’s role in the wholesale destruction of our human rights by the United States government. He could do so much by leading an effort at real transparency, and a real pushback against the government. But he hasn’t lifted a finger. I want to know why.”

Conway argued for a balance between national security and personal freedoms, and claimed he’s too busy advocating for gun control and immigration reform to devote time to the NSA issue. Arrington pressed Conway the hardest, repeatedly questioning why Conway hadn’t taken action on the NSA issue. Conway was candid, noting that immigration reform is a bigger issue for him personally, but didn’t delve into a ton of detail on his personal beliefs about the NSA and the right balance he would like to see.

Lee and Pokorny, who are partners at SV Angel with Conway, mostly stayed out of the NSA discussion while Arrington and Conway locked horns.

Mark Zuckerberg

Zuckerberg and Mayer hold the most interesting positions for this debate, as both Yahoo and Facebook were implicated as participants in the PRISM program. Both companies have strongly denied involvement with the NSA and have pressed the government to allow them to reveal more information about the requests the NSA makes for information and how they handle them.

Zuckerberg was surprisingly candid on the topic, saying, ““I think the government blew it.” It would have been nice to hear more from him about Facebook’s involvement in the PRISM program. Zuckerberg was happy to slam the government on its handling of the scandal, but didn’t talk in much detail about Facebook and how it interacts with the NSA and what steps he is taking regarding the PRISM program.

John Doerr

“With the appropriate safeguards, I’m comfortable with people knowing the two and from of my phone calls,” Doerr, a partner at Kleiner Perkins, said. Doerr advocated for “independent and rigorous judicial oversight” of the programs, and he and Arrington seemed to just agree to disagree on the NSA.

Drew Houston

TechCrunch writer Josh Constine asked Houston how the NSA leaks have affected Dropbox’s business. Houston said that “day to day, it doesn’t have much of an effect” on Dropbox’s operations, and added that he’s frustrated as a citizen by the government’s lack of transparency.

Mayor Ed Lee

In the conference’s opening interview, Arrington asked San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee what Lee was doing to protect himself and the city from NSA snooping. Lee offered an interesting split between his thoughts as an individual and his role as Mayor, citing his experience in installing cameras around San Francisco to prevent crime and catch criminals while preserving some level of privacy.

Doug Leone and Sanjit Biswas

Leone, a partner at Sequoia Capital, told Arrington, “I’m not as far left as you but I’m not far right.” He added that he is concerned that, “the delicate balance between freedom and safety has been lost. It’s upon guys like us that we make sure the issue stays in the limelight.”

Biswas, the co-founder of Meraki, said that as far as he knew, the NSA’s intelligence-gathering programs had nothing to do with products Meraki made. He didn’t comment on the larger implications of the NSA scandal. Neither one seemed particularly riled up by the issue.

Max Levchin

Levchin talked to TechCrunch co-editor Alexa Tsotsis, and was the strongest supporter of the NSA. He discussed applying to work at the NSA while in college, and seemed to have a high personal respect for NSA employees.

While Levchin had an interesting perspective, I think he overlooked some of the negative behavior of the employees, like spying on their love interests, and failed to address the issue at its highest level. Just because Levchin respects the employees who are working to defend the United States doesn’t mean that the program and agency at a high level don’t need serious scrutiny and changes.

His comments drew the ire of Arrington:

THIS attitude is why we’re in a world where Silicon Valley is tyranny’s enabler https://t.co/79e7erOSZs shameful

— Michael Arrington (@arrington) September 11, 2013

Reid Hoffman and David Sze

Arrington seemed to be joking a bit, but also expressed some frustration, noting, ”I’m not getting anyone to care so far on stage,” as he spoke with the two Greylock partners. Hoffman said LinkedIn, at which he is Executive Chairman of the Board of Directors, has no direct server access for the NSA.

Marc Benioff

Salesforce.com CEO Marc Benioff was the only interviewee who Arrington didn’t grill on the NSA. Early in their interview, Arrington remarked, ”And we’re gonna get to the NSA stuff later,” before launching into a question about Apple. That question led Benioff to share some amazing stories about Steve Jobs, and the two got so caught up discussing Jobs that they ran over time and skipped the NSA topic.

Marissa Mayer

Mayer repeatedly spoke about treason, and said she and Yahoo have no choice but to comply with the NSA. When pressed, she noted that treason usually results in jail time, although many bloggers and pundits openly question whether the government would prosecute and incarcerate CEOs like Mayer and Zuckerberg for speaking out about the NSA program.

A number of outlets have pointed out that Mayer’s comments don’t align with the definition of treason, and a Yahoo spokesperson later said that Mayer’s comments about treason weren’t “purely academic.” Her comments drew some criticism from legendary blogger Om Malik:

I agree with Max Levchin – says @marissamayer on NSA, surveillance etc. Not sure I (& @arrington) agree with @mlevchin at all.

— Om Malik (@om) September 11, 2013

Vinod Khosla

Khosla noted that he agreed with what Doerr and Levchin had said before him, noting he wants to “avoid another terrorist attack.”

“I would bet we are spending hundreds of billions of dollars because of 9/11…I think it was a big lesson for us,” he said. “We need to be secure, and that means giving up some privacy.”

He made interesting points about different kinds of freedom, and how Americans giving up online privacy may be allowing us to avoid things like frequent security checkpoints in the real world.

On the heels of its Spotify app release on Friday, Twitter's #Music platform is taking a swing at Rdio's streaming music service as well. Friday night, Twitter announced a new page within Rdio that would display 15 different #Music-generated playlists, including trending song and artist charts. The playlists are continuously updating, but otherwise fairly meager compared to the more polished Spotify app. Still, the possibility of playlist porting shows #Music's algorithms to be surprisingly versatile. Unlike Rdio's Heavy Rotation service, #Music playlists will import listening data from outside the app, potentially a boon for a smaller service like Rdio.

Continue reading…

The Center for Public Integrity's After the Meltdown series documents the fate of the regulators, executives, and firms that were most directly responsible for the subprime meltdown, and demonstrates that the top bankers for firms like Lehman got unbelievably rich due to their failures, and are still in business with lucrative consulting firms (for example, Lehman CEO Richard Fuld walked away with several hundred million in cash and now has homes in three states and a personal consulting outfit). Consumerist's Chris Morran has done a great job of summarizing the findings:

Former Bear Stearns CEO Jimmy Cayne isn’t working as hard as Fuld, though he did make around $376 million before “retiring” after Bear Stearns lost billions on toxic mortgages. Don’t expect to run into this guy at your parents’ assisted living facility, as he’s holed up in the Plaza Hotel with Heloise, playing in online bridge tournaments. The horror.

Merrill Lynch lost $8 billion under the leadership of Stanley O’Neal, but unlike Cayne he hasn’t taken to living like a wealthy retiree. Instead, he took his $165 million golden parachute and traded it for aluminum, landing a seat on the board of Alcoa.

Ken Lewis’ hubris and desire to lead the world’s largest bank resulted in Bank of America snatching up Countrywide and Merrill Lynch as they swooned. Except he didn’t really do his due diligence, or he would have seen that these two acquisitions would result in penalties, settlements, adjustments, and other costs totaling more than $40 billion. That doesn’t even factor in how BofA went from being viewed as a beloved outsider to becoming maybe the most-reviled bank in the nation in just a few years.

And yet, he walked away with around a quarter of a billion dollars. He did recently sell his home near the BofA HQ in Charlotte, NC. We can only assume it’s because current CEO Brian Moynihan kept egging Lewis’ car and writing nasty notes in shaving cream on the windshield.

After the Meltdown (via Consumerist)

One of Netflix's goals has always been to combat piracy of TV shows and movies — if you can get all the shows and movies you want for only a few dollars a month, the company hopes you'll stop downloading them illegally. But as the service rolls out in the Netherlands, Reed Hastings' team has gone so far as to actually check piracy statistics in determining what shows to buy. VP of Content Acquisition Kelly Merryman told Tweakers that "with the purchase of series, we look at what does well on piracy sites." That led to Netflix buying Prison Break, for instance, a commonly torrented show in the Netherlands.

Merryman told Tweakers about some of Netflix's other considerations as well, including shows like The Voice that the company...

Continue reading…

H33t, one of the largest BitTorrent sites on the Internet, slowly disappeared from the Internet last week.

After some initial confusion it became apparent that the site’s domain registrar had removed all nameservers, rendering H33t unreachable by the public. The reason for this drastic action was initially unclear but over the past week the pieces of the puzzle have fallen into place.

TorrentFreak contacted H33t’s domain registrar, the German company Key-Systems, who confirmed that they were forced to take this action following a court order.

“We have indeed been served with a court order granting a temporary injunction requiring us to ensure certain content is not made available,” Key System’s Volker Greimann tells TorrentFreak.

The injunction was obtained by Universal Music GMBH, a German division of Universal Music Group, and lists Robin Thicke’s album Blurred Lines as the infringed material. The order requires the registrar to prevent the files in question from being distributed through H33t’s search engine and tracker.

As a result, Key-Systems saw no other option than to delete the nameservers or remove the entire domain from its system. “The only way to comply with that court order was to either remove the DNS entries or delete the domain,” Greimann says.

This is the first time that a torrent site has been targeted by a copyright holder through a domain registrar. While the details of the injunction haven’t been made available to the public it sets a dangerous precedent. This is also one of the main reasons why Key-Systems is determined to fight the ruling.

“We regret that we cannot comment in detail on an ongoing legal matter that is yet to be finally decided by the court, however we are determined to get this court order lifted as soon as possible,” Greimann tells TorrentFreak.

One of the reasons H33t may have been targeted is its unique takedown policy. The site allows copyright holders to remove infringing files but charges an administration fee of $50 per takedown request. The site doesn’t comply with the DMCA, claiming that it falls outside US jurisdiction.

H33t’s owner hopes that the temporary injunction will eventually be reversed. He is surprised that it is so easy for a German court to target the property of a company that doesn’t operate under its jurisdiction.

“Quite frankly I cannot see how this decision will stand. The German court cannot have global jurisdiction to take down a site in other countries. It is an example of outdated courts making decisions in a cases where they demonstrate their high level of ignorance,” H33t’s Shelby tells TorrentFreak.

H33t meanwhile has lost nearly 25% of its traffic over the past week. The site quickly moved to the new H33t.eu domain but many visitors appear to have trouble finding the new home.

Source: Universal Music Behind H33t.com Domain Seizure

Traditionally speaking you need to download software to your computer if you want to upload a program to your Arduino. CodeBender allows you to code from your browser, share your work to the cloud, and collaborate with others.

CodeBender supports uploading to pretty much any Arduino board connected with a USB cable. Within it, you can browse other people's code, upload your own, and store everything you do so you can access it anywhere. It's a nice one-stop shop for all your Arduino coding needs and since you don't need to download anything you can sneak

CodeBender | via TechCrunch

MuckRock News reports that Freedom of Information Act requests faxed to the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) started coming back as undeliverable a couple weeks ago. The OSD confirms their fax machine is down, possibly for another few months, because there's no money in their tens of billions of dollars a year budget for a new one, and they can't switch to email as a request method. "The office that oversees the most powerful military in history (not to mention the best-funded) is unable to project when its single fax machine will once again be operational."

"Barrett Brown makes for a pretty complicated victim," writes David Carr in his recent profile of the Dallas-based journalist "obsessed with the government’s ties to private security firms." Brown, 32 has been in jail for a year. He faces charges that carry a combined penalty of more than 100 years in prison. Why does the gag order on his case matter to all of us? Carr explains.

In March Canon announced a new high-sensitivity CMOS sensor design, and now the company is showing off its capabilities with some remarkable footage of fireflies shot in almost total darkness. The 35mm full-frame sensor captures video at 1920 x 1080 — or Full HD — resolution, and was designed expressly for low-noise performance in challenging conditions. To test it, a camera was equipped with the sensor and used to capture footage of fireflies on Ishigaki Island in Japan.

The footage captures not just the fireflies themselves, but also the details of the surrounding environment as well. It's particularly impressive as Canon says the light level at the time was measured at just 0.01 lux. To give you a point of reference, a night with...

Continue reading…

Windows: Portable applications are handy for running applications from a USB stick or using an app without messing with your Windows installation. For the remainder, Zero Install can run software without installing it.

The app features a sort of makeshift app store for a number of included applications. From a single menu, you can download from a host of popular apps like Audacity and Notepad++, and Zero Install will keep them up to date. You can also set up Zero Install to sync installations between computers so no matter which machine you're on, it's always up to date.

Run Windows Programs Without Having to Install Them | Make Tech Easier

UK Prime Minister David Cameron has appointed Mike Weatherley, an entertainment executive-turned-MP, to be his "intellectual property advisor." His remit will be "enforcement issues" on "the challenges that face the film and music industries." The previous Labour government passed the controversial Digital Economy Act without Parliamentary debate on its last day, and that bill allows future governments to establish a disconnection system whereby people accused of copyright infringement will lose their Internet access without proof or trial, along with everyone who lives with them. Weatherley's former colleagues from the entertainment industry have been lobbying to put this into place through a voluntary scheme, despite compelling evidence that shows that these systems don't reduce piracy.

Then yesterday there was more news that strongly suggests that the government intends to take a tougher line on copyright infringement. Prime Minister David Cameron announced that he had appointed Mike Weatherley MP as his advisor on intellectual property.

Weatherley, who says he will focus on enforcement issues relating to the creative industries, is no stranger to the entertainment world. The chartered accountant was the former finance director of record producer Pete Waterman’s empire. He later became Vice President (Europe) for the Motion Picture Licensing Company.

UK Prime Minister Appoints New Anti-Piracy Enforcement Advisor [Andy/TorrentFreak]

(Image: Matthew Hopkins, Witch Finder General/Wikimedia)

Remember screensavers? Every major OS still has them, and while their original purpose—to avoid burn-in on monitors from long periods of use—is no longer an issue, they can still be useful. Here are some screensavers that combine the fun and the functional.

Screensavers have always walked the line between fun and useful. If you use your computer all the time and usually don't leave it idle, you'd never even see a screensaver. However, if you (like me) have more than one computer on your desk (and usually only use one at a time), or your work takes your hands off the keyboard but not away from your desk, try customizing your screen with something that's more productive (and more attractive) than a blank screen or a sleeping monitor. Here are a few good ones to get you started.

Keep Up with the News

Sadly, the heyday of RSS-reading screensavers has passed, and many of the best-looking screensavers that would display article headlines and feed text on your screen while you do something else are long gone or no longer support modern operating system. On top of that, Apple pulled OS X's built-in RSS displaying screensaver—which had been bundled since the early days of OS X—when Mountain Lion (10.8) launched last year. That doesn't mean you can't get it back, or read RSS feeds in your PC's idle time.

On the Windows side, RSSMore is probably your best bet for a fully functional and bug-free RSS screensaver. It's...not the prettiest, so we'd suggest setting a single-color image as the background (instead of the many images the site uses to show off its transparency) and bright text colors to read your feeds. You'll be able to work with your hands off the keyboard and look up from time to time to see if there's a story that interests you, or you can let an idle computer next to you stream news while you work on another one. If RSSMore doesn't work for you, 2Flyer RSS Screensaver is a solid alternative. It's a bit more attractive, and although it doesn't show quite as much information, the 2Flyer screensaver "builder" tool lets you build the perfect screensaver for you.

On the Mac, if you're running a version of OS X earlier than Mountain Lion (that is, 10.7 or lower), you already have the screensaver built-in. If you're running OS X 10.8 or later, your best bet is to just get an old copy of the old RSS Screensaver from an old computer running an earlier version of OS X, and installing it on your new Mac. If you need a copy (and installation instructions), check out this post in the MacRumors forums, which also has a download link for that old RSS screensaver. If you need another download link, try this one. For a more detailed step-by-step to reinstall it in Mountain Lion, this post at Mac Tuts+ will walk you through it (and goes on to show you how to use other newsworthy RSS feeds, like Twitter feeds, to customize it).

Turn Your Screen into a Weather-Reporting Window

If you work in an office without windows or like to plan ahead, maybe a weather-related screensaver is up your alley. YoWindow is a free weather app and screensaver that's been around for a long time, but has also come a long way since it was introduced. Back then you only had one scene, and while the screensaver animated itself along with the time of day and weather conditions, there wasn't a lot of variety to it. Now, the scene varies based on the city you live in, and you can change and store multiple cities. The sun in the sky and the weather conditions change based on their actual conditions, so the later in the day it is, the lower in the sky the sun gets until it's sunset—when the sun goes down both outside and on your desktop.

It's pretty, but it's functional too: YoWindow gives you future weather conditions, an hourly forecast, wind speed, chance of precipitation, and more. Its look is a bit dated, but it's a good way to use a large monitor to brighten up a dull grey cubicle. You can check out a video of it in action here.

Clear Day (shown above) is a new, gorgeous weather app for OS X that shows you the current conditions in your location, a full forecast for the day's weather, and also lets you check as many other cities around the globe. You can save as many cities as you want to check, and switching to a new one will toggle an animation that takes you there on the globe you're hovering over, and updates the forecast for that location. You even get animated cloud cover, "feels like" temperature in addition to actual temperature, chance of precipitation, and future forecast information. It's $2, but it's functional and gorgeous.

Keep Track of the Time

If you don't have time to read feeds on your sleeping computer's screen, or you're not a fan of flashy weather apps, maybe a simple clock is what you need. You'll be able to tell what time it is even if you're heads-down working on something in a notebook or on another computer, and if you look up from across the room, you'll be able to tell what time it is. Fliqlo is an oldie but goodie, and it turns your monitor into a huge flip-clock. If you're a fan of the aesthetic, it's a must-download. It's simple, available for OS X and Windows, and it's free.

Polar Clock is a bit more animated. It too is free, and available for OS X and Windows, and shows you a polar-style clock with the seconds moving in a faster ring around the outside, the minutes one circle in, the hour another circle in, then the day of the week, the date, the month, and the year. It's way more than just the time of day, but it also includes the time of day. Since it moves all the time, it's also fun to watch in your idle time, but it's not too distracting.

Help Save Lives or Search the Stars

While these two may not technically fall under the "useful" category when it comes to helping you be productive, check the weather, or teach you something new, they're certainly useful in the larger sense. Folding@Home is a project that uses your computer's processing power when idle to complete complex mathematical calculations and protein folding simulations. As a result, your idle processing time can help researchers do models and calculations that can show us how future medicines may work and help find treatments for cancer, Alzheimer's, HIV/AIDS, and other diseases that are under intense study.

SETI@Home, which you may already be familiar with, uses your computer's idle time to process signals obtained from telescopes and listening posts around the world that are pointed at the sky. Those signals also take tons of calculations to see if there are any commonalities, algorithms, or detectable signals in the data they've received.

In both cases, all of that processing would normally require expensive time or equipment to process adequately. Supercomputers, server clusters, and other singularly owned computing networks are usually busy with other tasks or expensive to get time on for even a few calculations. That's why both organizations have turned to the Internet—the biggest distributed computing network to ever exist—to help. Even a few minutes of your PC's idle time can help both organizations crunch a lot of data, and leaving either running while you're working on something else, across the room, or asleep in bed can do a world of good. Plus, both come with beautiful screensavers that are fun to watch and show you what exactly your computer is working on at any given moment.

---

If you're the type who just puts your monitor to sleep or turns it off when you're not using a specific computer, then a screensaver probably isn't for you. However, some of these great utilities can turn a sleeping computer into a useful tool to keep up with the headlines, tell the time, or decide whether you need a sweater or an umbrella when you head out for the evening. Alternatively, your computer's spare processing time can do some real good for the scientific community, and in exchange you get a pretty screensaver to watch while it works. Give some of them a try.

Photos by Rhe Br, Jamie Zawinski, Doug88888, Arbyreed, and B-$tring.