Sonos Wireless Sub Woofer

Sonos, the wireless home entertainment system designers, have announced a wireless sub woofer for your pleasure. The sub will be released on June 15th and will work with any Sonos entertainment system. In the commercial released they have a dish of a purple non-newtonian fluid that dances around as its shaken by the sub.

The Pirate Bay is sinking!

Over the past few days the popular torrenting site The Pirate Bay has been down. It was a victim of a DDoS attack, the same form of attack that was used to take down government sites earlier this year. No one has taken credit for the attacks, but Anonymous has said that it wasn't them. The site was tipped off that the police were planning to raid the head quarters so the owners have already backed everything up. The site prides itself on being the only torrent site that will never be taken down. After their first raid in 2006 the site was only down for 3 days, even though 4 people were arrested. A recent upgrade to the site got rid of the popular .torrent files that it hosted and instead just linked to the files themselves on other sites. The entire website is now only a few hundred megabytes and could fit on the smallest flash drive. Needless to say The Pirate Bay isn't going anywhere.
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2404504,00.asp

$99 Xbox

Microsoft has released a new deal that they will offer. You can buy a 4Gb Xbox 360 w/ Kinect for $99. The only downside is that you have to sign a 2 year contract for $15 a month. Considering Xbox Live is $8 a month if you pay monthly you would end up paying $168 extra over 2 years. That means you will pay $267 for the console. Is it worth it?

http://www.pcworld.com/article/255163/99_xbox_confirmed_what_you_really_need_to_know_about_microsofts_offer.html

Over 170 women and girls posioned in Afghanistan

On Tuesday 171 women and children, from the age of 14 to 30, were hospitalized with similar symptoms. Victims complained of dizziness, vomiting, and loss of consciousness. Water samples were sent to labs in the city of Kabul but it will be a few days before they are done testing it. Currently the schools staff is being held in custody and the 2 caretakers are being questioned. There are currently no reported deaths.

http://www.cnn.com/2012/04/18/world/asia/afghanistan-girls-poisoned/?hpt=hp_bn2

Sony SmartWatch

With the release of the new Sony SmartWatch the ability to tweet, listen to music, and text is now available on your wrist. The watch will sync with your Android smart phone and basically be an extension of your phone. It can access your music library, allow you to take picture remotely, and still tell you the time.

A new iPad

This Friday is the scheduled launch date for the new iPad. The new Apple tablet will boast a brand new display, dubbed the Retina display. The new display will appear much clearer and have a higher resolution than the old one. It's also being shipped with a faster processor and a higher quality camera. On top of all of this the iPad is also getting 4G. If you're trying to buy a brand new one, however, you may have to wait a while. Apple stores are selling the new iPads on a first come first serve basis. Then again, who would want to spend $630 on a big iPhone?

Laptop Shooting Dad Has a Follow Up Interview

On March 7th, the internet famous father who was seen shooting his daughters laptop gets an interview. He mentions how he didn't know at the time that it would get so blown up on the internet and how it would effect their lives. He says that he didn't know everything they did from then on would be criticized. In the end he ended up saving her hard drive so she would at least have all of her pictures and data.

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/46652561/ns/today-parenting_and_family/t/laptop-shooting-dad-i-stand-behind-what-i-did/#.T1el4cBmK_h

Windows 8

A preview to the new Windows operating system has been released. Using a similar look to the Windows Mobile phones, the new operating system is, "Fast and fluid." The operating system was built around the idea of using touch screens rather than the now, "old fashion" mouse and keyboard.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/technology/windows-8-consumer-preview-a-melding-of-the-experience-of-laptops-mobile-devices/2012/03/02/gIQAI6pvmR_gallery.html#photo=1

Supreme court reconsiders the use of race in college admission

On Tuesday, the supreme court decided that it will reconsider a decision made in 2003 that allows college admission boards to use race in their selection process. There are states, such as California, that still don't allow college admission boards to use race as a distinguishing characteristic when admitting students. I think that race should be completely taken of any college boards deciding factors. America isn't like what it was during the civil rights movement. Minorities are equally represented now in everything. Just because someone might not belong to a minority doesn't mean that they should have a harder time getting into college. Why is it fair that someone who might have a diverse ancestry should be accepted over an identical person who might not be considered a minority? Just about everyone in America has ancestors that immigrated her from another country.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/supreme-court-agrees-to-reconsider-use-of-race-in-college-admission-decisions/2012/02/21/gIQA2viJRR_story.html?tid=pm_politics_pop

Did irritated dad go to far?

This viral video about a father who was angry at his ungrateful daughter has caught some flak as overreacting about the situation. In the video he reads a note his daughter posted on Facebook that talks about how hard her life is and how she should be paid for chores. Towards the end of the video he says, "That right there is your laptop.... This right here is my .45" and proceeds to shoot the laptop. Now, did the this dad overreact or did his ungrateful daughter have it coming? (watch the video before you answer)

Anonymous records FBI confrence call to Scotland Yard

On Friday, the FBI called Scotland Yard to discuss recent cyber crimes. Little did they know someone recorded their conversation and posted it on the internet a little while after it took place. In the conversation, they spoke of an alleged 15 year old hacker who supposedly took credit for an attack on Steam, the large computer gaming application. The hacker reportedly stole account names, passwords, and billing information from over 2,000 accounts. There was also talk about two British hackers who were already arrested and being tried for their crimes.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/02/03/us-britain-hackers-idUSTRE81216E20120203

ACTA - Worse than SOPA?

ACTA, or Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, is a bill much like SOPA and PIPA that will attempt to put a halt to piracy. The bill forces customs agents to search all laptops, MP3 players, and CDs for pirated material. It also allows big media companies to demand the personal information, given by the ISP, of anyone suspected of hosting illegal material. This is also an international bill that has already gained signatures from over 20 countries, the US being one of the first.

http://www.collegiatetimes.com/stories/19127/acta-threatens-free-and-open-internet

Owner of Megaupload is Arrested and Site is Shutdown

On Friday, Kim Dotcom, co-founder of  Megaupload.com, was detained by the FBI at his house in New Zealand after having to be cut out of a safe-room in his basement. He faces counts in piracy as his website was used for illegal sharing of copyrighted material. Megaupload allowed people to upload files to their servers and then download them from anywhere in the world. People have been uploading pirated materials to the site for a while now and caused the taking down of the site. Dotcom was not allowed to post bail as the judge feared he may attempt to flee the country as he has many known alias'.

http://tvnz.co.nz/national-news/decision-due-in-megaupload-founder-s-bail-bid-4700843

SOPA is Losing Support

Today was a big day for the fight against SOPA and PIPA, both Wikipedia and Google changed their sites in protest. While Google just changed their logo Wikipedia blacked out their entire English site. On top of these protests today three congressmen have dropped their support, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), Lee Terry (R-Neb.) and Ben Quayle (R-Ariz.) all dropped their support for their respective bills. Many of the initial supporters of the bill have also dropped their support. One of the biggest being Go Daddy, the popular domain hosting site with the awesome super bowl commercials. Go Daddy reported losing over 70,000 domains that they hosted in a single week because of a campaign one of their competitors launched that would offer a discount to anyone switching from a Go Daddy domain.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/technology/2012/01/sopa-blackout-sopa-and-pipa-lose-three-co-sponsors-in-congress.html
http://www.techi.com/2011/12/godaddy-lost-72354-domains-this-week-its-not-enough/