On Gear Live: How to create free iPhone ringtones with iTunes

Latest Gear Live Videos

U.S. officials seize bin Laden hard drives and data, hit “mother lode”

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Storage

cia headquarters bin laden

"Can you imagine what's on Osama bin Laden's hard drive?"

That's the question a U.S. official posed to Politico recently in an article that revealed the government is now in possession of the deceased terrorist leader's computers.

The Navy SEALs who infiltrated bin Laden's compound Sunday, killing him and several others, also confiscated computer drives and disks that the U.S. official said was "the mother lode of intelligence." The contents of those machines are currently being torn apart at a secret location in Afghanistan.

"It's going to be great even if only 10 percent of it is actionable," the official told Politico.

Click to continue reading U.S. officials seize bin Laden hard drives and data, hit “mother lode”


Advertisement

Jesse Jackson Jr. calls iPad a job-killer

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Apple, Handhelds

What a difference a month makes. In March, Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. (D-Ill.) was pushing for the federal government to provide every student in the U.S. with an Apple iPad. This week, Rep. Jackson complained that iPads were "probably responsible for eliminating thousands of jobs."

Somewhere along the line, he seems to have discovered that iPads are manufactured in China, not in the U.S.—a;nd; it had him hopping mad (see video below). Here's what Rep. Jackson said Friday afternoon on the House floor:

"In the 112th congress, unemployment is at 9 percent. And not a single piece of legislation considered by the 112th congress has done anything to address 13 million unemployed Americans.

"A few short weeks ago I came to the House floor after having purchased an iPad and said that I happened to believe, Mr. Speaker, that at some point in time this new device, which is now probably responsible for eliminating thousands of American jobs ... now Borders is closing stores because, why do you need to go to Borders anymore? Why do you need to go to Barnes & Noble? Buy an iPad and download your book, download your newspaper, download your magazine.

Click to continue reading Jesse Jackson Jr. calls iPad a job-killer


Sprint requests government to reject AT&T purchase of T-Mobile

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Corporate News, Wireless / WiFi

Sprint reject att tmobile merger

Sprint on Monday formally objected to the merger of AT&T and T-Mobile, and called on the government to reject the deal because it would harm competition in the wireless space.

"Sprint urges the United States government to block this anti-competitive acquisition," Vonya McCann, senior vice president of government affairs at Sprint, said in a statement. "This transaction will harm consumers and harm competition at a time when this country can least afford it."

AT&T surprised the tech community last Sunday when it announced plans to acquire T-Mobile for $39 billion. AT&T argued that the purchase will help stop the spectrum crunch and spur the companies's deployment of 4G service.

Click to continue reading Sprint requests government to reject AT&T purchase of T-Mobile


The Egypt Internet blackout

Posted by Patrick Lambert Categories: Editorial, Internet

As the violence and protests develop in Egypt, Renesys, an Internet research firm, published a fascinating overview of what happened to the country's Internet connections. At 22:34 UTC, all the entry points into the country were cut in a matter of minutes. The four major Internet providers in Egypt were ordered to cut all links, by removing the 3,500 routes that packets could take, leading to no valid path for the traffic to reach any addresses inside of the country, save for one small network. Almost a day later, they estimate that around 93% of traffic is still cut off.

Unlike earlier protests in Tunisia and other countries, where governments tried unsuccessfully to block invidual sites like Twitter and Facebook, people still finding ways around the blocks through proxies, this time the complete isolation from the global Internet was an unprecedented event. It's still not known what will happen to the economy of the country if these measures stay for longer than a few days.

Read More | Renesys

Skype, other VoIP, may be illegal in China

Posted by Patrick Lambert Categories: Internet, Software

skype illegal china

According to a story in China's major newspaper, People's Daily, it appears that the Chinese government has declared all VoIP solutions not provided by the government's own China Telecom and China Unicorn to be illegal. This would make Skype, the most popular VoIP service, illegal as well. So far, Skype denies that it has been banned, and users in China keep using the service, but if the government were to apply this new rule, this would be a major drawback for Chinese users, and westerners traveling to the country.

Read More | People's Daily

U.S. Government Orders Hybrid Vehicles

Posted by Sheila Franklin Categories: Transportation

Saturn AuraThe government will be spending about $285 million by June 1 in Detroit by trading in their older gas guzzlers to purchase about 17,600 new vehicles from GM, Ford and Chrysler. Part of the stimulus bill, it couldn’t have come at a better time for the beleaguered industry. About 2,500 hybrid sedans like the Chevy Malibu, Saturn Aura and Ford Hybrid Fusion have been ordered. Now if we could just get our local governments to follow suit.

Read More | Freep

Cuba Launches Linux Nova

Posted by Sheila Franklin Categories: Internet, Microsoft

WindowsCuba launched Linux Nova last week at a Havana computer conference on “technological sovereignty.” The government feels that Microsoft systems are a potential threat to their country because they say U.S. security agents have access to codes. Besides that, they say that the trade embargo makes it difficult to get the software legally and update it. Dean of the School of Free Software, Hector Rodriguez, claims that about 20% of the computers are currently using Linux but feels that that figure could climb to more than 50% in 5 years.

Read More | Reuters

China Limits Internet Usage, Cites Porn and Obscene Content

Posted by Sheila Franklin Categories: Editorial, Google, Internet

Chinese on PCsChina has decided to cut back on their country’s Internet access to porn and obscene content by blacklisting 19 portals and sites. Included in that list are Netease, Baidu and Google. The deputy director of the State Council Information Office, Cai Mingzhao, said “Immediate action is needed to purify the Internet environment.”

Supposedly the Chinese Google has links to porn sites and although China’s Internet Illegal Information Reporting Center asked them to take them off, nothing was done. A spokesperson there said, “Google is neither the owner of those Web sites and porn nor does it spread (that) information intentionally.” We figure if someone wants to find that sort of content, there is always a way.

Read More | CNN

TiVo aims to save you some cash with their Netflix offering

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Home Entertainment, Movies, Videos

Have you fallen on tough times in this rough economy? Well, if so, wants you to know that they’re here to take care of you, what with their new compatibility and all. You see, all you have to do is stop going to the movies, get yourself a Netflix account, and watch movies from your Netflix Instant Queue instead. Nevermind the fact that Netflix offers mostly just catalogue titles, as opposed to the latest blockbusters. Beggars can’t be choosers, yo.


GE Animals Okayed by Government

Posted by Sheila Franklin Categories: Household, Science

Super ChickenWatch out for Super Chickens arriving at a grocery store near you. The U.S. government will start considering proposals to use GE (genetically engineered) animals for food. This might include faster growing animals, cattle that resist Mad Cow Disease, or lower cholesterol eggs. The Food and Drug Administration has said that it is concerned with animals that will be used for food or produce medicine to be used on animals or humans, rather than those used in lab experiments. Many details still need to be worked out such as labeling. We get nervous enough thinking about genetically altered grains.

Read More | ABC News

Advertisement