The Pirate Bay announced yesterday they’re adding a new content category called “Physibles”, enabling the swapping of data used by 3D printers to create physical objects. Three-dimensional printing is quickly coming down in price, with such products as the MakerBot Replicator available for $1,749.00. The Pirate Bay operators view this trend as a fundamental leap […]
In the wake of law enforcement’s shutdown of file sharing site Megaupload, the competing service FileSonic decides to shut off public file sharing completely. Users can only download their own files at this time. Additionally, their rewards program was discontinued hours before the file sharing was disabled, leaving many users wondering if they’ll be compensated […]
The hacker collective known as Anonymous claims “the largest attack ever” on ten government and music industry websites yesterday, in retaliation for the U.S. Justice Department’s shutdown of Megaupload. A second wave of attacks continue today, with Anonymous claiming responsibility for taking down MGM Studio’s online store and the New Zealand police’s website. Reportedly, the […]
The U.S. Justice Department shut down commercial file hosting service Megaupload today, accusing them of copyright infringement in excess of one billion dollars. Founder of Megaupload, Kim Schmitz (known as “Kim Dot Com”), was taken into custody along with co-founder and CTO Mathias Ortmann, chief marketing officer Finn Batato, and programmer Bram van der Kolk. […]
The U.S. House of Representatives put a freeze on SOPA legislation today, as Representative Eric Cantor of Virginia (R) announces he’ll take no further action on the bill. Although a somewhat unexpected move, perhaps it’s unsurprising considering the amount of negative press the controversial legislation has received and the fact that the White House stated […]
Eastman Kodak stock trades sharply higher yesterday as the company made public a restructuring plan. Kodak plans on dividing the company into two basic segments: consumer and commercial, with both reporting to a “chief operating office” led by the company president and the chief operating officer. They, in turn, report directly to the CEO, Antonio […]
LG is the latest in a string of Android phone manufacturers to strike a patent deal with Microsoft over portions of the Chrome and Android OS. With this agreement in place, Microsoft now profits from 70 percent of all Google-based smartphones sold in the United States. Other manufacturers paying Microsoft for their Android phone sales […]
New Scientist uncovers a clever new Apple patent for enhancing security of portable devices. A memory chip is implanted inside a device’s AC adapter that stores a security question or an encryption key for the password required to log into the device. In the event that you forget your password, recovery is possible simply by […]
Photography giant Kodak appears to be headed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in coming weeks, leading people to ask the obvious questions “How?” and “Why?” to the long-standing company. One popular theory blames the rise in popularity of cameras built into cellphones as the culprit. John Paul Titlow of ReadWriteWeb argues photography was a specialized hobby […]
Thanks to Wikileaks’s distribution of diplomatic cables between the United States and Spain, we now know that the U.S. government heavily influenced the drafting of Spain’s copyright legislation. Now, a leaked letter, dated December 12, 2011, indicates the U.S. ambassador’s anger towards the Spanish Prime Minister’s office for failing to pass the Sinde Law, a […]
