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iPhone OS 3.0 tethering and MMS hack released

so if you have AT&T check this out if you want some tethering options!

TonesTestament
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2 years ago
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Iran Threatens Western and Locally-Based Web Sites

Iran’s fearsome Revolutionary Guard is warning bloggers and local websites to remove any materials that “create tension” — or else. It part of a larger crackdown on media of all types, as the Tehran regime attempts to control the information battle surrounding the pro-democracy “Green Revolution” there.

Revolutionary Guard investigators have already “taken action against ‘deviant news sites’ that encouraged public disturbances,” according to a statement released through official outlets, and translated by the Associated Press.

The statement alleged that dissident Web sites were backed by Canadian, U.S. and British interests, a frequent charge levied by hard-liners against the opposition.

“Legal action will be very strong and call on them to remove such materials,” it said.

The Guard its an elite, independent military unit that answers directly to Tehran’s ruling clerics. One of its former officers is Iran’s current president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Others are in key positions throughout Iranian government and industry. A 2007 Washington Post story profiled the group’s power:

Its naval forces abducted 15 British sailors and marines nine days ago. Its special forces unit is operating deep in Iraq, providing militias with deadly roadside explosives used against American troops, U.S. officials say. It supplied missiles used by Hezbollah last summer in the longest war Arabs ever fought with Israel. And it now plays the largest role in Iran’s ambitious military industries, including attempted acquisition of nuclear weapons and surface-to-surface missiles.

But the Guard isn’t the only group trying to clamp down on the information flow inside and out of Iran.

Executives at the BBC say their World World News and Persian TV channels are now being jammed by “ground-based interference.” It’s almost like “electronic warfare,” one insider tells the Guardian.

“Iranian authorities also blocked access to Yahoo Messenger early today as the country intensified its crackdown on all means of communication following Friday’s controversial presidential poll,” the UK paper reports. So have “at least 20 websites affiliated to the defeated reformist candidate, Mir Hussein Mousavi.”

“Before this we could bypass filtering by using proxy websites, the links for which were distributed daily among friends by email. But now the Iranian communication ministry has also begun to tackle proxy websites too,” one Iranian student said.

In response, the Electronic Frontier Foundation is asking the State Department and the Voice of America to become more actively involved in the information conflict. The group wants the U.S. to provide tools and expertise to the Iranian opposition, so it can hopscotch over the government’s filters. The State Department already asked Twitter to reschedule maintenance downtime, in order to keep the service up for Iran’s activists. Twitter has become a primary outlet for pro-democracy supporters to communicate with the outside world.

Regime-friendly may also be using the service to spread information. “The user @serv_ is aggressively spreading false information, including fabricated ‘re-tweets’ supposedly written by good sources, seemingly trying to discredit them,” according to the Huffington Post’s Nico Pitney.

Despite the government’s best efforts, however, opposition forces are staging yet another huge rally in Tehran today.Iran’s fearsome Revolutionary Guard is warning bloggers and local websites to... more

cztheday
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2 years ago
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7 comments

Increase your Twitter followers by eleventy-billion in seconds!

Social Media Douchebag!

joshuaheller
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2 years ago
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4 comments

Ok fine, I'll weigh in on iPhone 3.0. Geez.

But I insist on only talking about the cool stuff. You know, like the features... more

sarahlane
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2 years ago
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5 comments

High tech sushi conveyor belt

- Used plates are put into a slot, tallying the price of what you ate and sending the... more

Nettle
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2 years ago
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5 comments

The strange allure of unboxing and tearing apart new gadgets.

The Web abounds with clips and galleries of people unpacking their latest purchases.... more

atomiclegion
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2 years ago
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2 comments

AT&T Revises iPhone 3G S Upgrade pricing

It's no secret that I didn't mind AT&T's pricing of their 3G S... more

fosphen
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2 years ago
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4 comments

NSA email surveillance pervasive and ongoing

"The NY Times has a piece about work being done by Congressman Rush Holt (D-NJ)... more

Tyrannous
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2 years ago
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26 comments

Tom Brokaw's Early Reports About the Internet

Oh man it's going to be so cool.

joshuaheller
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2 years ago
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17 comments

MySpace to lay off 30 percent of staff

MySpace, the social network owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp, said it will cut... more

xiola
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2 years ago
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7 comments

State Department to Twitter: Keep Iranian tweets coming

The halls of Foggy Bottom are ringing with the Tweets coming with Iran and the State... more

unimatrix0
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2 years ago
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36 comments

Twitter delays down time for Iranian protesters

The social networking site Twitter has delayed a scheduled maintenance/update in order... more

current89
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2 years ago
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9 comments

'April's Mom' hoax played on faith

A pregnant young woman spent months blogging about her compelling personal journey of anguish. You see, her unborn child (named April, after the month she was due), had a rare and fatal birth defect. Tiny April's brain would not form properly, and doctors said she would likely die before birth or shortly thereafter. Still, the plucky and courageous "April's Mom" was determined to bring the child in accord with her beliefs.

At first the blog drew only a trickle of readers, but soon the word spread and tens of thousands of people visited the site to read her latest blog, detailing doctor's visits and her friends' wonderful support. Mothers of sick and dying children sent prayers and gifts, offering encouragement and sympathy.

Last Sunday when April was finally born (several weeks late), she tragically died within hours. What few suspected was that it was all a lie; April did not exist. She was the fictional creation of her "mother," Becca Bueshausen.

Every detail of April's life and death had been made up; all the tears that had been shed, all the prayers that had been sent, were for a tiny child that never existed. When the lie was exposed, the blog's readers reacted with outrage, feeling betrayed and suckered. Bueshausen offered an apology on her blog and has been laying low since then.

Most such hoaxes are done for attention, money, and sympathy. In some cases, however, there's a political angle as well. In this case, Beushausen was promoting her Christian beliefs and anti-abortion agenda. She described at length and in detail the hard choices she struggled with, and anti-abortion readers praised her for standing by her strong Christian values.

Ironically, Beushausen used much of her apology to lash out at anonymous bloggers who she claimed were impersonating her online, e-mailing people and posting information in her name. She also stated that the blog was about "life and issues and faith, all things that are important to me." Faith, of course, is belief without evidence — the same belief without evidence that led thousands of people to believe her lies. The "April's Mom" blog did indeed contain a lesson about faith, one that Bueshausen did not intend."A pregnant young woman spent months blogging about her compelling personal journey of... more

DeliaTheArtist
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2 years ago
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67 comments

15 silly Facebook vanity URLs

So, Facebook allowed people to be the master of their own domain over the weekend... more

FreshPlastic
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2 years ago
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11 comments

Hunch 'Decision Engine' Launches

Pretty cool ideas here. Would be nice if we could take the best features from each... more

shocksopping
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2 years ago
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5 comments

RIP flash-in-the-pan Hollywood internet video ventures

it didn't work. "Internet video businesses launched by such firms as... more

vistapoint
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2 years ago
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2 comments

iPhone 3GS Sellout

Signaling a likely repeat of Apple's iPhone sell-outs of the past two years,... more

Cheeeba
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2 years ago
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5 comments

Wikipedia admin caught being paid to edit

A longtime Wikipedia admin has been caught editing the online encyclopedia in exchange for cash. But the Wikicult can't decide if that's a problem.

Earlier this week, someone noticed a post to an online job marketplace where an entrenched Wikifiddler was advertising his Wikiservices. "Besides technical writing, I also am an accomplished senior Wikipedia administrator with several featured articles to my name," read the post, which has since been changed. "If you need a good profile on Wikipedia, I can help you out there too through my rich experience."

The job site actually shows two cases where the admin was hired to edit Wikipedia - here and here. And as a result, it would appear that article edits were at least begun, including those here and here.

Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy "Jimbo" Wales was promptly notified with a public Wikipost, and an army of Wikifiddlers proceeded to search their Wikisouls, asking whether the so-called "Cash for Spam" offer undermined their efforts to maintain an encyclopedia with a "neutral point of view."

For many, the answer is "no." You see, as it seeks to build a "neutral" encyclopedia, the Wikicult is also intent on creating some sort of Web 2.0 utopia where you assume that every anonymous fiddler will gladly police themselves.

"If a paid editor is going to be editing, they should be following the PRSA code of ethics," writes someone calling themselves Hipocrite, "specifically the parts about avoiding deceptive practices and revealing the sponsors for causes and interests represented."

Jimbo disagrees with this Wikilogic, arguing that paid edits would certainly undermine the site's credibility. Back in 2006, Wales famously shot down a fledgling paid-edit outfit known as MyWikiBiz, which was forced to reinvent itself outside of Wikiland.

"It is not ok with me that anyone ever set up a service selling their services as a Wikipedia editor, administrator, bureaucrat, etc.," he writes. "I will personally block any cases that I am shown. There are of course some possibly interesting alternatives, not particularly relevant here, but the idea that we should ever accept paid advocates directly editing Wikipedia is not ever going to be ok. Consider this to be policy as of right now."

But some cult members have complained that in voicing his disagreement, Jimbo has undermined the site's commitment to Wikidemocracy. You see, in Wikiland, no one person is allowed to set Wikipolicy. And that includes the cult's self-proclaimed Spiritual Leader.

Some have also pointed out that whereas Jimbo frowns on individual editors making cash from the free encyclopedia, he has no problem doing so himself. Wales makes upwards of $75,000 for each of his Wikipedia-centric speaking engagements. And it's no secret he has dreams of turning the Wikimedia Foundation into a for-profit operation.

Then there's that time he had Wikipedia edited in exchange for sex.

But this is Wikiland - where such self-contradiction isn't a contradiction. Wales has vowed to block anyone who edits Wikipedia for money. But someone was just been caught doing so. And the vow is still just a vow. Presumably, the site's credibility just took a hit.A longtime Wikipedia admin has been caught editing the online encyclopedia in exchange... more

haterstotheleft
added this
2 years ago
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11 comments

Microsoft donates 8 meals when someone downloads IE8

Perhaps there is a good reason to download Internet Explorer 8 after all.... more

zea
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2 years ago
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12 comments

Killer Green - The Screenplay Born on Twitter is Optioned

Most tweets aren't worth anything, but some tweets can be worth something.... more

vistapoint
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2 years ago
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