Google Glass Isn’t Even Out Yet, and People Want To Ban You From Using It While Driving
We haven't been shy about the fact that we're really excited for Google Glass, but it turns out not everyone shares our enthusiasm. Lawmakers in West Virginia are looking to pass a preemptive ban on drivers using the device while operating a vehicle. They say it is an extension of existing no-texting-while-driving policies, but wouldn't Google Glass actually help solve that problem?
CBS Would Like to Have Its Editorial Independence Cake and Eat It Too
As you may or may not recall, CBS made waves not all that long ago when they decreed from on high that CNET, which exists under the greater CBS umbrella, would not be granting Dish Network's Hopper an award after this year's Consumer Electronics Show. Now, the award would have normally been a blip on the radar, but CBS interfering with CNET's journalism gave the whole thing way more publicity. More amusing, however, is the fact that CBS is also fighting for the editorial independence of CNET when it comes to an injunction to prevent them from covering BitTorrent. Yeah.
Internet Giants Reportedly Considering "Nuclear Option" Blackout To Protest SOPA
With the culmination of the SOPA hearings conveniently postponed until sometime in January, the tech world gained a little bit of time to prepare and execute some anti-SOPA demonstrations. Wikipedia had been considering a protest blackout that, as of yet, has not come to fruition and, according to reports by CNET, other Internet giants including Google, Twitter, and Facebook may be considering the "nuclear option" as well. The reports are derived from a quote by Markham Erickson head of the NetCoalition trade association that calls the aforementioned companies members. "There have been some serious discussions about that," Erickson says. "It has never happened before."
Another Apple Employee Loses Another iPhone Prototype at Another Bar
So, after an Apple employee lost an iPhone 4 prototype in a bar -- a prototype that wound up in Gizmodo's hands and caused all kinds of trouble -- it appears that at least one Apple employee took the opportunity to not learn his lesson and accordingly lost an iPhone 5 prototype (we think) in a bar, CNET reports. Now as bizarrely coincidental as this sounds, there are a few poetic coincidences we can't draw. It's not the same bar, almost certainly not the same employee and, worst of all, it hasn't resulted in any fun information for us, the unwashed masses.
The phone was apparently lost at a bar in the Mission District of San Francisco, Cave 22. While Apple has been going to all lengths to try and get this thing back, understandably, its current whereabouts are unknown, to us at least. There appears to be a chance that it was sold on Craigslist for a scant $200, in which case, neither party may be aware that what they have is special. If that's the case, either the iPhone 5 is pretty similar to the iPhone 4, the guy who found it was really drunk (or needs to get with the times) or it wasn't actually an iPhone 5 prototype. Still, maybe some interesting information will surface.
Read MoreCNET Parent Sued by Rappers for Distributing LimeWire
The site formerly known as Download.com is now a part of tech site CNET; CNET is owned by CBS Interactive; the site now known as download.cnet.com distributes now-defunct P2P client LimeWire, which received a court order last year to cease offering any file-sharing or search features. Being an ad-supported site, CNET profited by distributing over 220 million copies of LimeWire since 2008 -- an estimated 95 percent of all LimeWire downloads -- and since courts ruled last year that LimeWire was liable for inducing copyright infringement and failing to take “meaningful steps to mitigate infringement," by the commutative property, CBS Interactive may have profited by encouraging copyright infringement.
Such, anyway, is the reasoning of a group of rappers and other plaintiffs who have sued CBS Interactive for "massive copyright infringement" this week.
The case against CBS accuses CNET of offering “videos, articles and other media that instructed how to use P2P software to locate pirated copies of copyrighted works and remove electronic protections placed on digital music files.” A 2009 LimeWire review, the suit noted, described the service as a “post-Napster clone” and gave it 4.5 out of 5 stars. Among others, the plaintiffs include Detron Bendross, of 2 Live Crew, Trisco Smith-Pearson of The Force MDs and Eric Jackson and De’Angelo Holmes, both of the Ying Yang Twins. Alki David, a digital media entrepreneur, is also a plaintiff. They all assert their copyrights were illegally distributed on LimeWire.CBS' response was to come out swinging: The lawsuit is "riddled with inaccuracies, and we are confident that we will prevail," it said in a statement. (Wired via Consumerist) Read More
Maker of Batman Porn Rip Off Suing Filesharers That Ripped Off His Movie
Facebook’s Big Announcement: Live Video Stream
>>>Update: Check out our roundup of changes to Facebook that were announced today.
Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed 2 DRM Has Been Cracked
Ubisoft has angered many in the gaming community with its stance on Digital Rights Management and piracy. The release version of all of its PC games -- one of the biggest of which is Assassin's Creed 2 -- now require a constant internet connection in order to make frequent checks with the company's DRM authentication servers, regardless of whether the game requires internet access for gameplay.
It was predicted by many that this latest effort in the arms race between game makers and software pirates would fall out as it usually does: eventually the DRM would be cracked, and the pirates would play, heaping any and all inconvenience caused by the DRM squarely on honest users.
In March, a cyberattack took down Ubisoft's authentication servers for a number of hours, making it impossible for legitimate users to play two of their most popular games. This week, hacking consortium Skid Row published a cracked version of Assassin's Creed 2, one of Ubisoft's most popular titles, that is making the rounds of torrent sites.
Read MoreFlashback From 1998: When Altavista, Lycos, And Blue Mountain Arts Ruled the Web
(Before we dig too far into this, you may want to visit the 56k Modem Emulator, to establish the proper sonic mood. Ah, that beloved squeal.)
A colleague (who is handsome and wise) recently discovered an old Media Metrix report delineating "World Wide Web Audience Ratings" for December 1998. It's a remarkable study, categorizing thousands of sites and conglomerated web companies.
This thing is like finding election results from 1880; like coming across the original Billboard music chart. It looks familiar, like you should know all of the component elements, but it's unrecognizable. As though they're all brands made up for movies.
The Rankings
Home and Work, Combined
We'll start where the report starts - at those sites most popular when combining home and work visits. (Please see above diagram for clarification.) Before I list them, I want you to try and think up what the top fifty websites were in 1998. Got it?
Yeah, you're wrong:
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