The Internet is flooded with thousands of tech articles every day. Buried among all of the breaking news, reblogs, how-tos and product reviews are some great long-form journalism gems. Instead of falling out of favor with today’s short-attention-span-having readers, solid and deeply reported features actually saw a resurgence in 2011, thanks to tools such as Instapaper, smartphones and tablets, and dedicated e-readers.
Here are a few of our favorite tech-related #longreads of 2011. Share your own picks in the comments.
It’s a 2833-word story about malware. It’s also an incredibly gripping, suspenseful and well-crafted piece of journalism tracing the discovery and deciphering of Stuxnet, a virus using zero-day exploits to infiltrate Iran’s nuclear program.
Silicon Valley is pumping out new money-makers and social networks everyday, but is finding the best way to serve ads really innovation? Vance asks some hard questions about the waste of talent in the current tech bubble and the possible fallout when it pops.
Follow the previous article with Peter Theil’s Founders Fund manifesto, posted in July. They’re interested in funding innovation over cash-cows, focusing on aerospace, biotech, artificial intelligence, energy and the Internet.
Developer James Somers uses his own failed attempts to pick-up a programing language to explore a different way to teach: “Get your student to want to find something out.” Project Euler uses the same puzzle/answer approach that finally helped Somers crack the code of learning.
Inspiration for aspiring entrepreneurs: Dropbox grew from idea on a bus to a profitable digital storage company with 45 million users in four years. Barret gets close to co-founders Drew Houston and Arash Ferdowsi to tell the story of the rapidly growing company.
If you produce content for this crazy medium we call the Web, Ford has insight into how you can tap into consumers’ innate need to give feedback and be heard. Another great piece by Ford was Facebook and the Epiphanator: An End to Endings? in New York Magazine.
One comment on a New York Times article inspires filmmaker Errol Morris to investigate his deceased brother’s role in inventing e-mail. His brother, Noel Morris, was an MIT student in the 70s with Tom Van Vleck, who is credited with co-creating one of the first email programs. Errol interviews Van Vleck and digs into his own family’s past in this article packed with great images and ephemera from an exciting time in technology’s history.
Ronson has a series of entertaining, random and sometimes insightful conversations with robots. Artificial-intelligence fans should also check out Brian Christian’s “Mind vs. Machine” from The Atlantic.
Yes, this is one of ours, but it’s also a great read (really!). Our own lead games writer, Dean Takahashi, is something of an Xbox expert. He’s been following the story of the console since it was created 10 years ago, and is intimately acquainted with the people who made it happen, the drama behind the scenes, and the ways this incredible piece of machinery went from concept to hit product.
There was a lot of analyzing, musing and eulogizing in the wake of Steve Jobs’ death, but my favorite was a simple piece by Jobs’ sister, Mona Simpson, that ran in the New York Times. Its personal and honest depiction of the human side of Jobs was a welcome chaser to all the genius/saint/tyrant coverage. Another interesting Jobs piece was “What Kind of Buddhist was Steve Jobs, Really?” by Steve Silberman on PLoS.
And just for kicks, my favorite non-tech long read of the year…
A love letter to the octopus: “Although an octopus can taste with all of its skin, in the suckers both taste and touch are exquisitely developed. Athena was tasting me and feeling me at once, knowing my skin, and possibly the blood and bone beneath, in a way I could never fathom.”
The next time you head to the zoo, you might see more than just a monkey and his uncle. One organization is giving iPads to primates and hopes Apple will lend its support.
Yep, that’s right. According to Extreme Tech, Orangutan Outreach, an organization focused on saving the world’s orangutan population, is setting up zoos with iPads especially for our monkey kin. The project is called Apps for Apes and the organization isn’t just monkeying around; it would like Apple to step in and help stir awareness.
“We believe that Apple will have much to gain by supporting our project and working with us to promote it,” the organization’s website says. “By helping to bring attention to the incredible intelligence and capability of orangutans, Apple will be helping protect a critically endangered species.”
The goal is not just to see orangutans interacting with the iPad. Instead, Orangutan Outreach would like the monkeys to video chat and communicate with other orangutans over Skype. Currently, the monkeys interact with the iPad through a wall, where they can put their hands through, but not actually hold the iPad itself. Apps that are most appealing have been ones similar to what a child would enjoy, including drawing and music apps.
“We would like to have a special section of the App Store called “Apps for Apes”, with proceeds going to Orangutan Outreach, a registered US non-profit charity,” the organization stated on its website.
Orangutan Outreach wants developers to create applications specifically targeting apes, as opposed to humans. These apps would have the same foundation, however, starting with identity games, music, memory and more.
One Milwaukee zoo that has already introduced the program says the orangutans enjoy looking at videos of themselves, and watching other apes in different areas of the exhibit. Given this interest in video, particularly video of themselves, an opportunity for long-distance communication arises. Orangutan Outreach calls this “Primate Playdate,” and believes it will be particularly attractive to young apes and mothers. Zoo trainers will set up specific times to execute the calls and then hand over the reins to the orangutans.
“Orangutans are highly intelligent creatures and they require mental stimulation to keep from growing bored and depressed,” the organization explained. “The Apple iPad is a perfect device for orangutans.”
In yesterday’s article, we recounted the instantaneous destruction of Ocean Marketing, a one-man PR firm led by Paul Christoforo. It’s hard to decide precisely where Christoforo’s career ended: Was it the heinously rude and offensive emails assaulting a polite customer? Was it the moment he told Mike Krahulik, the co-founder of the world famous Penny Arcade webcomic, Child’s Play charity, and Penny Arcade Expo (PAX), that he could attend PAX East whenever he so pleased? Perhaps it was name-dropping everyone from Cliffy B to the Yellow Power Ranger and the mayor of Boston?
Regardless, the world was watching, ready to serve up swift Internet justice, and that’s exactly what they did. In a matter of hours, Ocean Marketing was trending across the Web, with Christoforo’s Twitter account being assaulted by angry and disgusted tweets, even going so far as to grab the attention of famous actors and car insurance companies. Christoforo’s YouTube account was overrun with dislikes and hundreds of comments mocking him in his own unique version of the English language. A parody reenactment had already been filmed, edited, and posted. Kotaku, in a rare moment of actual journalism, had seemingly uncovered evidence of Christoforo using anabolic steroids. Internet sleuths were also quick to uncover a domestic violence case against Christoforo. And on and on it went.
At this point, Ocean Marketing had now changed its Twitter handle multiple times in hopes of, one can only imagine, vanishing from the public eye. But the Internet never forgets, and they rarely forgive, especially when Christoforo seemed not to be sorry for what he had done, but more so that he was caught. Likewise, in an interview with MSNBC, it becomes clear that Christoforo is completely ignorant to the reaction caused by his actions, and instead plays the victim card. He also admits he doesn’t actually know the mayor of Boston…
Yet Christoforo’s actions not only destroyed his reputation, but also irreparably damaged that of N-Control and the creator of the Avenger Controller, David Kotkin of Kotkin Enterprises. The Amazon listing for the controller accessory was besieged by hundreds of 1-star reviews, while the Gamespot page was seemingly “terminated.” Reports of previous poor customer service and both external and internal sources citing N-Control’s constantly delayed product shipments began to surface.
Obviously, there was a lot to answer for, and having an underrage Twitter user (with grammar on par with Christoforo’s) scrambling to do damage control wasn’t helping. Finally, a surprisingly exhaustive official statement addressing many of the issues that had unfolded over the past two days has been released. It is included in its entirety below:
AVENGER CONTROLLER DISMISSES MARKETING CONSULTANT, TAKES BACK MARKETING AND SALES OPERATIONS
Miami, FL— Wednesday, December 28, 2011— N-Control, makers of the Avenger Controller accessory, have categorically dismissed third party contractor Paul Christoforo and his marketing operation, known alternately as Ocean Distribution or Ocean Marketing. This separation from Mr. Christoforo extends to all business interests of N-Control, its founders, and its officers. Mr. Christoforo does not and never did own, in whole or in part, a stake in N-Control LLC nor its affiliated companies (Kotkin Enterprises, iControl LLC).
Following the publication of an email chain between Mr. Christoforo and one of N-Control’s customers, punctuated by Mr. Christoforo’s acknowledgement of his conduct, N-Control immediately proceeded to extricate Mr. Christoforo’s access to their email and social media accounts, a process that is still ongoing. In the interim, a Gmail address and Twitter account (AvengerDefender@gmail.com and @AvengerDefender, respectively) have been set up for press inquiries and customer service needs.
David Kotkin, the inventor and founder of the Avenger Controller, created the product to help one of his students who had a physical disability. The student wanted to play games the way that everyone else could. The Avenger evolved from a homemade solution for a deserving child into an even more sophisticated controller accessory, capable of enhancing even the most skilled gamer’s performance.
“Everyone deserves the opportunity to be a part of the gaming community in a fun, positive way.” said David Kotkin, Avenger founder. “I created the Avenger to make people happy. I deeply regret that so many people have any negative feelings toward it as a result of what has happened, especially since I’ve seen first-hand what an impact it can have on gameplay.”
Kotkin continued, “What I’m most concerned about is doing right by our customers. We have dropped the ball by giving them delivery estimates that did not come through as expected. We didn’t expect that the demand would be so great, and we should have done a better job communicating that. Our new team is taking all necessary action to correct that going forward. I hope that people will give us a chance to earn back the faith they may have lost.”
All existing orders will be honored, and PS3 Avenger pre-order customers will all be extended the same $ 10 discount that some have already received. To clarify, customers who have already received $ 10 off their pre-order are not eligible for an additional discount. N-Control agrees with “Customer Dave” that all of our PS3 early adopters deserve to be rewarded for their trust in the Avenger.
N-Control would like to publicly apologize to existing and potential customers, as well as the gaming community at large, for allowing Mr. Christoforo to abuse his power so unforgivably. The Avenger was invented to provide greater accessibility to disabled gamers, and bullying tactics are the last thing that should be associated with this product.
In the effort to dispel various misconceptions that have been forwarded via news reports and social media, N-Control is offering the following clarifications on a variety of subjects:
N-Control has hired an independent consultant, Austin, Texas-based Moisés Chiullan (@moiseschiu), to field press inquiries and oversee sales and marketing operations going forward. They ask that customers and the press alike bear with them as they field the tens of thousands of emails and other messages that N-Control has received. It is his intent that N-Control should respond personally to everyone who has emailed theinfo@avengercontroller.com address regarding this situation.
“We have to move forward and take care of Avenger’s customers,” Chiullan said. “I can’t worry about the fact that there isn’t a bus big enough for me to throw Paul Christoforo under. The internet did that for me. I think they set him on fire too.” He continued, “I just hope that people will have the common decency to leave his wife and child out of all this. They didn’t send those emails, Paul did.”
All PS3 Avenger pre-orders are currently slated to ship by January 15th at the latest. Some orders will ship in advance of January 15th. In consideration of the events of the past two days, N-Control ask their customers to bear with them as they sort out updating individual order estimates. General updates regarding shipping will be regularly delivered to customers starting next week.
At no time during his tenure with N-Control did Mr. Christoforo have direct access to customer credit card information. N-Control does not retain any customer credit card data for online orders, which are all processed via Google Checkout or Paypal.
Ocean Marketing aka Paul Christoforo owns no stake in the Avenger Controller nor N-Control, and does not stand to profit from further sales of the device either through N-Control or authorized resellers.
Contrary to how Mr. Christoforo may have presented events (in public or private), N-Control never directly endorsed nor had knowledge of his communication with customers in the manner found in his correspondence with “Customer Dave”, who still wants his Avengers, despite everything that has transpired.
Steps have been taken to ensure that all future customer communication is transparently visible to management at N-Control. N-Control regrets sincerely that the trust they placed in Mr. Christoforo was so abused and betrayed and, as a result, may have tainted their reputation with existing and potential customers and partners.
Regarding “Afternoon Artists”, a company registered with the Florida Division of Corporations that lists Paul Christoforo as Treasurer, N-Control has the following statement: “This secondary business has never so much as opened a bank account, much less operated in any form outside of paperwork being filed. It was originally intended that Mr. Christoforo would serve as an investor in this company, which, again, has never operated in any capacity, nor will it in the future.”
N-Control employs Eli Schwartz as a part-time Social Media Consultant. He is an enthusiastic high school student who became one of the Avenger’s earliest super fans, meeting the founder at a trade show. Mr. Kotkin is proud to encourage the development of a bright, enthusiastic young person like Eli.
Eli Schwartz is not, however, in charge of Marketing or PR for N-Control. Previous news reports have credited him as Marketing Manager, a title Mr. Schwartz gave himself without the consent or advance knowledge or N-Control management. This occurred during the period of greatest upheaval following Mr. Christoforo’s dismissal, and N-Control regrets that this mixed messaging reached the public. All press inquiries and media requests should instead be directed to Moisés Chiullan at the AvengerDefender@gmail.com address.
Contrary to rumors and speculation, Eli Schwartz’s Twitter account is his own and not controlled by Paul Christoforo. Mr. Schwartz is a minor, and consequently, N-Control would appreciate the press and the public’s discretion in their dealings with him.
For the foreseeable future, N-Control’s official Twitter account will be “@AvengerControl”, as N-Control does not have access to “@NControlAvenger”. N-Control is not responsible for the content of any Twitter feeds associated with Paul Christoforo.
For the foreseeable future, N-Control requests that customers discontinue use of the toll-free phone number displayed on the AvengerController.com website, as well as any other means of contact found there. Instead, customers should direct communication to AvengerDefender@gmail.com. They ask for patience due to the events of the last two days. Keep an eye on @AvengerControl on Twitter for updates.
For more details regarding N-Control and Avenger Controller, contact press agent Moisés Chiullan, at AvengerDefender@gmail.com.
For more information, follow Avenger Controllers on Twitter: @AvengerControl
Points for an unusual amount of transparency, but this damage control doesn’t necessarily relinquish N-Control or Kotkin from any and all accountability. For someone as blatantly unprofessional as Christoforo to be retained over a lengthy duration (and not just during the busy holiday period, as originally suggested), even going so far as to being considered as a potential investor for future business endeavors, it’s hard to believe he was merely a rogue agent operating completely covertly. After all, the Avenger Controller had been covered by numerous media outlets, and had a presence at both E3 and PAX, so there had to be a certain level of awareness. This was not a tiny, independent operation.
Perhaps Brandon Leidel, CEO and director of operations for The HAND Media, Inc., explained it best: ”…[Christoforo] came in and said ‘I know this guy at Gamestop. I know this guy at Best Buy.’ They saw dollar signs and decided to start working with him. We decided to walk away from this because it was a nightmare dealing with their [shipping problems] and this guy Paul.”
In yesterday’s article, we recounted the instantaneous destruction of Ocean Marketing, a one-man PR firm led by Paul Christoforo. It’s hard to decide precisely where Christoforo’s career ended: Was it the heinously rude and offensive emails assaulting a polite customer? Was it the moment he told Mike Krahulik, the co-founder of the world famous Penny Arcade webcomic, Child’s Play charity, and Penny Arcade Expo (PAX), that he could attend PAX East whenever he so pleased? Perhaps it was name-dropping everyone from Cliffy B to the Yellow Power Ranger and the mayor of Boston?
Regardless, the world was watching, ready to serve up swift Internet justice, and that’s exactly what they did. In a matter of hours, Ocean Marketing was trending across the Web, with Christoforo’s Twitter account being assaulted by angry and disgusted tweets, even going so far as to grab the attention of famous actors and car insurance companies. Christoforo’s YouTube account was overrun with dislikes and hundreds of comments mocking him in his own unique version of the English language. A parody reenactment had already been filmed, edited, and posted. Kotaku, in a rare moment of actual journalism, had seemingly uncovered evidence of Christoforo using anabolic steroids. Internet sleuths were also quick to uncover a domestic violence case against Christoforo. And on and on it went.
At this point, Ocean Marketing had now changed its Twitter handle multiple times in hopes of, one can only imagine, vanishing from the public eye. But the Internet never forgets, and they rarely forgive, especially when Christoforo seemed not to be sorry for what he had done, but more so that he was caught. Likewise, in an interview with MSNBC, it becomes clear that Christoforo is completely ignorant to the reaction caused by his actions, and instead plays the victim card. He also admits he doesn’t actually know the mayor of Boston…
Yet Christoforo’s actions not only destroyed his reputation, but also irreparably damaged that of N-Control and the creator of the Avenger Controller, David Kotkin of Kotkin Enterprises. The Amazon listing for the controller accessory was besieged by hundreds of 1-star reviews, while the Gamespot page was seemingly “terminated.” Reports of previous poor customer service and both external and internal sources citing N-Control’s constantly delayed product shipments began to surface.
Obviously, there was a lot to answer for, and having an underrage Twitter user (with grammar on par with Christoforo’s) scrambling to do damage control wasn’t helping. Finally, a surprisingly exhaustive official statement addressing many of the issues that had unfolded over the past two days has been released. It is included in its entirety below:
AVENGER CONTROLLER DISMISSES MARKETING CONSULTANT, TAKES BACK MARKETING AND SALES OPERATIONS
Miami, FL— Wednesday, December 28, 2011— N-Control, makers of the Avenger Controller accessory, have categorically dismissed third party contractor Paul Christoforo and his marketing operation, known alternately as Ocean Distribution or Ocean Marketing. This separation from Mr. Christoforo extends to all business interests of N-Control, its founders, and its officers. Mr. Christoforo does not and never did own, in whole or in part, a stake in N-Control LLC nor its affiliated companies (Kotkin Enterprises, iControl LLC).
Following the publication of an email chain between Mr. Christoforo and one of N-Control’s customers, punctuated by Mr. Christoforo’s acknowledgement of his conduct, N-Control immediately proceeded to extricate Mr. Christoforo’s access to their email and social media accounts, a process that is still ongoing. In the interim, a Gmail address and Twitter account (AvengerDefender@gmail.com and @AvengerDefender, respectively) have been set up for press inquiries and customer service needs.
David Kotkin, the inventor and founder of the Avenger Controller, created the product to help one of his students who had a physical disability. The student wanted to play games the way that everyone else could. The Avenger evolved from a homemade solution for a deserving child into an even more sophisticated controller accessory, capable of enhancing even the most skilled gamer’s performance.
“Everyone deserves the opportunity to be a part of the gaming community in a fun, positive way.” said David Kotkin, Avenger founder. “I created the Avenger to make people happy. I deeply regret that so many people have any negative feelings toward it as a result of what has happened, especially since I’ve seen first-hand what an impact it can have on gameplay.”
Kotkin continued, “What I’m most concerned about is doing right by our customers. We have dropped the ball by giving them delivery estimates that did not come through as expected. We didn’t expect that the demand would be so great, and we should have done a better job communicating that. Our new team is taking all necessary action to correct that going forward. I hope that people will give us a chance to earn back the faith they may have lost.”
All existing orders will be honored, and PS3 Avenger pre-order customers will all be extended the same $ 10 discount that some have already received. To clarify, customers who have already received $ 10 off their pre-order are not eligible for an additional discount. N-Control agrees with “Customer Dave” that all of our PS3 early adopters deserve to be rewarded for their trust in the Avenger.
N-Control would like to publicly apologize to existing and potential customers, as well as the gaming community at large, for allowing Mr. Christoforo to abuse his power so unforgivably. The Avenger was invented to provide greater accessibility to disabled gamers, and bullying tactics are the last thing that should be associated with this product.
In the effort to dispel various misconceptions that have been forwarded via news reports and social media, N-Control is offering the following clarifications on a variety of subjects:
N-Control has hired an independent consultant, Austin, Texas-based Moisés Chiullan (@moiseschiu), to field press inquiries and oversee sales and marketing operations going forward. They ask that customers and the press alike bear with them as they field the tens of thousands of emails and other messages that N-Control has received. It is his intent that N-Control should respond personally to everyone who has emailed theinfo@avengercontroller.com address regarding this situation.
“We have to move forward and take care of Avenger’s customers,” Chiullan said. “I can’t worry about the fact that there isn’t a bus big enough for me to throw Paul Christoforo under. The internet did that for me. I think they set him on fire too.” He continued, “I just hope that people will have the common decency to leave his wife and child out of all this. They didn’t send those emails, Paul did.”
All PS3 Avenger pre-orders are currently slated to ship by January 15th at the latest. Some orders will ship in advance of January 15th. In consideration of the events of the past two days, N-Control ask their customers to bear with them as they sort out updating individual order estimates. General updates regarding shipping will be regularly delivered to customers starting next week.
At no time during his tenure with N-Control did Mr. Christoforo have direct access to customer credit card information. N-Control does not retain any customer credit card data for online orders, which are all processed via Google Checkout or Paypal.
Ocean Marketing aka Paul Christoforo owns no stake in the Avenger Controller nor N-Control, and does not stand to profit from further sales of the device either through N-Control or authorized resellers.
Contrary to how Mr. Christoforo may have presented events (in public or private), N-Control never directly endorsed nor had knowledge of his communication with customers in the manner found in his correspondence with “Customer Dave”, who still wants his Avengers, despite everything that has transpired.
Steps have been taken to ensure that all future customer communication is transparently visible to management at N-Control. N-Control regrets sincerely that the trust they placed in Mr. Christoforo was so abused and betrayed and, as a result, may have tainted their reputation with existing and potential customers and partners.
Regarding “Afternoon Artists”, a company registered with the Florida Division of Corporations that lists Paul Christoforo as Treasurer, N-Control has the following statement: “This secondary business has never so much as opened a bank account, much less operated in any form outside of paperwork being filed. It was originally intended that Mr. Christoforo would serve as an investor in this company, which, again, has never operated in any capacity, nor will it in the future.”
N-Control employs Eli Schwartz as a part-time Social Media Consultant. He is an enthusiastic high school student who became one of the Avenger’s earliest super fans, meeting the founder at a trade show. Mr. Kotkin is proud to encourage the development of a bright, enthusiastic young person like Eli.
Eli Schwartz is not, however, in charge of Marketing or PR for N-Control. Previous news reports have credited him as Marketing Manager, a title Mr. Schwartz gave himself without the consent or advance knowledge or N-Control management. This occurred during the period of greatest upheaval following Mr. Christoforo’s dismissal, and N-Control regrets that this mixed messaging reached the public. All press inquiries and media requests should instead be directed to Moisés Chiullan at the AvengerDefender@gmail.com address.
Contrary to rumors and speculation, Eli Schwartz’s Twitter account is his own and not controlled by Paul Christoforo. Mr. Schwartz is a minor, and consequently, N-Control would appreciate the press and the public’s discretion in their dealings with him.
For the foreseeable future, N-Control’s official Twitter account will be “@AvengerControl”, as N-Control does not have access to “@NControlAvenger”. N-Control is not responsible for the content of any Twitter feeds associated with Paul Christoforo.
For the foreseeable future, N-Control requests that customers discontinue use of the toll-free phone number displayed on the AvengerController.com website, as well as any other means of contact found there. Instead, customers should direct communication to AvengerDefender@gmail.com. They ask for patience due to the events of the last two days. Keep an eye on @AvengerControl on Twitter for updates.
For more details regarding N-Control and Avenger Controller, contact press agent Moisés Chiullan, at AvengerDefender@gmail.com.
For more information, follow Avenger Controllers on Twitter: @AvengerControl
Points for an unusual amount of transparency, but this damage control doesn’t necessarily relinquish N-Control or Kotkin from any and all accountability. For someone as blatantly unprofessional as Christoforo to be retained over a lengthy duration (and not just during the busy holiday period, as originally suggested), even going so far as to being considered as a potential investor for future business endeavors, it’s hard to believe he was merely a rogue agent operating completely covertly. After all, the Avenger Controller had been covered by numerous media outlets, and had a presence at both E3 and PAX, so there had to be a certain level of awareness. This was not a tiny, independent operation.
Perhaps Brandon Leidel, CEO and director of operations for The HAND Media, Inc., explained it best: ”…[Christoforo] came in and said ‘I know this guy at Gamestop. I know this guy at Best Buy.’ They saw dollar signs and decided to start working with him. We decided to walk away from this because it was a nightmare dealing with their [shipping problems] and this guy Paul.”
Hackers have just taken the wraps off some handy new jailbreaking tools for iOS devices.
The wares will work for any iOS devices running the 5.0.1 version of the operating system and will work for all of Apple’s mobile hardware lineup except the iPhone 4S and the iPad 2.
Thanks to iOS hacker pod2g, whose exploits form the basis of the jailbreak package, non-A5 devices can be jailbroken while untethered.
The fine folks at the Dev-Team Blog put the untethered jailbreak into redsn0w 0.9.10 (available now as a Windows or Mac download) and PwnageTool, and the Chronic Dev Team made a nice little Cydia package for your jailbreaking pleasure.
As previously mentioned, this jailbreak is compatible with most currently available Apple iOS mobile devices, including the iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS and the original iPad, as well as third-generation and fourth-generation iPod Touch units.
If you’re already running a tethered jailbreak, you can update to the untethered jailbreak via the Corona utility in Cydia.
An untethered jailbreak for A5 chip devices, including the iPhone 4S and iPad 2, is not yet available but is in the works, wrote pod2g just days ago.
“I know that a lot of people are waiting for the A5 jailbreak,” wrote the hacker on his blog. “I need to focus on A5 and hope I can find a path quick.”
Hacker collective Anonymous claims to have stolen credit card data and other sensitive details from U.S. security think tank Stratfor, with plans to donate $ 1 million in stolen cash to charity.
Austin, Tex.-based Stratfor is a research group that posts a daily newsletter on security issues and counts the Defense Department, Lockheed Martin and Bank of America as clients. But for being a so-called “intelligence company,” the organization did an awful job of protecting its internal data and website, which has been taken down by hackers. The company admitted today that a breach occurred yesterday and that personal client info was stolen.
“On December 24th an unauthorized party disclosed personally identifiable information and related credit card data of some of our members,” Stratfor CEO George Friedman wrote on the company’s Facebook page earlier today. “We have reason to believe that your personal and credit card data could have been included in the information that was illegally obtained and disclosed.”
Anonymous let the world know it had hacked into the company on Dec. 24th by defacing Stratfor’s website and posting messages to Twitter. The hacker group said it had credit card details for around 4,000 Stratfor clients and info on a total of 90,000 credit card accounts altogether. The @AnonymousIRC Twitter account posted a link to Pastebin for what it claimed to be a secret list of Stratfor clients and taunted the company by saying, “Not so private and secret anymore.”
Stratfor said that the only people who appear on the “private” list are those who have purchased a Stratfor newsletter in the past. “Contrary to this assertion the disclosure was merely a list of some of the members that have purchased our publications and does not comprise a list of individuals or entities that have a relationship with Stratfor beyond their purchase of our subscription-based publications,” Friedman wrote on Facebook.
The hacker group claims to have 200 gigabytes worth of data and says that info was especially easy to get because the data was not encrypted. Anonymous promises more leaks are coming and the @YourAnonNews Twitter account continues to post more documents via Pastebin as they are released.
Anonymous’ stated goal of the operation is to steal $ 1 million from individual accounts to give as Christmas donations to organizations like the American Red Cross, CARE and Save the Children. The company posted five receipts on Twitter of donations made so far, including $ 180 and $ 200 donations to the Red Cross.
In a point of contention, a “press release” sent out via Pastebin today says Anonymous is not responsible for the hacks. But an Anonymous Twitter account says the press release is a misdirect, saying, “Whoever heard of an “Emergency Anonymous PR”? LOLWTF.”
Every now and then, we hear from a female startup founder who says she’s having a hard time raising money. She can’t quite figure out if it’s her idea or her slide deck or — and no one wants to think this — if it’s simply the fact that she’s a woman pitching an idea to a roomful of male investors.
We recently invited Comcast Ventures‘ Amy Banse into the VentureBeat studio to discuss the phenomenon of subtle sexism in the world of venture capital. After all, who better to ask for advice about female founders fundraising than a female VC?
Banse also talks about trends in startups — especially technology-focused startups — and gender. We got to discuss the controversial topic of women doing startups in “girly” categories such as beauty sites or dating sites and whether that’s reinforcing negative norms about what women can and cannot do or understand.
Stay tuned for all nine minutes of a fascinating conversation with a wildly intelligent, experienced lady… and a cornball reporter, too.
Zynga launched its first game for the Barnes & Noble Nook eBook reader today.
Words With Friends will debut as an app for the Nook tablet today. The move is one more attempt by Zynga to reach non-gamers on non-traditional gaming devices. Zynga wants to expand the mass market for games and the Nook is one more platform for that.
Zynga is dependent on Facebook for more than 94 percent of its revenue and it is trying to diversify beyond that.
The Nook has more than 2 million digital books available. On top of Words With Friends, the Nook is also adding games including Plants vs Zombies, Angry Birds, Scrabbe, Office Gamebox, RockEm SockEm Robots, Mad GAB, Magic 8 Ball, Doodle Jump Christmas, Wreck This App, Azada, Atlantis Sky Patrol, Serpent of Isis, Roll in the Hole, Spider Jack, Brick & Bubble Revolution, Tower Bloxx My City and Vegas Casino Cruise.
New York-based Barnes & Noble also said it was adding Netflix to the Nook apps.
A privacy dust up that started Monday night has unintentionally given a little-known startup its 10 minutes in the spotlight.
Allthis, an online marketplace where users buy and sell 10-minute chunks of time, found itself on the defensive after front-end web developer Joel Housman accused it of “douchebaggery,” and popular publication Boing Boing called it a “shifty startup.”
“We have literally seen our traffic increase 100x,” Allthis founder Christoper Poseley told VentureBeat. “Our experience over the past 24 hours has been interesting, and is highly relevant to the broader national discussion around online privacy.”
So what’s with all the hubbub?
Every individual that joins the site is assigned a single token that others, if they have enough time credits, can buy, using virtual currency, at the going market rate. The token represents 10 minutes of your time and, as a condition of the registration process, you pledge to honor and give the allotted time to the highest buyer. But, before today, because the startup’s mission is to allow anyone to get in touch with anyone else in the world, members could buy any person’s token, whether or not that person was a site user.
“In order to show what the potential value of anyone’s time is, we allowed our members to trade options on non-members,” Poseley explained.
Here’s how this works: You find Joel Housman so interesting that you’d like to pick his brain on iOS development, but Joel’s not a member of the site. You still want to express your interest, so you tell Allthis to create a non-member profile for him. Now you can “buy” his token, and others can purchase the token away from you at a higher price. The value of Joel’s time goes up with each purchase, and if Joel were to ever claim his profile, 10 minutes of his time would actually be up for “sale” — real money doesn’t ever change hands. Until then, the exchange would merely up the perceived value of his time.
But Joel doesn’t want to be a member of Allthis. He finds his “fake profile,” believes that the startup has stolen his identity and takes issue with the appearance of a profile he did not create on a site he does not endorse. He is furious. He accuses the startup of scraping data from Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn to “seed the site with accounts that their users might want to buy the time of.”
Joel isn’t alone. Rob Beschizza, managing editor of Boing Boing, finds the profile he didn’t create and believes that Allthis is misleading folks into thinking they can buy his time. “You can’t. We haven’t signed up; it’s just created a sleazy opt-out system and thrown in everyone it can think of,” Beschizza says.
Scandalous? Hardly, but perception is everything.
“We are not scraping. Our users create profiles of people they want to speak with,” Poseley said. “It’s an important distinction that each of these non-member pages were created from our users … we were not going out and creating a database of profiles ourselves.”
The process worked like this: Users would search for a non-member by name or Twitter handle. “When our engine found the person they were searching for [on Twitter, LinkedIn or Facebook, the user] would import the information to the profile page,” Poseley said. “The method in which our users create non-member profiles is very similar to how users at Pinterest.com create pages,” he added.
No matter. The company has disabled the non-member pages in response to the uproar and is working to evaluate how best to rectify the misconceptions about its practices.
“The users on our site understood how the system worked,” he said. “Nonetheless, some changes must be made. Our goal is to create an efficient marketplace for people’s attention, and we will continue to tweak the site as necessary to make our intentions clear.”
But with all the attention, Allthis has been presented with an opportunity to up its own public profile, and its a gifted token the small Angel-backed company should exchange for as much value as it can.
Fusion Garage may finally be done trolling the technology industry. The controversial company, maker of the Joojoo tablet, is in its death throes after being abandoned by its PR company and its lawyers, following issues with its website over the weekend.
The company most recently announced its Grid 10 tablet and Grid 4 smartphone, following an obnoxious early marketing campaign where it masqueraded as “TabCo.” But Fusion Garage, and its CEO Chandrasekar “Chandra” Rathakrishnan (pictured), are best known for working together with TechCrunch’s Michael Arrington to develop the “CrunchPad” tablet, a project that famously fell apart. The company went on to release its tablet as the Joojoo.
Fusion Garage’s PR agency issued the following statement to Engadget: “Unfortunately, none of our efforts have resulted in any communication from the company to the customers. Given all of this, we don’t have any other choice but to cease working with FG effective tomorrow.”
Arrington, now writing at his personal blog Uncrunched, points out that Fusion Garage’s law firm Quinn Emanuel filed last week to drop the company due to nonpayment. From the filing:
Quinn Emanuel seeks leave to withdraw as counsel of record for Defendant Fusion Garage PTE. Ltd. (“Fusion Garage”) because Fusion Garage’s non-payment of attorneys’ fees and associated costs and a breakdown of the attorney-client relationship have made it unreasonably difficult, if not impossible, for Quinn Emanuel to continue to adequately and properly represent Fusion Garage in this matter.
Meanwhile, customers awaiting their Grid 10 tablets are reporting that they haven’t received anything yet, and that the company has been unresponsive about the status of their orders.
We’ve dropped a line into the company to see what’s up, but given its current state of affairs, I don’t expect much of an answer. It seems yet again, the company has bitten off more than it could chew, and Rathakrishnan finds himself in the middle of controversy.
The Internet is flooded with thousands of tech articles every day. Buried among all of the breaking news, reblogs, how-tos and product reviews are some great long-form journalism gems. Instead of falling out of favor with today’s short-attention-span-having readers, solid and deeply reported features actually saw a resurgence in 2011, thanks to tools such as Instapaper, smartphones and tablets, and dedicated e-readers.
Hackers have just taken the wraps off some handy new jailbreaking tools for iOS devices.
A privacy dust up that started Monday night has unintentionally given a little-known startup its 10 minutes in the spotlight.
