Hackers blamed for wave of fake death tweets

Twitpic is a program that lets Twitter users share photos, but it is not owned by Twitter.

(Credit: Twitpic)

It seemed like celebrity deaths were contagious last week. After the sad news about Michael Jackson, Farrah Fawcett, and Ed McMahon dying, a wave of viral death notices went out on Twitter for Britney Spears, Ellen DeGeneres, Jeff Goldblum, and P. Diddy. But all are safe and sound.

"Britney has passed today," the bogus tweet announced on Sunday. "It is a sad day for everyone. More news to come."

The message was immediately taken down and Spears' staff tweeted that her account was hacked into and that, "She is fine and dandy spending a quiet day at home relaxing."

Similar messages were put up on the other celebrity's accounts, says Mashable, a social-media news site. They believe hackers got access to these celebrities' Twitter accounts through Twitpic, a program that lets Twitter users share photos but is not owned by Twitter. To post to Twitpic, users can e-mail a photo with a subject line, put in their PIN, and the post will be immediately tweeted.

According to The Associated Press, once discovered, the morbid tweets were taken down and Twitpic temporarily shutoff part of its service, announcing they were "implementing a fix immediately."

Twitpic fixed this vulnerability by Monday and in an apology letter explained that the hackers tried every PIN combination possible until one worked. Now, Twitpic says a "fix has been put in place to prevent this from happening," and that less than 10 users were affected by the hack and "no account information was compromised."

This isn't the first time Spear's Twitter account has been toyed with. At the end of April, a hacker got access to a Twitter administrator password by guessing the secret question to reset the password and broke into Spears' and other celebrity's accounts.

Dara Kerr, a student at U.C. Berkeley's Graduate School of Journalism, is spending her summer as an intern at CNET News. E-mail Dara.

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charlaine harris

Customer Reviews A truly superb series of novels This past year I began a reading project of the major vampire novels and stories, from John Polidori's THE VAMPYRE to Bram Stoker's DRACULA to Richard Matheson's I AM LEGEND to Theodore Sturgeon's SOME OF YOUR BLOOD to more recent works. I had previously read various novels, including the Anita Blake series, which started promisingly but not only never lived up to its initial promise but regressed to embarrassingly awful pornography. In August of this year I decided to read Charlaine Harris's vampire series, which was originally known as The Southern Vampire Mysteries but eventually became better known as the Sookie Stackhouse Novels. Now, this is where the story gets odd. Completely independently of my reading project I had heard about and planned on watching Alan Ball's new series TRUE BLOOD. I was a huge fan of SIX FEET UNDER and was anxious to see how he would handle a series dealing with vampires. A few days after I had ordered the first four Sookie Stackhouse novels I learn to my great shock that Ball's new series was based on the very same novels. It is the most serendipitous coincidence in my life as a reader. Because so many people have become aware of these books as a result of the TV series, a word about the differences between the two is in order. There are both definite similarities and some sharp differences between the two. The books focus much more on Sookie and less on the lives of the supporting characters, not surprising given that Sookie is the narrator in the novels. Sookie's narrative voice is for me one of the joys of the books and I miss that very personal perspective when I watch the TV series. The books are also far less sexual than the series, though there are several sex scenes (though it never descends to the pure porn found in the Anita Blake books). The series differs sharply from the books when it deals with characters other than Sookie. For instance, Tara in the books is a minor (and white) character. Jason plays a far smaller role. Just about everything touching Tara and Jason cannot be found in the novels. Sam and Tara are not involved. Without giving spoilers, Lafayette cannot be regarded as an important character in the books. On the other hand, Eric is as important as the other three main characters in the books, Sookie, Bill, and Sam. Still, based on all but the last 2 or 3 episodes of Season One of the TV show, Sookie's story there is pretty close to that is the first novel in the sequence. The one huge advantage of the novels over the series is that there is just so much more that happens. Season One of the series corresponds to the first novel in the sequence. I expect that the TV show will begin to diverge from the novels in the second season. So I see no reason for anyone who enjoys the show not to plunge in and enjoy a whole string of new adventures in the life of Sookie Stackhouse, barmaid and telepath. What has delighted me is how consistently superb the novels are. I felt the second novel in the series, DEAD AND LIVING IN DALLAS, was a bit less entertaining than the second book, but all the rest in the sequence were increasingly excellent. And they all mesh to tell a unified story. One novel ends and the next picks up the story perhaps as little as two or three weeks later. The novels also introduce new and more interesting supernatural characters. The Anita Blake novels did this as well, but I felt that that series was increasingly less successful. Both series introduce weres (were wolves, were tigers, were panthers, and others), witches, vampires from other locales, and fairies. But throughout it all Sookie remains both an innocent and an explorer. All in all, this is one of the most enjoyable long series of novels that I know. My only real disappointment is that a date has not yet been announced for the next and ninth novel in the series. Charlaine Harris (who lives in the southern part of my native state of Arkansas) has a couple of other series and 2009 apparently is devoted to those. My hope is that perhaps the success of the TV show will cause Ms. Harris to revise her plans and bring out another Sookie Stackhouse sooner rather than later. I will add that on some boards many fans of the books don't like Anna Paquin as Sookie. I do. She isn't quite the way the books describe Sookie, being slender and not at all voluptuous, whereas in the books Sookie is constantly described as curvy and very chesty. But I think Anna Paquin gets a lot of the spirit of Sookie. She feels in her performance very much like someone who has been traumatized by hearing the thoughts of others. If you are a fan of TRUE BLOOD, you should definitely read these. I actually prefer the books to the TV show, though I like the show as well. But if you haven't watched the show, but enjoy well written book on supernatural themes, you should read these anyway. In the recent tradition of revisionist accounts of vampires, this is one of the best. Great Escapism... First off - if you are interested in the True Blood series on HBO - get these books and get this set. I was STRONGLY recommended to read these books after talking about the show by a friend who read them when they first came out. So I did...purchased one at a time. Boy do I wish I would have bought the set right off and then get the additional books later for I would have saved a bit of money and had a great way to keep all the books together and in great shape. Nevertheless, the books and show ARE different and yet both are worthy of reading/watching if you are into this genre of books. I have enjoyed both for various reasons, but for the books, I truly enjoy the narrative of Sookie through all her trials and tribulations of interacting with "special" characters. This is not a wannabe Anita Blake type of series, but very unique, exciting and often lighthearted...definitely not as dark! Harris has written these books in such a way to really draw one into them, sometimes even identifying with human emotions that is sometimes unexpected. Now I have all the paperbacks, without the boxed set container (sad), and am awaiting the next book in the series. Plus I will continue to watch the show, knowing on what it is based and that I should not expect the same thing as I read in the books...yet knowing the same "flavor" will be retained. That makes for good reading and for good TV/movie adaptation. Good plot, but main character gets annoying. Book one was fabulous, but the quality declines over the series. I had to stop at book five to read a few other good books because I got too annoyed at Sookie. For one, I get tired of the constant clothing descriptions. I don't care what everyone's wearing! Every once in a while wouldn't be so bad, but practically every time someone walks in the scene their outfit is described. Also, the way Sookie describes stiletto heals (blank-me shoes) is so out of character that it beats you over the head. She seems much like a Mary Sue while she's in the supernatural world. All the supernatural men who aren't trying to kill Sookie are trying to get in her pants. I got back into the series but every book after the first led me to further disappointment. I've read the eighth, and will probably read the ninth, but I'm just looking for closure and not expecting as much entertainment as I got from the first.

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rhea jeong: 'void' LP player

'void' LP player by rhea jeong

korean designer rhea jeong has sent in images of her 'void' LP player.
the record player uses a carrier and dock outfitted with a magnetic and auto-calibrating control
system which carries the LP into thin air as it is playing music. a self-running record player shaped
in the form of a red sphere, contains a needle, amplifier and speaker, spins around the record,
bringing the music to life. the sphere that plays the vinyl was technically influenced by the 'vinyl killer',
currently the world's smallest LP player that has a built-in motor, amplifier and speaker.

simple colors and shapes express a kind of astronomical movement between the object and space.
the levitation is managed electronically. once turning the player on, you can manage the elevation
levels through the touch sensors on the front side of the base unit.


'void' LP player


'void' while playing music...


'void' while playing music...


a self-running record player shaped in the form of a red sphere


structure of the 'void' LP player

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HTC Hero running Android and Sense UI leaks from HTC's own website

As we prepare for HTC's official launch event today, we're starting to see some details appear on HTC's own website of the much rumored Hero. Through some URL trickery, we've managed to unearth several details that confirm the previous rumors. Hero includes the new HTC Sense widget-based interface that puts at-a-glance info right up front on the home screen where it belongs. A new Scenes profile feature lets you transform your phones focus from business to weekend mode. Viewing your contacts shows the usual data in addition to the interactions you've had through social networking status updates and photos from the likes of Facebook, Flickr, YouTube, and Twitter. A dedicated search button searches the phone as well as services like Twitter. In fact, like Palm's Pre, the HTC Hero seems ready to fully integrate your local data with all your subscribed social media sites. The biggest deal here, however, might just be that HTC is touting this as the first Android device to support Flash out of the box.

Inside you'll find Qualcomm's MSM7200A proc running Android at 528MHz, 512MB/288MB ROM/RAM, 3.2-inch TFT-LCD with 320 x 480 pixel rez, 900/2100MHz HSPA and Quad-band GSM, trackball, GPS, 802.11b/g WiFi, 3.5mm audio jack, G-sensor, compass, and 5 megapixel auto-focus cam with microSD expansion. It's all there baby. The White version of the device has an industry-first Teflon coating (right, just like your pans) to keep things clean and grime free. Multi-touch and anti-fingerprint coating too. Hero arrives in Europe in July with T-Mobile and Orange, Asia later in the summer, and North America even later in 2009. Stay tuned for a full hands-on, but for now, enjoy the press shots in the gallery below and the new video after break!

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wood ipod

This re-covered iPod is almost like hugging a tree, except it fits in the palm of your hand. So perhaps it’s more like giving a tree a handshake and hearing your favorite tunes at the same time. Josh D, from Australia, took his Apple iPod Mini apart and built a brand new case from red cedar to update the otherwise outdated gadget into a stylish, natural, and woodsy example of heirloom design.

Rather than just recycling his old trusty iPod Mini when Josh got a new one, he decided to take care of a little mini project he had been meaning to do for some time. He took apart the Mini, removed the original cover and designed a new hardwood case using the original guts of the iPod. With the use of his trusty Dremel tool, he retooled a hardwood cover out of Australian Red Cedar and a clickwheel out of Camphor Laurel. Josh used brass plates for the bottom and top as well as brass screws to keep it all together.

The crafting of the clickwheel seems to be the most impressive aspect of the project. Josh shaved down the circular wooden piece to just a few millimeters thick and used double sided tape to adhere it to the iPod electronics. In his words, “the wooden clickwheel ended up being just as responsive as the original plastic clickwheel. I ended up shaving the clickwheel to only a couple millimetres thick, and the ipod’s sensor picks up the signal no worries.” There’s even wooden accessories to go along with it - Josh re-coverd the iTrip module in Light Red Cedar as well as the iPod mini dock in Camphor Laurel.

The result is a beautifully finished piece that is likely to long outlast its cheap plastic counterparts, and would go perfectly with a set of slick wood speakers. We hope John will continue to update the casing with the latest guts, and compost it once it has lived through its useful lifecycle.

+ Josh D’s Flckr Set

Via Designboom

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iCrack: The iPhone Is An Accident Magnet

If you’ve ever thought that your iPhone had the frictional coefficient of a Slip n’ Slide, you’re not alone. A new report from SquareTrade details the accident-prone nature of Apple’s line of smartphones, reporting that over 20% of iPhones have been damaged in the last 22 months. Cracked screens abound.

From a manufacturing standpoint, the iPhone wins higher marks than its competition by a significant margin. The report says that over the last 22 months, only 9.9% of iPhones have malfunctioned, versus 15.3% of BlackBerry and 19.9% of Treo phones. Apple is getting even better, too: these manufacturing defects were averaged across both the iPhone 2G and 3G, and the report indicates that the latter is significantly more reliable.

But when it comes to surviving drops, the iPhone doesn’t fare so well. The report says that more than 20% of iPhone owners accidentialy damaged their phones during the 22 months since SquareTrade began tracking the data. The most common cause of death was a drop or fall, which accounted for 66% of the failed phones. Another 25% of them were due to water damage (e.g. dropping your phone into the toilet or pool).

The report doesn’t detail exactly why the phone is so prone to accidents, but it isn’t hard to make a few educated guesses. The phone is a sleek, somewhat slippery device, nearly half of which is made up by a glass screen. There are also very few physical buttons to offer a solid grip. And the iPhone’s screen, which is relatively huge compared to the Treo and most BlackBerrys, is obviously going to be more prone to shattering than its smaller counterparts. Wrapping up the iPhone in a case can help matters, but I always feel sort of guilty doing it.

The report also highlights the insult-to-injury pricing offered by AT&T for a replacement phone. Depending on how long you have until you’re eligible for an upgrade, you can find yourself paying hundreds of dollars more than you paid for the phone in the first place (though this is typically the case for other phones as well).

Finally, it’s worth nothing that SquareTrade is in the business of selling warranties for these phones. This makes them a great source of data, but the company’s conclusions aren’t going to be entirely without bias, either. SquareTrade’s iPhone warranty starts at around $77 for two years, which includes accident coverage (AppleCare does not). You can find full details here.

You can find the full SquareTrade report here.
Photo taken by PSD.

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More BitTorrent Users Go Anonymous

Users of BitTorrent and other file-sharing networks are increasingly seeking solutions to hide their identities from the outside world. With pressure from anti-piracy outfits mounting on ISPs to police their networks and warn those who share copyrighted content, many file-sharers have decided to negate this by going anonymous.

The UK government has high hopes for the piracy warnings Internet providers will be required to send to copyright infringing customers. The warnings are designed to scare users away from illicit file-sharing, but when we asked our readers what action they would take upon receiving a warning letter from their ISP, many were unmovable. A massive 41% indicated that they would take steps to conceal their identity, while only 7% of our readers said they would obey the warning and stop sharing.

The results of the survey clearly showed that avid file-sharers would rather hide their identities than stop downloading. And indeed, more and more BitTorrent users are seeking ways to protect their privacy online, rendering all the newly proposed anti-piracy laws useless.

TorrentPrivacy, BitBlinder and The Pirate Bay’s Ipredator are just a few examples of services launched in the past year, targeted at concerned BitTorrent users. The goal of these and other anonymity applications is clear; hide the IP-address of the file-sharer so he can’t be tracked down while swapping files.

Currently in beta, The Pirate Bay’s Ipredator uses the same tech platform as the VPN service Relakks. For a few dollars a month it routes all your traffic through its servers, hiding your IP address. Ipredator is currently limited to 3000 users but according to the Pirate Bay team there are another 180,000 users on the waiting list, eager to join.

Running a VPN network for hundreds of thousands of hungry BitTorrent users will prove to be quite a challenge. The infrastructure and bandwidth required by a service targeted at file-sharers is significant, not to mention costly. This undoubtedly leads to problems.

The aforementioned Relakks saw its subscriptions double in just a month when the controversial Ipred law came into effect in Sweden this April. This surge in subscriptions led to to major problems with support and updates according to Relakks’s chairman Jan Erik Fiske.

Unlike more traditional VPN services, BitBlinder recently introduced a free solution. Instead of routing the traffic through a central server BitBlinder passes it on through multiple peers. Each peer in the chain only knows the IP address of the next person in the chain, not the original requester/sender.

A few days after its launch BitBlinder had signed up more than 30,000 new users. Right now registrations are temporarily closed to make sure everything runs smoothly for those already using the service, and while they iron out bugs. “We want to make sure it works, and is secure for everyone,” Josh Albrecht, one of the creators of BitBlinder told TorrentFreak.

Because of the increasing interest in anonymity, the Swedish ISP Alltele decided to offer a free service to conceal the IP-addresses of its customers. According to Alltele’s CEO Ola Norberg thousands of users have downloaded the application, which nearly killed the server it was running on.

These examples clearly show that the scare tactics of the entertainment industry are not going to work. There is no doubt that with every new anti-piracy initiative introduced, more and more users will find their way to one of the many anonymizing services out there.

Instead of stopping the pirates in their tracks the entertainment industry has simply inspired a new ‘industry’ worth millions of dollars.

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iPhone 3.0: All the Small Things

Since Apple hasn't given us a comprehensive list of all the little changes in iPhone 3.0, users have taken it upon themselves to compile the treats they've found in the new software, some of which are actually quite nice.

The MacRumors forums have a couple of ongoing, constantly updated lists, though of course we can't verify their massive efforts. Here's part one and everything since part one of their informal list, and a slightly more structured list can be found here.

If you want something a little easier to read, iPhone User Guide has posted a nice and simple list of (at the moment) 113 new updates they've found, from font changes to new customization options to iPhone 3.0's ability to display album information when the device is locked.

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15 Free Awesome Social Bookmark Icons Sets

In this article I am going to present you 15 free Social Icons Sets that you can use for your blog for bookmarking. These Icons are free. Hope you will like them. Subscribe to the feed if you would like to be informed for the latest posts.

Social Media Mini Iconpack – Komodo Media

Function Free Icon Set

Handycons

Web 2.0rigami

Social Icons Made of Wood

Denim Jeans Social Media Icons

Social Post Stamps: Free icon set

Page Peel – A Free Social Media Iconset

Set of social icons no.2

Aquaticus.Social

24 Free Exclusive Vector Icons: ‘Handy’

Heart: A Free Social Icon Set

Free Hand Drawn Doodle Icon Set for Bloggers

Socialize Icons

Social Media Icons Pack in 3 Sizes for Download

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