Twitter and Facebook banned in turkey
In May, the Turkish government announced the new measure would take place in August and thousands of Turks concentrated in some 40 cities and towns around the country. Turkey’s Internet regulator wanted to introduce a selection of filters that users would choose from before browsing the Internet. Also, some words could be banned, such as “blond” and “sister-in-law”.
According to the journalist Olcay Aydilek of the Turkish newspaper Habertürk, Yıldırım affirmed that social media is a “threat” and “measures must be taken.” The block would be momentary or last only a few hours, a report said.
Ministry's reports allegedly showed that the social networks acted as a "catalyst" that generated ethnic and religious confrontations at times of crisis, especially after attacks by the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). For instance, in July two Turkish soldiers were killed and ten others were wounded in a clash with terrorists in south-eastern province of Hakkari.
Besides, Yıldırım appeared in the television saying that these kind of social sites were “very effective” after a deadly bomb attack in Gaziantep, near the police station, on 20 August, the second day of the Ramadan. People published on social sites "false reports of a second bombing, and claims that the Peace and Democracy Party offices in the city were torched. These are very troubling," he said.
Likewise, the minister stated that these platforms facilitated the revolutions in Tunisia, Libya and Egypt, calling them “revolutions of communication.” He said that social media may have caused “good things to happen there but it could also be used to provoke great masses and misguide them.”
The French organisation Reporters Without Borders released in March its list of the 12 “Enemies of the Internet”. China, Cuba, North Korea and Syria are at the top of the list, but other countries are under surveillance, such as Turkey, Egypt and Tunisia. However, with this new measure, Turkey may climb up soon a big number of positions.
Lego set you will enjoy destroying more than building it
For that price, you get to build "a tree-trunk hideout, secret Lightsaber stash, spider web, net traps, slide, catapults, an elevating throne, a bridge, rope walkways, vine and leaf elements, kitchen, food storage area, bedroom and a planning room." Plus! this cool speeder bike.
The company says that with this set "builders can construct one of the most famous Star Warsscene when Luke and Leia realize they are siblings." Yes, they are talking about this:
Awkward!
Lego also says that kids will love to "use the rammer function to take out the Scout Trooper’s speeder." Adults, on the other hand, will love to use a hammer to smash it—then use the great pieces to build something really cool. Like a scene from the Lord of the Rings or something. Of course, don't destroy the minifigs. Some are new and not available elsewhere, like Endor Princess Leia, Endor C-3PO, Endor Luke, Endor Han Solo and the damn Wicket.
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Honestly, the set looks very nice and detailed. Kids will love it. And, for adult Lego fans, it's a great source of pieces. Also, it's huge. Over a foot tall.
The set will be available on September 2013.
LinkedIn Starts Offering Two-Step Login, After Twitter
Two-step verification has proved a very effective method in keeping online accounts secure. In the past, services such as Microsoft, Evernote and Twitter have started the use of the verification method. LinkedIn has also joined the list.
LinkedIn has been under criticism since passwords of millions of its users were exposed in a serious security breach last year. Many users were prompted by the company to change their passwords. The entire episode cast a rather bad impression about LinkedIn’s security.
To counter the damage done and to ramp up its security, LinkedIn has introduced a two-step verification process as part of the login process. Since the feature is optional, users can tweak their account settings to enable it.
By enabling two-step verification, users will be able to login only after they provide the password as well as the security code. This code will be sent straight to the users’ mobile phones.
If you wish to activate the feature on your LinkedIn profile, you can read this link here which provides detailed instructions as to how to turn on two-step verification on your account.
Source: LinkedIn
Singapore Made 3D Printer Sees Over $300,000 Pledged on Kickstarter After Day One
On just day one of the Kickstarter project, Singaporean 3D printer startup Pirate3D saw overwhelming support with backers flocking to pledge crowd funded cash for the ‘Buccaneer’ 3D printer.
Right now on Saturday morning, a full 24 hours after hitting Kickstarter, Pirate3D has seen $366,763 pledged for it Buccaneer 3D printer. The warm response from the Kickstarter community must have surely surprised the folks at Pirate3D who set a $100,000 target. There are 28 more days to go so we can expect more money to be pledged.
As we explained earlier this week, Pirate3D had vowed not only a discount but also to ship its printer in December this year to a limited number of early crowdfund pledgers – which likely caused the huge rush on Friday to support the project.
Pirate3D’s Kickstarter page explains how the Buccaneer works at home. It looks really simple. Users can log on to the Buccaneer printer over wi-fi and start customizing and printing from a laptop or smartphone. The startup will also have an online store with 3D designs to print out. If you are interested to find out more, click here to go to Pirate3D’s Kickstarter page. If you have some spare cash, do consider pledging some bucks. There are still some slots left to get the 3D printer for the regular price of $397 along with the assurance that it’ll ship to you in February 2014.
Gmail has Added a New Lavel Tabs Feature to the Inbox
Most of the time keeping your inbox sorted and clean is a fairly simple task, but what about when things get hectic and suddenly your inbox is out of control? Finding those important e-mails amongst the clutter can become frustrating and time consuming, so you need an easy way to find what you need fast! With this problem in mind Google has introduced a new feature for Gmail that will help auto-sort those e-mails into distinct categories, letting you go directly to the mail you want without the hassle.
You can activate the new Category Tabs feature by clicking on the Gear Icon in the upper right corner of your inbox, then selecting Configure inbox.
There are five categories that you can enable: Primary, Social, Promotions, Updates, and Forums. Simply check/uncheck the appropriate boxes to customize the Category Tabs shown in your inbox. Hovering over each category will display relevant information about it as shown in our screenshot. Click the Save Button when you are finished.
The page will automatically refresh, then display the following quick dialogue. From there all that is left to do is start enjoying your new inbox (as shown in the first screenshot above).
Apple iPod Touch Reaches 100 Million-Sold Mark
Nearly six years after the iPod touch first launched in 2007, Apple is celebrating a milestone: It's sold 100 million of the pocket-sized media players.
Since Apple first introduced the first-generation iPod in 2001 — transforming both the portable music player and music industry — the company has sold an estimated 350 million devices.
On Thursday, the company unveiled the latest update to the iPod touch line, and it's actually a bit of a downgrade: It's the fifth-generation iPod touch without a rear-facing camera (it still has the 1.2 megapixel front-facing camera) and only two color choices (silver or black). It also has just 16 GB of storage.
Those tradeoffs, however, also result in the lowest priced fifth-gen device: $229. The original fifth-generation iPod touch includes two cameras and starts at $299 for the 32 GB model (a 16 GB iPad mini costs just $30 more). Beyond those differences, though, the new iPod touch is identical in features and size (still 6mm thick) to the full-featured fifth-generation model.
Apple told Mashable that the new iPod touch replaces the fourth-generation iPod touch and noted that more than half of all iPods the company currently sells are iPod touches. Apple had nothing to share regarding sales or changes to the tinier iPod nano.
While Apple doesn't break out exact holiday sales figures, Apple told us that the iPod touch sold well last holiday season. A recent Nielsen report said 36% of surveyed children wanted an iPod touch for the holidays.
On the other hand, the iPod touch's broad appeal is clearly shrinking. Last quarter Apple reported that it sold 5.6 million iPods, a 26% drop year-over-year.
What do you make of Apple's latest iPod update and this milestone? Were you one of those who desperately wanted an iPod touch for the holidays, or did you go with a new iPad or iPhone? Share all in the comments.
With Apple TV, Apple controls more than 70% of the digital media receiver market
Tim Cook revealed on Tuesday at the AllThingsD: D11 conference that Apple has now sold more than 13 million second-generation Apple TV devices. Even more impressive, the CEO noted that roughly half of those devices were sold in the past year alone. Philip Elmer-DeWitt of Fortune crunched the numbers and found that Apple controls more than half of the digital media receiver market. Not including dedicated gaming systems such as the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, Apple TV has a 71% share of the market. The popular Roku box has sold more than 5 million units, giving it a 27% share of the market, and the Boxee Box sold about 200,000 units, for a 1% share, before it was discontinued last summer.
Drupal.org Hacked, User Details Exposed And Reset
Another day, another big site hacked. 2013 really just hasn’t been a good year for web security.
This time around, the site writing the email that noone wants to write is Drupal.org, home of the popular content management platform, Drupal. Though no exact number was shared, it appears that nearly one million user accounts are affected.
Also affected are the user accounts of groups.drupal.org, a sub-site meant to help Drupal users establish meetup groups in the real world.
In an FAQ on their site, Drupal says that they currently have no idea who might be behind the attack. So far, it seems like the hackers had access to usernames, email addresses, and hashed passwords.
As is par for the course at this point, Drupal has immediately reset the passwords for every user in the system. If you’re one of the million-or-so userson Drupal.org, you’ll need to confirm your email and pick a new password before regaining access.
While you’re at it, you’ll probably want to change your password on any sites where you’ve used a password similar to the one you might’ve used on Drupal.org. While Drupal seems to have done a pretty good job of ensuring that passwords were stored safely (most were both salted and given multiple passes through a hash filter), it’s just good practice. You’d be surprised at how insanely fast password cracking has become.
It’s important to note that this hack affects Drupal.org, the website itself, and is not the result of a vulnerability in Drupal, the CMS. In other words: if you’ve got a Drupal-powered site, don’t freak out. According to Drupal Executive Director Holly Ross, the hackers gained access through an exploit in an unnamed third-party tool that Drupal.org was running on their server.
Also important to note: Drupal says they store no credit card details on their servers, but they’re still making sure there wasn’t any malicious code put in place to quietly intercept’em without them noticing. They’re recommending that anyone who’s made a transaction on Drupal.org keeps an eye on their statements, just in case.
Word of the break-in went out this evening, when Drupal began to email affected users.