Watching your continuing coverage of the people of Iran continuing their fight for freedom I was struck, and touched, by the presence, in every picture, in every piece of footage, by the universal presence of cellphones and cameras. No matter how chaotic, no matter how frightened they may be, the protesters held their phones high. Not a brave few but a brave many pressed into the violence, stood right next to the regimes thugs and pointed their cameras. It seems like the ultimate act of defiance; no matter how you try to shut us down or shut us up, we will expose you. You can kill us, but the world will know that we never stopped fighting.

I urge you to continue to use your platform to show us this incredible fight. Before this started, the people of Iran seemed alien and vaguely threatening. Now, I see a young woman, veil shoved back and cellphone in the air, and this lefty atheist woman sees a sister clear across the world.

I sometime imagine that what we write about here is not important, but then a post like this comes along and reminds me that gadgets are more than toys and corporate tools for some in this world. And it makes me very happy.
[The Daily Dish]

The Montgomery DA already tweets about legal events—sometimes seriously and sometimes with incredible humor—so this new program will just be expanding on that habit. I may not live in Montgomery Country, or Texas for that matter, but I'll be following along to see if he keeps up this mix.

What I do wonder is whether this will really be a crime deterrent as the county hopes. While the tradition of newspapers publishing the names of individuals busted for DWIs or DUIs has been going for years, no one seems to care about a bit of local shame. Could easily retweetable blurbs actually make someone think twice about driving like a loon? Or will this have about as much of an effect as tweeting mugshots? [Twitter via PC World]

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By logging in at wheredoyougo.net, users can make colorful patterns out of their social lives to share with friends either on Twitter or their own websites. The site displays the heat map over a standard Google Map, and updates automatically every time you check in somewhere new. You can choose among various color schemes, but for me the most accurate is the one that makes my activities look like a map of nuclear fallout. [Where Do You Go, ITP 2009]

Iranian Cyber Army

THIS SITE HAS BEEN HACKED BY IRANIAN CYBER ARMY

iRANiAN.CYBER.ARMY@GMAIL.COM

U.S.A. Think They Controlling And Managing Internet By Their Access, But THey Don't, We Control And Manage Internet By Our Power, So Do Not Try To Stimulation Iranian Peoples To….

NOW WHICH COUNTRY IN EMBARGO LIST? IRAN? USA?

WE PUSH THEM IN EMBARGO LIST ;)

Take Care.

The original note and the pictured defacement of the site are no longer online, but Twitter, status.twitter.com, and other parts of the service remain down as well.

Since we don't really know exactly what's going on here, we have the same recommendation as TechCrunch: Change any passwords which are identical to your Twitter one as a precaution. There's currently no way to know if there was a security breach beyond the defacement and some extra security measures can't hurt. [TechCrunch]

Update: TechCrunch may have been too quick to flip the "Major Panic!" switch as other places are reporting that this hack was simply a DNS hijack. [Geekzone—Thanks, Randall F!]

According to the New York Times, Shellie has 5,400 followers on Twitter. The wife of an Air Force sergeant, she uses her account to tell about her life as a mother of four.

Last monday she tweeted about her chickens and her chicken's cage at 5:22pm. At 5:38pm she called the police saying that her son Bryson was dead at the bottom of the family pool. At 6:12pm she asked her Twitter followers to pray for the life of her son. Only five hours later, she posted photos of the two-year-old Bryson along with the following message:

Remembering my million dollar baby

I don't know about you, but when I read this, something flipped inside me: I felt absolutely no sympathy for this woman. I just can't believe that this is the way you mourn the loss of your own son. The same way I just can't believe that anyone could have the cold blood to tweet about how your son is dead in the pool, just a few minutes after finding him there.

The NYT article is excusing her by saying that "it feels perfectly logical that Shellie Ross would reach out to that community with her pain." Really? How is that "logical" again? Do you mean as logical as plastering the front of your home with photos of your dead kid, and publicly declare that you are "remembering" him shouting through the window? With a bloody megaphone? And what is that community of 5,400 followers? Are they 5,400 friends? Or just 5,400 spectators? And since we are at this logical game, could we step it a little bit further and turn on the Justin.tv webcam? I want to see the tears, please. What's the difference, anyway? It's all about "reaching the community" because everyone feels isolated, after all.

But as I was thinking about this, I remembered that I tweet about personal things too.

Heck, you can tell when I'm angry, or happy, or in love just by reading my posts. So where to draw the line? Maybe each of us have to draw our own lines. I know, however, where to draw mine. Tweeting about the death of my kid—something that hopefully will never happen—or anyone else is a hundred billion miles out of that line.

At the end, the fact is that, no matter how you look at this, it's terribly sad. Sad because a kid died. Sad because something is really fucked up when a mother's first reaction is to post about the death of her son, just a few minutes after she finds him in the pool. In a bloody web page. Wrong with the mom, wrong with the whole society, wrong with whobloodydamngodfuckingever. But something here is just not working right, and no excuses on how this is a brave new world of technology can make up for this more-than-often-pathetic show we call the web.

But that's really the key here: Technology has enabled us to easily transmit our lives in real time, and many people don't have a clear idea of where their privacy or their "real" world starts or ends anymore. With our smartphones and digital cameras, with the Twitters and Facebooks of this world, we have became curators of our own digital live archives. So that's probably the answer to the first question: Why does a mom tweet her son's death In near-real time? Because now she can. [NYT]

We've reached out to Zune to see if there's a way to adjust settings to switch it off, but if that's how Microsoft rolls, well, what a b%tch move.

UPDATE: That is how Microsoft rolls, at until they fix it. A spokesperson provided us with the following response:

"The recently released Twitter for Zune HD application has been abbreviating some explicit words in tweets when viewed on the device; however these explicit words do appear in their full text on the Twitter site or on any other Twitter client. We have identified the issue and are taking steps to update the application as soon as possible to ensure Twitter for Zune HD users are able to view tweets in their original state."

So looks like there's no way to view your tweets as written for now, but we'll keep you posted as soon as we hear about a successful update. [Engadget]

Digital Inspiration points us toward both a webapp that spits out a goo.gl URL in one click, after pasting in a full URL first (don't forget the http:// bit, or you'll get an empty result). If that's a bit too much work for tossed-off links, and you're a Chrome user, you can install the goo.gl shortener extension and do your link shortening with a toolbar button.

The appeal of goo.gl-shortened links is their theoretical longevity, but, at the moment, they lack the statistics and tracking that makes the de facto standard, bit.ly, widely appealing. We'll see what improvements come along, but for now, you can grab Google's server re-direction benefits without having to keep their toolbar installed.

The best man promised the groom that there wouldn't be any tricks before the wedding. Of course, he didn't say anything about after the wedding. Using the same concept behind the Twittering office chair, the best man set up a system where every time there's increased activity up top, the bed reports it. Once all is said and done, the bed reports a summary (including a "frenzy index"), along with a judge's comment for good measure.

The anonymous best man defends himself by saying "BTW - he stitched me up something rotten when he was my best man so I reckon this is reasonable payback :)" He also promises that he will never reveal who he is or the identity of the couple.

Depending on how you look at it, it's either a gross invasion of privacy or a hilarious prank. Tomato toh-mah-toe, I say. If this happened to me, it would definitely be one of those "I hate my friends" moments when I found out. [@newlywedsontjob via 140char, thanks Everyone Like Me]

Massa-Bidal sells some of his designs on his online store, but these terrific book covers aren't available just yet. Perhaps if we all pester him enough he'll put them up? The Tumblr, Twitter and Flickr ones would look great on my wall. [Retrofuturs via Flickr via SuperPunch via Gearfuse]

The name of the place was Pearl Harbor. The ships were part of the US Navy's Pacific Fleet. The people, citizens of the United States of America. And this was the first notification, sent from the Hawaii navy base to the US Naval Air Station in Kodiak, Alaska. Today, I imagine that it would have looked more or less like this:

Air raid on Pearl Harbor. This is no drill. @JOINTCHIEFSOFSTAFF @CONGRESS @ROOSEVELT Please RT. #USNAVY #USAAF #USARMY #WAR

The attack could have been fought back: The first wave—which included Nakajima bombers, Aichi dive-bombers, and Mitsubishi Zero fighters—was detected by radar at 136 nautical miles. Unfortunately for the victims—and perhaps fortunately for the rest of the world—the planes were mistaken for USAAF bombers arriving from the continent.

After the attack, the US Congress declared War to Japan at the request of President Roosevelt, entering the clusterfuck we now know as World War II. It was a very sad day, but at least it served Roosevelt to push the country into entering a war that was desperately needing the help of the United States against the most repugnant and evil forces ever to roam the Earth.

More Analysts Make Total Speculation About a Verizon iPhone Sound Confident and Certain

Until we get some legit hard evidence, like an announcement, or a leaked photo, or screenshot, or anything at all, any and all chatter on the subject of a Verizon iPhone is just speculation. Knowing that, I have no idea how someone can claim that there's a "70% chance" of seeing it in 2010. Until somebody has something to show me, all Verizon iPhone speculation is doomed to Remainders.

That being said, there is one interesting little tidbit here: The next-gen iPhone may have an RFID reader, a technology common to Japanese and Korean phones but unheard of here in the States. An RFID reader would allow the iPhone to act as a credit card—pretty cool! [AppleInsider]

Acer's Snapdragon'ed Android Handset Gets Groped...By the Brits

We knew about Acer's 1GHz-Snapdragon-packing Android phone, the uncomfortably named Liquid A1 (it just sounds dirty to me), but as it's not been announced for us freedom-loving Amurricans, we haven't been tracking it too closely. Now it's finally out in the UK, and it's been unboxed and groped, and all in all, it's sort of disappointing. It's thicker than we'd expected, and that sexy 1GHz proc has been underclocked by about 25% for some reason we can't fathom. Luckily the video shows that it still runs buttery smooth (opening the applications tray is smoother than on my Droid) but it's still an odd choice to dumb down one of the best mobile processors on the market. Take a look at the video for more. [Engadget]

Exploding Gum Believed to Have Killed Ukrainian Chemistry Student

What in the hell is going on in Ukraine? This sparsely written article says that a chemistry student was killed recently, his jaw blown off in an explosion believed to be caused by his chewing gum. Apparently he liked to coat his gum in citric acid, but the theory is that this time he actually coated it in some kind of explosive powder that took his life. What? I mean, we're sad that he died, but what? [News24]

Microsoft Tells Journalists Not to Use or Mention Apple Products at Briefing

Google's translation of this German page is so bad that for all I know it's actually talking about holiday themed pumpkin head dances and not tech, but if I am to trust Google's remedial German, a Microsoft rep got snippy at a WinMo 6.5 briefing and told journalists present not to talk about the iPhone. In the clearest sentence available in this translation:

a journalist was warned by a Microsoft spokesman not to mention or use Apple products

That's honestly the only thing I can glean from this. It's in Remainders because first, who cares, and second, WTF, Google? Isn't English a Germanic language? This translation should be so much better! [9to5Mac]

A Glimpse at Twitter-Integrated Google Results

This is pretty simple: What will Google's new search results page look like, post-Twitter-integration? Pretty clean, if you ask me—apparently the Tweets scroll through in real time, and in the case of this particular Google query, I'd imagine they scroll for a very long, entertaining time. [Thanks, Matt!]

Time Names Droid as Gadget of the Year, iPhone Last Seen Crying in Corner

Time made their list of Gadgets of the Year and it looks like the Droid came out on top, followed by the Nook. The iPhone doesn't even get bronze and instead sits at fourth place this year. Youch. Do we even care about these lists anymore though? [Electronista]

What if Women Were as Horny and Pervy as Men?

This one made a few of us laugh like crazy, but heads up: There's definitely some man-crack visible sometime during the pole dancing sequence. Yes, that means this video is definitely NSFW unless your boss is Jason Chen and giggles right along with you.

2010's Color of the Year is Seriously Ugly

Apparently Pantone picked a color of the year already and, frankly, the description is almost as bad as the color:

Combining the serene qualities of blue and the invigorating aspects of green, Turquoise evokes thoughts of soothing, tropical waters and a languorous, effective escape from the everyday troubles of the world, while at the same time restoring our sense of wellbeing

I have to be honest though, I probably only dislike #15-5519 Turquoise because I prefered 2009's #14-0848 Mimosa. [Crunchgear]

(Super Gay) Ron Livingston Does Not Understand the Internet

Alright, so I'm just baiting Office Space actor Ron Livingston a bit in that headline. I don't really know or care what his sexual orientation is or whether it's super or not. I just know that he's attempting to sue an anonymous Wikipedia editor for constantly changing his entry to state that "he is gay and officially confermed (sic) it in TMZ he is gay and darn proud."

Dear Ron, I've had far stranger things written about me, ranging from implications of vampirism to suggestions that I've got an obsession with space travel. I'm not suing. You shouldn't be either. [Wired]

Windows Server and Azure Get Blended Into Server & Cloud

Microsoft has created a new Server & Cloud Division which will include Windows Server and Azure. Like the name gives away, it'll focus on both on-premise and cloud solutions. Looks like it's mainly some reorganization for now and won't affect Microsoft's roadmaps. [ZDNET]

Dell's Twitter Account Generates $6.5 million in Revenue Over Two Years

I'd laugh at Dell for employing 100 people whose job is to man the company's Twitter accounts, but apparently it's paying off in the form of $6.5 million made from Twitter promoted offers. Not too shabby, Dell! [BGR]

The new search mode comes with partnerships Google announced today with Facebook and MySpace. Feeds from both sites, along with Twitter comments, blog postings, and other web sources will be rolled into Real Time results page for up-to-the-second updates. They've also added a "Hot Topics" section to Google Trends to show the most common topics people are writing about at any given moment.

Other news from today's event includes Google Goggles, which lets you search via any picture you take with your phone, and an automatic translator that lets you speak English into your phone and have it translated into Spanish in, again, real time. The translator should be available in 2010, and Goggles can be tried now in Google Labs.

Google's not exactly feeling Bing breathing down their necks, but it's nice to see competition driving some fast and furious innovation at the Googleplex. [Google via TechCrunch]

Update: He's claimed his actual name, which boasts a "verified account" tag from Twitter. The tweets from the previous account have been moved over as well. [Twitter via TechCrunch]