Apple became the latest company to step back from WikiLeaks when they removed an unofficial WikiLeaks app from the App Store.
According to TechCrunch, Apple approved the app earlier this month and added it to the store. The WikiLeaks app cost $1.99 and allowed you to simply view the content of WikiLeaks.
It’s like 1984 all over again.
From ArsTechnica:
Amazon may be in the process of stirring up some more trouble for itself thanks to reports that the company is deleting certain kinds of erotica from both the online store and users’ devices. The erotica in question is controversial: it talks about certain acts of incest. Judging from Amazon’s most recent bouts with book “censorship,” users who have already paid for the deleted content are likely to get fired up.
The article goes on to say how one customer who complained about how their content that they paid for disappeared from their Kindle received only chastising remarks from Amazon about the severity of the item they purchased.
Meanwhile, the Strict Leather Forced Orgasm Belt remains on the virtual shelves of online retailer.
Among its many services, Amazon.com offers hosting for websites in the form of data storage. When Wikileaks dumped a massive cache of diplomatic cables onto the Internet, it didn’t take long for some technologically minded people to find out that Amazon had been hosting Wikileaks’ data and content for quite some time. Yet, after the blow up over the cables, Amazon tossed Wikileaks from their servers, siting violations of their terms of service.
So make of this what you will, but Amazon UK is selling a Kindle version of the Wikileaks data. You can also have a look at the customer comments.
The Library of Congress tonight joined the education department, the commerce department and other government agencies in confirming that the ban is in place.
Although thousands of leaked cables are freely available on the Guardian, New York Times and other newspaper websites, as well as the WikiLeaks site, the Obama administration insists they are still classified and, as such, have to be protected.
The Smithsonian Museum has been under pressure from Catholics and congressmen to pull pieces of an exhibit focusing on homosexuality and homosexual Americans. From NPR:
At least one critic has accused the Smithsonian of caving in to pressure from Catholics and from two Republican members of Congress. Representative Eric Cantor of Virginia called the exhibition “an outrageous use of taxpayer money.” A spokesperson for incoming House Speaker John Boehner told The Hill newspaper that “Smithsonian officials should either acknowledge the mistake or be prepared to face tough scrutiny beginning in January.”
From the article:
Six book publishers have gained an injunction against file-hosting company, RapidShare. The Swiss-based ‘cyberlocker’ service must monitor user uploads to ensure that around 148 titles, many of them textbooks, are never made available to its users. Failure to do so could result in $339,000 fines, or even jail time for company bosses.
For those who don’t know, RapidShare is site where one can upload files for off-site storage and distribution. It’s that “distribution” that it’s well known for as thousands of people upload larger files to the service with the intention of allowing others to download. Though it’s well known in certain circles for hosting pirated content, it’s strange that the first shot fired against it should come from the publishing industry rather than the recording or motion picture industries.
While Penny Arcade is normally a video game strip, every now and then they speak of books because, after all, the strip’s creators love to read. Today’s strip discusses some popular fiction and classic works of sci-fi.
It’s the bane of many a public librarian. The phone rings, you answer it, and then politely decline the caller’s offer to donate the last 60 years of National Georgraphic magazine to your library.
“Yes, I’m sure they’re in fine condition. Oh? Been in your mother-in-law’s house for the last 60 years huh? Yes, I know you want to help out, but we’ve got several years of it already. Yes, sir I can tell you’re happy she’s dead but we just don’t have any use for that many magazines. No, actually they’re not all that valuable – you do realize they print several hundred thousand at a time, right? Yes, so they’re not exactly rare or anything.”
Now there’s a much easier way to get every single issue of National Geographic from the last 120 years and it doesn’t involve any donations. You can buy it on its very own hard drive. That’s right, you can get every issue of National Geographic since the dawn of humankind on a 160 GB external drive. As a bonus, the collection only takes up 60 GB, so you’ve got another 100GB to do with as you please.
I wonder if that’d be enough room for every issue of Popular Mechanics…
Edit: Moved the image to a server with higher transfer and bandwidth.
It’s a little later than I hoped but episode three of Hyperlinked History is done and online for your edutainment pleasure! I had some technical difficulties along with this nagging thing called “my job” that kept encroaching on my free time. So I apologize for the tardiness and invite you to join me for a trip through history from Heian Japan to modern day America! On the way we’ll conquer China, mint a few coins, and accidentally burn New York to the ground.
Things like that can happen when you’re Moving Along.
You can always catch past and current episodes on the Hyperlinked History site. If you’re of an Apple state of mind, you can subscribe to the show in iTunes.
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