Augmenting Aerial Earth Maps with Dynamic Information. This new technology is currently being tested in Universities. The possibilities are limitless to how this will be applied in the real world. Just be sure to keep an eye out for those damn T100′s.

The word of the day today is “Phishing”. It’s sounds like fishing, but instead of using bait to catch smelly swimming fish, you cast your lines (links) and try to catch unsuspecting half-awake people or moms trying to use the computer.

I noticed my email inbox was full of messages from Twitter. Tons of news direct messages, but they looked like they were from robots so I saved it for later. Then I found this being reported on Mashable this morning.

We have received multiple reports that a new, convincing, and dangerous worm and phishing scam is making the rounds on Twitter. Hacked accounts are sending DMs to users and stealing their login information. In fact, one of our own has received one of these direct messages.

Unsuspecting users are receiving DMs with the following text:

If you get this DM, DO NOT VISIT THE LINK. It takes you to a replica of the Twitter login page where the hackers will steal your account and use it to send out more infected DMs to your friends.

If you’re one of the unlucky ones to be fooled by this worm, make sure you change your password. Also delete any tweets or DMs that have the link. If you can’t log into your account, reset the password and contact Twitter Support.

This is not the first worm to hit Twitter, but this one is especially dangerous because the login page is convincing and it is spreading via DMs from friends you trust.

Make sure you guys never click on links you don’t trust and never give out your password. Just in case you need a refresher. You can update your computer security with these free programs.

Sometime late Monday night Google’s logo revealed a second UFO themed picture. Clicking the logo sent users to a Google search for the words “Crop Circles” Peoples initial reactions were something like “I told you! Google is run by aliens! I knew it!” However upon further investigation there is a bit more to the story.

The first UFO mystery solved.

This is actually the second time Google has showed us a UFO themed logo with this month. The first image showed debuted on Sept. 5th and showed a UFO flying away with the critical second ‘O’ in Google. The only clues to the meaning were left on Google’s Twitter feed where they left the tweet:

1.12.12 25.15.21.18 15 1.18.5 2.5.12.15.14.7 20.15 21.19

Which translated into letters states “All Your ‘O’ Are Belong To Us” a reference to the 20th Anniversary of the game “Zero Wing” on Sept. 5. Last time it took people a while to figure out the meaning behind the logo. The most recent puzzle was a little easier to crack.

The second UFO mystery solved

Following up on Google’s Twitter profile there was another mysterious tweet.

51.327629, -0.5616088

Loading up this location in Google Earth takes you to the exact center of Horsell Woking, Surrey, UK. Which turns out to be the first location of a UFO landing in H.G. Wells “War of the Worlds”. Wells birthday is on Sept. 21 so no doubt this is related. Right down the street to the south of these co-ordinates you can still see a monument of the Martian Lander.

Just to be sure that there wasn’t more to the story I stuck those co-ordinates into Google Mars, Google Moon, and Google Sky. Sure enough there were no flying saucers or aliens of any kind. So it leads me to believe that this explanation is correct. However it would have been pretty cool is Google had stuck some easter egg far out in outer space at the same co-ordinates. As for those who say that the “L” is missing this time in Google. There is a small tractor that has drawn a line in the shape of a “L” in the right place. It’s a bit harder to notice, but it is there.

(The name of the file was goog_e.gif could this be to throw us off?)

I would guess that this string of mysterious pictures from Google is leading up to something bigger. Possibly on September 21, which would be H.G. Wells birthday or perhaps something even bigger.

If you liked this story you can DIGG IT HERE

In case you ever wondered how Google’s Street view works.

September 30th Google will start sending 100,000 invites for the early test of Google Wave.

The real-time communication platform has captured the imagination of countless communication, social media, and tech enthusiasts that want to get their hands on its game-changing features. It can import Twitter, provide real-time chat, play back past conversations, and even allows for drag-and-drop file uploads.

There are a lot of features, but it is unlike any other web product yet and thus takes time to learn. That’s why in July we asked an important question: is the world ready for Google Wave? Will there be widespread adoption, or will the ambitious project fall short of expectations? Will developers jump on the Wave bandwagon and build apps for it like they do for Twitter and Facebook?

Wave Is Almost Ready for Primetime

We have been monitoring the progress of Wave with our developer accounts, and we have to say: it’s come a long way. When I first used it, I experienced multiple crashes per session and the interface would bug out. And while these things still happen when I use Wave, the instances are far more sporadic.

Google has also been constantly informing developers of its updates to Wave. Today in fact, they just released a new update, codename “ChooChoo.” Here’s what was just added, according to the Wave team:

Gadget insertion button in the editor toolbar (don’t need to use the Debug menu anymore!)

Strikethrough button in the editor

The extension management system has been upgraded (meaning any extensions you had previously installed will need to be re-installed)

Minimized Waves will now flash green when new content is entered into the Wave

Summary: Google is implementing a swath of minor back-end and UI improvements in rapid fashion in anticipation of the September 30th release. Things like small notifications, added formatting tools, and more efficient gadgets will all make the experience that much better when the end of the month rolls around.

So are you ready for Google Wave? Because ready or not, it’s going to be making waves (pun intended) across the entire web very, very soon.

more @mashable

Over the last few years, a new and disturbing phenomenon has been increasing in frequency. It’s called Internet Addiction Disorder (IAD), and it has been the subject of new research and debate. reSTART the Internet Addiction Recovery Program is set to open their doors soon.

The Heavensfield Retreat Center offers a 45-day program designed to address internet and gaming addictions.

However what seems to be completely counter-intuitive, is the fact that the reStart Recovery Program has not only a website, but also a blog, and a social networking site. So you can break that horrible addiction you have to Twitter and Facebook, and keep everyone in your support group up to date on your progress over at the internet addiction recovery social networking site.

Their upcoming event “Balanced Living: 45-day Tech Addiction Program” is now taking applications. I’m going to throw a flag on this one, and say that these guys are just running a new angle on a camping retreat. For those who are really seeking help with internet addiction I would recommend the Zero 2 Hero 2 step program.

Step 1 – Unplug the computer

Step 2 – Step away from teh computer

Its free and easy, and anyone can join the program.

MICRO-blogging sensation Twitter says it is making progress on ways to pump cash from the free service.

Twitter co-founder Biz Stone had the blogosphere buzzing anew with talk of generating revenue from business accounts by year’s end.

Mr Stone said early this year that one method could be charging fees for commercial accounts used by businesses to spread messages on Twitter.

In fresh comments apparently aimed at the venture capital community, which has invested tens of millions of dollars in Twitter, Mr Stone told of the potential for premium services such as pulling data from the sea of tweets.

Twitter, which allows users to pepper one another with messages of 140 characters or less, has seen a dizzying surge in popularity since it was launched in August 2006 but has been unable so far to generate revenue.

Mr Stone’s comments quoted in Venture Beat came on the day Twitter announced it is adding location to its globally popular microblogging service in a move that will let people see where tweets are coming from.

“We’re gearing up to launch a new feature which makes Twitter truly location-aware,” Mr Stone said in a message at the San Francisco-based Internet firm’s website.

Accurate “tweet-level” location data would let casual users as well as advertisers or businesses track messages based on neighborhood or city.

Outside software developers who create applications for Twitter will be able to experiment with the location API prior to the feature being added to the microblogging service.

Twitter users interested in letting their whereabouts be known will need to activate the new feature, which will be “off” as a default setting

Exact location data will not be stored for extended periods, according to Twitter.

In June, authenticity badges began popping up at Twitter as a way to verify that people tweeting are who they claim to be. Such badges are seen as something businesses might be willing to pay for.

source: @DailyTelegraph

Since most of you spend your entire work day screwing around on Twitter (luckily I actually get paid to do this), you may be left wondering what to do now. No worries, we have a list. Meanwhile, I can’t Tweet (TM) that it’s raining here in Palo Alto, or go on a 140 character rage over PG&E shutting off my electricity for no reason at all yesterday, forcing me to come into the office at 4 am this morning.

Twitter declared their scaling problems over in early 2007, well before the serious problems even started. And as much as the Great Twitter Outages of 2007 and 2008 frustrated early adopters (there were so many outages that we just started reporting uptime instead), these outages are much more serious. 45 million people worldwide now rely on Twitter as a communication platform. If they want to be the “Pulse of the Planet,” it’s time to scale.

Of course, even the largest sites still have occasional outages. Yahoo suffered 15 minutes of systemwide downtime yesterday, we’re still trying to get their comment on why that happened.

Update: LiveJournal is also down. Who else?

Update 2: Some commenters are saying Facebook is down too, although it’s up for me and others.

Update 3: Work productivity surges around the world. My electricity is still off.

Update 4: Here’s something else to do – watch this (response to this). My electricity is still off.

Update 5: Facebook is still up, but it is definitely having a lot of issues.

Update 6: LiveJournal is back up around 7:45 am Calif time. Still no electricity at my house, those jerks.

Update 7: It’s a denial of service attack. Twitter’s status update says: “We are defending against a denial-of-service attack, and will update status again shortly.” Further updates on this post will be here.

Mashable, the social media guide reports that Monday, AT&T blocked 4chan to DSL subscribers and the reasons weren’t completely clear, leading to speculation that censorship might be in play in regards to the infamous online forum. Earlier today, AT&T customers began regaining access, and now we know the details surrounding the telecom’s move to block and then unblock 4Chan.

AT&T has issued the following statement:

“Beginning Friday, an AT&T customer was impacted by a denial-of-service attack stemming from IP addresses connected to img.4chan.org. To prevent this attack from disrupting service for the impacted AT&T customer, and to prevent the attack from spreading to impact our other customers, AT&T temporarily blocked access to the IP addresses in question for our customers. This action was in no way related to the content at img.4chan.org; our focus was on protecting our customers from malicious traffic.

Overnight Sunday, after we determined the denial-of-service threat no longer existed, AT&T removed the block on the IP addresses in question. We will continue to monitor for denial-of-service activity and any malicious traffic to protect our customers.”

So while the block may have been nothing personal, you can still see some of the power that social media can bring with it.

Be sure to check out part 2 where I’m going to tell you how they got their story to the top of digg.com and all over the news in just a few hours.

4chan is the forum website from which Anonymous, LOLcats and rickrolling originated. Yesterday At&t and a handful of other ISP’s have blackholed them. 4chan hosts some of the sickest more perverted conversations and some of the most lolzor things you can find on the interwebs. 4chan is the stomping grounds of multiple clans of hacker armies and this attack on their homefront will not be taken lightly.

“I may disagree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it” -Voltaire

Encyclopedia Dramatica is cover the details of the story.

Update 6:00 a.m. 7/27
XKCD vowed to block ATT customers in retaliation.

The story gained 7000 diggs the first 7 hours
While a story on reddit made it to the top with 3000 hits, it was disappeared
Twitter sploded

From techCrunch:

4chan has been called many things, most of which aren’t particularly flattering. Some parts of the site are entirely unmoderated, leading to a wild-west, highly NSFW environment where irreverance, mischief, and lewdness thrive (I like to think of it as the Mos Eisley of the web). But that doesn’t mean the site isn’t extremely influential on web culture. Many of its exploits are famous, including taking over the Time 100 list, and it’s also where some of the Internet’s most famous memes got their start, including the Rick Roll and LOLcats. It’s also known as the main hub for Anonymous, a group that has held a very public campaign against Scientology.

In other words, AT&T has just opened perhaps the most vindictive, messy can of worms it could have possibly found. Blocking any site is an extreme breach of user trust, but the decision to block 4chan in particular just seems stupid. Expect the web equivalent of rioting if this doesn’t change soon.

Here are quotes from 4chans response page:

This censorship is not only a huge inconvenience to the users of 4chan, but a bold move showing AT&T’s true intentions: Telecom corporations’ control over internet content. Undoubtedly, this is the first shot fired in the war for net neutrality.

-ireport

Regardless of whether there was a legitimate reason for blocking /b/ and /r9k/, tonight set an important precedent. We the consumers will not tolerate any future attempts at internet censorship. The ISPs have taken notice and now rightly fear the wrath of an anon scorned.

—Anon

Tweets:

AmgKmpsR @ksg89 – “When will #ATT learn, you cannot just block the final boss of the Internet. Shit will hit the fan” #4chan #ATTCensorship so true!

ennn @jerricklim Begun, the 4chan wars have.

“4chanTheMachine: Say goodbye to the sites you love AT&T blocks 4chan first but whats next?”

One possible explanation for the ban is here according to one source, 4chan was under constant DDoS attacks which was costing at&t money. But that does not explain why the site went completely offline for most of the country from multiple ISP’s.

What is /b/?

/b/ is defined by Urban Dictionary as…

* /b/ is the guy who tells the cripple ahead of him in line to hurry up.
* /b/ is the stranger your parents warned you not to talk to.
* /b/ is the one who wrote your number on the mall’s bathroom wall.
* /b/ is the guy loitering on Park Ave, the one that’s always trying to sell you something.
* /b/ is the one who first introduced you to Goatse.
* /b/ is the only one of your group of friends to be secure in his sexuality and say anything.
* /b/ is that bat-shit crazy old man who sits on his porch and threatens to shoot the children that step on his lawn.
* /b/ is the kid that likes Inuyasha.
* /b/ is a friend that constantly asks you to try mutual masturbation with him.
* /b/ is the 10 second delay in which you contemplate walking back into the room you just accidentally saw your friends naked mom in, and asking her if you could be of assistance.
* /b/ is the guy who calls a suicide hotline to hit on the adviser
* /b/ is nuking the hard-drive next time someone knocks on his door.
* /b/ is the voice in your head that tells you that it doesn’t matter if she’s drunk.
* /b/ is the friend who constantly talks about your mom’s rack.
* /b/ is the strung out drunk guy dancing and playing air guitar alone to the music at an outdoor concert.
* /b/ is the only one who understands what the hell you are saying.
* /b/ is the uncle who has touched you several times.
* /b/ is the homeless person at the bus stop who wraps his arm around you and starts a conversation.
* /b/ is still recovering in the hospital after trying something he saw in a hentai.
* /b/ is the guy that puts an “I love dead babies” banner on the side of his car and drives past the protesters outside of clinics.
* /b/ thinks he is smarter than you, but is often wrong.
* /b/ is the friend who makes a Tupac joke when his friend’s father got shot in the eye, and laughs at the joke.
* /b/ is the attractive girl you met over the internet that makes you want to fap, until he sends you nude pictures, to your dismay.
* /b/ is wonderful.

In addition to starting a war with the crazy hackers who routinely encourage suicide as an option to emo teenagers, Central Gadget says that AT&T may also be breaking the law.

Under the FCC’s Comcast/BitTorrent ruling, Internet Service Providers may only slow or cap connection speeds. They are not allowed to block any service or protocol on the internet. Here, 4chan as a web site appears to fall under an internet service, but it is also conforming to standard web page protocols. It appears AT&T does not have the legal right to block 4chan, only to cap customers who are “abusing” their access to the internet.

Predictably, the 4chan crowd is already mobilizing both inside and outside of their online community. AT&T didn’t just open a can worms, they dove headfirst into a den of vipers, and this will be very interesting to watch play out.

The full details of their attack plan game be found here Until then everyone can agree on one thing, that this is going to get ugly.