yarrrr

Now that Netflix is in the original content business, the company has to deal with piracy. It took some time, but House of Cards is now all over the torrent sites. [Variety]

Is Apple working on a competitor to Street View? [Apple Insider]

New software would leave student essays to be graded by A.I., leaving professors more time for other tasks. What professors are doing that's more important than evaluating the progress of their students is anyone's guess. [New York Times]

"If you install this, then it is very likely that Facebook is going to be able to track your every move, and every little action." [GigaOm]

A secrets-sharing app named "Whisper" just raised $3 million from Lightspeed Venture Partners. [PandoDaily]

Happy Friday. (Photo: Sodahead)

Perhaps feeling jealous of China, North Korea is now accusing the U.S. of committing cyberattacks against it. [Tech in Asia]

We've reached the point where online programming could actually make a significant dent at the Emmy's. House of Cards, anyone? [The Daily Dot]

Google Reader's demise as a wake up call: what do we lose when we become so wholly reliant on a cloud-based app? [Slate]

More techies have stepped up to the plate to fight gun violence. Big name Silicon Valley investors have launched an "innovation and investment" campaign called Sandy Hook Promise. [TechCrunch]

Guns aren't the only political issue techies are taking up. Zuck and others are working for high-skilled immigration reform. [Hillicon Valley]

Six months after raising $4.7 million and less than three weeks after founder and CEO Jody Sherman committed suicide, Ecomom is liquidating. [PandoDaily]

Tesla CEO Elon Musk got around to publishing the data he promised would show that a New York Times review of his company's electric Model S sedan was a "fake": "We were played for a fool and as a result, let down the cause of electric vehicles." [Tesla]

Times' reporter John M. Broder answered Mr. Musk's post point-for-point, reiterating that he followed the instructions of Tesla employees throughout his test drive.  [NYT]

Netflix CEO Reed Hastings: "House of Cards now the #1 most popular TV show in the world, according to IMDb. And I still can't get (Neftlix Chief Content Officer) Ted Sarandos to tell me how many millions are enjoying it on Netflix." [Facebook]

President Barack Obama hosted a Google+ Hangout. [Daily Dot]

Stop calling it the Harlem Shake. Just stop, really. [Gawker]

A meteorite struck Chelyabinsk, Russia, injuring 400 people. [Mashable]

MOAR EPISODES PLZ (Photo: Melinda Sue Gordon/Netflix)

Remember when catching up on a TV show required numerous trips to Blockbuster in a single weekend? Us neither. For years we've been mainlining our television shows entire seasons at a time, thanks to the glories of video streaming. How else would anyone have made it through the dismal nadir of season three of "Lost"? What do you think got Americans addicted to "Downton Abbey"?

So when I sat down to watch the first episode of "House of Cards" on Saturday, as a way of killing laundry time, I didn't expect I'd stretch the show out over the next 13 weeks, like I was watching "Dallas" circa 1982. But I also wasn't planning to find myself awake at 2 a.m. last night, polishing off the last episode and frantically googling "house of cards season 2 please oh please tell me it's coming soon." 

If this Wired poll of its readers is any indication, we’re not alone: 10.6 percent of viewers stopped after the first episode (what, you don't like it when they break the fourth wall?), but a substantial number, 32.4 percent, had already polished off episode 13. Variety estimates a quarter of those who watched the first episode have already powered through the whole season.

But was the show any good? Good question. The chilly vibe makes it ideal viewing for a frigid winter weekend holed up inside your apartment. Kevin Spacey is smugly chummy enough that even his syrupy, fake-as-hell Southern accent is entertaining. A lot of the journalism is B.S. (free food at a newspaper? reporter, please), but “Grey’s Anatomy” isn’t reknowned for its medical accuracy either.

But “House of Cards” doesn’t have to be the most brilliant thing you’ve ever seen. It’s just got to be good enough to keep you clicking, then leave you wanting more, evangelizing to your friends (when you explain why you can't make drinks after all), liking it on Facebook to silence the haters, and waking up late for work.

If I hadn’t crammed the whole show into just 72 hours--roughly the amount of time the Underwoods spend standing around their Restoration Hardware catalog of a home--it might have gotten laughable real quick. Bonus: no snarky recaps to make you question just what their big plan actually is.

More importantly, the show is on par with whatever you'd find on cable. There's no whiff of direct-to-video/YouTube original content about "House of Cards." No budget backdrops, no cheapskate score. In fact, its bona fides are better than a lot of what you'd see trotted out for the upfronts: Netflix got David goddamn Fincher to help make it, and Oscar winner Kevin Spacey heads up a cast where even the B-listers are good. The price tag, all told, was something like $100 million.

And as Tim Wu points out at the New Yorker, that makes all the difference. If Netflix can make the numbers work on cable-quality television, it means we're "across a psychological line":

But this year or next, cable companies will have to accept that they are no longer the gatekeepers for the best content. It means, eventually, that the industry will probably have to embrace the idea of simply carrying the content of others (which was its original business model), and essentially function as what used to be called an “Internet-service provider.”

According to this month's GQ, Netflix ultimately hopes to be making five original series a year. It won't be cheap or easy to pull off, but think of the money you cough up for premium cable, versus the number of shows you actually watch. Paying Netflix and Hulu $10 a month for a regularly-scheduled weekend timesuck starts sound pretty appealing--and that's how the ground beneath the cable business crumbles.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, season one of Homeland isn't going to watch itself.