By Jessica Roy 10/19/12 7:50am

Linkages

(Photo: 4 the Media)

Booting Up: Embarrassing Airtime Stats Edition

Ain’t nobody can hold Kim Dotcom down. [Wired]

Celebs are flocking to a new Twitter-like site called “Pheed” which allows them to charge monthly subscriptions or pay-per-view for content. [Forbes]

Google announced a $249 lightweight, durable Chromebook that it’s hoping can begin to corner the market on inexpensive laptops. [Google]

Airtime is flailing and its user stats are pretty depressing: “AppData, a service that collects data about sites and services that connect with Facebook, indicated that Airtime had just 400 users a day and 10,000 over the course of a month, but Mr. Parker and other executives at the company suggested those figures were off. Nielsen and comScore, two independent analytics firms, both said that traffic to Airtime was so small that it did not yet register on their charts.” [New York Times]

Apple’s logo is apparently considered blasphemous in Russia. [CNET]

By Kelly Faircloth 9/27/12 9:45am

DotNuts

Mr. Dotcom. (commons.wikimedia.orgAndreas_Bohnenstengel)

New Zealand PM Personally Apologizes to Kim Dotcom

It seems the government of New Zealand may have gotten more than it bargained for with that bonkers raid on Kim Dotcom’s compound. The whole incident, which should have been a simple wham-bam-thank-you-ma’am extraction and extradition, has metastasized into a endless headache over the most banal of legalities.

For instance: It appears that Mr. Dotcom, despite his legal residency, was unlawfully spied upon by the nation’s Government Communications and Security Bureau. The cops told them it was okay, and rather than doing a little independent verification, they proceeded accordingly.

Consequently, the Prime Minister has personally apologized to Mr. Dotcom. Via Read More

By Kelly Faircloth 9/24/12 7:00am

Linkages

Serial numbers, plz. (Photo: flickr.com/lynxman)

Booting Up: Be Smartphone Smart Edition

Apple is reportedly attempting to poach members of the Google Maps team. You know what they say: If you can’t beat ‘em, steal ‘em. [TechCrunch]

The latest boat lifted by the rising tide of the New York tech boom: accounting firms. [Crain's New York]

Apparently NYPD officers were stationed outside Apple’s Fifth Avenue flagship, asking new iPhone 5 owners to register their serial numbers in case of theft. [Yahoo]

Meanwhile, in New Zealand: A court has ordered an investigation into whether Kim Dotcom was the victim of “unlawful spying.” [BBC News]

By Kelly Faircloth 8/08/12 10:25am

SOPA Opera

Someone called the cops. (Screencap)

Video Demonstrates How Bonkers the Raid on Kim Dotcom’s Mansion Really Was

No wonder Kim Dotcom spends so much time taunting the authorities from his Twitter account. A New Zealand news outfit has released the first footage of the January raid on the Megaupload mogul’s mansion, and sounds like Mr. Dotcom’s dealings with the authorities have been aggravating, to say the least.

The video opens with a helicopter landing and the deployment of the officers participating in the raid. The disgorging of black-clad SWAT-type officers and unfriendly-looking police dogs is pretty much the extent of the spectacle, and there’s no footage from the goings-on inside the house. However, the video also includes radio communications exchanged during the raid, and Channel 3 has spliced that with testimony from Mr. Dotcom himself to create a pretty good play-by-play: Read More

By Jessica Roy 7/24/12 7:00am

Linkages

(Photo: Twitter)

Booting Up: Help Us, Marissa Mayer, You’re Our Only Hope Edition

Some poor Yahoo employee made a Marissa Mayer Hope poster. We are embarrassed for everyone involved. [Twitter]

Actually, Mitt Romney’s face is following you around the Internet–and it’s freaking most people out. [New York Times]

“Keep this movement going. Keep this movement tweeting.” – A really weird music video by Kim Dotcom that you should watch ASAP. [YouTube]

The Wall Street Journal is confused about who invented the Internet. [Ars Technica]

Martin Scorsese is in Apple’s newest star-studded Siri commercial, and naturally it’s set in a cab cruising across Manhattan. [9to5 Mac]

By Kelly Faircloth 7/19/12 7:00am

Linkages

Mr. Dotcom. (commons.wikimedia.orgAndreas_Bohnenstengel)

Booting Up: ‘Come On Guys, I Am A Computer Nerd’ Edition

A recent report says Facebook is losing users. [Bloomberg]

Kim Dotcom wrote a letter to the movie business: “Come on, guys, I am a computer nerd. I love Hollywood and movies. My whole life is like a movie.” [The Hollywood Reporter]

Apple didn’t just lose its U.K. patent lawsuit against Samsung over the Galaxy Tab. The judge has also told the company to run ads in British papers clarifying Samsung is not a copycat. [Reuters]

In case you somehow missed it, there’s a whole lot riding on Marissa Mayer’s well-outfitted shoulders. [Businessweek]

If you’re going to Europe this summer, you should know that Google Maps is working on eliminating the need for you to stop and ask haltingly for directions in your high school French, which is the obviously the best part of going to Europe. [The Next Web]

By Jessica Roy 6:50am

Linkages

(Photo: Instagram)

Booting Up: ‘Fun Yahoo Layette Set’ Edition

Google execs Eric Schmidt and Jared Cohen wrote an op-ed about how witnesses in the drug war are like anonymous packets on a server? [Washington Post]

The Yahoo communications team got its new CEO Marissa Mayer a “fun Yahoo layette set” which is apparently parent-speak for “a onesie with ‘Born to Yodel!’ on it and a white blanket for baby to ruin with spit-up.” [Instagram]

Speaking of Ms. Mayer, she wasn’t on Yahoo’s quarterly earnings call yesterday, but she will be greeted with weak profits in her first quarter as CEO. [Wall Street Journal]

The New Zealand judge in charge of Kim Dotcom’s case has been dismissed after some eyebrow-raising comments about the U.S. being the “enemy.” [New Zealand Herald]

Washington state residents can now register to vote via Facebook, which is a refreshing departure from Pennsylvania’s voter registration methods, where you have to furnish the blood of your great-great-grandmother in a vial made of unicorn tears. [Ars Technica]

By Jessica Roy 7/04/12 8:58am

Linkages

(Photo: Game Informer)

Booting Up: Independence Edition

The Oatmeal is finally free of Charles Carreon’s bizarre legal machinations. Mr. Carreon decided to drop his case against Matthew Inman, who apparently was represented by the EFF. Everything about this was weird. [EFF]

Porn producers are all about Project Glass. We’re sure you can guess why. [PC Mag]

Apple is reportedly planning to debut a smaller, cheaper iPad–terrible news for the Nexus 7. [Bloomberg]

Kim Dotcom has a grudge against vice president Joe Biden. [TorrentFreak]

Airport security apparently stole the Nexus Q used at Google I/O. [Dan Ellis]