By The Editors 4/12 3:46pm

shameless rumormongering

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Rumor Roundup: In Which an Angry Reader Hopes We Are Forced to ‘Work on a Land Line Forever’

A (literal) letter to the editor: When Betabeat freelancer David Shapiro wrote a damning review of the new BlackBerry Z10, saying that people would think less of you if you opted for it over an iPhone, we expected to receive some angry feedback. What we did not expect, however, was to receive a real paper letter, mailed to our offices, lamenting the “hugely irritating and pompous and dumb and plain silly” post. We suppose it’s appropriate, however, that such an impassioned BlackBerry user would take to the mailbox instead of email–does email even work on that thing? (JK) Read More

By Jessica Roy 4/04 8:40am

Hack Hack Hack Hack It Apart

(Photo: Flickr)

Anonymous Hacks North Korea’s Twitter and Flickr Accounts

One day after hacktivist collective Anonymous claimed to have stolen 15,000 membership records from the “semi-official” North Korea government outlet uriminzokkiri.com, the country’s official Flickr and Twitter accounts have also been hacked. So far, the @uriminzokkiri account has tweeted five times to signal that several North Korean websites, including ryomyong.com and uriminzokkiri.com” had been hacked. Read More

By Kelly Faircloth 4/03 10:27am

Hack Hack Hack Hack It Apart

Once more into the breach, eh?

Just What the Tensions with North Korea Needed: Anonymous!

Is there any situation into which Anons will not insert themselves? The Next Web reports that, as North Korea rattles its saber louder and louder, hackers flying the flag of Anonymous have basically declared war on the country’s authoritarian government. In a note published on Pastebin, they addressed Kim Jong-Un: “So you feel the need to create large nukes and threaten half the world with them?
So you’re into demonstrations of power?, here is ours.”

We’re sure Mr. Kim is quaking in his boots. Read More

By Jessica Roy 3/15 10:26am

Linkages

Happy Friday. (Photo: Sodahead)

Booting Up: ‘Hey, the U.S. Totally Cyberattacked Us Too’ – North Korea

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]

By Kelly Faircloth 3/07 10:29am

Visiting Dignitaries

Totally a serious diplomat. (Photo: dennisrodman.com)

Dennis Rodman’s Trip to North Korea Doesn’t Seem So Funny Anymore

Dennis Rodman might want to be a bit more discriminating in his choice of friends. The former NBA star has only just returned from his visit to North Korea, where he forged a bond with tinpot dictator Kim Jong-Un that’s already gotten him kicked out of a fancy hotel bar for refusing to shut the hell up about the Supreme Leader’s awesomeness.

Now, in advance of a U.N. vote over whether to impose sanctions on the country for its recent nuclear test, North Korea is threatening to unleash a nuclear attack on the United States if the U.N. dares to impose new sanctions on the country. Read More