New-home purchases fall, 2011 worst ever for sales

WASHINGTON (AP) — Fewer Americans bought new homes in December, making 2011 the worst sales year on record.

The Commerce Department said Thursday new-home sales fell last month to a seasonally adjusted annual pace of 307,000. The pace is less than half the 700,000 that economists say must be sold in a healthy economy.

About 302,000 homes were sold last year. That's less than the 323,000 sold in 2010, making 2011 the worst year on records dating back to 1963.

Meet the $2,400 Porsche smartphone

Looking for a way to prove that you have more money than you know what to do with? Look no further than the BlackBerry Porsche Design P'9981, a $2,400 smartphone that helps the world identify you as "that guy who just spent $2,400 on a cell phone."

Putting a human cost on the iPad

A day after Apple announced record profits, a new report provides a detailed look at the conditions that workers at its suppliers in China have had to endure.

The company, which reported $13 billion in profits yesterday, has been plagued by reports of long hours, unsafe working conditions, and physical punishment of employees in factories that make parts for its popular devices. Dozens have been injured and a handful killed in explosions and other accidents at the plants.

NVIDIA Accused Of Using Marketing Shills

Apparently ChipHell has accused NVIDIA of using marketing shills in its forums and, according to the site owners, they had to ban all the accounts spreading the anti-AMD rhetoric. Hit the link for the complete run-down. Thanks to [H] forum member xoleras for the heads up.

Rough chinese translation. ALL of the posts related to kepler being 299$ from chiphell, and speculated performance, were from marketing shills (proven by the owners of the forum) and have been banned. Charlie from SA was bamboozled as well. Keep it classy Nvidia.

This is Tim: Apple's CEO in his own words

iPhone 4S

We’re thrilled with the 37 million iPhones that we’ve sold. It’s up 128 percent against a market-rated growth of about 40 percent according to IDC’s latest projection. And this is substantially above the 20-million-unit previous record... Customers are absolutely loving this product.

In State of the Union address Jan. 2012, Obama says ‘basic American promise’ is at risk

President Obama warned in his State of the Union address Tuesday that the nation's middle class is at risk because of growing economic inequality, and argued that the government must do more to preserve the basic American dream.

In a speech that is likely to set the theme of his 2012 re-election bid, Obama said "the basic American promise" that hard work can allow one to own a home and support a family are at risk if the government doesn't do more to balance the scale between the nation's rich and poor.

The sweet, sweet music of the wood-playing turntable

You have to admit there's at least a little resemblance between the ring-lined cross-section of a tree and an LP. So why shouldn't a tree's rings elicit beautiful music the way a record's can?

That might well have been the inspiration for Bartholomaus Traubeck's Years project, a record player that can read the rings of a tree and translate them into lovely piano melodies.

Fleshless robot baby would do Skynet proud

"Eraserhead" baby, meet your match.

It seems engineers and tinkerers never tire of creating horrific human simulacra in robot babyform, or even robot fetus form. But the sheer nightmarish genius of this latest unholy spawn gives one pause. Behold it in the video below.

Netflix Set For An Even Worse 2012

According to analyst, 2012 is going to be worse than 2011 for Netflix. That seems kind of hard to believe considering how bad things went last year. 

Writing to investors today, Wedbush analyst Michael Pachter says he believes Netflix lost 8 million to 9 million DVD-by-mail subscribers over the second half of 2011, including 2.63 million to 3.63 million subscribers either trading down to streaming-only plans or leaving the service altogether in the fourth quarter.

Megaupload boss says innocent, rival stops file-sharing

AUCKLAND (Reuters) - The founder of file-sharing websiteMegaupload was ordered to be held in custody by a New Zealandcourt on Monday, as he denied charges of internet piracy and money laundering and said authorities were trying to portray the blackest picture of him.

Prosecutor Anne Toohey argued at a bail hearing that Kim Dotcom, a German national also known as Kim Schmitz, was a flight risk "at the extreme end of the scale" because it was believed he had access to funds, had multiple identities and had a history of fleeing criminal charges.

"The FBI believes the sums located are unlikely to represent all the overseas bank accounts owned by Mr Dotcom," she said.

Anonymous Takes Out CBS.com and Universal Music

The two sites were taken offline this morning along with Vivendi, the owner of Universal Music, by Anonymous as a demonstration for support for Megaupload’s reinstatement. The hacktivist group has released a video of their latest exploit named OpGlobalBlockout that will, once it is initiated, will take down some of the most important sites on the Internet including the United Nations, Facebook, YouTube, Capital One and several other international concerns. The condition to halt the attacks is the full reinstatement of the Megaupload web site.

Kim Dotcom: #1 on the FBI Pirate List, #1 Modern Warfare Player

The founder of the now busted Megaupload site, Kim Dotcom, is a man of many talents. Not only has he made millions on the internet, he is also the #1 multiplayer worldwide on CoD: Modern Warfare 3, known as MEGARACER. When he was arrested, he also gave the New Zealand police a run for their money in arresting him…..sometimes it’s difficult separating game play from reality. 

RIM Replaces CEOs as it Struggles to Answer Apple

Research In Motion Ltd. (RIM) shook up its top management, replacing co-Chief Executive Officers Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis, who guided the BlackBerry maker for two decades and struggled to compete against Apple Inc. (AAPL)

Thorsten Heins, a chief operating officer who joined RIM four years ago from Siemens AG, will replace the pair in the CEO post effective immediately, RIM said in a statement. Director Barbara Stymiest will take over as chairman, as the two also cede their co-chairmen positions. Lazaridis, who founded RIM in 1984, will become vice chairman; Balsillie will remain a board member without any operational role.

iPad factory misery leads to suicides

I finally have an iPad and I’m just sick about it.

Whose deft hands assembled this? I look at the metal frame, the magical touch-screen, the dots, the filaments thinner than hair, the connectors that make it look like a tidy homemade bomb, the logic board that itself looks like an aerial shot of the massive factory where it was made, with bridges, parking lots, warehouses and silos, a curving gold grounding strip on the left like a highway home. This is a microcosm of industrial hell.

We say we yearn for the handmade? The iPad is as handcrafted as the papier mâché rabbit your child brought home from school. It was assembled by human fingers at astonishing speed in giant sheds containing tens of thousands of workers in Shenzhen, China’s notorious industrial zone. When I visited Shenzhen in the early ’90s it had 1.2 million people, no big deal. It’s at 14 million now.

Anonymous Tricks Bystanders Into Attacking DoJ

s there anything these retards can do without screwing it up? And they wonder why people hate them. 

The trick snagged those who happened to click on a shortened link on social-media services, expecting information on the ongoing #opmegaupload retaliation for the U.S. Justice Department’s takedown of popular file sharing site Megaupload. Instead they were greeted by a Javascript version of LOIC — already firing packets at targeted websites by the time their page was loaded.

New Zealand reveals high-octane arrest in Internet fraud case

WELLINGTON (Reuters) - New Zealand police on Saturday revealed bizarre details of the arrest of the suspected kingpin of an Internet copyright theft case against the James Bond-like backdrop of a country mansion hideaway with electronic locks, a safe room and a pink Cadillac.

German national Kim Dotcom, also known as Kim Schmitz, was one of four men arrested on Friday, a day before his 38th birthday, in an investigation of the Megaupload.com website led by the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation.

The group was accused of engaging in a scheme that took more than $500 million away from copyright holders and generated over $175 million in proceeds from subscriptions and advertising.

Megaupload site wants assets back, to fight charges

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Internet website Megaupload.com, shut down by authorities over allegations that it illegally peddled copyrighted material, is trying to recover its servers and get back online, a lawyer for the company said on Friday.

The company and seven of its executives were charged in a 5-count, 72-page indictment unsealed on Thursday accusing them of engaging in a wide-ranging and lucrative scheme to offer material online without compensating the copyright holders.

Authorities in New Zealand arrested four of those charged, including one of its founders, who legally changed his name to Kim Dotcom. Assets were also seized money, servers, domain names and other assets in the United States and several countries.

‘American Idol’ Pittsburgh Recap: Black & Yellow & Rad All Over

Ryan Seacrest described Pittsburgh as the "city of champions" at the start of Thursday night's "American Idol" auditions episode, and that wasn't just hyperbole put on his teleprompter by over-arching producers. The singers that Jennifer Lopez, Steven Tyler, and Randy Jackson found in Pittsburgh, a town "Idol" had never visited before, was surprisingly solid--the show really ought to have held auditions there several seasons ago, judging from who lined up to try out for Season 11. And among them was one girl, the striking (and sob-storied) Hallie Day, whom J.Lo actually predicted could be the champion of this entire show.

Video: Race car crash at 130mph caught on video

In this video, car racing enthusiast Peter Tryce rolled his open-top Cobra race car, while driving at speeds of more than 130 miles per hour at the Willow Springs Raceway in southern California.

Tryce was driving with a GoPro camera in his vehicle and captured the entire crash. Thankfully, Tryce was not seriously injured in the crash. In the video, Tryce recounts his thoughts leading up to and during the crash, writing:

Video: Kathy Griffin Awkwardly Strips Down on 'Letterman'

What is it about David Letterman that makes women want to take their clothes off?

Following in the grand tradition of Drew Barrymore's memorable 1995 flashing of Dave, comedienneKathy Griffin decided to show a little skin last night on CBS's "Late Show." But while the Barrymore incident was fun and spontaneous, Griffin's striptease was... well, a little awkward.

Anonymous Goes on Megaupload Revenge Spree: DoJ, RIAA, MPAA, and Universal Music All Offline

Anonymous has sure been quiet lately, but today's federal bust of Megaupload riled 'em up good: a retaliatory strike against DoJ.gov (and plenty of other foes) leaving them completely dead.

DownForEveryoneOrJustMe.com is reporting the department's site as universally nuked, and an Anonymous-affiliated Twitter account is boasting success. This is almost certainly the result of a quickly-assembledDDoS attack—and easily the widest in scope and ferocity we've seen in some time. If you had any doubts Anonymous is still a hacker wrecking ball, doubt no more.

The combination of the hacking nebula'sSOPA animosity—they've been a vocal opponent of the bill since its inception—combined with today's sudden Megaupload news has made the group bubble over: hundreds upon hundreds of Anon operatives are in a plotting frenzy, chatting about which site will go down next. In Anon's eyes, the government and media interests are responsible for the undue destruction of Megaupload (and the arrest of four of its operators), so it'll be exactly those entities that're feeling the pain right now. Pretty much every company that makes movies, TV, or music, along with the entirety of the federal government, is in Anonymous' crosshairs.

Kim Dotcom’s bubble bursts - Kimble.org?

The playboy lifestyle of one of the world’s biggest Internet pirates has been exposed after a raid by police on his home in New Zealand.

Multimillionaire Kim Dotcom, one of the founders of Megaupload.com, was arrested Friday despite retreating to an electronically locked “safe room” in his sprawling home in Auckland, Dotcom Mansion.

Officers, who swooped on the $30-million property in two helicopters, had to cut their way into the room. There they found Mr. Dotcom — a 37-year-old German national whose real name is Kim Schmitz — with what appeared to be a sawn-off shotgun.

Stretched Audi R8 becomes the world’s fastest limo

If you're in the market for an Audi R8, you not only have excellent taste in vehicles, you're also probably not hurting for cash. But if you want to add even more luxury to your dream car, consider the upcoming R8 limousine from London's Limo Broker. It's got all the flash of Audi's sexy supercar, along with the title of World's Fastest Limo.

Renowned attorney Bennett to represent Megaupload

ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) — When Megaupload executives arrive in court to answer charges that they orchestrated a massive online piracy scheme, they'll be backed by a prominent lawyer who has defended Bill Clinton against sexual harassment charges and Enron against allegations of corporate fraud.

Washington attorney Robert Bennett said Friday that he will represent the company, which was indicted in federal court in Alexandria Thursday on copyright infringement and other charges. The U.S. government shut down Megaupload's file-sharing website on Thursday, alleging that the company facilitated illegal downloads of copyrighted movies and other content. Seven individuals — including the company's founder, who had his name legally changed to Kim Dotcom — were also charged. Dotcom and three others were arrested in New Zealand; three others remain at large.

MegaUpload - NZ police raid file-sharing site founder's mansion

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — New Zealand police raided several homes and businesses linked to the founder of Megaupload.com, a giant Internet file-sharing site shut down by U.S. authorities, on Friday and seized guns, millions of dollars, and nearly $5 million in luxury cars, officials said.

Police arrested founder Kim Dotcom and three Megaupload employees on U.S. accusations that they facilitated millions of illegal downloads of films, music and other content costing copyright holders at least $500 million in lost revenue. Extradition proceedings against them could last a year or more.

With 150 million registered users, about 50 million hits daily and endorsements from music superstars, Megaupload.com was among the world's biggest file-sharing sites. According to a U.S.indictment, the site, which was shut down Thursday, earned Dotcom $42 million in 2010 alone.

"Miss Bala" puts human face on Mexico's drug war

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - In a ripped-from-the-headlines story, the new movie "Miss Bala," which opens in limited U.S. release on Friday, tells the harrowing tale of a small-town Mexican beauty named Laura who inadvertently becomes involved with a violent drug lord.

Directed and co-written by Gerardo Naranjo and executive produced by Diego Luna and Gael Garcia Bernal of "Y Tu Mama Tambien" fame, the film takes a cold, hard look at Mexico's devastating drug war and its effect on the country and people.

Naranjo and Luna talked to Reuters about making the film and its message.

Q: Is it true that this film was inspired by a newspaper story you read?

Why is PETA Upset Over This Gold Cape?

You're looking at thelargest item of clothing ever made from spider silk. This gold cape was a four-year project involving more than 1 million spiders . And not just any spiders. These guys are a rare species from Madagascar with golden filaments that produce the blindingly saffron product you see here. 

RedPad: Android tablet for Chinese politicians that costs twice as much as the iPad

Would you buy a $1,600 Android tablet that doesn't have any special features compared to other slates half its price? A relatively unknown Chinese manufacturer seems to think people would, and released a tablet called the RedPad — a Honeycomb device specifically meant for China's government officials, that costs almost two grand.

‘Haywire’ Star Gina Carano Beats Up Some of Hollywood’s Leading Men

Steven Soderbergh's latest movie, "Haywire," opens with a bruised woman, Mallory (Gina Carano), casing a roadside truck stop from behind a snowbank. She enters the greasy spoon and takes a booth. Soon, Aaron (Channing Tatum) shows up. A few tense words are exchanged before he throws hot coffee in her face and starts a shockingly brutal beatdown. Once she regains her footing, however, she cleans his clock with ruthless efficiency. Of course, before he started acting, Tatum was a male stripper. Carano, however, was an American Gladiator and a mixed martial arts (MMA) champ. Not really a fair fight.

Eminem AKA (2004)

The story of rap superstar Eminem and his rise to fame, as told through interviews with family and friends. VIDEO

Gallery: cities stripped of their architecture at night

When nighttime rolls around, a noisy city quickly becomes a deserted and lonely place. James Reeve's "lightscape" photos pull out the beauty in cities engulfed by darkness.

YouTube launches competition for 'storytellers' behind the camera

While we watch hours of video with people and animals doing just about anything on camera, the amateur filmmaker behind the lens often goes forgotten. YouTube wants to change that with the announcement a global competition looking for the best 15-minutevideo storyteller. The prizes? A chance to work with Ridley Scott to bring the story to life on the big screen, with $500,000 thrown in for good measure.

Apogee of Fear: first sci-fi film to be filmed in space to release

An eight-minute film by Richard Garriott shot during his time as a paying civilian aboardInternational Space Station (ISS) will be release for public viewing after all. Release ofApogee of Fear was in jeopardy of becoming an expensive vacation video until NASA recently lifted their ban and has committed to work with Garriott on it's completion.

Dredd's creator hated the first film. But what about the reboot?

Writer and co-creator of Judge Dredd John Wagner has never had very nice things to say about the 1995 film adaptation of his comic creation, but at least he gets another shot at a good flick when Dredd is released this year. He's already said the film's screenwriter is on the right track, but what does he think about the film overall?

Did Fassbender just say Magneto and Xavier will be allies next time?

We're quite a way from the sequel to X-Men: First Class being a reality—most of the actors are contractually obligated to return, but director Matthew Vaughn has yet to sign on the dotted line—but that hasn't stopped one of its stars from revealing a little bit about the X-Men's great love story.

Coda Auto pulls double duty for EVs and grid storage

Electric carmaker Coda Automotive thinks its car batteries are versatile enough to buffer the electric grid.

The company today announced a venture called Coda Energy, a business unit created to build stationary energy storage systems.

Lana Del Rey Bombs With “One Of The Worst Outings In SNL History”

People sure love to hate Lana Del Rey. After sustaining repeated attacks on her appearance, her questionable past, and her flimsy current identity, the retro-glamour singer and "gangsta Nancy Sinatra" was torn apart once again for her less-than-impressive performance on "Saturday Night Live" this past weekend. NBC news anchor Brian Williams called her "one of the worst [performers] in 'SNL' history," while the episode's host, Daniel Radcliffe, came to her defense. So, did "SNL" producers make a big mistake by booking Del Rey, who has yet to release her major label debut album, for such a high-profile appearance so early--or by booking her at all?

FX GamExperience Showcases New Open World Shooter

Look for being able to get your feet wet with Firefall. Old Tribes and WoW talent working on this one.

On January 21st in Dallas, Texas, Red 5 Studios will be providing access to the invite-only beta test for their highly anticipated open-world shooter, Firefall. Ten stations will be running the Firefall beta to give AMD VIPs and the HardOCP community a sneak peak of Firefall's PvP modes and open world experience. After playing, attendees will be able to register for regular access to the exclusive beta which is currently only being tested by an extremely limited pool of testers.

Concordia disaster: Coastguard calls captain Transcript

Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera has posted what it says is a recording of a radio conversation on the day of the Costa Concordia disaster between Francesco Schettino, captain of the stricken ship, and Gregorio de Falco of the Italian coastguard in Livorno. It reveals how Mr De Falco repeatedly asked Capt Schettino to return to the ship. This translation into English was done by the BBC:

Gregorio De Falco: "Hello. Hello."

Francesco Schettino: "Good evening, captain."

De Falco: "Hello, I'm de Falco, from Livorno. I am speaking with the commander?"

Schettino: "I'm Commander Schettino."

De Falco: "Listen Schettino, there are people trapped aboard, you go with your lifeboat under the prow of the ship on the port side and you go aboard the ship using the rope ladder. You go aboard and you tell me how many people there are. Is it clear? I'm recording this conversation, Commander Schettino."

Schettino: "So, I'll tell you something..."

Reconstruction sphere makes a flawless digital copy of anything

A digital picture lets you preserve an image of something indefinitely, thanks to the resilience and longevity of digital data. Digitally preserving a whole object is an entirely different kettle o' fish, but the OrcaM reconstruction sphere makes the process fast, simple, and flawless.

Contact lenses upgrade your eyes to enable true immersive VR 3D vision

Our eyes are just not built for the future. It sucks, but it's true. We can't physically focus on things that are very close to us, which is why we're not all rocking high-resolution immersive virtual reality displays built into our eyeglasses. How do we fix this problem? Simple: we upgrade our eyeballs.

Your next airliner could be a B-2 bomber

NASA has been actively encouraging aerospace companies to start working on the next generation of passenger airliners, and we've been impressed by futuristic designsfrom Boeing and Lockheed Martin. Northrop Grumman revealed its design last week, and it probably looks familiar: it's basically a giant B-2 stealth bomber that you can ride inside.

4 Lessons From Kodak's Comedown

Another one bites the dust.

Companies fail all the time, but the last few years have seen an unusual parade of marquee names that once transformed or dominated their industries headed for bankruptcy court: General Motors, Chrysler, Blockbuster, Borders, Circuit City, and of course Lehman Brothers.

[See 11 companies on the edge in 2012.]

Now Eastman Kodak has declared bankruptcy, yet another victim of a technology revolution that moved too fast for a big, lumbering firm to keep up with. Kodak, of course, dominated consumer photography for more than a century, first with its inexpensive cameras and then with its ubiquitous film and photographic paper. For years, Kodak was one of the most recognizable brands in the world.

Super expensive, super smart XM25 proving itself in Afghanistan

The XM25 is a $35,000 weapon that fires tiny little 25 millimeter grenades up to 500 yards. But these aren't just any microgrenades: they're smart microgrenades that can penetrate heavy cover and then explode when they're on the other side.

Cruise Contracts Pose Barriers To Legal Claims

Another possibility is to buy travel insurance that will not only cover your belongings, but also insure against penalties that apply if you need to cancel the trip.

They can leave you in the lurch (as long as it’s on dry land). On this point, you’ll find similar wording in the two contracts. Carnival’s, for instance, provides that if your voyage is “is hindered or prevented” for various reasons which the contract lists, or for “any other cause whatsoever,” you and your baggage “may be landed at the port of embarkation or at any port or place at which the Vessel may call, at which time the responsibility of Carnival shall cease and this contract shall be deemed to have been fully performed.”