Obama, Britney Spears' Twitter Account Hacked

Accounts of CNN anchor Rick Sanchez, Fox News, Barack Obama, and Britney Spears have also been reportedly hacked


The social networking blog site Twitter is facing security related issues these days. According to reports, more than 30 Twitter accounts have been hacked recently. These include accounts of prominent people like President-elect Barack Obama, Britney Spears, and CNN anchor Rick Sanchez. Accounts of well-known organizations like Fox News have also been reportedly hacked.


This phishing attack seems to have spread rapidly over the last two days and has lead to obscene comments written about private parts, drugs, and sex. However, these comments were soon deleted by the Twitter authorities or the account holders.


A post on the official Twitter blog said that they immediately locked down the accounts and investigated the issue. These accounts were compromised by an individual who hacked into some of the tools used by Twitter s support team. Twitter, then, immediately took the support tools offline and will put them back only when they're safe and secure.


All i can say is that if you are a Twitter user, avoid clicking on links from unknown sources and report any kind of unusual activity you spot on the website.

Twitter Nods for TV Series, News Show

Twitter, a micro-blogging service, has earned popularity by leaps and bounds albeit without any concrete business model. These days, Twitter users, fans and the entire web is buzzing with the speculations about an upcoming Twitter TV show. Biz Stone, co-founder of Twitter, posted on the official Twitter blog that production companies like MTV, CNN, G4, E! and other independent production houses are looking forward to leverage on Twitter for new projects.

Earlier this month, Twitter reportedly tied up with ABC news to come up with a weekly digital show called NightTLine. The show allows the users to discuss and debate on the news of the day on Twitter.

Twitter has also partnered with Reveille and Brillstein Entertainment to develop an unscripted TV drama with the aim of putting ordinary people on the trail of celebrities in a revolutionary competitive format. Variety reported that Reveille (creators of The Office) and Brillstein Entertainment (creators of Samantha Who) had jointly announced yesterday this project which is project concept of Novelist Amy Ephron.

Stone further stated that Twitter has a 'lightweight, non-exclusive, agreement with the producers' for TV series but denied that there is an official Twitter Show.

Slowly but gradually, we might end up watching Twitter in many new TV shows.

Nokia 'Rover' Tablet Pictures Leaked

what's evident from the only picture of the device is that it has more of an N-Series touch whilst still retaining the much needed tablet look. The blurry shot sure doesn't really help things out. We do have some details from the article posted yesterday. The device codenamed "Rover" has also been termed the N900 by some. At this time, we only have a few details regarding the processor, screen size and that it will sport a separate 3D chip. Then, there is the 5 megapixel camera that should keep imaging buffs happy.

On the software front, it will come loaded with Maemo 5. Overall, the general compactness and reduction in the size of the device should appeal many and should let users "upgrade" to one of these, instead of opting for the N97.

Gustave the Croc Surfaces to Strike Again - One of Africa's most elusive killers is back in action in Burundi.

A cold-blooded serial killer is on the loose. His name is Gustave. He's 20 feet long, weighs 2,000 pounds, and stands accused of devouring hundreds of people. Writer Michael McRae and photographer Bobby Model travel to war-torn Burundi to confront the man-eater.
Text by Michael McRae
Photograph Bobby Model

Patrice Faye is standing on the west bank of Burundi's Rusizi River with binoculars raised to his eyes.

"Quatre metres," the 52-year-old French expatriate says nonchalantly as he sizes up a 13-foot-long Nile crocodile basking on a sandbar 50 yards away. It's a wiltingly hot day at the end of the dry season in central Africa, and the muddy Rusizi, though diminished in height and volume, is still racing toward its rendezvous with Lake Tanganyika, a mile downstream. Faye has been studying Burundi's crocodiles for two decades and has seen countless individuals of this size. The bull is about 25 years old and weighs roughly 500 pounds—just average for a young adult male of the species, yet still capable of inflicting tremendous harm on man or beast.

This croc isn't the creature that Faye is looking for, however. Like Captain Ahab, the self-taught naturalist is preoccupied with one monster in particular: Gustave, the largest, most fabled crocodile in all of Africa—a demonic Loch Ness Monster of incredible proportions and, according to legend, appetite. Gustave is reputed to have devoured hundreds of villagers, snatching them from the banks of the Rusizi and the northeastern shores of Lake Tanganyika. Faye estimates that the massive croc measures 20 feet long, weighs one ton, and is 60 years old (wild crocs, on average, live to age 45). Trained herpetologists agree that Gustave could be that large and that he is certainly one of the most infamous man-eaters of all time. But Faye's assertion that Gustave kills for sport—knocking off villager after villager like some killing machine—leaves skeptics clearing their throats.

I've come to Burundi to suss out the myths and realities surrounding Gustave, and, hopefully, to document the end of his alleged bloody rampage. With me are photographer Bobby Model and French film director Vincent Munie. Along with Faye, an able storyteller who after six years of sleuthing knows more about Gustave than anyone, the three of us make up an advance search team. Our mission is to track down Gustave; he is still on the loose but has been sighted as recently as three weeks ago. We have five days to locate him before the arrival of our colleague Brady Barr, the world record holder for croc wrangling—3,000 captured in 15 years.

12-year-old's drawing to grace Google page

One of the perks of using search engine Google's home page is checking out the frequently changing seasonal, current-event, and holiday-inspired "doodles" used for the logo.

Soon the work of 12-year-old Christin Engelberth will occupy the Google spotlight to be viewed by millions of online searchers worldwide.

On Wednesday, Google announced that Christin, a sixth-grader at Bernard Harris Middle School in San Antonio, Texas, is this year's winner of "Doodle 4 Google," a yearly competition that asks K-12 students to dream up their own variation of the logo. Her work will be featured on Google's main site for 24 hours on Thursday.

The theme of this year's contest was "What I Wish for the World."

"Both our country and the world are undergoing significant change," Google said on the contest's Web pages. At Google we believe in thinking big, and dreaming big, and we can't think of anything more important than encouraging students to do the same."

"A New Beginning," the title of Christin's doodle, depicts the Google logo as a land and sea naturescape intertwined with trees, a frog and leaping dolphin, a curious lizard, a turtle and fish, and a butterfly set against an orange and yellow background with a rising sun represented by the second "O" in "Google."

Christin said she portrayed a dawn as a symbol of a new day. Her wish was that "out of the current crisis, discoveries will be found to help the Earth prosper once more." She added that wanted to portray a brighter tomorrow and "discoveries being made lead to a better Earth for everyone."

Christin said her initial idea for a doodle was for animal conservation, but then she decided "it shouldn't just include animals; it should include the rest of the world."
Christin did check out her competition, and said she thought the other doodles were "much better than mine."

But a panel of independent judges and Google employees, along with close to 6 million online voters, disagreed, and chose her sketch as the overall winner from a field of over 28,000 other submissions.

Google's Marissa Mayer, vice president of search products and user experience, and Dennis Hwang, webmaster manager, said on the Google Blog that Christin's design was part of "a very creative pool of doodles."

As the national winner, Christin will receive a $15,000 college scholarship, a laptop, and a $25,000 technology grant for her school, in addition to having her artwork featured on the Google site.

She was presented with her award at the Smithsonian's Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum in New York City, where Google also unveiled an exhibit of the top doodles. They will be on display until July 5.

National finalists also were selected in three grade groups. Each will receive a laptop computer.

All winners were treated to a day in New York that Google said "included activities which promote peace, sustainability and wellness -- all inspired by this year's theme." The winners also will participate in a doodling class led by Dennis Hwang and the Google doodle team.

Grand prize winner Christin -- told she was excited to visit New York City -- said she's been "drawing for as long as she can remember."

When she grows up, she said, she hopes to do "anything to do with art."