Is Anonymous Less Anonymous Now?

"We are Legion. We do not forget. We do not forgive. Expect us."

So goes the cartoon-villain tagline of Anonymous, the amorphous collective entity that started as an ad-hoc identity for Internet trolls and pranksters and, in the last year especially, has become an increasingly politicized engine of online agitation and digital "hacktivism."

Last week, Anonymous took on its most challenging adversary yet?itself?when a splinter faction took control of a critical communications hub, and released information that could be used to track down other members of the secretive organization. The incident has revealed just how hard it is to peer behind the curtain and see what, or more importantly who, Anonymous really is.

Through its escalating acts of hacktivism, Anonymous has taken up causes of broadening social and political importance. Starting last September, there was Operation Payback, which unleashed weeks of distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks on the websites of the Motion Picture Association of America and other foes of Internet piracy. Next came Operation Avenge Assange, which briefly brought down Visa and PayPal websites after those companies cut off donations to the embattled Wikileaks. This was closely followed by OpTunisia, OpEgypt, and other operations aimed at helping Arab protestors topple their repressive governments.

Much of the work of coordinating these campaigns was done on an Internet Relay Chat network called AnonOps, and it was this hub that was highjacked last weekend in what the network's abruptly shut-out administrators called a "coup d'état." The outage didn't last long. By midweek, AnonOps loyalists had begun relocating the network to a new set of domain names and there were rumors of a major counterblow: The infiltration of an 800,000-computer botnet with which the rogue group (consisting, it seemed, of one disaffected AnonOps admin called Ryan, age 19, and a sidekick or two) had threatened to overrun any new Anonymous sites with DDoS attacks. More serious, perhaps, was Ryan's release of the private Internet protocol addresses of hundreds of registered AnonOps users, no minor violation of the anonymity that is both a tactical asset for Anonymous and, in some ways, its raison d'être.

If Anonymous has suffered any lasting damage from the infighting, perhaps it is to a more fundamental aspect of its identity: its cherished image as an utterly decentralized and leaderless force?a hive-minded swarm in which there are no fixed positions of control and no individuals more authoritative than any others.

In fact, it was precisely the perceived divergence of AnonOps from that ideal that the faction said had driven them to attack it. In an interview with U.K. tech-news site thinq_, Ryan and friends dismissed any notion that the site functions leaderlessly. "There is a hierarchy," said Ryan, singling out a core group of 10 fellow moderators who meet regularly in a private chat channel and, he claimed, effectively decide what sites and causes the group will take aim at next. "All the power ... it's in that channel," he said, insisting further that his only intention in shutting down the network was to break up that power by breaking Anonymous's reliance on AnonOps as a communications venue.

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1 million Facebook fans brings in an average of 826 likes and 309 comments per post

Social media brand monitoring platform, Simplify360, explored the relationship between the number of Facebook fans and engagement level to reveal that on an average, each new post generates 826 likes and 309 comments.

The research firm took 50 Facebook fan pages with a random mix of brands from all over the world from consumer brands, to sports teams, to celebrities.

The research defines Liking Rate and Commenting Rate as the average ?likes? and ?comments? a post would generate if the number of fans for the page is normalized to one million. Only posts by the page admin are considered for the study.

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Source: http://thenextweb.com/facebook/2011/05/17/1-million-facebook-fans-brings-in-an-average-of-826-likes-and-309-comments-per-post/

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AMD's upcoming A8-3530MX mobile Llano APU detailed

DonanimHaber has published a report detailing what is supposedly the fastest mobile processor AMD plans to release in 2011, though this could be confused in translation. The A8-3530MX will launch as part of the company's Llano notebook APU lineup, featuring a 32nm fabrication and using AMD's new FS1 package, the chip is comprised of four processing cores along with an integrated graphics processor and embedded northbridge components.

The CPU cores operate at a base frequency of 1.9GHz with TurboCore speeds reaching up to 2.6GHz and are accompanied by 4MB of L2 cache. Graphics are handled by a Radeon HD 6620G clocked at 444MHz, and while that may seem sluggish compared to the 500MHz part inside the low-voltage E-240 and E-350, the HD 6620G has 400 shaders versus a paltry 80. The GPU will also have DirectX 11 support and the UVD 3.0 with hardware-accelerated Blu-ray 3D playback.

The A8-3530MX contains a dual-channel memory controller that supports DDR3 RAM up to 1600MHz, as well as a PCI-Express 2.0 hub that can handle discrete graphics. Despite cramming all of those components under one roof, the A8-3530MX is said to have a thermal envelope of 45W. DananimHaber mentioned that the Fusion chip will be paired with one of two southbridge chipsets: the A60M or the A70M. Both are largely identical, except the former lacks native USB 3.0 support.

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Source: http://www.techspot.com/news/43816-amds-upcoming-a8-3530mx-mobile-llano-apu-detailed.html

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Is Anonymous Less Anonymous Now?

"We are Legion. We do not forget. We do not forgive. Expect us."

So goes the cartoon-villain tagline of Anonymous, the amorphous collective entity that started as an ad-hoc identity for Internet trolls and pranksters and, in the last year especially, has become an increasingly politicized engine of online agitation and digital "hacktivism."

Last week, Anonymous took on its most challenging adversary yet?itself?when a splinter faction took control of a critical communications hub, and released information that could be used to track down other members of the secretive organization. The incident has revealed just how hard it is to peer behind the curtain and see what, or more importantly who, Anonymous really is.

Through its escalating acts of hacktivism, Anonymous has taken up causes of broadening social and political importance. Starting last September, there was Operation Payback, which unleashed weeks of distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks on the websites of the Motion Picture Association of America and other foes of Internet piracy. Next came Operation Avenge Assange, which briefly brought down Visa and PayPal websites after those companies cut off donations to the embattled Wikileaks. This was closely followed by OpTunisia, OpEgypt, and other operations aimed at helping Arab protestors topple their repressive governments.

Much of the work of coordinating these campaigns was done on an Internet Relay Chat network called AnonOps, and it was this hub that was highjacked last weekend in what the network's abruptly shut-out administrators called a "coup d'état." The outage didn't last long. By midweek, AnonOps loyalists had begun relocating the network to a new set of domain names and there were rumors of a major counterblow: The infiltration of an 800,000-computer botnet with which the rogue group (consisting, it seemed, of one disaffected AnonOps admin called Ryan, age 19, and a sidekick or two) had threatened to overrun any new Anonymous sites with DDoS attacks. More serious, perhaps, was Ryan's release of the private Internet protocol addresses of hundreds of registered AnonOps users, no minor violation of the anonymity that is both a tactical asset for Anonymous and, in some ways, its raison d'être.

If Anonymous has suffered any lasting damage from the infighting, perhaps it is to a more fundamental aspect of its identity: its cherished image as an utterly decentralized and leaderless force?a hive-minded swarm in which there are no fixed positions of control and no individuals more authoritative than any others.

In fact, it was precisely the perceived divergence of AnonOps from that ideal that the faction said had driven them to attack it. In an interview with U.K. tech-news site thinq_, Ryan and friends dismissed any notion that the site functions leaderlessly. "There is a hierarchy," said Ryan, singling out a core group of 10 fellow moderators who meet regularly in a private chat channel and, he claimed, effectively decide what sites and causes the group will take aim at next. "All the power ... it's in that channel," he said, insisting further that his only intention in shutting down the network was to break up that power by breaking Anonymous's reliance on AnonOps as a communications venue.

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Source: http://feeds.technologyreview.com/click.phdo?i=5318558ae28ee59af78267bbdf0c7fc3

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Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Ultraportable Laptop Review

AMD's upcoming A8-3530MX mobile Llano APU detailed

DonanimHaber has published a report detailing what is supposedly the fastest mobile processor AMD plans to release in 2011, though this could be confused in translation. The A8-3530MX will launch as part of the company's Llano notebook APU lineup, featuring a 32nm fabrication and using AMD's new FS1 package, the chip is comprised of four processing cores along with an integrated graphics processor and embedded northbridge components.

The CPU cores operate at a base frequency of 1.9GHz with TurboCore speeds reaching up to 2.6GHz and are accompanied by 4MB of L2 cache. Graphics are handled by a Radeon HD 6620G clocked at 444MHz, and while that may seem sluggish compared to the 500MHz part inside the low-voltage E-240 and E-350, the HD 6620G has 400 shaders versus a paltry 80. The GPU will also have DirectX 11 support and the UVD 3.0 with hardware-accelerated Blu-ray 3D playback.

The A8-3530MX contains a dual-channel memory controller that supports DDR3 RAM up to 1600MHz, as well as a PCI-Express 2.0 hub that can handle discrete graphics. Despite cramming all of those components under one roof, the A8-3530MX is said to have a thermal envelope of 45W. DananimHaber mentioned that the Fusion chip will be paired with one of two southbridge chipsets: the A60M or the A70M. Both are largely identical, except the former lacks native USB 3.0 support.

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Source: http://www.techspot.com/news/43816-amds-upcoming-a8-3530mx-mobile-llano-apu-detailed.html

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The Danger of Algorithms

You might not realize it yourself but a lot of information that you get via social networks and the web in general in edited for you. Facebook chooses which friends appear in your news feed. Every time you search on Google the results are tailored based on 57 signals that Google reads about you (when you are logged in to a Google account there are even more).

The reason this has happened is because of the sheer volume of information and content out there on the web. In the old days the information we consumed was controlled by editors. Editors play a vital role in sifting out the volume and leaving us with the important content but those editors are increasingly being replaced by algorithms on sites like Facebook and Google and pretty much most of the other big sites you use on the web. Even though most people don?t even know that they are seeing content based on algorithms it?s widely believed that they are a good thing because they make content more relevant and cut down on the amount of time you waste consuming information that you don?t need to.

This video of a talk at TED though challenges that whole theory though and makes us all think again about algorithms and how sites like Facebook and Google choose to serve us up content. I won?t ruin the video by telling you what he says but if you work in social media, the news industry or are just interested in the web then this is a must watch video. This is by far the smartest thinking I have seen when it comes to this subject and he should be admired for getting us all thinking like this in a video that is only 9 minutes long. Notice the distinguished (Only serious heavy hitters are allowed in to the TED conference) guests giving him a standing ovation.

The speaker is Eli Pariser, Moveon.org?s Board President, a co-founder of Avaaz.org, and the author of The Filter Bubble.

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Source: http://thenextweb.com/dd/2011/05/17/the-danger-of-algorithms/

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WPCandy Pros is a ?reverse job board? for WordPress professionals

WPCandy has launched a service called Pros, where WordPress professionals can create profiles for themselves that makes it easier for clients to find them.

Clients can run a search on WPCandy Pros that factors in location, specializations and project budget to find the most suitable candidates for the job.

The service offers a free plan, Basic Pro, and a premium offering, Sweet Pro, that runs customers $20 a month. Sweet Pro customers are put at the top of search results pages that include them, get a larger display on the the homepage and in search results, and can show more information at a glance.

The proliferation of services catering to the WordPress community is rapidly growing, and it?s no surprise that only hours after launch, the WPCandy Pros homepage is already full of large ads from Sweet Pro subscribers.

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Source: http://thenextweb.com/dd/2011/05/17/wpcandy-pros-is-a-reverse-job-board-for-wordpress-professionals/

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Thoughts on Jumping

It may seem an odd subject to focus on, as jumping doesn't seem to be very important on the face of it ? cut it out of a game, though, and it can make a huge difference. Games in which players can?t jump, or at the very least dodge or roll, can seem painfully slow, dull and static. Games in which players can jump around and use that movement to interact with the environment can seem immeasurably more fun because of it.

Take Half-Life 2, for example. It?s a game which nearly everyone would agree is well-made, decently written, fun and fast to play through. Now cast your mind back to the first scene in Kliener?s lab, where Gordon is first properly introduced to his allies, where the plot is given its first proper push and where you?re gifted with the HEV suit again. It?s a busy sequence; lots to do, lots to take in. You?d expect most players to pay close attention, at least the first time around.

Instead, every single player I know spends most of the time jumping around. Sometimes they try to jump on the scenery or knock over objects, other times they just leapfrog around the room when a simple stroll would suffice.


The same behaviour holds true in most other games too, I?ve found. When I played Beyond Good and Evil for the first time I hardly walked anywhere across the surface of Hillys; I rolled. In Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, any hallway that involved walking for more than two seconds would be punctuated by periodic bounding. It seems like aberrant behaviour at first, yet it seems as though everyone does it. Why?

The reason, I think, is actually more to do with player speed than actually jumping. It?s not that people always like to move fast through games or that they enjoy spending time off the ground. Instead, it comes back to the original point ? games that don?t feature jumping can feel static and slow, so we use these features if they're present to help negate this effect. Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time is a pretty fast-paced game, but running down a long corridor can still feel dull and empty; jumping as you run lets you vary the speed of the game. It creates tiny events of player agency and interaction, which stave off that staid feeling.

At the same time, adventure games that don?t feature anything so much as a sprint button? Don?t they seem increasingly slow and dated these days?


This isn?t the only reason why jumping is important, though. It helps you practice for later. It can be used to ward off boredom. It helps you to further explore the game space away from the key features. There's an abundance of smaller reasons; not least of which is possibly the fact that some people just have twitchy thumbs.

For the best games, though ? and this ties into a more overarching theory of mine about character speed ? the act of jumping can be a joy in itself. Master Chief?s jump, for example, is pleasantly floaty, while Dante?s can last for as long as you can hammer the attack buttons. Faith?s standing jump in Mirror?s Edge, however, is realistically awkward; she?s much better with running leaps.

Getting these nuances of player speed correct is one of the most subtle and important aspects of making a good game, especially for first person shooters. Trust me, I play a lot of really rubbish games and I can tell you that, if you throw all the cleverness away and boil it down to basic functionality, Half-Life 2 would still stand above Conspiracy Island 2 based solely on player speed. And the quality of the jumping.

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Hardware 23 - Socket to 'em

Hardware 23 - Socket to 'em

Posted on 9th May 2011 at 11:49 by Podcast with 5 comments

This week, Clive, Harry, Paul and Antony discuss Folding@home, going through what it's all about and what hardware you should be using to generate the most points per day.

Also on the agenda are some of our thoughts about factory-overclocked graphics cards. We discuss where in the market these provide real value, and when you?d be better of trading up to a better GPU altogether.

Harry also treats us all to a very long comprehensive run down of the current state of the SSD market, and what developments we can expect to see there over the next few months.

Finally, we take a look at AMD?s soon to be retired Phenom brand, and discuss what AMD got right and wrong with this chip-generation. We also take a look back at the conclusions we drew from our first experiences with Phenom-branded processors, and how our thoughts back then compare to our thoughts now.


As always, we've also set up our weekly competition, the lucky winner of which will walk away with a Speedlink Strike FX wireless gamepad. This gamepad is compatible with both the PC and PlayStation 3, and functions at distances of up to 10m.

As ever, the bit-tech hardware podcast features music by Brad Sucks, and was recorded on Shure microphones. You can download the podcast direct, listen in-browser or subscribe through iTunes using the links below. Also, be sure to let us know your thoughts about the discussion in the forums.

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