Would a day with no Google searches, Twitter updates, or online shopping help give the average web user more information regarding this possible web breaking bill. Apparently such a move is already under consideration, although exact details of how it would work have yet to be worked out.

Mozilla has already had a blackout day and Wikipedia has reportedly talked about doing something similar.

This drastic action would be in response to the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA). The bill which is backed by the motion picture and recording industries that has potential to reshape the web as we know it. Currently the debate has been delayed until the end of January when discussions are set to resume.

While the bill is largely supported by Hollywood other major media companies like 3M, Adidas, CVs and more support the bill. It is finally good to see the large Internet companies start making a stand. Up until now it has mostly been a grassroots campaign where the supporters looked more like those pirates the bill was aiming to stop.

On November 15th, Google, Facebook, Twitter, Zynga, eBay, Mozilla, Yahoo, AOL, and LinkedIn wrote a letter to Washington warning of the bills potential dangers.

Recently there has been a more proactive approach with internet users looking to affect the pocketbooks of those who support the bill. GoDaddy.com, one of the largest domain registrars and initial supported of SOPA, have seen people leave in drones.With the formation of "Dump GoDaddy Day" this past Thursday, Dec. 29th, they have thus forced GoDaddy to reconsider its own stance on SOPA.

Even microblogging site Tumblr got into the act and generated a total of 87,834 calls to Congress with their anti-SOPA campaign.

But the question remains for the average user would a dark day on the internet with major sites showing only information about the Stop Online Piracy Act really make a difference? Only if those messages are clear enough as to the potential Internet changing ramifications that SOPA seems to possess can we expect to see a swelling of people seeking a stop to this bill.

Let us know your thoughts on SOPA and if you think an Internet Blackout Day would useful to stop the SOPA Bill.

Check out his proposal video after the jump.

As seen on The Mary Sue.

This year there is a surplus of great gadgets to choose from which will make picking the right one even that much harder. Here is a selection of some of my top tech gadgets for this holiday season that any geek would be pleased to receive:


Apple iPad 2 – The latest iPad was released in March 2011 and features an all-new thinner, lighter design equipped with two cameras for FaceTime and HD video recording, dual-core A5 chip and same 10-hour battery life.

Kinect for Xbox 360 – Kinect allows consumers to control games and entertainment in extraordinary new ways, such as with the wave of a hand or the sound of one’s voice.

Syma RC Indoor Helicopter – At approximately 7.5 inches long, the brand-new three-channel gyro mini-metal RC helicopter is one of the world’s newest, smallest and lightest RC helicopters. It charges directly either from the USB cable or from the controller, which uses AA batteries and has a full-function control for the perfect flight.

Amazon Kindle Fire – This new tablet from Amazon aims to give you similar features as the Applie iPad but at a greatly reduced price. Based around the Android technology this promises to be an excellent little gadget and an ideal alternative especially for children and teens. With access to streaming movies, eBooks, music and Amazon’s Apps it’s definitely going to challenge the iPad for the top gadget this Christmas.

Sony PS3 Move – Not to be outdone by Microsoft, Sony released their own motion sensing system this year. It’s a cross between Microsoft Kinect and the Nintendo Wii controller — you still have a handheld controller, but there is also a camera to track your movement in 3D, making it one of the most accurate sensor controllers on the market.

Commadore PC64 – This one is sure to be a hit with all the nostalgic geeks out there. Back in the early 1990’s the Commodore 64 was the best-selling family home computer of all time. Now they have taken the ubiquitous Commodore 64 chassis and inserted modern technology to create the Commodore PC64. Commodore USA have promised to produce this little retro-looking PC in time for Christmas.

Apple iPod Touch – This is one item that is sure to be on the list of all teens this Christmas. Just like the Apple iPad the iPod Touch has become the most coveted portable device out there. With Apple’s addition of the advanced features to its iPod Touch, consumers can converse over FaceTime, shoot scenes in HD and utilize the highest-resolution iPod screen to date.

Since dorms and classrooms are normally tight on space, the best items are those that can take the place of multiple items helping to save space. Here are 5 of my top tech picks for going back to school.

1. Apple 32gb Wifi iPad 2
Normally a laptop has been the staple tech gadget for college students, but look for that to change this year. With an iPad 2 your student not only gets a device that allows for them to work while not in the dorm room but can also double as a portable entertainment center. Many colleges offer downloads of lectures through the iTunes store and with applications like PaperDesk, your student can record and take notes during class. As an added bonus, Amazon has worked a deal with textbook publishers allowing students to rent digital copies of textbooks. With the Kindle app on the iPad this could save your student both some money and weight.

Apple's iPad is a great addition to your College Tech List

2. Computer Monitor/TV
A large computer monitor may seem like a luxury item, but after having to work on term papers on a small screen, the added screen real estate makes work time more productive.  The best monitor are those that also double as a TV allowing your student to be both productive and enjoy some down time without taking any extra space. Make sure you look for one that has HDMI, DVI-D and VGA inputs allowing a laptop and other devices to connect to the screen.

Asus ve228 21.5" LCD Monitor

3. Bluetooth Keyboard and Mouse
Sure your student can use their laptops keyboard and touchpad, but when it comes to writing a long report or doing design a keyboard and mouse comes in very handy. With a bluetooth keyboard and mouse they can sit comfortably and work while not being hunched over their screen. A bluetooth keyboard also works with an iPad allowing them to work while on the go.

Logitech MX 5500 Bluetooth Keyboard & Mouse

4. A Charging Station
With cell phones, cameras, Bluetooth headsets, tablets all being used by today’s student there are bound to be multiple mobile devices that need charging in the dorm. A charging station that allows for multiple devices to recharge at once can come in handy and save some space.

Oxo multicharger

5. Computer Backup Solution
Computers always seem to crash at the most inopportune moments, especially when your working on a term paper. Make sure you don’t leave anything to chance for your student, invest in a removable hard drive that comes with proper backup software or subscribe to a cloud based backup site like Dropbox or Carbonite. Dropbox is free for the first 2 GB of storage and $10 per month for up to 50 GB and Carbonite is $59 per year for unlimited online backups. Both allow access to the data while on the go.

My husband is actually considering getting a laptop and some sort of wireless Internet to go with it. I looked into different options but do not understand all the tech lingo to be able to explain to him. We live a rural area, so we have limited options. I was told we should be able to get 3G with an Air card or a phone with a hot spot. We read that 4G is 10X faster than 3G, but is not an option where we live. Is 3G considerably fast? What does that actually mean? When we had dial up it was like 12 Kb/sec. Does that mean its 3G per second?

T-Mobile 3G Wireless USB Modem

A) 3G is going to be considerably faster than dial-up with one caveat, how good your connection is. A solid 3G connection should show you a speed of at least 800 Kbs. This speed of course varies on how close you are to a strong tower and which wireless carrier you are with. If you are close to a tower or towers, then the 3G connection is going to be fast and stable. But if you are a long distance from a good signal then the speed will reduce and could be hit and miss depending on how strong the signal is. It is not uncommon for 3G speeds to drop into the 2G range once you get away from a cellular tower, but still you should be getting at least an 80 Kbs connection which will be faster than dial-up.

How 3G and 4G works

[quote]Would you recommend the air card or a phone with a hot spot? I think I would prefer the phone because I heard it would power other WiFi devices. We have a Wii and I’m considering getting Netflix. It would be nice to connect the laptop and Wii at the same time.[/quote]

Verizon 4G Mobile Hotspot

A) I would recommend the phone if you are in need of one and want to share with multiple devices. Depending on which cellular carrier you go with you could also look at getting a mobile hotspot to power multiple devices. These are a small cellular device that strictly connects to the Internet and allows you to share that connection with multiple devices. One advantage of a mobile hotspot is that the cost to tether, connect multiple devices, is included in the monthly charge. With most cell phones there is an additional fee per month to allow tethering of multiple devices.

As far as Netflix goes trying to watch movies over 3G even with a good connection would probably not look that good on a larger screen. A 3G connection and Netflix normally looks decent, with a strong connection, no larger than in a tablet (iPad) size. Netflix also uses a lot of data and most plans even though they say Unlimited, like Sprint, still have some sort of cap where they either slow down your speed or charge extra if you use too much.

[quote]Do Air cards work when its moving? We would like to use the laptop in the car when we are traveling.[/quote]

A) Mobile hotspots, 3G cards, and phones will work in a moving vehicle. Once again, the speed of your Internet will depend on the signal of the towers you are closest to.

Typical 3G Speeds

[quote]Do you know if we are using the phone as a hot spot, if it will still function as a phone too (calls in, calls out, etc.)?[/quote]

A) That depends on the cellular provider. Currently, only AT&T and T-Mobile phones let you do both voice and data at the same time. All others are only one at a time. If a person calls in while you are connected to the Internet the call will go right to e-mail. This is where the mobile hotspots come in. They allow you to be on in Internet and not interfere with phone calls since it is a separate device.

[quote]What do service plans mean when they say data is 3G or 5G? Would we use a lot of data if we did get Netflix?[/quote]

Netflix Streaming to an iPhone

A) I am not sure what the 3G and 5G is unless this is in reference to 3 gigs of data and 5 gigs of data. This is how much data you are allowed to use in a month. Once that is used, you then either have to pay for more or wait until the next month for it to renew. If you want to use Netflix you will use a lot of data and I would not recommend using it with a 3G data plan.

If you had a 5 gigabyte monthly limit and take an average streaming size of about 500MB for one hour of video, you could essentially only watch 10 hours of streaming video before your data for the month was used up.

[quote]I also heard that Sprint offers a phone with hot spot that is unlimited calls, texts, and data. Would you recommend we go this route?[/quote]

A) I am not a 100 percent sure on just how unlimited the Sprint plan is but if Sprint has a good connection in your area then this would definitely be a smart choice since the plan is around $80 a month for phone, text, and data. But if you are not in need of a new phone I recommend looking into a mobile hotspot to serve your needs for a wireless connection that you can share.

After years of negotiations, the MPAA, RIAA and some of the country’s largest Internet service providers have agreed on a new approach to help identifying customers suspected of digital copyright infringement and a way to send them warnings about their misdoings.

Americans who illegally download songs, TV shows, and movies will now receive warnings to stop, failure to do so could result in reduced Internet speeds. The new process will issue a series of six warnings, each with a progressively harsher consequences if the initial cautions were ignored.

It is estimated that digital piracy costs the United States economy $16 billion in lost revenue each year, and both the MPAA and RIAA have been eager for an efficient way to deal with the problem.

It seems this latest agreement is a sensible approach to the problem of online content theft and should respect the privacy and rights of individual users.

While downloading the latest movie or missed TV show sounds easy, there is now one more deterrent in place to help keep copyrighted material safe and the normal user out of trouble.

Getting the right shot requires a few simple steps.

One of the best things about shooting fireworks is that if you get it right, the reward can be breathtaking. Simply follow these 5 steps and you will have photos you can cherish, and your friends and family will be amazed by.

1. If you have a tripod, you will want to pack that along with your chairs, drinks and snacks. Shooting on a tripod allows you capture longer exposures without moving the camera. While not everybody is willing to bring a tripod with them to the show, if you do the end results will be well worth the trouble.

2. Pick your spot. Pick the fireworks display you plan to attend early.  Before the holiday take a trip there and scout the viewing locations.  This will save you precious time when you arrive before the show.  Try to find a place with an unobstructed view, level for a tripod, and with the background/foreground objects you like. Make sure that you are not downwind of the show. If you are, you will be taking pictures of smoke and not fireworks! You want to stay upwind of the show to get the clearest pictures.

Picking the right spot and exposure will produce spectacular results.

3. Use a remote shutter or the self-timer on your camera to take the picture. You want the movement of the light from the fireworks, but not the camera. Even the slightest movement from your hand depressing the shutter release on the camera can cause a picture to be blurry. Using a timer will require a little practice to ensure the shutter is activated at the moment you want.  You’ll need to work on your timing to get the proper lead time correct.  I recommend a 2 second delay to start and see where that gets you.

4. Get your camera set up properly. First, make sure that your flash is turned off. Then, if your camera has a setting that allows you to set your shutter speed, try experimenting with long exposures. Try a 3, 5, and 10 second exposure to see what you get. Typically, you will be better off using a long exposure for the individual fireworks and a shorter exposure for the grand finale (since there is so much light in the sky with all the bursts). Remember that the longer the exposure, the more of a “trail” you will see for each burst and the more likely you are to catch multiple bursts in one image.

If you have a regular digital camera with no modes, just make sure the flash is off and use the nighttime mode if one exists. Many digital cameras today come with a specific fireworks setting that will help produce perfect shots.

Don't forget to enjoy the show.

5. Have a blast! The 4th of July is a celebration. Don’t spend all your time looking through the viewfinder or worrying about camera settings.  During the show take a step back and enjoy it. If you miss a shot remember there are plenty of firework displays this time of year so you can always try again. Besides what better excuse to go see some more explosions can you come up with?

A black-hatted meme which which has become the unofficial logo and is used as an image on their Twitter account.

Just who is LulzSec? Officially named Lulz Security, they are a hacker group who has gained notoriety this past month with several high profile attacks against corporate companies and government agencies. The most prolific of these attacks were against Sony, where they compromised over 1,000,000 accounts, and the attack that took the CIA web site offline.

The group first emerged in May 2011 and was seen more as an Internet prankster rather than a serious cyberattacker. The in June with the attack against Sony and its PlayStation Network Lulzsec appeared to start an all out cyberwar against anyone and everyone.

Last week they released an official statement attempting to explain their actions, available to read here. There they state "that our actions are causing clowns with pens to write new rules for you. But what if we just hadn't released anything? What if we were silent? That would mean we would be secretly inside FBI affiliates right now, inside PBS, inside Sony... watching... abusing..."

The gist of the statement is that Internet security is not what it could be, and that hackers don't always announce what they've hacked. They say, "...You are a peon to these people. A toy. A string of characters with a value. This is what you should be fearful of, not us releasing things publicly, but the fact that someone hasn't released something publicly. We're sitting on 200,000 Brink users right now that we never gave out. It might make you feel safe knowing we told you, so that Brink users may change their passwords. What if we hadn't told you? No one would be aware of this theft, and we'd have a fresh
200,000 peons to abuse, completely unaware of a breach."

The statement goes on making light of the group's most recent actions including releasing user names and passwords for a variety of sites across the Web, including Facebook, GMail, PayPal and Amazon accounts. "Welcome to 2011," it continues. "This is the lulz lizard era, where we do things just because we find it entertaining. [...] You find it funny to watch havoc unfold, and we find it funny to cause it. We release personal data so that equally evil people can entertain us with what they do with it."

LulzSec's theory behind releasing lists of hacked usernames or informing the public of vulnerable websites, is that it gives users the opportunity to change names and passwords elsewhere that might
otherwise have been exploited. While it does not appear that they are in it for a financial profit, they do have a track record of using compromised accounts to spread the mayhem around.

On June 20, 2011, LulzSec essentially declared war on the Internet. They teamed up with Anonymous, another popular hacker group, for "Operation Anti-Security". Together they encouraged supporters to hack into, steal, and publish classified government information from any source while leaving the term "Antisec" as evidence of their intrusion.

There was a global response from local law enforcement after this latest decree and on June 21, 2011 Ryan Cleary, a 19 year old man from Wickford, Essex, was arrested as part of an operation carried out in cooperation with the FBI. Original reports stated that he was a member of LulzSec. LulzSec denies that and states that he was in fact a host one of its IRC channels.

At the same time as Cleary's arrest, the FBI raided the Reston, Virginia facility of Swiss web hosting service DigitalOne. The raid which took several legitimate websites offline for a few hours was rumored to be related to the LulzSec investigation.

Just as the battles to stop the antics of LulzSec are starting, a rival hacker group TeaMp0isoN announced they are responsible for outing web designer and alleged LulzSec member Sven Slootweg. They have intentions to do the same with every member and proof that LulzSec is just "a bunch of script kiddies."

So what is let for us to do in the mean time you may wonder. The best advice to offer is to sit back and watch law enforcement and rival hacker groups duke it out and try to not get caught in the cross fire.
The best way to do this is to make sure you are using a different secure password for every online activity you are involved in. The best passord is one that is at least 8 characters long and is comprised of letters, numbers, and characters.?

The Kite
As described by Benjamin Franklin to Peter Collinson on October 19, 1752: Make a small cross of two light strips of cedar, the arms so long as to reach to the four corners of a large thin silk handkerchief when extended; tie the corners of the handkerchief to the extremities of the cross, so you have the body of a kite; which being properly accommodated with a tail, loop, and string, will rise in the air, like those made of paper; but this being of silk is fitter to bear the wet and wind of a thunder gust without tearing. To the top of the upright stick of the cross is to be fixed a very sharp pointed wire, rising a foot or more above the wood. To the end of the twine, next the key may be fastened. This kite is to be raised when a thunder-gust appears to be coming on, and the person who holds the string must stand within a door or window, or under some cover, so that the silk ribbon may not be wet; and care must be taken that the twine does not touch the frame of the door or window. As soon as any of the thunder clouds come over the kite, the pointed wire will draw the electric fire from them, and the kite, with all the twine, will be electrified, and the loose filaments of the twine, will stand out every way, and be attracted by an approaching finger. And when the rain has wetted the kite and twine, so that it can conduct the electric fire freely, you will find it stream out plentifully from the key on the approach of your knuckle. At this key the phial may be charged: and from electric fire thus obtained, spirits may be kindled, and all the other electric experiments be performed, which are usually done by the help of a rubbed glass globe or tube, and thereby the sameness of the electric matter with that of lightning completely demonstrated.

Franklin’s Lightning Bells
In the early 1750s, Franklin erected a lightning rod on top of his house for the purposes of experimentation, protection and possibly to get electricity for experimentation without having to go through the arduous process of constructing a primitive battery.

Franklin’s "iron rod" drew lightning down into his house. The rod was connected to a bell and a second bell was connected to a grounded wire. Every time there was an electrical storm, the bells would ring and sparks would light up his house.

Franklin was born on January 17, 1706, in Boston, to a candle and soap maker named Josiah Franklin, who fathered 17 children, and his wife Abiah Folger. Franklin’s formal education ended at age 10 and he went to work as an apprentice to his brother James, a printer. In 1723, following a dispute with his brother, Franklin left Boston and ended up in Philadelphia, where he found work as a printer. Following a brief stint as a printer in London, Franklin returned to Philadelphia and became a successful businessman, whose publishing ventures included the Pennsylvania Gazette and Poor Richard’s Almanack, a collection of homespun proverbs advocating hard work and honesty in order to get ahead. The almanac, which Franklin first published in 1733 under the pen name Richard Saunders, included such wisdom as: “Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise.” Whether or not Franklin followed this advice in his own life, he came to represent the classic American overachiever. In addition to his accomplishments in business and science, he is noted for his numerous civic contributions. Among other things, he developed a library, insurance company, city hospital and academy in Philadelphia that would later become the University of Pennsylvania.

Most significantly, Franklin was one of the founding fathers of the United States and had a career as a statesman that spanned four decades. He served as a legislator in Pennsylvania as well as a diplomat in England and France. He is the only politician to have signed all four documents fundamental to the creation of the U.S.: the Declaration of Independence (1776), the Treaty of Alliance with France (1778), the Treaty of Paris (1783), which established peace with Great Britain, and the U.S. Constitution (1787).
Franklin died at age 84 on April 17, 1790, in Philadelphia. He remains one of the leading figures in U.S. history.

(Photo: NASA/SDO) A strongest solar flare seen in five years has erupted from the Sun on early Tuesday, which is heading towards the Earth and could cause radio, satellite interference and auroral displays on Thursday.

On Tuesday June 7 the Sun unleashed an M-2 (medium-sized) solar flare, an S1-class (minor) radiation storm and a spectacular coronal mass ejection (CME) and was caught on video by NASA.

NASA says it will give Earth a mere "glancing blow," and the National Weather Service expects it will cause only minor disruptions to satellites and power grids. It could have been much worse. For centuries, solar flares have been responsible for a multitude of earth-bound calamities, from blackouts to disrupted communications to strange lights in the sky.

What is a Solar Flare?
A solar flare is caused when intense burst of radiation comes from the release of magnetic energy associated with sunspots. Flares are the solar system's largest explosive events. A CME happens when the outer solar magnetic fields are closed, often above sunspot groups, and the confined solar atmosphere can suddenly and violently release bubbles of gas and magnetic fields.

How can it impact Earth?
While a strong solar flare increases the chance of a spectacular light show, the electromagnetic pulse can also disrupt power grids and radio traffic when it passes the Earth. Some industries that are usually affected by solar flares include electrical power grid companies, airlines, GPS, military and ocean shipping routes.

The strongest solar storm on record is called the "Carrington Event", which is named after Richard Carrington who viewed and reported on the solar flare of September 1st. It occurred in late August and early September of 1859. From August 28th through September 4th, aurorae of unusual brilliance were observed throughout the globe.

If a Carrington-type flare hit today, then a large fraction of the satellites in orbit may be permanently damaged, leading to a communications blackout and potential chaos.

Why should we be concerned?
NASA says the sun is entering a particularly active time, and big flares like the one from Tuesday will likely be common during the next few years, with solar activity expected to peak around 2013. Most solar flares will only cause minor problems with satellites and power grids, but there's always a chance that a monster like the one from 1859 could hit.

What can we expect from this flare?
Besides some minor interference most people can expect to see higher auroral activity for Thursday and Friday but that is about all.