Gottfrid Svartholm, co-founder of The Pirate Bay, was arrested last week in his riverside home in Cambodia. This week we have an update for you. Officials close to the matter have said that they are deporting Svartholm. However, there is no word as of yet on when or where they are sending him.
A spokesperson for the police, Kirth Chantharith, said,
We will deport him based on our immigration law. We just know we will deport him. As to which country, that would be up to the Swedish side.
Currently, there are no extradition agreements in place between Cambodia and Sweden, where the pirate was originally convicted. Media outlets in Cambodia have speculated that the deportation would occur very soon, so long as the police commissioner signs off on everything. We have also learned that one of the main reasons Cambodia is pushing for the immediate deportation is because of the pressure Sweden is trying to put on countries that are housing the convicted Pirate Bay founders. Only $50,000 US have been recovered from the drawn-out case and while the CEO Carl Lundstrom has served time and paid for his part of the ruling, the remaining three reside outside of Sweden and are still evading police in several countries, but occasionally popping up on Twitter to let everyone know they're okay.
We will keep you up to date as soon as we hear what happens next to Svartholm, who was hiding in his own home in Cambodia for four years before police found him. It may be 2020 before the other two are brought back home to Sweden.
Earlier this year, over $228,000 worth of Bitcoins were stolen. For those who don't know, Bitcoin is a digital currency, similar to Microsoft Points. However, Bitcoins are acquired via "mining" from an idle PC. What it comes down to is that you are being compensated for your time and your computer's usage. The theft marked the second time in under a year that the new currency's security was breached, both through a Bitcoin exchange server and from Bitcoin servers directly. Unfortunately for those involved in Bitcoin, more theft has occurred.
The founder of the company BitFloor, which is an exchange service for Bitcoins, has reported that a hacker was able to access the company's servers and walk away with 24,000 Bitcoins, which is worth close to about $250,000. Because of this, the exchange now is out of money to make good on all of its deposits and BitFloor is under a temporary suspension of operations while it investigates the matter.
For more on this breach and what's being done about it, click that break.
The Nokia Lumia 900 has been the source of a lot of conversation since its release. Many people were incredibly excited about the flagship handset for Windows Phone 7, but there was only one major problem - it came out just ahead of the announcement that Windows Phone 8 was right around the corner and current model handsets would not be able to run it. Add to that a marketing campaign about the smartphone beta test and there is a lot of potential for unhappy customers and comedic fodder. At least WinPho 7.8 will bring some of the enhancements to the existing handsets.
Luckily Nokia has provided a solution to the problem, and they call it the Lumia 920. If you are under contract with a 900 you are out of luck, but for those of us who waited it out will get the ability to get a hold of the successor to the original flagship handset, and it will certainly be worth the wait. One of the new features of the Lumia 920 is wireless charging, using the Qi technology. This is a feature that is exciting to me as a webOS device owner. None of my devices ever really get plugged in, they all charge through induction. Fulton Innovation has been fighting with the Consumer Electronic Association to bring induction charging through their Qi standard to new devices and this indicates that the concept is catching on.
What else does the new Lumia 920 offer to Windows Phone customers? Hit the break for the details and photos.
Nintendo showed us all types of fun and games that could be on had on their Wii U at their E3 press conference. Unfortunately, we only were allowed to see one of the actual consoles and nobody seemed to want to talk about specs or pricing. Luckily, we saw Wii U specs leaked last month prior to PAX but still there wasn't a word about pricing. You'd think that being this close to holiday season, that would be information Nintendo would think we might want to know in order to plan our purchasing. However that does not seem to be the case.
The good news is that there is always one company that lists their holiday bundles a little early on their websites. Whether it be "by accident" or not, we have a little more insight, albeit out of the rumor mill realm of the tech world, on some pricing and availability for Nintendo's make or break console.
For what that news is and a little on "whodunnit," check with us after the break.
Need a reason to actually shop at a Walmart? How about the fact they're testing out some cool new tech? It seems like most people would need more convincing than just that to step foot into the retail giant, so allow me to elaborate. Walmart is currently testing out a new way to shop and pay for your items throughout its store just by scanning the UPC code with your smartphone.
The system, being tested in a store in Rogers, Arkansas, lets shoppers scan any item with their iPhone (for now) and take their items to a self-checkout counter. Shoppers can also set up shopping lists, check product availability and even put items into bags during their trip, all before heading to the self-checkout lane to finish the purchase. This new "Scan & Go" way of shopping is said to reduce not only checkout times, but costs for Walmart as well. Of course, we all know "costs" mean "employee salaries" in this world, where there would probably be less staff on floor, leaving the machines to checkout customers.
So far, only a select number of Walmart employees with iPhones were able to play with new shopping method. As you'd imagine, mobile shopping, while very cool and innovative, poses several alarming questions. We raise the red flags and analyze it all after the break.
In July Sprint turned on its first round of true 4G LTE towers around the nation. Soon after, more and more of their high-speed deployment was turned on and, while the network is faster than Verizon's 4G in some areas, it still lacks the coverage its red counterpart had almost two years ago.
This week, Sprint rolled out more 4G to more areas. Baltimore, Gainesville, GA, Manhattan/Junction City, KS and Sedalia, MO are now live with true 4G LTE. Sprint also said that more of Texas will get 4G coverage in the coming weeks. In Baltimore, 4G LTE will now be available from Fells Point, to Inner Harbor, Federal Hill and Pikesville, with more towers being powered up in the next few days. For my 3G users, Sprint still hasn't forgotten about you and officials have said that smartphone users in both Boston and Washington, D.C. should expect better coverage on their 3G towers, which means less roaming and quicker data.
Senior VP of Sprint's network division, Bob Azzi, said,
Our customers are enjoying new applications and devices that increase the demand for mobile data. The network build-out that today is playing out in four new cities will provide nothing less than a state-of-the art network platform for the next generation of customers. Customers across the country will begin to experience better 3G service on their devices and will be able to take advantage of 4G LTE on cutting-edge devices as we continue to launch more cities.
To me, it seems like even though Sprint's 4G LTE is far superior to that of AT&T's or Verizon's, the coverage is more important. It feels like Sprint is still lagging behind, even after being the first to roll out an actual 4G network (WiMAX), and that was back in 2008. Is an unlimited data plan worth it if you're confined to only 3G and/or roaming speeds? Some people may wait it out for the better network, especially Sprint loyalists, but others may find greener pastures, albeit limited to 5 or 10GB.
What about you? Sprint users, is it worth sticking around, hoping 4G LTE comes to your city two years after Verizon's already entered your market? Sprint said by the end of 2013, they expect to have their new LTE network "largely completed" but will also have improved its 3G service. At least they're not lying about their 3G network being 4G. Let us know your thoughts in the comments section. We'd love to have some Sprint users chime in.
