The surfboad made for snowboarding
Meet the "Fish Out of Water" snow surfboard or surf snowboard. Yes, a joint-venture between Signal Snowboards, Surf Prescriptions and Future Fins resulted in a "snurfboard" that can be used in the ocean waves and in the snowy mountain hills.
First, the team of shapers had to build a snowboard inside the surfboard. In the heart of the surfboard, there were wooden snowboard materials that would help resist all shocks.
The board then moves to the Future Fins factory where fin boxes are added to this unique gear. Afterwards, the board goes back to the fiberglass process, before the final snowboard base completes the show.
"It's time to surf and we are not surfers, so we reach out to some friends and we get the ultimate person to ride the surfboard. Rob Machado", explains Dave Lee, founder of Signal Snowboards.
Rob fell in love with the "surf n' snowboard". "I'm excited. I love the tail, already. It'll work, for sure", says Machado in the moment he takes a first look at it.
Pirate Bay’s Full Disclosure on PIPA and SOPA
TPB is reassuring its users that PIPA and SOPA will not stop its activities as “many workarounds” are at hand, a TorrentFreak report shows. However, what worries the Swedish portal is the future of the Internet.
“Of course we’re worried. Not so much for The Pirate Bay, as there are many workarounds, but for democratic reasons,” a Pirate Bay insider has told TF.
“It’s crazy what politicians will do in the name of copyright! They are either totally paid off, stupid or copyright holders. Or all of them – that’s not as uncommon as you might think. The worst part is that it’s so obvious that pretty much everyone in and outside the US, including major corporations, are against this bill,” he added.
If SOPA and PIPA get the green light, although their chances are diminishing, TPB is on the top list of being blocked by search engines and ISPs.
TPB already took precautions and launched a modified version of its CGIPROXY software so anyone with access to a webserver could start a Pirate Bay proxy.
“It’s obvious that the US has too much influence on the internet and the world’s politics. SOPA/PIPA is one of many newer laws that is passed in the US but really is in effect outside of their borders. The UN and other bodies should actually fight back and say that this is not OK,” the insider added.
“The internet is a global infrastructure and can’t be run in one single country. Besides fighting SOPA, we must also take away the possibility for a single country to rule over the global infrastructure.”
Megaupload Gets Shutdown by FBI
It is indeed a sad day for Internet’s freedom as Megaupload, one of the world’s largest file-sharing sites, has been shut down by the Federal Bureau Of Investigation based on charges of violating piracy laws. The move comes just after the day hundreds of websites protested against SOPA by doing a “blackout”.
“Members of the Mega Conspiracy are aware of the way that their sites are actually used by others; have themselves used the systems to upload, as well as reproduce and distribute, infringing copies of copyrighted content; and are aware that they have financially benefited directly from the infringement of copyrighted works that they are in a position to control,” the indictment reads.
“This action is among the largest criminal copyright cases ever brought by the United States”.
However, the indictment doesn’t say anything about Kasseem Dean, known as music producer “Swizz Beatz” and husband of Alicia Keys, albeit he’s allegedly Megaupload’s chief executive officer. When contacted, he refused to comment on the subject.
According to a U.S. Justice Department indictment, Megaupload and its affiliated websites generated revenues of more than 5 million per year through advertising. It also reads that due to copyright violations, the damages caused by Megaupload reach 0 million.
As for those that headed Megaupload, they’ve been convicted with five counts of copyright infringement and conspiracy. They face a sentence of 20 years in prison on the charge of conspiracy to commit racketeering, five years in prison for conspiracy to commit money laundering and another five years on each of the substantive charges of criminal copyright infringement.
Kim Dotcom is the alleged founder of Megaupload (resident of both Hong Kong and New Zealand and dual citizen of Finland and Germany); along with him, Chief Marketing office Finn Batato (German citizen), graphic designer Julius Bencko (Slovakian citizen), business development chief Sven Echternach (German citizen), Chief Technical Officer Mathias Ortmann (German citizen), software programmer Andrus Nomm (Estonian citizen) and programmer Bram van der Kolk, aka Bramos (Dutch citizen).
Dotcom, Batato, Ortmann and van der Kolk were taken into custody Thursday in Auckland, New Zealand, by local authorities. Bencko, Echternach and Nomm are still free.
Megaupload has been supported by celebrities, musicians and various producers. Before being shutdown, the website contained endorsements from Kim Kardashian, Alicia Keys and Kanye West, among others.
Not long after the feds seized Megaupload, the famous group Anonymous reacted and compiled and published a file with personal information about MPAA’s employees and US Democratic Party leaders and their families. The file was released through Pastebin.com, also containing a list of websites they plan to attack. (via HeraldSun)
The group – going under the name of @YourAnonNews on Twitter – announced that they managed to shut down FBI’s official website earlier today (4.25pm AEST) as a result of Megaupload being shut down.
“The government takes down #Megaupload? 15 minutes later #Anonymous takes down government & record label sites. #ExpectUs,” reads their tweet.
“Megaupload was taken down w/out SOPA being law. Now imagine what will happen if it passes. The Internet as we know it will end. FIGHT BACK,” wrote @YourAnonNews on Twitter.
What many call a “cyber war” between the authorities and those who fight for freedom of speech and human rights which easily extend to freedom of the internet has already had its spark – this just might be the flame .
Jamie O’Brien releases “Who is J.O.B. 2.0″
"Who is J.O.B. 2.0" is the latest adventure of pro surfer Jamie O'Brien. The 18-episode series will be debuting innovative camera systems and techniques to capture the extremely pleasant life of the Pipeline surfer boy.
The online episodic sequel to the DVD film "Who is J.O.B." is quite crazy and that is what we should expect when entering the life of Jamie O'Brien. The first episode can be seen here.
The iconic Hawaiian rider will open his home and backstage intimacy of each surf contest he competes in and promises to reveal all the details of his challenging daily routine.
"Who is J.O.B. 2.0" will have lots of beautiful girls, parties, groms, quivers, waves and food receipts. The 18 episodes will be released on Fridays.
Jamie O'Brien was born on the 9th June, 1983, in Hawaii. He is the son of a lifeguard and is one of the youngest surfers ever to win the Pipeline Masters, in 2004. JOB is a surfing brand in the Oahu's North Shore.
Wikipedia Goes Offline to Raise Awareness about SOPA and PIPA
Wikipedia has joined the long line of those actively protesting against SOPA and decided to make a statement by going offline today.
The action is meant to make it obvious (once more) for those who are yet to realize the danger of having such a bill enforced, how dramatically their life as internet users would be affected without, for example, a user-generated online encyclopedia and other websites that could suffer if this legislation gets green light.
However, for those who are in so much need of knowledge that cannot go without even for a day, methods of circumventing this impediment have been made available.
The announcement on Wikipedia reads:
“For over a decade, we have spent millions of hours building the largest encyclopedia in human history. Right now, the U.S. Congress is considering legislation that could fatally damage the free and open Internet. For 24 hours, to raise awareness, we are blacking out Wikipedia.”
If you want to learn more about Wikipedia’s black-out but also about the threat disguised as SOPA and PIPA you can do further reading here.
The Congress Concluded: SOPA’s A “No-Go”
In a post published yesterday we discussed about the decrease in support received by SOPA and PIPA. Today we pick up were we left with Congress’ healthy conclusion. Let’s check out the unfolding of the whole story:
On January the 15th 2012 a WashingtonMonthly report broke the news about SOPA being shelved by the Congress.
Ever since the controversial anti-piracy act took life in October 2011 both opponents and supporters of SOPA had been arguing, each presenting the cons and respectively pros of putting such a law into motion. Same goes for Senate’s Protect IP Act, commonly known as PIPA, a less aggressive version of SOPA, but with enough power to meddle with Internet’s freedom.
Last Friday SOPA’s sponsors agreed to drop a key provision that would have turned service providers into internet cops by being forced to block access to international “rogue” sites. That was the first blow to SOPA’s supporters.
The second came the very next day, when the White House announced its opposition to the bills (SOPA and PIPA).
“We will not support legislation that reduces freedom of expression, increases cybersecurity risk or undermines the dynamic, innovative global Internet.”
It added that any proposed legislation “must not tamper with the technical architecture of the Internet,” said the White House statement.
By now the Obama administration did not formally expressed any opinion. As part of the online “We The People” petition initiative launched by the White House in 2011, a response was published.
Just a few hours later the Congress shelved SOPA, indefinitely.
House Oversight Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) said early Saturday morning that Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) promised him the House will not vote on the controversial Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) unless there is consensus on the bill.
“While I remain concerned about Senate action on the Protect IP Act, I am confident that flawed legislation will not be taken up by this House,” Issa said in a statement. “Majority Leader Cantor has assured me that we will continue to work to address outstanding concerns and work to build consensus prior to any anti-piracy legislation coming before the House for a vote.”
A very important battle has been won, but the “war” is not over.
Mick Fanning celebrates the 50th anniversary of the Kirra Surfriders Club
Mick Fanning will join the celebrations of the 50th anniversary of the Kirra Surfriders Club (KSC), on the 28th January, in the Cultural Centre of the Kirra Hill, in Australia. Mick and his brothers Ed and Sean joined Kirra, in the early 90's, when the Fanning family moved to Coolangatta, from Ballina.
"I think it was about 17 years ago now. I always remember Tommy Peterson coming up with the most random calls ever. It was so funny! It was really cool and great to be part of Kirra. Some of the friends I met in the club are still good friends today and yeh it’s been fun", says Fanning.
"I think it’s great for us to be able to come back and to give back to the clubs that helped us along the way. I think that club surfing in Australia is the thing that grooms the kids at such a young age and teaches them about competitiveness and also the friendship within the competitiveness".
"That’s something that you only learn at a club level, learning to be able to let it go. Without club surfing there is no way we would be as strong as we are today as a surfing nation", adds the two-time world surfing champion.
Dutch ISPs Appeal the Court Order in The Pirate Bay Case
Last week we reported about two major Dutch ISPs, Ziggo and XS4ALL being ordered to block the access to the Pirate Bay website, following a complaint by anti-piracy organization BREIN.
Now both cablers have decided to appeal the court order that forces it to prevent its customers from using the Pirate Bay.
If the broadband providers refuse to block the access to the site they face a fine of up to €250,000.
While it does not condone piracy Ziggo said that banning certain websites is not a viable solution and it will only trigger more issues.
Top 10 Most Downloaded P2P File Sharing Clients
To get a better view on how the peer-to-peer scene is evolving with respect to what file sharing software people are using, we keep you posted weekly with the latest numbers. So here’s a list with last week’s top ten most downloaded p2p file sharing programs – the chart is based on figures published by Download.cnet.com and it refers to the number of times a p2p client was downloaded from their site (to download programs click on the titles – between brackets are displayed the current versions of the apps).
Week ended January 15
| P2P Filesharing Client | Number of downloads (last week) | Number of downloads (total) |
| 1. uTorrent (3.0) | 91,974 | 15,767,339 |
| 2. BitTorrent (7.2) | 56,390 | 20,368,667 |
| 3. BitComet (1.31) | 24,074 | 83,889,760 |
| 4. Frostwire (5.2.11) | 19,997 | 33,790,033 |
| 5. Movie Torrent (3.7) | 10,779 | 919,451 |
| 6. Vuze (4.6) | 8,961 | 8,371,750 |
| 7. Ares Galaxy (2.1.7) | 5,846 | 1,564,398 |
| 8. Ares Plus + | 5,187 | 18,147 |
| 9. iMesh (10.01) | 4,490 | 115,741,152 |
| 10. Bitlord (2.0) | 3,460 | 2,418,375 |
Dutch ISPs Forced to Block The Pirate Bay
Earlier this week two ISPs in the Netherlands were ordered to block The Pirate Bay from being accessed by Dutch internet users after a lawsuit filed by anti-piracy group Brein (the Dutch equivalent of RIAA).
The two ISPs in question are Ziggo (the leading ISP in the Netherlands) and XS4ALL and the decision was given Wednesday by the Hague district court.
The court said that The Pirate Bay is used by 30 percent of Ziggo customers and 4.5 percent of XS4ALL in illegal filesharing activities.
Following the ruling XS4ALL said it will appeal.
The digital activist group Anonymous that took the internet by storm two years ago and put quite a scare in many media organizations last year by launching DDoS attack against their websites said they will respond to Brein’s action with a spamming campaign against their foundation.
“Anonymous will not sit idle while BREIN removes parts of our interwebz,” the hacktivist group said in a statement posted to the text hosting site Pastebin. “Undock your battle ships! Sailing these shallow Dutch seas we will hit this enemy vessel under its waterline. They should have expected us.”
Ziggo and XS4ALL must block access to TPB within 10 days, or risk being fined with up to 10,000 euros per day.