white

WHITE SANDS MISSILE RANGE -- I recently watched footage of the detonation of the first atomic bomb at Trinity Site in 1945. A black and white mushroom cloud built up in slow motion. Chills and prickles crawled up my spine.

Visiting Trinity Site One week later, I visit ground zero, where a device called "The Gadget" was strapped into a 100-foot-tall steel tower and set off. Two more nuclear explosions took place over Japan after that successful test, harbingers of the end of World War II.

This all happened a long time before I was born, but I feel a strange sadness as I stand here on a hazy spring day in the middle of the Jornada del Muerto, a desert basin full of scrub and pronghorn antelope. That name translates to "day's journey of the dead." … Read more

A senior executive that Hollywood hired last year to be its chief technology policy officer has undergone a remarkable about-face: he now opposes the Stop Online Piracy Act.

Paul Brigner, who was until last month a senior vice president at the Motion Picture Association of America, has emerged as SOPA's latest critic. "I firmly believe that we should not be legislating technological mandates to protect copyright -- including SOPA and Protect IP," he says.

In a statement posted on CNET.com, Brigner says that his time at the MPAA -- which, more than any other advocacy group, … Read more

The Motion Picture Association of America believes there's still hope for the controversy-plagued Stop Online Piracy Act.

In an interview with the Hollywood Reporter that was published online today, MPAA chief Christopher Dodd said he was "confident" that President Obama was using his "good relationships in both communities" -- that is, Silicon Valley and Hollywood -- to advance SOPA.

When asked whether there are negotiations going on now, Dodd replied: "I'm confident that's the case, but I'm not going to go into more detail because obviously if I do, it becomes … Read more

Google has announced a major expansion of the Google Art Project, an initiative to bring works of art worldwide online.

The most notable addition to the expansion is 139 works of art from the White House. The first lady's office announced the partnership yesterday in a press release.

"The White House isn't simply a home to First Families or meeting space for world leaders, it's also known as 'The People's House,' a place that should be open to everyone. And that's why we've made it a priority to invite young people, military families, and Americans of all ages to join us here at the White House," first lady Michelle Obama said in a video announcing the White House's addition to the Google Art Project. … Read more

You knew this day had to arrive. Topeka Capital Markets' Brian White became the first Wall Street analyst to slap a $1,000 price target on shares of Apple. Actually, he expects the stock to hit $1,001.

OK, another stupendously, outrageously, insanely caffeinated price target attached to a stock that is all good news and impervious to the laws of physics. Fine. But before you scoff -- and yes, I hear you scoffers out there -- consider this: Shares of Apple have pierced the $400, $500 and $600 price barriers in rapid-fire fashion even as the naysayers were predicting … Read more

Yahoo, Google, AOL, and Microsoft try not to let copyright-infringing Web sites sign up. Their advertising network contracts currently prohibit it.

But that isn't stopping the White House from pressuring those four companies to do more to satisfy Hollywood and other copyright holders who are peeved about online piracy -- in this case, that presumably means addressing piratical Web sites that cover their bandwidth costs through ad revenue.

A White House report (PDF) released today singles out those four companies by name, arguing that they and others should "act as checkpoints for infringing activity and reduce the distribution … Read more

Only weeks after protests over two digital copyright bills demonstrated the political muscle of Internet users, the White House is publicly endorsing new copyright legislation that also would target suspected pirate Web sites.

After the unprecedented outcry against the Stop Online Piracy Act and the Protect IP Act -- designed to target offshore copyright-infringing Web sites -- supporters of the bills on Capitol Hill backed down and moved on to other topics.

But the White House today reignited the congressional debate by throwing its weight behind legislation targeting offshore Web sites. "We believe that new legislative and non-legislative tools … Read more

Not surprisingly, Apple's very particular about just what it lets into its brick-and-mortar and online stores. Which is why Timbuk2 gave its limited edition Mission MacBook Messengers a little extra Apple flair.

The new bags, which cost $130 and are an Apple online exclusive for now (they're just about to hit Apple.com but aren't being sold quite yet), come in three "wicked" colors: Specialty White, Specialty Gunmetal Racing Stripe, and Specialty Black.

However, the white model and its supershiny vinyl and perforated faux leather finish is the most eye-catching and most closely mirrors Apple's trademark white products. … Read more

German camera manufacturer Leica today announced a limited-edition white M9-P digital camera -- quite limited, actually; only 50 will be available. The special release coincides with the recent launch of the Leica Daimaru camera store in Tokyo.

The 18.5-megapixel Leica M9-P full-frame digital camera features an astounding feature set that normally commands a retail price around $7,995. However, this limited-edition run carries a much heftier price of 2,620,000 Japanese yen, which translates to an astounding $31,792. … Read more