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The U.S. Department of Homeland Security confirmed it has initiated legal action that prompted the Dwolla payment service to stop processing bitcoin transactions.

Nicole Navas, a representative for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, confirmed the legal action to CNET this afternoon.

Dwolla, a Des Moines, Iowa-based startup, which raised $16.5 million in funding two weeks ago, notified users about the move earlier Tuesday. It blamed the decision on "recent court orders" limiting its ability to send money through Mt. Gox, the largest bitcoin exchange.

"In order not to compromise this ongoing investigation being conducted … Read more

I'm taking spring cleaning seriously this year. I've already Craigslisted a good chunk of my furniture and hosted a massive yard sale. Now, I'm breaching the depths of uncharted waters in my closets and desk drawer. I'm going after all those old gadgets I've been hanging onto for years. What wonders will I discover?

I have old cell phones. I have old computers. I have sickening piles of cords tangled about each other in knots that may never be unraveled. Why do I do this to myself? Do I really think I'm going to need to make a call on that 2002 LG VX-10 with the extended battery pack? It's time for it to go, along with all the other dusty old tech that hasn't felt a surge of electricity in years.… Read more

More Android devices are gobbling up Jelly Bean, but it's largely because of a tweak in how Google calculates the adoption of its mobile operating system.

Jelly Bean, or Android 4.1 to 4.2, made up a quarter of all Android devices, according to data captured during two weeks that ended on April 2. That's an increase from 16 percent a month ago. Droid Life first spotted the data on the Android developer blog site.

Google, however, noted that for the most recent data, it used a different method of tallying up the devices. Previously, the device … Read more

Decisions, decisions; life has enough of them. Sometimes, the best course of action is to opt not to choose. Take a hot summer day, for example. After a long hot day at the beach or the park, there comes a time to choose what the cool-down treat is to be. Naturally, having gone through a long day of decision making regarding which sandwiches to bring to the park or whether to barbecue at the beach, the finishing touch should be an easy one to make.

Just in time for the warm weather months, Nostalgia Electrics has released not one, but … Read more

The next time you're looking for your misplaced Android smartphone, check the freezer. It's possible, however unlikely, that someone is trying to hack into your data using a new FROST attack method.

Researchers at Friedrich-Alexander University in Germany have learned that it is possible to access personal information on Android 4.0 smartphones using a chilling technique.

Called FROST, or forensic recovery of scrambled telephones, it amounts to placing the phone in temperatures of -15 Celsius for roughly 1 hour. After removing from a freezer, you must repeatedly power on and off the phone and hold down the … Read more

Android's Gingerbread operating system has sticking power, but it's finally starting to loosen its hold.

New numbers from Google show that nearly half of all Android devices are running versions of 4.0 and above -- surpassing Gingerbread's individual installed base.

Ice Cream Sandwich, 4.0, and Jelly Bean, 4.1 and 4.2, combined run on 45.1 percent of Android devices, according to numbers from the two week period ending on March 4. This is a 2.5 percent increase over last month.

However, individually, Gingerbread 2.3 still holds the majority of the market. … Read more

Long-suffering HTC Thunderbolt owners will finally get Android 4.0, Verizon said today.

The wireless carrier confirmed that it would begin rolling out Android 4.0, also known as Ice Cream Sandwich, and that it would start pushing out the software in phases today.

The Thunderbolt was a highly coveted device when it came out, the first smartphone to run on Verizon's superfast 4G LTE network. But as with the early run of LTE phones, the Thunderbolt was plagued with bugs, and battery life was a serious problem.

In addition, the HTC Sense skin on top of the stock … Read more

For all their processor-stressing, battery-draining drawbacks, live wallpapers are still lovely to watch. This one animates the rainbow-esque screen that comes stock on Nexus gadgets and has become associated with Ice Cream Sandwich. Ice Cream Sandwich LWP will let you watch those swirls and bubbles in the wallpaper dance around.

The installation of this app goes smoothly. Most of the knocks against this wallpaper are the same as for any live wallpaper. It sucks your battery charge very quickly and it pushes your phone's RAM more than a wallpaper really should. It's clear that this particular live wallpaper … Read more

The latest version of Android is now sitting on about 10 percent of all Android devices, while Gingerbread dropped below 50 percent, according to the latest numbers from Google.

Jelly Bean -- that is, Android 4.1 and 4.2 -- is up in the two weeks ending January 3, though it's Android 4.1 that's made most of the gains (see chart below).

That's a sizable jump from the first two weeks of December when Jelly Bean, released in July, was on 6.7 percent of all active devices.

Driving the uptick are devices including the … Read more