Verizon Has Blocked Access to 4Chan
According to 4chan's Twitter account and status update blog, they have been "explicitly blocked" by the Verizon wireless network. Last year AT&T blocked access to 4chan for about a day, due to a DDoS attack against the site. I'd love to see how Verizon manages to avoid the inevitable shitstorm headed their way.
For those unfamiliar with 4chan, it launched in 2003 as an “imageboard”, a site based around the sole purpose of posting images. The 4chan site rose to notoriety due to its lack of a registration system, meaning that anyone could post to the site anonymously. Over the years it has rose to prominence due to its ability to start Internet memes such as “Rickrolling” and the LOLcats.
The loose knit group has also gained some fame by spinning off a group known as “Anonymous” that has taken issue with the Church of Scientology and launched both online and real world protests of the controversial religious group.
Final Fantasy XIII English Trailer
Square Enix have release their cinematic Final Fantasy XIII trailer with English dub, so everyone hanging to play the game from Western shores can check this out to become acquainted with the characters they'll soon be spending hours upon hours with.
It's great to see in this cinematic that each character has had their lip-syncing animated for the English version of the game, and it doesn't look like too shabby of a job, either.
Also revealed is the theme track for Final Fantasy XIII courtesy of X-Factor star Leona Lewis, whose "My Hands" song will be a part of the game.
WordPress 2.9 Released
The world's most popular blogging engine has released it's latest version, WordPress 2.9 (Carmen). This release included code from over 140 contributors and address over 500 tickets and bugs. You can upgrade easily from your Dashboard by going to Tools > Upgrade, or you can download from WordPress.org.
Some cool features included in this release,
- Global undo/”trash” feature, which means that if you accidentally delete a post or comment you can bring it back from the grave (i.e., the Trash). This also eliminates those annoying “are you sure” messages we used to have on every delete.
- Built-in image editor allows you to crop, edit, rotate, flip, and scale your images to show them who’s boss. This is the first wave of our many planned media-handling improvements.
- Batch plugin update and compatibility checking, which means you can update 10 plugins at once, versus having to do multiple clicks for each one, and we’re using the new compatibility data from the plugins directory to give you a better idea of whether your plugins are compatible with new releases of WordPress. This should take the fear and hassle out of upgrading.
- Easier video embeds that allow you to just paste a URL on its own line and have it magically turn it into the proper embed code, with Oembed support for YouTube, Daily Motion, Blip.tv, Flickr, Hulu, Viddler, Qik, Revision3, Scribd, Google Video, Photobucket, PollDaddy, and WordPress.tv (and more in the next release).
Google Public DNS
Google has launched Google Public DNS as an alternative domain name service for any Internet user. Designed to replace the DNS services provided by ISPs or companies, Google says that its DNS will be faster and more secure than many other DNSs, and won't filter content.
The DNS protocol is an important part of the web's infrastructure, serving as the Internet's "phone book". Every time you visit a website, your computer performs a DNS lookup. Complex pages often require multiple DNS lookups before they complete loading. As a result, the average Internet user performs hundreds of DNS lookups each day, that collectively can slow down his or her browsing experience.
Google believe that a faster DNS infrastructure could significantly improve the browsing experience for all web users. To enhance DNS speed but to also improve security and validity of results, Google Public DNS is trying a few different approaches that are sharing with the broader web community through the documentation.
PS3 Sales Reach All Time High Over Black Friday
With Black Friday finally behind everyone in the US, retailers have started reporting sales number for the blockbuster week. Sony recently sent out communication indicating that Black Friday was a success for the PS3 during that time period.
"The 2009 holiday season got off to an amazing start for PlayStation, with all key retailers showing a significant increase for PS3, PSP and key holiday titles over Black Friday and the holiday weekend," said Patrick Seybold, Sr. Director of Corporate Communications and Social Media. "PlayStation 3 demand was at an all time high with the system selling more than 440,000 units for the week ending 11/29/09.