These .xxx domains are ready to hook up

If you always fancied your very own .xxx domain name, it's not too late: plenty of real estate in the Internet's official red light district remains unclaimed, CNET has learned.

WhiteHouse.xxx and NASA.xxx are reserved, but USDOJ.xxx, Treasury.xxx, DARPA.xxx, and USEmbassy.xxx could be yours for as low as $100 a year.

Many school names remain unclaimed. Stanford.xxx, Harvard.xxx, and Princeton.xxx may be off-limits, but Brynmawr.xxx and LoyolaCollege.xxx are available. Others, including Cornell.xxx and UPenn.xxx have been earmarked for auction. (Playboy, which recently published a "Girls of the SEC" feature, take note.)

That's according to a new analysis by Elie Bursztein, a Stanford University researcher who found that of the 50,000 most popular Web sites in the world, only 24 percent have their .xxx counterpart registered.

"There's been a lot of news about people rushing to buy .xxx," Bursztein told CNET today. "But after the dust settled, it turns out that the data don't agree with the hype."

Early reports suggested that companies and schools were snapping up .xxx domains to prevent them from being used for pornographic purposes--especially, perhaps the types of hardcore parodies the adult industry is known for.

Bursztein provided CNET with the raw data from his review of more than 55,000 .xxx domains, which show that the triple-X counterparts of many popular Web sites, including Posterous.xxx and Feedburner.xxx, have not been reserved. We've placed some excerpts below (scroll down).

The list of news organizations that chose not to claim their corresponding .xxx domains includes: TheAtlantic.xxx, DenverPost.xxx, MercuryNews.xxx, NewScientist.xxx, CSMonitor.xxx, PostGazette.xxx, and FinancialPost.xxx.

Salon.xxx will be awarded after an auction, the process that .xxx creator ICM Registry has established for certain popular words. In October, ICM announced that it had sold Gay.xxx at auction for $500,000.

The reluctance of some news organizations to venture into the seamer side of the Web might be no surprise, but there are also plenty of popular adult sites that chose not to make the leap. Dot-com sites that rank among the Internet's most popular 5,000 destinations, according to Alexa, that have left their corresponding triple-X domains unclaimed include H2Porn.com, PornControl.com, and IntPorn.com. Porn star Lexi Love has left LexiLove.xxx unclaimed. (See related CNET article.)

Other domains that will be awarded after an auction: BankOfAmerica.xxx, Missouri.xxx, Toronto.xxx, SanDiego.xxx, Career.xxx, Seattle.xxx, Data.xxx, Library.xxx, Fit.xxx, Worldwide.xxx, and HowTo.xxx.

Elie Bursztein, a Stanford researcher who found that of the top 50,000 most popular Web sites, only 24 percent have registered the corresponding .xxx domains.

(Credit: Declan McCullagh/CNET)

For would-be porntreprenuers, there is one catch: ICM's policies for .xxx say that only "sponsored community" domains will actually become live Web sites. To make that happen, your .xxx domain has to "provide online entertainment" or be a supporting business, such as providing legal, accounting, catering, and so on. "Manufacturers" also qualify.

ICM Registry, which operates the .xxx top-level domain, said on December 6 that triple-X domains would be available for purchase by the general public. That was preceded by a so-called sunrise period, which allowed adult and non-adult businesses and universities to claim trademark rights to certain .xxx domains.

That resulted in a list of off-limits names unavailable for registration. Jocelyn Johnson, a spokeswoman for ICM Registry, said that other additions to the list came from government agencies that "submitted names to be pulled out of the registry permanently."

Those were "culturally sensitive names, political leaders--it was a wide variety of names," Johnson told CNET. That's "the list of names that are on permanent reserve."

BarackObama.xxx, HillaryClinton.xxx, RonPaul.xxx, and MittRomney.xxx are all set aside and listed in Whois data as "ICM Registry Reserved." So is ChelseaClinton.xxx, Vatican.xxx, God.xxx, and JesusChrist.xxx. The domain ProphetMohammad.xxx is reserved, but blasphemers can purchase the common variant of ProphetMuhammet.xxx.

Ex-presidents aren't necessarily treated equally: JimmyCarter.xxx can't be bought. But GeorgeHWBush.xxx was available until it was purchased on December 13 by Chicago-based Skylark Enterprises LLC.

Santorum.xxx was bought by a fellow named Vladimir Karastoyanov in Toronto, who did not respond to an e-mail query asking him what exactly he'll do with it. And Palin.xxx was purchased on December 11 and is currently parked at GoDaddy.com without any content, not even a link to the porn parody Who's Nailin' Paylin?.

Update 11 p.m. PT: Since this article appeared, some of the domains mentioned have been purchased, including ProphetMuhammet.xxx. Skylark Enterprises, which bought GeorgeHWBush.xxx, responded with this message: "Skylark originally intended to syndicate adult content on this site as well as several others. Upon further consideration, we concluded that it would not be worth our time to do so. Thus, Skylark has decided to resell it to other interest [sic] parties instead." And we've updated the article to clarify how ICM's auction process works.

Samsung Galaxy Note rocking Android 4.0 with CM9

Probably one of the most impressive devices as of late is the Samsung Galaxy Note. While it’s still currently not available in the US or many other parts of the world it still has seen wide adoption with over 1 million sales, and the development community is flourishing. Below we have some Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich on the 5.3″ phone — tablet — cutting board.

Below is a video showing the progress of Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich and CyanogenMod 9 on the Galaxy Note. Obviously this is still very much in the early stages but as you can see in the video performance is quite stellar already.

Having Ice Cream Sandwich on that gorgeous 5.3″ AMOLED display sure sounds nice although I’m not sure I’d use that thing as a phone or not still. The Galaxy Nexus seems perfect for me (and I love it). According to the awesome developer at XDA, Maui this is still heavily under development and things such as the camera, bluetooth, some hardware accel and more are all not working just yet.

Galaxy Note CM9 ICS

WiFi, data and calling, the s-pen (stylus) and more are all working just great and enough to make this almost a daily driver unless you need a highly accurate battery reading or bluetooth. Accessing the internal storage with MTP is still having issues and you’ll need to push things with ADB. If you are wondering what that is then this project isn’t for you. Being in an early beta stage it’s recommended that you know what you are doing if you decide to flash and give this ROM a try on your own Galaxy Note. Give it a try at your own risk and make sure to ask any questions before getting started. All the information, links, and download are available at the link below.

Galaxy Note XDA Thread

Oracle, Google Android Patent Infringement Trial Set for March

he judge in the Oracle versus Google patent infringement case has set a March 2012 trial date, established a three-part trial and ruled on several outstanding motions in the case.

The ongoing legal battle between Oracle and Google has come one step closer to a head, with the presiding judge setting a date for the trial to begin in March and ruling on several motions that give both sides mini victories.

Jan. 4 was a busy day for the parties in the Oracle versus Google patent infringement lawsuit. U.S. District Judge William Alsup said the case will go to a jury trial that will start on or after March 19, 2012. The trial had originally been set to start on Oct. 31, 2011, but was postponed because of scheduling conflicts with the court.

Oracle had recently asked the court for the trial to begin as early as January, while Google was fine with waiting until at least July for the trial to begin. Oracle’s claim was that the longer the company waits for relief from Google’s alleged patent infringement, the more time Google has to reap rewards from the increasing consumer adoption of Android devices.

Judge Alsup also stuck to his earlier proposal for a three-part or trifurcated trial. The first part of the trial will be deal with the copyright infringement claims of the case, the second part will deal with patent infringement claims and the third part will deal with “all remaining issues,” including “damages and willfulness,” said Florian Mueller, author of FOSS Patents, who has been watching the case closely. Oracle and Google have seven days to file objections to the judge’s pretrial order.

Meanwhile, perhaps going to the issue of “willfulness,” Judge Lindholm ruled on Jan. 4 that a possibly incriminating email by Google engineer Tim Lindholm could be entered into evidence. Google had argued that the Lindholm email should not be admitted into the case because it was subject to attorney-client privilege or work-product rules.

Alsup shot that argument down for the sixth time, Mueller said. Google had argued that Lindholm was not in a position to analyze whether Android infringed on Oracle’s Java patents. But the Judge cited Lindholm’s background saying he was “quite knowledgeable about Java and Android technology as separate platforms and any potential crossover between the two platforms." Lindholm joined Google from Sun Microsystems, which created Java, and he was part of the team that developed the Java language and platform.

The Lindholm email reads:

"What we've actually been asked to do (by Larry [Page] and Sergey [Brin]) is to investigate what technical alternatives exist to Java for Android and Chrome. We've been over a bunch of these, and think they all suck. We conclude that we need to negotiate a license for Java under the terms we need."

Earlier in the case, Judge Alsup cited the potential importance of the Lindholm email, saying that all a competent lawyer might need is Lindholm’s comments “and the Magna Carta” to argue that Google had willfully infringed on Oracle’s patents. If found to have willfully infringed on Oracle’s patents, Google could be forced to pay triple damages by the court.

In another important ruling, Judge Alsup ruled that Oracle cannot exclude evidence relating to any ongoing U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) reexaminations of Oracle’s patents claimed in the case. Google asked the USPTO to reexamine the Oracle patents. Recently, the USPTO came back with a “final” rejection of one of the Oracle patents in the case. However, Oracle has the right to appeal that decision and may yet do so.

In all, Judge Alsup ruled on nine outstanding motions in the case, including denying an Oracle motion to exclude evidence or argument that third-party OEMs changed infringing components of Android and restricting Oracle's ability to present evidence obtained from Motorola Mobility, among other things.

Samsung’s new Galaxy Ace Plus announced, looks very familiar

Samsung has given its popular Galaxy Ace an update, releasing the Galaxy Ace Plus. Features include a larger screen, more powerful processor and a very familiar design.

Not content with enraging Apple with their alleged iPhone 4-alike designs, Samsung has now taken a shine to the previous model. We can see it, you can see it and it’s fairly likely the lawyers can see it too. We’re talking about the distinct design similarity between Samsung’s new Galaxy Ace Plus and the Apple iPhone 3G/3GS.

Yes, the camera lens may be in a different spot, but the front and side views along with that grey surround make it uncannily reminiscent of the previous iPhone. Well, we’re sure Samsung knows what it’s doing, so let’s move on and take a look at the spec of the new device.

The original Galaxy Ace has been a big seller, thanks to a very reasonable price and the Android operating system. The new Galaxy Ace Plus improves in some areas, but decides to play it safe in others.

Samsung has ever-so slightly increased the screen size, from 3.5-inches to 3.65-inches, but has left the resolution the same at 320 x 480. Next is a slight boost in power, with the Ace Plus using a 1Ghz processor instead of the old 800Mhz chip.

Like its predecessor, it uses a 5-megapixel camera with an LED flash and Google Android 2.3 Gingerbread, but adds Bluetooth 3.0 and Samsung’s range of apps and services, such as the ChatON service.

Initially, the Ace Plus will launch in Russia later this month, but will then spread to the rest of the world including Europe, Asia and Latin America. The price has yet to be confirmed, and the lawsuit yet to be filed.

Apple TV Set: New iTV Rumors Say Apple TV Set in 2 Sizes, Ready To Go

The latest Apple TV 3 update rumor speaks of an Apple TV set in two different sizes, now unofficially dubbed iTV, with Siri features for navigation and changing channels, Apple TV apps for unique content development and iCloud action, and possibly a new iPad 3 as a remote. Imagine the potential Apple TV vs Google TV fight that could happen at CES (although unlikely). Still, would be fun. Just sayin.

Apple TV Rumors

The new Apple TV rumor on an Apple TV Set says that the television set, or iTV,  is in two models -- 42-inch and 50-inch models. The clincher: The Apple TV set is in the studio of Apple VP of industrial design Jony Ive right now, as told by a former Apple employee to USA Today. This means nothing for an Apple TV release date, because if it's true it just means development, not necessarily a final product. Most Apple TV features at this point are hard to determine with exactness.

"Apple's lead designer Jony Ive has "a slick 50" TV" in his locked-down studio at Apple's headquarters, according to a former Apple employee," reads the news from Business Insider. The report in USA Today also mentioned that the former Apple employee said one of the Apple TV features was built-in Wi-Fi. We keep hearing about the "connected TV," which we all know is coming from the industry en masse anyway, so this would be no surprise.

Apple TV Features

If this is true, then the Apple TV set rumors we've been hearing were close to being on track. We've heard in the past that Apple TV features included three sizes (although different ones), but had thought through more than one size. Siri would be likely, as Apple seems to have banked a big part of its future on Siri. iCloud and iTunes could obviously play a role for Apple TV apps and movies and TV shows. This doesn’t advance the notion of an Apple TV 3 update or determine the Apple TV box is going away -- there’s code for an Apple TV 3 update for iOS5, so the question is, how does it play out? Also, the iPad and iPhone would be a cinch as a remote control.

Earlier this week, the word dropped about an Apple Media Event in New York ... just to be wildly speculative, what do you think about the possibility of some kind of content announcement for iTunes and iCloud with movies and TV shows? I know the current consensus is that it's probably something book related, but what if that's wrong? Just before Christmas the word dropped that Apple was meeting with media execs on Apple TV, so what if they were massaging content deals? What are your thoughts?

Check out more about iTunes and steaming music sites in the Spacelab Streaming Music Guide.

Yes, You Can Get Sober On Facebook: Put It In Timeline

Many have documented the widespread use of Facebook while intoxicated, but those who make New Year’s resolutions to sober up go uncounted.

A submenu in timeline provides a convenient way to commemorate recovery from addiction,especially when the privacy settings are rigged to limit visibility to likeminded folks.

The international organization with the greatest success in helping people overcome addictions has “a tradition of anonymity at the level of press, radio and film.”

That policy has had individual members of Alcoholics Anonymous and other 12-step recovery groups guessing about what to do with respect to Facebook, especially given the widespread misunderstanding of the privacy settings on the site.

These organizations refrain from maintaining official pages and groups on the site, but individual members tend to post status updates about recovery milestones.

Now the new timeline profile includes a simple way to mark one’s sobriety date, which recovering alcoholics and addicts often regard as a second birthday.

Privacy settings can limit visibility of this life event so as to respect anonymity — while Facebook’s smart lists don’t detect whether friends are members of 12-step organizations, one can manually configure a list consisting of contacts from just such a group.

To post a sobriety date, head for the area where you input a status update on a profile page, then click on the third link to the right, labeled “life event.”

That pulls down a menu from which you’ll want to select “health and wellness.”

Clicking on that pulls out another set of options to the right.

They include “overcame an illness” and “quit a habit,” which could function as ways to commemorate a recovery milestone if you don’t mind having either of those labels.

To use your own words to describe your milestone, such as “sobriety date,”  click on “other life event.”

The set of fields that come up include date, name of the event, location and “who with.”

Facebook announces 2012 Hacker Cup

Summary: Facebook today announced 2012 Hacker Cup. Registration is now open. The contest begins this month and ends two months later, with multiple rounds of elimination as well as various prizes.

Facebook today announced open registration for its second annual Hacker Cup, an annual algorithmic programming contest open to engineers from around the world. Programmers will be judged on accuracy and speed as they race to solve algorithmic problems to advance through up to five rounds of programming challenges. The winner will receive the title World Champion for Facebook’s 2012 Hacker Cup.
The competition will start with a 72-hour Qualification Round on January 20 at 4:00 PM PST. It will end on January 23 at 4:00 PM PST. All registered competitors will be presented with three problems. Every competitor who correctly solves at least one problem will advance to Online Round 1.
Online Round 1 will last 24 hours from January 28 at 10:00 AM PT to January 29 at 10:00 AM PT. To advance to Online Round 2, participants must solve at least one problem correctly. If more than 500 people solve at least one problem correctly, then the top 500 participants will advance, as well as everyone else who answered the same number of questions correctly as the 500th-place contestant.
Online Round 2 will last three hours from February 4 at 1:00 PM PT to February 4 at 4:00 PM PT. The competitors will have three hours to solve the presented problem sets. The top-scoring 100 participants from Online Round 2 will receive an official Hacker Cup t-shirt and will be notified via e-mail that they have advanced to Online Round 3.
Online Round 3 will last three hours from February 11 at 1:00 PM PT to February 11 at 4:00 PM PT. The 100 competitors will have three hours to solve the presented problem sets. The top-scoring 25 competitors from Online Round 3 will be notified via e-mail that they have advanced to the final round at Facebook, and the company will fly them out to its headquarters in Menlo Park, California.
If you’re not from the US, you should know finalists will be responsible for obtaining their own entry visa before arrival in the country. Facebook will reimburse the finalist for any visa application fee and up to $100 USD in travel expenses incurred in obtaining the visa, but the company will not reimburse any fees or expenses related to obtaining a passport.
The final round of competition will be on March 17. Prizes will include cash and “other awesome goodies.” More specifically, the first prize is $5,000 USD, title as world champion, and the honor of being immortalized on the Hacker Cup trophy. The remaining prizes are as follows: $2,000 for second place, $1,000 for third, $100 for fourth through 25th, and “awesome t-shirts” for the top 100 hackers coming out of the second online round.
If you want to try the problems from last year’s qualification round, you can check them out here: Problems. More details and announcements will be posted at facebook.com/hackercup. You may also want to take a look at the FAQ as well as the Terms & Conditions.

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