Twitter shuts down TweetDeck after bug gives access to hundreds of user accounts
Diehard users of Twitter’s TweetDeck client waited months for a bugfix update, and now that it’s here, things are not exactly going as planned. Twitter has been forced to pull the download links for the desktop application after users began reporting a bug that gave them access to, in at least one case, hundreds of other accounts.
TweetDeck was recently updated with several bugfixes, support for managing lists, and better display of in-line images. Somewhere along the line, though, this new bug crept in. TweetDeck user Geoff Evason was the first to notify Twitter of the bug, and did so by posting from several other user accounts, thus proving it was not just a display bug.
Evason saw this bizarre behavior with the Mac version of TweetDeck, but odds are this is a server-side issue with authentication. There is no reason to think the Windows version would be unaffected, so it is offline as well. If you aren’t logged into TweetDeck currently, the application will simply return errors until it is restored.
TweetDeck responded on Twitter with a generic statement, not quite acknowledging the gravity of the situation. “TweetDeck is down while we look into an issue. Apologies for the inconvenience,” the tweet read. There have been no reports of the browser-based version of TweetDeck handing out access to random accounts, and it remains in the Chrome web store at this time. So if you’re really into TweetDeck’s column-based approach, this is still an option.
Evason has offered to show the TweetDeck folks exactly how he came across the bug, but he has said the error happened without any special tweaking on his part.
via TechCrunch
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Quadcopter video gives pilot’s-eye view of the action
For those of you that curse gravity because you wish you could experience Superman-like flight, check out the video above. Depicting a four-minute journey of a remote controlled quad-copter through a set of first-person-view (FPV) operator goggles, it’s the closest thing I have seen to fulfilling your flights of fancy.
Created by Australian RC hobbyist that goes by the handle juz70 on YouTube, the video shows how he has leveraged hardware that used to be out of the reach of the everyday consumer to create a “pilot’s-eye” view of the world from the air.
If you are familiar with RC flight, usually it requires the pilot who is stationed on the ground to have an eyeball on the vehicle at all times. Obviously this is a limiting factor in how far the UAV can go, even though its radio-range would allow for much greater distances. With the now affordable first-person view goggle equipment available on the market, ground pilots can finally take advantage safely of the full capabilities of their rigs. By donning a set of the wireless goggles, pilots get the same visual perspective as watching a 46-inch monitor. It allows them to see the vehicle’s surroundings just like if they were sitting in the miniature cockpit of the UAV. Previously the technology was only affordable for commercial and military applications.
The setup that juz70 used to make his video is one that most experienced hobbyists could replicate. Consisting of a VC-450 quad-copter frame outfitted with a GoPro HD hero, the video feed is transmitted to a set of Fatshark BASE goggles that retail at around $ 230. It took him about ten-months to learn to fly the rig using the FPV goggles, but the practice has paid off since he was able to navigate the quadcopter through his home and several obstacles with ease. At several times during the video the copter is out of his sight but, as you witnessed, he was still able to safely fly the vehicle.
Read more about juz70′s setup and experiences on his YouTube page, via MAKE.
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Motorola gives special Red Carpet edition Droid RAZR MAXX to Academy Award nominees
The Academy Awards are this Sunday, and the nominees and select presenters will be sporting a special Red Carpet edition of the Motorola Droid RAZR MAXX. It's the same phone we reviewed a couple weeks ago, only it's red. And it'll be held in far more beautiful hands than ours. The men get high-end shaving kits along with the phone, while the women get a gold sequined pouch.
For those of you who aren't up for an Oscar this year, you'll have a chance to win one of theses special editions on Feb. 23 (that's tomorrow) on Motorola's Twitter account.
Source: Motorola
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Surreal video gives us a glimpse of flying roller coasters
Every kid loves a good roller coaster ride. Well, at least kids who aren’t scared of heights or are prone to motion sickness do. The suspenseful climb, the big drop, the twists and turns; roller coasters are designed for maximum thrills.
But what if you took away the tracks, yet could somehow keep the roller coaster moving? This would defy all laws of gravity. But that hasn’t stopped a clever filmmaker from experimenting with the idea. The result is a bizarre and entertaining ride through Buenos Aires, featuring rides that propel themselves through Argentinian space.
This clip is called Inception Park, named after the 2010 film Inception. In the dream world that was created in Christopher Nolan’s Hollywood blockbuster, laws of physics are meaningless. Hotels can be suspended in a state of zero gravity. People can become chameleons, completely morphing their physical appearances. Entire cities can be folded in half. Inception Park also conjures a fantasy world of dreams, but things are much simpler: all you have to worry about are floating amusement park rides.
As you can see above, a trackless roller coaster takes on a serpent-like appearance. Teacup-like rides look positively dangerous when performed on a ledge. Tourists photograph it all just as casually as they would the Monumento de los Españoles.
Inception Park is the work of an imaginative filmmaker, Fernando Livschitz. He took some mundane video of Buenos Aires, some feed of amusement park rides, and used some CG software to tie it all together. If rules are made to be broken, then the imagination of artists like Livschitz are breaking the rules of nature. It’s nothing we’ll see in our lifetimes, but that’s part of what makes film entertaining, no?
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