By Cynthia Herbert :: 10:17 AM
Nearly twelve years after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, New York City’s skyline today boasts the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere.
The final piece of the communications tower and antenna assembly that sits atop the One World Trade Center tower was moved into place by crane this morning.
Freedom Tower, as it is known, stands 1,776 feet tall, and is planned to open later this year.
A time-lapse video of the final antenna installation is below.
By Paul Thomson :: 9:54 AM
A database for Washington State’s court system was hacked in February, and the state admitted yesterday that the incident may have allowed hackers to access thousands of Social Security numbers and drivers license numbers.
Officials who originally discovered the breach months ago initially did not believe that any data had been stolen. Later, they ascertained that at least 94 Social Security numbers were downloaded, and 160,000 Social Security numbers and one million drivers license numbers may also have been accessed.
Access to the court’s computer system came, “through a back door part of a commercial software product we were using, and it is patched now,” according to state official Mike Keeling.
This is the first time that the court’s system is known to have been breached. The state is working with the 94 Social Security number holders who had their data downloaded.
February’s data breach did not leak any financial data, such as credit card numbers or bank account information.
By Paul Thomson :: 11:17 PM
Perhaps this cat was walking in a neighborhood near Three Mile Island, or on the outskirts of Chernobyl?
Spotted on the StreetView setting of Google Maps, this two-legged freak of nature is probably not a mutation at all, but simply a glitch from the mapping and imaging software where two adjacent images are stitched together as the Google Maps car heads down the street.
First noted on the website Google Street View World, the white feline has been making the rounds of Twitter and Facebook these past couple of days. Fear not, where ever this kitty is, he most likely has all four legs intact.
By Gilbert Falso :: 9:32 PM
Betaworks, the technology incubator behind Instapaper, Digg and Bitly, launched a new game for iOS devices last week called Dots. This week, Dots celebrates the milestone it 25 millionth game being played.
It was a meteoric rise for a colorful polka-dot game – with over 1 million downloads logged. It currently holds the title of #1 app across 8 countries in Apple’s App Store. The game is even becoming a hot topic on Twitter, where friends and strangers alike are sharing their Dots scores, and challenging others to beat them.
The premise is simple. You’re presented with a grid of dots. Connect dots of the same color that are next to each other horizontally or vertically by drawing a line between them. Then, they disappear, and more dots drop down. If you find four same-colored dots together in a square, connecting the square together with a drawn line will make all dots of that color on the board disappear at once.
Future plans for Dots include support for Apple’s iPad, as well as some type of built-in social integration for the game.
By Cynthia Herbert :: 11:39 PM
Marissa Mayer, CEO of Yahoo, went a little punk tonight.
As an attendee at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art annual Costume Institute Gala, the 37-year old Mayer embraced this year’s gala theme, punk, by adding colored streaks to her blonde hair.
The gala’s theme celebrates the museum’s new exhibit, “Punk: Chaos to Couture,” which traces the influence of the New York City 1970s punk movement in fashion and culture.
[Pictures via @AmandaGordon, @amyodell, and @HuffPostStyle]