Internet 2012 in numbers There is so much happening on the Internet during a year that it’s impossible to capture it all in a blog post, but we’re going to give it a shot anyway. How many emails were sent during 2012? How many domains are there? What’s the most popular web browser? How many Internet users are there? These are some of the questions we’ll answer for you. To bring you these answers, we’ve gone to the ends of the web -- wherever that is -- and back again, and compiled a list of truly fascinating facts about the year that was. Pingdom
Latest Java update broken; two new sandbox bypass flaws found Expect the roar from security experts urging users to abandon Java to reach ear-splitting levels after reports this morning that new sandbox bypass vulnerabilities are present in the latest Java update. "We have successfully confirmed that a complete Java security sandbox bypass can be still gained under the recent version of Java 7 Update 11," Java security researcher Adam Gowdiak of Security Explorations in Poland wrote a short while ago on the Full Disclosure mailing list. Threatpost
Facebook's bold, compelling and scary engine of discovery: the inside story of Graph Search Beast had a birthday last week. The First Dog of social networking -- live-in companion to Mark Zuckerberg and his bride, Priscilla Chan -- turned two. The proud owners baked a cake for the Hungarian sheepdog and decided to throw an impromptu party. Naturally, when it came time to compile the guest list, the couple turned to Facebook, the $67 billion company that Zuckerberg founded in his dorm room nine years ago. Wired
Hacktivism: civil disobedience or cyber crime? When Reddit co-founder and internet freedom activist Aaron Swartz committed suicide last Friday, he was facing up to 13 felony counts, 50 years in prison, and millions of dollars in fines. His alleged crime? Pulling millions of academic articles from the digital archive JSTOR. Prosecutors allege that Swartz downloaded the articles because he intended to distribute them for free online, though Swartz was arrested before any articles were made public. Pro Publica
FCC issues gigabit city challenge Today at the U.S. Conference of Mayors Winter Meeting, FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski called for at least one gigabit community in all 50 states by 2015. Challenging broadband providers and state and municipal community leaders to come together to meet this "Gigabit City Challenge," Genachowski said that establishing gigabit communities nationwide will accelerate the creation of a critical mass of markets and innovation hubs with ultra-fast Internet speeds. FCC
A month with Apple's Fusion Drive When decent, somewhat affordable, client focused solid state drives first came on the scene in 2008 the technology was magical. I called the original X25-M the best upgrade you could do for your system (admittedly I threw in the caveat that I’d like to see > 100GB and at a better price than $600). Although NAND and SSD pricing have both matured handsomely over time, there’s still the fact that mechanical storage is an order of magnitude cheaper. AnandTech
Face to face with Kim Dotcom as he launches Mega, talks about Megakey and the future of free content If there’s one place that you want to be for the launch of Mega.co.nz, it’s within Kim Dotcom’s mansion. That’s precisely where I’ve been today. Sure we knew that Dotcom was larger than life, but actually being at the mansion is a different story. Elaborate statues and expensive pieces of art, giant kitchen sized fish tanks and sprawling pools. It’s an incredible sight. The Next Web
The life and death of the American arcade If you’ve never been inside a "real" arcade, it could be hard to distinguish one from say, oh, a Dave & Buster’s. Authenticity is a hard nut to crack, but there are a few hallmarks of the video game arcade of days gone by: first, they have video games. Lots and lots of video games, and (usually) pinball machines. They’re dark (so that you can see the screens better), and they don’t sell food or booze. The Verge
Early rumors point to large power gap between PS4 and Xbox 720 The cycle of current-gen hardware is coming to an end, which inevitably means the cycle of rumors about the specs of the next generation must begin. Right on cue, an unnamed “insider” has released a hefty amount of detail regarding the specs of the PS4 and Xbox 720. Be warned, these are only rumors, but they do give us some interesting scenarios to ponder. ExtremeTech
Wires smaller in diameter than light waves boost solar cell efficiency In the continuing quest to create solar cells, researchers seek new materials, use clever techniques, and look for novel physical phenomena to extract the maximum electricity out of sunlight for the lowest cost. One method of extracting more power at a lower cost relies on creating arrays of nanowires that stand vertically on inexpensive substrates. Ars Technica
China mobile users warned about large botnet threat Security researchers say they have discovered a huge botnet running on the smartphones of more than a million unsuspecting mobile users in China. The devices had been infected by a Trojan-based attack first discovered in 2011, news agency Xinhua reported. The botnet can allow the smartphones to be hijacked remotely and potentially used for fraudulent purposes. BBC
Google's Schmidt pushes Internet during visit to North Korea Google's Eric Schmidt carries a big stick as he tries to keep the issue of Internet freedom in reclusive North Korea front and center, even if the U.S. government would rather he step more lightly. The Internet search leader’s executive chairman posted comments early Sunday on Google+ about his recent visit to the so-called Hermit Kingdom. PCWorld
The deleted scenes of Deus Ex Examine Warren Spector's personally annotated copy of the first Deus Ex design document and you can immediately tell that production wasn't entirely smooth. The pages are littered with alterations and strikeouts, the only section left unmarked the marketing spiel in the preamble. It refers to the game by its working title, Majestic Revelations. Eurogamer
Turn a Raspberry Pi into the ultimate emulator Raspberry Pi, the popular credit card-sized ARM GNU/Linux computer, is a real throwback to the past. It was conceived as a low-cost way of encouraging people to get back into programming, as they did in the 80s and 90s, and it’s even possible to program it using the venerable BBC basic. BetaNews
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