Alan Turing; Tech Life; Net Neutrality and Telcos; Bad for Business; Bitcoin; Patents; Social Media; Online Text; Clickbait; Music

Alan Turing

• What was Alan Turing really like?
• Computer becomes first to pass Turing Test in artificial intelligence milestone, but academics warn of dangerous future
• No, A 'Supercomputer' Did NOT Pass The Turing Test For The First Time And Everyone Should Know Better

Tech Life

• With the Americas running out of IPv4, it's official: The Internet is full
• Dot Whine: France Angry Over .Vin Domain Names
• House committee approves permanent Internet tax moratorium
• The richest man in Vegas has declared war on internet gamblers—"Eighty-year-old billionaire casino owner Sheldon Adelson hates email, doesn't text, and wants to stop you from betting online."
• Uber isn't the problem; taxi regulations are

Net Neutrality and Telcos

• Father of "net neutrality" runs for office, wants to block Comcast/TWC merger—"Tim Wu, running for Lt. Governor in New York, says 'cable prices are too high.'" Tim Wu is Tim woof, in more ways than one.
• Democrats unveil legislation forcing the FCC to ban Internet fast lanes—"Leahy and Matsui's proposed ban on fast lanes would apply only to the connections between consumers and their ISPs — the part of the Internet governed by the FCC's proposed net neutrality rules." The real issue is between ISPs and content providers, but this does trickle down to consumers. WaPo
• AT&T claims 'strong' net neutrality would actually ruin the Internet. That's a big leap.—It's bullshit, that's what it is. WaPo
• What Everyone Gets Wrong in the Debate Over Net Neutrality
• Many Verizon DSL and AT&T customers not getting speeds they pay for
• T-Mobile's CEO Went Off Last Night And Said AT&T And Verizon Are 'F------' That Are 'Raping You'

Bad for Business

• Mobile crammers settle case, forfeit $10M in assets, including Bentley
• Intel forced to pay record $1.4 billion fine for unfair sales tactics
• Chinese site in signal-jammer sting could pay record $34.9M FCC fine—"CTS boldly—and falsely—claimed that some of its jammers were approved by the FCC...."
• Apple settles e-book price fixing class action suit, dodges possible $840M in claims

Bitcoin

• One Bitcoin group now controls 51% of total mining power, threatening entire currency's safety
• Mt. Gox CEO Returns to Twitter, Infuriates Burned Investors
• US Marshal CCs, rather than BCCs, those interested in anonymous Bitcoin auction

Patents

• Supreme Court smashes "do it on a computer" patents in 9-0 opinion—"Court declines to stop software patents altogether."
• The Supreme Court doesn't understand software, and that's a problem
• Patent trolls take their toll—"Patent trolls are, in a sense, legal extortion. These entities, which do not produce a product or sell a service, are set up only to bring about patent infringement lawsuits in hopes of collecting a payday."

Social Media

• The FBI Built the Most Comprehensive List of Twitter Slang We've Ever Seen
• CLAIM: Harvard Has 3.3 Million Facebook Fans And 'About Three Million Of These Are Fakes'
• This Is What Your Facebook Profile Really Says About You
• ABA: Lawyers can scour jurors' social media sites

Online Text

• After Forty-Seven Years, Computerworld, Tech Publishing's Elder Statesman, is a Print Publication No More
• German publishers want an 11 percent cut of Google News
• Journamalism: Google Gesture-edition
• Wikipedia creates new rules, forcing editors to disclose if they're paid—"Change comes after a few high-profile instances of articles-for-hire."

Clickbait

• You Have No Idea What's Behind These Clickbait Headlines! So I'll Tell You!
• A New Weapon In Upworthy's Unlikely War On Clickbait
• The Way One Man Is Waging War On Clickbait Will Blow Your Mind
• The Onion: ClickHole—"Because all content deserves to go viral."

Music

• It Doesn't Matter That Amazon's Music Streaming Service Is Lame
• T-Mobile's 'Music Freedom' is a great feature — and a huge problem
• YouTube to block indie labels who don't sign up to new music service

Box Office, Talking Pictures, Film History, Racism, Actors, Fun at the Movies, Superhero Flicks; Television; Miyazaki, Animation; Hermione and Ron, Books; Art, Music; Advertising

Box Office

• Why Frozen Crossing $1 Billion Matters For Future Movies—With an impressive record-breaking global take.
• Movies That Weren't Expected To Do Well But Smashed The Box Office
• Number of Frequent Young Moviegoers Plummets in 2013
• MPAA 2013 numbers: Women buy half of all movie tickets, but that won't mean more female characters on screen.
• Theaters May Cut Movie Prices to Lure Customers Back
• Joss Whedon releases new film on demand
• Jeffrey Katzenberg Predicts 3-Week Theatrical Window in Future
• No budget? No stars? No problem! How to REALLY sell a film at Cannes

Talking Pictures

• The Hobbit: Dwarfed Edition (10-minute preview)—"This is the first two parts of a long-term project to edit all three Hobbit movies down to one movie, taking out all the stuff added for the movie and making it just a straight adaptation of The Hobbit."
• I Went to the Oscars and Nobody Cared—"The world watched as my date grabbed my neck while falling on the red carpet. But backstage that night, I had a blast feeding Kerry Washington and sniffing Brad Pitt."
• How to Do Visual Comedy

Film History

• How the year 1999 changed cinema forever
• An Oral History Of 'The Mighty Ducks' Trilogy
• 'Ghostbusters' gets the call for theatrical re-release
• RoboCop (1987) Is an Almost Perfectly Symmetrical Film
• Ten film quotes we all get wrong

Racism

• Let's Stop With The African-American Actress Fade To Black
• Oscar-nominated actress cast as 'Annie' is black — and Twitter racists go nuts
• Taye Diggs Says Hollywood Holds Black Movies To "Frustrating" Double Standard

Actors

• Wham! Bam! Thank You, Liam!—"Since Taken, Liam Neeson has morphed from much-admired actor to pulp-movie badass. As his body count rises, Neeson’s hulking presence and anchoring calm make him the surprise successor to another vengeful giant, John Wayne."
• When Will Hollywood Give Paul Bettany the Role He Deserves?
• How Captain America's Chris Evans Finally Got Tired of Being Famous
• Adam Sandler confirms that his movies are just paid vacations
• Kevin Costner Talks Mike Binder's BLACK AND WHITE, His Ambitious Plan to Make a Western Trilogy, THE EXPLORERS, MAN OF STEEL, and More

Fun at the Movies

• Kevin Bacon cuts "Footloose": Recreates entire iconic dance sequence on Jimmy Fallon, 30 years later Salon
• Doc Brown finally admits Funny or Die hoverboard video is fake—"In an apology titled, 'Funny Or Die is Sorry for Lying about Hoverboards,' actor Christopher Lloyd owns up to the ruse that went on a day too long."
• Giant Transformers exhibit opens in Macau
• Movie poster mash-ups—Here are some more.
• This Is What Modern Movies Would Look Like With Classic Movie
• Movie Title Break-up

Superhero Flicks

• DC finished? They're coming out fighting
• Eccleston reveals some Thor: The Dark World scenes that didn't make the cut
• Michael Douglas: Edgar Wright Ant-Man departure 'very disappointing'
• Dark Knight villain artwork by Jock—Would make for great T-shirts.
• Watercolored Superheroes

Television

• How "Breaking Bad" and "House of Cards" killed the Oscars—"It's not that Hollywood can't make great movies -- but all the talent and energy is migrating to HBO and Netflix." Salon
• Judd Apatow: Everything He's Done Is Revenge for Canceling 'Freaks and Geeks'
• Maryland makes 'House of Cards' threat—"Maryland lawmakers threaten to seize the property of 'House of Cards' if the show leaves the state."
• Frank Underwood invades Westeros in 'House of Thrones'
• Medieval Land Fun-Time World

Miyazaki

• Ghibli's Hayao Miyazaki says the anime industry's problem is that it's full of anime fans
• Miyazaki's haunting farewell: A dreamer who made warplanes—"A Japanese legend bids farewell with a subtle, meditative epic about war, guilt and art." Salon
• Pixelated Ghibli

Animation

• The Secret Identity of Andy's Mom in Toy Story
• Simpsons: McBain the Movie
• Badass Childhood—By Tohad.

Hermione and Ron

• J.K. Rowling questions Ron and Hermione's relationship
• Okay, okay, I'm going to tell you what Hermione sees in Ron.
• Regrets over Ron/Hermione pairing?! An open letter to J.K. Rowling

Books

• "Reading Rainbow" Is Trying to Raise $1 Million on Kickstarter to Bring the Show to the Web—They hit the goal in less than 12 hours and doubled it the next day.
• Syracuse district to give 10 books to every elementary student for summer reading
• What every writer needs to succeed—"Sure, practice and research are important. But there's something else that might matter even more: Luck." Salon
• How Mark Twain became Mark Twain: The amazing story of the lectures that made him a superstar Salon
• Feminism, Meet Fiction—"In an age where sexism is more subtle, novels tackle it best. A review of The Blazing World."
• To Kill a Mockingbird and Mice and Men axed as Gove orders more Brit lit

Art

• The Andy Warhol Museum announces newly discovered Amiga experiments
• Lost Vincent van Gogh painting found in bank safe
• Just don't drop it. Man finds egg worth $33.3 million
• Cleaner throws out 'rubbish' Sala Murat artwork
• Miami artist destroys $1 million Ai Weiwei vase in protest—"He told an officer that his act was a protest against the gallery's decision to only display international art."
• Italy: Michelangelo's David at risk from weak ankles

Music

• Elite Violinists Fail to Distinguish Legendary Violins From Modern Fiddles
• Pono: only a man pays for music quality that he can't hear—"Neil Young's Pono: 192kHz 24-bit music player produces sound quality that is wasted on human hearing. So why pay the extra for it?"
• How Earbuds Have Changed The Sound (And Business) Of Pop
• Satire: David Guetta World Tour Cancelled After Losing USB Containing His Entire Set

Advertising

• Activision, Documentaries Are Not Ads: An Open Letter
• Everything You Hate About Advertising in One Fake Video That's Almost Too Real
• Agency apologizes for offensive ad depicting Malala Yousafzai getting shot by Taliban Salon
• Kevin Bacon’s brother Michael Bacon stars in ad for turkey bacon Salon
• Anti-advertising campaign replaces 360 ads with art in 10 UK cities
• Jon Lajoie: Please Use This Song

The Net, Comcast Merger, Broadband; Digital Life; Windows H8.1; Apple; Facebook; Copyfight, Piracy; Apps; Patents; Ukraine

The Net

• The internet is fucked
• The Year We Broke the Internet
• Americans Would Give Up TV Before Internet
• Thirteen percent of U.S. adults say they don't use the Internet WaPo
• AT&T and Time Warner Cable ranked worst in customer service survey

Comcast Merger

• What's Wrong With the Comcast/Time Warner Merger—"If it's not blocked, a single corporation will be able to dictate digital communications and media content for decades to come."
• Comcast takes lobbying to new heights
• From the desk of a former FCC Commissioner—"Journalists need to generate a national discussion on the future of the internet.

Broadband

• ISPs Want To Destroy The Internet: Spread This Message So We Can Stop Them
• Broadband rage – symptom of a slow, patchy and expensive service—"Complaints are rising, with rural areas poorly served by fast broadband, but there are ways to try improving your service."
• Verizon says gamers should pay more for bandwidth

Digital Life

• Everything's Amazing And Nobody's Happy—"You are living in an age of wonders, says commentator Adam Frank. Every day we take part in activities that once seemed like the realm of science fiction. So why are you so dissatisfied?"
• Happy ending: @N has been restored to its rightful owner—Better late than @Never.
• Watch out for this Netflix "tech support" scam—"A security researcher has found an new twist on the traditional security hoodwink."

Windows H8.1

• Windows 8.1 update coming in spring, to improve controls, allow lower end hardware—And there's talk that there'll be a free version with Bing.
• Users mock Microsoft for asking their help on XP-to-Windows 8.1 upgrades—"After company's plea, users point out that upgrading XP to Windows 8.1 is 'impossible.'"
• Microsoft misjudges customer loyalty with kill-XP plea—"Expert questions Microsoft's strategic sense, calls XP upgrades a shakedown worthy of the 'Sopranos'."
• Windows XP will still get security support in China
• Windows XP: What to expect once Microsoft shuts down support

Apple

• Tim Cook Angrily Rejects Political Proposal Asking for Profits-First Policies—Climate change deniers can suck it.
• Apple CarPlay to bring iPhone experience to your next car's dashboard
• Sapphire crystal screens: why Apple is interested in a gemstone
• Apple wants US court to throw out 'radical' ebooks ruling
• Apple Maps sends skiers down dead-end road to fed-up homeowner
• Apple's Steve Jobs Memorial Statue Has Been Unveiled And ... It's Hideous—Not easy to defend.
• How to photograph a leaked Apple product

Facebook

• This Man's $600,000 Facebook Disaster Is A Warning For All Small Businesses
• How Facebook Exploits Underage Girls In Its Quest For Ad Revenue
• Bratty Teen's Facebook Post Cost Her Father $80,000

Copyfight

• Lawrence Lessig Wins Damages For Bogus YouTube Takedown
• 'To Kill A Mockingbird' Author Settles Copyright Suit Against Hometown Museum
• Candy Crush creator abandons 'candy' trademark efforts—In the US, but not in the EU.
• Keurig Will Use DRM In New Coffee Maker To Lock Out Refill Market
• Google Loses Emergency Bid To Keep "Innocence Of Muslims" Film Online
• Rep. Goodlatte Slips Secret Change Into Phone Unlocking Bill That Opens The DMCA Up For Wider Abuse
• House passes cellphone-unlocking bill with controversial limit on bulk reselling
• MPAA Shifts Its Funding Efforts To Republicans After SOPA Defeat
• Obama Nominates SOPA Lobbyist for TPP Trade Post

Piracy

• YouTube Ordered to Remove "Illegal" Copyright Blocking Notices
• MPAA's latest anti-piracy move accidentally, completely screws Hollywood studios
• Police Raid "Movie Cammer" and Family Twice - Then Drop All Charges
• "Dallas Buyers Club" Makers Censor Comcast On Demand, By Mistake
• Dotcom raid legal, FBI taking evidence not—"Police raids on Kim Dotcom's mansion in 2012 have been declared legal, but FBI removal of electronic information seized in the search was an unauthorised breach, the Court of Appeal has found."

Apps

• App-pocalypse Now—"I'm getting pretty sick of being nagged to install your damn apps."
• Europe invites Apple, Google to discuss 'in-app' purchases
• "Free-to-play" misleading advertising in Europe

Patents

• U.S. top court considers the 'patent troll' problem WaPo
• Inventor who shocked tech world stumped by 43-year patent delay
• Nokia, HTC End Patent Disputes, Begin Partnership

Ukraine

• Ukraine must exercise restraint in the face of Russian aggression WaPo
• G7 condemns Russia military build-up
• Russia blocks web pages linked to Ukraine protests Salon
• US concedes Russia has control of Crimea and seeks to contain Putin
• Poland's Tusk says must stop Crimea crisis expanding to regional conflict
• U.S. Spies Said No Russian Invasion of Ukraine — Putin Disagreed—"A day after U.S. intelligence said there would be no Russian invasion of Ukraine, Putin’s troops started coming over the border."

Sochi; LEGO; Let It Go; Back to the Future; Movies; Television; Music; Comics; Superhero Flicks; Pranks

Sochi

• Sochi's popularity problem: Why haven't the Olympics been bigger?—NBC's coverage sucks. Salon
• Bode Miller interview: U.S. Olympic skier responds to criticism of NBC—He was a class-act in trying absolve Cooper's badgering, but NBC was just cunt-astic in this regard.
• Pussy Riot attacked with whips by Cossack militia at Sochi Olympics—"Members of group set upon by uniformed Cossacks and plainclothes security men as they tried to record new song."
• Why Snowboarders Hate Shaun White—Is he really so bad [WaPo]?
• Under Armour suits blamed for slow US speedskaters at Olympics
• Canadian snowboarder Michael Lambert pierces the Sochi bubble
• The Onion: Olympic Village Tour: See Where The Athletes Live, Train And Fuck Each Other

LEGO

• The Lego Movie—"A clever, vivid, funny, oddly profound movie … about plastic bricks."
• Fox Host Attacks The Lego Movie—"... for pushing "an anti-business message to kids."
• Here Is The Number Of LEGO Bricks It Took To Make 'The Lego Movie'
• Everything Is Awesome About the LEGO Movie's Blooper Reel
• LEGO 2014 Oscar Movie Posters
• Google and LEGO team up for new Chrome experiment that lets you build anything in your browser
• 12-year-old builds low-cost Lego braille printer—"A seventh grader's science fair project turns into a quest to develop a customizable low-cost printer for the blind."

Let It Go

• Multilingual 'Let It Go' from 'Frozen' will melt your heart—Check out the full translated versions by Anais Delva (in French), Takako Matsu (in Nihongo) and Malinda Reese (via Google Translate).
• Caleb Hyles—So far the best male cover of the song I've watched that's on the original pitch. Omar Cabán's version is two steps lower, but still enjoyable.
• Christine Bianco's Diva-liciousness—Fun to listen to a second time with your eyes closed.
• Alex Boyé's Africanized version featuring One Voice Children's Choir and 11-year-old Lexi Walker
• ThePianoGuys' mash-up with Vivaldi

Back to the Future

• Back to the Future's Self-Tying 'Power Laces' Are Coming in 2015
• 'Back to the Future' Musical Confirmed for 2015
• Album: Eric Stoltz as Marty McFly

Movies

• Theater Owners Call For Shorter Movie Trailers, Fewer Spoilers
• How to spot a winter turkey at the movies
• "Gravity" revives "sensation cinema" of Hollywood's silent era—"Alfonson Cuarón's latest provides the kind of visceral moviegoing experience big tentpole movies seldom do." Salon
• The Truths Behind 'Dr. Strangelove'—The Soviets did have a doomsday machine, and a rogue American officer could have launched a nuclear attack."
• The real Maleficent: The surprising human face behind the "Sleeping Beauty" villain—"Move over, Angelina Jolie. I've uncovered the long-forgotten model for the original cartoon witch." Salon
• Video: Fight Club minus Tyler Durden
• Toy Story with real toys
• 10 Movies Roger Ebert Really Hated

Television

• Jay Leno: goodnight, and good riddance—"After 22 years, perennial 'nice guy' Jay Leno is about to hand over the reins of The Tonight Show to the younger, funnier Jimmy Fallon. What took him so long?"
• Why French people love "The Big Bang Theory"—"Against the odds, the uber-American sitcom 'The Big Bang Theory' has taken over France." Salon
• It's Elementary, Sherlock: How the CBS procedural surpassed the BBC drama
• Jeopardy's Controversial New Champion Is Using Game Theory To Win Big
• Hail to the Sleaze—"House of Cards returns more ridiculous than ever. Thank goodness for that."
• Why Netflix Is Winning—"Its shows aren't as good as HBO's, but there's more to business than quality."
• Blast from the Past: Five Reality Shows With Better Romance Track Records Than The Bachelor/Bachelorette

Music

• Classical music in America is dead
• An Insider's Account of The Beatles' American Invasion
• Watch That Wild Imagine Dragons/Kendrick Lamar Grammy Performance

Comics

• Help 'Guardians Of The Galaxy's Rocket Raccoon Creator Bill Mantlo, A Hero In Need
• English Professor urges students to study comic book heroes
• Ka-Pow! Marvel Opens Massive Comic Book Images Archive And API To Fans, Developers
• JL8 creator Yale Stewart is writing a series of Superman kids' books
• Where In The World Is ComiXology?—Digital comics getting more popular.
• Blast from the Past: The Science of Superheroes: Beyond the Incredible

Superhero Flicks

• 'Fantastic Four' Cast Revealed
• Man of Steel from a Baby's Perspective
• How Warner Is Rebranding 'Batman Vs. Superman'—Here's a fan-made teaser trailer.
• Tom Hiddleston Had a Hell of a Week

Pranks

• Devil Baby
• Chucky
• Carrie

Comcast Merger, Broadband, Netflix; TPP, Copyfight, Pandora vs. ASCAP; Flappy Bird, Gaming; Windows Crash; Law and Disorder

Comcast Merger

• Comcast buys rival Time Warner Cable for $45bn
• Comcast Gives $854K to Subcommittee With Jurisdiction Over FCC
• Sen. Chuck Schumer recuses himself from Comcast-Time Warner deal—Huge conflict-of-interest with him praising the deal previously.
• Comcast: No promise that prices "will go down or even increase less rapidly"—"Former FCC commissioner urges defeat of "anti-consumer" Comcast/TWC merger."
• Comcast's Time Warner Deal Is Bad for America
• The Real Problem with the Comcast-Time Warner Merger
• Comcast monopoly: One Cable Company to Rule Them All?
• Forget TV, It's Internet Access at Stake in the Comcast Deal

Broadband

• ISP lobby has already won limits on public broadband in 20 states—"Bills limiting municipal ISPs in Kansas and Utah continue noble tradition.."
• Data Caps Are The Devil For Residents Of Rural Alaskan Towns; Are They In Our Future?
• Time Warner Cable still in denial, says users might not want faster data speeds
• How ISPs are working to keep you stuck with their slow service
• This is what a competitive broadband market looks like
• Google working on 10 gigabit Internet speeds
• Many Broadband ISP Consumers Suffer in Silence Rather than Complain

Netflix

• Netflix plan for cable boxes threatened by Comcast/Time Warner merger—"Supporting Netflix would 'cannibalize their business.'"
• Netflix To Deploy GPU-Powered Neural Networks For Deep Learning In Movie Recommendations
• Infographic: Netflix vs. Blockbuster

TPP

• Amid Growing Calls To Release TPP Text, NZ Says Transparency Would 'Destroy' Agreement, While USTR Won't Even Talk If Journalists Are Present
• Obama Pushes TPP Negotiations Despite Mounting Opposition at Home and Abroad
• Obama Trade Deals Are in Trouble, and They Deserve to Be

Copyfight

• Scary UFC Copyright Propaganda Matters to Everyone
• Why It's Getting Harder to Sue Illegal Movie Downloaders—"Some federal judges are becoming skeptical of the methods copyright holders use to identify culprits."
• Australian Government Signals Online Piracy Crackdown

Pandora vs. ASCAP

• Pandora Suit May Upend Century-Old Royalty Plan—"Pandora is squaring off against Ascap in a closely watched trial over royalty payments determined by a system developed long before digital streams and smartphone apps." NYT
• Surprise: ASCAP and Music Labels Colluded To Screw Pandora
• ASCAP, Pandora await verdict in court battle over digital music rights

Flappy Bird

• 28 Days of Fame: The Strange, True Story of 'Flappy Bird'
• Flappy Bird Creator Dong Nguyen Says App 'Gone Forever' Because It Was 'An Addictive Product'
• Flap no more: Google, Apple rejecting flappy-branded games—"Apparently they're just as sick of Flappy Bird as we are."
• Why Indie Developers Go Insane
• You can't actually sell your Flappy Bird phone on eBay

Gaming

• TotalBiscuit Fights Against Total Boneheads—FUN Creators seem to be out of their frickin' minds.
• Plants vs Zombies drops in-app fee
• 'CandySwipe', a Game Released Two Years Before 'Candy Crush', is the Latest Victim of the King.com Candy Trademark "Saga"
• Gabe Newell Speaks On Recent VAC Controversy, Asks For Trust—Valve accused of spying on users under guise of anti-cheating measures.
• Korea bans kids from late night gaming, they don't listen

Windows Crash

• What the Heck is Happening to Windows?—Tough love from Thurrott.
• Windows 8 UX designer on Metro: "It is the antithesis of a power user"
• After 15 months, Windows 8 has sold 100 million fewer copies than Windows 7 did
• Windows 7 on business PCs gets an extension—PC consumer sales end October 31.
• Hate Windows 8? 3 ways to downgrade to Windows 7
• Irish Govt signs €3.3m deal with Microsoft to fix Windows XP security issues
• Why do People Still Use Windows XP

Law and Disorder

• With Porn Filters Going Oh So Well, UK Roars Ahead In Expanding Them To Include 'Extremist' Content
• Hyperlinking is Not Copyright Infringement, EU Court Rules—"However, the ruling also makes it clear that while publishing a link to freely available content does not amount to infringement, there are circumstances where that would not be the case."
• Frenchman Fined For 'Theft' And 'Fraudulent Retention' For Finding Health Docs Via A Google Search
• The Facebook Comment That Ruined a Life—"A young man's violent threat on Facebook lands him in jail, and limbo."
• Google reaches antitrust deal with EU—"The Internet search giant dodges $5 billion in fines with pledge to display rivals' search results.

Happy New Year, Movies, Music, Comics, Tech and Gaming

Happy New Year

• The best pictures from around the world as we welcome in 2014
• TIME Picks the Top 10 Photos of 2013
• The most incredible nature photography of 2013—"Highlights from this year's National Geographic Photography Contest." And are the winners. Salon
• David Bianculli's Top 10 Shows: 2013 Was A 'Good Year For TV'
• Best Books 2013: Slate Staff Picks
• The top memes and viral videos of 2013
• The 39 Worst Words, Phrases, and Parts of Speech of 2013

Movies

• TIME's Top 10 Best Movies
• The best movies of 2013: Dana Stevens on a year of outrageous cinematic bounty
• The 10 best movies of 2013 Salon
• List of Best-Reviewed 2013 Films Among Criticwire Members
• Every Movie Trailer from 2013: The Supercut

Music

• The best and worst music moments of 2013—"From Miley's missteps to Beyoncé's triumph, it's been a roller-coaster year for music." Salon
• Nirvana, Kiss, E Street Lead Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 2014 Class—"Hall and Oates, Peter Gabriel, Cat Stevens and Linda Ronstadt will also be inducted on April 10th."
• Pop Danthology 2013

Comics

• The A.V. Club: The best mainstream and superhero comics of 2013
• The 10 best superhero comics of 2013 Salon
• Looking Back on Another Banner Year with Image Comics Publisher Eric Stephenson

Tech and Gaming

• Top Products in Two Decades of Tech Reviews—Walt Mossberg's farewell WSJ column "on the products that changed the digital industry." WSJ
• Duolingo: Apple's choice for App of the Year—Me gusta mucho este programa.
• Best gaming product of 2013: Steam

Merry Christmas, Uplifting; Entertainment; Tolkein, Music

Merry Christmas

• 2 years after death, woman gets her Christmas Wish for family
• Dying girl's Christmas wish granted by 10,000 carolers
• All I Want For Christmas is Chatroulette—Steve Kardynal strikes again.

Uplifting

• Young Girl Gets Dream-Come-True Dance With Prince Charming
• Shoeshiner Donates $200K in Tips to Kids' Hospital
• Man Survives 3 Days At Bottom Of Atlantic

Entertainment

• Netflix's War on Mass Culture—"Binge-viewing was just the beginning. Netflix has a plan to rewire our entire culture."
• 'Walking Dead' creator sues AMC over profits from zombie series
• WHOLOCK - Sherlock meets The Doctor!—The Doctor and the Detective.

Tolkein

• On The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug and weaknesses in the source material—"Ars' resident Tolkien nerd explains why deviating from the book can be a good thing [Salon]."
• Here's Why Peter Jackson Can't Make More Tolkien Adaptations (Even If He Wanted To)
• 'Gandalf' Recreates 'You Shall Not Pass' Tolkien Scene on Tram Tracks

Music

• The 19 best cross-genre covers of all time Salon
• Steve Irwin Gets Autotuned in a Delightful Musical Tribute
• Seth Rogen & James Franco Bound 3

Entertainment, Disney, Advertising, Television, Movies, Comics, Fun Art

Entertainment

• Why do people feel it's OK to reveal plot details?
• Surprising Celebrity Twins: Scarlett Johansson, Kiefer Sutherland, and More!
• 'What Does The Fox Say?' Will Soon Be A Children's Book

Disney

• Joe Jonas: My Life As a Jonas Brother
• Women Are Hard to Animate Because They Have Emotions, Says Disney
• Disney Mashup Will Make You Nostalgic...But Only For A Minute
• 'Lion King' Is Broadway's First $1 Billion Show
• Walt Disney's & Salvador Dali - Destino 2003

Advertising

• Brilliant Award-Winning Romanian Tourism Campaign—"A perfect response to negative comments about Romanian immigration by the British government."
• Someone Wrote Extremely Racist Comments On A Gap Ad, And Gap Responded Perfectly
• Ad Agency Rejects 'Uncomfortable' Photo of Muslim Woman Embracing a US Soldier from Its Times Square Billboards

Television

• Doctor Who - 50 years of memories
• Breaking Bad alternate ending
• The Big Bang Theory physics joke without laugh track

Movies

• Google Map of Middle-Earth
• Jason Statham Calls for Stunt-Actor Oscar Category
• 'Gravity' Spinoff Reveals Unseen Side of Sandra Bullock's Cry for Help
• Hans Zimmer Feels "Horrible" When His 'Inception' BRAMMS Are Used In Movie Trailers
• What if movie posters were neon signs?

Comics

• The Problem With DC's 'Superman: A Celebration of 75 Years'
• Ben Affleck, Christian Bale Give Two Thumbs Up to Batkid: 'Best Batman Ever'
• Steven Attewell: Steve Rogers Isn't Just Any Hero
• 7 Best Superhero Suits From Film and Television
• Why We Are Going To Be Even More Obsessed With Saga Ten Years From Now

Fun Art

• Video game characters as Japanese woodcuts
• Batman Noir
• Eeie Superhero posters
• Origins: 1 | 2
• Wonder Woman and the DC Band—By Cliff Chiang

Happy Halloween; Breaking Bad; Television; Simpsons Did It; Disney Mix; Movies; Comics; Obamacare; Surveillance and Privacy

Happy Halloween

• Spinning Horror Into Gold—"The producer Jason Blum's winning movie formula relies on profit-sharing, and he's thinking about applying it to television." NYT
• Woman Handing Out Letters, Not Halloween Candy—"... to Halloween trick or treaters that she feels are 'moderately obese.'" Is this for real?
• 'Offensive' Halloween costumes banned by US university—"University of Colorado Boulder tells students to avoid costumes including cowboys, indians, white trash or anything potentially deemed offensive."
• 10 most haunted places around the world Salon
• Alien-themed promotion for Shoals radio station leads to concern over school safety—"A radio promotion spoofing aliens hacking into an Alabama radio station spooked students into believing schools would be attacked." H.G. Wells all over again?
• Review of Afterlife With Archie—Featuring Francesco Francavilla's art
• A Justice Halloween—Poor Bats.

Breaking Bad

• Which Great Literary Work Explains Breaking Bad Best?—"Comparing the series finale to Shakespeare, Moby-Dick, and ... Curious George?"
• "Breaking Bad"'s most powerful drug was money—"No matter how much Walt made, he wanted more -- until the bitter end, when ego was all that mattered." Salon
• Norm Macdonald is wrong; Breaking Bad ending not a dream
• "El Paso" scene in Breaking Bad
• Anthony Hopkins says Bryan Cranston's acting in 'Breaking Bad' is the best he's ever seen
• Breaking Bad creator says online piracy 'helped' show
• Breaking Bad, Full Fan Title Sequence
• Breaking Bad: New Episodes—Spoiler alert.

Television

• Netflix gloats as broadcast television ratings continue to horrify
• Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart react to "Colbert Report" Emmy win Salon
• BBC to reveal a number of missing Doctor Who episodes
• 4 of the Most Insane Versions of TMNT
• Archer -- Danger Zone

Simpsons Did it

• R.I.P. Marcia Wallace—Goodbye Mrs. Krabapple.
• The Simpsons' secret formula: it's written by maths geeks—"When one of Britain's best-known science writers went to Los Angeles to meet the show's writers for a new book, he found a team dedicated to inserting gags about complex maths problems. And you thought it was just a cartoon…"
• One, doh!, three: Homer Simpson is a math genius. Really!—"Believe it or not, Homer can teach us a lot about advanced math. He does work in a nuclear power plant..." Salon
• How to Make The Simpsons Relevant Again: The Characters Should Start Getting Older—Meh.
• Simpson's 24th Treehouse of Horror by Guillermo del Toro

Disney Mix

• If Disney Villains Were Cast in Chicago
• Star Wars Disney Mashups
• Disney Characters as College Students
• Disney-Last Airbender mash-ups
• Disney: I choose you!

Movies

• Thor: The Dark World—Didn't feel like as much as a sequel (which is a good thing) but more of a new chapter of what's hopefully more of our favorite Thunder Blond's adventures. "Chuck" as Fandral was a bit strange to see though.
• ReelViews: "The Vandalism of 3-D"
• Why Do We Eat Popcorn at the Movies?
• Terminator 3 deleted scene—Fun and scary at the same time.
• Titanic, as directed by Michael Bay

Music

• Culture is not about aesthetics. Punk rock is now enforced by law.
• Sinead O'Connor's open letter to Miley Cyrus. Miley responds, Sinead responds to Miley, Miley responds to Sinead, Sinead responds to Miley
• 20 isolated vocal tracks you need to hear right now
• Dolly Parton's Jolene slowed down—Great segment on her on Drunk History.
• Sesame Street sings with Jimmy Fallon and the Roots Salon

Comics

• The 75 Most Memorable Moments in DC Comics History
• Superman: 75 years of heroic history in a 2-minute animated short
• Comic Book-Strip Crossovers
• DC capitalizes on Arrow's success by making Green Arrow one of its best titles—I'm waiting for Lemire's trades to hit the stands.
• DC Apologizes for Harley Queen Talent Search Page
• A Map of Comic Book Burnings Across the U.S.
• 5 Iconic Characters You Didn't Know Were Ripoffs
• Not-So-Super Powers

Obamacare

• Sebelius: 'I apologize, I'm accountable' for Obamacare website flaws
• Another Obamacare horror story debunked
• Reich: GOP loved Obamacare until Obama proposed it
• Reminder: Republicans have no interest in fixing Obamacare
• Ignore Republican nihilism. Obamacare is already working—"The media parrots GOP talking-points about ACA bugs, but the fact is it's cutting healthcare costs and expanding coverage."

Surveillance and Privacy

• Glenn Greenwald: "Dick Cheney Engaged In Some Of The Most Radical & Criminal Conduct In The U.S.!"
• The Snowden Leaks and the Public—An article by The Guardian's editor, Alan Rusbridger.
• Boris Johnson defends Guardian over NSA revelations—"Mayor of London says it is right that 'salient and interesting facts' about espionage are brought into public domain."
• NSA infiltrates links to Yahoo, Google data centers worldwide, Snowden documents say—Naturally, they're angry. (Or are they pretending to be?) WaPo
• PRISM already gave the NSA access to tech giants. Here's why it wanted more. WaPo
• NSA May Have Spied On The Vatican During The Papal Conclave
• NSA pushed 9/11 as key 'sound bite' to justify surveillance
• Russia Reportedly Bugged the Goodie Bags at the G20 Summit
• Murdoch editors must have known of phone hacking, court hears
• Mike Rogers: You Can't Have Your Privacy Violated If You Don't Know About It

Breaking Bad, Comics, Entertainment, Music; Games; Free to Play, Pay to Win; Tilt; NSA Spying, Surveillance and Privacy, Your Rights Online

Breaking Bad

• The Last Stand of Walter White—"A cancer-ridden science teacher transforms himself into a sinister meth lord. That's the story of 'Breaking Bad.' But it's also the story of how Bryan Cranston became TV's greatest leading man. As the show enters its final stretch, GQ's Brett Martin discovers why Walter White will always live on."
• 'Mythbusters' tests 'Breaking Bad'
• Walter White goes undercover as himself at Comic-Con
• Breaking Bad Jr – Afterwards They Will Explode
• With 2 Hit Series Ending, a Transformed AMC Is at a Crossroads NYT

Comics

• Interview: David Steward II on Founding Lion Forge and Getting into the Entertainment Business
• 'Batman' takes boy battling respiratory illness on Batcave tour
• Watch JOKER RISING - Full-Length Fan Film
• If Woody Allen Made Wolverine
• Hawkeye: Afternoon Stroll—Amazing fan-art.

Entertainment

• Five hundred new fairytales discovered in Germany—"Collection of fairytales gathered by historian Franz Xaver von Schönwerth had been locked away in an archive in Regensburg for over 150 years."
• JK Rowling law firm pays damages over pseudonym leak—The settlement goes to The Soldier's Charity, as well as the book royalties.
• Netflix, Studios Have Very Different Explanations for Widescreen Cropping
• Massive 'Simpsons' supercut features every movie reference in first 10 seasons
• Nate Silver ESPN: The eight sports problems that the FiveThirtyEight maestro should solve
• Portraits By Erika Saracino
• 33 Skeletor Affirmations To Get You Through Even The Worst Day

Music

• The Rock 'n' Roll Casualty Who Became a War Hero—Jason Everman is not your every man (Salon). NYT
• Jimmy Fallon, Robin Thicke & The Roots Sing "Blurred Lines" (w/ Classroom Instruments)
• Daft Punk Punks Stephen Colbert

Games

• Microsoft gives a damn 'bout your bad reputation on Xbox One—"Not living in the past—it's a new generation of Xbox Live community management."
• New Oculus Rift cover shooter is so realistic, players warned not to lean on virtual objects
• 10-year-old saves family in errant car, credits Mario Kart
• Greek Mythology Chess Set
• Blast from the Past: The Ages of Minecraft

Free to Play, Pay to Win

• Apple refunds $6,131 iTunes bill for 8-year-old's unauthorized in-app purchases
• In-app purchasing and $3,000 iTunes bill stun mom
• Why Free-to-Play is a fad —Or, is it here to stay?

Tilt

• Lawsuit Awards $11 Million to Original Madden Programmer—EA accused recycling code and features.
• Zynga loses $15.8M in Q2, nearly half its daily users year-over-year
• Kickstarter tabletop game collapses after bringing in $123K
• Video game suit can proceed—"A federal lawsuit filed against the video-game vendor GameStop Corp. alleges three South Jersey stores sold used games that sometimes cost more than buying new."
• Xbox Live Policies Are Blocking Cross-Platform MMOs like "Final Fantasy XIV" and "Dust 514"

NSA Spying

• Obama touts NSA surveillance reforms to quell growing unease over programs—"President to work with Congress to reform NSA's Fisa court and Patriot Act but made clear that mass surveillance would continue."
• Obama Promises Reform of NSA Spying, But the Devil Will Be in the Details
• Obama Administration Releases Previously Secret Legal Opinion on NSA's Associational Tracking Program
• Obama's Reassurances about Domestic Surveillance are not Reassuring
• Making You 'Comfortable' with Spying Is Obama's Big NSA Fix
• Obama's former adviser ridicules statement that NSA doesn’t spy on Americans
• WikiLeaks founder: Obama surveillance changes vindicate Edward Snowden—Warning: Has un-pausable, un-muteable auto-playing video advertisement. Turn off your speaker before clicking.

Surveillance and Privacy

• Lawmakers say obstacles limited oversight of NSA’s telephone surveillance program
• Jennifer Hoelzer's Insider's View Of The Administration's Response To NSA Surveillance Leaks
• Don’t worry, NSA says—we only "touch" 1.6% of daily global Internet traffic
• Researchers say Tor-targeted malware phoned home to NSA—"JavaScript attack had a hard-coded IP address that traced back to NSA address block."
• A Call to Boycott U.S. Tech Platforms Over the NSA's PRISM Surveillance
• Lavabit's closure marks the death of secure cloud computing in the US—"Once Edward Snowden's use of the email service was public, it was perhaps a given that Lavabit would be targeted by the US."
• Mega to fill secure email gap left by Lavabit—"Kim Dotcom's privacy company Mega prepares 'cutting edge' email encryption service."

Your Rights Online

• Spy access to NZ used as bargaining tool—"The ability for US intelligence agencies to access internet data was used as a bargaining tool by a Telecom-owned company trying to keep down the cost of the undersea cable from New Zealand."
• Facebook used in worker dismissal—"A flight attendant was forced to let her bosses examine her Facebook pages and bank accounts in a stoush over what she was up to on sick leave."
• New tool monitors e-mail language to catch workplace thieves
• No, this isn't a scene from Minority Report. This trash can is stalking you
• Pirate Bay Releases 'Pirate Browser' to Thwart Censorship

Superheroes, Cartoons, Voice Overs, Film, Music, Sports, Gaming, Art World, Culture, Hipsters

Superheroes

• Joss Whedon and Marvel Studios announce the sequel to 'The Avengers'—Geek...
• SUPERMAN/BATMAN Movie in 2015 - Nolan Returns, New Batman To Be Cast—...gasm!
• Committed: Perez' Wonder Woman – The Gold Standard—Loved his depictions of the Greek Gods from Ares to Zeus.
• Suricate: The Superheroes Hangover
• College Humor: Bane Mugs

Cartoons

• The Pixar Theory: Every Pixar movie is connected. I explain how, and possibly why.
• 'The Simpsons' Will Cross Over With 'Family Guy' Next Year
• "Axe Cop", Designed by a 5 Year Old—Now a cartoon on Fox.

Voice Overs

• You know the voices, not the faces -- that's fine, as long as they get the work
• Spongebob Voice Actors Dub Classic Movies
• Spongepulp Fictionpants: Storage—A different kind of voiceover.
• "Drive Thru Voice" - Gabriel Iglesias
• My Movie Trailer Guy Impression

Film

• Why Is Netflix Secretly Cropping Movies?—There are those who don't care; they don't know what they're missing.
• Movie Legends Revealed: The Strange Tale of How 'Scarface' Beat the X Rating
• Nicolas Cage: 'People think I'm not in on the joke'—He is the one true god.
• "The Lone Ranger" failed because it wasted money—"With 'The Lone Ranger,' Disney lost big on a bad idea. But in Hollywood, failure's almost as good as success." Salon
• Watch the trailer for the "Calvin & Hobbes" documentary

Music

• Israeli and Palestinian bands unite in 'metal brotherhood'
• Alanis Morissette's song is finally ironic—"Two sisters have corrected the lyrics of the song to make the 1996 hit more accurate." Salon
• 'Kiss This Guy': Spotify's 10 most misquoted songs—"Hold me closer, Tony Danza."
• Solala jamming 'Kiss From A Rose'—Hunky trio from Sweden.
• 13 Simple Hacks For Enjoying Music So Much More

Sports

• FIFA Loses Bid to Block Free TV Access to World Cup Matches—Goal!
• You Can Only Hope To Contain Them: Why female athletes' biggest opponents are their own breasts
• 'Carry On': Why I stayed

Gaming

• U.S. issues athlete visas to professional gamers—Surprisingly progressive.
• NCAA to end deal with EA Sports—"The NCAA said Wednesday it won't allow Electronic Arts Inc. to use its logo and name in video games while it fights a lawsuit that says the governing body owes billions of dollars to former players for allowing their likenesses to be used for free."
• Xbox One game sharing: Microsoft exec apologizes for messy situation
• 19-year old builds 25 hours of Skyrim mod to get Bethesda's attention
• The War Z Changes Its Name, If Nothing Else

Art World

• The art market is "corrupt"—"Those who argue that the art world is dominated by private interests are ignoring how the 'real' economy operates." Salon
• Art Forger Robert Driessen Reveals How He Made Giacometti Fakes
• Stolen Picasso 'burned in stove' in Romania—Mother burns the evidence.

Culture

• Law firm apologizes for outing J.K. Rowling as author of mystery novel
• Wine tasting is bullshit. Here's why.
• Pop Culture Icon Portraits

Hipsters

• Hipster Tax For Being 'So Annoying' Backed By 27 Percent Of Americans: Poll
• Hipsters Tired of "Hipsters" Ruining Williamsburg
• xkcd: Hipsters