ContributorNetwork – COMMENTARY | An interesting picture of the 2012 election is painted when you look at the Fox News Candidate Tracker as it the numbers place Ron Paul well ahead of the competition. Readers can “Like” each page through Facebook and the number of “Likes” paints a varied picture from what we have seen thus far in the polls or other “official surveys.”

Reuters – Democratic Representative Anthony Weiner, under pressure to resign after being snared in an online sex scandal, is seeking professional treatment and requesting a leave of absence from the House of Representative, an aide said Saturday.

AFP – Top Democrats turned up the heat on US Representative Anthony Weiner to resign Saturday after he admitted to lewd online relationships in what one called a “sordid affair.”

Daily Caller – Welcome to Facebook, Dick Cheney!

AFP – Faced with aggressive public outreach by China, the United States must ramp up its own efforts and do a better job fighting Internet censorship, a Senate committee report says.

AP – Former Rep. Eric Massa and his tickle fights are so 2010. Eliot Spitzer? He’s two governors ago. With the shirtless photo sent to a woman he was apparently trying to woo online, Rep. Chris Lee is the latest in a string of New York politicians whose misdeeds have riveted national attention.

The UK Home Office has revealed its new design for the British passport. From October, anyone issued a passport will receive a revamped version with enhanced security features that protect against fraud.

Firstly, the RFID chip that contains biometric data about the carrier has been moved to the inside of the passport cover, where it won’t be visible. This change means that it’s better physically protected, as well as more difficult to swap out without noticeable damage to the cover.

The personal details page moves from the rear of the passport to the second page, and will remain laminated, but with a new transparent coating that contains a number of holograms. A photo of the holder will appear twice — once on the personal details page, and also printed onto the paper of the observations page.

An Army private suspected of leaking classified information to WikiLeaks was admonished as a trainee in 2008 for uploading YouTube videos discussing classified facilities, according to an Army official with direct knowledge of the incident.

Bradley Manning, now 22, was three months into his 16 weeks of training as an intelligence analyst when about 25 of his fellow students got together to report him for the videos in July 2008, says the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. Manning, who enlisted in October 2007, had completed basic training and was receiving his advanced individual training at the Army’s Intelligence Centre of Excellence at Fort Huachuca, Arizona.

Filed under: Computers, Video Games, Web

To most people, the Israeli blockade of ships entering Gaza doesn’t exactly sound like game material. But one Israel-based, non-profit organization has seized upon the ongoing crisis to create an online game in the hopes of highlighting what they perceive as misguided Israeli policy.

The game, called ‘Safe Passage,’ was created by Gisha: Legal Center for Freedom of Movement, a multi-religious organization that fights to establish the free movement of Palestinians. Players can choose from three character types: an ice cream vendor trying to get his product into the West Bank market, a young woman who’s been accepted to a West Bank university, and a father trying to return to his family in, of course, the West Bank. Each archetype must face different challenges along the journey: the student must use a flying hat to convince a military mailbox to look at her university application, the ice cream man must avoid giant coins, and the father begins his odyssey by being launched from his West Bank home into Gaza.

Continue reading ‘Safe Passage’ Turns Israeli Gaza Blockade Into a Game

‘Safe Passage’ Turns Israeli Gaza Blockade Into a Game originally appeared on Switched on Fri, 25 Jun 2010 07:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Cameras, Celebrities, Digital Camera

You’re now gazing at President Barack Obama’s just-released official portrait — the first of a U.S. president ever taken with a digital camera. That means we can peek at the EXIF data — this fine specimen of portraiture was snapped with a Canon EOS 5D Mark II on January 13th, 2009 at 5:38 pm with no flash, using a 105mm lens stopped to f/10 at a 1/125 exposure, with an ISO of 100 by newly crowned official White House photographer Pete Souza. Nice work, Souza — but we think it could use a few lens flares.

[Thanks, Penny]

Obama’s Official Portrait Is the First Taken With a Digital Camera originally appeared on Switched on Thu, 15 Jan 2009 11:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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