Tag: RUSSIA

We promised ourselves some time ago that we were going to stop covering every celebrity and politician who signs up for Twitter. Let's be honest; it's not news anymore. In fact, it would be bigger news if a celebrity announced a vehement opposition to Twitter and vowed that they would rather spend an eternity watching Black Eyed Peas' videos than subject themselves to even a moment of ...

How does a Russian get around the frozen countryside during sub-zero winters? He builds an awesome snowmobile that looks like something out of 'Mad Max.' According to the English Russia website, an unnamed retiree built the pictured snowmobile, which is powered by an old Yamaha motorcycle engine and constructed from pieces of scrap metal. The gearshift is fashioned from a wooden Coke bottle ...

Highlights from this morning's other big tech headlines.... Last year, a Roman Catholic bishop urged believers to give up text messaging for Lent, and, this Ash Wednesday, other religious leaders are expanding on that suggestion. Instead of encouraging church members to avoid chocolate or other trivialities, a group of English bishops has asked that Anglicans engage in a complete ...

One of the first and most obvious truisms of advertising is that "sex sells." When said sex is on a billboard, and extremely graphic, it also apparently stops traffic. According to FOX News, "traffic jerked to a standstill" in Moscow last night when hardcore pornographic footage was broadcast on two downtown billboard video screens. The screens are professionally operated by ad firm Panno.ru, ...

While NASA astronauts typically tweet banalities about their jobs, the hilarity of one Russian cosmonaut's blog is skyrocketing to infinity... and beyond. Maksim Suraev, a Roscosmos astronaut aboard the International Space Station, has used his blog to give readers some humorous insight into daily outer space existence. Translated into English by Russia Today, the blog features not only ...

A man used hacking software to steal more than $100,000 from banking and brokerage accounts over a six-month period in 2007, according to Macworld. Alexey Mineev recently plead guilty to one count of money laundering in U.S. District Court. Mineev stole account numbers and passwords from users with a Trojan horse, which can pose as anything from a security patch to a screensaver. Then, he wired ...

A US Iridium satellite has hit a defunct Russian satellite in an unprecedented space collision. The crash occurred some 790km (491 miles) over Siberia on Tuesday, according to NASA, and produced a "massive" cloud of debris. About 600 pieces are being tracked from the debris field in hopes of understanding the risk they present to other satellites and the international space station. The ...

Personally, we're always excited to get free multimedia packs loaded on our phones -- wallpapers and ringtones don't come cheap, after all. We draw the line at multimedia packs of Cold War-era dictators, though, which is why Nokia's pretty fired up that some of its sets are being sold at retail in Russia preloaded with exciting Stalin-themed memorabilia. Apparently -- and we believe them -- ...

We really love it when people make outrageous claims that they, for example, own the trademark for an emoticon. Oleg Teterin, a Russian businessman and owner of Superfone (a mobile ad company), has trademarked the wink emoticon, ;-). Teterin says he has no intentions of going after individual users, but that he wants businesses to understand they will not get away with using his trademarked ...

Just under a year ago, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin announced his hopes that one day he could pinpoint the location of his black Labrador, Koni, at any time of the day. Today, a dream has been realized. Mr. Putin has finally procured a satellite collar that will enable him to track the lab regardless of which of the eleven times zones she may be in while waltzing through Russia. Once ...

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin apparently has something to prove -- we suspect he's trying to compensate for something we won't identify. In celebration of his 56th birthday, the former KGB agent has released a DVD that stars himself, alongside Japanese and Russian specialists, demonstrating Judo techniques. 'Let's Learn Judo with Vladimir Putin' (seriously, that's the title) features ...

It must be sad when you spend all sorts of time and effort on something and no one notices for over 30 years. The woodcutters who created the massive tribute to Lenin have probably long since forgotten about their handiwork, which is a shame since only now is it being appreciated by a wider audience. The Telegraph reports that it was recently discovered by the blog EnglishRussia via Google ...

The conflict with the former Soviet state of Georgia continues to rumble with Russian forces still on the offensive. But,in this modern conflict, Georgia is also claiming Russian assaults on a very different battlefield: cyberspace. Georgian officials are accusing Russian forces of engaging in attacks against official sites, like that of the Georgian Ministry of Defense, which was knocked ...

A Russian student with a sick sense of humor is now paying the price for his poor taste. According to 'Russia Today,' Anton Shurubara sent 400 death threats to random phone numbers proclaiming "Death to Russian pigs and to you, freak!" Funny, considering he is Russian. Shurubara, who was tracked down authorities, claimed "I was just joking around, I wanted to see what people's reactions would ...

Seven European members of NATO are banding together to create a cyber defense center in Estonia, following that country's experience with an overwhelming attack on its Internet structure last year, which it blamed on hackers in Russia who were been upset with the Estonian government's decision to move a statue of Vladimir Lenin in its capital city of Tallinn to a graveyard. In the end, it may ...