Hasta La Gadget!

The extent of the U.S. government’s probe into Wikileaks may have become just a little clearer on Friday, when a pair of former Wikileaks volunteers revealed prosecutors’ successful attempts to subpoena their Gmail account information.

The broader investigation into Wikileaks was confirmed as “ongoing” by independent journalist Alexa O’Brien in March, but few specifics have been revealed. However, the unsealing of subpoenas executed against Smari McCarthy and Herbert Snorrason may hint at a broad governmental probe into the whistleblower site’s leaking of classified government documents.

McCarthy and Snorrason, two Icelandic men previously associated with Wikileaks, posted a statement on June 21 that linked to the recently unsealed court orders issued to Google by the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia back in 2011. The documents were also obtained and posted online by The Nation.

Read More…
More on Wikileaks

Robert Pattinson hosted a star-studded birthday party for his director friend Nicholas Jarecki at his home in LA on Saturday. Heather Graham was spotted arriving at the event, as was Ellen Page. Party guest and singer Todd Michael Schultz tweeted about the bash, saying that it was “a real freakin’ party.”

Read More…
More on Movies

It’s been too long since we’ve thrown one of our shindigs with gdgt — and we’re changing that right this second. If you can’t make it to our bash at 82Mercer in NYC tonight, you can at least follow along with our event liveblog. Samsung is on hand with its latest gadget lineup, as is Sony, with its HD gear. That’s not to mention GoGo, Nokia and Ziphius among several other brands ready to show off their wares for attendees. We’ll be sharing the highlights, from product demos to discussions with Engadget and gdgt editors, and throwing in our snapshots throughout the night. Keep your browser parked here to catch it all. Oh, and if you’re here at the event, tweet your photos with the hashtag #engdgtNYC — we might just throw them in the liveblog!

Comments

Chicago’s newly christened “Pride Week” kicked off over the weekend with the city’s Pride Fest.

For the first time, this year’s festival was held the week prior to the crown jewel of LGBT Pride in Chicago: the parade. But the party was still hopping as folks turned out for food, booze and an entertainment lineup that featured Deborah Cox, Dev and more drag queens per square foot than is probably legal in some places.

Lake View Patch was on the scene and shared some snaps from the festivities. Check out Patch for more of their Pride coverage.

Read More…
More on Pride 2013

Product placement has become a large part of reality shows, but for some hosts, like “Top Chef’s” Padma Lakshmi, it’s become a “crappy” obligation.

“With advertising for us, it’s a very expensive show to do, so there are times when we have people who come in — or corporations or products — and it’s ‘OK this is the challenge for Uncle Ben’s’ or whatever,” Lakshmi said during a Hollywood Reporter roundtable with other reality TV hosts. “It’s pretty straightforward. I’m the one on air who gets kind of most, I don’t want to say saddled or slammed with the crappy part of it, but I feel like I do because I have to say and I’m not going to use any brand … it’s never something that’s straightforward. I wind up saying the brand name in my intro to the challenge to these chefs. ‘Get in your car,’ it’s ‘Get in your blah, blah, blah car.’ I have to make that shit sound natural, and it’s hard.”

However, Lakshmi did praise “Top Chef” producers for integrating products into the actual competition. She cited a Reynolds Quickfire challenge in which everything was wrapped in aluminum foil.

Read More…
More on Food