Hasta La Gadget!

The military has had a difficult time controlling accidental leaks of information and details by soldiers who use social networks and other online methods to communicate with friends and loved ones back home. A report has surfaced claiming that the Taliban has been using fake Facebook profiles of cute girls to try and the friend soldiers with the intent of gathering information about military operations. The military has warned soldiers in the past against the wanting any details that could identify their location on social networks.

At some points, soldiers have even been banned from accessing certain websites. The reports indicate that both Australian and coalition troops are being targeted by insurgents that pose as attractive woman on Facebook. The report also says the troops are being warned about the potential danger. One concern for the military is that Facebook’s geo-tagging of images uploaded from smartphones, tablets and other devices is a special concern.

Another concern raised by military leaders is that friends and families of soldiers could be inadvertently compromising mission by sharing confidential information online without realizing it. Something along the line of a simple post offering details on an area where a friend or loved one is operating could be just the sort of intel enemy forces are looking for.

[via Fox News]

Sometimes they unfriend you. Sometime they don’t. Always you want to see exactly everything that they are doing. Don’t you? More »

Welcome to Thursday everyone. Today Amazon held its highly anticipated Kindle Fire event, marking our third press event in two days. Amazon didn’t disappoint either, announcing a handful of new Kindle Fire tablets and the new Kindle Paperwhite. It was a very exciting event, and you can get a nice little recap of all of the news in our full Amazon Kindle event wrap-up. Be sure to check that out for all of our announcement and hands-on posts from the day.

We didn’t end the hands-on posts with just Amazon, however, as we also delivered hands-on “extended cuts” for both the Nokia Lumia 920 and the more budget-friendly Lumia 820, which were both announced yesterday. With these new Lumias revealed, Nokia cut the price on the existing Lumia line while reports said that the production of these new Lumia phones is being done in-house. The company also said that its OIS ad for the Lumia 920 was faked, and we tell you how you can watch Nokia’s reveal of the 920 and 820 all over again.

Facebook’s $1 billion purchase of Instagram has been finalized, and it seems that the launch of the iPhone 5 will mark the death of the iPhone 3GS. The iPhone has retained its customer satisfaction crown – even gaining a little bit on last year’s survey results – and bad news for Samsung today, as the company is now under an antitrust investigation in South Korea after Apple filed a 3G complaint against it.

Tumblr has been tweaked on iOS and Android, Samsung’s Galaxy S III handset has hit 20 million sales worldwide, and it seems that Apple TV talks have stalled. Samsung is gearing up to launch the Galaxy S Relay at T-Mobile in the next few weeks, and MaxTV has a new soundbar on the scene that’s promising some big sound. Western Digital has introduced a new line of external storage solutions for Mac and PC users, and Kobo has launched a new line of eReaders. While Google was announcing that Ice Cream Sandwich is now installed on a fifth of all Android devices, ASUS was busy announcing its new “Powered by ASUS” program for custom PCs.

We had quite a bit of space-related news today, with the Mars Curiosity rover beginning to analyze the air around it to search for signs of methane. Astronauts aboard the International Space Station have performed a second space walk to make repairs to the ISS, and finally tonight, NASA’s Dawn probe has left the asteroid named Vesta, where it has resided for the past 13 months.

That does it for tonight’s Evening Wrap-Up. Now all you need to do is go out and enjoy the rest of your evening!

SlashGear Evening Wrap-Up: September 6, 2012 is written by Eric Abent & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

The FTC just completed its investigation into Facebook’s acquisition of Instagram late last month, and now the two companies have announced that the billion dollar deal is officially closed. Instagram has also confirmed that its team will be making the move to Facebook’s offices, but it assures folks that the “Instagram app and its features will stay the same one you know and love.” For its part, Facebook reiterated its statement that it is “committed to building and growing Instagram independently,” and that “Instagram will continue to serve its community, and we will help Instagram continue to grow by using Facebook’s strong engineering team and infrastructure.” It also offers a small hint of things to come by noting that “we also can’t wait to work with the talented Instagram team to improve the mobile experience.” In other news, Instagram also took the opportunity to announce that it’s now crossed the five billion photo mark — no word on a breakdown by filters, though.

Filed under: Internet, Software

Facebook completes acquisition of Instagram, eyes improved mobile experience originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 06 Sep 2012 11:07:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Andrews Ross Sorkin wrote a piece for the NY Times that was just ridiculous. He put the blame squarely on the back of the CFO of FB. Talk about getting it 180 degrees wrong. More »