By Cynthia Herbert :: 5:12 PM
The web version of the microblogging site Twitter is currently down for many users.
While most of Twitter’s mobile and API-based clients are functioning normally, users who access Twitter via the web interface at twitter.com may encounter an error message.
Twitter is aware of the error, and has noted it on its status account.
No estimated fix time has been identified yet.
By Paul Thomson :: 2:20 PM
Apple has issued invitations to the press for an event next week where the company will likely unveil the newest members of the iPhone family.
The rumor mill has it on good authority that the Cupertino giant will roll out the iPhone 5S, which will probably feature a fingerprint scanner, quicker processor and a better camera. It is also possible that a scaled-down version of the iPhone will also be released, dubbed the iPhone 5C. The event has been set for September 10.
The iPhone 5C is a lower-cost version of the smartphone that is targeted to first-time smartphone buyers as well as emerging economies and third-world countries.
Although the new hardware will be announced on the 10th, it likely won’t be available in stores until September 20th. Many employees who work in retail locations for wireless carriers like AT&T and Verizon have been prohibited from taking the 20th off from work – making it almost certain that it will be the availability date for the new Apple offerings.
In addition to the new phones being available on the 20th, it is widely rumored that the date will also be the general availability date of the next version of Apple’s mobile operating system, iOS7.
By Gilbert Falso :: 7:53 PM
Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced late last week that the city would be stepping up traffic enforcement in certain areas with the use of speed cameras.
The cameras, mostly located near schools and parks, will be unmanned, and will photograph a driver and their car if they violate the speed limit on that particular stretch of road.
Although some of the possible locations had been announced earlier this year, Emanuel confirmed those locations along with an additional 38 to bring the grand total of Chicago speed cameras to 50.
An enterprising Reddit user, “5-4-3-2-1-bang,” spent part of this Labor Day weekend putting together a map of the location of the speed cameras with Google Maps. The map was then posted to the site’s sub-Reddit for the city of Chicago.
The map is color-coded, with red pins meaning the cameras are already up and taking pictures, purple pins meaning that the cameras should be activated by the end of September, and blue pins indicate that cameras are planned by the end of the calendar year.
A static image of the map is below, with a link to the interactive map on the Google Map site.
View the interactive map.
By Cynthia Herbert :: 12:39 AM
Let’s hope that Mayor Bloomberg doesn’t bring legislation against kittens in New York City after this latest fiasco on Gotham’s subway lines yesterday.
The furry dynamic duo pictured above caused quite the cat-aclysmic rush hour snafu on the MTA’s B and Q lines during Thursday’s evening commute.
Riders first noticed the kittens on the subway tracks at the Church Avenue station around 11:00 AM Wednesday morning. Service was temporarily halted in the early afternoon, and MTA workers headed into the tunnels with a pair of cat carriers, but returned empty-handed as the felines skittered away into the tunnels. Service was restored around 1:30 PM.
However, riders noticed the pair again later in the afternoon, and service was temporarily halted around 6:00 PM so that an MTA worker and a pair of NYPD officers could descend to the tracks and rescue the two kittens.
The kitties were safely pulled from the tracks shortly thereafter.
By Gilbert Falso :: 4:46 PM
The NY Times this afternoon confirmed the reason behind the downtime for its website – the newspaper has been a victim of a hacker attack.
In a Tweet sent out around 4:30 PM, the Times said, “we hear some users are having issues accessing the site. We are investigating, and we will report back soon. Apologies.”
Although no group has yet taken formal credit for the attack, a message from the Syrian Electronic Army, a group that has defaced or taken down a number of high profile media sites over the past several months, appeared on the site for a few minutes this afternoon.
A Times spokesperson confirmed the issue, saying that the paper’s initial assessment is, “this is most likely the result of a malicious external attack.”
The Wall Street Journal has temporarily taken down its paywall, allowing non-subscribers to access news stories on the site while its rival is unreachable.
A screenshot of the hacked site is below:
