Mere weeks after America banished sexy Russian spy Anna Chapman, another has surfaced: 24-year-old Anna Fermanova is accused of smuggling military technology to Moscow. She has a belly ring and poses in bikinis on Facebook. Meet America’s new sexy spy.
The Smoking Gun reports that Fermanova is under house arrest in Texas awaiting trial for “knowingly and intentionally” exporting contraband weapons-grade night-vision scopes to Moscow. (She denies this, and says the scopes were for big game hunters.) She has an American cosmetology license and teaches English languages in Moscow.
According to her booking papers, Anna is 5’6″ and has a belly ring. According to Facebook, she likes slutty Halloween costumes and pointing at the camera when she’s drunk. Anyway, here are a bunch of screen grabs from Anna’s Facebook page, featuring commentary like “You put the RAAWR in RAAWUSSIAN” and “One very hot sexy Jew indeed. 
” Is this a viral marketing campaign for Salt, or something? Click any image to enlarge. [TSG, Facebook]
Send an email to Maureen O’Connor, the author of this post, at maureen@gawker.com.
Today’s Game Time is a short one, as all gamers should be playing StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty. But between Zerg rushes and Firebat flamewars, we’ve got you covered with some seriously fun games. This week we’ve got Zombies, Aliens, and Governments.
Zombie Infection HD
$6.99
Gameloft
iPad
If vampires rule the silver screen, zombies are ruling the iPad’s IPS screen. If we had to guess, we’d say about half the games in the App store involve zombies and the other half farms. But we’re okay with that, just so long as they keep churning out awesome games like Zombie Infection HD.
You know what a Zombie’s favorite sauce is? Grave-y.
Zombie Infection HD is a third-person shooter with some seriously impressive graphics. You can shoot the limbs and heads off of flesh eating zombies for extra points. Controls aren’t as tricky as you’d think, and in no time you’ll be clearing out swarm after swarm of zombies as you and your team get to the bottom of the game’s mystery.
Check it out if: you like Resident Evil or Left 4 Dead.
RISK: The Official Game
$4.99
RISK: The Official Game
iPhone
At this point, RISK is a little late to its own game. Strategery is a huge hit across iOS devices, due in no small part to it being a universal app with a low price. RISK is neither of these, but some RISK purists won’t have it any other way.
Playing as any team besides the Yellow team is risky business.
Subtle rule shifts from its generic counterpart are what make RISK, well, RISK. Graphics here are also nothing to scoff at, and the addition of characters raise the stakes a bit from the random shaped teams of Strategery. Though it’s a tad on the spendy side for an iPhone app, it really is worth the money.
Check it out if you: liked Strategery.
InkVaders HD
$0.99 for iPhone
$2.99 for iPad
Tiger Style Games
iPad
InkVaders is a side-scroller with a pronounced doodle style. The game is delightfully gory and easy to pick up or put down. We’d venture to say this is the most fun we’ve had with a side-scroller on the iPad.
Die alien scum!
It’s also this week’s Editor challenge. Try and beat our insanely good score of 39,562 and we’ll honor you in some way.
Check it out if you: just really hate aliens.
Follow this article’s author, Nic Vargus, on Twitter.
Is it possible to save a YouTube video’s audio as an MP3 file? My kid’s music teacher posted a video of the school chorus singing, and I want to scrape off the audio to use as a ringtone.
Aw, cute! Yes, grab a copy of RealPlayer SP for Mac OS X (free, real.com/realplayer/mac). It features a browser where you can load up YouTube and find your kid’s video. Then choose Window > Open RealPlayer Downloader, and the currently playing video will show up there. The little Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, and Email links next to the video’s name let you share the video before you even download it if you want to brag about your little star.
RealPlayer SP can do a lot for a free app–download web video, convert it, share it, or just pull out the audio.
Otherwise, click Download next to the video’s name, then click the Convert button, which launches RealPlayer Converter. From there, you can create custom copies of the video for your iPhone, BlackBerry, Android phone, Xbox, PlayStation Portable, or lots of other devices. But if you want just the audio as an MP3, click the big button under Convert To, set the top dropdown to Show All Devices, and find MP3 Audio Only in the list. RealPlayer Converter will output the audio to the destination of your choice, ready for your MP3 player or to make into a ringtone.
I use Firefox and want to do some spring cleaning on my bookmarks. I know a lot of them are probably outdated. Seriously, I have hundreds. Before I start wading through them, is there a way to quickly weed out the ones that don’t even go anywhere anymore?
Yup. Right after we finished last month’s feature on souping up your web browser (“Teach Your Browser New Tricks,” Jun/10, p30), we saw a Firefox add-on called CheckPlaces featured on Lifehacker. This little gem (donations accepted, andyhalford.com/checkplaces) will sweep your bookmarks to see if the pages they point to still exist while also finding duplicates and empty folders.
The results list breaks down all the bookmarks you have that failed.
The first time we used it, it scanned 780 (!) bookmarks in just over a minute, and returned a healthy list of failed, questionable, and duplicate bookmarks, cutting down on the bookmarks we had to sort manually by nearly 100.
Upon first seeing this on the official Apple website, we seriously thought that it was a joke. The Cupertino-based company has released its very own battery charger, and it’s extremely sexy looking–so much, in fact, that we might have to revert back to using AA batteries in all of our devices, just so that we can have an excuse to charge them with this particular pearly white battery charger.
The Apple Battery Charger uses “vampire draw,” and while that’s not a reference to one of Joss Whedon’s most popular television series, it refers to the charger’s lowest standby power usage value. The charger can also gauge when the batteries are finished charging and ready to pop out of the oven.
The kit comes with six AA NiMH batteries–two for your keyboard and two for your mouse and trackpad, plus two that are always charged. Additionally, you can use the charger for third-party batteries.
Between the Magic Trackpad now shipping, new Mac Pros on deck for August and a new 27-inch LED Cinema Display coming in September, you’d think Apple would have exhausted their goody bag for Tuesday. But you’d be wrong, because the iMac line has also gotten a little love today.
MacRumors is reporting that Apple has updated its iMac line on Tuesday, featuring the latest Intel Core i3, Core i5 and Core i7 processors, complete with new ATI Radeon HD graphics cards to boot. The rumor mill had been buzzing in recent days with advance word of the refresh, and Apple didn’t disappoint.
“We took the world’s best all-in-one and made it even better,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. “With the latest processors, high-performance graphics and signature aluminum and glass design, customers are going to love the latest iMac.”
Unlike the previous iMacs last updated in October, 2009, the new models released today all feature dedicated graphics cards instead of relying on the slower integrated graphics chips.
The refreshed lineup is as follows:
$1199 / 21.5″ / 3.06GHz Core i3 / 4GB / 500MB / ATI Radeon HD 4670
$1499 / 21.5″ / 3.20GHz Core i3 / 4GB / 1TB / ATI Radeon HD 5670
$1699 27″ / 3.20GHz Core i3 / 4GB / 1TB / ATI Radeon HD 5670
$1999 27″ / 2.8GHz Quad-Core Core i5 / 4GB / 1TB / ATI Radeon HD 5750
+$200 27″ / 2.93 GHz Quad-Core Core i7 BTO option
The only question that remains is: Which one will you be getting?
Follow this article’s author, J.R. Bookwalter on Twitter
The Apple Tuesday assault continues! On the heels of a long-awaited Mac Pro refresh, Cupertino has also taken the wraps off a much-needed, super-sized 27-inch LED Cinema Display, coming in September.
MacRumors is reporting that Apple has finally filled a gaping void in their Mac desktop strategy today with the announcement that a 27-inch LED Cinema Display is coming in September for $999. It seems like an eternity in computer years since Apple put the kibosh on their 30” display, which has left graphics and video professionals with no other alternative but to buy elsewhere.
It appears that Apple is making it worth the wait, however: The new 27-inch LED Cinema Display features a resolution of 2560 x 1440, complete with an iSight video camera, microphone and speakers.
“With built-in MagSafe charging, iSight camera, speakers, and USB ports, the LED Cinema Display is ideal for MacBook and MacBook Pro users,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. “With its massive 2560 x 1440 resolution, the new 27-inch LED Cinema Display is a perfect fit with our powerful new Mac Pro, and it gives iMac users an easy way to double their screen real estate.”
The 27-inch LED Cinema Display features a cinema-friendly 16:9 aspect ratio, the aforementioned MagSafe charger and a three-port USB 2.0 hub. The display also features an ambient light sensor which automatically adjusts the screen’s brightness based on the lighting conditions, similar to that used on the MacBook Pro.
At a price of $999, there’s little not to like about the new 27-inch LED Cinema Display — except the fact that you have to wait until September to get one, that is. A Mac (desktop or laptop) with Mini DisplayPort is required.
If the 24-inch LED Cinema Display is more your style, you’ll be happy to know that Apple has dropped the price on that model to $799 from its previous $899. So, that’s something you can take home with you today…
Follow this article’s author, J.R. Bookwalter on Twitter
It’s been a long, cruel wait for Mac Pro fans, but Apple has finally delivered for you Tuesday, with a new model packing up to 12 processing cores with Intel Xeon processors. The bad news is, they won’t physically arrive until next month — but hey, that’s right around the corner, right?
AppleInsider is reporting that Apple has finally refreshed the Mac Pro line after months of speculation and rumors. Even though the new high-end desktop hasn’t changed radically on the outside, internally the Mac Pro features the latest and greatest quad-core and six-core Intel Xeon processors, all-new ATI graphics and even an option for up to four 512GB solid state drives (SSD). Processor speeds are up to 50 percent faster, maxing out at 3.33GHz and feature a single die design which allows them to share up to 12MB L3 cache, which improves not only speed but efficiency as well.
“The new Mac Pro is the most powerful and configurable Mac we’ve ever made,” boasted Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing, Phil Schiller. “With up to 12 cores, the new Mac Pro outperforms our previous top-of-the-line system by up to 50 percent, and with over a billion possible configurations, our customers can create exactly the system they want.”
The new Mac Pros also sport two Mini DisplayPorts for the first time, in addition to one dual-link DVI port. The extra Mini DisplayPort allows users to connect two LED Cinema Displays without the need for an extra graphics card or adapter, while the dual-link DVI port supports legacy displays up to a resolution of 2560 x 1600 pixels.
The new quad-core Mac Pro carries a $2,499 price tag and features:
• one 2.8 GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon W3530 processor with 8MB of fully-shared L3 cache;
• 3GB of 1066 MHz DDR3 ECC SDRAM memory, expandable up to 16GB;
• ATI Radeon HD 5770 with 1GB of GDDR5 memory;
• two Mini DisplayPorts and one DVI (dual-link) port (adapters sold separately);
• 1TB Serial ATA 3Gb/s hard drive running at 7200 rpm;
• 18x SuperDrive with double-layer support (DVD+/-R DL/DVD+/-RW/CD-RW);
• four PCI Express 2.0 slots;
• five USB 2.0 ports and four FireWire 800 ports;
• AirPort Extreme® 802.11n;
• Bluetooth 2.1+EDR; and
• Apple Keyboard with numerical keypad and Magic Mouse.
The new eight-core Mac Pro carries a $3,499 price tag and features:
• two 2.4 GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon E5620 processors with 12MB of fully-shared L3 cache per processor;
• 6GB of 1066 MHz DDR3 ECC SDRAM memory, expandable up to 32GB;
• ATI Radeon HD 5770 with 1GB of GDDR5 memory;
• two Mini DisplayPorts and one DVI (dual-link) port (adapters sold separately);
• 1TB Serial ATA 3Gb/s hard drive running at 7200 rpm;
• 18x SuperDrive with double-layer support (DVD+/-R DL/DVD+/-RW/CD-RW);
• four PCI Express 2.0 slots;
• five USB 2.0 ports and four FireWire 800 ports;
• AirPort Extreme 802.11n;
• Bluetooth 2.1+EDR; and
• Apple Keyboard with numerical keypad and Magic Mouse.
If you prefer to configure your own Mac Pro, you’ll have a mind-boggling host of options to do so:
• one 3.2 GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon W3565 processor for the quad-core Mac Pro;
• one 3.33 GHz 6-core Intel Xeon W3680 processor for the quad-core Mac Pro;
• two 2.66 GHz 6-core Intel Xeon X5650 processors (12-cores) for the 8-core Mac Pro;
• two 2.93 GHz 6-core Intel Xeon X5670 processors (12-cores) for the 8-core Mac Pro;
• two ATI Radeon HD 5770 cards with 1GB of GDDR5 memory;
• one ATI Radeon HD 5870 card with 1GB of GDDR5 memory;
• up to 16GB of DDR3 ECC SDRAM memory for the quad-core Mac Pro;
• up to 32GB of DDR3 ECC SDRAM memory for the 8-core Mac Pro;
• up to four 512GB solid state drives (SSD); or
• up to four 1TB or 2TB Serial ATA hard drives running at 7200 rpm;
• Mac Pro RAID card;
• dual-channel or quad-channel 4Gb Fibre Channel card; and
• up to two 18x SuperDrives with double-layer support.
The new Mac Pro models won’t be available until August, but you can get a peek at all of their yummy goodness right now on the Apple website.
Follow this article’s author, J.R. Bookwalter on Twitter
Remember the recent leaks showing some kind of trackpad device that Apple appeared ready to release? It’s real and it’s here, and it’s the Magic Trackpad. Sadly, Bigfoot remains as elusive as ever, but we can’t have everything, can we?
The Apple Store has been down for several hours on Tuesday morning, and now that it’s back we have a few goodies to reveal. On the new front is the Magic Trackpad, first revealed in leaked photos weeks ago. Priced at $69, Apple claims that it’s the largest Multi-Touch trackpad ever, asking “Why should notebooks have all the fun?”
“Desktop users, your time has come,” the Magic Trackpad product page proclaims seductively. “The new Magic Trackpad is the first Multi-Touch trackpad designed to work with your Mac desktop computer. It uses the same Multi-Touch technology you love on the MacBook Pro. And it supports a full set of gestures, giving you a whole new way to control and interact with what’s on your screen. Swiping through pages online feels just like flipping through pages in a book or magazine. And inertial scrolling makes moving up and down a page more natural than ever. Magic Trackpad connects to your Mac via Bluetooth wireless technology. Use it in place of a mouse or in conjunction with one on any Mac computer — even a notebook.”
Magic Trackpad gestures include Click, Scroll, Swipe and Rotate, including two-finger scrolling, pinching to zoom, rotating with your fingertips, three-finger swiping and activating Exposé or switching between applications with four fingers.
In a first for Apple, the Magic Trackpad uses high-performance AA NiMH batteries and the company is offering the Apple Battery Charger as “a more environmentally friendly way to go wireless.” Unlike many chargers that keep pulling juice after the batteries have charged, Apple’s Battery Charger “automatically reduces the amount of power it needs” when they’re done charging to avoid energy waste.
Magic Trackpad is $69 and available now to ship within 24 hours as of this writing; it requires a Bluetooth-enabled Mac computer (desktop or laptop) with Mac OS X Snow Leopard 10.6.4 and “latest software update,” which we presume means that a Software Update is coming shortly to make this thing work with our existing systems.
We don’t know about you, but we’ve been waiting for something like this from Apple for a long time! Oh happy day!
Follow this article’s author, J.R. Bookwalter on Twitter
Developer news is always so exciting because it gives us something to look forward to. MacRumors has received word that Apple is preparing to seed certain developers with ultra-secret special builds of Mac OS X10.6.5, the fifth maintenance release for Snow Leopard. The release is now ready for third-party developers to delve into and tinker with themselves.
There’s no real word on when Apple will be prepared to release the software build. Maybe it’ll come with our new iMacs and stand-alone trackpads, eh?
Follow this article’s author, Florence Ion, on Twitter.
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