UPDATE | "Ask President Obama Anything" Just Crashed Reddit

An AMA ("Ask Me Anything" thread, where you can get an answer from a celebrity or public figure on any kind of question) just unceremoniously popped up on Reddit. That's not a huge deal unless it's President Barack Obama.

GO GO GO | Get Your Free One-Month Hulu Plus Subscription

With Hulu's abhorrent film selection and nigh unnavigable interface, it's not something I'd recommend someone actually shell out hard-earned dollars for. Luckily, this month, you don't have to.

What It's Like for Girl Gamers

Horrendous stock photo courtesy of Metro Creative Connection - I'm so, so sorry

By Elisa Meléndez
Slate.com 

I am a gamer and a geek. I'm at the computer writing this in a Star Trek T-shirt, in celebration of the recent Mars Curiosity rover landing. I've been a gamer for as long as I can remember, having had a Nintendo Power magazine thrust into my hands as soon as I could sound out the words on the page in order to be my older brother's co-pilot.

Since then, I have developed a fierce love of games. I have a tattoo of a Trivial Pursuit pie on my right hip. My haircut resembles one of my favorite characters, Lilith, from Borderlands. You can't tell me Revolution X wasn't amazing. You just can't.

This may sound like I'm trying to validate my geek cred. I shouldn't have to prove anything, you're right, but there are those determined to limit my rise in the gaming world. Though 47 percent of all gamers are women and though many of us are equal in our skills and drive to the men, we are often not welcome. The gamers who still aren't ready for us resort to online harassment to belittle, silence and drive us away from their precious boys' club.

CISPA Passes House, Obama Threatens Veto

Associated Press  

Although the vote was set for tomorrow, the U.S. House just sneak-passed H.R. 3523, a.k.a. CISPA, the Cybersecurity Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act, by a vote of 248-168.

Bad news bears...

Get Free Live TV On Your iPhone While You Can

Hear that? Shh... Listen. That's the sound of hundreds of irate, buzzing lawyers spinning into attack formation - shuffling case documents and raking thin combovers. 

iOSLiveTV.com is a thing that lets you watch all kinds of TV channels from the US and Europe - all free - on your iOS or Android device. It's soon to be an un-thing, too, so get on it while you can.

Gizmodo readers claim the service is currently alive and well - albeit taking on a large amount of traffic as a result of the blogosphere exposure. Let us know in the comments if iOSLiveTV works for you and what you're watching...

VIA: Gizmodo
SOURCE: 9 to 5 Forums

Comedian Jim Gaffigan Releases New Special - Digital-Only

Emboldened by the half-a-million-dollar success that was fellow funnyman Louis C.K.'s latest comedy special, Jim Gaffigan is now taking a stab at the digital distro method with "Mr. Universe," a continuous, 75-minute stream of hilarity, available now directly from Gaffigan's website for only $5.

TechCrunch had Gaffigan in their studio weeks ago to talk about the potential dangers of digital distribution and comedy in the digital age. 

The TechCrunch interview and more details about "Mr. Universe" after the jump...

SOPA Being Resurrected? MPAA Head Thinks So

It appears the Stop Online Piracy Act could be back from beyond the legislative grave.

As Ars Technica reports, Chris Dodd, the former senator from Connecticut and current head of the Motion Picture Association of America, told The Hollywood Reporter he's "confident" that there are "conversations going on now" in regards to SOPA-style legislation.

Apparently, some people do not remember what happened last time Congress tried to push censoring legislation on the Internet. Seriously, I'm not going through another Reddit Blackout Day. That day was so boring.

[OMG] Shadowrun Sequel a Kickstarter Success

Guess who's getting the Kickstarter love? Ancient FASA fossil ("FASSIL") Jordan Weisman. Who's Jordan Weisman? Who's Jordan Weisman?! The guy who created high fantasy/cyberpunk romp Shadowrun, that's who. 

Shadowrun, the subpar Xbox 360 multi-player shooter from 2007, you say? NO - Shadowrun, the exemplary pen-and-paper RPG from back in the day that was ported triumphantly to 16-bit consoles in the 90s and ported crappily to the Xbox 360 in 2007. 

Now, through the crowd-sourced power of Kickstarter, Weisman and his team at Harebrained Schemes are getting another shot at reviving the dark, mystical world of Shadowrun for a new generation.

Their Kickstarter page blew up yesterday, nailing down their $400,000 goal in 28 hours. They'll be using that cash to bring a rightfully single-player Shadowrun to iOS/Android tablets and PCs.

Find out what the world of Shadowrun is all about and watch the HBS Shadowrun Returns pitch video (and subsequent "thank you" video) after the break.

Xfinity for Xbox: A glimpse of net neutrality dangers

Cable provider Comcast is raising net neutrality ire over its statement on Monday that data streamed over Xbox Live's Xfinity on-demand service won't count towards customers' data caps, whereas all other services coming through their Comcast line will.

It sounds like Comcast is breaking off a piece for the consumer, but net neutrality experts who spoke to Ars Technica are saying this kind of favoritism is risky behavior.

A new way of looking at piracy

Last week, game dev and blogger Lars Doucet sounded off on his blog on the hot-button and ever-developing issue of piracy.

It wasn't another thinly-veiled rant a la TorrentFreak, mind you, but a open examination of the way content piracy is currently viewed.

Doucet's "four currencies" theory, which plans to differentiate the "cost" of pirated material from actual monetary cost caused quite a hullabaloo. As such, he's decided to expand a bit upon his little theory and turn it into a series of posts.

Read on and let us know if you agree with this new "model" of piracy.

Europe starts to tip against ACTA

Source: Nexus404

Just recently, digital demonstrators in the States hammered out a definitive victory against the Stop Online Piracy Act. Far-flung pockets of the Internet were gimped or blacked out entirely in protest of the censorship implications of SOPA.

This caused dozens of lawmakers - mostly bandwagon-jumpers to be sure - to think twice before supporting a bill that might make potential voters mad.

This won't stop those same lawmakers from pushing similar legislation on other countries - where anti-piracy proponents claim thieves are stealing the content of "hard-working" Americans on a daily basis.

Read on to see how the SOPA victory may not have meant a damn thing against the might of a pincer attack from foreign governments.