itwbennett writes They of the square jaws and famous dispute with Mark Zuckerberg over the origins of Facebook, are also believed to be among the largest holders of Bitcoin in the world. Now they want to launch a regulated Bitcoin exchange—named Gemini, of course. To bolster confidence, they said they have formed a relationship with a chartered bank in the state of New York. “This means that your money will never leave the country, ” the twins wrote in a blog post. “It also means that U.S. dollars on Gemini will be eligible for FDIC insurance and held by a U.S.-regulated bank. Read more of this story at Slashdot.
A federal judge just sentenced journalist Barrett Brown to 63 months in prison and ordered him to pay nearly $890, 000 in restitution for charges related to the 2011 hack of Stratfor Global Intelligence. Brown’s supporters maintain that the young writer and activist was “merely linking to hacked material.” For that, he’ll spend about five years behind bars. That sucks. Read more… 
Here are some things that cost $100 million: Making the film Gravity . Recent U.S. airstrikes in Iraq . And now, a two-story penthouse occupying the 89th and 90th floors of the new super-luxury high-rise at 157 West 57th Street. Read more… 
Tesla’s earliest adopters were promised an update to the Roadster before the end of the year and Elon Musk is delivering with less than a week to spare. Read more… 
In the wake of Sony Pictures canceling its release of The Interview , some theaters with actual balls opted to show Team America: World Police as a protest. No such luck, as theaters are now reporting they’ve been told not to show the film by Paramount. It’s a staggering act of cowardice. Read more… 
An anonymous reader writes The Pirate Bay’s crew have remained awfully quiet on the recent raid in public, but today Mr 10100100000 breaks the silence in order to get a message out to the world. In a nutshell, he says that they couldn’t care less, are going to remain on hiatus, and a comeback is possible. In recent days mirrors of The Pirate Bay appeared online and many of these have now started to add new content as well. According to TPB this is a positive development, but people should be wary of scams. Mr 10100100000 says that they would open source the engine of the site, if the code “wouldn’t be so s****y”. In any case, they recommend people keeping the Kopimi spirit alive, as TPB is much more than some hardware stored in a dusty datacenter. Read more of this story at Slashdot. 
Normally, it’s the Western Powers who are remembered for developing some of the most innovative and conceptual weapons of the Second World War. But when it came to experimental military technologies, Japan suffered from no shortage of ideas. Here are 11 you should know about. Read more… 
After a long drought, California is suddenly getting pounded with its biggest storm in a decade. Whoa, what’s happening? It’s all the work of an atmospheric river, a particular weather event that can be devastating when it hits land. Read more…