Asus readies 4K "ultra HD" monitor

Asus is readying a 31.5-inch display with 3840x2160 pixels, four times the pixel count of a standard HD display.

The panel uses Indium Gallium Zinc Oxide ("IGZO") instead of silicon, which allows for smaller transistors and, hence, the greater pixel density. Asus claims a 176-degree viewing angle and 8ms response times.

The PQ312 has displayport and dual HDMI connectors, stereo speakers, and 3.5mm audio i/o. It weighs 13kg and is 35mm thick.

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Court rules police must give Kim Dotcom his stuff back

Rob Beschizza at 9:02 am • •

Kirtsy Johnson:

A judge has ordered the police to sift through all digital material taken illegally from Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom and to return anything irrelevant to their investigation- at their own cost.

By "at their own cost", she presumably means "at the New Zealand taxpayer's expense."

Great covers of Daft Punk's 'Get Lucky'

Rob Beschizza at 8:54 am • •

George Barnetts' on top, then San Cisco. And there are so many more at Soundcloud. Great stuff!

"Definitive proof" of Mars water —

Mars' landscape was formed by flowing water, and the proof is in the pebbles. [BBC] — Rob •

British Telecom quits Yahoo! —

Britain's largest ISP, British Telecom, has ragequit Yahoo! after learning that the internet giant had bought beloved microblogging site Tumblr. Just kidding! It's actually sick of its customers' Yahoo-provided email accounts getting hacked. [Telegraph] — Rob •

Judge to Google: comply with warrantless FBI data requests —

A federal judge has ordered Google to comply with the FBI's warrantless requests for user data, rejecting its claim that the demands are illegal. Google had requested that the court modify or discharge 19 National Security Letters, a form of request that bypasses the courts and which generally forbids the recipient from disclosing their existence. The hearing, presided over by U.S. District Court Judge Susan Ilston, was held in secret, reports CNET; the FBI issued nearly 200,000 of the letters between 2003 and 2006, with 97 percent including a gag order. — Rob •

Thinnest gaming laptop —

Gamers sick of bulky laptops should take a peek at the "ultra-portable" Razer Blade. Though not in the same cheesecutting league as a MacBook or Lenovo X-series, the slab is less than .9" thick and weighs 6.5 pounds, even with a 17.3"display and 2GB GeForce video card. At $2,299 and up, though, it seems crazy expensive. (The press release claims $1,799, but I couldn't configure it that cheaply at the site). — Rob •

No rear-facing camera on new iPod —

The new iPod touch 4 features a 4-inch "Retina" display, 16GB of storage and a user-facing HD camera. There's no rear-facing one at all. Gone too is the old lanyard hook. There's a 21st Century datapoint for you: people take more photos of themselves than anything else! And they have abandoned their lanyards. [via The Verge] — Rob •

Man shot and killed during FBI interview was unarmed —

Ibragim Todashev, an associate of the Boston Bombing suspects, was unarmed when shot and killed during an FBI interview. Officials had earlier claimed that Todashev was armed with a knife. [WESH] — Rob •

Miami police choke 14-year-old and hurt his puppy after receiving 'dehumanizing stares' —

Police in Miami-Dade slammed a 14-year-old child on the ground, then placed him in a chokehold. Why? Because he gave them a "dehumanizing stare." When asked about his puppy, injured during the arrest, Miami-Dade Police Detective Alvaro Zabaleta told CBS: "We are not concerned with a puppy. We are concerned with the threat to the officer." [Miami New Times] — Rob •

Missing shark found in South Dakota —

"Rapid City police said an anonymous tip lead them to the 12-foot shark that was found in an open field next to the old Pizza Hut in Box Elder." [Rapid City Journal via Brendan Koerner] — Rob •

Hey honey, we got a new phone book

Rob Beschizza at 4:38 pm • •

By Michael Thomas. [Thumbnail courtesy of Shutterstock]

The Economist's bizarre BuzzFeed ad

Rob Beschizza at 10:48 am • •

The Economist. Bastion of a peculiarly British brand of rightward-leaning, leftward-winking centrism, it was first published in the autumn of 1843. Respectable. August. A fierce advocate of intelligence in journalism. And now, author of a perfectly inane listicle at BuzzFeed, part of the younger publication's advertorial program.

Things You Didn’t Know About Some Of The Biggest Stories Of The Year You can see the same headline a million times, but do you even know what’s possibly hiding beneath? There are a ton more amazing details out in the ether that you just don’t get when you skim. The Economist challenges you to Dare2GoDeep

Everyone is up in arms about it, but I think it's awesome. The only thing that could make it better is if BuzzFeed ran a well-researched, serious advertorial about Eurozone lending policies in The Economist.

The Magazine sold

Rob Beschizza at 10:30 am • •

BB regular Glenn Fleishman bought The Magazine from Marco Arment. Glenn, managing editor of the iPad publication since its early days, has big plans for the future. Subscriptions are just $1.99 a month, with a good half-dozen or so features on tech and culture in each issue. (Shout out: BB lead developer and code genius Dean Putney is also on staff)

• Articles by Glenn

Michele Bachmann to leave congress

Rob Beschizza at 6:06 am • •

Max Read at Gawker watched the announcement so no-one else has to: "an interminable video posted to her website—eight fucking minutes, of just her talking, the vibe somewhere between airplane safety video and personal-injury lawyer ad."