Fire OS burns encryption

Encryption is currently a very hot topic in the tech industry, with Apple facing a legal battle with the FBI. The company is being ordered to create a backdoor to infiltrate encryption on an iPhone used by the shooters in the San Bernardino tragedy. Other big names in tech, including Google, Facebook, and Microsoft, have expressed their support for Apple to stand its ground against the FBI, with the company also gaining the former heads of Homeland Security and the National Security Agency as allies. As such, the move by Amazon to remove device encryption for devices powered by its Fire OS 5 comes at a bad time. Amazon released the Fire OS 5 in the fall of last year, and company spokeswoman Robin Handaly said that Amazon decided to remove certain enterprise features with the rollout of the customized Android operating system because customers were not using the said features. The enterprise features that were mentioned included one that allows users to place their whole device under encryption. If the wrong PIN was attempted on the device for 30 times in a row, all the data stored within the Fire OS 5-powered device would be deleted. This is seriously a feature that iOS and Android should consider a version of.

Sanders is the finger licking best right now

Coffee Monster knows best

LVG for the WIN

A late free-kick from Juan Mata gave Manchester United an important victory over Watford in their latest home game. The midfielder - named captain ahead of the game in the absence of Wayne Rooney, Michael Carrick, and Chris Smalling - stepped up to curl home a delightful effort on 83 minutes to settle a hard-fought contest at Old Trafford. Anthony Martial was named in a youthful starting line-up after recovering from a recent hamstring injury, while in-form striker Marcus Rashford retained his place up front. 21-year-old midfielder Joe Rothwell was named among the substitutes, the latest on a long list of youngsters to appear in a first-team squad this season. Louis van Gaal’s men went into the clash on the back of a confidence-boosting victory over Arsenal, but it was the visitors who started on the front foot, looking early to Troy Deeney and Odion Ighalo. It was United, though, who almost took the lead on seven minutes, as Daley Blind’s cross was sliced towards his own goal by Jose Holebas, but Heurelho Gomes was alert to the danger. The Reds also might have scored when Ander Herrera’s deep cross reached an unmarked Martial at the far post, but the Frenchman couldn’t direct his header on target. But that doesn't matter - what matters is the win.

Donut deny it, people!

THE BIG REVIEW: Awesomenessness like nothing before

I made this one through the form on this website. To order, just scan the QR code at the Create Your Taste kiosk at any participating McDonald's in New Zealand. The ingredients are: 2 ¼-lb beef patties, rasher bacon, crispy bacon, a pineapple ring, Parmesan and Swiss cheese, jalapeños, and BBQ sauce, all on a brioche-style bun. It will be the McTastiest McBurger you've ever had.

And the wait is finally over!

To that end, the co-Bellends of the Month for February 2016 are all you pricks out there who didn't believe he could ever do it. But enough about that because Marcus Rashford scored two goals and set up another as Manchester United secured a dramatic 3-2 victory over Barclays Premier League rivals Arsenal. The young striker repeated his midweek debut heroics, firing United into a 2-0 lead with a double in three first-half minutes, but former Red Danny Welbeck pulled one back five minutes before the break. Rashford was involved again with 25 minutes remaining, teeing up Ander Herrera to add a third, and Mezut Ozil's reply proved in vain for Arsene Wenger's side. Ahead of the game, the Reds were boosted by the news of David De Gea's return to the starting line-up, in one of two changes from the side that beat Midtjylland on Thursday. Marcos Rojo was also named on the teamsheet, having come on as a late substitute against the Danish champions. As expected, both sides were eager to make an early impression and came out of the traps quickly. The first chance was a significant one and fell at the feet of Nacho Monreal, who was found superbly by Ozil on six minutes but couldn't beat De Gea from close range. A few more three-pointers like that and the Reds may soon be on the road to Premiership glory.

And you thought the FBI had no sense of logic

Apple shall overcome

Decryption? Not our future

As expected, Apple has filed a motion to vacate a federal court order that would require it to assist the FBI in unlocking an iPhone linked to San Bernardino terror suspect Syed Rizwan Farook, saying law enforcement demands for a "Government OS" set a dangerous precedent for the public at large. The filing was entered into record earlier today by Apple lawyers Theodore Olson and Theodore Boutrous is comprehensive but expectedly narrow in scope. At its core, Apple's case targets what it portrays as an overly zealous reading of the All Writs Act of 1789 by a federal magistrate judge, bolstered by First Amendment rights concerns and possible undue burden on the company's operations. The way Apple see this, it's not a case about one isolated iPhone. Rather, this case is about the Department of Justice and the FBI seeking through the courts a dangerous power that Congress and the American people have withheld: the ability to force companies like Apple to undermine the basic security and privacy interests of hundreds of millions of individuals around the globe. The government says "Just this once" and/or "Just this phone." But the government knows those statements are not true; indeed the government has filed multiple other applications for similar orders, some of which are pending in other courts. If this order is permitted to stand, it will only be a matter of days before some other prosecutor, in some other important case, before some other judge, seeks a similar order using this case as precedent. Once the floodgates open, they cannot be closed, and the device security that Apple has worked so tirelessly to achieve will be unwound without so much as a congressional vote. And if it succeeds here against Apple, there is no reason why the government could not deploy its new authority to compel other innocent and unrelated third-parties to do its bidding in the name of law enforcement. For example, under the same legal theories advocated by the government here, the government could argue that it should be permitted to force citizens to do all manner of things "necessary" to assist it in enforcing the laws, like compelling a pharmaceutical company against its will to produce drugs needed to carry out a lethal injection in furtherance of a lawfully issued death warrant, or requiring a journalist to plant a false story in order to help lure out a fugitive, or forcing a software company to insert malicious code in its autoupdate process that makes it easier for the government to conduct court-ordered surveillance. Indeed, under the government's formulation, any party whose assistance is deemed "necessary" by the government falls within the ambit of the All Writs Act and can be compelled to do anything the government needs to effectuate a lawful court order. While these sweeping powers might be nice to have from the government's perspective, they simply are not authorized by law and would violate the Constitution. Speaking of which, there is also the issue of Apple's First Amendment right to free speech, or more specifically protections against compelled speech. "The government here is trying to use this statute from 1789 in a way that it has never been used before. They are seeking a court order to compel Apple to write new software, to compel speech," Boutrous said in an interview this week. "It is not appropriate for the government to obtain through the courts what they couldn't get through the legislative process." If Apple's motion is denied, the company is expected to appeal its case to the 9th Circuit Court. I would love to be on the bench when the Supreme Court hears this one.

The iPhone even Apple can't hack

Today may be the 30th anniversary of the ouster of Ferdinand Marcos, but right now, we have something more important to report: Apple engineers have already begun developing security measures that would make it impossible for the government to break into a locked iPhone using methods similar to those at the center of a court fight in California, according to people close to the company and security experts. If Apple succeeds in upgrading its security – and experts say it almost surely will – the company will create a significant technical challenge for law enforcement agencies, even if the Obama administration wins its fight over access to data stored on an iPhone used by one of the killers in last year’s San Bernardino, Calif., rampage. The FBI would then have to find another way to defeat Apple security, setting up a new cycle of court fights and, yet again, more technical fixes by Apple. The only way out of this back-and-forth, experts say, is for Congress to get involved. Federal wiretapping laws require traditional phone carriers to make their data accessible to law enforcement agencies. But tech companies like Apple and Google are not covered, and they have strongly resisted legislation that would place similar requirements on them. “We are in for an arms race unless and until Congress decides to clarify who has what obligations in situations like this,” said Benjamin Wittes, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. Companies have always searched for software bugs and patched holes to keep their code secure from hackers. But since the revelations of government surveillance made by Edward Snowden, companies have been retooling their products to protect against government intrusion. Apple built its recent operating systems to protect customer information. As its chief executive, Timothy Cook, wrote in a recent letter to customers, “We have even put that data out of our own reach, because we believe the contents of your iPhone are none of our business.” Let's hope the upcoming Galaxy S7 is at least as secure.

No beta, it's pronounced Tokoroa

A Kiwi doctor's desperate call for a young GP in Tokoroa - with the potential to earn $400,000-plus a year - has been answered overnight by doctors from all around the world. The Waikato doctor took to online job sites at the weekend after four medical recruitment firms had been unable to find a suitable candidate over the past two years. Dr Alan Kenny, who said he would even chuck in half his practice for free, said the catch was the job is not in Auckland and comes with a punishing workload. But after the story was broken yesterday, plenty of eager international applicants have come forward. Doctors with a variety of experience from Portugal, Brazil, Argentina, Spain, Greece, Croatia, Cuba, Turkey, Fiji, and a surgeon and doctor from Venezuela, have emailed to express their interest. A student doctor from Ireland said she would be "on the next flight out" if given the job. But remember - the job is not in Auckland and it comes with a punishing workload.

THE BIG REVIEW: Backdoors

Living proof that American authorities have no chill

And what exactly is this supposed to do?

Go Set a Tombstone

Harper Lee, who wrote one of America's most enduring literary classics, "To Kill a Mockingbird," and surprised readers 55 years later with the publication of a second book about the same characters, has died at the age of 89. A statement from Tonja Carter, Lee's attorney in her hometown of Monroeville, Alabama, said Lee had "passed away early this morning in her sleep" and that the death was unexpected. For decades it had appeared that Lee's sole literary output would be "To Kill a Mockingbird" and the July 2015 publication of "Go Set a Watchman" was a surprising and somewhat controversial literary event. In the first book, Atticus Finch was the adored father of the young narrator Scout and a lawyer who nobly but unsuccessfully defended a black man unjustly accused of raping a white woman. But in "Watchman," an older Atticus had racial views that left the grown-up Scout greatly disillusioned. But what is disillusioning right now is that idiots like Donald Trump and Justin Bieber are still alive while all the wrong people are dying.

Fallout no longer falling out with the German authorities

Having been banned in 2009, Bethesda has successfully overturned Fallout 3’s German ban. IGN reported that Bethesda "initiated a difficult and rarely-successful trial" with the Federal Department for Media Harmful to Minors (BPjM) to de-list the title ahead of the end of its statutory ten year sentence. Doing so would have cost it ‘several thousand Euros’ and involved presenting evidence to a delegate of German officials. "In the case of Fallout 3 the request for de-listing was granted even though only seven years passed since the game was banned," the BPjM said. "The Big Council decided at its meeting on February 4th that Fallout 3 will be removed from the list because its content is no longer classified as harmful to minors from today's perspective." The question, of course, is why did Bethesda bother? And the most obvious answer is that it’s planning a re-release for the game, quite possibly on PS4 and Xbox One. When pressed on this question, Bethesda said it would be able to provide an answer “in a couple of weeks”. But Fallout sucks. I grew up in a time when they made real games like Spyro and Crash Bandicoot.

A smartphone for 251 rupees (less than US$4) - this is something for Apple and Samsung to seriously consider

Sure, but what about the life of whoever has to clean it off?

THE BIG REVIEW: Deadpool

Happy Real Valentine's Day, people!

Goals but no glory

Manchester United fell to an agonising 2-1 defeat at the Stadium of Light as a late Lamine Kone header was diverted into his own net by the unfortunate David de Gea. Whabi Khazri opened the scoring for Sunderland with a third-minute free-kick, before Anthony Martial equalised, but United's defence was breached for a second time as Kone's powerful downward header from a corner rebounded off De Gea to send the Reds home pointless. United boss Louis van Gaal made one change to his starting XI as Morgan Schneiderlin replaced Marouane Fellaini, but there was a new and quite aptly-named youngster on the bench with 21-year-old defender Donald Love included in the matchday squad for the first time on this Valentine's weekend trip to Wearside. Will Keane was also among the seven substitutes as a reward for his recent fine form in the Under-21s. But it takes more than just fine form to win matches - it takes goals and lots of them.

Just one day to go, people

Internet Archive becomes 3.Fun

For retro gaming fans, the Internet Archive is the gift that keeps on giving. Last year, the Archive started hosting thousands of DOS classics, all playable in the web browser. On Wednesday, the Archive opened up its digital doors to Windows 3.1. Yes, '90s kids, this means that you too can now spend copious amounts of time playing Ski Free, Pipe Dream, and Wheel of Fortune: Deluxe Edition in your favorite web browser. More than 1,000 Windows 3.1 games are available. The search functionality for the archive isn't great — mostly because many of the games are named based on the filename and not the game name, but it's easy to browse and peruse some of your favorites. Nearly 300 utilities and business apps are available in the browser too. But I'm more excited about the upcoming Crash Bandicoot game on PS4. Don't screw us, Sony.

Crashing his way onto the PS4 (I hope)

The last time he was in the hands of its original creator, Naughty Dog, was in 1999 with Crash Team Racing. He’s been in a few other hands since then, published by Activision and developed by companies like Radical Entertainment. Now, Sony seems to be teasing some sort of return for the anthropomorphic bandicoot. Is this little more than a community manager gone rogue? Or, is Sony really starting to hype the world for the return of Crash Bandicoot? Since Crash is currently published by Activision, maybe we’re looking at some sort of remaster for the originals before a proper new entry. If Naughty Dog is set to take a break from the likes of Uncharted and The Last of Us in favor of making a brand new Crash game, I might lose my mind. In fact, Insomniac should take a break from Ratchet and Clank and Sunset Overdrive because the world needs a brand new Spyro game (Skylanders doesn't count).

Straight Outta Life

A 1-year-old girl lying in her crib has been fatally shot by a gunman who opened fire outside her family's house in Compton. Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department officials said the gunman got out of a car, walked up to the residence, and fired in the direction of a converted garage where Autumn Johnson, who had just celebrated her birthday last week, lived with her parents. One witness, who declined to give her full name, described hearing several gunshots followed by a woman screaming: “They shot my baby. They shot my baby.” The witness said she called 911 before walking outside, where she saw the baby's sobbing father emerge from the garage with his daughter in his arms. “Someone take my baby to the hospital,” the father said. Deputies who responded to the home near Holly Avenue and San Marcus Street took Autumn to St. Francis Medical Center in Lynwood in their patrol car, Los Angeles County Sheriff's Sgt. Ulysses Cruz said. She was pronounced dead at the hospital. Come on. She was only one. What if that was your kid?

THE BIG REVIEW: Pro wrestling

It may be fake, but the injuries are real.

Reds draw Blues

Manchester United secured an entertaining 1-1 draw at Stamford Bridge, although one point could easily have been three for Louis van Gaal's unfortunate Reds. Jesse Lingard scored the biggest goal of his flourishing career with a superb effort that flew past the impressive Thibaut Courtois, but a potential victory was cruelly taken away by Diego Costa's 91st-minute leveller for Chelsea. The result leaves United fifth in the Barclays Premier League and six points behind fourth-placed Manchester City, yet the spirit that underpinned this performance suggests progress can be made. That can be started by putting the ball in the back of the net while stopping the opposition from doing the same.

Roundabout, Inception Style

CAUTION: Machine-translated menu follows

The one on the bottom is supposed to be jerk chicken.

I believe it's pronounced Luigi

Wikileaker to Wikileak himself out at long last

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange will leave the Ecuadorian embassy in London, where he took refuge in June 2012 to avoid extradition to Sweden, and accept arrest on Friday if a UN panel investigating his case rules against him, he said in a statement. Assange is wanted in Sweden for questioning over allegations of rape in 2010 which the Australian denies. "Should the U.N. announce tomorrow that I have lost my case against the United Kingdom and Sweden, I shall exit the embassy at noon on Friday to accept arrest by British police as there is no meaningful prospect of further appeal," Assange said in the statement posted on the Wikileaks Twitter account. "However, should I prevail and the state parties be found to have acted unlawfully, I expect the immediate return of my passport and the termination of further attempts to arrest me." Assange fears Sweden will extradite him to the United States, where he could be put on trial over WikiLeaks' publication of classified military and diplomatic documents, one of the largest information leaks in U.S. history. The U.N. Working Group on Arbitrary Detention is currently considering a request for relief by Assange, who argued in a submission that his time in the embassy constituted arbitrary detention. Assange argued that he had been deprived of his fundamental liberties, including lack of access to sunlight or fresh air, adequate medical facilities, as well as legal and procedural insecurity, not to mention all the taxpayer pounds spent on the siege. He should stay in there for as long as it takes for the British and Swedish authorities to buckle.

Another three goals, another three points

The current crop of Manchester United players scored three goals the Busby Babes would have been proud of as the Reds sealed an impressive 3-0 win over visitors Stoke City. On a night when the club remembered the Munich Air Disaster of 1958 with various tributes, Louis van Gaal's men - wearing black armbands - produced a suitably exciting performance. A couple of fine first-half finishes, from Jesse Lingard and Anthony Martial, put United in the driving seat at the break, before Wayne Rooney added an excellent third soon after the restart and edged just five goals behind Sir Bobby Charlton’s long-standing club record. But it takes more than just breaking goal records to make a great team - it takes putting the ball in the back of the net, and there seems to be a lot of that recently.

THE BIG REVIEW: Sevens in Dunedin

Southern rugby fans are smelling blood after seeing the half empty stands at the Wellington Sevens. They believe the tournament could get a new lease of life in Dunedin and their campaign has come at just the right time. One particular group of Otago rugby fans are mad about their sport, following the Highlanders all the way to last year's Super Rugby final. They've also enjoyed the festivities at the Wellington Sevens, but reckon it's time for a change. "Landers Army invaded the capital for the Super 15 final -- obviously took the treats up there, and you know now we want to take their event, the Sevens," fan Andrew James says. Once a massive party weekend in the capital, crowds for the tournament have fallen steadily in recent years. Sevens fan and "Bring the 7s to Dunedin" founder Hamish Walker believes moving it south could help reinvigorate the event. I agree - when you look at it, Dunedin's a huge rugby city. Lots and lots of rugby supporters, a lot of students - we've got all the fun happening with all the students. And we've got the perfect stadium. Wellington already has the southernmost of the tournaments, but it can be brought further south, even if just to Christchurch.

2016 so far... but there's still 11 months to go

Nothing but the tooth

The Bellend of the Month for January 2016 is Mark Walewski, a British dentist who splashed out on sports cars while conning the NHS (National Health Service) out of hundreds of thousands of pounds. 68-year-old Walewski, who pocketed almost £223,000 with a ‘systematic fraud’ at his surgery in Surrey over six years that may have involved more than 6,000 patients, pleaded guilty this month to carrying out a scheme known as ‘double claiming’, whereby he charged private patients for treatment and then billed the NHS for the same work. The dental surgeon, who had a NHS contract worth almost £350,000 a year, enjoyed a lavish lifestyle, living in a £2million six-bedroom country home with its own lake in the affluent village of Churt, near Farnham, Surrey. An investigation led by NHS Protect, which safeguards the NHS against fraud, uncovered the extent of fraud after questioning Walewski’s patients. It found the dentist had been ‘systematically defrauding the NHS’ between 2006 and 2012. The investigation also uncovered evidence that as well as double claiming the dentist may have been ‘up-coding’, whereby he submitted claims for a higher value treatment. His fraud may have also included ‘splitting’, which involves making several claims for a patient’s treatment which should have been submitted just once. Walewski was initially charged with 21 counts of fraud, but this was reduced to four in a plea bargain at Guildford Crown Court yesterday. Judge Stephen Climie warned the smartly dressed defendant his crimes could carry a custodial sentence. He said: ‘This is an offence of enough seriousness to warrant a prison term.’ I hope he gets such a sentence when he re-appears at the same court next month. Right now, he is on conditional bail.

Baby cut his teeth on wedding rings in an X-Ray

You never know where that misplaced thing will end up. A Seattle-area woman learned that the hard way after she noticed her wedding ring was missing on Thursday. But who was the culprit? Their 14-month-old baby. Imaging done by doctors at a hospital revealed a platinum wedding band lodged inside the baby's gut, according to Reddit user, iamclarkgriswold, who posted the story on the social media site. After being under observation for eight hours, the tiny tot was discharged and the parents were instructed to wait for nature to take its course. That means poop, people. "We were allowed to go home. If it doesn't pass naturally in two weeks, they will go get it," iamclarkgriswold wrote, explaining that doctors would have to perform surgery or use other medical methods to extract the ring if it didn't come out naturally. After leaving the hospital the family was officially under "passing" watch. This means everyone - husband, wife, the couple's other two kids - was monitoring the toddler. As the great baby-watch unfolded, Reddit users were abuzz with excitement. The couple dissected each diaper like a grade-school science project in hopes of finding the ring, and after much anticipation and bemoaning, the couple fished out the wedding band and posted a not-suitable-for-work photo of it as proof. But I wouldn't wear it knowing where it had been.

In honour of a revolution in the furniture world

Boxing Kangaroo? Why not Bombing Kangaroo?

Australian prosecutors allege a teenage suspect discussed with a British accomplice ways to pack a kangaroo with explosives before setting it loose on police officers. Sevdet Ramadan Besim has been ordered in the Melbourne Magistrates Court to stand trial on charges of planning an ISIS-inspired terrorist attack at a Veterans' Day ceremony that included targeting police officers. The 19-year-old pleaded not guilty to four charges relating to a plot to attack commemorative services in Melbourne or the neighboring city of Dandenong to mark ANZAC Day, the annual April 25 commemoration of the 1915 Gallipoli landings in Turkey. The campaign was the first major military action fought by the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps during World War I. Besim faces a potential life sentence in prison, and he deserves it because quite frankly, we have had enough of this crap. Terrorism has no place in our society.

The photos North Korea didn't want you to see

 

THE BIG REVIEW: Phone crashes

A URL, which is said to be an iPhone crusher, has recently made its way to social media where most people are posting warning messages about it while some others are using link shorteners to trick their friends into opening it. The warning messages are asking iPhone users not to visit crashsafari.com on an iPhone because it will crash the browser or even the device itself. “We tried this and can confirm that the website will indeed crash an iPhone 6S and an iPhone running iOS version 9.2.1 and a regular iPhone 6 running iOS 9.2,” The Huffington Post reported. Further, smartphone users have been warned that if they are using a recent iPhone or one running the latest version of iOS they are probably at risk. But what actually happens when you tap the URL, I hear you ask? Here's what: it will load for a moment and then crash Safari or force a reboot of your iPhone, sending you back to the home screen with everything else intact. Depending on your settings, you might lose some tabs, but it won’t do anything to damage your device otherwise, the newspaper claims. However, 9TO5 Mac, a technology website, claims that although the crashsafari.com is annoying but will not compromise the user’s personal information. It explains that the site relies on JavaScript to create a loop with the History API which means it will not compromise your personal information, adding the glitch works on desktop version of Safari, though not many people use that. Seriously, guys, don't open it.

Find the panda

Header takes the points

A late Charlie Austin header sent Manchester United tumbling to a first defeat in five games as Southampton snatched all three points at Old Trafford. Debutant Austin, a second-half substitute for Sadio Mane, nodded home from another Saints' substitute, James Ward-Prowse's, 87th minute free-kick to snatch the three points for Ronald Koeman's men. United boss Louis van Gaal made one change to the side that beat Liverpool at Anfield with Cameron Borthwick-Jackson replacing the injured Ashley Young who requires surgery on his injured groin. Adnan Januzaj made the substitutes' bench after scoring twice for the Under-21s against the Saints' second string in midweek. David de Gea made his 150th Premier League appearance for the Reds. But a loss is still a loss. The Reds are better than this.

Two great British ales in honour of two great British legends

Because cancer patients don't always make it to 70.

Bus lounge cause to loiter

As if the TPPA wasn't already a huge skidmark on the underpants of New Zealand society, large groups of teenagers are intimidating people, causing fights, and hurting businesses near Christchurch's new Riccarton Rd bus lounge. The city council has beefed up security at the depot, but shop owners say this has only moved the problem into the street. One Division St business owner fears getting his sign from the street. Another says he has "zero revenue" after 3pm, when the teens – gathering in groups of 30 to 60 – arrive. Police and a city councillor acknowledge the problem has arisen since the bus lounge opened on December 14. CopyPrint owner Selwyn Bradley said up to 60 teenagers could loiter in Division St during the afternoon. The new bus lounge facilities attracted them to the area, he said. Since the council employed security guards for the building, they had spilled on to the street. He and other business owners said they warned the council of such problems at various meeting, but their pleas were ignored. "It's a major detraction for customers now to come into the street in the afternoon. Everyone's talking about intimidation, even I'm intimidated to walk down the end of the street to get my sign. As I walk past the shop, the smell of dope [marijuana] would almost knock you over." There is a way to get those unruly yobs off your back: the Mosquito. Just push a button and it will emit a high-frequency sound that only they can hear. Or you could just get a gun and start firing shots. Classical music has also been known to work.

All pencils should be like this one

Booze without consequences

Scientists in North Korea claim to have invented a hangover-free alcohol, the Pyongyang Times reports. According to the newspaper, despite having 30%-40% alcohol, this new creation will "spare you wincing when you wake". The drink derives from a natural herb - Kaesong Koryo insam, which is thought to have medicinal properties. According to reports, the drink is made from "a type of indigenous ginseng called insam and glutinous rice, and cultivated by an organic farming method". The Pyongyang Times, reports the liquor is made of six-year-old Kaesong Koryo insam, and instead of adding sugar, it is replaced with scorched rice. Finally something good from North Korea.

THE BIG REVIEW: The wrong people dying

Over the last week, David Bowie, Alan Rickman, and Dan Haggerty have checked into the great hotel in the sky. And now, another has joined them: Glenn Frey, a founding member of The Eagles whose solo career included songs connected to "Miami Vice" and "Beverly Hills Cop," has died at the age of 67. Frey, a guitarist and singer from Detroit, moved to California as a young aspiring rock musician, and fell in with a group of songwriters, including Jackson Browne and Don Henley, the latter of whom became his main partner in the Eagles. During the Eagles' long, successful run through the 1970s and early 1980s, Frey wrote or co-wrote some of the Eagles biggest hits, including "Take it Easy," "The Best of My Love," "Desperado," and "Hotel California." After launching a solo career in 1982, Frey made a cameo appearance in an early episode in the popular 1980s police drama "Miami Vice" and penned a song associated with the show, "Smuggler's Blues." Another of his solo hits, "The Heat Is On," was featured in the 1984 comedy "Beverly Hills Cop." He died from complications from rheumatoid arthritis, acute ulcerative colitis, and pneumonia, the Eagles announced on Facebook. "Words can neither describe our sorrow, nor our love and respect for all that he has given to us, his family, the music community, and millions of fans worldwide," the band said in a statement. So why oh why can't Bieber be next?

Rooney FTW

Wayne Rooney netted Manchester United’s 100th Reds goal against Liverpool at Anfield as Louis van Gaal’s men claimed a famous late victory over the Merseysiders. The United captain struck with 12 minutes left when he smashed home from close range after Marouane Fellaini’s header had come back off the bar. It’s fair to say the hosts dominated much of the 90 minutes, but the Reds grew into the game after half-time before Rooney struck the killer blow, although it must be said that David De Gea was once again outstanding. In fact, so was the whole team. If this continues until the end of the season, then Loser van Gaal will be a loser no more.

And Grizzly makes three

That's right, a third celebrity cancer death in the space of under a week - Dan Haggerty, the star of 1970s movie and TV series The Life and Times of Grizzly Adams, has died at the age of 74. A diagnosis of spine cancer was reportedly made after the actor had surgery for back pain five months ago. His manager, Terry Bomar, said Haggerty died at Providence Saint Joseph Medical Centre in Burbank, California. The US star became famous after playing the bearded, rugged frontiersman, loosely based on a real-life 19th-century California mountain man, John Capen Adams, in a low-budget, hit 1974 movie. Three years later NBC commissioned a TV series, which ran from 1977-78, about a woodsman, wrongly accused of a murder, who flees to the mountains and raises an orphaned bear cub he names Ben. Haggerty went on to star in horror films, children's movies, comedies, and other Grizzly Adams-style works; also appeared in TV shows Charlies Angels, The Love Boat, and CHiPs; and worked as an animal trainer for Walt Disney Studios. Before Grizzly Adams, Haggerty appeared in Elvis Presley movie Girl Happy and 1969 road movie Easy Rider. Hopefully, Justin Bieber will one day join him.

The next goal could be just what America needs

First Ziggy, now Snape. Will Bieber be next?

United and United each score 3

Manchester United were denied victory by a 90th-minute goal after yesterday morning's encounter with Newcastle United ended 3-3 at St James’ Park. An early penalty from Wayne Rooney and a fine finish by Jesse Lingard put the Reds ahead but the Magpies fought back to draw level through strikes from Georginio Wijnaldum and Aleksandar Mitrovic. The captain then hit a superb goal that looked to secure three important Barclays Premier League points until Paul Dummett struck a deflected shot off Chris Smalling and past David De Gea with seconds to go. This carry-on is not going to get the Reds any higher on the table than last season. The best approach is to win at any cost. Same goes for the other 19 Premiership teams.

Sock Centipede

THE BIG REVIEW: Too much blue

Checking emails and taking one last glance at Twitter are now just as much a part of our evening routines as brushing our teeth and saying goodnight to loved ones. That last-check-of-the-day habit, though, could be messing with our sleep cycles. Research suggests the bright, blue light from smartphones and tablets can prevent our brains from properly entering sleep mode. Apple is seeking to address that issue with a new iPhone and iPad feature called “Night Shift,” included in the upcoming iOS 9.3 update. Night Shift will activate after sunset, shifting the colors on your iPhone display to “the warmer end of the spectrum,” Apple says. That should make it easier to fall asleep after scanning headlines before you get your forty winks. Amazon also introduced a similar feature to its Fire tablets called “Blue Shade” in December, which reduces the amount of blue light coming from the devices’ screens. So if you're looking to get an Android, just don't. At least not until they come up with a blue-blocker of their own.

Ground Control to Major Tom's grave

David Bowie has died at the age of 69 after a battle with cancer, his representative confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter. "David Bowie died peacefully today surrounded by his family after a courageous 18 month battle with cancer. While many of you will share in this loss, we ask that you respect the family's privacy during their time of grief," read a statement posted on the artist's official social media accounts. The influential singer-songwriter and producer excelled at glam rock, art rock, soul, hard rock, dance pop, punk, and electronica during his eclectic 40-plus-year career. He released his 25th album, Blackstar, on Friday, which was his birthday. But that will be his last, as the starman waiting in the sky has come to meet him. All we can do now is put on our red shoes and dance the blues.

Guess who's back, back again? Chapo's back,tell a friend!

In prison, that is. But you can never keep that douche in.

Can't believe it has already been a year

Riddle me this

This is what I think of the Kardashians

The hardest just got harder

A smart phone led explosion in personal data is driving hard disk drive capacities up and cost per gigabyte down. Western Digital's new 6TB WD Black hard disk drive comes with an integrated dual processor, working like a computer within the main personal computer to speed the data writing and reading process up by as much as 29 per cent. While aimed at the gamer, or professionals in need of high performance hard disk drives for inside their personal computers, the WD Black 6TB has a SATA 6 gigabits per second interface, this drive is also perfect for computers being used to store growing home media file libraries. It's ideal for storing the hundreds of smartphone photographs snapped over Christmas and the videos of sleeping grandparents. On these 6TB babies there's room for up to 1,200,000 digital photos, 1,500,000 songs in the lossy MP3 format or 150,000 uncompressed songs, up to 456 hours of Digital Video, up to 2,280 hours of DVD quality video, or up to 720 hours of HD video. With that sort of storage there's plenty of space to rip all your CDs and put them away, and download all your music and films, and still have plenty of room for the future. This is seriously the hard drive of the future. We're talking six terabytes here - LOTS of space.

Guess who's back, back again? Crash is back, tell a friend!

The epitome of any Gen-Y gamer’s childhood is filled with memories of vibrant platformers like Spyro The Dragon, Jak and Daxter, and Crash Bandicoot. It’s been years since anyone has heard anything about Crash Bandicoot since its last few failed titles. But now, a YouTuber by the name of Anisotropic is hard at work designing a fan-made reboot of Crash Bandicoot using Unreal Engine 4 — and it looks pretty amazing. For those who have always wondered what a new-age Crash Bandicoot game would look like, Anisotropic is making all of your dreams come true. Crash Bandicoot was first released in 1996 on PlayStation, and at the time, IGN reviewed it and gave it a 7.5 out of 10. The story of Crash Bandicoot is the typical good versus evil narrative where he and his sister Coco Bandicoot and older brother Crunch Bandicoot battle it out against evil Dr. Neo Cortex and his nefarious spiritual guardian, Uka Uka. Crash and his siblings have Aku-Aku - their own spiritual protector, father figure, and personified health-meter. Once Aku Aku disappears from sight, the next time you get hit by an enemy, you die, kind of like the dragonfly in Spyro The Dragon. To see this dude in action, click here.

Diary comes out of hiding

Anne Frank's diary, written when the Jewish teenager was in hiding from the Nazis with her family, was made freely available online on Friday despite threats of legal action over copyright. A French MP and a university lecturer have published the original Dutch version of The Diary of a Young Girl on their websites 70 years after she died in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, aged 15. They argue that the work should now be free because under European law, copyright on written works expires 70 years after the author's death. However, the Anne Frank Fund argues that it still owns the publication rights. The Swiss-based charity was founded by Frank's father, Otto, and it claims that he made such significant changes to the manuscript that he "earnt his own copyright". Otto, who was the only member of the family to survive the Holocaust, died in 1980. Yves Kugelmann, a member of the fund's board of trustees, said the words were Anne's, but after the war Otto Frank "merged, or compiled, the two versions of the diary that Anne Frank left, that were both incomplete and that partly overlapped, into one reader-friendly version. For the purposes of copyright, he is to be viewed as an 'author' of that version." The charity also maintains that the definitive version is one published in 1986 by the Dutch State Institute for War Documentation and therefore still remains under copyright. "Under Dutch copyright law, a work first published posthumously before 1995 remains protected for 50 years after the initial publication," the fund said in a statement on its website. It claims that a decision by a Dutch court last month confirmed that the book would remain covered by copyright. Bollocks to that. The words in the diary were Anne's words. Therefore, the copyright expired 70 years after HER death. We should not have to sieg heil (no pun intended) to the will of some stupid jerks who claim otherwise. Jokers like Kugelmann would fit better in ISIS.

Reds can has victory

Wayne Rooney scored a second-half winner as Manchester United got 2016 off to the perfect start by defeating Swansea at Old Trafford. The Reds' winless run had looked in danger of being extended to nine games after Gylfi Sigurdsson cancelled out Anthony Martial’s opener. But with just over 10 minutes remaining, Rooney flicked home Martial’s cross to net his 238th goal for United, moving him above Denis Law into second place in the club’s all-time highest scorers list. Though there was only one change to the side that drew with Chelsea on – Phil Jones replacing Matteo Darmian – the Reds began the new year in a different system, with Jones joining Chris Smalling and Daley Blind in a three-man defence flanked by wing-backs Young and Martial. This is what we want to see from Louis van Gaal and his men. And if we kept seeing performance like that, the Reds will be able to get the silverware. And maybe LVG can do what Moyes couldn't and prove himself as manager.

Watch me quit, watch me vape vape

Heavy exposure to electronic cigarette vapor damages DNA in cell cultures, causing genetic instability that could lead to cancer, according to a study by VA San Diego Healthcare System and University of California, San Diego, researchers. Moreover, even nicotine-free vapor induces this damage, indicating that other substances in e-cigarettes can damage cells, the study stated. The study won’t come close to scientifically settling whether e-cigarettes represent a great new danger, a harmless diversion, or something in between. It does provide more grounds for suspicion that e-cigarettes are not entirely benign, and carry health risks of an unknown magnitude. Worldwide attention has been focused on e-cigarettes as a possible means of weaning smokers off tobacco, or alternatively as a new public health menace. But since e-cigarettes became popular scarcely a decade ago, there hasn’t been time to collect long-term evidence, such as the population studies that linked smoking to lung cancer. But seriously, people, it's not wise to swap one addiction for another.

It's the whole year that counts, not just the last week

Stupidest. Pranks. Ever.

The co-Bellends of the Month for December 2015 are the jerks behind this video.

And now, to boldly wait like no man has waited before

THE BIG REVIEW: Man United's failing form

Manchester United and Chelsea played out a 0-0 draw under the floodlights at Old Trafford, as the Reds stayed in sixth place in the Barclays Premier League. Both sides had clear opportunities to win the game and Louis van Gaal’s men will be frustrated not to have capitalised on some fine first-half play. The boss was given a much-needed boost before kick-off with both Bastian Schweinsteiger and Matteo Darmian returning to the side, following suspension and injury respectively. Wayne Rooney and Morgan Schneiderlin were also reinstated to the Reds' XI as Memphis Dupay, Michael Carrick, Marouane Fellaini, and Phil Jones all moved to the bench. But a single point just doesn't cut it. There needs to be either a return to winning ways or a change in management.