Sweden’s chief prosecutor has reopened a rape investigation against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. Recently, Assange was accused with crimes of molestation and rape by the Swedish authorities. Assange has denied the allegations, claiming they are ?without basis,? and later calling the case a “smear campaign” against him and WikiLeaks. The rape charges were soon dropped by Eva Finne, chief prosecutor in Stockholm, but after the lawyer of the allegedly assaulted woman appealed the decision the case was reopened by Sweden’s Director of Public Prosecution Marianne Ny. WikiLeaks is a website that offers a shelter for whistleblowers, publishing previously unavailable documents and offering anonymity to sources. It published more than 70,000 secret U.S. military files on Afghanistan in July, detailing deals, armed conflicts, strategies, politics, intelligence operations and some of the casualties in that country. [img credit: Ma ...

At the mention of an “e-reader,” most people think Kindle or Nook , but if you just want the device, sans the deal with the content provider, Sony has a nice little trio of e-readers on offer, and they’ve all just been upgraded with several important improvements. Sony’s 5-inch Pocket Edition e-reader is now called PRS-350 and the 6-inch Touch Edition is called PRS-650; both are available now for $179.99 and $229.99 respectively. The 7-inch Daily Edition is now called PRS-950 and it will be available this fall for $299.99. The smallest device in the bunch has 2GB of memory, a USB connection, and supports EPUB/ACS4, PDF, Microsoft Word, and other text file formats. Its 6-inch brother has similar specifications, with the addition of SD and Memory Stick Duo Expansion slots for adding additional memory, as well as a headphone jack and support for MP3 and AAC audio files. Both, however, lack wireless; this is where the Daily Edition ...

X-Forum 5.47 Multifielded Forum with Extras X-Forum is a completely extensible forum module for XOOPS, this is the complete stable release of the first version of 5 series, it includes multiple fields specifiable per post on individualized forums much like profile module. It does require Frameworks 1.20 or later. (framework available from www.chronolabs.coop/binaries/ ) Designed for XOOPS 2.4 and earlier version, it was written in response to problems with earlier forum titles, that had in some cases installation issues. With a broad range of options. X-Forum is a great solution to your forum requirements, complete with RSS Features and image management. It will utilise a wide range of options and allow your community to discuss issues, raise topic and solution. Complete with .htaccess example and SEO with a medium URL. With X-Forum you can have all the convenience of the modular newbb path without the result. Based on CBB with a sound environment that even your grandma can ...

Electronic Arts’ wildly successful Madden NFL franchise has made the leap from the Xbox to Facebook. The gaming giant has launched Madden NFL Superstars , the company’s second social game since it acquired social game maker Playfish . The company’s first social game, FIFA Superstars , is one of Facebook’s most popular apps with nearly 4 million monthly active users. Madden NFL Superstars isn’t a port of the popular console games; it’s a completely new experience that utilizes the Madden NFL brand and leverages social gaming’s strengths for a unique Madden experience. Users build a team from 1,500+ available player cards and then pit their rosters against their friends for domination of the football field. Players can even purchase player cards through Playfish’s virtual currency. Instead of focusing on the micromanagement and play tactics that have made Madden NFL so popular on the console, Mad ...

This post is part of Mashable?s Spark of Genius series, which highlights a unique feature of startups. The series is made possible by Microsoft BizSpark. . If you would like to have your startup considered for inclusion, please see the details here . Name: Fictionaut Quick Pitch: A social network for writers that doubles as a crowdsourced literary magazine. Genius Idea: Fictionaut is a budding online literary community for writers and admirers of short fiction, where writers can upload and gain recognition for their work — mainly short stories, but also novel excerpts, creative non-fiction and poetry — in addition to connecting with their audience and collecting feedback from the community. The stories that receive the most “favs” from users appear in a “Recommended Stories” feed on the front page of the site alongside the most recent submissions, the latter ensuring that new work also gets plenty of attention. ...

Most plants require sunlight, water and carbon dioxide to survive. We’ve found one that requires Facebook fans and wall posts. Meet Eater is a “real garden that feeds on social interaction.” It is an experiment in human interaction and design, focused on rebuilding the connection between human being and plants. Here’s how it works, according to its creator: “Meet Eater is rigged up with a system to register physical contact and social media interaction. Watering is triggered by human contact and nutrients are delivered when you start hanging out with it on Facebook. Of course the novelty of such a project could draw more attention than is desired. If the plant becomes over loved it will call for quiet time via the Facebook page, just as you or I would.” Technically, this garden (which you can visit at The Edge in the State Library of Queensland) requires food, water and nutrients, just like any other plant. However ...

Apple has announced that it will be live streaming its September 1 ? special event ,? where the company is expected not only to reveal a new line of iPods, but a new version of Apple TV as well. The announcement is surprising. Historically, Apple has not provided live video for any of its keynotes or special media events. It?s unclear what prompted the tech giant?s change of heart, but you will be able to watch Steve Jobs revealing Apple?s newest line of products for yourself on Apple.com . The live stream will begin at 10:00 AM PT on September 1. There is a catch, though: it can?t be viewed on a PC. According to Apple, viewing will require a Mac with Snow Leopard or a device running iOS 3.0 or higher. Since the people who will be watching the live stream are likely to be Apple fanboys, the lack of PC support for the live stream doesn?t surprise us. The rumor mill has been in full swing surrounding this week?s event. It?s almost certain that Apple will reve ...

Serving up search results based on what your friends clicked: It’s been a hot topic lately, and one that Facebook has seen fit to claim as its own. The social networking goliath has just won a patent covering a certain type of search algorithm, one that is largely based on the interests and clicks of a user’s friends and friends-of-friends. Specifically, the patent is for “ranking search results based on the frequency of clicks on the search results by members of a social network who are within a predetermined degree of separation.” The patent continues, “Search results, including sponsored links and algorithmic search results, are generated in response to a query and are marked based on frequency of clicks on the search results by members of social network who are within a predetermined degree of separation from the member who submitted the query. The markers are visual tags and comprise either a text string or an image.” ...

At Apple’s special event Wednesday, the company is expected to roll out a new Apple TV that includes support for Netflix . These latest reports from Bloomberg corroborate rumors of an iOS-based Apple TV that surfaced this spring. With Netflix available on the iPad and the iPhone , an offering for the television set certainly makes sense. I’ve long argued that the original Apple TV failed to really gain traction with buyers because it was too limited in its media offerings. The reason that Boxee was such a gift to Apple TV owners circa 2008/early 2009 was because it connected the device to lots of different online media sources, including Netflix. As we’ve noted in past articles, however, the connected device landscape of 2010 is very different than that of 2007, when the Apple TV was first released. In fact, the landscape is very different from even a year ago. Netflix has successfully executed its “Watch Instantly& ...

Digg has confirmed that it has hired Matt Williams from Amazon to replace Kevin Rose as CEO. Rose says that he will “remain actively involved in the product” but is handing over “day-to-day running of the business” to Williams. This news comes five months after Rose announced former CEO Jay Adelson would be leaving the company and about one month after the New Digg was first unveiled. At Amazon, Williams held various director-level and higher positions since 1999. Most recently, he was the company’s General Manager, Consumer Payments. In addition to naming a new chief executive officer, the company also announced today a series of fixes and upgrades , welcome news to users of the massively overhauled New Digg product. Many users have openly revolted against the latest version of the social news site, using rival site reddit as a tool to demonstrate their displeasure. Fixes include improved algorithms and overall sta ...