With last year’s Super Bowl grabbing an audience of 111 million, NBC has ordered a sequel! It’ll premier on February 5 and probably do just as well, financially. And if being able to see two teams — one of which you might actually care about — battle it out on a football-field-sized field on your TV wasn’t enough for you, this year the NFL and NBC have announced that the “big game” is going to be streamed online and via select handset devices, too! There have never before been so many ways to watch the event. (The previous record for ways to watch the game is “one.” One way. Just TV. Sports fans like stats, right?)

But what does this all mean for you, the concerned Super Bowl viewer? What is this mysterious “streaming” and how can you do it? And since you have an 80″ OLED 3D TV in your well-appointed, comfortable living room / man cave, you wouldn’t be remiss from also asking why you would need to stream the game at all! Below we’ve got answers to all these questions, and more!

Traditional TV
Who Can Watch: Anyone with a TV, really.

What You Get: The national broadcast, including all the ads (which we all clamor to see, even if we fast forward through all other commercials on our DVR at other times of the year).

Why TV?: Because you enjoy watching sports — specifically football — and you like being able to sit comfortably in your favorite chair. Maybe you even invited over some friends / hot wings, too, and you’d like to have the extra space to spread out. In short: If you had to choose one way to watch the Super Bowl, this is the perfect way to do it.

Streaming Online
Who Can Watch: Anyone with an Internet connected computer (with certain hardware recommendations) and a web browser with the Silverlight plugin (available for both PC and Mac). You might want to think of installing it now so you and 111 million other people aren’t trying to download it at 6:29 pm on February 5. For a full list of requirements, click here.

What You Get: A live HD stream of the game via NBC Sports and NFL.com, plus additional coverage including extra camera angles, on-demand replays, DVR-like functions, live statistics (see? we knew sports people liked statistics! In fact, four out of five people prefer twice as many statistics as half the people do the other 90% of the time!), and more.

Why Stream Online?: You’re not only a sports fan, but an information-junkie. You like to know more than what is presented to you. You like to dig deep into stats, replays, and all the tangential trappings that come along with being a super fan. OR, you don’t have a television (because you like telling people that you don’t have one, to sound cool) but you’re not about to let that stop you from seeing the biggest sporting event in the world* — or the Super Bowl, for that matter!
^{*The World Cup}

By itself, this is the second-best option to a TV, but together with a TV, it’s by far the best way to go. It’s like a Super Friends team-up, except your TV doesn’t morph into something lame, like an “ice slide.”

Streaming on Verizon Smartphones / Tablets
Who Can Watch: Only Verizon customers using a smartphone or tablet that can run the NFL Mobile app, but since the app is available for both Android and iOS, many people can take advantage of it.

What You Get: Super Bowl-specific details are hard to find, but we’re assuming you’ll get a live stream of the game, as well as access to the stats that are available through use of the app for other games.

Why Stream on Your Smart Device?: We can see this stream coming in handy in exactly two situations: 1) You unfortunately have to cover a shift at work that day, or 2) You need to use the bathroom and don’t want to miss. But those are the only two situations we can think of that would have you choosing a 3.5″ screen over your 15″ laptop or 87″ “wall of televisons.”

One additional thing to keep in mind, though, is Verizon’s recent track-record of network stability … or lack thereof. We’ll be quite interested to see how their cell network holds up to 13 billion* people streaming a game to their phones at once, even as the company has gone to great lengths to boost its network strength for the event. Also remember that unless you’re on WiFi, you’ll be eating up your bandwidth like some kind of bandwidth-eating Pac-Man (Pac-Mandwidth?).
^{*Loose estimate, based on nothing}

As you can now see, there will be no excuse for you to miss the Super Bowl this year… unless you just don’t like sports. (Hulu always has the best commercials on demand the next day anyway!) GO [INSERT TEAM NAME]!

That is why we decided to publish not one but two infographics. In one post, don’t worry you infographic-haters out there . One will give you a quick overview of what SOPA is, the other one looks at the implications of SOPA when it comes to business.

Don’t want to look at infographics? Well luckily for you Wikipedia didn’t turn black on everything. They have one page still in place where you can read all about SOPA and PIPA. To give you a heads up, here is the paragraph about what SOPA and PIPA are:

What are SOPA and PIPA?

SOPA and PIPA represent two bills in the United States House of Representatives and the United States Senate respectively. SOPA is short for the “Stop Online Piracy Act,” and PIPA is an acronym for the “Protect IP Act.” (“IP” stands for “intellectual property.”) In short, these bills are efforts to stop copyright infringement committed by foreign web sites, but, in our opinion, they do so in a way that actually infringes free expression while harming the Internet.

Oh, and if you are joining in in this protest, make sure you have your SEO ready so it won’t hurt you afterwards.

What is SOPA?

via

What doe SOPA mean for business?

via

By Arata Yamamoto, NBC News Producer

TOYKO – If disaster struck, and millions of dollars in cash turned up, do you think it would be returned to its rightful owners?

In Japan, it was.

During the four months since the giant tsunami struck Japan’s northern coast, more than 5,700 safes containing approximately $30 million has been recovered from the three hardest hit prefectures, Japan’s National Police Agency recently announced.

Remarkably – since residents of the tsunami zone have scattered across the country and even the world – 96 percent, or nearly $29.6 million in cash, has already been returned to its rightful owners, or if authorities feared the owner had died in the disaster, their closest relative.

Detective job to find rightful owners
The majority of the safes recovered in Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima were collected by Japan’s Self Defense Force, police, and volunteers while combing through destroyed homes and buildings and clearing debris left behind by the devastating wave; some individuals also came forward with lost valuables.

Masao Sasaki, with the Iwate prefectural police, said that determining who the money belonged to and then actually finding them proved to be a great challenge and often involved excruciating detective work.

“In some cases, entire communities were completely washed away. Even if we had information on the address of the owner, there would be no building left, landlines were destroyed,” Sasaki explained. “So we went around to the various evacuation centers and started checking through the rosters.”

In Iwate prefecture alone, where more than 23,000 structures along the coast were destroyed, 2,400 safes containing a total amount of $10 million was collected. Incredibly, 91 percent of it has already been returned.

Considering that up until June there were more than 330 evacuation centers in Iwate, and people were constantly moving to new locations, it was no small feat to return that much money.

Aly Song / Reuters

A survivor walks through debris caused by the March 11th earthquake and tsunami, in Rikuzentakata, Iwate prefecture, in this March 18, 2011 file photo.

“You can just imagine the difficult work involved in tracking down the owners,” Sasaki said. “In some cases where the owner was thought to have perished, we had to find the closest kin who could have been anywhere inside or outside Iwate.

It’s not unusual for Japanese, especially the elderly, to keep cash at home. In particular, fishermen, who made up a large portion of the coastal population, traditionally preferred cash transactions and often even paid salaries in cash.

Thankfully, many of the safes also held bank books, certificates of land rights, name chops (traditional stamps used in lieu of signatures on personal documents) or some other form of identification. But because they were drenched in mud and water, each item often had to be carefully cleaned and dried, at times using a shirt iron in order to extract useful clues.

“It was important to be able to return these items properly cleaned, but our first and utmost priority was to find the owners and return their belongings as quickly as possible,” said Sasaki.

Asked how they were able to return 91 percent of the lost valuables, Sasaki said it was simply the laborious work and perseverance of the prefecture’s officers.

Venturing into the nuke zone
It was a tougher task in Fukushima prefecture, where extra precaution was required to reach some of the areas affected by the nuclear accident.

When their officers entered the 12-mile-radius exclusion zone, they had to put on hazmat suits and equip themselves with survey meters so they could check the radiation levels.

“It might have taken a little longer in Fukushima,” said Yoshiyasu Sato of the local prefectural police headquarters. “We had to start from the outer perimeter of the exclusion zone and slowly work our way in.”

But according to Sato, even though it took four months, the police have pretty much completed their task: they have already returned 96 percent of the $7.2 million found in some 900 safe boxes.

And in the Miyagi prefecture they had an even greater rate of return. More than 2,400 safes were collected that contained approximately $13.5 million –amazingly 99 percent of that has been returned to its owners or closest kin.

Almost done
In Iwate, as they get closer to completing the task of clearing away the rubble, the number of safes and other belongings recovered has dropped. But, Sasaki said, “the collection is still not completely zero, the numbers have come down, but items are being turned in sporadically.”

In total, if you included the money retrieved from lost wallets and purses, $48.3 million worth of cash was collected from the disaster zone. Out of that total amount, 85 percent has found its way to its rightful owners.

While the sheer amount of cash collected and returned is astounding, it is also another reminder of the scope of the damage brought by the March earthquake and tsunami which claimed the lives of more than 20,000 people and completely wiped out at least 112,000 homes and buildings.

• Listen to the radio or TV for information.
• Secure your home, close storm shutters, and secure outdoor objects or bring them indoors.
• Turn off utilities if instructed to do so. Otherwise, turn the refrigerator thermostat to its coldest setting and keep its doors closed.
• Turn off propane tanks.· Avoid using the phone, except for serious emergencies.
• Moor your boat if time permits.
• Ensure a supply of water for sanitary purposes such as cleaning and flushing toilets. Fill the bathtub and other large containers with water.

You should evacuate under the following conditions:

• If you are directed by local authorities to do so. Be sure to follow their instructions.
• If you live in a mobile home or temporary structure—such shelters are particularly hazardous during hurricanes no matter how well fastened to the ground.
• If you live in a high-rise building—hurricane winds are stronger at higher elevations.
• If you live on the coast, on a floodplain, near a river, or on an inland waterway.
• If you feel you are in danger.

If you are unable to evacuate, go to your safe room. If you do not have one, follow these guidelines:

• Stay indoors during the hurricane and away from windows and glass doors.
• Close all interior doors—secure and brace external doors.
• Keep curtains and blinds closed. Do not be fooled if there is a lull; it could be the eye of the storm – winds will pick up again.
• Take refuge in a small interior room, closet, or hallway on the lowest level.
• Lie on the floor under a table or another sturdy object.

Parts of the Pentagon, White House and Capitol were among the areas evacuated.

At the Pentagon in northern Virginia, a low rumbling built and built to the point that the building was shaking. People ran into the corridors of the government’s biggest building and as the shaking continued there were shouts of “Evacuate! Evacuate!”The quake even broke a water main inside the Pentagon, flooding parts of two floors, NBC reported.

Centered some 90 miles south of the nation’s capital, the quake was a magnitude 5.9, the U.S. Geological Survey said.

Two nuclear reactors near the epicenter were taken offline as a precaution, officials said. No damage was reported at either.

At the U.S. Capitol, light fixtures swung and the building shook for about 15 seconds while the tremor hit, NBC News reported.

At Reagan National Airport outside Washington, ceiling tiles fell during a few seconds of shaking. All flights were briefly put on hold and one terminal was evacuated due to a gas smell.

In New York City, NBC reported debris fell from the attorney general’s office, causing a brief panic as people ran from the area.

Airport towers and government buildings in New York, including City Hall, were evacuated. The 26-story federal courthouse in lower Manhattan began swaying and hundreds of people were seen leaving the building.

A mild tremor was even felt by NBC reporters with President Barack Obama during his vacation on Martha’s Vineyard, an island off Massachusetts.

In Charleston, W.Va., hundreds of workers left the state Capitol building and employees at other downtown office buildings were asked to leave temporarily.

“The whole building shook,” said Jennifer Bundy, a spokeswoman for the state Supreme Court. “You could feel two different shakes. Everybody just kind of came out on their own.”

In Ohio, where office buildings swayed in Columbus and Cincinnati and the press box at the Cleveland Indians’ Progressive Field shook. At least one building near the Statehouse was evacuated in downtown Columbus.

In downtown Baltimore, Md., the quake sent office workers into the streets, where lamp posts swayed slightly as they called family and friends to check in.

More about the quake at breakingnews.com

The earthquake’s epicenter was near Louisa, Va., the USGS reported. It was a very shallow quake, less than a mile deep, which would explain why it was so widely felt.

The D.C. area’s previous record for an earthquake was on July 16, 2010, when a 3.6 magnitude quake was felt.

The East Coast gets earthquakes, but usually smaller ones than the West Coast and is less prepared for shaking.

If indoors

• DROP to the ground; take COVER by getting under a sturdy table or other piece of furniture; and HOLD ON until the shaking stops. If there isn’t a table or desk near you, cover your face and head with your arms and crouch in an inside corner of the building.
• Stay away from glass, windows, outside doors and walls, and anything that could fall, such as lighting fixtures or furniture.
• Stay in bed if you are there when the earthquake strikes. Hold on and protect your head with a pillow, unless you are under a heavy light fixture that could fall. In that case, move to the nearest safe place.
• Use a doorway for shelter only if it is in close proximity to you and if you know it is a strongly supported, loadbearing doorway.
• Stay inside until the shaking stops and it is safe to go outside. Research has shown that most injuries occur when people inside buildings attempt to move to a different location inside the building or try to leave.
• Be aware that the electricity may go out or the sprinkler systems or fire alarms may turn on.
• DO NOT use the elevators.

If outdoors

• Stay there.
• Move away from buildings, streetlights, and utility wires.
• Once in the open, stay there until the shaking stops. The greatest danger exists directly outside buildings, at exits and alongside exterior walls. Many of the 120 fatalities from the 1933 Long Beach earthquake occurred when people ran outside of buildings only to be killed by falling debris from collapsing walls. Ground movement during an earthquake is seldom the direct cause of death or injury. Most earthquake-related casualties result from collapsing walls, flying glass, and falling objects.

If in a moving vehicle

• Stop as quickly as safety permits and stay in the vehicle. Avoid stopping near or under buildings, trees, overpasses, and utility wires.
• Proceed cautiously once the earthquake has stopped. Avoid roads, bridges, or ramps that might have been damaged by the earthquake.

If trapped under debris

• Do not light a match.
• Do not move about or kick up dust.
• Cover your mouth with a handkerchief or clothing.
• Tap on a pipe or wall so rescuers can locate you. Use a whistle if one is available. Shout only as a last resort. Shouting can cause you to inhale dangerous amounts of dust.

Update: The USGS has upgraded the quake, which struck in Mineral, Virginia, to a magnitude 6.0. The Pentagon and the Capitol building are being evacuated.

Update II: Nate Silver, who is apparently an expert in everything, tweets: “Virginia earthquake was quite shallow — just 6 km underground. May explain why folks felt quite a bit of shaking.”

Update III: President Obama is reportedly playing golf with Vernon Jordan. Earthquakes are great excuses for missed putts.

RIM’s battle against Apple and Google for the Smartphone crown continues with the launch of five new phones and a brand new operating system, BlackBerry 7. All of the phones will feature touchscreen displays and will have a broader focus on multimedia enhancements and features. Each of the phones will be powered by a 1.2 GHz processor coupled with a powerful graphics processor to help power the phone’s “Liquid Graphics” tech for smoother graphics and a more accurate touch experience. Other features include better Social Media integration, HD Video, and built-in NFC technology. Link

Packing in a whopping 250 new features, Mac OS X Lion ($30) looks to be a worthy upgrade to Apple’s awesome operating system. Available in July as a download from the Mac App Store, it’ll bring new features including iOS-style full screen apps, new Multi-Touch gestures, Mission Control and Launchpad (new things for seeing all your apps at once and for finding and launching apps quicker), a redesigned Mail app, Auto Save for everything, and AirDrop (easy file sharing).

[Nice write up Uncrate.com]

[Luxist]