What is SOPA

The Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), also known as House Bill 3261 or H.R. 32, is a bill that was introduced in the United States House of Representativeson October 26, 2011, by House Judiciary Committee Chair Representative Lamar S. Smith (R-TX) and a bipartisan group of 12 initial co-sponsors. The bill, if made law, would expand the ability of U.S. law enforcement and copyright holders to fight online trafficking in copyrighted intellectual property and counterfeit goods.Presented to the House Judiciary Committee, it builds on the similar PRO-IP Act of 2008 and the corresponding Senate bill, the PROTECT IP Act.

The originally proposed bill would allow the U.S. Department of Justice, as well as copyright holders, to seek court orders against websites accused of enabling or facilitating copyright infringement. Depending on who makes the request, the court order could include barring online advertising networks and payment facilitators from doing business with the allegedly infringing website, barring search engines from linking to such sites, and requiring Internet service providers to block access to such sites. The bill would make unauthorized streaming of copyrighted content a crime, with a maximum penalty of five years in prison for ten such infringements within six months. The bill also gives immunity to Internet services that voluntarily take action against websites dedicated to infringement, while making liable for damages any copyright holder who knowingly misrepresents that a website is dedicated to infringement.

Proponents of the bill say it protects the intellectual property market and corresponding industry, jobs and revenue, and is necessary to bolster enforcement of copyright laws, especially against foreign websites.They cite examples such as Google's $500 million settlement with the Department of Justice for its role in a scheme to target U.S. consumers with ads to illegally import prescription drugs from Canadian pharmacies.

Opponents say that it violates the First Amendment, is Internet censorship, will cripple the Internet,and will threaten whistle-blowing and other free speechactions. Opponents have initiated a number of protest actions, including petition drives, boycotts of companies that support the legislation, and planned service blackouts by English Wikipedia and major Internet companies scheduled to coincide with the next Congressional hearing on the matter.

The House Judiciary Committee held hearings on November 16 and December 15, 2011. The Committee was scheduled to continue debate in January 2012,but on January 17 Chairman Smith said that "[d]ue to the Republican and Democratic retreats taking place over the next two weeks, markup of the Stop Online Piracy Act is expected to resume in February."

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How to Save your Phone when it is All washed up

Once you have accidentally drenched your smartphone, protocal calls for you toremove the battery and dry out the inside of the device. If you purchased aBheestie Bag, you could quickly start the drying out process, possibly in time to prevent major damage to your phone. The Bheestie Bag is not a new product, but for $20 it could offer a second chance at life for that smartphone that fell into the pool or got soaking wet in that non-stopping rain storm.

The bag contains pellets that absorb moisture. It's the same thing that those small packets of silica gel do inside a shoe box. You take your wet phone (a tablet won't fit in the bag) and remove the battery to prevent short circuits. You then dry down your phone, stick it in the Bheestie Bag, and seal it. Despite feeling like that itch you need to scratch, you are instructed not to open the bag from 24 to 72 hours. And while many devices have come back from the dead using the bag, there are no guarantees. The company does say it works 700% better than using rice.

With the $20 price, a Bheestie Bag might be a good accessory to carry with you on that trip to the beach or the pool, or even if you plan on sitting in the "Splash Zone" at Sea World. For an investment that small, your reward could be the big bucks you will save by not having to replace your drowned smartphone.

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HTC Titan v/s Nokia Lumia 900 v/s Samsung Focus S

CES 2012 certainly stirred things up a bit in the Windows Phone camp. Nokia unveiled their new flagship, the Lumia 900, while HTC announced the cameraphone monster that is the Titan II.

Both phones come with support for the blazing fast AT&T 4G LTE network and should appear on the shelves in the second quarter of this year. But the question remains – which one is the right one for you. We’ll try to find the answer to that by comparing them to one of the best pre-CES WP smartphones – the Samsung Focus S.

Let’s start with the highlights. The HTC Titan II has the impressive 16MP camera and 4.7-inch S-LCD screen as its key selling points, while the Nokia Lumia 900 impresses with a gorgeous polycarbonate unibody and an ClearBlack AMOLED, which is a real joy to behold.

And now we are off to the actual comparison table.

	HTC Titan II	Nokia Lumia 900	Samsung Focus S
OS	Windows Phone 7.5 Mango	Windows Phone 7.5 Mango	Windows Phone 7.5 Mango
Display	4.7-inch S-LCD	4.3-inch ClearBlack AMOLED	4.3-inch Super AMOLED Plus
Resolution	480 x 800	480 x 800	480 x 800
Height	132 mm	127.8 mm	126 mm
Width	69 mm	68.5 mm	66.8 mm
Thickness	13 mm	11.5 mm	8.5 mm
Weight	147 grams	160 grams	110.6 grams
Processor	1.5 GHz Scorpion	1.4 GHz Scorpion	1.4 GHz
Storage	16GB	16GB	16GB
microSD	No	No	No
RAM	512MB	512MB	512 MB
Main camera	16MP Auto-Focus with dual LED Flash (720p)	8 MP Auto-Focus with LED Flash (720p)	8 MP Auto-Focus with LED Flash (720p)
Front-facing camera	Yes, 1.3MP	Yes, 1MP	Yes, 1.3MP
Wi-Fi	802.11 a/b/g/n	802.11 a/b/g/n	802.11 a/b/g/n
USB	microUSB port	microUSB port	microUSB port
Bluetooth	2.1 + A2DP	2.1 + A2DP	3.0 + A2DP, EDR
Battery	1730mAh	1830mAh	1650mAh
Price (Wi-Fi only)	$??? (16GB)	$??? (16GB)	$199 (16GB) on a two-year contract
Availability	Q2	Q2	Currently available
Sensors	Accelerometer, gyro, proximity, compass	Gyroscope, Accelerometer, Digital Compass, Ambient Light Sensor	Accelerometer, proximity, compass

As it happens the Samsung Focus S beats both the HTC Titan II and Nokia Lumia 900 when it comes to size and weight.

However one cannot simply ignore the 16MP camera of the HTC Titan II. We can’t say if it is blowing the fish out of the water just yet, but it’s pretty certain that if it’s a WP-running cameraphone you want, the Titan II is one of your best bets. In addition, it’s the only one out of the contenders which has a metal unibody.

And finally, we have the Nokia Lumia 900, which is a great balance between looks and functionality. Sure, it might be a bit on the heavy side but it comes with free lifetime voice-guided navigation and that curved glass that makes all those swiping gestures feel so natural.

A penny for your thoughts. Which one of these Windows Phone powerhouses would you pick and why?

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