Oh, so Britney Spears doesn’t worship Satan?

There's a lot of celebrities on Twitter. There's also a lot of people pretending to be celebrities on Twitter. For this reason, Twitter has a 'verified account' feature that sets apart the poseurs from the genuine celebs. Yesterday fans following the real Britney Spears got a little bit of a shock.

According to The Superficial, Britney's Twitter account was hacked and before long the person behind the attack was Tweeting satanic messages of love to her nearly 4 million followers.

"i hope that the new world order will arrive as soon as possible! –Britney," the hacker tweeted.

"I give myself to Lucifer every day for it to arrive as quickly as possible. Glory to satan!" said a second message.

Britney's user picture and profile were also altered as part of the attack. Her Twitter account has since returned to normal with a message from "her people" reading, "Britney's twitter account was just hacked. The situation has been resolved and we apologize for any offense the hacker's messages caused."

Screenshots via The Superficial

It's no secret that Verizon's commercials are bugging AT&T. The latter filed a lawsuit over Verizon's "there's a map for that," commercial and today issued a press release clarifying 'key facts' about the AT&T network.

Starting with a, "We don't usually do this sort of thing, but here goes nothing," statement, AT&T defended its coverage, declaring that it reaches 97 percent of the U.S. population. The carrier continued on to explain that this coverage is divided up into three different types of technology: 3G, EDGE, and GPRS.

It's all good until AT&T starts explaining the difference between 3G and EDGE and claims that there isn't any. "The only difference – with some data applications, 3G is faster than EDGE," the company writes.

AT&T goes on to list several reasons why it has twice as many customers as Verizon:

Unlike Verizon, AT&T offers the most popular smartphones in the industry.

Unlike Verizon, AT&T customers have access to more than 100,000 applications, more than with any other wireless company.

Unlike Verizon, AT&T's 3G network lets wireless customers simultaneously talk and surf the web or do e-mail.

Unlike Verizon, AT&T has the nation's fastest 3G network.

AT&T this week amended its lawsuit with Verizon, adding the company's "Misfit Toy" commercial to the list of complaints.

Read the full statement from AT&T here.

Mark your calendars.

Back in September we learned that the Japanese release date for Final Fantasy XIII would be December 17. While that was great news, gamers in parts of the western world were waiting for word of the English localized version.

Today Square Enix reveals all in a special video, announcing that Final Fantasy XIII will be hitting both the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 in North America and Europe on March 9, 2009.

Watch the video below and get your preorder on.

Bad boys, bad boys.

Remember that story from late September about those cops who raided a suspect's house on suspicions of drug and illegal firearm possession, and decided to play a little Wii Bowling while their search.

According to the Ledger, an internal investigation has found 11 members of the taskforce at fault. The undercover detectives received a letter of retraining and are required to complete two hours of retraining, while the supervising sergeants got a letter of guidance and four hours of retraining.

Some may feel that the punishment dealt doesn't match up with the irresponsibility demonstrated by law enforcement, but the end goal of any disciplinary action is to ensure that it doesn't happen again.

"We are learning from our mistakes," said sheriff's Chief of Staff Gary Hester. "I'm absolutely convinced these folks will never do that again. I think we handled (the investigation) appropriately."

For a little refresher, here's how it all went down:

During a drug raid near Lakeland, FL undercover investigators searching the home suspected of illegal activity found themselves distracted by something other than methamphetamine, marijuana, drug paraphernalia and weapons. They found a Wii.

A security camera connected to a computer inside the home was active and captured a PolkCounty sheriff's detective putting down her work to play Wii Bowling. After she hit two strikes in a row, she celebrated with her arms above her head and she jumped and kicked.

The Wii Bowling playing time among the investigators lasted a little over an hour. The entire raid of the property lasted nine hours and cost taxpayers more than $4,000.

Sadly, this is not about Grand Theft Auto: Mushroom Kingdom Wars.

Mario and Luigi are now wanted for assault and robbery.

At around 4 a.m. on November 1, presumably following a Halloween party, a Staten Island cab driver was assaulted and robbed by four men. It being Halloween, it may have been difficult for the victim to describe the assailants, but two of the men were wearing unmistakable costumes – Mario and Luigi.

A surveillance video, which can be viewed on the NYDailyNews, shows two men dressed as Mario and Luigi wrestling a cabbie for his cash while a third man dressed in a tuxedo stood watch.

Anyone who recognizes the brothers' criminal lookalikes or their cohorts is asked to call Crime Stoppers at (800) 577-TIPS or log onto www.nypdcrimestoppers.com or text 274637 then enter TIP577.

Did hell freeze over? No, that's just Bill Gates giving Apple co-founder Steve Jobs something called a compliment according to AppleInsider. It does happen in the industry once in a while, sometimes in the form of a legal settlement. But you have to admit: it's good to see former buddies in good graces after such a long, competitive run.

Thursday night Gates appeared on CNBC's program entitled "Warren Buffett and Bill Gates: Keeping America Great" (sorry, we're not responsible for the cheese). The program consisted of a Q&A session with the two men, using questions coughed up by members in the audience. during the session, one member asked Gates what his thoughts were on Jobs and his performance as CEO of Apple.

Gates was more than positive evidently. "Well, he's done a fantastic job," Gates said. "Apple is in a bit of a different business where they make hardware and software together. But when Steve was coming back to Apple, which was actually through an acquisition of NeXT that he ran, Apple was in very tough shape. In fact, most likely it wasn't going to survive."

The pleasantries didn't stop there. "And he brought in a team, he brought in inspiration about great products and design that's made Apple back into being an incredible force in doing good things," Gates added. "And it's great to have competitors like that. We write software for Apple, Microsoft does. They compete with Apple. But he, of all the leaders in the industry that I've worked with, he showed more inspiration and he saved the company."

Someone get us a hankie... what a tender moment... (sniff)

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There's a serious security hole in Adobe Flash that can't be patched.

Is the Internet a safer place thanks to the insane wash of Adobe Flash websites littering the Web? That's a firm negative. In fact, thanks to a recent revelation of an un-patchable security flaw in Flash, the Internet seems even more dangerous. With that said, surfers should be wary of sites that allow users to upload content.

According to Macworld, hackers can exploit a flaw in Flash that can compromise websites such as Google's Gmail, YouTube, and Flikr. Once the hackers breach the website, they can then launch silent attacks on visitors. Evidently, the problem resides in the Flash ActionScript same-origin policy. Hackers can upload malicious Flash objects and execute scripts in the context of that domain.

Mike Murray, the chief information security officer at Orlando, Fla.-based Foreground Security, said that the magnitude of the problem is huge. “Any site that allows user-uploadable content is vulnerable, and most are not configured to prevent this," he said.

Mike Bailey, a senior security researcher at Foreground, demonstrated today on how a hacker can compromise a website using the Flash exploit. Unfortunately, Adobe informed Foreground that the flaw is "unpatchable." The company is now attempting to rectify the situation by addressing site administrators on how to patch the security hole on their end.

So far, Adobe isn't having any success, but Windows Live Hotmail and YouTube have figured out how to solve the problem on their own.

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Although the DiamonDisc DVD may last for 1,000 years, they're not exactly cheap.

Start-up company Cranberry LLC claims that its DiamonDisc DVD can last up to 1,000 years. That's good news considering that current DVD media--those that are burned on home PCs--only last roughly 2 to 5 years. Cranberry claims it can now make it easier to store photos, music, and other data without having to worry about corruption.

"The Cranberry DiamonDisc has no adhesive layers, dye layer or reflective layer to deteriorate," the company said. "A high-intensity laser physically etches your information into the diamond-like surface of our synthetic stone disc. No other layer is needed."

According to Cranberry, the format still remains the same: 4.7 GB of storage--the company merely changed the materials and construction of the physical disk. The disc doesn't even feature a silver or gold reflective layer, leaving it somewhat transparent. In fact, it can withstand heat up to 176 degrees Fahrenheit and ultraviolet rays.

Unfortunately, Cranberry's DiamonDisc isn't cheap: a single 4.7 GB disk will cost consumers $34.95. For those that need two or more, the price drops down to $29.95 each. Still, the discs come with free software that "easily" sends the consumer's files to Cranberry to be etched into the discs. The finished discs will then be sent to the consumer via mail.

It would probably be a good idea to not send off warez for storing.

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There's a fix to restore that banned Xbox 360 console so it can jump back onto LIVE again.

Modders recently discovered that their customized Xbox 360 consoles were banned from Microsoft's Xbox Live service. The latest sweep took out around 600,000 to one million consoles, hunting down modified firmware and locking the units off the network Microsoft said that in order to get back online, modders would need a new Xbox 360 console.

However, website 360Mods says different, providing a fix to get those custom consoles back on Live. The new workaround, iXtreme LT (Light Touch), tries to make the altered firmware appear as the original, Microsoft-certified version while keeping the modded information. The fix may even allow gamers to play backup disks under Microsoft's nose.

Unfortunately, the workaround isnt simple. Xbox-Scene reports that the fix is somewhat complex and requires the user to have access to the CPU key of a second, un-modded Xbox 360 console. Still, the update relies on free tools provided online, however modders should be aware that both the modded console and the un-modded console cannot access Live at the same time (as both use the same CPU key).

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Walmart is offering the Palm Pixi for just $30 through LetsTalk.

Yesterday photos of the Palm Pixi in Walmart hit the web and potential customers were reminded of the $100 price tag. Cheaper than the iPhone, the DROID, even the Palm Pre, the Palm Pixi is definitely an affordable option for those shopping for a smartphone.

Those planning on purchasing the device will be happy to hear that Walmart will be offering the Pixi at a considerably lower price. According to Engadget sources, Walmart partner LetsTalk is offering the phone for just thirty bucks on contract. Interestingly, a quick trip to the Walmart's LetsTalk page shows the Pre for $99.

Tempted?

Time says that Project Natal is the fifth best invention of the year, succeeded by tank-bred tuna.

Time Magazine was apparently impressed with Microsoft's Project Natal during the E3 2009 demonstration. So impressed, in fact, that the publication listed the upcoming motion-sensing technology as the fifth best invention of the year. NASA's Ares rockets (1), tank-bred tuna (2), the $10 million light bulb (3), and the smart thermostat (4) all topped Microsoft's Natal.

Interestingly enough, Natal doesn't appear on the list: it's simply named as "controller-free gaming." But click on the link, and Time loads up a separate page providing a brief description about Natal. "You move your hand, and the Master Chief (or whoever) moves his hand. It's that simple. And that cool."

It's surprising Project Natal even made the list considering that it's not a final, released product. Recently a leak revealed that Project Natal wouldn't even appear on the market until November 2010, and suggested that the pricetag for Project Natal alone--without the bundled console, that is--will likely cost around $83 USD.

For those interested in the other inventions that made Time's Top 50 of 2009, here are a few crazy gadgets: the robo-penguin, wooden bones, meat farms, the levitating mouse, the edible race car, and tons more. As for the five worst inventions in 2009, Time places "The Smile Police" in the #1 spot, followed by the Jane Austen Monster Mashup novel, Snuggies for dogs, the gas-mask bra, and our favorite, computer critics.

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