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Bing map shows CIA's secret Bin Laden compound mock-up

In 2011, Navy Seal Team Six was prepping for a possible raid to capture or kill a high-value target living in a compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan. The target, of course, was Osama bin Laden. A satellite image of the training facility located in Perquimans County, N.C., (via the Atlantic Wire and cyptome.org ) was captured by Microsoft's Bing search as it was ramping up its satellite data.

It's identified on the map as the Harvey Point Defense Testing Activity, near the Albemarle Sound.

The staged Bin Laden compound closely resembles the actual compound below:

The buildings … Read more

Would you like a patent search with your recruiting tool?

If you thought patents were intruding into the tech industry just a wee bit too much, brace yourself. Now they can be part of the recruiting process.

TalentBin, a San Francisco startup that scrapes social media sites ranging from Quora to Twitter in order to index hiring prospects for recruiters, has added the U.S. Office's patent database to the sources it scours for information on prospective employees.

Call it novel or horrifying, but I can see how it would be useful for recruiters, particularly in areas like biotech and manufacturing. And, yes, software, though you could argue that … Read more

Empty the Recycle Bin from your system tray with MiniBin

MiniBin is a free recycling bin for your Windows system tray, also known as the notification area. It lets you open or empty the Recycle Bin from the system tray, or drag and drop items into it. It can serve as a Recycle Bin replacement if you're using a desktop environment that hides or disables the default bin. But it also makes a great little trash bin, sort of an ashtray for the system tray. It even includes some themes for changing the tray icon's look.

After we installed MiniBin, we clicked the system tray and selected Customize … Read more

This Day in Tech: More rumors about the next iPhone

Too busy to keep up with the tech news? Here are some of the more interesting stories from CNET for Wednesday, May 18.

Neat trick: Wireless laptop dock Samsung's Central Station senses your computer is nearby and--without any silly, tangled cords--connects to it wirelessly. Ain't that cool? Seriously, it's the little things in life that bring CNET editors joy. Read the full review

WritePad 5 buddies up with Evernote for app marriage New WritePad 5 app for iPad, Android adds ability to sync with another popular app, Evernote. Marriage points to future where unrelated apps from diverse … Read more

Teen interrogated after Facebook bin Laden post

Sometimes, when we see words written down, we get the wrong end of the stick. Things tend to get worse when we take that stick and wave it around at someone.

This might well be the case in the story of Vito LaPinta, a 7th-grader from Tacoma, Wash.

It appears that he wrote something after the death of Osama Bin Laden as a Facebook update. The account offered by Vito to KCPQ-TV seems quite simple. "I was saying how Osama was dead and for Obama to be careful because there could be suicide bombers," he said.

From the … Read more

This Day in Tech: Bin Laden's sneakernet

Too busy to keep up with the tech news? Here are some of the more interesting stories from CNET News for Friday, May 13.

RIP: Where our gadgets go when they die.

Bin Laden's sneakernet: How the al-Qaeda leader used e-mail off the grid.

We signed on to Tinychat: What happens when a group-oriented take on Chatroulette adds location sharing?

No surprise here: Angry Birds and Plants vs. Zombies receive Guinness World Records.

Freebie: Sure, it's Friday the 13th, but it could still be your lucky day to win 3D desktop speakers.

How bin Laden evaded the NSA: Sneakernet

Far from being a technological recluse, Osama bin Laden was a prolific e-mail writer who reportedly relied on flash drives, couriers, and sneakernet to keep in touch with his correspondents.

Although bin Laden's hideout in Pakistan lacked phone and Internet connectivity, the al Qaeda leader used his computers to prepare messages and save them on flash drives, which would be passed to a courier, according to the Associated Press. The courier would head to a far-flung Internet cafe, send the outgoing messages, retrieve the incoming ones, and then return to Abbottabad with the responses.

That physical couriering of data, … Read more

Bin Laden's death and the Web response (roundup)

News that U.S. special forces had killed al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden traveled fast via Twitter and other Web outlets.

How bin Laden evaded the NSA: Sneakernet Reports offer details about trove of digital data found in his Pakistan hideout, like that it included a stash of "electronically recorded video" porn. (Posted in Privacy Inc. by Declan McCullagh) May 13, 2011 1:42 PM PDT

Visualizing how Twitter spread news of bin Laden's death A detailed visual look at how a single Tweet spread like a virus across Twitter within minutes--and scooped the president. (Posted in … Read more

The 404 816: Where we only buy American (podcast)

The 404 is finally back together again after Wilson's departure last week for San Francisco. Now that he's back, we get to hear all the reasons why the CNET office in San Francisco is better than ours.

There are lots of stories to talk about today, like banned arcade machines, iPad 2 riots in Beijing, and custom Abbottabad levels in Counter-Strike, but we're also launching a Twitter contest today for a chance to win one carbon fiber BodyGuardz skin for the iPad 2 or two codes worth $30 at the site.

To win, just follow @The404 and @BodyGuardz and mention both of us in a Tweet, and that's it! There's one prize winner, but the two runners-up will each get a $30 credit for anything on the site.

The 404 Digest for Episode 816

Massachusetts town continues 1982 ban on coin-operated arcade machines. iPad 2 Beijing release causes riot. New Counter-Strike map of Osama bin Laden's hideout. Real magazine issues coming to the iPad from Hearst, Conde Nast. Steven B.'s 404 sticker in a U.K. telephone box!

Episode 816 Subscribe in iTunes (audio) | Subscribe in iTunes (video) | Subscribe in RSS Audio | Subscribe in RSS Video… Read more

German TV: 'Star Trek' terrorists killed bin Laden

Sometimes our eyes are wide shut. In moments when we think we see one thing, we see quite another.

This often happens when our emotions are high and our thinking faculties subdued.

Sympathy, therefore, must be ladled toward the German news station N24, which was extremely keen to tell the world about last week's killing of Osama bin Laden by the U.S. Navy's SEAL Team Six.

Unfortunately, in its haste to offer a SEAL logo, someone at the station actually mustered the logo of the "Star Trek" Maquis Special Operations Seals Team VI--a bunch of … Read more