Meet the hackers who sell spies the tools to crack your PC (and get paid six-figure fees) At a Google-run competition in ­Vancouver last month, the search giant's famously secure Chrome Web browser fell to hackers twice. Both of the new methods used a rigged ­website to bypass Chrome's security protections and completely hijack a target computer. But while those two hacks defeated the company's defenses, it was only a third one that actually managed to get under Google's skin. Forbes

Apple's new iPad boasts better colors – how did they do it? Back to share more of our display measurement results from the new iPad. Side note before we jump in: this is a somewhat technical post, if you aren't familiar with the general workings of an LCD, this great live teardown by Bill Hammack is worth watching. There are two ways to improve the color gamut performance of an LCD display: you can either make the backlight better or the color filters better. Dot-Color

RIM to release BlackBerry 10 prototype in May, bets the future on developers BlackBerry maker and one-time king of the corporate realm, RIM, is planning on setting free as many as 2,000 prototype phones running its new OS, BlackBerry 10, according to Bloomberg. The phones containing the as yet unreleased software will be given to select developers attending the BlackBerry 10 Jam (clever) conference in Orlando this May. Digital Trends

How one response to a Reddit query became a big-budget flick James Erwin, 37, works for a financial services firm in Des Moines, Iowa, writing software manuals. He's been doing that for a couple of years, and he enjoys it. It's a pretty low-stress job for a person with a methodical turn of mind – good pay, short commute. He's home by 5:30 every night to spend time with his wife and 1-year-old son. Wired

Cinavia DRM: How I learned to stop worrying and love Blu-ray's self-destruction DRM is intended to protect media from being played in an unauthorized manner. However, more often than not, it fails to serve the purpose. Many people in the content industry are fully aware that it is not possible to stop media piracy. They view DRM as a method to slow down the pirates. The panel discussion on anti-piracy measures... AnandTech

Giant telescope's construction starts with a bang ... literally The birth of a giant new telescope began with a literal big bang Friday (March 23), in an excavation blast at the peak of a mountain in Chile – the observatory's future home. The explosion detonated just before 12 p.m. EDT (1600 GMT) in order to level the mountaintop for the future Giant Magellan Telescope, an 82-foot (24.5-meter) observatory... Space.com

The way we read now The case against electronic books has been made, and elegantly, by many people, including Nicholson Baker in The New Yorker a few years ago. Mr. Baker called Amazon's Kindle, in a memorable put-down, "the Bowflex of bookishness: something expensive that, when you commit to it, forces you to do more of whatever it is you think you should be doing more of." The NY Times

Jen-Hsun's email to Nvidia employees on a successful Kepler launch The road to any new microprocessor design is by no means simple. Planning for a major GPU like NVIDIA's Kepler starts four years prior to the chip's debut. In a world that's increasingly more focused on fast production and consumption of everything, it's insane to think of any project taking such a long period of time. AnandTech

Mike O'Brien on microtransactions in Guild Wars 2 In this month's closed beta event, we'll do some early testing of the Guild Wars 2 microtransactions system. Our microtransaction content isn't nailed down yet, but we have a good framework in place to support it. So, I'd like to take a moment to explain our goals and the system we have developed to meet them. Arena.net

World of Warcraft expansion 5 confirmed: Blizzard 'geeked out' over concept Speaking to CVG during a visit to see latest WoW entry, Mists Of Pandaria, Blizzard COO Paul Sams not only confirmed the next expansion is in development, but said Blizzard's WoW team already knows what it's going to do for "multiple expansions ahead." CVG

The case against Google For the last two months, you've seen some version of the same story all over the Internet: Delete your search history before Google's new privacy settings take effect. A straightforward piece outlining a rudimentary technique, but also evidence that the search titan has a serious trust problem on its hands. Gizmodo

Sony VAIO Chromebook pictures and manual leaked thanks to FCC Just when you thought Chromebook support from manufacturers might be fading, it looks like Sony is moving forward with a Chromebook of its own.  The Sony VAIO VCC111 Series pictures and manual just showed up on the FCC this week... Laptop Reviews

Brazilian city uses computer chips embedded in school uniforms to keep track of students Grade-school students in a northeastern Brazilian city are using uniforms embedded with computer chips that alert parents if they're cutting classes, the city's education secretary said Thursday. Newser