Thilo Sarrazin ist seine eigene Debatte außer Kontrolle geraten. Plötzlich muss er die Sätze über Juden-Gene bedauern, eine zitierte Forscherin geht auf Distanz, Zweifel an seinen Thesen wachsen - und ein "Arschloch"-Wortwechsel mit Michel Friedman wird bekannt.

Schon wieder ein Unglück im Golf von Mexiko: Auf einer Ölplattform in der Nähe der untergegangenen "Deepwater Horizon" hat es laut US-Küstenwache eine Explosion gegeben. Rettungsteams sind auf dem Weg, 13 Arbeiter sollen in Sicherheit sein - über Schäden für die Natur ist noch nichts bekannt.

Wieso tut Apple das? Steve Jobs verpasst iTunes ein ziemlich schlechtes Social Network - der Nutzer hat wenig davon. Der Konzern aber verschafft sich im Eiltempo eine freundschaftsgetriebene Kaufplattform.

“Etwas vom Gesetzgeber Verbotenes dem öffentlichen Zugriff zu entziehen, kann keine Zensur sein.”

Jörg Ziercke, Präsident des Bundeskriminalamtes, in einem Interview mit der Welt.

Wer noch den geringsten Zweifel daran hatte, warum das Bundeskriminalamt Websperren haben will, kann sich nach der oben stehenden Äußerung gewiss sein. Es geht längst nicht nur um Kinderpornografie. Diese Materie, bei der sich nur schwer Widerspruch regt, ist nur der Türöffner für jene, denen das Netz insgesamt einfach zu schmutzig, zu unübersichtlich und zu wenig kontrollierbar ist.

Nach Zierckes Verständnis könnte man auch Online-Wettanbieter und Tauschbörsen sperren. Dort gehen durchaus Dinge vor, die in Deutschland verboten sind. Gleiches gilt für Onlinemedien, Foren und Blogs. Das passende Verbot ist auch für Meinungsäußerungen schnell gefunden und angewandt.

Wenn Monate oder Jahre später vielleicht ein Gericht befindet, dass das Bundeskriminalamt falsch “geurteilt” und als Zugriffs-Entzugs-Behörde ein Angebot zu Unrecht blockiert hat, kräht kein Hahn mehr danach. Jedenfalls ist das Ziel dann längst erreicht.

Ich nenne es deswegen auch Zensur.

Spätestens seit dem Bundestagswahlkampf 2009 sind viele deutsche Politiker auf twitter aktiv. Sie haben erkannt, dass sie mithilfe von Micro-Blogging mit Parteimitgliedern, Unterstützern und politisch interessierten Bürger über aktuelle Entwicklungen einfach, direkt, schnell und kosteneffizient informieren und interagieren können.

Welt Online hat auf facebook – als Basis dient eine Analyse von Landau Media – eine Rangliste publiziert: Darin findet man die 20 deutschen Politiker mit den meistern Followern. Auffällig ist, dass die SPD in der Spitze dominiert (50 Prozent der Top 20), die Grünen in der Masse am aktivsten sind (ein Drittel aller 111 untersuchten Accounts), die Linke das twitter-Schlusslicht (nur drei von den 111 untersuchten Accounts) stellt und mit Kristina Schröder nur ein Mitglied des Kabinetts in den Top 20 auftaucht..

Das Top-20-Ranking:
1. Jörg Tauss @tauss, parteilos 11.686 Follower
2. Kristina Schröder @kristinakoehler, CDU 10.747
3. Volker Beck @volker_beck, Bündnis 90/Die Grünen 7.082
4. Hubertus Heil @hubertus_heil, SPD 5.813
5. Thorsten Schäfer-Gümbel @tsghessen, SPD 4.996
6. Björn Böhning @boehningb, SPD 4.307
7. Ralf Stegner @Ralf_Stegner, SPD 3.913
(8. Reinhard Bütikofer @bueti, Bündnis 90/Die Grünen, 3.811 – Von Landau Media nicht aufgeführt)
8. Patrick Kurth @Patrick_Kurth, FDP 3.595
9. Frank Schäffler @f_schaeffler, FDP 2.369
10. Matthias Groote @MatthiasGroote, SPD 2.287
11. Gregor Gysi @gregorgysi, Die Linke 1.895
12. Malte Spitz @maltespitz, Bündnis 90/Die Grünen 1.858
13. Hermann Otto Solms @solms, FDP 1.841
14. Daniel Mack @danielmack, Bündnis 90/Die Grünen 1.831
15. Lars Klingbeil @klingbeil09, SPD 1.813
16. Johannes Vogel @johannesvogel, FDP 1.772
17. Florian Pronold @FlorianPronold, SPD 1.689
18. Michael Rüter @MichaelRueter, SPD 1.637
19 .Steffi Lemke @SteffiLemke, Bündnis 90/Die Grünen 1.632
20. Alexander Sempf @alexandersempf, SPD 1.485

Tagelang hat die Bundesbank im Fall Sarrazin gezögert - jetzt zieht sie Konsequenzen: Der Vorstand hat Bundespräsident Wulff um die Abberufung des 65-Jährigen gebeten. Kanzlerin Merkel begrüßte die Entscheidung.

Ein neuer Fall eines Bagatelldelikts sorgt für Wirbel: Ein Angestellter lud seinen Elektroroller bei der Arbeit auf, verursachte Stromkosten in Höhe von 1,8 Cent - und wurde deshalb gefeuert. Jetzt hat das Landesarbeitsgericht Hamm die Entlassung aufgehoben.

Die Menschheit kann Klimakatastrophen in den Griff kriegen, wenn sie nur will - das zeigt eine internationale Studie. Erstmals können Forscher nachweisen, dass das Verbot von Treibgasen und anderen Schadstoffen wirkt: Die Ozonschicht beginnt zu heilen.

Dürfen Strafverfolger einen Verdächtigen heimlich mit Hilfe eines GPS-Gerätes überwachen? Ja, hat jetzt der Europäische Gerichtshof für Menschenrechte entschieden. Geklagt hatte ein Ex-Mitglied einer linksextremistischen Vereinigung.

[Updated at 1:05 p.m.] Mariner Energy, owner of the production platform, said in a press release that no hydrocarbon spill has been reported after an initial flyover of the incident.

"Mariner has notified and is working with regulatory authorities in response to this incident," the statement said. "The cause is not known, and an investigation will be undertaken. During the last week of August 2010, production from this facility averaged approximately 9.2 million cubic feet of natural gas per day and 1,400 barrels of oil and condensate."

The company also said no injuries have been reported.

[Updated at 12:48 p.m.] David Reed, a paramedic on board the Rowan Gorilla II oil rig located 14 miles from the platform that exploded told submitted an iReport saying he saw all thirteen workers rescued from the water.

“We were up here in the radio room and all of sudden we saw a whole bunch of smoke coming from the platform," Reed said. "Shortly after all the radios started lighting up like a Christmas tree. They called any helicopters in the area, any boats in the area to respond, they were saying there were people in the water. There were multiple people in the water.”

See Reed's iReport of what he witnessed

WWL: Coast Guard reporting production platform incident

WDSU: Production platform explodes in Gulf

iReport: Did you see the explosion? Share images

[Updated at 12:32 p.m.] White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said Thursday that the federal government has "assets ready" to respond to any environmental problems resulting from the explosion of an oil platform off the coast of Louisiana.

[Updated at 12:31 p.m.] All thirteen people aboard a production platform that exploded in the Gulf are accounted for and safely on a commercial vessel according to initial information, the U.S. Coast Guard said in a statement.

"We continue to gather information as we respond with full force, and have oil spill response assets ready for immediate deployment should we receive any reports of pollution," the statement said.

[Updated at 11:53 a.m.] U.S. Coast Guard Petty Officer Bill Colclough tells CNN that 12 people from the production platform are in water immersion suits as they await rescue.

Colclough told CNN there are reports the production platform, which is for both oil and natural gas, is still on fire.

"We don't know what caused the rig to catch on fire," he told CNN, noting the incident is under investigation.

Asked about concerns regarding oil leaks or pollution, Colclough said "there are reports the rig was not actively producing any product, so we don't know if there's any risk of pollution."

Mariner Energy is a leading independent oil and gas exploration and production company in the Gulf of Mexico. About 85 percent of the company's production comes from offshore assets, with a growing share of that coming from deepwater developments.

The explosion comes nearly five months after the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig exploded April 20, killing 11 people and causing oil to gush into
the Gulf of Mexico, leading to one of the worst environmental disasters in U.S. history.

[Updated at 11:43 a.m.] U.S. Coast Guard Petty Officer Bill Colclough tells CNN that all 13 workers involved in the production platform explosion are accounted for, but one person is injured.

Coast Guard Choppers are on the way to the site 80 miles south of Vermilion Bay.

[Posted at 11:33 a.m.] An oil production platform has exploded 80 miles off the coast of Louisiana, with 12 people overboard and one missing, the Coast Guard said Thursday morning.

Rescue attempts are under way for at least 12 people, Coast Guard spokesman John Edwards told CNN. 13 people were on board the production platform total, Edwards said, noting 12 have been accounted for, but one person was missing.

The accident took place 80 miles off the coast of Louisiana on the Vermilion Oil production platform 380, which is owned by Houston-based Mariner Energy.

The Coast Guard has multiple helicopters, an airplane and several Coast Guard cutters en route. It's unknown if there are any injuries.

Die EU hat ihre Schwarze Liste um weitere Fluglinien ergänzt: Die Maschinen zweier Airlines aus Ghana dürfen in Europa wegen Sicherheitsmängeln zukünftig nicht landen.

Es war ein brisanter Auftrag, wohl abgesegnet vom BND: 1961 bestahl ein Vertrauter des damaligen Kanzlers Adenauer nach SPIEGEL-Recherchen einen DDR-Anwalt und nahm Dokumente mit. Er wollte sicherstellen, dass im Eichmann-Prozess keine BRD-Politiker belastet werden.

Desaster für Ferrari: Mit dem 458 Italia wollte der Sportwagenhersteller sich ein ökologisches Image verpassen. Zwar verbraucht der Flitzer tatsächlich viel weniger Sprit als sein Vorgänger - neigt aber dazu, in Flammen aufzugehen. Deshalb ruft Ferrari nun alle Fahrzeuge der Baureihe zurück.

Ever since it became stable enough to use on a day-to-day basis on a Mac last year, Google Chrome has been my browser of choice. Other browsers have been adding some nice features — but Chrome keeps adding them faster. And today on its second birthday, that rate of change isn’t slowing down.

Google has officially rolled out Chrome 6 as the latest stable version of the browser today. This shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone using the dev or beta builds of the browser, but it’s nonetheless an important mark as it means it’s stable enough for mass consumption.

Remember that it was just two years ago when Google surprised the world by announcing a new browser (a little early) via a comic. The next day, we got the first shots of what the browser would look like — and it was released as a beta for Windows users. It actually looks pretty much the same today, but it’s now much, much faster (and when it launched it was already faster than most browsers out there).

Google says that Chrome today is a full three times faster when it comes to JavaScript performance versus Chrome circa 2008. The rapid speed increases have also undoubtedly pushed rival browsers to become faster, so we’ve all benefited.

Arguably more important to me is that despite adding all the new features – and extensions — Chrome still seems lightweight today. I fondly remember the good old days of 2004 when I first started using Firefox as my main browser and thinking how fresh and lightweight it felt compared to the atrocity that was IE. Firefox, sadly, got bloated over the years. So far, Chrome hasn’t put on the same weight. Here’s hoping it never does.

As I said, Chrome is also showing no signs of slowing down from a development standpoint. The browser is already in the process of morphing into version 7 as well. Chromium, the open source browser that Chrome is based on, has been hit version 7 a couple weeks ago — and the dev build of Chrome just went 7 as well. Google has said they hope to iterate every six weeks going forward.

These next few months are going to be arguably the most interesting times for the browser yet. The Chrome Web Store will soon open, bringing tightly integrated web-based apps into the browser. And then, of course, Chrome OS is due before the end of the year.

Happy birthday Chrome.

Chrome then:

Chrome now:

Die Grundschule im Saarland wird voraussichtlich nicht um eine Klassenstufe erweitert. Die SPD will eine dafür notwendige Verfassungsänderung nicht unterstützen. Die Jamaika-Koalition ist erbost, Bildungsminister Kessler spricht von "schlechtem Stil".

(Cross-posted from the Google Chrome Blog)

Watching the 1985 classic Back to the Future last night, I was struck by how much things can change with time. The main character Marty McFly travels 30 years back in time, only to find that his house hadn’t been built yet, skateboards hadn’t been invented and nobody had ever heard rock ‘n roll.

Looking back today on Chrome’s second anniversary, it’s amazing to see how much has changed in just a short time. In August 2008, JavaScript was 10 times slower, HTML5 support wasn’t yet an essential feature in modern browsers, and the idea of a sandboxed, multi-process browser was only a research project. All browsers have come a long way in the last two years and the web has become much more fun and useful.


Since Chrome’s first beta launch for Windows, we’ve brought our Mac and Linux versions up to speed, and continued to make the browser faster, simpler, and safer across all three platforms. We’ve also introduced a boatload of features, including a more customizable New Tab page, browser themes, side-by-side view, password manager, better privacy controls, built-in Adobe Flash Player, Autofill, automatic translation, HTML5 capabilities and synchronization of various settings such as bookmarks, themes, extensions and browser preferences—just to name a few. Finally, there are now more than 6,000 extensions in our gallery to enhance your browsing experience.

Behind the scenes, we continue to extend the security features that help you browse the web more safely. This includes Chrome’s Safe Browsing technology—which serves as a warning system if you’re about to visit a site suspected of phishing or hosting malware; Chrome’s auto-update mechanism—which helps ensure that the browser is always up-to-date with the latest security updates; and the browser’s “sandbox”—an added layer of protection which prevents malicious code on an exploited website from infecting your computer.




Today, we’re releasing a new stable version of Chrome that is even faster and more streamlined. Chrome is now three times faster than it was two years ago on JavaScript performance. We’ve also been working on simplifying the “chrome” of Chrome. As you can see, we took the already minimalist user interface and stripped it down a bit more to make it easier to use. We combined Chrome’s two menus into one, revisited the location of the buttons, cleaned up the treatment of the URL and the Omnibox, and adjusted the color scheme of the browser to be easier on the eyes.

Sliding back into Doc Brown’s DeLorean and setting the dial ahead by a few months, we have more in store for Chrome. As always, we’re hard at work on making Chrome even faster, and working on ways to improve graphics performance in the browser through hardware acceleration. With the Chrome Web Store, we hope to make it much easier to find and use great applications on the web. We also ratcheted up the pace of our releases so that we can get new features and improvements to everyone more quickly.

If you haven’t tried Chrome recently, we invite you to download our new stable version today at google.com/chrome. For those of you who have been using Chrome, thanks for a great second year! We hope that Chrome has made your life on the web even better, and look forward to the next year.


Posted by Brian Rakowski, Product Manager