5. M.I.A. at the Superbowl Some of us had a good year, some of us had a bad year, and some of us got upstaged at the Super Bowl when M.I.A. flipped the bird in the middle of our set. Madonna falls solidly into that last category. In the endless string of calculations that Madge’s career has become, her secret cadre of Kabbalah oracles couldn’t possibly have predicted that M.I.A. of all people would take the opportunity to make a statement on the world’s largest stage. Except, there she is in ... [Read more]

Alas Megaupload, we hardly knew ye. Formed in 2005 in the laissez-faire, tax shelter of Hong Kong, Megaupload’s one-click hosting quickly became a favorite of the file-sharing community. Anonymous users worldwide could find all of their favorite software, e-books, music, movies and television shows simply by typing their names into a search engine followed by a single word, Megaupload, and voilà, they would appear as if by magic for download. Users could watch the whole series of Sopranos, Mad... [Read more]