Tech Around the World: Wednesday, November 21st

The latest in tech news around the web:

Google asks for you to take action
Pledge your support for the free and open Internet!
https://www.google.com/intl/en/takeaction/

Western Digital Introduces 4TB WD Black Hard Disk Drive
Western Digital, the world’s largest maker of hard disk drives, on Tuesday introduced its 4TB WD Black HDD which combines high performance with maximum capacity.

Firefox 17.0 launches with integrated Facebook Messenger
Mozilla has released the latest Firefox update, version 17 by its count, which adds a new social API.

Samsung's $249 Chromebook lights up benchmarks
A Googler managed to load up Samsung's latest Chromebook with Ubuntu and spelled out the process for like-minded DIYers in October, and now some benchmarks of Mountain View's $249 machine running Raring Ringtail have surfaced.

NASA discovery on Mars said to be "one for the history books"
For sometime now NASA's six-wheeled Mars rover has been rolling along, taking incredible pictures and samples of rock and earth. Now NASA says the rover has something "for the history books"...

IBM simulates 530 billon neurons, 100 trillion synapses on supercomputer
Announced in 2008, DARPA’s SyNAPSE program calls for developing electronic neuromorphic (brain-simulation) machine technology that scales to biological levels

Anonymous declares 'cyberwar' on Israel
The attackers are attempting to harm the accessibility of Israel's government websites on an ongoing basis. When events like the current operation occur, this sector heats up and we see increased activity. Therefore, at this time, defending the governmental computer systems is of invaluable importance.

World's oldest working digital computer
The world's oldest working digital computer has been restored, and is now on display at the National Museum of Computing at Bletchley Park, Milton Keynes.

Salt Lake City police join rush to adopt headcams
They can record a crime scene or any interaction with the public, adding to the footage already produced by dashboard cameras in their cars.

Xbox Next specs include Kinect 2.0, Blu-ray, AR Games
Whether or not 'Xbox 720' will be a true 16-core powerhouse is anyone's guess, but Xbox World promises it'll be "a spec greater than anything even the most hardcore PC gamer has on his desktop."

Bill Gates Agreed with Ballmer: Sinofsky Had to Go
Ballmer and Gates recognized that Microsoft needs to be more united internally across different divisions, and that change would be difficult with Sinofsky around.