App of the Year
In this year’s iTunes Rewind, the application Instagram took home the award of “iPhone App of the Year.” Instagram is extremely popular and has about 15 million users. The photo sharing app lets you take pictures, add effects to them and share them on social networks. The five-star rated app is extremely innovative in the way that users share pictures and see their friends’ pictures. The runners-up for the category are VidRythm and Band of the Day. The game Tiny Tower took the award for “iPhone Game of the Year.” Maybe not surprisingly, the popular game Angry Birds was the top selling app of the year.
Official End of the War in Iraq
After nearly eight years of combat, the war in Iraq is officially over. The war ended on Dec. 15 and U.S. troops will be pulled out by Dec. 31. The war was both deadly and extremely expensive with nearly 4500 troops who lost their lives defending our country and the total cost of the war was estimated at about $800 billion. There are many concerns for the future, both in Iraq and for the troops coming home. There are still questions whether the Iraqi forces will be able to protect their country without U.S. assistance. With the economy so bad and unemployment so high, many U.S. soldiers may face unemployment as they return to the states.
http://www2.tricities.com/news/2011/dec/15/war-iraq-ends-cost-still-felt-locally-ar-1547380/
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/story/2011-12-15/Iraq-war/51945028/
Lost Drone
A surveillance drone from the C.I.A. crashed in Iran about two weeks ago and is raising many questions about what actually happened. The drone was reportedly a stealth RQ-170. The downed drone was shown on Iranian state television. U.S. officials said the drone malfunctioned which caused it to crash in Iran. However, there are reports that the drone was possibly hacked by the Iranians. President Obama has asked for the drone to be returned to the U.S. but it doesn’t look like Iran will be giving it back.
http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/world/2011/12/15/pkg-lawrence-iran-drone-latest.cnn?iref=allsearch
http://www.thedailybeast.com/cheats/2011/12/06/drone-crashed-in-iran-cia-mission.html?obref=obinsite