From deadly tornadoes ripping through Missouri to the faulty claims of judgment day’s arrival, this has been quite a hectic month. After being granted a week-long hiatus from writing to enjoy a mini-vacation (thanks again Ray), I return to close out the end of May by revisiting some of the trending topics in the tech world and… well, I might as well throw this out there – Go Mavericks!

The World’s Most Wanted: Osama bin Laden

Meet Cairo, a member of the Navy SEAL team who helped take out Osama bin Laden with the help of high tech doggie body armor, called the Intruder. Costing up to $30,000, the ultralight vest is not only bulletproof, but the Intruder also has a high-definition camera that is mounted on the war dog’s back so that its handlers can see his every movement. Now that’s one badass puppy.

Reconnected: PlayStation Network Back Online

What a complete nightmare the PSN outage has become for Sony, but it looks like they have finally gotten things under control as their latest Press Release may suggest. However, Sony won’t come out unscathed as the company has reportedly lost billions of dollars over the security breach, which has shaken consumer confidence in the PlayStation Network.

Greatest Marriage Proposal Ever?

3 million views in 3 days. 15 million views in 2 weeks. That means millions of women saw this marriage proposal video on YouTube throughout the world, leaving millions of women expecting a similar grand gesture of love. F.M.L.? More like “F.O.L.” for all the guys out there. But hey, at least Matt & Ginny appreciate all the responses you all have given them. Sigh…

Apple Gearing Up for Cloud Music Service

While Steve Jobs is currently on medical leave due to health-related issues, it’s not stopping him from delivering the keynote address at Apple’s annual Worldwide Developers Conference next Monday. As for Apple’s cloud-based music service, it looks like iCloud (or whatever they name it) will allow users to mirror their iTunes library as anticipated.

Official Press Release: Apple to Unveil Next Generation Software at Keynote Address on Monday, June 6

CUPERTINO, California?May 31, 2011?Apple® CEO Steve Jobs and a team of Apple executives will kick off the company’s annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) with a keynote address on Monday, June 6 at 10:00 a.m. At the keynote, Apple will unveil its next generation software – Lion, the eighth major release of Mac OS® X; iOS 5, the next version of Apple’s advanced mobile operating system which powers the iPad®, iPhone® and iPod touch®; and iCloud®, Apple’s upcoming cloud services offering.

WWDC will feature more than 100 technical sessions presented by Apple engineers. Mac® developers will see and learn how to develop world-class Mac OS X Lion applications using its latest technologies and capabilities. Mobile developers will be able to explore the latest innovations and capabilities of iOS and learn how to greatly enhance the functionality, performance and design of their apps. All developers can bring their code to the labs and work with Apple engineers.

For more details, visit the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference 2011 website at developer.apple.com/wwdc.

Photo by CT via CraveSomethingMore

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you know by now that the world’s most wanted international terrorist, Osama bin Laden, was killed in his million-dollar compound in Pakistan on the 1st of May. Suspected as the mastermind behind the 9/11 terrorist attacks against the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, news of bin Laden’s death signaled a time for Americans to rejoice and to celebrate what we have been longing for – justice.

The military’s elite special forces group who killed bin Laden, unofficially called SEAL Team 6, deserves all the credit that they have received for executing their mission to perfection. Upon confirming bin Laden’s death, the black ops kill team even grabbed all the electronic material they could find as they hurriedly exited the Abbottabad compound, including dozens of computers, flash drives, and disks. This electronic material was given to a special team of military intelligence operatives and members of the CIA to be analyzed as quickly as possible so that any information can be used while it remains pertinent. SEAL Team 6 and all of the troops fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq must be praised, whether you agree or disagree with our country’s military actions, but none of this would have been remotely possible without the use of technology.

From the tapped phone call of Osama’s courier that led the US military directly to the front steps of his compound, to the use of satellites in order to map the operation, to the live video feed of the mission sent over 7,000 miles to the President and his advisors, and from the use of sophisticated biometric tools used to identify the body, there have been remarkable advancements in technology since the tragedy that occurred nearly 10 years ago.

Not only has technology helped locate and identify America’s (former) Most Wanted, it helped spread the news of Osama bin Laden’s death like wildfire. Many of you found out through popular social media outlets or by mobile device long before President Obama delivered his address to the nation. News of bin Laden’s death even set a Twitter record for the highest sustained rate of tweets ever, with an average of 3,440 Tweets per second from 10:45PM-12:30AM. As for myself, I found out through a friend harmlessly checking his cell phone during a break in a late night session of doubles tennis. The Internet, however, has its downsides as well: It seems like every mistake you make could be put out there for the world to see… just ask Fox40 News.

Photo by landerinn via deviantART