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Whether you spell the Web "P2P and DNS" or "Facebook and Google", we have you covered. Breaking news about the Internet’s largest and most popular companies, the cloud movement, social networking, video streaming and more.
Watch this: TPB AFK, The Pirate Bay documentary is out
- The Pirate Bay documentary TPB AFK premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival today after four years in the making. The film, directed by Swedish filmmaker Simon Klose and partially funded by Kickstarter, chronicles the site’s three founders during their…
Facebook glitch temporarily breaks the web
- Yesterday, an untold number of Internet surfers experienced a glitch which abruptly redirected them from the sanctuary of their favorite websites to a Facebook error page. Websites essentially taken down by this snafu included Hulu, Lifehacker, Washington Post, ESPN, CNN,…
Microsoft and Symantec kill Bamital search hijacking botnet
- In partnership with Symantec, Microsoft has disrupted yet another botnet, marking its sixth takedown in the three years since starting Project MARS (Microsoft Active Response for Security). Called "Bamital," the malware network has evolved into several variations since Symantec began…
Liberty buys Virgin for $23 bil, claims world's largest broadband ISP
- In an enormous deal funded by both cash and stock, U.S-based Liberty Global has announced the purchase of Virgin Media for a hefty $23.3 billion. When combined, Liberty Global and Virgin Media will be home to roughly 25 million subscribers…
Yahoo teams up with Google on contextual advertising
- Yahoo has announced that it will start serving advertising from Google’s AdSense and AdMob services on various of its own web properties and certain co-branded sites. In a blog post announcing the deal, Yahoo said, “By adding Google to our…
Bitcasa: unlimited cloud sync & storage for $69/year, 10GB free
- After roughly a year and a half of being in beta, Bitcasa has finally hit the cloud storage scene. The multi-platform service is poised to shake things up by offering unlimited space with no file size restrictions for $10 per…
Happy Birthday: Facebook turns nine years old today
- It was on this day nine years ago that Facebook first went online. The social network, created by Mark Zuckerberg and four friends - Dustin Moskovitz, Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum and Chris Hughes – during their time at Harvard University…
Google Chrome to get notification center, possibly Google Now
- An interesting find made by astute French developer François Beaufort indicates Google Chrome will be getting a notification center soon. Beaufort discovered the addition while mulling over the source code for the latest build of Chromium -- the open-source project on…
Firefox to block nearly all plug-ins by default with 'Click to Play'
- Third-party plug-ins can be a real pain in the back for browser developers. Security holes constantly showing up in Java or Adobe Reader, for example, leave those running unpatched versions open to potential drive-by download attacks. Looking to minimize the…
UPnP flaws place millions of networks in danger
- Several security vulnerabilities found within common UPnP implementations have prompted experts at Rapid 7 to recommend the public disable UPnP entirely. Research spanning several months in 2012 revealed that over 2 percent -- or about 50 million -- of all…
YouTube to launch paid channel subscriptions later this year
- A handful of popular content producers on YouTube could start charging for channel subscriptions this spring, according to a report on AdAge. The move is intended to lure eyeballs and advertiser dollars away from traditional TV and would kick off…
Newegg defeats patent troll who claims it invented the shopping cart
- Presenting CompuServe's ancient online "mall" as an example of Precambian prior art, Newegg successfully defeated Soverain Software's supposed patent claim to what is essentially the modern day shopping cart. If Soverain had won the verdict, there's a good chance nearly…
Pentagon to quintuple cyber defense personnel
- Although yet to be formally announced, a report by the Washington Post reveals plans by the Department of Defense to bolster its Cyber Command unit. The Pentagon's cyber defense force is currently comprised of roughly 900 military and civilian personnel,…
Google+ tops Twitter to become second most popular social platform
- Results from Trendstream’s Q4 2012 Global Web Index indicate that Google+ is now the second most popular social platform on the Internet. Facebook continues to hold on to the top spot by a large margin, but it’s the shakeup from…
BitTorrent introduces Dropbox-like file syncing without the cloud
- BitTorrent has taken the wraps off a new service called Sync that aims to take on services like Dropbox using peer-to-peer technology. Available in pre-Alpha, the new application allows users to securely sync files and folders to multiple devices using…
Scientists use DNA to store MP3, holds 2.2 petabytes per gram
- Further exploring the role biological processes could one day play in the evolution of technology, researchers from the European Bioinformatics Institute claim to have successfully encoded 154 Shakespeare sonnets and an MP3 of Martin Luther King's famed "I Have a Dream"…
Banning sex offenders from social media sites violates free speech, Federal court rules
- Due to First Amendment concerns, the U.S. Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals has invalidated an Indiana law barring registered sex offenders from using social network sites. "The Indiana law targets substantially more activity than the evil it seeks to redress,"…
Majority of US citizens want search engines to block pirated content
- The decision as to whether or not to block pirated movies and music from search results has been raging on for some time now. It is believed that Google received some 50 million link removal requests in 2012 – led…
Former FCC chair: ISP data caps are about monetization, not network congestion
- Data caps, also known as broadband caps and bandwidth caps, have long been a controversial method of managing network congestion by ISPs -- or has it? While numerous ISPs have explained away the necessity of bandwidth caps to maintain quality…
Valve launches Steam Guides, opens Left 4 Dead 2 Workshop
- Continuing its focus on community engagement, Valve has added a new feature to its distribution platform that lets users create and share game guides. Called Steam Guides, the section can be found via the Steam Overlay or from any Community…
Mega launches tomorrow with 50GB free storage, paid tiers detailed
- Kim Dotcom's new venture Mega is set to go live tomorrow. The cloud storage service will take on the likes of Dropbox, Google Drive and others by offering each user 50GB of free storage alongside three optional paid tiers at…
TWC accuses Netflix of bullying ISPs and discriminating against users
- Time Warner Cable has accused Netflix of discriminating against users who access the video streaming service through a TWC Internet connection. Last week, Netflix started providing streams in Super HD and 3D qualities, which delivers better-looking video at the expense…
Humble Bundle shows Windows gamers are cheap, Linux users aren't
- Based on the statistics available for all of the past Humble Bundles offered, a few sweeping generalizations can be made: Windows gamers are numerous but cheap while Mac users aren't afraid to shell out a little extra. Interestingly though, Linux…
Facebook launches free voice calling for iPhone users in the US
- Facebook has begun rolling out an update to its Messenger app for iPhone that will allow users of the social network to start free voice calls with friends over a Wi-Fi or data connection. For now the new feature is…
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