Which online video service is right for you?

Smartphones and tablets are no longer just for surfing the Web and checking e-mail. They've also become mini-TVs.

But figuring out the best place to get your video for these devices is not easy. Sure there are tons of companies offering access to the latest movies and TV shows for streaming or downloading onto all kinds of mobile devices. But not all services work with all devices. In this Ask Maggie, I help one reader figure out how to choose a service. I also explain how those free online music services work.

Caught between a gadget and a hard place.

Dear Maggie,

I have an Android smartphone, and I am thinking about getting an iPad. I'm also planning to cut my cable cord. I was wondering what is the best way to buy or rent TV shows that I want to watch. I have a Netflix account, but it sometimes takes months to get current TV shows. I also want to be able to download movies and shows onto my devices so I can take them with me. I figure I could download stuff from iTunes, which I've used for my iPod music. But can I watch those shows on my TV through a Roku box or on my Android smartphone? I really want to purchase or rent TV episodes and movies on one service, so that I can use anywhere and on all my devices. PLEASE HELP!!!

Thanks,

Need TV

Dear Need TV,

This is a great question. But I have to warn you that there is no easy solution. Even though it seems like there are tons of online video services to choose from, the reality is that none of them is perfect for your particular situation.

When you rent a movie on Play Movies, it immediately becomes available on any Android device.

(Credit: Google)

And the reason is simple. The three largest players offering video for downloading and streaming services are Apple, Amazon, and Google. Each of these services have their pros and cons. But the biggest headache is that they each want users locked into their respective ecosystems. This means that Apple's iTunes video works only with iOS devices. Amazon limits its service to certain devices, like its own Amazon Kindle. And even Google, which is all about openness, really wants you buying Google Android devices to access its content

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EU to launch cyber crime agency

Uploaded by EUXTV on Mar 28, 2012 - A European agency to fight against rising levels of online crime. That is the topic of a proposal tabled by the European Commission on Wednesday.Europe's cyber crime center will specifically target severe organized e-crimes such as frauds involving credit cards or online child sexual exploitation. Fighting against identity theft and protecting social network profiles will also be priority.

This top-level European policy authority already has a special unit dedicated to cybercrime and to monitoring possible online terrorist activities. Critics of the proposal fear it would lead to a stronger surveillance on people's personal lives, but the commission cautioned that this would not be the case.The Commission estimates that cyber crime accounts for more than 350 billion euro per year, making it more profitable than the global trade in marijuana, cocaine and heroine combined.

YouTube comes to Malaysia

Uploaded by thestaronline on Mar 25, 2012 - YouTube announced that it's creating a localized domain for Malaysia at www.youtube.com.my. Malaysia becomes the 42nd country with it's own YouTube site.

What's a Router & What's a Modem.

Uploaded by videopublish on Jul 25, 2009 - This lesson answers the questions what is a router and what is a broadband modem in Plain English, while also showing you the steps to hook your router up to your cable or DSL modem so you can get your desktop or laptop computer on the Internet.

UCLA's Leonard Kleinrock displays Internet's first router.

HISTORY : Uploaded by UCLA on Jan 13, 2009 - Internet pioneer and UCLA computer science professor Leonard Kleinrock displays the Internet's first router, or "switch" -- known as an Interface Message Processor -- and describes the process of connecting it with UCLA's host computer, leading to the first-ever Internet message sent on October 29, 1969.

Firefox is about to get SPDY

Google's SPDY protocol for simultaneously faster and more secure Web site loading is turned on by default in the first Firefox 13 Aurora build.

(Credit: Mozilla)

Faster and more secure browsing is coming to Firefox in a big way, as the first Aurora build of Firefox 13 gets the SPDY protocol activated by default, capping off more than four months of work putting SPDY into Firefox.

Firefox 13 Aurora (download for Windows, Mac, and Linux,) doesn't include many other new features or changes that affect Firefox fans directly, but there are many under-the-hood tweaks. One is a user agent change in Firefox for Android, so that Web sites can recognize when a person is running Firefox for Android on a phone or a tablet. This means that sites that have been coded to recognize different mobile device form factors could change their appearance depending on your device.

Full report :

Mozilla will start Firefox silent updates in June.

Mozilla yesterday reiterated that it's still working on silent updates for Firefox, and said it should have the Chrome-like service in place by early June.

In a sweeping summary of 2011's accomplishments and an outline of plans for 2012, Robert Nyman, a Mozilla technical evangelist, listed silent updates as one the projects the company will finish this year. "Updates will now be downloaded and installed silently in the background," wrote Nyman in a Wednesday post to the Hacks Mozilla blog. "Silent updates are currently planned to land in Firefox 13."

Mozilla unloads a Firefox upgrade every six weeks -- it launched Firefox 11 just two days ago -- and has Firefox 13's release on the calendar for June 5, 2012.

Mozilla has been working on silent updating for about 17 months. At one point, it thought it could add the feature to Firefox 4, which shipped in March 2011, but abandoned that work when the upgrade was delayed several times for other reasons.

Late last year, it said it was shooting for silent updating in Firefox 10, which debuted in January. Those plans were also revised, and Firefox 13 was tagged as the new goal.

Some of the components of silent updating have already made it into Firefox: Version 10 debutedautomatic add-on compatibility marking, for example.

Implementing silent updating would make Firefox only the second browser to offer the feature. Google's Chrome has used automatic, in-the-background updates since its September 2008 debut.

Firefox silent updating would let Mozilla deploy emergency security fixes -- it calls those "chem spills" -- without bothering users, and potentially push more users to each new version.

Microsoft has also jumped on the silent update bandwagon: In December 2011, it announced it would automatically upgrade Internet Explorer (IE) to the newest browser suitable for each version of Windows. Before the scheme's January debut, Microsoft had asked users for their permission before upgrading IE from one version to the next, even if Windows' automatic update service was enabled.

Full report from Computerworld  

China may hold back on 4G for another few years, report says.

Government says it may not grant 4G licenses for another two to three years. The delay could affect how carriers around the world adopt 4G.

China Mobile may not move into 4G for another two to three years. Pictured here is Li Yue, 

president of China Mobile, speaking at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain.

(Credit: Stephen Shankland/CNET)

China may hold back on moving into 4G LTE even as the U.S. carriers race ahead to roll out next-generation networks.

The Chinese government is looking to hold back on granting the licenses required for its own carriers to deploy 4G LTE, according to a report from PC World, which cited local state-owned TV. The government said it may wait two to three years before granting the licenses, citing a need by carriers to expand the current 3G network equipment, as well as to wait for broader support for a variant of LTE called TD-LTE.

Full report 

Google inches up, Yahoo inches down.

full report :

Seven hidden, superuseful Facebook features

Get the scoop on seven little-known Facebook features that will take your social networking addiction to the next level.

See tip No. 5 to find out how to enlarge thumbnails when you hover over
them with your mouse.  (Credit: Screenshot by Sharon Vaknin/CNET)

We're all Facebook pros. With the average user spending 8 hours per month on the insanely addictive social network, it's no surprise we're quick to pick up Facebook's incessant changes and updates.

In the mess of Facebook's perpetual construction zone, you might have missed some hidden, key features that make using the service that much easier. Most of these tricks were gathered over time, and have now become a part of my regular Facebook routine.

1. Sign in with your username (unique URL). 

Instead of typing out your entire e-mail address each time you sign in, use your username (the one that leads people to your profile, like facebook.com/sharonvak) instead. Even if your info is auto-filled, this trick will save a hassle when you're prompted to sign in on your mobile device or public computers.

2. Remove events without declining. 

One day it was there, and the next, it was gone. For the longest time, Facebook offered a "Remove from events" link at the bottom of every event page, so that you could delete the event from your invites without rudely declining.

Now, that option is hidden. To remove an event without declining, find your name in the guest list (left), hover over it, and click the x. Click Okay to confirm. The organizer won't be notified of your action.

3. Use the Favorites list. 

Use the little-known Favorites feature for quick access to your most frequented lists and groups.

(Credit: Screenshot by Sharon Vaknin/CNET)

Facebook has a little-known feature that lets you bookmark your favorite apps, pages, and groups from the home page. It's the list on the left of the News Feed, just below your profile picture. Find out how to use the feature here.

4. Rearrange your Timeline modules. 

The four boxes below your cover photo can customized to your liking. Click the arrow with the number (on the right) to expand all your apps. Then, hover over a box, click the pencil, and you'll see an option to swap the box with something else, or remove it entirely. For more tips on customizing your Timeline profile, click here.

5. Hover over photo thumbnails to zoom. 

This feature isn't built in to Facebook, but after months of using it, it sure feels like it. Facebook Photo Zoom, a free browser extension, enlarges thumbnails and photos when you mouse over them. It's super useful when browsing through the News Feed and you want to see what a photo looks like without clicking the thumbnail and prompting a new page.

Here's the Chrome extension, and a similar one forFirefox.

6. Check your Other messages. 

You might have hundreds of unread messages that Facebook has filed in your Other inbox. Find out where it is and how to manage it.

7. Prevent tagged posts from automatically displaying on your Timeline. 

Friends. They mean well, but sometimes cross the line when tagging you in a post or photo you'd rather not make public to your friend list. Thankfully, Facebook gives you the option toapprove tagged posts before they go live on your Timeline and in the News Feed for all your friends and family to see.

Go to Account > Privacy Settings and select Edit settings next to "How tags work." Then hit Edit next to Profile Review and you'll be prompted to turn on the settings. Now, every time someone tags you in a status, photo, or place, you'll receive a notification and will be asked to approve the tag.

Check out this blog for more Facebook privacy tweaks.

COPIED & PASTE FROM:

Anonymous in Paris: Anti-ACTA protest video

Uploaded by RussiaToday on Mar 10, 2012 - Supporters of the Anonymous hacker group, which is calling to halt moves by governments to tighten control over the internet, gathered near the Pompidou Center in Paris on Saturday. The group says it is trying to attract ordinary citizens' attention to the violation of rights and freedoms. In particular, the group is protesting against the controversial Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA), which promotes the creation of criminal sanctions against internet providers and users who do not comply with the legality of content saved or uploaded. The group gained fame because of its attacks on the websites of various organizations and institutions.

US Government Admits It Has Seized Hundreds Of Domains Registered Outside The US

from the this-has-been-happening-for-a-while dept

After the US seized Bodog.com, we pointed to a writeup by EasyDNS that has created quite a stir, claiming that this was the first time that the US had seized a domain that was registered through a non-US registrar by going straight to the register (in this case VeriSign). But as wepointed out, that's simply untrue. Back in 2010 we wrote about how most of the federal government's domain seizures went directly to the register. 

For whatever reason, more and more people keep picking up on the EasyDNS piece, including interesting questions about whether or not these seizures could be seen as declarations of warby seizing foreign property. 

I'm glad that people are up in arms about this, but it's important to remember that this simply isn't new. In fact, the feds themselves seem bewildered by all these claims. In an interview with Wired, ICE spokesperson Nicole Navas admits that the government has seized approximately 750 domains this way, with the vast majority of them using foreign registrars:

Such seizures are becoming commonplace under the Obama administration. For example, the U.S. government program known as Operation in Our Sites acquires federal court orders to shutter sites it believes are hawking counterfeited goods, illegal sports streams and unauthorized movies and music. Navas said the U.S. government has seized 750 domain names, “most with foreign-based registrars.”

So, sure, speak up about this, but please, please recognize that this isn't new. It's been going on for at least three years. Hell, it's so common these days that PIR, who runs the .org register,has a dedicated page listing out all the domains they've handed over to the feds.

Original report

 

Alleged LulzSec hackers held in international swoop

Published on Mar 6, 2012 by Euronews - Leading members of the computer hacking group LulzSec have reportedly been arrested in the US. Court papers say Sabu formed LulzSec last May, and operated by identifying weaknesses in potential victims' computer systems.LulzSec is a spin-off of the loosely organised activist group Anonymous.

Google is rebuilding Android Market.

Google reboots Android Market, launches Google Play

Say hello to Google Play. (Credit: Google)

The Internet giant, looking to create a more comprehensive source for movies, apps, music, and e-books, is folding Google Music and Google eBookstore into one store, now renamed Google Play, according to Jamie Rosenberg, director of digital content for Google. The changes go into effect today.

Google Play marks a radical departure from Android Market, which has been a fixture of the company's mobile platform since the debut of Android more than three years ago. The move is a tacit admission that offering apps, games, and e-books--the main features of Android Market--isn't enough to remain competitive even as rival app stores spring up. Google Play is designed to break down the walls separating the company's disparate offerings, Rosenberg said.

"Google Play will become a single experience for users," Rosenberg said. "This creates a more powerful experience around Android and also increases opportunities for content partners" to interact with more of Google's offerings.

Busta Rhymes, the rap artist, helped Google launch Google Music in Los Angeles  in November.

(Credit: Greg Sandoval/CNET)

It's a shocking branding shift, considering the resources and energy spent into building the Android name, which will live on as the brand for Google's mobile operating system.

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Now internet users can watch who is spying on them.

Turning the tables on Big Brother: Now internet users can watch who is spying on them in blow against Google's new snooping policy

• Free Collusion add-on shows which companies watch as you browse
• 'Real time' illustration of marketing companies snooping
• Unveiled as Google shifts privacy policy to enable more advertising
• Mozilla aims to share data with privacy campaigners
  
  
  
  
  Mozilla, the maker of Firefox, has unveiled a new add-on for the popular web browser that gives web users an instant view of which companies are 'watching' them as they browse.
  
  
  
  
  The move comes the same week that Google pushed ahead with its controversial new privacy policy, built to provide even more data for Google's $28 billion advertising business - despite concerns that the massive harvesting of private data might be illegal in many countries. 
  
  
  The Collusion add-on will allow users to 'pull back the curtain' on web advertising firms and other third parties that track people's online movements, says Mozilla CEO Gary Kovacs.  
  
  
  

  Watching the watchers: A demonstration of Collusion's 'real time' view of advertisers watching - as web users browse popular sites such as IMDB (one of the grey dots), their movements are tracked by unwanted third party advertisers (the red dots)

  
  
  

  Firefox is the world's second most popular web browser after Internet Explorer - a position under threat from Google's Chrome
  
  
  Google's business is built on advertising - the company earned $28 billion from its AdWords service in 2010.
  
  
  Google's new privacy policy allows it to 'streamline' data from Android phones, YouTube, Gmail and web browsing to target its adverts even more precisely towards individual web users.
  
  
  Mozilla's Firefox is the world's second most popular web browser, a position under threat from Google's own Chrome browser. 
  
  
  The Collusion add-on is an official Mozilla product, and was unveiled at the Technology, Entertainment and Design conference this week by Mozilla CEO Gary Kovacs. 
  
  
  It creates a 'web' showing web users exactly which advertising firms are watching as they browse. 
  
  
  'Collusion is an experimental add-on for Firefox and allows you to see all the third parties that are tracking your movements across the Web,' Mozilla said. 'It will show, in real time, how that data creates a spider-web of interaction between companies and other trackers.'
  
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