Last week, Chrome for Android received a pretty substantial update that added a slew of new features to the mobile browser. At the time, I suggested a similar update would hit iOS sooner rather than later. Google didn’t disappoint as the company has released a new version of Chrome for iOS today.
Unlike the Chrome for Android update, the newest version of Chrome for iOS focuses on adding new functionality to the browser instead of additions to its HTML5 capabilities. The big new feature is a revamp to how searches are displayed in Chrome for iOS. Now you can see your search term in the Omnibox instead of Chrome displaying a long URL.
Google says that they’ll be rolling out the above change to search over the next few weeks so don’t freak out if you don’t see it immediately after updating. What you will see immediately after updating, however, are two new features that should make any Chrome user happy:
To quickly view your tab history, simply press and hold the back button to access any page you had previously visited from that tab. Head to “Menu” then “Share” to share a web page via email or to your favorite social network. Now you can also share any web page via Messages.
Last week, The Pirate Bay announced that it would be moving to Norway and Spain after some legal trouble in Sweden. Only half of that plan worked, however, as the site was quickly booted out of Norway by a local anti-piracy group. Now the infamous torrent tracker has set up shop in the most unlikely of countries.
The Pirate Bay has been hunted in many countries around the world. Not for illegal activities but being persecuted for beliefs of freedom of information. Today, a new chapter is written in the history of the movement, as well as the history of the internets.
A week ago we could reveal that The Pirate Bay was accessed via Norway and Catalonya. The move was to ensure that these countries and regions will get attention to the issues at hand. Today we can reveal that we have been invited by the leader of the republic of Korea, to fight our battles from their network.
This is truly an ironic situation. We have been fighting for a free world, and our opponents are mostly huge corporations from the United States of America, a place where freedom and freedom of speech is said to be held high. At the same time, companies from that country is chasing a competitor from other countries, bribing police and lawmakers, threatening political parties and physically hunting people from our crew. And to our help comes a government famous in our part of the world for locking people up for their thoughts and forbidding access to information.
We believe that being offered our virtual asylum in Korea is a first step of this country’s changing view of access to information. It’s a country opening up and one thing is sure, they do not care about threats like others do. In that way, TPB and Korea might have a special bond. We will do our best to influence the Korean leaders to also let their own population use our service, and to make sure that we can help improve the situation in any way we can. When someone is reaching out to make things better, it’s also ones duty to grab their hand.
TorrentFreak was able to confirm that The Pirate Bay is indeed being routed through North Korea so at least part of the story is true. It still remains to be seen what kind of arrangement was struck between the two parties though.
Regardless, it’s going to be interesting to see the response from the copyright owners. They have used various derogatory buzzwords to demonize the site before, but they can now say the site loves communism. That will gain it no friends in the U.S. political spectrum, but at least it’s safe from those who wish to shut it down.
There’s a lot of wireless spectrum out there, but mobile devices can’t take advantage of some of it as it goes towards other uses. There is a lot of unused spectrum though, and Google wants to free it up.
Google.org, the company’s philanthropic arm, is working with other tech companies to create a database of unused TV white space. This database would allow future devices to tap into spectrum that’s not being used by someone else. The practice is called spectrum sharing, and it would allow mobile devices to share the air waves with other devices and services on this particular band.
Here’s how Google explains it:
Spectrum is a globally finite resource, which makes it crucial that it be allocated and shared as effectively as possible. The demand for spectrum is growing, and more people and devices need spectrum in the same place. Having a place where people can see what spectrum is available allows people to share, which enables more technology and devices to connect using an increasingly busy medium. This helps avoid conflict between devices using the same band.
As part of its bid to become a database administrator of this TV white space, Google has partnered with the FCC to create a map of all the available TV White Space in the U.S. The company is inviting multiple stakeholders to “test and provide feedback on the database.”
Despite being one of the best genres in fiction, pirates are woefully underutilized in games. Last year’s Risen 2: Dark Waters was a fantastic, and somewhat broken, stab at pirate fiction, but we haven’t seen anything quite like Sid Meier’s Pirates! in a long time. Ubisoft may be fixing that with its latest Assassin’s Creed title.
After having announced it last week, and its trailer leaked over the weekend; Ubisoft has now officially released the debut trailer for the latest game in the Assassin’s Creed franchise. Like all other debut trailers for Assassin’s Creed games, it’s CG without any gameplay footage.
Despite having one hell of a trailer, Ubisoft has its work cut out for it. Many gamers were displeased with last year’s Assassin’s Creed III, favoring the Ezio trilogy over new protagonist Connor’s exploits during the Revolutionary War. Black Flag stars Connor’s grandfather in an entirely new setting that will hopefully correct the wrongs players found with the third game, and bring back the quality they expect.
There’s no release date for Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag just yet, but the game will be out across every major console and PC, including the PS4 and whatever Microsoft ends up calling the next Xbox.
Apple is known to launch several products throughout the year, but this year may be the first time that Apple will launch two iPhones in the same year. To compliment these devices, Apple may be launching its oft-rumored iWatch later this year as well.
Bloomberg reports that Apple is planning to launch its iWatch at some point later in the year. It’s unknown if the device will be shown off alongside the iPhone 5S’ rumored August reveal, or if Apple would wait to show it off at its own event. I’m more inclined to the latter as Apple likes to give completely new products, like last year’s iPad Mini, their own press event.
As for the iWatch itself, a few more details on the device have leaked out. According to a course close to Apple, the team of 100 product designers working on the iWatch are considering a number of features to be implemented into the device. Some of the features include the ability to make calls, caller ID for incoming calls, checking map coordinates and a pedometer. The latter would obviously be used in conjunction with fitness apps on the iOS.
Speaking of iOS, some speculate that the iWatch would run a slimmed down version of Apple’s mobile operating system. The smaller screen ensures that the iWatch wouldn’t be able to take on all of the duties of the iPhone, but the integration of iOS would mean that it could at least work with iPhones to provide a complimentary experience that could extend far beyond simple functions like incoming calls. For example, an iOS game could use the iWatch as a secondary input for when players can’t take their iPhone out.
With both the iWatch and Google Glass reportedly launching later this year, we may see the first wave of market fights in wearable computing. The iWatch would obviously be cheaper than the $1,499 Google Glass, but it remains to be seen if consumers would pay upwards of $200 for a watch to go along with their iPhone. It worked for Pebble (pictured above), so it’s safe to assume that Apple will at least have some success with it.
Windows Phone 8, Microsoft’s latest attempt to snag a chunk of the smartphone market, launched across the U.S. in November. That gave Windows Phone a boost during the holiday season that saw the Lumia 920 selling through a few million devices. It looks like Microsoft wants to recreate that mild success with a similar launch for the next iteration.
This is a great time to join as we’re completing our current release are getting ready for our next release targeting the holiday of this year and we’re chartered with keeping the momentum for Windows Phone by bringing new killer devices and delightful user experiences.
Of course, Microsoft isn’t outright saying what its next Windows Phone platform is. Next release could mean an incremental update to Windows Phone 8, or it could mean the rumored Windows Blue platform that will also reportedly come to Windows Phone.
If it is Windows Blue, it might be the start of the rumored annual release cycle for all Windows products. It would make Microsoft more like pretty much every other player in the industry as it tries to keep up with the fast pace of the mobile device industry. it remains to be seen if Microsoft’s hardware partners – Samsung, Nokia and HTC – will keep up with this new strategy, especially as Samsung and HTC are now focusing on flagship Android product launches this year.
The latest teaser for the Galaxy S IV is setting up a story of a young boy who is given the box containing what we can assume is the Galaxy S IV. It’s either that, or whatever the hell was in the briefcase in Pulp Fiction.
It’s unclear what this new video series will actually reveal about the Galaxy S IV. It might finally confirm some of the rumored specs that have been floating around, like the 4.99-inch 1080p display and the Exynos 5 Octa CPU.
The new iPhone release date is one of the last pieces of the rumor puzzle that we have yet to put together. There’s been no clear indication when the new wonder device from Apple will launch, but a recent rumor indicates that it may be out before the end of summer.
AppleInsider reports that the iPhone 5S release date is set for sometime in August. It’s claimed that the cheaper iPhone will be out in August as well. It would be a first to have two iPhones released in the same year, let alone the same month.
The iPhone 5S is reportedly being marketed as a world phone. In short, the device will work on any network in any market without any significant internal modifications. If Apple could get enough supply built in time, we could see a same day global launch. That would be a big deal for Apple as past iPhone releases were tiered over several months as it built iPhones specifically for each market’s wireless networks.
Speaking of China, the rumored cheaper iPhone will reportedly be built to work on China Mobile’s LTE. That furthers the rumors that this cheaper iPhone is being built specifically for the Chinese market. It’s not known if Apple will release its cheaper iPhone in other emerging markets, like South America and India.
So, now we have a release date, but what about the price? The cheaper iPhone was originally reported to cost as little as $99, but the new rumor pegs its unsubsidized price at $330. The low price is the result of Apple building the device out of polycarbonate. The company may also be using last generation components to keep prices low.
Piracy is a problem that needs to be dealt with. I don’t think anybody is going to refute that. Where people are divided is how we actually deal with this problem. After years of reputation destroying legal battles against dead people and little girls, copyright owners think they have an answer.
On Monday, the Copyright Alert System, or “Six Strikes”, went into affect across the five biggest ISPs in the U.S. The system hopes to catch those pirating content over P2P networks, and send them a notice detailing their infringement. The hope is that those who are caught will start using legal alternatives.
Do you think the Copyright Alert System will work? Will people truly stop pirating content after receiving an alert?Let us know in the comments.
To better understand the CAS, we have to look at what the Center for Copyright Information is doing with it. First, there are three tiers to the CAS that consumers should be aware of with each tier having two levels within it. The three tiers are as follows – educational alerts, acknowledgement alerts and mitigation measures.
The first two warnings – “educational alerts” – tell consumers they’ve been caught. The email will then direct them to legitimate sources of content with the hopes that the early warnings are enough to scare people into buying content.
The next two warnings step it up a notch with what’s called “acknowledgement alerts.” The first two alerts were simply emails, but these next two will actually hijack your browser. You will be hit with a message telling you that you’ve been caught yet again, and must acknowledge that you’ve been caught before you can start browsing.
The next two tiers, and presumably every alert afterwards, will be “mitigation measures.” In essence, the ISPs will begin throttling your bandwidth or blocking Web sites you frequently visit. The ISPs will not be able to cut off your Internet connection under the plan.
For a visual explanation, here’s the CCI’s soothing jazz version:
The actual specifics of these tiers will be different across the five ISPs participating in the CAS. We don’t know what every alert will look like, but Ars Technica did manage to get a hold of what Comcast’s alerts would look like.
As you would expect, the CAS hasn’t exactly garnered many fans. New Jersey Gubernatorial candidate Carl Bergmanson recently spoke out against it by saying ISPs have no right to monitor what you download:
“The internet has become an essential part of living in the 21st century, it uses public infrastructure and it is time we treat it as a public utility. The electric company has no say over what you power with their service, the ISPs have no right to decide what you can and can not download”.
The EFF has also come out swinging against CAS. The group says the system presents a number of troubling statements that don’t just hurt Internet users but the Internet for itself. For instance, the group points out that the CCI Web site tells people to lock down their Wi-Fi connections so others don’t pirate on your connection. The EFF sees this as an attack on the open Wi-Fi movement and it would be especially troublesome for those who do share their Internet connections with others, like small businesses.
Small businesses are where we run into the biggest problems. The CCI says that rights holders won’t target open Wi-Fi networks run by businesses. Your local Starbucks or Panera Bread are safe as they run off of a business network. The problem comes in the form of small businesses like a local coffee shop or bakery that runs free Wi-Fi off of a residential network. These businesses will be held liable for the actions of its consumers.
The CCI argues that it won’t hurt small businesses running residential networks because the CAS will never terminate an Internet connection. That’s entirely true, and it’s good that copyright owners didn’t go as far to request that ISPs terminate connections. The problem, however, lies in the fact that the fifth warning and afterwards will either block popular Web sites or throttle connections. For a small business that has multiple customers all on the same network, that’s just as good as shutting off the connection. People who want to use the Internet at these places will find it too much of a pain and take their business elsewhere.
Do you think the CAS will hurt small businesses? Or do you think the EFF and other groups are just exaggerating?Let us know in the comments.
This all brings us to the question of whether or not the CAS will even stop piracy. That’s obviously the goal, but it doesn’t look like an attainable one at the moment. In fact, the CAS is its own biggest enemy in the war on piracy.
The alerts obtained from Comcast all have one troubling thing in common. They don’t list any of the alternative, legal sources for content. The main point of the program is to educate consumers on legal alternatives, and it can’t even do that. Consumers receiving the alert with no prior knowledge of the system will most likely see it as a scam email and won’t act upon it. Later tiers require consumers to watch an educational video on copyright, but it doesn’t say whether these videos will present legal alternatives.
Fortunately, legal alternatives are doing a good enough job stopping piracy themselves. A recent report from the NPD found that legal alternatives like Spotify were driving music piracy down. It proves once again that easy access at a fair price can beat out piracy any day. Heck, the proliferation of streaming services even gave the music industry its first raise in revenue since 1999.
So why do copyright owners think the CAS will work? Do they really expect piracy rates to magically drop once the alerts start flying out? Past examples would suggest that no such thing would happen. In fact, previous efforts on the part of copyright owners to curtail piracy have had the opposite effect. Just look at the shutdown of Megaupload or the blocking of The Pirate Bay in the UK. Both cases actually saw an increase in piracy.
At this point, it’s still too early to tell how much the CAS will actually accomplish. At best, copyright owners will be able to proclaim that piracy rates are down as more people either use VPNs or move off of P2P and onto Usenet or Mega. At worst, consumers revolt and ISPs drop it after seeing that it’s costing them customers. Either way, piracy isn’t going anywhere.
Do you think piracy will ever stop being a problem? Or is it just a fact of life in the Internet age?Let us know in the comments.
So, you’ve built a Google Drive app with the latest HMTL5 technologies. Now you want to integrate Google+ sign-in into said app to provide a secure experience for your users. The Google Developer team has your back with a new tutorial:
I’m sure you heard about Google+ Sign-in. It’s simple, it’s secure, and it prohibits social spam, and it can be used in your Drive app! Join us today to learn how to integrate Google+ Sign-In with your Drive app and how you can use it to authorize your users.
Those who bought a Lumia 920 as their inaugural Windows Phone 8 may have done so for its reportedly fantastic camera. There’s now an app for the device that will make your photos even better.
Photosynth can capture full 360 degree environments and it doesn’t even have to take separate pictures before filing it all in. Just move the phone around you and let it fill in all the details.
Those who have Photosynth on iOS, and have since moved to Windows Phone 8 will be pleased to see that the app features a few enhancements on Microsoft’s mobile platform:
Camera lens integration – Quickly capture and view panoramas by launching Photosynth directly from the built-in camera app
View shared panoramas – View panoramas shared with you via email, Facebook, or Twitter directly on your mobile device
More camera controls – Adjust for various lighting conditions by using new exposure and white balance locking options
General improvements – Enjoy an even more delightful app experience with various bug and stability fixes
3D printing has easily established itself as something amazing. Is it really the revolutionary technology that everybody makes it out to be though? That’s the question behind a new episode of PBS’ wonderful Off Book series.
This week, Off Book interviews numerous 3D printing insiders and experts to get their opinions on the future of the technology:
Much attention has been paid to 3D Printing lately, with new companies developing cheaper and more efficient consumer models that have wowed the tech community. They herald 3D Printing as a revolutionary and disruptive technology, but how will these printers truly affect our society? Beyond an initial novelty, 3D Printing could have a game-changing impact on consumer culture, copyright and patent law, and even the very concept of scarcity on which our economy is based. From at-home repairs to new businesses, from medical to ecological developments, 3D Printing has an undeniably wide range of possibilities which could profoundly change our world.
What’s sets 3D printing apart from other so called “revolutions” in tech or manufacturing is that 3D printing has over 20 years of innovation behind it. All that knowledge will soon be passed on to us as we move from a consumer culture to a creator culture. The Internet has already achieved a creator culture in digital goods, and 3D printing may very well be the thing to extend that into the physical realm.
After weeks of fighting, we’re almost at the end of the first round in the Injustice: Gods Among Us Battle Arena. The last two fights match up Superman against Sinestro, and Hawkgirl against Green Arrow.
Sinestro put up a terrific fight, but it’s really hard to compete with Superman. Still, Sinestro is high on my list of villains who could actually pose a threat to the Man of Steel.
As for the Green Arrow’s win, I don’t think we can really give it to him. One of DC’s more prominent villains really stole the win here.
Starting next week, we’ll finally be getting into the quarter finals where Batman will take on Wonder Woman. It should prove to be an incredibly entertaining fight.
Injustice: Gods Among Us launches across the Xbox 360, PS3 and Wii U on April 16.
I think we’ve been too hard on DARPA. They’re not trying to incite the robot apocalypse. They’re just trying to create machines that can walk over rough terrain while helping soldiers carry heavy gear.
They wouldn’t make a robot that could kill us with giant concrete blocks:
Holy sh*t, did you see that? Remind me never to face off against BigDog in a construction yard.
The Hill reports that Senators Jay Rockefeller and Richard Blumenthal have introduced legislation that would implement Do Not Track rules into federal law. The legislation – The Do Not Track Online Act – would put the FTC in charge of regulating the penalties put on companies that violate a consumer’s opting out of ad tracking.
In a statement issued on the proposed legislation, Rockefeller says that it’s important to give consumers a choice:
“Online companies are collecting massive amounts of information, often without consumers’ knowledge or consent. Consumers should be empowered to make their own decision about whether their information can be tracked and used online.”
This isn’t the first time that Rockefeller has tried to pass online tracking legislation. The first Do Not Track bill was introduced in 2011, but efforts on the bill were put on hold after advertising agencies and privacy proponents came together to work on a solution that would please all parties. That obviously didn’t work out.
Despite all of this, Do Not Track will still probably mean nothing no matter what happens. The advertising industry has stated that it will ignore Do Not Track signals, and you can’t really block advertisers from tracking at least some of your activities online anyway.
Besides, those worried about their privacy online should be more concerned over FISA than some advertisers wanting to better target you with ads. You can block obtrusive annoying ads. The same can’t be said of widespread surveillance.
BlackBerry 10 smartphones will start launching in the U.S. in March, but folks in other countries have been playing around with the device for about a month now. For those consumers, RIM BlackBerry is releasing an update today that you won’t want to miss.
BlackBerry upgraded the BlackBerry 10 software to 10.0.10.85 today, and the update contains a number of enhancements that the company thinks you’re going to love. Here’s the top five enhancements coming your way:
3rd Party App Performance
We’ve improved performance for 3rd party applications, so developers can build apps that run fast and smooth for you. With this update, you might want to keep an eye out for some fresh new app launches in March, like WhatsApp.
Phone, Calendar, and Contacts
Among the top improvements and features are fixes for Gmail calendars on BlackBerry 10. You’ll also find improvements in the BlackBerry Hub for logging calls log and how conversations are handled. We’ve also made general improvements to importing contacts from online sources.
Camera
We’ve optimized the camera for better photos in low-light situations. You’ll love the difference this makes for photos where you don’t use a flash – like the Time Shift Camera feature.
Browser and Media
With more and more of you using the gorgeous screen on the BlackBerry Z10 to consume online videos and media, we’ve made a number of improvements to the software in the way the browser handles video playback to provide a fantastic experience.
Battery Life
The software team has included a number of battery life optimizations with over 60 battery saving improvements since launch to keep you moving. These combined improvements are designed so that you see improvements in battery life and heavy users especially should see a longer average usage per charge cycle.
BlackBerry says that the update should be delivered over-the-air automatically, but says you can manually check for an update as well. The schedule for update delivery is decided by the carrier with some already offering the update. Other carriers will be pushing it out as soon as possible.
Has the Chromebook Pixel convinced you to finally pick up one of Google’s Web centric laptops? If so, you might want to jump onto the Chrome OS beta channel to get the latest features before anybody else.
The latest Chrome OS beta contains a number of new features, enhancements and bug fixes. Here’s the full list:
Pepper Flash updated to 11.6.602.171
exFAT support on flash drives
Bluetooth UI improvements in the Status Area to ease connecting and managing bluetooth devices
Updated wallpaper picker UI (New style, All category)
Tab Scrubbing – Use three fingers to target and scrub between tabs – faster than mouse
Added support for ISO base media file format, H.264 video and AAC audio to Widevine Content Decryption Module (CDM).
If you don’t know how to switch from the release channel to the beta channel, you can read up on that here. If you happen to come across any bugs, you can submit those here.
With all the excitement over the launch of Mega, it’s easy to forget that Kim Dotcom is still facing extradition to the U.S. To fight this, Dotcom and his legal team argues that they need access to the evidence the U.S. will bring against them. Lower courts agreed with Dotcom, but the Court of Appeals didn’t buy the argument.
TorrentFreak reports that the Court of Appeals overturned the previous ruling that said the U.S. had to present all the evidence it had on Dotcom and his associates. In its ruling, the court says that evidence is not required in an extradition case because it’s not a trial over whether the party is innocent or guilty. Instead, the court said that the U.S. only has to prove that they have a case against Dotcom to move things forward.
It’s a pretty big setback for Dotcom, as he was hoping to get access to all the evidence the U.S. has against him. Dotcom isn’t giving up, however, and plans to bring his case before the Supreme Court.
For the next installment in the long running Dotcom legal battle, we’re going to have to wait for word from the Supreme Court. If it picks up the case, we can expect to see Dotcom’s already delayed extradition trial delayed even further. If the court doesn’t agree to hear the case, Dotcom’s extradition trial will go on as planned in August. Either way, it’s going to be interesting.
Oracle has had a busy 2013 so far as it has scrambled to fixdangerous zero-day exploits found in its Java browser plugin. The company will have no rest, however, as security researchers have found more exploits.
Security research firm Security Explorations reported two new zero day exploits hit Java on February 25. Since then, the company has provided a number of updates on the progress its made with Oracle to patch these security holes:
25-Feb-2013
Vulnerability Notice along with a Proof of Concept code are sent to Oracle corporation (Issues 54 and 55).
Oracle confirms successful reception and decryption of the vulnerability report. The company informs that it will investigate based on the data provided and get back to us soon.
Oracle provides a monthly status report for the reported issues. The company informs that Issue 51 is under investigation / being fixed in main codeline. The report does not mention Issues 54 and 55 yet.
Oracle provides tracking numbers for Issues 54 and 55, but claims they are still not confirmed.
27-Feb-2013
Security Explorations asks Oracle whether it needs any assistance in running the received Proof of Concept Code or whether a confirmation of reported vulnerabilities from a 3rd party such as US-CERT would be helpful for the company. Security Explorations informs Oracle that it expects a clear confirmation or denial of Issues 54 and 55 (in the past, reception of tracking numbers from Oracle was equivalent to the confirmation of a given report).
Oracle provides the results of its assessment and informs that Issue 54 is not a vulnerability (it demonstrates the “allowed behavior”). The company confirms Issue 55.
Security Explorations disagrees with Oracle’s assessment regarding Issue 54 and provides the company with its arguments. Security Explorations demonstrates to Oracle a corresponding sample of “allowed behavior” of Issue 54 that leads to a denied access and a security exception.
28-Feb-2013
Security Explorations provides Oracle with another example illustrating denied access for a similar condition as Issue 54. The company asks Oracle whether it still considers Issue 54 as a non-vulnerability demonstrating the “allowed behavior”.
The issues referenced above – 54 and 55 – can apparently be combined to “gain a complete Java security bypass in the environment of Java SE 7 (Update 15).” Issue 54 is being labeled by Oracle as a non-issue, but issue 55 has been picked up for further investigation.
This latest discovery only further stains Java’s reputation as it has not only been exploited twice in the past two months, but said exploits led to major firms like Apple and Facebook being hacked. Granted, Oracle can’t predict every new exploit that comes its way, but you would think it would be more thorough before releasing updates.
Tomb Raider may be starting the most jam packed month of game releases we’ve seen in years, but God of War: Ascension will be following close behind for those of us who still aren’t satisfied after DmC and Metal Gear Rising.
The latest God of War: Ascension trailer focuses on a new enemy in the game – the Empusa’s Lure. The character is similar to the harpies and gorgons of previous games, but its classification as a succubus could make it a bit more terrifying.
Word of warning: The trailer does feature some spoilers, and monster breasts. I’ll leave it up to you to decide which is more offensive.
God of War: Ascension launches on March 12 exclusively on the PS3.
