Internet & Websites News - Page 83

The latest and most important Internet & Websites news - Page 83.

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IT engineers ponder fix to dangerous Internet routing problem

Trace Hagan | Apr 27, 2012 4:31 PM CDT

While it's great that the internet is an open, widely available network, this openness yields some security flaws. Most have been dealt with by encryption and other security measures, but one gaping hole remains unfixed. This major hole can cause massive, widespread outages or allow your data to be snooped on.

The problem resides in the routers used by every corporation or company who owns a block of IPs. These routers are constantly communicating with other routers in order to update internal information. This internal information, some 400,000 entries, contains the best routes to get to other networks using a protocol called Border Gateway Protocol (BGP).

According to InfoWorld, "BGP enables routers to find the best path when, say, a network used to retrieve a web page from South Korea is not working properly. Changes in that routing information are distributed quickly to routers around the world in as few as five minutes."

Continue reading: IT engineers ponder fix to dangerous Internet routing problem (full post)

Pay with cash while shopping WalMart.com

Trace Hagan | Apr 26, 2012 1:31 PM CDT

If you are one of the growing number of consumers who doesn't have a credit or debit card to use while shopping online, WalMart has a new program designed just for you. According to WalMart, many of its customers shop paycheck to paycheck so they need more ways to purchase items online. This is where WalMart's "Pay with Cash" program comes in.

Obviously, most people's computers don't have any sort of cash terminal sitting there, so the program had to come up with a solution. How it works is you shop online and place your order. You receive an email receipt which you then take in to your local WalMart. Head to any register with the receipt and pay cash.

If you still have to go to the store, what's the point of shopping online? Well, WalMart.com offers a much wider selection of goods than the store counterparts do. Additionally, you can have the products shipped straight to your door, rather than having to walk around the store and pick them up.

Continue reading: Pay with cash while shopping WalMart.com (full post)

Netflix comes to Sony Bravia Blu-ray and Blu-ray players

Trace Hagan | Apr 24, 2012 10:28 AM CDT

Netflix and Sony have announced today that the Netflix app is now available on the Sony Entertainment Network for any 2012 Bravia Blu-Ray or Blu-Ray player made by Sony. This new app will allow users to stream any video or television show they would like, straight to their Blu-Ray player. This joins the numerous other apps that Sony already provides on the Sony Entertainment Network.

This new announcement comes at an interesting time for Netflix. Wall Street investors aren't exactly in love with Netflix right now, even though they had a good first quarter. Investors are remembering 2011 instead of looking at Q1 2012 results. Additionally, analysts are predicting only a 200,000 subscriber increase for the second quarter compared to the 1.3 million of the first.

Continue reading: Netflix comes to Sony Bravia Blu-ray and Blu-ray players (full post)

Facebook opens half of new datacenter in Forest City, NC

Trace Hagan | Apr 20, 2012 5:34 PM CDT

With construction completed on Facebook's new datacenter in Forest City, NC, Facebook has flipped the switch in one of the buildings and now it is serving Facebook traffic. The new datacenter broke ground in November 2010 and should be fully operational by the end of the year.

The datacenter is composed of two buildings which house the first major deployment of the v2 Open Compute Project web servers. These servers are based on Intel's lower power Sandy Bridge architecture. The whole of the datacenter was designed to conserve energy, hence the new web servers. The climate in North Carolina will test Open Compute's outdoor air cooling system, as the humidity and temperature is outside of what is normally needed inside a datacenter.

The datacenter stands as a trophy to Facebook's ongoing success as the servers are needed to power Facebook for its 845+ million users. The timing of the opening of the facility is almost perfect because Facebook is nearing an initial public offering which could value the company somewhere around $100 billion.

Continue reading: Facebook opens half of new datacenter in Forest City, NC (full post)

Hulu plans four new original shows

Trace Hagan | Apr 20, 2012 4:39 PM CDT

In a move designed to further differentiate itself from its competitors Netflix, Amazon and HBO Go, earlier this year Hulu announced it would spend $500 million on original content. Today brings Hulu's announcement that it is creating four new original shows to add to its vast library of online shows.

The announcement provided a brief synopsis for each of the upcoming shows that it plans to create. It also includes release dates for 2, and names and talent that will be involved with each show. The first two shows have release dates of 2012 and 2013 whereas the latter two have yet to receive a set date.

  • We Got Next (2012): Four unlikely friends butt heads on the pick-up basketball court and on the sidelines of everyday life. Starring: Kenya Barris (THE GAME, ARE WE THERE YET?, AMERICA'S NEXT TOP MODEL), Hale Rothstein (THE GAME, EVERYBODY HATES CHRIS), Danny Leiner (THE OFFICE, MODERN FAMILY, ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT, FREAKS AND GEEKS, HAROLD & KUMAR GO TO WHITE CASTLE, DUDE WHERE'S MY CAR?
  • The Awesomes (2013): An unassuming superhero and his cohorts battle diabolical villains, the ever-present paparazzi, and a less-than-ideal reputation as second-class crime fighters. Starring: Seth Meyers (SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE), Michael Shoemaker (SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE, LATE NIGHT WITH JIMMY FALLON) and animation studio Bento Box (BOB'S BURGERS, ALLEN GREGORY).
  • Don't Quit Your Daydream: A cast of famous musicians travel across America in search of could-have-been musical artists to collaborate on a new song giving them a second-chance at stardom. Based on an award-winning documentary by Adrian Grenier and John Loar. Starring: Adrian Grenier; Produced by Virgin
  • Flow: When Ed Dante, a hard-working kid from the wrong side of the tracks is framed for a crime he didn't commit, he begins an epic quest to deliver true justice. To achieve his goal, he must discover the mysteries of an ancient art, uncover hidden worlds and become a hero to a generation. Starring: Michael "Dooma" Wendschuh (show creator, co-founder and president of sekretagent studios: ASSASSIN'S CREED II (2009), ARMY OF TWO (2008), ASSASSIN'S CREED (2007); David Belle (Founder of Parkour); Produced by Agility Studios (producers of The LXD) and the Shine Group (WHO KNEW? IT'S EVERYBODY'S BUSINESS, APPETITE FOR LIFE)

Continue reading: Hulu plans four new original shows (full post)

'Anonymous' hackers to create a new social music platform

Trace Hagan | Apr 20, 2012 11:12 AM CDT

Ah, yes. Anonymous, the group that does these hackings in order to benefit the greater good. Social activism, justice. Well, a small group of coders from the larger hacktivist organization are coming together to program a new social music service that will collect music from around the web and allow it to be organized into playlists and share...anonymously.

That's right, a small group of coders from Anonymous are planning on creating a social music service, called Anontune, which will pull together music from various sources such as YouTube and SoundCloud and aggregate them so that they can be put into playlists and shared anonymously. Anonymous will not be hosting any of the music.

The whole project hinges on running a java applet which will provide the anonymity as well as the functions of the project. With running an applet from a group such as Anonymous comes some risk, so you do so at your own risk (read: I am not encouraging this behavior, nor do I or TweakTown necessarily approve of this behavior).

Continue reading: 'Anonymous' hackers to create a new social music platform (full post)

The Pirate Bay uses its wide reach for good: Promotes independent artists

Trace Hagan | Apr 18, 2012 5:33 PM CDT

Dubbed 'The Promo Bay', The Pirate Bay would like to help promote your cool music, video, comedic skill, or other talent provided you allow free, easy access to the material that is being promoted. Submissions are thrown into a pool and occasionally one is picked to have their image replace the default Pirate Bay logo and be linked to the page of their choosing.

The Promo Bay has a few rules, however.

Continue reading: The Pirate Bay uses its wide reach for good: Promotes independent artists (full post)

Gmail users experience outage this morning, everything should be fixed now

Trace Hagan | Apr 17, 2012 2:02 PM CDT

Many users of the popular Google service Gmail were reporting the service as unavailable this morning. The extent and cause of the outage are not known at the moment. Twitter was abuzz with reports from many users who are unable to access the service. The outage was not a complete outage as some people were still able to access the service.

Other services appeared to be down in conjunction with Gmail. If Gmail was down for you, it is likely that Docs and Google+ were unavailable for you as well. Google acknowledged the problem with a post Google's Apps status dashboard: "We're investigating reports of an issue with Google Mail. We will provide more information shortly."

At 10:40am PT Google Tweeted that, "#Gmail should be back for some of you already, and will be back for everyone soon. Thanks for your patience."

Continue reading: Gmail users experience outage this morning, everything should be fixed now (full post)

Hulu Plus subscriber base growing, hits 2 million subscribers

Trace Hagan | Apr 17, 2012 8:58 AM CDT

A new report is out that shows Hulu Plus's growth is accelerating. January of this year saw Hulu Plus reach 1.5 million subscribers, so if this report is true, Hulu managed to add 500,000 subscribers in just 4 months. That rate well outpaces the previous rate of adding about 1,000,000 per year. Nothing official has come from the company just yet.

"We grew the business 60 percent from 2010 to approximately $420 million in revenue [in 2011]," Hulu CEO Jason Kilar said in January. "We exceeded our plan despite the soft advertising market (economy) in the second half of 2011.... Hulu Plus now has more than 1.5 million paying subscribers."

The report comes from the New York Times which states that the company will announce this week that it has hit 2 million subscribers. 2011 saw Hulu add 1.1 million subscribers. The previous 4 months saw them add 500,000. If this pace continues, they are on track to gain 1.5 million new subscribers this year.

Continue reading: Hulu Plus subscriber base growing, hits 2 million subscribers (full post)

Pottermore Web site opens for all

Trace Hagan | Apr 16, 2012 12:27 PM CDT

For all of the Harry Potter fans out there, Pottormore finally opens for all, sort of. You see, you can now register after providing some personal details to find out if you're magical or not, but that doesn't give you access. Your account has to be verified before you can access the site.

Unfortunately for us, the site's management has let it be known that the approval/verification process could be slow even though they plan to verify a steady stream of accounts. They make note that you may not gain access right away. Darn. Currently you will find e-books of all 7 books as well as the audiobook versions.

Once you do gain access, you will be able to have access to interactive tours of locations mentioned in the books and the virtual tools needed to practice your magical arts. The owners plan to add more features over the coming weeks and months. Additionally, after your registration is approved, you will be sorted into one of the four houses and be chosen by your wand.

Continue reading: Pottermore Web site opens for all (full post)