Google is apparently eyeing India, the second largest country in the world, as the next candidate for Google Fiber services. Google is planning to provide fiber broadband services as part of the Digital India program, with a small roll-out planned as a proof-of-concept project. Along with the blazing bandwidth, 100 times faster than normal connections, Google is offering unlimited uploads and downloads, and 1TB of free cloud storage.

There are several hurdles in the way. Google might have to acquire a telecom licence, which is apparently quite the feat in India, and several large native telecom companies are lining up to oppose the plan. The expansion to India would open a massive market of over 1.2 billion people up for Google, but there are numerous challenges and low internet penetration for the average citizen. The latest numbers from 2013 indicate only 15.1 citizens per 100 have internet access in India, which puts India at number 146 of 211 countries globally.

The lack of infrastructure would also present challenges, but Google has done significant experimentation with balloons and solar powered drones on their quest to provide internet service to every corner of the planet. Google is also working on expansion in the US in 34 more cities.

The ever-evolving world of storage has created an issue in the Windows 10 Technical Preview. Microsoft has incorporated a new feature into Windows 10 that enhances performance with SSHD's, but this has unfortunately led to widespread problems with all types of boot devices. Microsoft has added a new command to the drivers, Power-Up in Standby (PUIS), that allows SSHDs to remain idle when the system is powered up. The system saves power by only powering-up the SSHD when it receives a specific command from the BIOS.

The new driver isn't fully compatible with all BIOS revisions and the driver is also sending the SSHD-specific command to all types of drives. Non-SSHD drives do not recognize the command upon boot up or resumption from standby, which results in the computer freezing. Microsoft is aware of the problem, which is specific to Build 9879, and a new update is already available to resolve the issue. There is also a workaround available that allows users to simply disable the PUIS command, which resolves the issue.

Teething problems are expected in the Beta stage, and the Technical Preview system has worked by allowing Microsoft to identify and correct a problem before release. Windows 10 is slated for release in late summer/early fall of this year. Users can utilize hdparm to disable PUIS by following these steps:

The Pirate Bay previously made its website open for hosting by anyone with "minimal web knowledge". After it was closed recently time and time again thanks to various lawsuits, GitHub has seen 372 copies of "The Open Bay" created, seeing The Pirate Bay hit the open source market.

Being starred over 2,282 times and forked 679 times over on GitHub, this source codes front-page reads "we, the team that brought you isoHunt and oldpiratebay.org bring you the next step in torrent evolution. The Pirate Bay source code."

Isohunt has called out to developers across the globe, asking them to band together to make oldpiratebay.org something of a nostalgic improvement to the long-standing and popular torrent website, them stating that "our current goal is not only make it open source, but eventually provide fully decentralized torrent database for the community." As The Pirate Bay still remains shut down, where will users go for their illegal downloads? The answer is basically everywhere - with us previously reporting on the fact that torrent traffic has not slowed down at all since this large-scale shutdown.

The compilation of sensitive data secreted out of the NSA by Edward Snowden continues to be a big thorn in the side of spying agencies. Recent disclosures in Der Spiegel, the newspaper that has leaked the majority of the Snowden information, reveals several programs that the NSA has found to be very difficult, or totally impossible, to decipher. The information is complete as of late 2012, so the NSA may have already overcome these limitations, but the information is interesting.

Some emails are still indecipherable, notably the Zoho encrypted email service. The NSA has also noted that following targets across the Tor network is difficult to impossible, which means it works as advertised. The NSA has been very proactive in their dealings with encryption programs, primarily by working with vendors and committee's to have backdoors installed into the major encryption programs before they are even released to the public. One of the most surprising findings is that TrueCrypt, an open-source program, is largely safe for encrypting data. The NSA apparently didn't have as much luck penetrating an open-source project, which isn't entirely surprising considering the peer-reviewed nature of open source programs. It would be hard to insert a secret back door into a program that is actively worked on by a large group of people without company/government affiliations. PGR encryption tools and OTR chat encryption were also notable exceptions to the NSA's decryption schemes.

The revelations also contained some information on services that are easy prey for the NSA. VPN's are of little help, and the agency has already outwitted the HTTPS system. The NSA was grappling with AES encryption in late 2012, but were yet to make a breakthrough. The NSA's focus on AES means it is likely they have since cracked it, so users beware.

Yoon Mi Rae has decided to play hardball, taking Sony to court over their partial use of her song "Pay Day" in the latest Sony Pictures flick, The Interview.

The musician isn't happy, with various media outlets pointing out that Sony Pictures has been very on-the-ball in dragging other companies and people before the court in Intellectual Property cases, however it seems that they are the guilty ones in this instance.

Yoon Mi Rae's label has publicly announced that "there were initial discussions for using 'Pay Day' in the movie, but at some point, the discussions ceased and we assumed that it would not follow through," further stating "however, after the movie was released, we learned that the track had been used without permission, legal procedure, or contracts."

Two Uber users are unhappy with paying the $1 'Safe Rides Fee' for their services, claiming that it's unfair. This extra add-on is implemented by Uber, who claim that their drivers have to undergo extensive background and safety checks before getting the tick of approval to operate, much more-so than regular taxi companies.

What's the truth? Forbes says that they don't. If you're looking to join a traditional taxi service, you're going to have your fingerprints taken and many various methods will be utilized to prove your identity and safety. Uber has been slammed by members of the public and media, claiming that it's simply too easy for someone to use another persons identity to sign up as an UberX driver, faking your credentials and background checks.

So what exactly is involved with the Uber background checking system? Gizmodo emailed this emerging company back in 2013 and was hit with a reply claiming it was a "trade secret". Many more news outlets have been trying to pry this information away from Uber, surely it can't be that difficult to release? One concern that may arise is if Uber release their selection process, people will be made publicly aware and start developing methods to work around these facts.

I'm an absolutely fan of NVIDIA's G-SYNC technology, but not many people have had the pleasure of using AMD's FreeSync technology at home, a technology that is meant to be virtually identical to that of NVIDIA's. Well, the first FreeSync-powered monitor is now available on Overclockers.co.uk.

The monitor we're talking about is the Iiyama ProLite B2888UHSU-B1, which is a 28-inch 4K monitor with AMD's FreeSync technology baked into it. This monitor is using an identical panel to the Acer XB280HK, which is powered by NVIDIA's G-SYNC technology and also runs a 3840x2160 resolution. The big difference? Price. The AMD FreeSync option is around $600, while the Acer XB280HK is currently $1029 on Amazon.

Acer's XB280HK on Overclockers.co.uk sells for the equivalent of $770 USD, compared to the $600 USD of the FreeSync option, so you can see the appeal of AMD's technology here.

Before the weekend kicked off, we reported that The Interview had only made $1 million at the cinema, while this tally has reached $3 million. Nothing in terms of what a movie would normally make at the box office, but online sales are making much more for Sony, which could change the future of cinema releases, well I hope so anyway.

Sony has reportedly made $15 million selling The Interview online through various services, which is closer to Sony's expectations of racking $20 million during its opening. This was when Sony was to launch it on around 3,000 screens on Christmas Day, but those plans were changed when hackers threatened 9/11-style attacks and other acts of violence. This forced Sony to more or less cancel its launch plans of The Interview, scrapping the launch in those thousands of theaters to just a handful across the US who were willing to show the movie.

Sony Pcitures President of Worldwide Distribution, Rory Bruer explained "We worked hard to get the film out there by Christmas Day. It was such a whirlwind to get it done that it kind of amazes me that we were able to make it happen." However, I think this might be the push that could see cinema releases change, where we've had a large movie from Sony be successful in online distribution, making much more money online than it has through those select cinemas. The Interview has now become Sony Pictures' highest-grossing online release of all time, beating out video-on-demand successes as the Chris Evans movie "Snowpiercer" which earned $7 million on-demand, and movies like "Bachelorette" which made $8.2 million.

20 million pounds of unwanted Christmas lights end up in the hands of the Christmas tree light capital of the world, Shijao, China, each year.

Their industry built on old lights follows the age-old saying "one man's trash is another man's treasure," seeing this large quantity of unwanted lighting melted down and separated into brass copper and plastic materials for carious implementations ranging from clothing to electronic goods.

This information was first published by Adam Minter in his book titles "Junkyard Planet," seeing him travel to this utopia of trash and research the process of churning 2200-pound bales of lights into re-usable raw materials. Thanks to China's cheap labor and goods exports, it's claimed that the ships transporting goods to the U.S. and other Western Nations often come back empty-handed, with no cargo on-board. This is where they can utilize their light-load for good, often carrying back waste paper to be churned into toilet paper or in this case - discarded Christmas lights for a new lease on life.

Military targets in Europe and Israel have been hit by cyberespionage attacks that could have been aided by commercial security-testing software released by Core Security, according to a report from the Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT). Israeli officials are unsure who launched the attack, but Iran is on the short list of suspects - as the Iranian government routinely tries to conduct surveillance and steal information from Israel.

"The most likely answer is they didn't have the capability to do it on their own," said Tilmann Werner, CrowdStrike analyst, in a statement, also adding "there is no risk of leaving tool-marks."

Cybercriminals trying to compromise government and military departments, corporations, and other major targets are greatly improving their attack capabilities. Iran has invested a large amount of resources in developing internal cyberespionage efforts, with Israel a popular target for new attacks.