Internet & Websites - Page 19

Back in October last year, Sanmay Ved noticed that "Google.com" was available on Google Domains, so he snapped it up for $12. Yeah, $12 for Google.com - a steal, right?

Ved owned the most iconic domain name of all time, for all of 60 seconds. After they noticed that the Google.com domain had been purchased, Google cancelled the purchase - and then provided Ved with an undisclosed reward. Well, we have found out through a blog post that Google paid him $6006.13, which is "Google" spelled with numbers - nice one, Google.

Ved donated the reward to The Art of Living India, and once Google found out about this, they doubled the reward amount. Good work there, Google!

Earning an incredible $13.54 for each user on its social network (last quarter alone), Facebook's revenue has soared up by 52 percent in 2015 in a year over year analysis, reports The Verge.

Posting earnings of $2.69 billion on $17.93 billion in revenue over the course of 2015, Facebook has expressed a 44 percent revenue increase from the previous year in a recent announcement. In addition to these results, this social networking giant reported that 1.04 billion people use Facebook on a daily basis, posting a 17 percent increase from 2014.

Mark Zuckerberg, CEO, stated that "Our community continued to grow and our business is thriving. We continue to invest in better serving our community, building our business, and connecting the world," saying that "2015 was a great year for Facebook" which is backed up by these impressive results.

Undisclosed sources claim that Twitter's engineering head Kevin Wail and its head of media, Katie Stanton, will be departing the social media giant soon, seen reported by The Australian recently.

The information has been leaked "according to people familiar with the matter," with further claims being made that Stanton has already announced her absence internally some time ago. Being a prior chairman, current chief executive Jack Dorsey told Twitter that he'll only take back the CEO role if the entire board of directors was replaced - it seems that he's now a few steps closer to this goal.

While Twitter has declined official comment itself, sources further claim that this major executive shuffle is a bold move by Dorsey to revitalise his company, one of which that has fallen on hard times recently.

Skype has just made a big change to the way in which their omnipresent messaging app works, adding in a level of privacy that wasn't quite there before. Now your IP address is hidden by default, to help prevent an easy avenue for launching a DDoS from.

It seems that the gaming community is the reason for this change, because of how vindictive and angry players can get if they lose, or if someone says something they don't agree with. DDoS's are a real threat carried out on a variety of scales almost daily, and Skype has previously been an easy way to facilitate that. Just use a tool to backtrace a persons IP using their Skype ID. But now that won't work, because your IP address will be obfuscated by default, a great leap forward for privacy.

"Starting with this update to Skype and moving forward, your IP address will be kept hidden from Skype users. This measure will help prevent individuals from obtaining a Skype ID and resolving to an IP address," the news update says. It's a great thing, because it was one of the easier avenues attack.

Ex-CEO and co-founder of Mozilla Brenden Eich has revealed Brave, a new kind of internet browser that wants to disrupt ad-based web surfing.

Brave essentially acts as a filter for the traditional web surfing experience: the browser blocks all targeted ads and replaces them with non-invasive "anonymous" ads. The browser will be released across iOS, Android, Windows and Mac OSX, and is part of the company's "high-precision and privacy" platform, which is powered by a virtually-hosted cloud infrastructure. Brave not only blocks existing ad structures, but also denies cookies that can identify users. The best part is that Brave won't store your user data at any point, ensuring privacy.

"We are building a new browser and a connected private cloud service with anonymous ads," Eich said on the company page. "Brave browsers block everything: initial signaling/analytics scripts that start the programmatic advertising "dirty pipe", impression-tracking pixels, and ad-click confirmation signals. By default Brave will insert ads only in a few standard-sized spaces."

As if it wasn't bad enough as it is with autoplay for all media set to on by default, now even Periscope live feeds will start playing as you scroll through your Twitter feed.

Twitter's own real-time video streaming app has been a very successful venture once it was acquired early on in 2015. It's used for a variety of entertaining things, from pre-show interaction with fans to simply showing the world a small part of your life. It's interesting and can potentially be a tremendous creative outlet. The possibilities are endless, and what would happen if they integrated live 3D video streaming (with an external camera, of course). The world would nearly end.

But before it does, Twitter has naturally turned on autoplay in the iOS app, much to the behest of many social media moguls. This follows a trend set by Facebook that plays videos in as you scroll. In Twitter, only on the iOS app for now, you'll be able to watch, though tapping it will prompt you to open the actual Periscope app in order to actually interact with people.

If you've ever made a "Let's Play" video, and you put that tagline in the title, watch out for Sony, because they actually own the trademark to that tagline. Not that anyone's actually in danger of being sued, however.

A user at NeoGaf was poking around and discovered that particular trademark registration by Sony. They originally filed for the trademark with the USPTO in October of 2015 and from the listing, they've been issued a non-final action, meaning more information is needed. And that was on December 29th.

The trademark itself is associated to all the things that it's used for by a huge amount of people, for "Electronic transmission and streaming of video games via global and local computer networks; streaming of audio, visual, and audiovisual material via global and local computer networks". So what does that mean for the hundreds of thousands of people that use it in that context?

CES 2016 - Sony plans to launch its own 4K video streaming service this year in the United States, filling out the noted lack of UHD video content.

As of right now, 4K content is pretty limited, but Sony aims to help usher in the new Ultra Definition range with its very own streaming service. The service, called Ultra, will roll out on Sony's premium Bravia UHDTV's, and feature a range of 4K TV shows and movies from Sony Pictures Entertainment's expansive catalog.

Sony's production company has been shooting in 4K for quite some time, which will provide an expansive collection of UHD video. The Japanese tech titan also notes that all UltraHD video streams from the Ultra service will feature HDR (high-dynamic resolution), allowing for more crisp lights and darks.

There are a lot of steamers on a variety of services that have seem to have a gimmick added to their repertoire in order to attract an audience, being drunk just one of those tools. This particular streamer, Kneecoleslaw, wasn't just drunk while playing video games, but she was also abusing her cat as a result.

Certainly there's nothing wrong with a good gimmick that harmlessly engages your viewers and makes them laugh, that's the point of entertainment, to entertain. Kneecoleslaw seems to have taken her beloved activity a bit too far, however, and was at a point where she didn't even initially listen to her friends advice to stop abusing her cats. She's seen in the videos, posted below for those that don't wish to watch it, choking her animals until repeated pleas from a friend to let the cat go.

Kneewcoleslaw has been quickly banned by Twitch and the video was brought to the attention of PETA who have promptly began an investigation into the matter. PETA may not be the shining example of animal rights, but the issue could reasonably be brought to the attention of her local law enforcement or animal control. But really, this shows how drinking on stream can go from harmless gimmick to a serious issue in a very short amount of time. And this isn't even the worst example either.

The Big Apple will soon have 24/7 access to free gigabit-speed Wi-Fi.

To the elation of New Yorkers everywhere, New York City is already starting to install its massive five borough Wi-Fi array which will provide free access to high-speed internet connections.

The Wi-Fi hubs--also called LinkNYC access points--will replace traditional payphone booths throughout the city. Apart from free broadband Wi-Fi on tap, the hubs will also feature USB charging stations, touchscreen panels for web browsing, devices to make free phone calls to anywhere in the U.S., a touchscreen tablet to access city services, and two 55-inch advertisement displays. The city plans to rake in more than $500 million a year in advertising revenue alone using those huge panel screens, which will cycle different adverts.

Can you belive it has been 25 years since the very first website went online? Tim Berners-Lee's World Wide Web went online 25 years ago today.

The website went online at CERN on December 20, 1990 - but the public didn't see it until August 1991. It was an explanation of how the hypertext-based project worked, which was the foundation for the Internet as we know it today. Berners-Lee himself is still around, directing the World Wide Web Consortium that he helped create.

So much so, that Berners-Lee wants to protect the open web against government censorship, and telecoms' desire to crush net neutrality. CERN has shifted its priorities in the last 25 years, where it is now smashing particles together with the Large Hadron Collider.

Authorities have located and arrested a 19-year-old located in Pennsylvania recently, accusing this teenager of using 57 total Twitter accounts to recruit and advertise for ISIS.

19-year-old Jalil Ibn Ameer Aziz was also found in possession of a stockpile of weapons, with authorities homing in on this man due to various tweets about buying female slaves and killing US soldiers while using Twitter names such as '@MuslinBruh0', reports Gizmodo. Found inside his closet were items such as five loaded magazines (explained to look like belonging to an M4) and a large kitchen knife.

While it has been explained that not all of these 57 accounts were operating at any one time, Twitter was reportedly closing accounts quite regularly, with this teenager continuing to make a new handle in response each time, continuing the spread of ISIS propaganda.

We all know the strain of using Netflix on anything less than a fiber connection, so you'll be happy to hear that Netflix's design team have been working for quite a while on a new algorithm that will not only increase the quality of its streaming content but reduce the bandwidth required to stream said content.

Netflix has been tweaking its algorithm since 2011 when it hit a road block and realized it had been going about the process entirely wrong. Instead of attempting to encode video specifically for the type of bandwidth a subscriber used, Netflix realized that they should be encoding each individual title to best suit that movie, or TV show's needs. This means that shows like Barbie: Life in the Dreamhouse would use less kilobits while streaming, compared to something like Man of Steel. Barbie won't require that much visual fidelity, but the big Hollywood movies do.

The streaming giant has begun re-encoding its entire library with the new algorithm, with Netflix ever so slowly rolling out the newly encoded content to see if subscribers would be able to tell the difference. The next question is why? Why would Netflix go through all of this hassle. Well, considering Netflix streaming chews up a huge 37% of all the Internet traffic in the United States, but with the new algorithm, Netflix could see this drop to only 20%, according to Anne Aaron, Netflix's Video Algorithms Manager.

The Outlook team recently sent out an e-mail to some users indicating Windows Live 2012 will no longer work soon unless you install this update (which some users report breaks things, so probably hold off).

The interruption in service is due to changes being made to Microsoft email services in a few weeks; the email doesn't specify what the changes are, but Slipstick reports the plan is to move everything over to the Office 365 infrastructure.

The full email is below.

"Just as with every other thing in your life, if you drive 100,000 miles or 1,000 miles you buy more gasoline. If you turn on the air conditioning to 60 vs. 72 you consume more electricity," explained Comcast CEO, Brian Roberts, addressing why Comcast continues to place data caps on its customers, trying to liken it to 'real-world' ideals.

Roberts continued, "The same is true for [wired internet] usage", concluding "the more bits you use, the more you pay." As explained in a report by Ars Technica, Roberts ignored questions about Netflix data usage but addressed his services data caps as a whole.

While Comcast isn't completely disconnecting client internet when they reach the contract-agreed amount, customers are often charged an extra $10 for additional 50GB increments - being something that's unlikely to change, it seems. If you're interested in seeing the full interview, a video is available here.

Up until now, Vimeo has been allowing its Pro members to upload 4K videos, with the video sharing company now allowing some users 4K adaptive streaming. Vimeo's 4K streaming will roll out to the rest of the world in Q1 2016.

The company has pushed out support for 4K streaming across its site, and its entire catalogue of apps. This rollout features support for adaptive streaming, where your Internet connection will be battling it out for allowing up to 4K (2160p) streaming - similar to how YouTube does 4K streaming right now.

Vimeo's rollout of 4K support will include the streaming player on Vimeo.com, with videos embedded on other sites, Vimeo on Demand, and all of the apps on iOS, Apple TV, Android, Amazon and Roku.

While there has been some interesting names 'invented' in the last decade during the rise of 'millennial parents', research from BabyCenter.com was used to analyse 340,000 parents and subsequent naming choices for their brand new bundles of joy.

A concerning trend was a rise in parents naming their children after Instagram filters, a smartphone tool often used by people to alter images quickly before posting them on this massive social network, aiming to give photos a slightly modified and improved look in order to impress peers or market products. While News.com.au reported that none of these Instagram babies ranked in the top 10 most common, they are certainly on the rise.

The name Lux was at the top of the list, rising 75 percent in popularity over recent times. This was followed by other popular filters (and names) including Ludwig which saw a 42 percent increase, Juno at 30 percent and other various filters such as Amaro, Reyes, Hudson, Kelvin, Valencia and Willow.

While Adobe Flash became the main 'victim' of HTML5's stellar launch, this company has finally decided to ditch the Adobe Flash Professional branding and name, opting now for Adobe Animate as a main product.

Reported by Gizmodo as found in a recent Adobe announcement regarding Animate CC, it seems like the management at Adobe wants to let its long-standing Flash name die off without too much publicity.

With Adobe Flash Professional now no longer around, the new Animate program logically focuses on HTML5 and is set to hit the public by January 2016. With Flash no longer the internet standard, users may feel free to disable it on all systems.

Google yesterday commemorated the 41st anniversary of the discovery of a particular set of fossilised bones referred to as Lucy. The skeleton in question led scientists to believe man split from ape ancestors much earlier than previously thought, adding great new depth to the theory of evolution.

Creationists -- who deny the theory of evolution in favor of religious explanations -- weren't happy about the commemoration, responding to Google's tweet about it with choices words such as "since Allah(God)and creation have much proofs than evolution,i expect to see something about it also on your homepage", "Pushing your beliefs on others are you Google? Isn't that what you godless folks object to about Christians?", and "IM NOT A F*****G MONKEY @Google MAYBE WHITE PEOPLE CAME FROM MONKEYS BUT COLORED PEOPLE BEEN NATIVE TO THIS PLANET."

Google's tweet has 705 retweets, 1,182 likes, and a seemingly endless well of replies as of press time.

Encompassing 3 million subscribers on Pyongyang and more, an Egyptian 3G telecom service that launched in North Korea has told news outlets that it has now lost control of its business.

In a bid to modernize and expand North Korea, Orascom Telecom began offering services to North Korea soon after an announcement in 2008. Orsacom chairman Naguib Sawiris wished to offer the North Koreans what they desperately needed, technology. With the North Korean branch being known as Cheo Technology and the service as Koryolink, Orsacom controlled 75 percent of all shares, with the North Korean Government taking care of the rest.

In June, an auditor's report stated that Orsacom had received a competitor in this small market, set up by the North Korean Government themselves. Orsacom proposed and was accepted to enter a merger with this new competitor, however talks went stale and Orsacom was unable to contact the Government for some time. In the latest news, Orsacom reported that "in the group management's view, control over Koryolink's activities was lost."