YouTube increases video limit size to 2GB

Written by Jon Worrel

Allows for more HD content Today, YouTube announced that it has doubled the current file uploading size from 1GB to 2GB to allow users to post more high definition video content on its massive servers. This is particularly useful for those users uploading 1080p content that can easily exceed over a gigabyte, even when re-encoded. The YouTube team has also implemented embedding and direct linking to HD versions of video clips. By appending “&hd=1” to the end of the URL, a video will start playing in HD as soon as someone follows the link. There is already speculation as to what the next update will introduce. Perhaps the maximum HD video resolution (853×805) might be expanded to fit a more conventional resolution of 1280×720, or a live broadcasting service feature similar to Justin.tv and Qik.com. Only time will tell. http://www.fudzilla.com/content/view/14487/1/

Firefox 3.5 debuts at last

by Cyril Kowaliski

Just over a year after the arrival of Firefox 3, Mozilla has finally unleashed the next major release of its popular web browser: Firefox 3.5. The final version has become available for Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux in “over 65 languages.”

In case you didn’t pay attention during the protracted development cycle, here’s what Firefox 3.5 brings to the table, in the words of the official release notes:

• Support for the HTML5 <video> and <audio> elements including native support for Ogg Theora encoded video and Vorbis encoded audio.
• Improved tools for controlling your private data, including a Private Browsing Mode.
• Better web application performance using the new TraceMonkey JavaScript engine.
• The ability to share your location with websites using Location Aware Browsing.
• Support for native JSON, and web worker threads.
• Improvements to the Gecko layout engine, including speculative parsing for faster content rendering.
• Support for new web technologies such as: downloadable fonts, CSS media queries, new transformations and properties, JavaScript query selectors, HTML5 local storage and offline application storage, <canvas> text, ICC profiles, and SVG transforms.

TraceMonkey and the updated Gecko engine are probably the most noticeable changes for day-to-day browsing, since they bring about serious speedups compared to Firefox 3. The Mozilla folks are definitely catching up to their rivals at Google and Apple in the performance department.

Otherwise, HTML 5 support lets you play some embedded videos without using the Adobe Flash plug-in or clumsy Java-based players. DailyMotion already has a pre-beta site up with nothing but HTML 5 videos. (Thanks for TR reader SH SOTN for the links.)

Source:
http://techreport.com/discussions.x/17148

Free Internet over in five years

Written by Nick Farrell

IAC chairman claims The days of free surfing are fast coming to a close with a payed internet just five years away, according to the chairman and chief executive of IAC. Barry Diller, who runs IAC, which operates a collection of more than 30 Internet sites which produce $1.5 billion a year in revenue said that the world wide wibble is passing from its free days into a paid system.Talking to the Advertising 2.0 conference in Manhattan he said that not every single thing will be paid for, but anything of value. The only reason it has been free so far is because of “an accident of historical moment that will be corrected,” he said. This is a period of “creative chaos” that will span the next three to five years. This will change as the big player decide to sit behind pay walls even it if means cutting back on hits. Diller said people will pay, if it is quality they’re buying. http://www.fudzilla.com/content/view/14212/1/

Firefox 3.5 previews

Written by Nick Farrell

Better and faster The Mozilla Foundation’s Firefox 3.5 preview version is now available for download and we have had a few hours playing with it. Firstly it is a bit faster than earlier versions, although all the browsers on the market these days, such as Opera, Chrome and Safari are faster than the earlier generation. But the new browser has a few things which are more interesting including the use of open-source video standards, geo-location capabilities, and a few nice graphics tricks. With 3.5 it is possible to run a video player based on the open-source video formats Ogg Vorbis and Theora. What is cool is that by using HTML5 links and other interactive elements can easily be placed inside videos. What is interesting is that it can do things that Flash can’t, and if it is supported by websites it could send Adobe packing. Ogg Theora is supported by Daily Motion so it is not too far from being a possibility. Have a look at the demo video here http://www.fudzilla.com/content/view/14147/1/

Mozilla working on multicore-friendly Firefox build

Written by Jon Worrel

More responsiveness, security, overall stability Mozilla is currently working on a new implementation of its popular web browser that will allow it to run individual segments of the entire program over the span of several processes at a time. The goal is to provide a stable and more efficient load structure and a higher level of security, all while making more use of those idle CPU cores we have sitting around in our machines. The project, coordinated by Mozilla expert Benjamin Smedberg, consists of four or more development phases, with the first scheduled to be completed this summer on July 15th. Phase I highlights the initial bootstrap concept that will be hacked together fairly quickly, consisting of a simplistic page with a URL bar. Phase II will focus more with interactions between the user interface and web content and is aimed for November. Early next year, we can expect Phase III to come around, which focus on adapting the APIs for extensibility, accessibility, and performance. This is speculated to be the first usable release. Phase IV will wrap up the majority of the development process and extend the previous development to support several content processes at a time. Time will tell what we can expect from this interesting Firefox project. Perhaps we may even see the start of a multi-process web browser competition among big players that could even light some ideas for GPGPU implementations. All in all, we won’t have to dream anymore about hardware efficient web browsing once this project begins to mature.

WGA dubbed Windows Activation Technology with Windows 7

In Windows 7, Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA) will be referred to as Windows Activation Technologies (WAT). Microsoft explains why it has renamed the technology.

By Emil Protalinski

Product activation and validation in Windows 7 is built off the same Software Protection Platform that was introduced with Windows Vista. Microsoft claims the technology is much better than the one in XP: Vista is harder to pirate. However, in response to customer feedback, Windows 7 will give users more informative notifications when it comes to activation. For example, unlike in Vista SP1, if Windows 7 is not activated during the login process, customers will no longer have to wait 15 seconds to click the “Activate later” button, and instead they will be given more information on activation.

Joe Williams, general manager of Worldwide Genuine Windows at Microsoft, today gave more information on what is coming for activation and validation in Windows 7. The most noticeable change is that the technology is being renamed from the rather well-known (and hated) Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA) to Windows Activation Technologies (WAT).

It’s worth quoting the reasoning behind this change in full:

[T]he technology used in Windows Vista and Windows 7 is fundamentally different from that used with Windows XP. It consists of new code and the latest methods for protecting Windows in ways that can only really be achieved with the components that are built in to both Windows Vista and now Windows 7. For that reason the anti-piracy features in Windows 7 — and future versions of updates of the technology for Windows Vista — will be referred to more accurately as Windows Activation Technologies. We will continue releasing Window Genuine Advantage updates for Windows XP-based systems. We also spent time thinking about how we could make activation and validation easier for enterprises. For example, we think IT professionals will appreciate support in Windows 7 for virtualized images and volume activation technologies. When Windows Vista was being developed, virtualization was primarily a server scenario, but today many companies have it in their production environment on both the server and the client. We listened and adapted our management tool for organizations by making them more easily available.

I find it very interesting that Microsoft is moving away from “genuine advantage” to “activation technologies.” In almost every WGA story that I’ve written, the same comments keep appearing: users demand that Microsoft explain what the “genuine advantage” is to activation. It looks like the PR department has started to pay a bit more attention and wants to make the technology’s aim more clear. I guess the most popular comments will now be “What’s WAT?”

Pirate Bay Judge slammed again

Written by Nick Farrell

Another conflict of interest Tomas Norström, the judge who presided over the Pirate Bay trial, has been accused of bias once again. After the Pirate Bay trial it was revealed that he was connected to several pro-copyright and intellectual property organisations.  His decision to throw the book at the Pirate Bay people was seen as a surprise and some think it was as a result of some bias. While a higher court thinks about what to do about Pirate Bay it seems that  Norström has got himself in trouble over another trial. BMW brought a small company from Gothenburg called Wheels Spare Parts to court for making rims too similar to their own. They were convicted in October 2008 by Norström. In this case it is because  Norström was active in the same organisations as the prosecutor lawyer, and did not tell this to the court before the trial started. The defense lawyer in this case has now made a formal complaint, what this leads to remains to be seen at a higher instance of court.

Apple might buy Twitter

Written by Nick Farrell

How to be smug in 140 characters Fruit themed toymaker Apple has been rumoured as a potential buyer of Twitter. The dark satanic rumour mill has manufactured a yarn which says that Jobs’ Mob is about to pay $700 million for the social notworking site. The deal is expected to be announced at Apple’s annual Worldwide Developers Conference after Steve Jobs finishes his hormone replacement therapy. Twitter turned down a $500 million offer in cash and stock from Facebook, in part because Twitter’s investors couldn’t agree on whether Facebook’s stock was worth as much as Facebook claimed. Apple is likely to pay cash and it would be hard for Twitter’s board to say no. Quite way Apple would buy the site is anyone’s guess. Most of the Apple fan bois seem to think it is to stick it on the iPhone. But Apple gets those users whether or not it owns the outfit or not. Apple has very little in the way of web expertise and its Safari product lags as an also ran in the market. Apple is also closed secretive and paranoid while Twitter is open. In short we don’t think this rumour has legs.

GameFly Launches Game Answers

by Greg Mueller

Online rental hub and Shacknews parent company GameFly today launched Game Answers, a question and answers site focused specifically on video games.”Game Answers is intended help gamers quickly get answers to specific questions about the games they’re playing, without spending a lot of time searching through FAQs or message boards,” said GameFly co-founder Sean Spector.

Registered users can ask questions and post answers about video games in topics such as Game Walkthroughs and Hardware & Accessories.

In addition to the basic question and answer functionality of the site, users… Read more

Twitter hacker gets job

Written by Nick Farrell

After crashing the site The kids who crashed the social networking site Twitter have not only come clean about their antics but have apparently asked the outfit for a job. “Mikeyy” and “StalkDaily,” crashed the tweet-fest for the first time over the weekend, leaving thousands of unwanted messages in its wake. Messages directed users to StalkDaily.com and said things such as “Mikeyy I am done.,” “Twitter please fix this” and “Twitter hire Mikeyy.” It looks like while Twitter will not hire Mikeyy, someone else has thought it a good idea to give 17-year-old Michael “Mikeyy” Mooney a job. The teenage programmer told ABCNews.com that after claiming responsibility for the attacks, two companies contacted him with job offers. The New York teen said that he started programming in the sixth grade and over the past few years he’s developed about five computer worms. Mooney said that he created the Twitter worm, to show the social networking site that there was a problem.

The Pirate Bay members get 1 year in prison

Written by Lars-Göran Nilsson

Friday, 17 April 2009 11:19

Damages of up to €2.7 million The Stockholm tingsrätt (district court) has finally delivered its verdict in the Pirate Bay case and all four members of the Pirate Bay has been sentenced to serve one year in prison and to pay damages of as much as 30 million SEK (€2.7 million). This is a very unusual ruling in Sweden and it’s the first time ever someone has been given a prison sentence for file sharing, anywhere in the world as far as we’re aware. The reason behind the prison sentence and the high fines are according to the court statement because the Pirate Bay has promoted the spreading of copyrighted materials in a significant way and it was also deemed that the Pirate Bay had been run as a commercial business with intent to make a profit. Carl Lundströms lawyer is calling it a “grave failure of justice” while Fredrik Neijs lawyer is surprised at the verdict and goes on to say that “30 million SEK is an enormous amount”. Details seemed to have leaked from the court late last night, as Peter Sunde was expecting them to lose based on information he’d been given last night. Considering that the Pirate Bay only has made about 10 million SEK (about €900,000) according to the prosecutor, although this was a low estimation, one has to wonder how the court could come up with the 30 million SEK figure. It’s unlikely that this money will ever be paid in damages, at least if we’re to believe the defendants who say that all the money they’ve made on the Pirate Bay has gone into investing in new equipment and bandwidth costs. At the end of the day, things aren’t likely to end here, as all four of the defendants are set to take the case to the high court in Stockholm. The Pirate Bay will hold a press conference today at 13.00 CET and a link is said to be posted on the Pirate Bay ahead of it kicking off. The Pirate Bay won’t be closing anytime soon though, at least not according to a recent statement on the site. Below are a list of damages that each of the media companies wanted from the Pirate Bay, although the court only granted them a total which was less than one third of the total claims. Damages in euro: Sony Music €41,467 Universal Music €73,782 Playground Music €28,159 Bonnier Amigo €4,290 EMI €162,988 Warner Music €146,484 Damages in SEK: Yellow Bird film 3,150,000 kr Nordisk film 225,000 kr Warner Bros 2,484,225 kr MGM and Columbia Pictures 5,579,325 kr 20th Century Fox 10.822.500 kr Warner 714,000 kr Fox och Mars media 4,495,950 kr

Time Warner backs off on caps

Written by David Stellmack

Friday, 17 April 2009 05:51

Tiered bandwidth plans on shelf Time Warner Cable has apparently heard the cries of customers who are vehemently opposed to the plans that the company had to move toward a tiered pricing structure with bandwidth caps. The company has been testing the new program in Beaumont, Texas with much success, according to the company. The company had announced that it would start moving toward bringing this tiered pricing structure with bandwidth caps to other markets. However, at least for the moment the company has shelved these plans, and a discussion between New York Senator Chuck Schumer and cable exec Glenn Britt could have a lot to do with the company now saying that it was a “misunderstanding” of the company’s plans. Customers seem to be overwhelming opposed to the change, and sources say that the company now understands this fact. However, the company is still going to move forward with plans to roll out software that will let customers know how much actual bandwidth they are using per month. Sources suggest that many ISPs have been hurt by the “no bandwidth limit” model and many providers are combating “bandwidth hogs” (who are a select few) that consume much of the total bandwidth that ISPs have at their disposal. Bandwidth caps are one way that ISPs are trying to battle bandwidth hogging. However, many believe that most ISPs that want to move to a bandwidth cap pricing structure actually want to do it in order to help pay for expensive bandwidth capacity upgrades that have become necessary due to ISPs overselling the available bandwidth that they currently have. Many ISPs are in desperate need of expensive bandwidth and infrastructure upgrades, and this is one way that could help pay for the process. Many consumers also contend that they are already paying too much for the service and speed provided by their ISPs, and while the infrastructure upgrades may be necessary, most customers are unwilling to pay more for bandwidth to help foot the ISPs bill.

Founders of Skype want their company back

Written by Nick Farrell

Prepared to pay less for it The New York Times claims that the Skype founders are trying to buy back the Voice over IP phone service from Google. Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis sold their company to eBay four years ago for $2.6 billion and now they want to buy it back for about $2 billion. Sources told The New York Times the two men have been meeting with private equity firms and gathering their own funds to finance the deal. According to Skype, its service has more than 405 million registered users. The compares with 54 million users when eBay bought it in 2005. However eBay admits that it bought something it really can’t do much with and it has said that it is  willing to sell it for the right price. The Times reported that a source with knowledge of the plans said that Zennstrom and Friis are working toward a deal worth $2 billion. So we guess they think that it has lost value over the years.

Mininova breaks download records

Written by Nick Farrell

8,000,000,000 downloads over Easter One of the world’s most visited BitTorrent sites, broke another download record over the Easter break. Mininova showed that it had 8,000,000,000  downloads, which is enough for every person in the world to have one. Normally Mininova’s visitors have been downloading well over 10 million torrents a day and performing an equal number of searches on the site. The site might even be expanding as India starts to warm to torrents as broadband becomes more widespread.  Traffic from India has doubled, and with 1.1 billion people and only a couple million broadband subscribers to date, there is a huge amount of untapped potential. The Dutch based outfit is awaiting a trial which is likely to decide its future.

Time Warner Revises, Defends Bandwidth Caps: ‘Unlimited Usage at Turbo Speeds’ $150 Per Month

by Chris Faylor

As it continues to field test metered bandwidth usage in the U.S., internet provider Time Warner has revised, detailed and defended its current and upcoming trials.The revisions include a lower-priced entry plan and higher data caps. The company argues that tiered plans–in which customers have a set bandwidth limit and are charged if they go over–are necessary because “Internet demand is rising at a rate that could outpace capacity within a few years” and “could result in Internet brownouts.”

Overage charges will be limited to $75 per month. “That means that for $150 per month customers could have virtually unlimited usage at Turbo speeds,” said the company.

Time Warner is not alone in its hopes to bring the model, which is already used overseas, to the United States. Many worry about the impact this could have on gaming, especially as digital downloads and streaming services like OnLive gain popularity.

The company stressed that these are trials, adding “our plans will evolve as well and aren’t set in stone” and that it looks “forward to more dialogue as we… Read more