12/04/2010 by 0iD.

According to Gizmodo the new tablet on the block from gnet search giant Google won’t be sporting their Chrome OS as we know it. Not bad after the slagging it gave the iPad as an over-grown and under-featured iPhone.

 Still, I’d like one… anyone care to donate? Just let me know

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07/04/2010 by 0iD.

Apparently, according to The Guardian, Microsoft has announced this morning that it’s moving the UK release date of Alan Wake forward to 14 May.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/gamesblog/2010/apr/07/alan-wake-release-gamecity

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07/04/2010 by 0iD.

Just two years after AOL acquired teen-centric social networking site Bebo for a paltry $850 million, it is now set to close it forever.

AOL had hoped to boost it’s profile and membership to enable it to become a viable competitor to sites like Facebook & Myspace, but to no avail.

The purchase of the site was always viewed with some scepticism but those within the industry, and now it seems AOL has all but ‘fessed-up and admitted it paid too much for what was always going to be a bit of a millstone.

Full story here:  http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/technology/article7089774.ece#cid=OTC-RSS&attr=1063742

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07/04/2010 by 0iD.

In a last-ditch effort to push through some last minute reforms in the Finance Bill, before Parliament is dissolved for the upcoming election, the controversial 50p Broadband Tax has been dropped from the bill.

The aim of the tax was to finance the supply of broadband to areas where it was unprofitable to supply the service, and also to provide money for updating existing networks.

It was estimated the tax, on anyone with a telephone landline, would have generated around £170m GBP/year.

Additionally dropped in the finance bill were the 10% tax on cider, unpopular with apple growers, chavs & students alike, and also the proposed tax relief on holiday homes. Shame.

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24/03/2010 by 0iD.

Online Social Networks Bridge Gaps for Chronically Ill

Posted by the New York Times, this article explores the use of the internet, and specifically social networking sites by those too ill to socialise any other way.

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24/03/2010 by 0iD.

Landmark legal battle now means P2P File-Sharing and Link Sites have been Declared Legal in Spain.

In a landmark decision, the ripples of which are bound to have worldwide ramifications for the entertainment industry and file sharers alike. According to tie article posted on file sharing info site TorrentFreak, it was as a result of a case brought against link site owner Jesus Guerra by SGAE (Sociedad General de Autores y Editores or General Society of Authors and Editors, similar to our own Performing Rights Society aka PRS).

SGAE wanted to prosecute Mr Guerra for alleged abuse of copyright by the members of his site.

In the initial hearing, held in June 2009 SGAE sought to get an injunction to close the site down with immediate effect, in an effort to protect the intellectual property rights of its members. However, the judge surprisingly accepted the stance of Mr Guerra, who insisted his site was legal, providing the same links that could be found on any search engine.

The Judge, Raul N. García Orejudo dismissed the SGAEs request to shut the site with immediate effect stating: “P2P networks, as a mere transmission of data between Internet users, do not violate, in principle, any right protected by Intellectual Property Law.”

Now the case has been heard in its entirety, the outcome is nothing short of catastrophic for SGAE. Pivotal points in the case were firstly: Was merely providing a link to copyrighted material the same as the average search engine would provide, the same as distributing it.

Secondly: Did Mr Guerra actually make any money directly from providing this facility to the members of his site.

On both counts, the Judge found in favour of the site owner, stating that he considered non-profit file-sharing sites are legal, “P2P networks are mere conduits for the transmission of data between Internet users, and on this basis they do not infringe rights protected by Intellectual Property laws,”

This means that now in Spain, if someone wishes to use P2P networks like BitTorrent to source copyrighted material, as long as it is for non-profit reasons, it is entirely legal.

No doubt SGAE will appeal against the ruling.

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24/03/2010 by 0iD.

Add a Cache Clearing Button to Firefox

Nice walthro on How-To Geek on how to create your own cache-clearing button in Firefox for the privacy conscious

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24/03/2010 by 0iD.

Good old AVG, longtime purveyors of the famous AVG Free Antivirus software are now offering another great freebie.

“The AVG Rescue CD is a powerful must-have toolkit for the rescue and repair of infected machines. It provides essential utilities for system administrators and other IT professionals and includes the following features:

• Comprehensive administration toolkit
• System recovery from virus and spyware infections
• Suitable for recovering MS Windows and Linux operating systems (FAT32 and NTFS file systems)
• Ability to perform a clean boot from CD or USB stick
• Free support and service for paid license holders of any AVG product
• FAQ and Free Forum self-help support for AVG Free users”

Get it direct from AVG >HERE<

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24/03/2010 by 0iD.

Facebook to open support centre in India 

According to the latest post on the Facebook Blog, the company is opening a new support centre in India. This comes only a week after the same blog announced that it was opening a new support office in the US.

In the statement, the reason for the new India office, it’s second international office, (the first being in Dublin, Ireland), was to support its burgeoning community around the globe.

Facebook now has more than 400 million users worldwide, seventy percent of which are situated outside the US.

“By having multiple support centres in a variety of time zones, we can provide better round-the-clock, multi-lingual support.” States Don Faul, a director of global online operations at Facebook and the originator of the blog article. “The new offices come at a significant time in our international growth. Seventy percent of the people using Facebook are outside the U.S. and are accessing the service from more than 70 languages. In India alone, we’ve seen rapid growth and now have more than 8 million people there actively connecting on Facebook with their friends, family, and other people they know, both within India and around the globe.”

The new support centre will be situated in India’s burgeoning tech-hub Hyderabad, also known as “Cyberabad”, and more traditionally, “City of Pearls”. The city is also home to the largest Microsoft R&D centre outside the US, as well as other well known tech giants like Dell, HP, Amazon, Google and many more.

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24/03/2010 by 0iD.

Facebook secures patent for News Feed

According to All Facebook, the social networking giant has finally secured a patent for “Dynamically providing a news feed about a user of a social network” (i.e. news feed) , first filed with the US Patent Office in 2006. The full approved application ac be viewed online at patft.uspto.gov, and will undoubtedly have far-reaching consequences for sites such as Twitter and Google Buzz, and many others. Other sites using anything remotely resembling the techniques outlined in the patent document could see themselves embroiled in lengthy and costly legal wrangling if they wish to use the technology without agreement.

The patent credits Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, along with other top Facebook executives with the invention. To what ends this will affect the social networking community is unknown as yet, and can only be speculated at, at this time, as the details contained therein read as being general and ambivalent.

The resultant fallout ensuing from the publicizing of this document will no doubt play out over the coming weeks and months.

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