Group items tagged

Netflix has decided to scrap plans to split their business into two separate operations: Netflix was to be just for online streaming, while the brand new Qwikster would handle the DVD by mail arm ofBefore they decided to change their minds, back when Qwikster was first announced, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings mentioned that the company would be bringing video games to their library.  the service. Now, however, Qwikster appears to be dead.

Hulu, which has been shopping itself around this year, is no longer for sale. Hulu's owners-Disney, News Corp, Comcast, and Providence Equity Partners-put the online TV site up for bid and got some serious offers from Google, Dish Networks, and Amazon. Even Yahoo supposedly took a look. But in the end, Hulu's owners didn't get the bids they wanted.

Sean Parker doesn't think that Facebook has a privacy problem. Kicking off the Web 2.0 Summit today, when pressed on how Facebook is increasingly becoming creepy in terms of how much of our lives it is tracking, he notes, "There is good creepy, and there is bad creepy." But from his perspective, the privacy issues are manageable as long as users are able to control what and how they share what they do online.

Wemo Media has partnered with top animators from Avatar and Tron, the director of MIT's Media Lab and other high profile activists for an ambitious, underwater animation project called theBlu. TheBlu is a project to replicate the entire ocean system, from North America to Asia. It is part social network, part educational tool and part art project. The program will also have a feature where newly designed aquatic creatures can be bought and sold at theBlu's marketplace, which will feature common fish, user creations and exotic or rare animals tied to "philanthropic missions." Currently theBlu is in a closed beta.

Why is it that President Barack Obama needs social media if he hopes to be re-elected next year? In 2008, 66% of his voters were 29 and younger, who are so invested in their social networking. So why not try it again? Without their support, he can pretty much kiss his presidency goodbye. Without them, he has no second term, so it is in his best interest to get online.

When most thieves commit a crime they try to get away from police. However looks like karma got back at a man who stole a woman's cell phone. He tried uploading a picture onto facebook through her phone but the phone was set to automatically post it to her wall. This gives police pretty much all they need to catch him.

Instrapaper lets you save online articles to your Instrapaper account and sync them to various devises, of which you can read them later. (mobile diigo?) Recently, the iPhone/iPad app got a 'humongaulous' update that touches and improves every way you interact with the app. "Navigation, reading experience, Search, Browsing-all tweaked for the more gooder."  At it's current priced however, i would not download this app.

Now Mortal Kombat was one of my favorite games since I played Mortal Kombat 1, yea I was around 5 when i was playing it with my bro, don't ask why I played it or how I still remember. But this is some stupid shit that I just read. So according to Wired, Mortal Kombat showed that we might have to pay for online in the future. Like Xbox Live wasn't enough.

Now when a Video Game is released, there is always DLC (Downloadable Content) to be released shortly after, but almost 50% of gamer's don't want to buy them, and the top reason is Security. And this tells why, according to Wired but personally I think that 1. That people are scared to buy anything online due to a recent oopsie when PSN got hacked, plus according to Inside Gaming at Machinima.com is that Xbox live got hacked two. And 2 is why wont they just go to a store and buy a points card at a store, they cant be THAT lazy...right?

As an eReader owner, I find this very interesting. On an eReader, you can highlight sections of a passage in an eBook and it will save it for future reference. Now, Findings, a social corporation, has turned into "an online destination where readers can collect, share, discuss, and discover such highlights from eBooks and web texts," which basically means that you can now share your highlights with the world on Findings. Not very impressive, I know, but for an eReader owner, it is useful. You can look up someone else's saved passages from a book you don't even own, so there's a way this technology can help you out in this world - save a couple dollars.

A new way to watch your videos online? SoundCloud is the new website to watch your videos that could be the next YouTube the reason being that it has increased penetration of smartphones with microphones, and also better audio while doing other activities an example would be listening to SoundCloud in the car. I think that SoundCloud is good way to watch videos and i think i would use it.

Any Twitter users out there? Twitter is reportedly testing some new design changes, which features your main timeline becoming expandable, so you can see media and related information smack dab in the timeline, as opposed to beside the timeline or on another page. This can speed up and shorten the time you spend on Twitter, and improve users' feelings and experiences. Trying to get more people online, Twitter? If this tests well, we will see a new Twitter, and maybe a lot more people tweeting.

The "Bitcoin rush" is very similar to what the gold rush was in the 1800s. Only a virtual version. BitCoins are a form of digital currency that  Driven by the Bitcoins value of around 256.00 USD, people have set up rooms with high-tech PC's dedicated to mining BitCoin.

This article is about new apps that help disabled people. Many computer science researchers have been looking for an app that would help the disabled, and now they have created a few. One is called VizWiz. This is an app that helps the visually impaired. The user takes a picture of what he/she has a question about, asks a question, and receives an answer by a worker at Mechanical Turk. Mechanical Turk is a service, featuring many people that answer questions. Another app is Scribe. This app helps the deaf and hearing-impaired. Users send an audio stream to many of the Scribe workers who provide real time transcription. Since only highly trained transcribers with special equipment can transcribe all of the words in a live stream, Scribe coordinates a group of six or seven amateurs to transcribe the stream.

        In this article it talks about companies trying to trademark the name "Python" for their server products. The company "Veber" is trying to trademark exclusive right to use Python for software, servers, and web services everywhere in Europe. After briefly explaining what the company is trying to do the article teaches people how they could help stop this from happening.      The article tells the readers to send emails tops psf-trademarks@python.org telling them how they use Python and send them any published information mentioning the Python language. By doing this they can prove that Python the programming language is used everywhere and not only the language the name as well. With this they can top Python from becoming an exclusive trademark.

This article shows how people will react to new tablets.  People seem to be very interested in tablets, despite cost.  Many large companies in the U.S. and Canada, such as Best Buy and Future Shop, reported low stocks of the new Microsoft Surface Pro.  Microsoft will continue to develop new tablets/computers like their new Surface Pro, as consumers show an interest for these new technologies such as tablets.  The only units left in consistent stock are the 64GB, as people favor the 128Gb units over their lesser counter-parts.  I think that Microsoft will earn a lot of profit because of this new software that they are producing, as consumers are willing to but expensive tablets that come with new features.  Other companies as well as microsoft will capatilize on this willingness, and we will surely see new software similiar to this in the future. 

The main idea of this article is that a great amount of social networking websites can view everything on your account, deleted or not. This is a major breach of privacy because when a user hits 'Delete' they expect it to erase it entirely. This is not entirely true. This also applies to private chat conversations. As a major breach of privacy, this information is easily available no matter how hard you tried to get rid of it. This is an important article because it applies to everyone, including employees. This means that your employer can view any unsavory pictures or posts that you have posted. But is this a bad thing? This technology can be used to catch any criminal activity. Does this mean you should stop using private conversations? No, this means that if you are dealing with anything of a sensitive nature, use a phone.

Good Luck

       Last year american congress introduced CISPA (Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act). Although this act  speaks of protection it does quite the opposite. With this act almost all privacy on the internet will disappear. Despite many people opposing this bill last year a new version of this bill has been released this year. This CISPA 2.0 would grant immunity to private companies who can share your data with other companies, private agencies, and the government. This means that your private information and cybersecurity is virtually non-existent and can be shared with anyone. At the end of the article it tells people how they can fight against this bill. Although this bill is for the united states, Canada has attempted to pass a bill like it in the past and I personally do not want any bills of this sort to pass legislature.

College students now how a purpose to play their games. The company Grantoo is allowing companies to sponsor these students playing the games. What happens is that students can have online gaming tournaments on the web, and if they win, anything from 10% to 100% of their winnings will go to a charity of their choice, and the rest will go towards their school tuition. Not only does this help the students with money, but ti also makes them more aware of what they can accomplish when they help out other people/charities.