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This week, Zero Punctuation reviews Rust, Starbound and 7 Days to Die.

One of the most stupid selfies ever: a Polish prisoner's photo, taken on a contraband mobile phone smuggled into the prison, showing a lush, equally contraband and definitely illegal cannabis plant he grew from seed in his cell.

In case you were wondering, Hank Green of SciShow offers an explanation.

SMBC

Daring and provocative fashion portraiture by Marco Tenaglia.

Hundreds of ISPs all over the world limit and restrict BitTorrent traffic on their networks. Unfortunately, this is something that most of these companies are quite secretive about.

Thanks to data collected by Measurement Lab (M-Lab) the public is now able to take a look at the frequency of these BitTorrent throttling practices. Among other tools, M-Lab runs the Glasnost application developed by the Max Planck Institute.

At TorrentFreak we have been keeping an eye on the changes in BitTorrent meddling among ISPs around the world, and today’s data is the latest installment. The throttling percentages for various countries and ISPs are based on M-Lab tests that were performed between December 2012 and December 2013.

Looking at the list of countries where at least 100 tests were performed, South Korea (74%), Malaysia (61%) and Singapore (53%) come out on top. Poland is the first European country with 35%, quickly followed by the UK with 28%.

Greece and Romania stand out in a positive sense, as only 7% and 9% of the tested BitTorrent connections were limited. The United States, Canada and Australia perform relatively well too, with throttling rates of 14%, 17% and 18% respectively.

BitTorrent throttling % country ranking (Dec. 12 to Dec 13)

The next step is to look in more detail at several of the individual countries to see which ISPs throttle the most.

United States

BitTorrent throttling in the US is not as prevalent as it used to be. After Comcast was exposed for interfering with customers’ file-sharing traffic, the throttling percentage took a dive from nearly 50% to only 3% in the period between 2010 and 2012.

Over the past year, however, Comcast’s throttling levels started to rise again to 12%. Cox is currently the worst of the larger ISPs when it comes to BitTorrent throttling with 13%, more than double what it was in early 2012.

Verizon runs the least interference on the BitTorrent traffic of its customers, 6% for Verizon business and 9% for regular accounts.

Worst: Cox (13%)

Best: Verizon (6%)

UK

In the UK, BitTorrent throttling rates are relatively high. Orange is currently the worst offender as it limits 38% of the tested connections. BT comes in second place with 35%, which is down from 65% during the first months of 2012.

At TalkTalk and BSkyB BitTorrent users are better off with throttling percentages of 10% and 17% respectively. For BSkyB this is a hefty increase, as the throttling rate is up from only 4% two years ago.

Worst: BT and Orange (35 and 38%)

Best: TalkTalk (10%)

Canada

Traditionally, nearly all of the major Internet providers in Canada have been heavy throttlers. Rogers in particular has a bad reputation, as it limited more than three-quarters of all BitTorrent traffic for years on end. This year, however, there are signs of improvement.

During 2013 Rogers interfered with only 20% of all BitTorrent transfers, down from 80% two years ago. Bell has shown the most progress though, moving 77% to 8% this year. Eastlink is currently the worst performing ISP in Canada, limiting 31% of all tested connections.

BitTorrent users in Canada are best off at Cogeco and Telus with 3% and 0% respectively.

Worst: Eastlink (31%)

Best: Bell (8%)

Australia

BitTorrent is extremely popular in Australia, but over the past year BitTorrent throttling has been relatively moderate.

iiNet is the worst offender interfering with 21% of BitTorrent downloads, up from 11%. Dodo performs the best of the larger ISPs, with a throttling rate of 12%.

Worst: iiNet (21%)

Best: Dodo (12%)

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All in all we can say that BitTorrent traffic is still heavily limited, mostly in Asia. In all countries there are quite large differences between various ISPs. For BitTorrent users it is wise to ask ISPs about their traffic management policies and take a look at the M-Lab data before signing up.

If we haven’t mentioned your Internet Provider above, an overview of all the data is available here. Those who want to know whether BitTorrent traffic is being limited by their ISP can test their connection with the Glasnost tool.

Source: TorrentFreak, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing and VPN services.

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Netflix has made quite a name for itself, after all it happens to be the largest online subscription streaming service in the world. It has seen steady growth over the past few quarters, its rapidly expanding library and critically acclaimed original content such as House of Cards and Orange is the new Black certainly helped to an extent. Due to make an official announcement later today, Bloomberg estimates that U.S. Netflix subscribers have now crossed 33.1 million, with roughly 2.05 million being added in the previous quarter alone.

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Total Netflix Subscribers Expected To Have Crossed 33 Million original content from Ubergizmo.

When you have the undivided attention of one of the richest man in the world, who also happens to be an outstanding philanthropist as well as the co-founder of a company called Microsoft, the last thing you want to do is commit a faux pas. Unfortunately, that’s exactly what late night talk show host Jimmy Fallon did. Gates was on the show to talk about his various philanthropic activities, notably the global campaign against polio, the show started off nicely with Fallon even branding Gates as “cool.” Things got a little awkward when Fallon noticed Gates eyeing his laptop, which if you have ever seen the show, has always been a MacBook, with an Apple mouse and keyboard on the side.

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Jimmy Fallon Awkwardly Hides MacBook While Interviewing Bill Gates original content from Ubergizmo.

Sometimes it’s just like food media outlets in other countries are playing a kind of flavor Mad Libs: [Ingredient not usually in American snacks] + [Another ingredient not usually in American snacks] + [Brand name] =  snack concoction the American will inevitably buzz about. Oh, hello, Shrimp Mayonnaise Doritos. Because we live in the U.S. it’s not like we’ll even come into contact with items like the S.M. Doritos or Mountain Dew Cheetos, but that won’t stop our stomachs from imagining what it would be like to eat them.

And our stomachs (and minds, sure, whatever) are often boggled.

The Shrimp Mayonnaise flavor is part of Frito-Lay’s gourmet line in Japan, and will only be available until March 17, reports UPI. That’s when leprechaun-and-sriracha-flavored chips hit the shelves. We’re kidding… OR ARE WE?

If seafood isn’t quite what you’re seeking in a chip, consider other entrants in the gourmet line: Corn potage, camembert cheese or mushrooms with butter and soy sauce. Dinner is served!

And since most of you reading this won’t actually go to Japan to eat any of those, just pick whichever one makes your stomach flip the most and tell everyone about it, because that’s about all we can do with these wacky flavors stateside.

*Thanks for the tip, David!

Japan welcomes Shrimp Mayonnaise Doritos to shelves as part of ‘gourmet’ line [UPI.com]

It didn’t seem like much of a surprise when a survey released earlier this week showed subscription video-on-demand services were on the rise and that premium TV subscriptions had declined. But the results were a surprise, at least to the three largest premium TV networks.

Officials with HBO, Showtime and Starz are calling the NPD Group survey inaccurate, saying they have each increased subscribers, the Los Angeles Times reports.

The NPD report found that Premium TV subscriptions declined by 6% over the past two years, while subscriptions to SVOD products, such as Netflix and Hulu Plus, increased by 4%.

HBO, Showtime and Starz officials say the study doesn’t reflect accurate subscriber counts. The NPD Group said the survey findings are based on the analysis of 450,000 consumer transactions and surveys of 7,500 people.

HBO officials say they added 1.9 million customers in 2012 and they expect a similar figure in 2013. At Starz, officials say the network added 1.2 million subscribers in the last 12 months, while Showtime says they added 1 million subscribers each year in six of the last seven years.

While officials aren’t happy with the NPD survey results, it wasn’t all bad news for them. The study found that premium TV still had the upper hand when it came to consumers. In August 2013, 32% of U.S. households had premium TV subscriptions, while 27% of households had a SVOD subscription.

Showtime, HBO, Starz blast NPD study that says they lost subscribers [The Los Angeles Times]

Buying in bulk might seem like a great idea, if you have the time and storage needed to deal such large quantities. But with more retailers offering coupons, in-store promotions and customer loyalty programs is buying in bulk really a good deal? And what items are even good in bulk?

Parade recently listed the top five items to buy in bulk. While the author makes some good points, we just don’t agree on some.

First of all, meat. Buying meat in bulk can be a huge saver, although a bit gross. I always cringed when my mom would bring home a huge tube of ground chuck. She would spend close to an hour dismembering the package and scooping out portions to be frozen.

That’s an hour of time she will never get back. Sure she saved 30 cents a pound, but she lost three shelves in the freezer that could have been used to hold popsicles. Not to mention you pretty much have to invest in a food saver or you’re going to have freezer burn all over that raw meat.

Moving on to paper products.

A 20-roll package of paper towels seems like a fabulous deal when you figure each roll costs about 70 cents. But where are you going to put them in your tiny one bedroom apartment? Do you stuff them under the bed with your reams of bulk printer paper that was such a good deal two years ago? How about strategically placing them throughout the kitchen cabinets? The paper might not expire but it’s taking up a lot of your living space and you’ll eventually start giving them out to your friends as party gifts.

Now something like toilet paper, I can get behind buying that in bulk. It’s always in demand. However, Forbes says that’s just not a good deal in bulk. Why? Because grocery stores or your local CVS probably have a better deal than what you’re paying for the 30 pack at Costco.

So while bulk buying seems like a great idea, especially if you have the space and time to make sure your actually getting a good deal, sometimes it’s just not worth it. Oh and don’t even get us started on the fuzzy math some companies use to promote bulk items.

Here are the top 5 things to buy in bulk, as described by Parade: paper towels, meat, diapers, coffee and bottled water.

Here are a few things you shouldn’t buy in bulk: nuts, toilet paper, pop (or soda – whichever you prefer), brown rice, chips and cooking oil.

Do you have a favorite item to buy in bulk or an item you bought in bulk that was totally not worth it? Let us know at tips@consumerist.com. Be sure to use “BULK BUYING” in the subject line.

The 5 Best Items to Buy in Bulk [Parade]

Previously: 8-Bit Pulp Fiction

[cinefix]

Imagine looking up on your daily commute and catching this crazy visual trickery in the sky! Yesterday, Youtube user melkiy582 captured a massive halo of light was seen around the sun on the horizon in Moscow—a cool atmospheric phenomenon known by an even cooler name: Sundog.

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