There are hundreds of millions of pirate files inhabiting the Internet and it’s fair to say that many of those are music tracks. As a result, the world’s leading record labels, who together claim 90%+ of the market, spend significant sums making those files more awkward to find.
For sites like The Pirate Bay, which point-blank refuses to remove any torrents whatsoever, the labels have little option than to head off to Google. There the search giant will remove Pirate Bay links from its indexes so that users won’t immediately find them.
However, rather than engaging a link whack-a-mole, the best solution by far is to remove the content itself. Perhaps surprisingly, many of the world’s leading file-lockers (even ones labeled ‘rogue’ by the United States), allow copyright holders direct back-end access to their systems so they can remove content themselves. It doesn’t really get any fairer than that, and here’s the issue.
This week, while looking at Google’s Transparency Report, TF noticed that during the past month massive file-hosting site 4shared became the record labels’ public enemy number one. In just four weeks, Google received 953,065 requests for 4shared links to be taken down, the majority of them from record labels. In fact, according to Google the BPI has complained about 4shared a mind-boggling 6.75 million times overall.
So, is 4shared refusing to cooperate with the BPI, hence the group’s endless complaints to Google? That conclusion might make sense but apparently it’s not the case. In fact, it appears that 4shared operates a removal system that is particularly friendly to music companies, one that not only allows them to take content down, but also keep it down.
“Throughout the years 4shared developed several tools for copyright owners to protect their content and established a special team that reacts to copyright claims in timely manner,” 4shared informs TorrentFreak.
“We don’t completely understand BPI’s reasons for sending claims to Google instead of using our tools. From our point of view the best and most effective way for copyright holders to find and remove links to the content they own is to use our music identification system.”
To find out more, TF spoke with the BPI. We asked them to comment on 4shared’s takedown tools and in the light of their existence why they choose to target Google instead. After a few friendly back-and-forth emails, the group declined to comment on the specific case.
“We prefer to comment on our overall approach on search rather than on individual sites, which is to focus on known sources of wide scale piracy and to use a number of tools to tackle this problem,” a BPI spokesman explained.
“Notice-sending represents just one part of the measures available to us, along with site blocking and working with the Police to reducing advertising on copyright infringing sites.”
We asked 4shared to reveal other copyright holders using their system, but the site declined on privacy grounds. However, it’s clear that the BPI isn’t a user and 4shared have their own ideas why that might be.
“It’s possible that BPI goes for quantity not quality,” TF was told.
“If they are trying to increase the number of links in reports or for PR reasons, they probably use a bot to harvest and send links to Google despite the fact that such an approach may also result in false claims.”
The “PR” angle is an interesting one. Ever since Google began publishing its Transparency Report rightsholders have used it to demonstrate how bad the piracy problem is. Boosting those numbers certainly helps the cause.
But is it possible, perhaps, that the BPI doesn’t trust the 4shared system. They didn’t answer our questions on that front either but it seems unlikely since 4shared uses EchoPrint, a solution purchased by Spotify earlier this year.
“Our music identification system which is based on Echoprint technology will not only find all matching content but will also restrict sharing of all potential future uploads of such content,” 4shared concludes.
Take-down-and-stay-down is the Holy Grail for anti-piracy companies. It’s a solution being pushed for in the United States in the face of what rightsholders say is a broken DMCA. On that basis there must be a good reason for the BPI not wanting to work with 4shared and it has to be said that the company’s “PR” theory proves more attractive than most.
The volume of notices in Google’s Transparency Report provide believable evidence of large-scale infringement and it’s certainly possible that the BPI would prefer to have 4shared blocked in the UK than work with the site’s takedown tools.
Last Wednesday we reported a particularly miserable situation between the RIAA and a near 20-year-old radio fansite.
Around since 1996, ReelRadio is a service dedicated to streaming historical radio shows, specifically decades-old ‘aircheck’ demo recordings which were often used to showcase radio announcers before being placed in the archives.
ReelRadio isn’t some ‘rogue’ site determined to avoid paying artists. The site does its bit by paying a proper license, but last week the RIAA decided that it needed to more strictly enforce its terms. Trouble is, those terms are so restrictive that not only will the site have to drastically reduce its user experience in order to comply, in some instances it may actually prove impossible to meet the terms.
Sadly, TorrentFreak has discovered that ReelRadio isn’t on its own. The RIAA has also been contacting other sites with demands for compliance. On July 11, PatesTapes.com, a site dedicated to vinyl-to-tape-to-digital mixtape archives created by Charles Pates, also received a letter from the industry group.
“The demands are almost exactly the same as what ReelRadio is reporting – remove ‘archived recordings’ after two weeks and ‘archive recordings’ must be longer than five hours. In our case, saying what is in the recording before it plays is a no-no,” PatesTapes’ Dennis Wallace informs TF.
What makes the RIAA’s pressure even more unpalatable is the entirely not-for-profit nature of PatesTapes. In fact, the site deliberately generates absolutely no revenue whatsoever yet chooses to pay ASCAP, BMI and SoundExchange a total of $5,000 in licensing fees to keep things above board.
“It’s a total labor of love,” Wallace told TF.
“[The site] has a small but passionate following (a steady 200 listeners per day over several years), and the typical listener would put on a tape and let it auto-play from tape to tape within the same category over the course of the next several hours,” Wallace explains.
Now, however, the future of the site is in the balance. Earlier this week it seemed almost certain that PatesTapes would be closing down but now the team is taking time out to assess their position.
“We had a meeting and we’ll be trying to revive the site rather than shutting down. We’re moving from a ‘pick your tape’ model to more of a ‘pick you stream’ model, based on a longer set list. We are going to be running this past legal minds so we can be more sure about any subsequent challenge,” Wallace adds.
Characteristically for the RIAA, the letter sent to both PatesTapes and ReelRadio concludes with a threat.
“If we do not hear from you by August 22, 2014, we will assume that you do not intend to remedy the violations and will take whatever measures we feel are necessary,” the RIAA warns.
At this point it’s worth noting the contrast between the RIAA’s dealings with the world’s biggest file-sharing sites and the hobbyist services highlighted above. The former pay not a cent in licensing fees and yet carry on unhindered, business as usual, millions of copyrighted items available. The latter, who are paying thousands of dollars in licenses, for little to nothing in return, just to have fun, are having their existences threatened.
It appears that being small and being honest is not only interpreted as a weakness, but also as an opportunity to pull in even more revenue. The question is, however, how many sites like these will simply close down and take their money with them.
It was only yesterday when LG announced the Beat / G3 s, which caters for consumers looking for a mid-range Android smartphone. Today, LG Germany revealed that the new mobile phone will set purchases back €349. The G3 Beat and "G3 s" are the same phone — those in Asia will get the G3 Beat and Europe will receive the "LG G3 s". It's also stated by LG Germany that the G3 s will launch sometime in August, presumably alongside other nearby markets.
You may have prepared for a stressful situation like a job interview, an important meeting, or a presentation, but you're still likely to have some anxiety while you're in the situation. That's normal! Here are some things you can try to ease your anxiety.
Anxiety is not an all-or-nothing condition; it exists on a continuum. When you're feeling anxious, rate your anxiety on a scale from zero to ten, with zero being completely calm and ten being a state of severe anxiety. For example, say to yourself, "Oh, I'm at a seven now. I think I'll take a few deep breaths and see what happens to my anxiety level." After taking a few minutes to focus on your breathing, reassess your level. You'll likely find that your anxiety has decreased, even if only by a point or two. Realizing that your anxiety level doesn't remain constant can reassure you that you won't remain in a high-anxiety state forever. Approach this task with an attitude of curiosity. Say to yourself, "I wonder what will happen to my anxiety level if I do this…"
Notice and Describe Concrete Objects Around You
Another trick you can try if you're having trouble maintaining your calm is to silently describe simple objects in your
environment. For example, talk to yourself about the carpet: "This carpet has a low pile, it's tweedy looking, with mauve and blue in it. It goes nicely with the cream-colored walls." Sometimes it can help to make physical contact with an object. Touch the table you're sitting at, for example, or the material of the chair cushion beneath you.
What does this accomplish? Remember that anxiety is typically future-oriented, concerned with all the catastrophes that might happen. By describing your surroundings, you ground yourself in the present, preventing your anxiety from escalating any further. Before long, you're not noticing your racing heart or your trembling hands quite as much. Once you've settled down a bit, you can then redirect your attention to what you're supposed to be doing.
Focus on Other People
Although it may seem like you're the only one who gets anxious, in reality, there are many others who share your concerns. That means if you're in some type of gathering, perhaps a meeting for example, chances are there will be other people around you who are uncomfortable.
One client I worked with did an experiment of sorts. She hated the monthly department meeting at work that she was required to attend. She believed she was the quietest one there, and that people must think she was a "scared little mouse." At one meeting, she decided to keep track of how many times people spoke. She actually made tally marks on a pad of paper, discreetly of course. To her surprise, she learned that she wasn't the most quiet. In fact, she discovered that there were several people who said absolutely nothing. My client learned that while she wasn't the most outspoken of the group, she certainly wasn't the quietest either. By taking the focus off of herself and instead noticing other people in the office, she was able to shift gears and relax.
Why not try your own experiments? Be creative. Notice who tells the most jokes, who tries to placate the group, and who tries to stir up trouble. Again, this will keep your focus off yourself and your anxiety.
I'm not going to make any false promises. These techniques aren't meant to take away your anxiety completely; that would be unrealistic. But, having a few concrete things to try while in a tough situation may help you feel more confident, and that is a realistic goal to set.
Dr. Barbara Markway, Ph.D., is a psychologist with over twenty years of experience and the author of four books—three on social anxiety/shyness and one on marriage. Her work has been featured in the New York Times, Chicago Tribune, Washington Post, Prevention, Essence, American Health, Real Simple and Web MD. Dr. Markway's recent interests include self-compassion and she writes about her own experiences at The Self-Compassion Project.
Colin Nederkoorn, a startup CEO living in New York City, was unhappy with his Netflix service. He pays Verizon for FiOS service that promises 75Mbps down. But when he tried to stream video, it was a miserable experience, with buffering and low-definition pictures. So Nederkoorn decided to measure the speed of his connection. What he found was that when he was streaming Netflix he was getting speeds of just 375kbps, or 0.5 percent of what he was paying Verizon for.
Take a second to hold down the "S" key and right-click on any image on the web. Whoa, right?
The results vary by browser:
Chrome: This immediately initiates a reverse image search (i.e., searches Google for that image) in a new tab, which can come in pretty handy. It's faster than right-clicking on an image and selecting the search option. (I found this in an infographic about cool browser shortcuts over at Eukhost, but then found that it doesn't work the same in other browsers.)
Firefox: Opens the set image as desktop background window(as shown in the image above at left).
Internet Explorer: Opens the Save Image dialog to save the image to your Pictures folder.
Safari: Immediately highlights the "use image as desktop picture" option in the right-click menu.
It'd be nice if the shortcut was universal, but it's still a shortcut in your browser you might not have known about.
There are currently only two Android Wear watches available for purchase, but HTC has been reportedly planning to throw its hat into the ring too. There's a new render of what may be HTC's Android Wear watch from @evleaks, and it's another square.
First thing's first: this isn't the actual render obtained by @evleaks, but rather a reproduction of it. It's possible the original would have compromised a source, but he doesn't go into detail on that.
We've talked before about how to use AutoVoice, the excellent Tasker plugin, to create a custom voice command for anything on Android. Now, the plugin allows you to tie those commands directly into Google Now, so you can trigger anything you want with a simple "Ok, Google."
The bulk of the work hasn't changed much from our previous guide. If there's a task you can accomplish with Tasker, you can trigger it via a custom voice command. The difference is that now, AutoVoice can use a listening service to draft on Google Now's voice commands. That means you can launch your voice commands from anywhere you can access Google Now, which is an ever-growing category of devices and situations.
As I’ve been on the road for a couple weeks now I’ve seen more than a share of roads recently. So I thought I’d find some pathway and roadway photos to lead you on – hopefully to get out and do some of your own photography.
Chrome: Notes for Gmail is a Chrome extension that lets you add a note to a message as a reminder for the next time you look at it, or add a digest of everything important from a whole email thread. Think of it as post-it notes for your email.
Whether you just want an ongoing document to distill the important parts of a thread that seems like it'll never end, or you just want to add contact information to someone's email where there is none, the Notes for Gmail could prove useful. Once installed, Notes for Gmail adds buttons to your webmail for each message and for the overall message thread. You can add individual sticky notes to individual messages (that show up when you open the message) or to entire threads. You can even set "due dates" for specific messages so you remember to follow up on them.
The notes themselves also have integrated search, so you can quickly sort through them, and a notes-only view that you can toggle at any time. You can even pin notes so they're always visible. We mentioned the tool a while ago when it was in beta, but now it's free and open to all. Hit the link below to learn more or give it a try.
Parliament has passed #DRIP, a sweeping, illegal surveillance bill that doubles down on the old surveillance law, which was struck down by the European Court for violating fundamental human rights.
Read the rest
Twitter wants to make it as easy to buy as it is to tweet. On Tuesday, the company announced the acquisition of CardSpring, a payments startup that makes it easy for developers to add payment services to apps and products.
The social media company has tried to capitalize on e-commerce with tweet-to-buy initiatives that have yet to gain visible steam.
The acquisition of CardSpring will add experts to Twitter's staff who have particular experience helping developers add payments features.
"The CardSpring team and the technology they’ve built are a great fit with our philosophy regarding the best ways to bring in-the-moment commerce experiences to our users," Twitter's head of commerce, Nathan Hubbard, wrote in a blog post.
Twitter's announcement comes on the heels of Facebook's push into payments earlier Thursday. The social network announced it is testing a buy button on pages and advertisements that will let people buy things directly in the social network, without clicking away to a separate online storefront. Twitter likely aims to do something similar.
The service that a few Amazon users spotted making a premature appearance a couple of days ago is today official: Amazon's Kindle Unlimited is a $9.99 subscription that provides access to over 600,000 ebooks and "thousands" of Audible audiobooks. While Amazon touts the Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings series among the titles carrying its new "Read for Free" button for Kindle Unlimited subscribers, this service falls short of giving access to its complete library of content. Amazon sweetens the deal by throwing in a complimentary three-month Audible membership, which expands the audiobook selection to the full range. So Kindle Unlimited has some definite limits on what you can consume, if not how much. You can start a free 30-day trial...
Welcome back to Android Gaming Weekly, our weekly recap of new game releases. We still plan to cover upcoming releases and games we’re playing, but this column is dedicated to new games that you can start playing right now. Check out our top picks and let us know in the comments section if you have any suggestions for next week’s post.
Magic 2015
Description: Experience the world’s best strategy game with Magic 2015—Duels of the Planeswalkers! Hunt bigger game in this all new adventure. Command powerful creatures and wield devastating spells to defeat your opponents in the most exciting Magic yet!
Description: Set in a land on the brink of war, Lionheart Tactics pits your Heroes against hordes of enemies in turn-based combat. Unlock their Skills, unleash their Limit Breaks and upgrade them from Recruit to Legendary.
Description: Fish Out Of Water is the story of six feisty fish longing to soar above the ocean. To help them get airborne, players simply throw their fish of choice right out of the water and watch as it flies through the clouds and skips merrily along the waves! Battle the elements and choose your throw wisely as the weather changes every few minutes. Expect the unexpected with crazy tsunamis, icebergs and even an immense jellyfish swarm!
Description: Embark upon 12 epic labors, spite the Goddess Hera, seek redemption for your sins and prove your worth to all of Greece as Hercules. Swipe your way through the bloodiest ancient battles in the most exciting hack-and-slash game in the Google Play store.
Description: Pick your pet and start matching in this super fun new puzzle game! And it’s free! Blast, splash and blitz your way through tons of exciting levels and challenges while collecting powerful new pets!
Description: Welcome to the Mucho Party! With family, at home, traveling, with friends or even at work, this is the ideal application for two people (or one) to play one of the 3/30 multiplayer games on the same screen.
Description: Landing on an aircraft carrier is one of the most difficult tasks a pilot has to execute. The flight deck is only 150 meters long, just enough to stop the aircraft. Accept the challenge and take on over 30 missions in the world’s most dangerous and spectacular scenarios and join the best Top-Gun pilots.
Description: Travel the world searching for the biggest and baddest foes to beat, looting treasures and gaining strength. Become the best warrior of the land! This rogue-like game is specifically made for the mobile platform. Procedurally generated dungeons with interesting layouts makes it hard to find the end boss.
Description: Flip, grab and grind your way to the longest runs and highest scores in Transworld Endless Skater! Choose from five top pro skaters, each with unique skills, trick lists and goals as you play toward getting them on the cover of Transworld Skateboarding Magazine!
Chances are that you think you know your shoe size and you buy the same size all the time. But according to The Wall Street Journal, it's actually worth measuring your foot about once a year.
An improper fit in your shoes can cause all kinds of problems and it turns out your foot size can change over the course of a year, which is why The Wall Street Journal suggests checking your size once a year:
When was the last time you had your foot measured to check your shoe size?
If the answer is more than a year ago, there is a good chance your shoes are causing you some kind of pain, from pinched toes to unsightly calluses. Foot shape and size can change in small but meaningful ways throughout adulthood, yet time-starved shoppers increasingly order shoes online and forgo proper sizing by a trained salesperson.
When you do get your foot size checked, you're looking for a few key things. Here are some notes to keep in mind when you get your foot measured:
For pain in the heel, known as plantar fasciitis, choose shoes that have proper arch support and sole cushioning
Use a Brannock Device (that metal measuring device at shoe stores) to measure the length and width of the foot and the length of the arch. Shoe size should be a guide, not an absolute. Go with what feels most comfortable.
The ball of the foot is its widest part. if you are unsure about a shoe's fit, outline the sole on a piece of paper and place your bare foot inside to check if it spills over.
Shoes should be a thumb's width longer than the longest toes. If too narrow, shoes can cause a bunion; if too short, they can lead to a hammertoe.
Most importantly, it's just good to keep in mind that you probably don't have a set shoe size. So, even if you tend to shop for shoes online, it's probably good to get a measurement about once a year (preferably in the afternoon), and keep the above tips in mind when you get the shoes in the mail.
The Pirate Bay is without doubt one of the most censored websites on the Internet.
Courts all around the world have ordered Internet providers to block subscriber access to the torrent site and this list continues to expand.
Denmark was one of the first countries to block The Pirate Bay, but the biggest impact came in 2012 when major ISPs in the UK and the Netherlands were ordered to deny their users access to the site.
The entertainment industries have characterized these blockades as a major victory and claim they’re an efficient tool to deter piracy. The question that has thus far remained unanswered, however, is how Pirate Bay’s traffic numbers are being affected. Is the site on the verge of collapsing?
As it turns out, The Pirate Bay hasn’t stopped growing at all. On the contrary, The Pirate Bay informs TorrentFreak that visitor numbers have doubled since 2011.
The graph below shows the growth in unique visitors and pageviews over the past three years. The Pirate Bay chose not to share actual visitor numbers, but monthly pageviews are believed to run into the hundreds of millions.
Pirate Bay traffic
These numbers reveal that the torrent site is still doing quite well, but that doesn’t mean that the blockades are not working. After all, the additional traffic could simply come from other countries.
A better indication for the effectiveness of the blockades are the number of visitors that access the site through proxies. The Pirate Bay told TorrentFreak that roughly 9% of all visitors use proxies. This percentage doesn’t include sites that cache pages.
In other words, a significant percentage of users who don’t have direct access to the site are bypassing court-ordered blockades though proxies.
Interestingly, the United States is by far the biggest traffic source for the notorious torrent site. This is somewhat ironic, as American record labels and movie studios are the driving force behind the blockades in other countries.
All in all it is safe to conclude that censorship is not the silver bullet to stop The Pirate Bay. While it certainly has some impact, there are still millions of people who simply route around the blockades and continue downloading as usual.
Android: Instant search is something you're probably used to on your computer. Search Everything brings the same feature to Android so you can find whatever you're looking for in a flash.
File browsers, like our favorite ES File Explorer, help with file navigation, but searching your device can still be slow. Search Everything makes thing much much faster. The first time you launch the app, it will index the entire contents of your device and present you with an alphabetized list of files.
Of course, you don't want to scroll through a list of thousands of files, so just start typing. As you type, Search Everything will filter on the fly. There's no need to worry about folder structure as the app searches everywhere, and you can search for file names or extensions.
To open a file, just tap it, but if you tap and hold you can access additional options. From the popup menu, you can share or delete files, view properties, or open the folder the file is stored in. In terms of features, Search Everything is fairly lightweight, but its speed of searching is what makes the app really stand out.
New apps need lovin’ too, right? Every day there are thousands of additions to the Google Play Store, but many go unnoticed and never receive the attention they deserve. We’ve shown in the past that this community can discover great apps and propel them to new heights. Our weekly Fresh Meat column highlights new apps with fewer than 100,000 installs. Browse our new Android app picks below and let us know which ones you enjoy.
Flavourit
Description: You like cooking and you enjoy delicious food? Maybe you wish you had a little helper which reminds you of your favorite recipes? flavourit – small enough to practically fit in every pocket – can be your great helper! Create your personal cookbook according to your taste and share your favorite recipes with friends!
Description: This application is only available Android Wear Device. You can view your calendar on your watch. Features: Monthly (free), Daily (premium), Detail view (premium), Setting color, first day of week (free), Displaying calendar of events (premium).
Description: Climatology gives you climate information for anywhere on Earth: temperature, rain and sunniness. Whether finding where are the warm, dry places to go on holiday in December, avoiding rain for your wedding or finding out what the climate is like in Kazakhstan in April, Climatology allows you to discover the information you want.
Description: 120 Sports is the new way to experience sports. Featuring real-time highlights, expert analysis and interactivity, 120 Sports is a must for every fan. This FREE app offers over 10 hours of live programming every day and requires no cable authentication or subscription.
Description: Get the world’s No. 1 health and fitness TV on your mobile device. View exclusive shows on muscle building, fat loss, health, nutrition, martial arts, rugby, yoga, how to get a six pack…
Description: It’s often a pain to open an app on your wear device. You have to remember its name of scroll through different lists to find and launch it. Wear Mini Launcher is designed to allow you to launch any app from anywhere.
Description: QCast brings shared party playlists to your Chromecast. When you host a party, everyone can add songs to the shared queue and downvote those they don’t like – if a majority is reached, the song is automatically skipped.
Description: Normal is an entirely new kind of earphone designed by you and personalized to the nooks and crannies of your ears. Download the app to capture your ears, customize your Normals and place your order. Every ear is different, but has been treated the same – until now.
Three UK has announced that it is partnering with Virgin Media to provide its customers with free access to Virgin's Wi-Fi network on the London Underground. Other carriers like EE, Vodafone and O2 have already made similar deals in the past.
In the eyes of the United States, Spain still needs to do more in the battle against unlawful file-sharing. The country has been making progress though, and in some instances has actually gone much further than any U.S. court would dare.
Following action by the MPAA-affiliated Anti-Piracy Federation (FAP), in May 2014 a court in the city of Zaragoza ordered local ISPs including Vodafone, Movistar and Orange, to block several sites allegedly engaged in copyright infringement.
Within days, SpanishTracker, PCTorrent.com, NewPCT.com, PCTestrenos.com, Descargaya.es and TumejorTV.com were rendered inaccessible. The injunctions were not permanent, however, and could be appealed by the sites’ operators.
As can be seen in the Alexa statistics shown below, direct traffic to NewPCT took a huge hit following the court order. However, the site quickly set up alternative domains and there were several reports in local media indicating that proxies and VPNs had quickly become popular with those looking to regain access to the site.
But while the court order was cheered by rightsholders keen to see Spain dispel ideas that the country is a safe-haven for file-sharing sites, the celebrations were to be short-lived.
The site blocks, championed by both FAP and the police Computer Security Brigade, were this week lifted by a court in Zaragoza.
A judge sitting in Court of Instruction No.10 found that there “insufficient grounds” for maintaining the domain blockades to protect property rights, “especially when it is not absolutely necessary for the continuation of the investigation.”
El Mundo reports that when the case was being processed back in 2013, a court already found that “the facts alleged did not constitute a crime.”
The ISP blockades against the domains are expected to be lifted in the coming days, leaving local and international rightsholders to ponder whether changes in Spanish legislation due this year will help solve the piracy conundrum.
It looks like third-party Pebble app Pebble Locker has been updated on Google Play to add support for Android Wear. The app, now in version 2.8, brings some bug fixes and adds the Android Wear compatibility in addition to working with the non-Android Wear Pebble smartwatch.
It looks like Amazon is set to debut its Instant Video app on Android phones outside of the company's Kindle Fire ecosystem. An Amazon spokesperson is said to have confirmed of the app's launch to a broader array of phones running Google's mobile operating system but declined to give specifics as to which models will be supported and when.
Visa wants to make the process of paying for goods on your phone or iPad as easy as swiping your credit or debit card at an offline retailer.
To do so, it’s adapting to Internet retail with the launch of Visa Checkout, a new payment option that will allow users to speed through the online checkout process in just a few steps. Read More
As Google is updating its Google Wallet app to include gift cards, PayPal is now rolling out an update to its mobile payments app. If you're a PayPal user, you'll definitely want to check out the app as it makes logins faster as well as adds the option to store and use loyalty cards.
With millions of new downloads per month uTorrent is without a doubt the most used BitTorrent client around.
However, since this weekend the number of installs must have dropped quite a bit after Google Chrome began warning users away from the software. According to Chrome the BitTorrent client poses a serious risk.
“uTorrent.exe is malicious and Chrome has blocked it,” the browser informs those who attempt to download the latest stable release.
Chrome does give users the option to restore the file but not without another warning. The browser is convinced that the file is harmful and suggests that the uTorrent website may have been hacked.
“This file will harm your computer. Even if you have downloaded files from this website before, the website may have been hacked. Instead of recovering this file you can retry the download later.”
Blocked
The first reports of Chrome’s block came in three days ago and at the time of writing the problems persist. The warnings appear for the latest stable release (3.4.2.32354) and no other releases appear to be affected.
Currently there is no indication why the software has been flagged, but a scan by more than 50 of the most popular anti-virus services reveals no active threats.
Google’s safe browsing diagnostic page claims that the uTorrent website was involved in malware distribution in recent months, but no further details on the nature of the supposed malware are provided.
“This site has hosted malicious software over the past 90 days. It infected 4 domain(s), including kioskea.net/, ziggi.uol.com.br/, majorgeeks.com/,” the diagnostics page reads.
This isn’t the first time that uTorrent has reported problems with Chrome. The same happened late last year when the malware blocking feature was still in beta. At the time uTorrent parent company BitTorrent Inc. managed to resolve the issues after several days.
Thus far, none of the developers have responded to user complaints in the uTorrent forums.
Update We discovered that uTorrent occasionally serves other versions as well, these are not blocked. The vast majority of the downloads are still blocked though.
There are hundreds of millions of pirate files inhabiting the Internet and it’s fair to say that many of those are music tracks. As a result, the world’s leading record labels, who together claim 90%+ of the market, spend significant sums making those files more awkward to find.
Last Wednesday we reported a particularly miserable situation between the RIAA and a near 20-year-old radio fansite.
There are currently only two Android Wear watches available for purchase, but HTC has been reportedly planning to throw its hat into the ring too. There's a new render of what may be HTC's Android Wear watch from @evleaks, and it's another square. 
Parliament has passed #DRIP, a sweeping, illegal surveillance bill that doubles down on the old surveillance law, which was struck down by the European Court for violating fundamental human rights.
Read the rest
The Pirate Bay is without doubt one of the most censored websites on the Internet. 
In the eyes of the United States, Spain still needs to do more in the battle against unlawful file-sharing. The country has been making progress though, and in some instances has actually gone much further than any U.S. court would dare.
Visa wants to make the process of paying for goods on your phone or iPad as easy as swiping your credit or debit card at an offline retailer.
To do so, it’s adapting to Internet retail with the launch of Visa Checkout, a new payment option that will allow users to speed through the online checkout process in just a few steps. Read More
With millions of new downloads per month uTorrent is without a doubt the most used BitTorrent client around.