After coming under intense and sustained US-pressure to change its attitudes to online piracy, earlier this month it became clear there had been an Italian breakthrough. After being firmly planted on the USTR’s Watch List in the Special 301 Report, Italy was notably absent from the USTR’s 2014 edition.

“Italy’s removal from the Special 301 List reflects the significant steps the Government of Italy has taken to address the problem of online piracy, and the continued U.S. commitment to meaningful and sustained engagement with our critical partner Italy,” the USTR said in a special announcement earlier this month.

What Italy had done to deserve these compliments was fairly extraordinary. Instead of legislating to make a piracy crackdown easier or more effective, the government handed AGCOM, the Italian Communications Regulatory Authority, the power to deal with infringement.

Without need for costly and drawn out legal cases and court-ordered injunctions, from March 31, 2014, AGCOM had the power to order the removal of infringing content or the blocking of allegedly copyright-infringing domains. Remember, these are regulations calling the shots – not legislation.

Now, a little over two months since the start of the new system, AGCOM has been flexing its muscles against what many people believed to be the framework’s primary targets – torrent sites.

In four decisions made public this week by AGCOM, LimeTorrents, TorrentDownload.ws, Torrentz.pro and TorrentDownloads.me were all deemed to be infringing and as a result will end up blocked by the country’s ISPs. The decisions, published on AGCOM.it, also reveal who made the complaints and when.

The LimeTorrents case was reported to AGCOM by local anti-piracy group FPM representing Sony Music, Warner Music and Universal Music. In their evidence the labels provided links to torrents that linked to their works. After a review AGCOM agreed that the labels’ complaints were genuine. Attempts to contact LimeTorrents’ owners failed so they were disallowed from involvement in the process.

In conclusion, and “in compliance with the principles of proportionality”, on May 5 Italian ISPs were given just two days to block subscriber access to LimeTorrents. In general terms the complaints against the other sites were similar and featured both music and video focused anti-piracy groups working on behalf of several movie studios. Those sites will also be blocked.

Notable is the streamlined nature of the process. All complaints were filed mid-April and today, less than three weeks later, the blocks should already be in place. Little wonder the USTR is pleased.

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

The CIA helped polio return to Pakistan, where it had been eradicated. Why has US media forgotten the story? [fair.org]

James Clapper just prohibited all past and present US intelligence officials from publicly acknowledging reality. [HT: Trevor Timm]

Here’s our look back at the stories and searches that made this week, from lightsabers to Lewinsky.

Mint juleps and margaritas
This past week people across the country celebrated several long-held traditions and some newer ones. With the 140th “Run for the Roses” on Saturday, there were more than 2 million searches on the subject of the Kentucky Derby, including research on [kentucky derby time] and [kentucky derby horses]. (We’re partial to derby fashion.) Then, on Sunday, nerds everywhere celebrated what’s come to be known as “Star Wars Day,” thus named because the date lends itself to the pun “May the Fourth be with you.” According to search data at least, the unofficial holiday has been getting bigger every year. And finally, Monday’s Cinco de Mayo inspired lots of pranks, jokes, and more than a few people looking up the history of the holiday.
Red carpet moments and capital celebs
At this week’s Met Gala, the annual fundraising event for the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute, celebrities like Kim Kardashian, Beyonce and Blake Lively turned heads and inspired searches. And though searchers were interested in the White House Correspondents Dinner, it was old, not new, Beltway gossip that dominated this week. In a “Vanity Fair” essay, Monica Lewinsky broke a 10-year media silence to talk about life since the affair that made her a household name. Search interest in Lewinsky subsequently jumped to the highest point ever since 2004 (the time period for which data is available) as people looked for more information on the original story as well as [lewinsky now].
On the issues
The phrase “Bring Back our Girls” became a rallying cry to raise awareness about a group of nearly 300 school girls abducted in Nigeria in April. A number of leaders, including Michelle Obama and Hillary Clinton, have raised their voices in support of the campaign.

On a completely different viral note, Jimmy Kimmel hit the streets asking people “what is gluten?” This now viral YouTube video has left many people laughing at the responses, as well as looking up the definition of gluten, and related issues such as celiac disease, for themselves.

Giving thanks to teachers and moms
We hope you took time to thank a teacher for Teacher Appreciation Week. More than a hundred thousand searches on the topic indicate that people around the country were showing their gratitude. And finally, Mother’s Day is this Sunday, and many people were looking up gifts—from more traditional treats like flower deliveries and chocolate-covered berries, to creative DIY ideas and even poems. For those of you whose moms are teachers as well (like mine), this is an even better time to show them you care.

Posted by Emily Wood, Google Blog Editor, who searched this week for [rolf and daughters nashville] and [how tall is prince]

Sophie Gamand's “Wet Dog” is a series of portraits of dogs photographed during their least favorite activity: bath time. (2013)

Read the rest

Today, a federal court ruled that Google must pay Oracle for its use of the Java API in Android, setting a broad precedent that already has many legal scholars crying foul. If the ruling stands, it will give software companies copyright over their APIs, the interfaces that programs use to communicate with each other. The new standard is good news for Oracle, which holds the rights to Java and its widely used API, but potentially disastrous for software developers that want to build on top of APIs. If the APIs are no longer free to use, new services may be forced to start from scratch, making it astronomically more difficult to coordinate between programs.

Potentially disastrous for software developers

APIs are one of the most important...

Continue reading…

Your router is the first line of defense against hackers trying to access all the internet-connected devices in your home. Sadly, many of the top Wi-Fi routers are easy to hack. You should be concerned—and also make sure your router is set up properly.

We've talked about the basic settings you should change on your router before—and those things still hold true.

To recap:

• Change the default administrator password—and username, if possible
• Change the SSID (or name of your wireless network) so your devices don't always accept connections to similarly named networks (e.g. "linksys") and also so you don't give hackers more of a clue to your router model (e.g. "linksys")
• Set the wireless security mode to WPA2 and choose a good, long password for it

Hopefully, you've already made these security changes. Beyond those basics, though, there are more things you can do to lock down your network security in these increasingly hacked times.

Install DD-WRT or Tomato If Your Router Supports It

Most stock router firmware is fairly clunky and barebones, or else includes undocumented "features" or limitations.

Normally when it comes to upgrading router firmware, I tend to steer people away from the manufacturer's firmware toward alternative, open source alternatives, such as DD-WRT or Tomato. I have long relied on DD-WRT because it with comes with all the bells, whistles and options you could ever want in a router firmware, but it generally keeps those features turned off by default unless you switch them on.

Check the supported devices pages for DD-WRT and Tomato to see if they'll work for you. Tomato's more user friendly, but DD-WRT is packed with more settings.

Update Your Firmware Regularly

Regardless of whether you're using the stock firmware or a third-party one, it's important to keep your firmware current, because new vulnerabilities are discovered all the time (like the Linksys bug that gave remote users access to the administration console without having to log in, or the backdoor built into a few popular routers).

The actual steps to update the firmware may vary by router, but most will let you check for new firmware from the router control panel. In your browser, enter your router's IP address, log in, and then look in the advanced settings or administration section. Alternatively, you can check your router manufacturer's support web site to see whether new firmware is available.

Some routers also offer the ability to automatically update to the latest firmware, but you might prefer to check what the updates offer and install manually.

Turn Off Remote Administration

On many routers this is already turned off by default, but, just in case, check that remote administration (also known as remote management or enable web access from WAN) is disabled. Remote administration gives access to your router's control panel from outside your home network—so you can see why that would be a problem. Again, this setting is probably under your advanced or administration section.

Disable UPnP

UPnP, or Universal Plug and Play, is designed to make it easier for network devices to be discovered by the router. Unfortunately, this protocol is also riddled with serious security holes, with bugs and poor implementations of UPnP affecting millions of devices connected online. The biggest issue is UPnP doesn't have any sort of authentication (it considers every device and user to be trustworthy). How-To Geek explains some of the problems with UPnP if it's enabled on your router, which include the possibility of malicious applications rerouting traffic to different IP addresses outside of the local network.

GRC's UPnP test can tell you if your devices are insecure and exposed to the public internet, in which case you should disconnect them. (Note: click the red ribbon on the top right of the page to run the actual test; the page you land on via that link is just an example.)

To turn off UPnP on your router, go into the management console and look for the UPnP setting (on many routers, that's under the administration section). Also disable the "Allow user to configure UPnP" option if available. Keep in mind that this doesn't affect your ability to, say, stream videos across your network with UPnP—it only affects things outside your network. That does mean that you may have to manually set up port forwarding for things like BitTorrent to work optimally.

Other Settings That Are Probably Not Worth the Trouble

You might have also heard about other settings like turning on MAC filtering or hiding your network SSID, but for all their hassle, they don't add very much security.

SSID Hiding

At first glance, hiding your router's SSID sounds like a good idea, but it might actually decrease your security. Wi-Fi security expert Joshua Wright explains on Tech Republic:

Question: Joshua, please let me know your thoughts on disabling broadcasting your router's SSID.

Joshua Wright: It's a bad idea. I know the PCI specification requires you to do this, and I've told them they need to remove this requirement from the specification. Imagine you are a government base and you don't tell your agents where you are located. They have to walk around and keep asking "Are you the government base?" to everyone the meet. Eventually, some wily hacker or bad guy will say "Heck YEAH I'm your base, come on in and share your secrets with me." This is essentially what happens with SSID cloaking, where you have to ask every AP you meet if their desired SSID is available, allowing an attacker to impersonate your SSID at the airport, coffee shop, in the airplane, etc. In short, don't cloak your SSID, but don't make your SSID something like "sexyhackertargethere" either.

Hiding your router SSID might keep your neighbors from trying to freeload on your network, but it won't stop capable hackers and could even act as a loud beacon telling them, "hey, here I am trying to hide." Besides, if you're trying to keep your neighbors from freeloading, just make sure you have a secure password.

MAC Filtering

Similarly, MAC filtering, which limits network access to only the devices you allow, sounds great and can provide added protection against your average freeloader, but MAC addresses are easy to spoof. Stack Exchange user sysadmin1138 sums it up like this:

For someone who wants your network specifically, encryption (most especially un-broken encryption) will provide vastly better security. MAC spoofing is trivial in most adapters these days, and after you've cracked the network to the point you can monitor in-flight packets you can get a list of valid MAC addresses. SSID is trivial at that point as well. Due to the automated nature of the toolsets available, MAC filtering and SSID hiding aren't really worth the effort any more. In my opinion.

That said, if you don't mind the hassle, turning on MAC filtering won't hurt. Just know that it's not the strong security feature it might seem to be—and it's quite a hassle if you ever get new device, or have a friend come visit.

Static IP Addresses

Finally, there's one more setting you might consider changing: Turning off DHCP, which automatically hands out network addresses to devices that connect to your router. Instead, you can assign static IP addresses to all your devices. The theory is, if DHCP is disabled, unknown machines won't be given an address.

However, both DHCP and static IPs have risks and downsides, as this discussion on Stack Exchage points out; static IPs can be vulnerable to spoofing attacks, while devices that get their IPs via DHCP can be subject to man-in-the-middle attacks from rogue DHCP servers. There's no solid consensus on which is better for security (although a few on Microsoft's community say it doesn't make any difference).

If you've got the security settings mentioned in the above sections down pat, rest a bit more peacefully knowing that you're most likely doing the best you can to secure your home network.

 Apple has Siri, and now Intel has Ginger. The chipmaker has made one more acquisition to bolster its advanced computing and artificial intelligence holdings: it has purchased selected assets, and hired talent, from Israel's Ginger Software in the area of natural language processing tools and applications. Those assets include a platform for third parties to create customised personal assistants,… Read More

This week I want to get you thinking outside the box, and looking at ordinary things differently. Earlier in the week James Maher wrote How to do Great Photography Even When Your Surroundings are Boring so continuing on that path is some abstract photography which is a great way to photograph around home to create something different. 

So here are a few abstract photos to give you some ideas and inspiration

The post Abstract Photos to Inspire You by Darlene Hildebrandt appeared first on Digital Photography School.

How much do you really know about 4G data service on your smartphone? Did you know that it not only provides you with faster data, but is also cheaper for cellular carriers to deliver? And yet it still costs you the same or more as slower 3G service?

Probably not. Here's why.

The average user doesn’t have much of an idea what 3G or 4G means beside “one is newer and faster.” And why should they? Carriers use 3G and 4G more as marketing terms than technical ones, and basically all of them have lied (with official blessing from the International Telecommunications Union) about what a 4G phone actually gets you. The "real" definition of 4G, something that worldwide carriers have not yet accomplished, are download speeds of 1 gigabit per second in a fixed location and 100 megabits per second while in motion.

However, the technical infrastructure of how efficient 3G works is compared to 4G is where it gets really interesting. The ITU—a branch of the United Nations that acts as the wireless global standards body—shows that as each generation of cellular technology is developed, it’s not just a better, faster experience for users. It’s also easier and cheaper for carriers to deliver.

How Carriers Drink Your Milkshake

The simplest technical definition of cellular speeds refer to how much data you can transfer per second. With the updated technology that carriers are equipped with in the fourth generation, known as Long Term Evolution (LTE), they’re able to deliver significantly more bits per second, which means a better experience at half the effort.

For a metaphorical example, imagine you’re drinking a milkshake. With a thin straw, it’ll take a long time to drink a thick, ice-cream based beverage. But with a thicker straw, you can drink it much more quickly. 4G is kind of like having a thicker straw.

The ability to move more bits of data faster is measured by something called spectral efficiency (also known as spectrum efficiency or bandwidth efficiency). Spectral efficiency is a measure of the rate at which information flow and improves with every successive cellular generation.

Steven Stravitz, founder of Spectrum Management Consulting, is a former engineer who studies emerging technology trends with a focus on wireless and mobile. Here's how he explains the nuts and bolts.

“Let’s say that a cell site operator allocates a 10 megabyte channel of wireless spectrum. In a 3G network, you should be able to download 10 megabits per second. In a 4G network, since it’s more efficient, you should be able to get 15, which is a 50 percent increase in efficiency,” Stravitz said.

In other words, advances in cellular technology mean that carriers can get 50 percent more capability while using the same amount of bandwidth already allocated to them. 

That all makes sense from a technical perspective, but in reality, 4G LTE speeds are more difficult to define. LTE speeds vary based on the amount of spectrum available to a particular carrier, the type of LTE being deployed and how the carrier handles spectrum between downlink and uplink from cellphone to cellular towers.

Cellular carriers also have varying degrees of strength when it comes to backhaul, the infrastructure that moves data between cell towers and the Internet. Some carriers have excellent backhaul on 4G networks (AT&T and Verizon, notably) while others are still building it out (Sprint).

Yes, They Drink It All Up

Users don’t know about the technical side of cellular spectrum efficiency. So they’re content paying just as much for 4G phones as they did for 3G. In some cases, like with Republic Wireless, they actually pay more—the company has a $25 3G plan and a $40 4G plan.

From a business perspective, 4G services and technology are very profitable for carriers. Foremost, the ability to slap "4G LTE" onto devices helps sell smartphones and make fun television commercials. Second, consumers want "4G," even if they don't actually know quite what that means. The carriers are delivering faster service with higher margins, and pocketing the rest of the money from users who think it’s a deal. After all, doesn't it just make sense to you to pay as much or more for better service than you were getting?

In the U.S., carrier profits are bigger than ever for a variety of reasons, but better margins on its core cellular product don't hurt. For instance, Verizon's profits in the first quarter were nearly twice what they were in the first quarter of 2013, up to $3.95 billion from $2 billion.

Of course, in a competitive market, rival carriers would try to siphon off each other's customers by offering cheaper service until they bled away all that extra profit. That this doesn't seem to be happening tells us something interesting about the U.S. cellular market.

The Economist had an interesting chart in October 2013 showing that consumers in the U.S. pay far more for cellular plans with just 500MB of data than almost every other country. Cellular plans in the U.S. with 500MB of data cost about $85. Our friendly neighbors to the north, by contrast, pay $40.60 for the same plans. The U.S. has much deeper penetration of LTE than Canada, yet Americans still pay more for that data.

Steve Shaw from Juniper Networks put it in perspective to cellular-focused publication RCR Wireless last year: "Today a gigabit of traffic on Verizon’s network is something on the order of $7.00, $7.50 a gig, in some markets it’s as low as $1.00 or less, and so in those particular cases just pricing based on bandwidth isn’t enough,” Shaw said.

Essentially, the U.S. carriers are able to gouge consumers even though the cost per bit on their networks is technically going down over time. The carriers will contend that they need to charge what they do because they investing in the infrastructure of the country. But once all the base stations are built, all the backhaul is optimized, will prices actually go down?

Will consumer knowledge of the way the technical side works change the way carriers charge for 3G and 4G? Probably not, said Stravitz. 

“I think something that doesn’t get discussed much is the elasticity curve,” he said. “What price points people pay dictate the usage, so there’s a tie between the two. They haven’t dropped it down because they really don’t need to. The tie between how people react and what they pay is extremely strong, so operators can meter usage in essence, by the rate plans they offer.”

However, it’s something to consider in the upcoming decade, when the next generation of  becomes a reality. Our phones will be faster, cheaper, and easier to produce, but carriers will only get richer.

Lead photo: The Wardenclyffe Tower, an early wireless transmission tower designed by Nikola Tesla, courtesy Wikipedia Commons. 

 Oyster, a startup that offers offers unlimited access to its collection of e-books for $9.99 per month, has crossed a nice milestone — it says its library now includes 500,000 books, compared to 100,000 when it launched in September of last year. The company also said it recently expanded its partnership with HarperCollins, bringing 10,000 more of the publisher's titles (including Beautiful… Read More

http://insidetv.ew.com/2014/05/08/abc-shield-agent-carter/

The link also includes the official description for Agent Carter. Sources told the Hollywood Reporter, "Agent Carter will be a short-order series and likely used as a "bridge show" to air during the second season hiatus of Marvel's Agents of SHIELD, with both series ultimately being tied-in together".

The introduction of the controversial Digital Economy Act in 2010 was supposed to significantly reduce online piracy but four years on just about nothing has changed. The legislation envisioned repeat infringers being cut off from the Internet, but that deterrent has never come to pass.

Instead, frustrated rightsholders – who believe that doing nothing against unauthorized file-sharing just isn’t an option – have been channeled into talks with ISPs to try and find a voluntary solution to the problem.

Today, and after years of wrangling, it now appears the sides have agreed terms on what will be known as Vcap – the Voluntary Copyright Alert Programme.

The system will see the music and movie industries monitor BitTorrent file-sharing networks for infringement, logging pirates’ IP addresses as they go. These will be tracked back to ISPs who will send out a warning letter to the subscriber account associated with the alleged deed.

According to the BBC, only four ISPs – BT, Sky, TalkTalk and Virgin Media – are currently signed up to the BPI and MPA scheme. Users of other ISPs won’t receive any letters for now but that could change in the future.

Unlike other “graduated response” schemes elsewhere in the world, the UK’s Vcap has no real “teeth”. Even though the language used in the letters will reportedly increase in tone, there will be no punishments, and after receipt of a fourth warning no account will receive a fifth.

On the privacy front subscribers will be pleased to know that within Vcap, ISPs won’t be handing their identities over to the music and movie companies. Rightsholder access to Vcap data will be limited to how many alerts have been sent out but since they are the ones generating the data for the warnings, the IP addresses of the alleged infringers will already be known to them.

The BPI and MPA will be pleased that a deal has been reached, but it has come at a cost. While the language used in the warnings will increase, threats or suggestions of consequences for continued infringement have been replaced by messages designed to educate. Also, warnings sent will be capped at 2.5 million over three years.

It will also come at a financial cost. The BBC reports that rightsholders will pay each ISP £750,000 to set up the system, or 75% of the costs, whichever is smaller. On top of this initial outlay the BPI and MPA will pay each ISP an additional annual sum of £75,000 to cover administration costs.

While the ISPs and industry groups have agreed terms, Vcap is not quite a done deal yet. As part of the scheme, ISPs hope to keep records for up to a year detailing which subscribers have received warning letters and how many each has received. On this issue they are awaiting approval from the Information Commissioner’s Office.

In the right circumstances and armed with a court order its certainly conceivable that not only the BPI and MPA could gain access to this data, but also outside companies with similar interests.

Finally, and despite the ‘gentle’ tone of Vcap, there is a sting in the tail. In the agreement seen by the BBC, rightsholders say that if Vcap doesn’t achieve results, they will call for the “rapid implementation” of the harsh measures promised by the Digital Economy Act.

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

UPDATE: Now with new logo

There's been talk of Marvel parachuting Hayley Atwell's Agent Carter into her own solo stories for some time. The studio first mused further One-Shots like the one on the Iron Man 3 Blu-ray. Then, last autumn, there were rumblings of a developing TV series. The latter is now officially a going concern, with US channel ABC ordering the Captain America spin-off straight to series with Tara Butters and Michele Fazekas named as showrunners. They've also renewed Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. for its second season.

The Agent Carter One-Shot has served as a pilot of sorts, with the full series picking up Peggy's adventures immediately afterwards. It's set in 1946, and sees Peggy dealing with the emotional fall-out of losing Steve Rogers to his icy 'grave', while also battling workplace sexism and finding herself marginalised as the guys return from WWII. She is stuck juggling admin for the Special Scientific Reserve while taking secret missions for Howard Stark (played in the films by Dominic Cooper, although his involvement here isn't yet confirmed).

The official synopsis reads thusly:

"Marvel’s Agent Carter, starring Captain America’s Hayley Atwell, follows the story of Peggy Carter. It’s 1946, and peace has dealt Peggy Carter a serious blow as she finds herself marginalised when the men return home from fighting abroad. Working for the covert SSR (Strategic Scientific Reserve), Peggy must balance doing administrative work and going on secret missions for Howard Stark all while trying to navigate life as a single woman in America, in the wake of losing the love of her life – Steve Rogers."

THR's sources suggest that Agent Carter will be a 'short order' series, which means 13 episodes or fewer, compared to a full series' 22. The plan is for Atwell and co. to slot into the schedules when S.H.I.E.L.D. is on its between-season hiatus. She'll step into action following S.H.I.E.L.D.'s second season, with current intelligence suggesting the two shows will be linked in some way.

SPOILERS It would make sense, given the revelations of Captain America: The Winter Soldier and recent S.H.I.E.L.D. episodes, that it involve the shadowy build-up of Hydra, because it would all be a bit odd if super-Agent Carter was entirely insensible to that. Surely she has to at least be trying to engage with that danger, even if she ultimately fails to defeat it and, unawares, leaves it to grow. END SPOILERS

Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D., meanwhile, may not yet have become the must-see blockbuster ABC had hoped for, but it has still been performing solidly. It shed viewers following its hugely successful pilot (the biggest network drama premiere since 2009), but it remains ABC's highest-rated first-year series, and was given a serious shot in the arm by the events of Captain America: The Winter Soldier. If it continues to improve in season two, we might well be on to something.

S.H.I.E.L.D. is still playing in the UK on Friday nights on Channel 4, with a few weeks of the season left to run.

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.

King’s League: Odyssey

Description: King’s League: Odyssey is a 100% premium game with *no in-game currency as IAPs* and perfectly balanced for a true gamer’s experience. Recruit & manage an army of over 40 unique classes including Lancers, Berserkers, and Dragoons to compete against other teams in the League. Conquer territories for resources to upgrade training facilities, promote soldiers to new classes and unlock new areas. Take on side quests, explore dungeons, and participate in the grueling Battlethon.

 

Icebreaker: A Viking Voyage

Description: An icy wind has swept the Vikings away, leaving them stranded throughout the land and surrounded by trolls, deadly traps, dangerous enemies, and worst of all… troll snot! Now it’s up to you to save them! Use your icebreaking skills to solve puzzles and cut your way through ice, rope, cannons, explosives, slime and… err… chickens to get your clan back safely to the Viking longboat!

 

R.B.I. Baseball 14

Description: Simple. Fun. Classic. The retro baseball gameplay you’ve been craving is back and updated with modern graphics, 2014 players and all 30 MLB teams. Play Season, Postseason and Exhibition modes. Experience PURE FUN that everyone can enjoy on the go!

 

Aliens Drive Me Crazy

Description: The few Alien Spaceships have crept into earth’s orbit with no warning. The loss of global satellite communications puts the world in danger. Take control of your car and blast your way through the city to reach an alien’s base! Defeat invaders and terryfying Bosses to get access to powerful weapons, cars and power-ups!

 

Snailboy

Description: Snailboy is a fun physics based, puzzle platform game, with rich graphics, killer sounds and over 45 levels of intoxicating game play.

 

Heroes: A Grail Quest

Description: Heroes : A Grail Quest is a turn-based strategy game in a fantasy world. The player leads the hero and his army across the world to find the lost artifact and to save the king and his kingdom. You will go on an exciting journey with lots of battles, powerful atrifacts, magic and dungeons.

 

Dig to China

Description: A chunky tile busting digging game. Dig through a billion blocks en route straight to China. Collect resources, buy upgrades, get as deep as you can before the time runs out – repeat.

 

Dragon Coins

Description: Dragon Coins is a FREE monster-collection game with a fun arcade twist. Epic adventure awaits as you battle enemies, collect unique monsters and become a coin dropping master!

 

1849

Description: The year is 1849, and gold has just been discovered in California. You decide to head out west, to seek fame and wealth in the approaching Gold Rush. Will you strike it rich and become an overnight mining magnate? Or build your fortune bit by bit by supplying 49ers with pickaxes and blue jeans?

 

Hazumino

Description: Run, jump and build your way to new worlds and high scores in Hazumino, the game that combines relentless endless-runner with tricky block puzzle gameplay! Play with a range of characters in cool worlds, compete against your friends and become a Hazumino master!

 

Apple is reportedly negotiating the purchase of Beats for $3.2 billion, according to a new report from The Financial Times. The deal would include both the streaming Beats Music subscription service, as well as the part of the company that produces headphones and speakers. The move, which would be Apple's largest acquisition ever, could be announced as soon as next week, the paper says. Citing sources, Bloomberg, The Wall Street Journal, and Recode also confirmed that the deal was nearing completion.

Continue reading…

Taking photos of people or products against a clean white background is perhaps one of the most common studio photography techniques in use — and an essential skill for any studio photographer using off-camera flashes and lighting. That hasn't stopped the US Patent and Trademark Office from granting Amazon one of the most bizarre and seemingly needless patents we've heard of in a long time: a studio lighting setup that allows photographers to "achieve a desired effect of a substantially seamless background." Yes, Amazon now holds a patent for taking photos with a "near perfect" white backdrop.

The details of the patent itself are slightly more focused, calling out specific lighting placement and even the placement of a 21-inch raised...

Continue reading…

 Music startup 8tracks just released a major new version of its iPhone app. The 3.0 version comes with a completely redesigned interface, a simpler user experience and a new advertising strategy. At its core, it remains a laid-back radio service like Pandora or Songza, but with human-generated playlists. After launching the app, the music experience is slightly different. You are presented with a… Read More

The World Top Incomes Database has been cataloguing statistics on wealth across the globe since 2011, and its creators have used that data to inform several books, including economist Thomas Piketty's study of income inequality, Capital in the 21st Century, which was published in English just a couple months ago. Piketty and the creators have left the database's information open to the public too, and now two members of Carnegie Mellon University's Robotics Institute have turned that data into an interactive map that allows you to explore wealth inequality across in globe, in part as a way to complement Piketty's book.

Continue reading…

April has showered us with a ton of Android games, many of which are revivals or straight-up ports of notable releases on the PC and console platforms. There are more than a few awesome mobile-style games as well, so you've got a lot of variety to choose from in this month's best of the best. What follows is our picks for the top crop of Android games in April, in no particular order.

• [New Game] PC And Console Strategy Favorite XCOM: Enemy Unknown Is Now Available In The Play Store For $10
• [New Game] BulkyPix's 'Dead Effect' Is Like Dead Trigger Meets Dead Space (Read: Zombies On A Spaceship)
• [New Game] Hills Of Glory 3D Lands On The Shores Of Android, Takes The Fight To Your Device
• Tegra 4 Game Preview: Dead On Arrival 2, CODEX, Burn Zombie Burn, Carie: Blood Mansion, And More

[Game Roundup] Our Top Seven Picks For The Best New Games Of April 2014 was written by the awesome team at Android Police.

 Yahoo’s popular News Digest app is now available on Android, and offers two new editions of content: International and Canada. Previously, the app, which gives readers twice-daily digests of news aggregated from other outlets, had only curated news around United States and United Kingdom interests. Read More

On a drizzly morning in north London today, the city's police commissioner introduced a new pilot scheme for the use of wearable cameras on patrolling police officers. Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe, chief of the Metropolitan Police Service, noted that when his officers arrive at crime scenes, they're oftentimes the only ones not recording events on video. With 500 Axon Body cameras from Taser — to be deployed across 10 of the city's boroughs — he's hoping to rectify that asymmetry of information....

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I was going to do another list of geeky sci-fi wallpapers, until I stumbled upon a picture of a puppy. Now it's physically impossible for me to cultivate a list of anything other than baby animals. So here are a few to dress up your desktop.

Remember, we're now requesting your participation in the Wallpaper Wednesday series! You'll find a selection here, but post your favorites for this week's topic in the discussions below. Stick to our format as best you can, including a title, the image, resolution, and a link. Happy wallpapering!

Puppies

Download This Wallpaper (2910x1440) | Anza Wallpaper

Penguin

Download This Wallpaper (2560x1440) | Wallpaper Tube

Elephant

Download This Wallpaper (1920x1200) | HQWide

Otter

Download This Wallpaper (2560x1600) | Mr. Wallpaper

Turtle

Download This Wallpaper (1920x1080) | 9 to 5 HD Wallpapers

Bunnies

Download This Wallpaper (1920x1200) | Mr. Wallpaper

Duck

Download This Wallpaper (1920x1200) | HDX Wallpapers

Tiger

Download This Wallpaper (2560x1600) | Wallpapers Wide

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.

ESPN FC Soccer & World Cup

Description: Follow all the action and drama of soccer with the new ESPN FC app, starting with the 2014 FIFA World Cup. Full-time and exclusive in-game highlights (US ONLY), breaking news and analysis are a click away. ESPN FC also delivers comprehensive coverage of all the major club leagues with videos, highlights, news, opinion and personalized reports so you can stay on top of your favorite teams.

 

Spoticast

Description: Spoticast enables you to cast your Spotify music directly to your Chromecast from an android device. REQUIRES A SPOTIFY PREMIUM ACCOUNT!

 

BoltBus

Description: BoltBus is proud to launch the BoltBus app. Our brand new app offers all the features of the website and more including search, booking, rewards and location information. Now you can book your BoltBus trips anywhere.

 

Slyde

Description: Slyde gives you the ability to quickly and easily switch between your five favorite apps with just one sliding gesture.

 

SlideShare Presentation App

Description: With SlideShare, discover and view presentations on topics ranging from technology and business to design and entertainment. Share your favorite presentations, or save professional content to read offline or later. SlideShare is the world’s largest community for sharing presentations and professional business content.

 

Google Docs

Description: Create, edit & collaborate with others on documents from your Android phone or tablet with the free Google Docs app.

 

Google Sheets

Description: Create, edit & collaborate with others on spreadsheets from your Android phone or tablet with the free Google Sheets app.

 

Cooliris

Description: Cooliris is your complete personal media hub. Beautifully experience all your photos in one place, no matter where they are stored, and easily share them via email, text message or your favorite social network.

 

HabitBull

Description: Habits are a powerful mechanism which you can use to your benefit. Whether you want to create a habit routine, or break an existing one, you can use an assistant like HabitBull. Unlike a simple notebook, this app can also remind you of your routine and tell you how you are doing.

 

Waygo

Description: Waygo Translator for Chinese and Japanese has arrived on Android!! Traveling to Asia? Learning Chinese or Japanese? Instantly translate printed Chinese or Japanese text to English using your smartphone camera. No data connection needed. Go like a local.

 

The Amazon Android app has just received an update that should affect more than just your shopping. Now the company's apps support single sign-io. When you log into one, you're automatically signed into the other ones that are installed on your device. This works with the main shopping app, Amazon MP3, the Amazon Appstore, and the Kindle app.

Upon my extensive hands-on testing of this complex feature, everything seems to work just fine.

• New Version Of Kindle App For Android Plays Nicer With Your Tablet
• Amazon Appstore Matching Android Market Prices For '10 Billion Promo' Sale
• Amazon Appstore Updated With Refreshed UI, Android 4.2 Multi-User Login Fix
• [Updated: Amazon Provides Clarifications] Amazon App Store's DRM To Be More Restrictive Than Google's?

Amazon App Update Introduces Single Sign-On, Now Lets You Log In To Multiple Amazon Apps At Once was written by the awesome team at Android Police.

Android: When Google released its stock Camera app to the Play Store, it left out a feature that many of you might not have known existed: the ability to take photos while recording a video. Today, the feature has returned. It's rolling out the Play Store now, or you can download the APK and read more about the update on Android Police.

When we spend, we're not just giving up money. We're also giving up opportunity to use that money for other things: investments or savings goals, for example. In a post for Wise Bread, writer J.D. Roth talks about these "opportunity costs" and says we should consider them to make better spending decisions.

Roth refers to a concept popularized by personal finance writer Ramit Sethi: conscious spending. Essentially, conscious spending is about making non-impulsive spending decisions that are in line with your values.

Roth writes:

"I'm not arguing that you should live like a monk. Far from it. But it's important to consider the opportunity costs of every purchase you make. When you do buy something, you should do so intentionally because the opportunity cost of buying on impulse is enormous."

When you spend consciously, you should ask yourself a few questions, Roth suggests. For example:

• Why am I buying this? Will it make me happier?
• Will this help me meet my long-term goals?
• Would I rather have this now, or would I rather have something bigger and better next year?
• Are there other, cheaper options?
• Could I borrow this?
• Could I buy it used?

While the concept might seem simple, Roth notes that most people tend to spend on reflex, without thinking. For more detail on his explanation, check out the post in its entirety.

Opportunity Costs and Conscious Spending: How Spending $1 Today Can Cost You $10 Tomorrow | Wise Bread

Photo by Fabian Gonzalez.

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Two Cents is a new blog from Lifehacker all about personal finance. Follow us on Twitter here.

President Vladimir Putin has signed a law tightening the Russian government's already strong hold on the internet. Earlier this week, Putin officially passed what's become known as the "bloggers law," which requires popular internet writers to follow rules normally reserved for larger media outlets. Under it, any blogger with more than 3,000 readers is required to register with the Roskomnadzor, Russia's media oversight agency. According to Reporters Without Borders, the law covers not only traditional blogs but microblogs and social networks. In addition to following existing laws, writers will be responsible for fact-checking any information they post and removing any inaccurate comments, and they're forbidden from harming the...

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