Comcast launches “Xfinity Streampix” – competitor to Netflix

Today, Comcast announced the launch of its new video streaming service, dubbed "Xfinity Streampix," which will be a direct competitor with Netflix and Verizon's recently announced streaming service with Redbox. Comcast says that the service is subscription-based and will allow customers to watch older movies and TV shows instantly by streaming them to TVs, mobile devices, and online platforms.

To help jumpstart the service, Comcast is partnering with the following movie studios and content providers: Disney-ABC Television Group, NBCUniversal, Sony Pictures, Warner Bros. Digital Distribution and Cookie Jar Entertainment.

Our goal is to consistently deliver greater value to our customers and to bring the best anytime, anywhere entertainment on multiple platforms. Streampix is another step moving TV Everywhere forward by giving customers access to an even greater library of popular choices to watch.

Xfinity Streampix is launching to Comcast customers this week, and will be available on devices such as the Xbox 360 and Android-powered smartphones in the "coming year." The service will be bundled with a number of "Xfinity triple-play" packages, or a separate $4.99 per month.

Anonymous says “massive” announcement coming later this week

Renowned hacker group "Anonymous" has revealed that the Internet should expect a "massive" announcement coming sometime later this week dealing with the group's "anti-security" (a.k.a. "anti-sec") movement. "Stay tuned for a MASSIVE announcement from #Anonymous, coming later this week," the group tweeted via their @YourAnonNews account. Several members of the group later retweeted the announcement Tuesday morning.

At this time, it's unclear exactly what the "massive" news deals with, but it's likely something surrounding Anonymous' recent anti-SOPA / anti-ACTA protests. It could also be another (very) high-profile hack that we haven't heard about yet. Previously, the group obtained information from the FBI, FTC, and several military groups.

We'll keep you posted when the news hits.

[UPDATE: GOOGLE RESPONSE] Microsoft accuses Google of bypassing security settings on Internet Explorer too

Over the weekend, we brought you the news that Google had been caught bypassing user security settings of Safari on iOS devices, which allowed the Internet giant to track users' behavior while browsing the Web. Google was using cookies in order to track how people browse the Internet.

Today, Microsoft announced via its IEBlog that it has caught Google using the same tactic to track users' behavior on Internet Explorer. "Google is employing similar methods to get around the default privacy protections in IE and track IE users with cookies," the company says.

We’ve found that Google bypasses the P3P Privacy Protection feature in IE. The result is similar to the recent reports of Google’s circumvention of privacy protections in Apple’s Safari Web browser, even though the actual bypass mechanism Google uses is different.

Microsoft recommends that users who don't want to be tracked by Google update to Internet Explorer 9 and begin to use the Tracking Protection list feature in the web browser.

UPDATE: Google has issued a statement to The Verge, responding to Microsoft's claim. The Internet giant says that Microsoft is using older technology in Internet Explorer, causing the "issue" with cookies.

Full statement:

Microsoft omitted important information from its blog post today.

Microsoft uses a "self-declaration" protocol (known as "P3P") dating from 2002 under which Microsoft asks websites to represent their privacy practices in machine-readable form. It is well known - including by Microsoft - that it is impractical to comply with Microsoft’s request while providing modern web functionality. We have been open about our approach, as have many other websites.

Today the Microsoft policy is widely non-operational. A 2010 research report indicated that over 11,000 websites were not issuing valid P3P policies as requested by Microsoft...

The Pirate Bay risking a block in the UK

According to a report from The Guardian, popular magnet link and .torrent file host The Pirate Bay may soon be blocked in the United Kingdom following a ruling from a judge in London, which states that the website violates copyright laws. British Internet Service Providers (ISPs) are being pressured by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) to block customer access to The Pirate Bay. The association claims that the website has cost them millions of dollars in copyright infringement.

Mr Justice Arnold said in a written judgment: "In my judgment, the operators of [The Pirate Bay] do authorise its users' infringing acts of copying and communication to the public. They go far beyond merely enabling or assisting.

"I conclude that both users and the operators of [The Pirate Bay] infringe the copyrights of the claimants … in the UK."

The music groups claim that The Pirate Bay ignored repeated requests to stop making available copyrighted music.

The court will decide in June of this year whether to force ISPs to block access to The Pirate Bay.

Google caught tracking iOS users through Safari with hidden code

According to The Wall Street Journal, Google has been caught tracking iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad users via the Safari web browser on iOS by using hidden software embedded on certain websites. The software is designed to go around default privacy settings setup by the user, which allowed Google to track their behaviors on the Internet.

The issue lies with how Safari handles cookies, the information that is stored on devices that allow you to login to a website, leave the website, and come back still logged in. Cookies are also used by a number of advertisers, including Google, to display relevant ads to you.

Google is accused of placing specific cookies onto users' devices, which would allow the Internet giant to then track the behavior of the user. The company claims that the software being placed on certain websites was actually a mistake, and was done merely to use the Google "+1" button on domains other than Google.com.

Google has stated it has begun deleting the cookies that are causing the controversy from user' devices, but hasn't provided a current state of this. In addition, it's unclear whether any government agencies will begin to investigate this incident, but it's likely that it will happen eventually.

New version of Twitter live for all users

Back in early December of last year, Twitter announced a major redesign of its website and mobile applications, putting a focus on discovering new content and simplifying navigation. The updates have been rolling out slowly to all Twitter users over the past two months and today, the company announced via its blog that the new design is live for everyone.

An overview of the new features:

• Click any Tweet in your timeline to expand it to see photos, videos, retweets, favorites, and more.
• Connect is your way to keep conversations going. It’s the place to see who has followed or mentioned you, or retweeted or favorited one of your Tweets.
• Discover lets you tap into a stream of useful and entertaining information, customized just for you. When you use Discover, you’ll see results reflecting your interests. These are based on your current location, what you follow and what’s happening in the world.
• Embed Tweets on your website by copying and pasting one line of code.
• Check out the new Twitter brand pages from accounts like @NPRNews, @Audi and others.

Google Public DNS now handling 70 billion requests per day

Google announced yesterday that its public Domain Name System (DNS) is now serving an average of 70 billion requests per day. The service first launched in late December of 2009 as an attempt to make the "web faster for everyone." This newest figure puts Google at the top of the list as the world's most popular public DNS service.

Google Public DNS has become particularly popular for our users internationally. Today, about 70 percent of its traffic comes from outside the U.S. We’ve maintained our strong presence in North America, South America and Europe, and beefed up our presence in Asia. We've also added entirely new access points to parts of the world where we previously didn't have Google Public DNS servers, including Australia, India, Japan and Nigeria.

Google celebrates Valentine’s Day with an animated Doodle

Here's a surprise. To celebrate Valentine's Day today, February 14, Google launched a special animated Doodle on its homepage. The Doodle is a video that shows a young man trying to get a girl to like him (because, that's just so romantic), but failing several times. He searches Google for things she likes, but the girl rejects him every time and continues her jump roping. Finally, the man realizes he should just start jump roping too and the two end up together (it's such a cute ending!).

Clicking the Doodle will bring users to a Google search for "Valentine's Day."

Happy Valentine's Day, everyone!

Angry Birds soar onto Facebook – popular game can now be played on world’s largest social network

Today, February 14, 2012, Angry Birds, the incredibly popular and multi-platform game, launched on Facebook for the first time. The game is similar to what you've seen on other platforms - namely iOS, Android, and PC - but also integrates special social features, Facebook-exclusive levels, and new power-ups.

Angry Birds can be played on Facebook by clicking here.

The trailer for Angry Birds on Facebook is embedded below:

The Pirate Bay to remove torrent files for a majority of downloads later this month

The past month has been a busy one for popular torrent file host The Pirate Bay. First, TPB announced that it would be making "magnet links" the new default download file for content hosted on the website (instead of the usual torrent file). This is because magnet links are safer and also take up less bandwidth than .torrent files. Next, the website was moved from a ".org" domain to a ".se" extension in order to avoid a possible shut down by the United States government. This was done shortly after the Swedish Supreme Court ruled that The Pirate Bay's founders would not be given rights to an appeal process in a long-standing lawsuit.

Today, The Pirate Bay announced that it will not be hosting torrent files for any torrent that has over ten (10) peers beginning February 29, 2012. This would essentially remove the ability to download a .torrent file for a majority of the content hosted on the website.

In following with our decision to skip .torrent-files in the nearby future one of the biggest steps will come on the 29th of February. We will stop serving .torrent-files for all torrents that has has more than 10 peers from this date.

Google begins testing Chrome 19 – includes improved spell check and support for Mac OS X Lion’s “Resume” feature

Following the release of Chrome 17 earlier this week, Google has begun the early testing phase of Chrome 19 with developers and adventurous users. Since Chrome 18 is already in the beta stage, we can expect to see Chrome 19 come in stable form in either late March or early April.

While exact release notes are scarce, we can already see that Google's Chrome 19 will include a new spellchecker that is powered by the web giant itself. Users must first "opt" themselves into using the service, however, and it's not clear exactly how this is different than the web browser's current spellchecker.

In addition, Chrome 19 brings initial support for Mac OS X Lion's "Resume" feature, which allows applications to be closed and later opened in the exact state that they were left in. Chrome sees support for this with open websites in tabs, which desktop space you left it in last, and whether it was in full-screen mode or not.

The latest build of Chromium (the current testing build of Chrome 19) is available for download here.

Anonymous brings down official CIA website

Notorious Internet hacker group "Anonymous" has taken responsibility for an attack against the official Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) website today. The CIA website, as of writing, is unresponsive and leads to an error message when trying to load it. "CIA TANGO DOWN," the hacker group tweeted via their @YourAnonNews Twitter account Friday afternoon. 

Over the past few weeks, Anonymous has been making news quite a bit, first by taking down the Federal Bureau of Investigation's (FBI) website, and then the Boston Police Department website last week. These recent attacks come as retaliation following popular file hosting website Megaupload being shut down by the U.S. government because of piracy concerns. 

Google offering up $25 in Amazon gift cards if you’re OK with your every move to be tracked

This week, Google launched a new project that it is calling "Screenwise." Screenwise is an attempt from Google to learn how people browse and use the Internet, and the information collected will be used to improve Google products and services. To begin with Screenwise, you must download a Google Chrome extension that will track the websites you visit and how you interact with them. 

As a bit of a thank you, Google is offering anyone who participates in the program up to $25 in Amazon.com gift cards ($5 initially, and $5 for every three months you continue to use the extension). 

The company notes that users who participate in the project must be older than 13, have a Google Account, and use Google Chrome. 

Google axes plans of a drop-down navigation menu across its services

Back in November, Google announced plans to completely overhaul the navigation bar that currently resides at the top of every Google service. The web giant revealed a redesign "Google Bar" that removes the notorious black menu at the top of every page and replaced it with a drop-down navigation menu that's accessible by hovering over the Google logo. The rollout of the new Google Bar, however, was never revealed to the public. 

Today, Google provided an update on the new navigation menu, stating that it has taken user feedback into account to once again redesign the menu. The concept of a drop-down navigation bar has been axed in the newest update, and in its place is the black bar we've come to know and love. Google+ tools, however, have been moved out of the navigation menu and into the main body of the webpage. In addition, Google has re-ordered the links in the menu. 

The company says it will be rolling out the redesigned menu in the coming weeks. 

Google releases Chrome 17 with improved speed and security

Yesterday, Google announced the release of the seventeenth (17) version of Chrome, brining improvements to both speed and security. First revealed on Google Chrome's Beta Channel early last month, Chrome 17 includes the ability to pre-render webpages if a URL is auto-completed, and better checking against possibly malicious files. 

When you start typing in the omnibox and the URL autocompletes to a site you’re very likely to visit, Chrome will prerender the page, so it will appear faster--sometimes, even instantly--as soon as you hit Enter. 

On the security front, Chrome now does even more to help protect you from malicious downloads. In addition to checking a list of known bad files, Chrome also does checks on executable files (like ".exe" and ".msi" files). If the executable doesn't match a whitelist, Chrome checks with Google for more information, such as whether the website you're accessing hosts a high number of malicious downloads.

Chrome 17 is available for download from either the Chrome download page or via the updater inside Chrome itself. 

Vonage launches iOS and Android apps, director competitor with Skype

Earlier today, Vonage released mobile applications for its service for both the iOS and Android OS platforms. The app allows users to make free phone calls and send free text messages to anyone in the world who also have the Vonage mobile app installed on their device. This makes the app a direct competitor with Skype's line of mobile apps for both iOS and Android.

In fact, Vonage event notes that users can expect to see 30% in savings when making a phone call to international numbers that don't use Vonage when compared to Skype.

The Vonage app for iOS and Android is available as a free download.

Apple plans to stream Paul McCartney concert live to iTunes and Apple TV users

Today, Apple revealed (iTunes Store link) its plans to live stream a Paul McCartney concert that will occurring tomorrow, February 9, 2012. The stream will be available to users via iTunes and/or Apple TV. 

To celebrate the release of Paul McCartney's latest album — available now — we're streaming his exclusive performance at Capitol Studios on February 9 at 7 p.m. (PST). Watch the concert on iTunes on your computer, or stream it on your TV using your Apple TV — just choose iTunes Live from the Internet menu.

The stream will be free to watch as well.

While this isn't the first time Apple has been using its live streaming technologies, this announcement comes at a time where an Apple-branded television could be announced any month. This stream could potentially show the power that Apple would have in the TV. 

Microsoft launches new Internet Explorer 9 version dedicated to child safety

Microsoft has teamed up with the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP) to develop a child-friendly version of its latest web browser, Internet Explorer 9. The browser contains features, such as a homepage dedicated to information on how to stay safe online, that will protect child safety on the Internet. There are also several pre-installed favorites that will allow children to stay safe online. 

It's available for download here. 

Facebook testing new interface for Photos

Well, look at what we have here. It appears Facebook has either begun testing or begun rolling out a new interface for pictures on the social network, one that puts a heavy focus on "Sponsored" advertisements and comments. The new UI will place the photo behind a dark background and hovering over the left side of the window will fade in the "Like" button and other tools if you're the owner of the picture. 

Are you seeing anything similar on your Facebook? Be sure to let us know in the comments below!

Yahoo Chairman and 3 other board members step down

Today, Yahoo Chairman Roy Bostock announced that he will not be seeking re-election at the company's next shareholders' meeting. Bostock, who has been Yahoo's chairman since 2008, revealed his plans in a lengthy letter to shareholders earlier today, and also stated that three other board members will be leaving the struggling Internet company as well. 

Despite his move, Bostock is still confident in Yahoo and the company's ability to "drive innovation and growth going forward." Alfred Amoroso and Maynard Webb, Jr. have already been named the two newest members of Yahoo's board, but the company is still seeking new members. 

Bostock is best known for his firing of former Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz, who left the company back in September of 2011. Bartz, who was unhappy about the sudden firing, was chief executive of Yahoo during the company's worst decline in history. 

This news comes just weeks after Yahoo hired former PayPal CEO Scott Thompson to be its new CEO, and Yahoo co-founder Jerry Wang left the company.