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19
Jan 2012 |
Megaupload, one of the internet's largest file-sharing sites, has been shut down by officials in the US.
The site's founders have been charged with violating piracy laws.
Federal prosecutors have accused it of costing copyright holders more than $500m (320m) in lost revenue. The firm says it was diligent in responding to complaints about pirated material.
In response, the hackers group Anonymous has targeted the FBI and US Department of Justice websites.
The news came a day after anti-piracy law... |
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19
Jan 2012 |
Google said Thursday that its Google+ social network now has 90 million users, up from 40 million in October.
Engagement is also growing, Google CEO Larry Page said during a fourth-quarter earnings call. More than 60 percent of Google+ users engage with the service daily and 80 percent engage weekly, he said.
Google has shipped a new Google+ feature every day since the network's June debut, Page continued. This week, for example, the service added support for automatic video posts via Webcam, eliminat... |
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16
Jan 2012 |
The introduction of the Apple iPhone 4S in Beijing turned ugly Friday morning when Apple failed to open its flagship store and a frustrated crowd reacted by pelting the store's gleaming glass walls with eggs.
Apple said in a statement that it had temporarily suspended sales of all iPhones at its five mainland China stores out of concern for the safety of customers and employees. The phones will still be offered online, through Apple's official partner, Unicom, and at authorized resellers. The statement d... |
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16
Jan 2012 |
Internet giants including Google and Facebook are embroiled in a growing battle in India over offensive content with a judge warning websites may be blocked "like in China," stoking worries about freedom of speech in the world's largest democracy.
The Delhi High Court resumes a hearing on Monday of an appeal by Google, Facebook and others against a lower court case by a private petitioner seeking to remove images considered offensive to Hindus, Muslims and Christians from websites.
"The lower court ga... |
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16
Jan 2012 |
Global domain name overseer ICANN has shrugged off intense criticism from big brands and parts of the US government, and will tonight start allowing companies to apply for new top-level domain names.
For a hefty USD185,000 (R1.5 million) processing fee - a third of which will be dumped into ICANN's legal defence fund - any company or organisation in good standing can attempt to get its hands on a right-of-the-dot vanity address that will be the functional equivalent of .com or .uk.
Depending on who yo... |
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16
Jan 2012 |
Manufacturers are showing off the next-generation of wireless routers at CES, which they claim will hit actual throughput speeds of around 800Mbps.
The next-generation routers are built on the 802.11ac standard, which is theoretically capable of speeds in excess of 1Gbps. A prototype 802.11ac router on the Buffalo stand was delivering actual throughput of around 800Mbps, which is around five or six times faster than the speeds we've recorded from 802.11n routers.
The 802.11ac standard operates in the ... |
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13
Jan 2012 |
Apples next-generation iPhone will be slimmer than its current iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S models according to a new report, and it may feature a quad-mode chipset that will work across all 3G and 4G LTE networks.
In a note to clients on Friday, Morgan Stanley analyst Katy Huberty wrote that AppleҒs business will continue to grow despite slowing demand high-end smartphone market.
Mirroring a small piece of countless reports, Huberty says Apples next-generation ғiPhone 5″ will feature a n... |
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12
Jan 2012 |
Blackberries and iPhones are meant to help workers manage their workload by giving them access to messages and alerts while away from the office.
But people become so obsessive about checking their email accounts and social networking sites that they actually become more stressed as a result, researchers said.
Some are so hooked to their devices that they even begin to experience "phantom" vibrations where they mistakenly believe their phone is buzzing in their pocket, it was claimed.
The findings ... |
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9
Jan 2012 |
Chinese device manufacturer Huawei declared Monday that it would begin an offensive into the high-end market for mobile phones, unveiling at the Consumer Electronics Show what it is calling the world's slimmest smartphone.
The company's Ascend P1 S is 6.68 millimeters thick, with a dual-core 1.5 GHz processor and a 4.3-inch AMOLED screen. Fully functional demonstration models on display at CES were noticeably thinner in the hand than existing phones and responded sharply to scrolls and touch commands.
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8
Jan 2012 |
Court evidence suggests Montreal police obtained BlackBerry messages linked to a man accused in the murder of a former Mafia boss.
Raynald Desjardins is one of five suspects facing premeditated murder charges in the November slaying of reputed mobster Salvatore Montagna.
CTV Montreal reported Friday that prosecutors are expected to include BlackBerry text messages in their case against Desjardins, who is reputed to have close mob ties.
The case has scraped up questions about the privacy of BlackBer... |
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7
Jan 2012 |
The world's congested mobile airwaves are being divided in a lopsided manner, with 1 percent of consumers generating half of all traffic. The top 10 percent of users, meanwhile, are consuming 90 percent of wireless bandwidth.
Arieso, a company in Newbury, England, that advises mobile operators in Europe, the United States and Africa, documented the statistical gap when it tracked 1.1 million customers of a European mobile operator during a 24-hour period in November.
The gap between extreme users and ... |
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6
Jan 2012 |
A nasty bit of malware making the rounds on Facebook has reportedly made off with the usernames and passwords of more than 45,000 users.
Most of those affected by the worm--called Ramnit--are from France and the United Kingdom, according to a bulletin issued by security researchers at Securlet. It is capable of infecting Windows executables, Microsoft Office, and HTML files, according to McAfee.
"We suspect that the attackers behind Ramnit are using the stolen credentials to log-in to victims' Faceboo... |
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6
Jan 2012 |
Google's Android Market now has over 400,000 apps, and the pace of new code additions is accelerating.
News of this milestone was announced by the mobile-app marketplace watchers at Distimo, in Utrecht, The Netherlands, which says that the 400,000 line - which counts only currently active apps - was crossed this past weekend.
The big boy on the block is, of course, Apple's iOS app store. According to Apple, its store contains "over 500,000" apps. According to the app counters at 148Apps.biz, as of thi... |
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4
Jan 2012 |
An action figure of Steve Jobs, the former chief executive of Apple who died last year, will be available from February for around US 100 dollars (roughly R750).
Accessories made to scale, including an iPhone 4 and a copy of the first Mac computer, will also be available but will cost extra.
InIcon, which is making the figure, will include a spare pair of glasses and extra hands - for gripping the prop accessories.
This is not the first attempt to market a Steve Jobs action figure. A company called... |
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4
Jan 2012 |
With the new year comes a fresh burst of excitement for what products 2012 might bring. For Apple, speculation has generally centered on the company's third-generation iPad, which most people have been referring to as the "iPad 3."
The biggest improvement to the iPad that's been mentioned as a possibility so far is its display. This has been a persistent rumour and Taiwanese technology site Digitimes reported Friday that Sharp is providing a different kind of HD display for the iPad. Sharp has reportedly... |
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