http://news.softpedia.com Softpedia News - Internet Life Softpedia News en-us 2001 - 2012 Softpedia. All rights reserved. Tue, 29 May 2012 00:58:09 GMT Tue, 29 May 2012 00:58:09 GMT News http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss 10 http://news.softpedia.com/base_img/softpedia_logo.gif http://news.softpedia.com http://news.softpedia.com/news/Wikipedia-Zero-is-Free-of-Data-Charges-in-Malaysia-Now-272180.shtml Internet access may have become a basic human right in some parts of the world, but it's still a rare luxury in most places. Most people don't even have a computer, let alone internet access. But a lot of people have a phone, even if it's a simple feature phone – a lot more than those who have computers.

Browsing the full... (read more)]]> Mon, 28 May 2012 14:40:00 GMT Softpedia News - Internet Life http://news.softpedia.com/news/Wikipedia-Zero-is-Free-of-Data-Charges-in-Malaysia-Now-272180.shtml Internet Life http://news.softpedia.com/news/Wikipedia-Zero-is-Free-of-Data-Charges-in-Malaysia-Now-272180.shtml#review_zone Softpedia News (Lucian Parfeni) http://news.softpedia.com/news/As-New-Pirate-Bay-IP-Is-Blocked-the-Site-Has-Hundreds-More-in-Reserve-272151.shtml The copyright-dependent industries have been trying to take down The Pirate Bay for many years. But efforts seem to have intensified recently or, at least, they're finally paying off, in a way. The site has been blocked by ISPs, following court orders, in both the UK and the Netherlands.

Of course, no block is p... (read more)]]> Mon, 28 May 2012 13:43:00 GMT Softpedia News - Internet Life http://news.softpedia.com/news/As-New-Pirate-Bay-IP-Is-Blocked-the-Site-Has-Hundreds-More-in-Reserve-272151.shtml Internet Life http://news.softpedia.com/news/As-New-Pirate-Bay-IP-Is-Blocked-the-Site-Has-Hundreds-More-in-Reserve-272151.shtml#review_zone Softpedia News (Lucian Parfeni) http://news.softpedia.com/news/Facebook-Is-Building-a-Phone-but-What-It-Needs-Is-a-Platform-272069.shtml Not a lot of months pass before the "Facebook phone" rumor surfaces again. The company is, yet again – for the third time –, rumored to be building a smartphone to be out next year. It apparently snatched several Apple people to do this.

It's not just software people, but hardware guys as well, which would i... (read more)]]> Mon, 28 May 2012 11:11:01 GMT Softpedia News - Internet Life http://news.softpedia.com/news/Facebook-Is-Building-a-Phone-but-What-It-Needs-Is-a-Platform-272069.shtml Internet Life http://news.softpedia.com/news/Facebook-Is-Building-a-Phone-but-What-It-Needs-Is-a-Platform-272069.shtml#review_zone Softpedia News (Lucian Parfeni) http://news.softpedia.com/news/No-Two-EU-Countries-Agree-on-the-the-Cookie-Law-271953.shtml The dreaded cookie law is about to start to be enforced in the UK. The Information Commissioner's Office doesn't seem intent on going after everyone that disobeys the law from day one, but it will get to that eventually.

If you run a website in the UK and much of Europe, it helps to know what you're up against.

The UK law st... (read more)]]> Sat, 26 May 2012 19:31:03 GMT Softpedia News - Internet Life http://news.softpedia.com/news/No-Two-EU-Countries-Agree-on-the-the-Cookie-Law-271953.shtml Internet Life http://news.softpedia.com/news/No-Two-EU-Countries-Agree-on-the-the-Cookie-Law-271953.shtml#review_zone Softpedia News (Lucian Parfeni) http://news.softpedia.com/news/You-Can-Play-Facebook-Games-in-the-Feed-Now-271932.shtml Apps and games in particular have proven hugely popular on Facebook. In turn, they helped the site grow larger and made people come back more often and stay longer.

But, even with notifications and various other methods of viral spread available to developers, games and apps have always been relegated to their own pages, a somewhat separat... (read more)]]> Sat, 26 May 2012 12:41:01 GMT Softpedia News - Internet Life http://news.softpedia.com/news/You-Can-Play-Facebook-Games-in-the-Feed-Now-271932.shtml Internet Life http://news.softpedia.com/news/You-Can-Play-Facebook-Games-in-the-Feed-Now-271932.shtml#review_zone Softpedia News (Lucian Parfeni) http://news.softpedia.com/news/Firefox-15-Now-Has-Background-Updates-271830.shtml
The goal with background updates is to have newer versions of Firefox downloaded and installed while the browser is running. This wa... (read more)]]> Fri, 25 May 2012 19:31:01 GMT Softpedia News - Internet Life http://news.softpedia.com/news/Firefox-15-Now-Has-Background-Updates-271830.shtml Internet Life http://news.softpedia.com/news/Firefox-15-Now-Has-Background-Updates-271830.shtml#review_zone Softpedia News (Lucian Parfeni) http://news.softpedia.com/news/Facebook-Said-to-Be-Interested-in-Opera-but-Don-t-Hold-Your-Breath-271846.shtml
Apparently, Facebook is interested in buying the browser maker. There's nothing too serious at the moment, Facebook is just looking into it, but the simple fact that it's interested is telling. But no other details are available.
read more)]]> Fri, 25 May 2012 16:10:00 GMT Softpedia News - Internet Life http://news.softpedia.com/news/Facebook-Said-to-Be-Interested-in-Opera-but-Don-t-Hold-Your-Breath-271846.shtml Internet Life http://news.softpedia.com/news/Facebook-Said-to-Be-Interested-in-Opera-but-Don-t-Hold-Your-Breath-271846.shtml#review_zone Softpedia News (Lucian Parfeni) http://news.softpedia.com/news/The-Dreaded-Cookie-Law-Goes-in-Effect-in-the-UK-Next-Week-271799.shtml The dreaded cookie law, which has nothing to do with food, is going to be enforced in the UK starting next week. Websites will be required to get consent from users before placing cookies on users' computers. As you may have noticed, the vast majority of websites do not currently ask for permission and won't be ready by the deadline.
read more)]]> Fri, 25 May 2012 14:20:00 GMT Softpedia News - Internet Life http://news.softpedia.com/news/The-Dreaded-Cookie-Law-Goes-in-Effect-in-the-UK-Next-Week-271799.shtml Internet Life http://news.softpedia.com/news/The-Dreaded-Cookie-Law-Goes-in-Effect-in-the-UK-Next-Week-271799.shtml#review_zone Softpedia News (Lucian Parfeni) http://news.softpedia.com/news/Facebook-Camera-App-Takes-on-Instagram-Which-It-Just-Bought-for-1-Billion-271683.shtml Facebook knew, well before buying Instagram, that it needed to do more with mobile photos. Photos had been the site's killer feature on the desktop and, for a long time, were woefully underrepresented in the mobile app. What's more, other apps, from startups, were eating Facebook's lunch in this area.

Granted... (read more)]]> Fri, 25 May 2012 09:33:00 GMT Softpedia News - Internet Life http://news.softpedia.com/news/Facebook-Camera-App-Takes-on-Instagram-Which-It-Just-Bought-for-1-Billion-271683.shtml Internet Life http://news.softpedia.com/news/Facebook-Camera-App-Takes-on-Instagram-Which-It-Just-Bought-for-1-Billion-271683.shtml#review_zone Softpedia News (Lucian Parfeni) http://news.softpedia.com/news/Microsoft-Takes-Down-Streetside-Entirely-in-Germany-Amidst-Privacy-Concerns-271610.shtml Google has become the go-to target for everything that's "bad" about the internet. The problem is that, for many people, Google "is" the internet. Those are the people that type "facebook.com" into Google Search to get to the social network.

Unfortunately, more often than anyone would like, these are the sa... (read more)]]> Thu, 24 May 2012 17:21:02 GMT Softpedia News - Internet Life http://news.softpedia.com/news/Microsoft-Takes-Down-Streetside-Entirely-in-Germany-Amidst-Privacy-Concerns-271610.shtml Internet Life http://news.softpedia.com/news/Microsoft-Takes-Down-Streetside-Entirely-in-Germany-Amidst-Privacy-Concerns-271610.shtml#review_zone Softpedia News (Lucian Parfeni) http://news.softpedia.com/news/The-Pirate-Bay-Gets-New-IP-to-Thwart-Blocks-271239.shtml With more and more countries scrambling to block The Pirate Bay you'd think that the site is finally over. That's not really the case, if anything, it's doing better than ever. But users in the UK and in other places where the site is censored are having a bit more trouble reaching it.

There are countless ways of getting around the feeble... (read more)]]> Wed, 23 May 2012 11:13:00 GMT Softpedia News - Internet Life http://news.softpedia.com/news/The-Pirate-Bay-Gets-New-IP-to-Thwart-Blocks-271239.shtml Internet Life http://news.softpedia.com/news/The-Pirate-Bay-Gets-New-IP-to-Thwart-Blocks-271239.shtml#review_zone Softpedia News (Lucian Parfeni) http://news.softpedia.com/news/Court-Forces-Site-That-Didn-t-Keep-Logs-to-Provide-Log-Data-in-Grooveshark-Lawsuit-271031.shtml Grooveshark's future is bleak, if only because of the many lawsuits that it's trapped in. The site may win the lawsuits and still go under, as it happened to MP3tunes.

But it seems that Grooveshark is not content with fighting the lawsuits brought upon it, it's actively seeking out time in court.
read more)]]> Tue, 22 May 2012 12:10:00 GMT Softpedia News - Internet Life http://news.softpedia.com/news/Court-Forces-Site-That-Didn-t-Keep-Logs-to-Provide-Log-Data-in-Grooveshark-Lawsuit-271031.shtml Internet Life http://news.softpedia.com/news/Court-Forces-Site-That-Didn-t-Keep-Logs-to-Provide-Log-Data-in-Grooveshark-Lawsuit-271031.shtml#review_zone Softpedia News (Lucian Parfeni) http://news.softpedia.com/news/Game-of-Thrones-Is-the-Most-Pirated-TV-Show-Australia-Leads-the-Way-270795.shtml
The show is on its way to becoming the most downloaded TV show of the year and each episode gets as many as four million downloads within a week of it becoming available, just as many as watch it legally in the US on HBO.

Granted, the show is great and that accounts for its popularity, but a big factor ... (read more)]]> Mon, 21 May 2012 12:52:00 GMT Softpedia News - Internet Life http://news.softpedia.com/news/Game-of-Thrones-Is-the-Most-Pirated-TV-Show-Australia-Leads-the-Way-270795.shtml Internet Life http://news.softpedia.com/news/Game-of-Thrones-Is-the-Most-Pirated-TV-Show-Australia-Leads-the-Way-270795.shtml#review_zone Softpedia News (Lucian Parfeni) http://news.softpedia.com/news/Facebook-s-Zuckerberg-Marries-the-Day-After-Historic-IPO-270752.shtml It's been quite a week for Facebook CEO and visionary Mark Zuckerberg as he's seen two long-term investments pay off. For one, Facebook, the company he founded eight years ago in his Harvard dorm room, has gone public in one of the biggest deals of its kind in history.

Eager to wrap things up with the other half of his life, ... (read more)]]> Mon, 21 May 2012 11:11:02 GMT Softpedia News - Internet Life http://news.softpedia.com/news/Facebook-s-Zuckerberg-Marries-the-Day-After-Historic-IPO-270752.shtml Internet Life http://news.softpedia.com/news/Facebook-s-Zuckerberg-Marries-the-Day-After-Historic-IPO-270752.shtml#review_zone Softpedia News (Lucian Parfeni) http://news.softpedia.com/news/Who-Got-Rich-in-the-Facebook-IPO-270625.shtml Facebook's IPO came and went without a hitch. Stock price didn't surge in the first day as some expected, in fact it needed some help to stay above the initial price. But all that means is that Facebook made as much money as it could have in the deal.

It netted some $16 billion, €12.6 billion in one day at a valuation of over $100 billion, &euro... (read more)]]> Sat, 19 May 2012 14:50:00 GMT Softpedia News - Internet Life http://news.softpedia.com/news/Who-Got-Rich-in-the-Facebook-IPO-270625.shtml Internet Life http://news.softpedia.com/news/Who-Got-Rich-in-the-Facebook-IPO-270625.shtml#review_zone Softpedia News (Lucian Parfeni) http://news.softpedia.com/news/Twitter-Partners-with-NASCAR-for-Full-Coverage-During-Pocono-400-270603.shtml
Twitter is now taking it to the next stage, partnering with NASCAR to provide a unified experience. Twitter will be debuting a new tool, as part of this ... (read more)]]> Sat, 19 May 2012 11:11:01 GMT Softpedia News - Internet Life http://news.softpedia.com/news/Twitter-Partners-with-NASCAR-for-Full-Coverage-During-Pocono-400-270603.shtml Internet Life http://news.softpedia.com/news/Twitter-Partners-with-NASCAR-for-Full-Coverage-During-Pocono-400-270603.shtml#review_zone Softpedia News (Lucian Parfeni) http://news.softpedia.com/news/You-Can-Customize-WordPress-Themes-Before-Activating-them-Now-270526.shtml With millions of people (still) blogging and more starting, it's important that you stand out in some way, especially if you're sharing a blogging platform with millions of other people.

The best way to stand out is with great content, of course, but equally important is to make a good first impression and then to keep peo... (read more)]]> Fri, 18 May 2012 21:01:00 GMT Softpedia News - Internet Life http://news.softpedia.com/news/You-Can-Customize-WordPress-Themes-Before-Activating-them-Now-270526.shtml Internet Life http://news.softpedia.com/news/You-Can-Customize-WordPress-Themes-Before-Activating-them-Now-270526.shtml#review_zone Softpedia News (Lucian Parfeni) http://news.softpedia.com/news/Mozilla-Lauds-Twitter-s-quot-Do-Not-Track-quot-Adoption-270403.shtml Mozilla finally has something to brag about when it comes to Do Not Track and brag it does. Mozilla's privacy lead Alex Fowler praises Twitter for its adoption of the Do Not Track header and is sharing some numbers about adoption, which are quite impressive.

Do Not Track was introduced about a year ago by Mozilla, it's been av... (read more)]]> Fri, 18 May 2012 11:52:00 GMT Softpedia News - Internet Life http://news.softpedia.com/news/Mozilla-Lauds-Twitter-s-quot-Do-Not-Track-quot-Adoption-270403.shtml Internet Life http://news.softpedia.com/news/Mozilla-Lauds-Twitter-s-quot-Do-Not-Track-quot-Adoption-270403.shtml#review_zone Softpedia News (Lucian Parfeni) http://news.softpedia.com/news/Twitter-Will-Customize-Suggestions-by-Tracking-the-Sites-You-Visit-270360.shtml Twitter has started experimenting with customizing follow suggestions based on your interests. That sounds like a good idea, it's getting harder and harder to find people to follow on Twitter and the problem is bigger for new users.

Twitter suggests accounts you may want to follow when you first sign up, based on wh... (read more)]]> Fri, 18 May 2012 09:28:00 GMT Softpedia News - Internet Life http://news.softpedia.com/news/Twitter-Will-Customize-Suggestions-by-Tracking-the-Sites-You-Visit-270360.shtml Internet Life http://news.softpedia.com/news/Twitter-Will-Customize-Suggestions-by-Tracking-the-Sites-You-Visit-270360.shtml#review_zone Softpedia News (Lucian Parfeni) http://news.softpedia.com/news/How-to-Keep-Your-Twitter-Account-Hidden-from-Google-270211.shtml Twitter, by and large, is a public place. People tweet things they want many others to see. Twitter doesn't require people to use their real name, yet a lot of people do. But Twitter's fast paced nature has people churning out tweets that may not seem such a good idea a second later.

They can delete them of course, but the ephemer... (read more)]]> Thu, 17 May 2012 21:31:01 GMT Softpedia News - Internet Life http://news.softpedia.com/news/How-to-Keep-Your-Twitter-Account-Hidden-from-Google-270211.shtml Internet Life http://news.softpedia.com/news/How-to-Keep-Your-Twitter-Account-Hidden-from-Google-270211.shtml#review_zone Softpedia News (Lucian Parfeni) http://news.softpedia.com/news/Firefox-13-Comes-with-a-quot-Reset-quot-Button-for-Factory-Defaults-270273.shtml
The "reset" button works in a simple way, it saves your bookmarks, passwords, cookies and form data, but ... (read more)]]> Thu, 17 May 2012 19:21:01 GMT Softpedia News - Internet Life http://news.softpedia.com/news/Firefox-13-Comes-with-a-quot-Reset-quot-Button-for-Factory-Defaults-270273.shtml Internet Life http://news.softpedia.com/news/Firefox-13-Comes-with-a-quot-Reset-quot-Button-for-Factory-Defaults-270273.shtml#review_zone Softpedia News (Lucian Parfeni) http://news.softpedia.com/news/Twitter-Now-Supports-Firefox-s-quot-Do-Not-Track-quot-270264.shtml Mozilla's pioneering Do Not Track initiative, which has since been co-opted into an industry standard, not yet finished, paved the way for a different approach to privacy, one in which users had at least some say and control.

Do Not Track is by no means perfect, but it's a big step forward. One of the big problems with this appr... (read more)]]> Thu, 17 May 2012 15:31:01 GMT Softpedia News - Internet Life http://news.softpedia.com/news/Twitter-Now-Supports-Firefox-s-quot-Do-Not-Track-quot-270264.shtml Internet Life http://news.softpedia.com/news/Twitter-Now-Supports-Firefox-s-quot-Do-Not-Track-quot-270264.shtml#review_zone Softpedia News (Lucian Parfeni) http://news.softpedia.com/news/More-India-ISPs-Block-Torrent-Sites-Dailymotion-Even-Xmarks-270159.shtml Private companies are continuing to play with what millions of internet users in India can and cannot see. Last week, several BitTorrent sites along with other stranger choices like Vimeo were blocked by at least one ISP. Now, others are joining, though the original block has been lifted in some cases.

There's also no coun... (read more)]]> Thu, 17 May 2012 12:01:00 GMT Softpedia News - Internet Life http://news.softpedia.com/news/More-India-ISPs-Block-Torrent-Sites-Dailymotion-Even-Xmarks-270159.shtml Internet Life http://news.softpedia.com/news/More-India-ISPs-Block-Torrent-Sites-Dailymotion-Even-Xmarks-270159.shtml#review_zone Softpedia News (Lucian Parfeni) http://news.softpedia.com/news/Thunderbird-15-Gets-quot-Do-Not-Track-quot-Privacy-Header-Option-270124.shtml
Now, in the latest Mozilla Thunderbird 15, users have the ability to set their email client to... (read more)]]> Thu, 17 May 2012 11:11:04 GMT Softpedia News - Internet Life http://news.softpedia.com/news/Thunderbird-15-Gets-quot-Do-Not-Track-quot-Privacy-Header-Option-270124.shtml Internet Life http://news.softpedia.com/news/Thunderbird-15-Gets-quot-Do-Not-Track-quot-Privacy-Header-Option-270124.shtml#review_zone Softpedia News (Lucian Parfeni) http://news.softpedia.com/news/1-in-5-Page-Views-Happens-on-Facebook-270115.shtml Facebook is big, that's not news to anyone, so it's going to generate some pretty impressive stats month after month. Still, it's interesting to note just how big the site is, it's on its way to becoming the largest website on the planet and it would already be that if divided Google and the others by product rather than by domain.

Nine percent... (read more)]]> Thu, 17 May 2012 10:41:02 GMT Softpedia News - Internet Life http://news.softpedia.com/news/1-in-5-Page-Views-Happens-on-Facebook-270115.shtml Internet Life http://news.softpedia.com/news/1-in-5-Page-Views-Happens-on-Facebook-270115.shtml#review_zone Softpedia News (Lucian Parfeni) http://news.softpedia.com/news/Firefox-15-to-Fix-All-Common-Add-on-Memory-Leaks-269898.shtml About a week ago, Mozilla was talking about a patch that fixed most of the biggest and most common memory problems related to add-ons. The biggest leaks were fixed, making a huge difference for users, however, the patch also caused other memory leaks for add-ons created with older versions of the Add-on SDK.

At the time, it looked li... (read more)]]> Wed, 16 May 2012 12:14:00 GMT Softpedia News - Internet Life http://news.softpedia.com/news/Firefox-15-to-Fix-All-Common-Add-on-Memory-Leaks-269898.shtml Internet Life http://news.softpedia.com/news/Firefox-15-to-Fix-All-Common-Add-on-Memory-Leaks-269898.shtml#review_zone Softpedia News (Lucian Parfeni) http://news.softpedia.com/news/GM-Stops-Advertising-on-Facebook-269832.shtml Facebook's much-anticipated IPO, which is set for this Friday, has been generating a lot of interest and a lot of speculation. The company's prospects look good, great in fact, it just increased the price range for the shares it's going to make available on the Nasdaq market.

But as with any IPO this size, there's controversy and skeptics, if only ... (read more)]]> Wed, 16 May 2012 09:22:00 GMT Softpedia News - Internet Life http://news.softpedia.com/news/GM-Stops-Advertising-on-Facebook-269832.shtml Internet Life http://news.softpedia.com/news/GM-Stops-Advertising-on-Facebook-269832.shtml#review_zone Softpedia News (Lucian Parfeni) http://news.softpedia.com/news/HTML5-Desktop-Apps-Become-a-Reality-with-Firefox-15-and-the-Mozilla-Marketplace-269711.shtml Mozilla is rather serious about web apps and it's been working on making its own platform a reality. The Mozilla Marketplace will soon go live for users and Mozilla is highlighting one of the potential uses of the app store and the web platform itself, describing how web apps can be "installed" locally, on Windows a... (read more)]]> Tue, 15 May 2012 18:41:01 GMT Softpedia News - Internet Life http://news.softpedia.com/news/HTML5-Desktop-Apps-Become-a-Reality-with-Firefox-15-and-the-Mozilla-Marketplace-269711.shtml Internet Life http://news.softpedia.com/news/HTML5-Desktop-Apps-Become-a-Reality-with-Firefox-15-and-the-Mozilla-Marketplace-269711.shtml#review_zone Softpedia News (Lucian Parfeni) http://news.softpedia.com/news/Facebook-Takes-a-Cue-from-Google-Instagram-with-Edge-to-Edge-Photos-on-Mobile-269681.shtml Facebook may not be an innovator when it comes to design and usability, but it's effectively keeping up with everyone else doing the real innovating. That's not to say that Facebook just copies others, but it prefers ideas that are tested and small incremental changes rather than radical redesigns, Timeline notwithsta... (read more)]]> Tue, 15 May 2012 14:21:01 GMT Softpedia News - Internet Life http://news.softpedia.com/news/Facebook-Takes-a-Cue-from-Google-Instagram-with-Edge-to-Edge-Photos-on-Mobile-269681.shtml Internet Life http://news.softpedia.com/news/Facebook-Takes-a-Cue-from-Google-Instagram-with-Edge-to-Edge-Photos-on-Mobile-269681.shtml#review_zone Softpedia News (Lucian Parfeni) http://news.softpedia.com/news/Twitter-Goes-Old-School-with-Weekly-Email-Newsletter-269582.shtml Twitter is a fast-paced world, it's the epitome of the real-time web. People want information and they want it "now." It's a pretty disposable world as well, tweets come and go and if you don't manage to see them when they first show up, they'll get buried beneath a flood of others.

But Twitter now has an alternative, what if you... (read more)]]> Tue, 15 May 2012 09:45:00 GMT Softpedia News - Internet Life http://news.softpedia.com/news/Twitter-Goes-Old-School-with-Weekly-Email-Newsletter-269582.shtml Internet Life http://news.softpedia.com/news/Twitter-Goes-Old-School-with-Weekly-Email-Newsletter-269582.shtml#review_zone Softpedia News (Lucian Parfeni)