Net Neutrality, Broadband and Telcos; Copyfight, Tech Life, Sharing, Patents; Facebook, Apple, Amazon.com; Gaming, Tetris@30, Nintendo, XBone, Mobile, Gamers

Net Neutrality

• Verizon Says It Wants to Kill Net Neutrality to Help Blind, Deaf, and Disabled People—"Lobbyists are telling Congress that the administration's plan to create internet fast lanes and slow lanes is important for Americans with disabilities."
• Netflix got worse on Verizon even after Netflix agreed to pay Verizon
• Why Verizon won't solve its Netflix problem as soon as Comcast—"Comcast spent months preparing network connections with Netflix—Verizon didn't."
• Netflix: Verizon decided to 'leave three lanes closed during rush hour
• Community Groups Were Duped Into Joining the Telecom Industry's Anti-Net-Neutrality Coalition
• Mobile 'net neutrality' faces new day of reckoning at FCC
• In Harm's Way: The Dangers of a World Without Net Neutrality
• BitTorrent Shows You What The Internet Looks Like Without Net Neutrality; Suggests A Better Way
• Join the FastLane™
• John Oliver challenges FCC head Tom Wheeler to prove he's not a 'f*cking baby-eating dingo'

Broadband and Telcos

• Comcast is turning your Xfinity router into a public Wi-Fi hotspot
• Verizon will miss its deadline to bring citywide broadband to New York
• Verizon has done the seemingly impossible: It's made Comcast look good
• Comcast testing Internet data caps in parts of the country, could become widespread
• The FCC Can't Help Cities Trapped By Predatory Internet Deals With Big Telecom
• FCC looking into complaints that broadband ISPs are dragging their heels
• State laws deprive Americans of broadband Internet, FCC chairman says
• Boulder lost out on Google Fiber because of Colorado's anti-municipal broadband laws
• Google Fiber franchise wins approval from Portland City Council
• Legere pounces on AT&T's decision to raise activation fees

Copyfight

• Obama Blasted for Lumping Critics of Trade Deal Secrecy with 'Conspiracy Theorists'
• In win for libraries, court rules database of Google-scanned books is "fair use"
• IKEA waits 8 years, then shuts down IKEAhackers site with trademark claim—"IKEA lawyers pushed site to go non-commercial or give up its domain name."
• Crushing Blow for Copyright Trolls: Appeals Court Halts AF Holdings' Extortion Scheme

Tech Life

• Selfies replace the autograph The Times
• Theater chain bans Google Glass—"Alamo Drafthouse, with theaters nationwide, bars the eyewear amid piracy fears." Alamo has always had pro-movie-watching principles and do not suffer fools lightly.
• The Pocket Watch Was the World's First Wearable Tech Game Changer

Sharing

• UK: Uber sign-ups soar by 850 percent as cab drivers protest
• CA: Ride-shares warned by regulators: no airport runs
• Uber and Airbnb show the sharing economy is on its way – like it or not

Patents

• New study suggests patent trolls really are killing startups
• Chinese gov't reveals Microsoft's secret list of Android-killer patents
• Facebook wins patent trial that targeted Newsfeed, Timeline

Facebook

• The Dark Side Of Facebook, Where People Lie, Steal, And Make Millions
• Facebook Australia's $60 million a year business that it wants to keep hidden
• #Love: My 'Friends' Don't 'Like' Me
• Yo Facebook, Ban Links With Fake Video Play Buttons
• Facebook Is Beginning to Look Like a Bonafide Online Ad Network

Apple

• Apple Begins Rejecting Apps That Offer Rewards For Video Views, Social Sharing
• Apple recalls millions of iPhone chargers across 37 countries
• Apple Starts Letting Bitcoin Transfer Apps Back Into Its App Store

Amazon.com

• Amazon Stops Taking Advance Orders for 'Lego' and Other Warner Videos—"Amazon, embroiled in a standoff with a book publisher, is using the same hardball techniques with new movies from Warner Home Video." NYT
• Amazon adds lower movie prices to battle over books
• Book Fight: Amazon vs. Publishers—Some letters to the editors.
• How the Government Blew Its Chance to Rein in Amazon
• The Colbert Report: Amazon vs. Hachette

Gaming

• Why Game Developers Keep Getting Laid Off
• Success! Atari E.T. games found in New Mexico dump—"Despite doubters, the first of what could be thousands or millions of buried E.T. game cartridges were discovered in the Alamogordo landfill where Atari buried them 31 years ago."
• Sony making a Last of Us movie -- Who would you cast as Joel and Ellie?—From what little I've seen of the game, I'd like to see feature-length version based on the cut scenes.
• The man who made the game in 'Her' is about to release a game you can play
• Grammy-nominated composer speaks up against union blockage of Game recordings

Tetris@30

• Tetris at 30: a history of the world's most successful game
• Tetris Turns 30, Creator Says He Still Plays Every Week
• Tetris Creators Talk About Staying Relevant in a Candy-Crushed World
• Video: The addictive game explained in Tetris blocks
• 10 insane covers of the Tetris theme tune

Nintendo

• How we'd save Nintendo
• The Rise of Nintendo: A Story in 8 Bits—"From 'Donkey Kong' to the NES — how a Japanese company took over the American living room. An exclusive first serial from 'Console Wars.'"
• Nintendo announces plan to share ad revenue with YouTube streamers

XBone

• Why the death of Microsoft's Xbox One vision means we all lose—"Commentary: By unbundling the Kinect sensor from Xbox One, Microsoft strips away the console's last differentiating element. The industry and gamers will suffer for it."
• Xbox One doesn't mark the spot—"Kinect's decoupling hasn't been matched with enough exclusive fare to excite us."
• Xbox One ad is switching on Microsoft consoles

Mobile

• Two thirds of players ditch free mobile games in less than 24 hours
• Mobile is burning, and free-to-play binds the hands of devs who want to help
• In just one year, Zynga lost nearly half of its daily active users
• Flappy Bird to return in August as multiplayer game, creator says

Gamers

• Study: Gamers are more educated, more social than the people who make fun of them—"A new study commissioned by Twitch suggests gamers are more social and more successful than non-gamers." WaPo
• Looking at Link Between Violent Video Games and Lack of Empathy NYT
• Aggression from video games 'linked to incompetence'
• Teamwork OP: Riot on making 'good' the easy choice—"That's a paradigm shift: trolls aren't trolls all the time, they're sometimes trolls because they're in a bad mood every now and again."
• Boy Credits 'Grand Theft Auto' Game For His Life-Saving Reaction In Out Of Control Car
• Online gamers witness home invasion; 1 suspect in custody, 1 on the loose

Digital Life; Cable and Broadband, Net Neutrality, Cell Phones; Copyfight, Patents; Facebook; Windows H8.1, XP Deadline; Android; Ads; Gaming

Digital Life

• The Selfie and Serendipity's Extinction
• Social Media and the Perils of Looking for 'Likes'
• Virtual Reality is going to change the world
• What You Think You Know About the Web Is Wrong
• Google Earth Finds Woman Trapped On Deserted Island For 7 Years
• After borking high-profile crowdfunding campaigns, PayPal updates policies—"Mailpile, Yatagarasu Attack on Cataclysm, and Dreamfall Chapters all had funds frozen."

Cable and Broadband

• FCC sides with local cable commissions against Comcast—"The Federal Communications Commission has upheld a ruling ordering Comcast to stop charging its customers for cable equipment under the guise of service fees."
• New Revelations on Google Fiber Spells More Bad News for AT&T and Verizon
• One big reason we lack Internet competition: Starting an ISP is really hard—"Creating an ISP? You'll need millions of dollars, patience, and lots of lawyers."

Net Neutrality

• Netflix's Net-Neutrality Plea Gets Rejected by the FCC—"But the agency might still regulate negotiations between websites and Internet providers."
• Net neutrality law adopted by European Parliament—It was a hard-fought and won battle.
• Q&A with policy advisor for the ACLU on net neutrality

Cell Phones

• The Netherlands paves the way for carrier-free SIM cards
• MEPs vote to scrap mobile roaming fees in Europe
• Watch 30 Years of Mobile Phones Come Together as a Digital Orchestra

Copyfight

• Sony Blocks Creative Commons Movie With Bogus DMCA Takedown—"It's pretty hard to enrage free software advocates, the Creative Commons movement, and anti-overreaching copyright and anti-censorship camps with a single move, so 'congratulations' to Sony for managing that today. Thanks to a bogus DMCA takedown, the Blender Institute's open movie 'Sintel' is now blocked on YouTube."/
• How Dropbox Knows When You're Sharing Copyrighted Stuff (Without Actually Looking At Your Stuff)
• New judge blasts Prenda's "attorney speak," finds lawyers in contempt—"Judge to John Steele: 'The community is worried about guys like you.'"
• Why Veronica Mars embraced UltraViolet and angered fans—Industry-touted DRM hurting customers, again.
• Google's 'Glass' trademark held back by US patent office

Patents

• US Supreme Court says human DNA cannot be patented—"Human genes may not be patented, but artificially copied DNA can be claimed as intellectual property, the US Supreme Court has ruled unanimously."
• Abstract Ideas Don't Deserve Patents—"The government has too often given patent protection to inventions that do not represent real scientific advances." NYT
• Supreme Court hears argument on a patent worthy of King Tut—"Is the patent behind a global banking lawsuit just 'a man with an abacus?'"
• Supreme Court skeptical of computer-based patents
• Apple, Pfizer, others form 'go slow' U.S. patent lobby group—"[The Partnership for American Innovation] would oppose efforts to make software or biotechnology unpatentable."
• Newegg and friends crush a patent troll
• Podcasts Vs. Patent Trolls: How You Can Help

Facebook

• Why No One Trusts Facebook To Power The Future—"Facebook has a perception problem—consumers just don't trust it."
• Study: 30 percent of U.S. adults get their news from the Facebook feed
• Facebook's new face recognition knows you from the side
• Jerk.com scammed money to remove Facebook-scraped profiles, says FTC—"Take info, post it publicly, ask for money to remove it, do nothing, profit."
• Facebook Friends Help Diagnose A 3-Year-Old With Eye Disease

Windows H8.1

• Was Windows 8 a Mistake? Microsoft Seems to Think So
• Windows 7 outgains Windows 8 and 8.1 in market share again, but Windows XP still above 27%—Buncha stragglers.
• Microsoft's Windows 8 is Less Popular than Discontinued Windows XP—"Windows 8 is still proving to be unpopular, even after its 8.1 update."
• Microsoft Will Soon Bring Back The Start Menu In Windows 8.1
• Fixing Windows 8

XP Deadline

• Windows XP End of Life Breeding FUD, Legit Concerns
• Mathematics of trust: How Microsoft can keep Win XP alive – and WHY
• UK government buys last-minute lifeline with £5.5m Windows XP support deal
• Dutch government pays millions to extend Microsoft XP support
• Windows XP support will be available after April 8—just not for you

Android

• The #1 New Paid App In The Play Store Costs $4, Has Over 10,000 Downloads, A 4.7-Star Rating... And It's A Total Scam
• The Fallacy Of Android-First
• Here’s Why Developers Keep Favoring Apple Over Android

Ads

• Microsoft to start blocking annoying adware by default
• Ad blockers get ad-group exec's blood boiling (Q&A)—"The Interactive Advertising Bureau doesn't like how tens of millions of people use ad-blocking software. IAB's general counsel has a counterattack: block the blockers."
• Research Finds Value Exchange Ads Benefit Gamers, Developers And Marketers

Gaming

• For Kids, Gaming Is Healthier Than Television
• Titanfall's Anticheat Is Now Being Enforced
• How The Most Expensive Game Jam In History Crashed And Burned In A Single Day
• The Guilt of the Video-Game Millionaires—"For many young, successful game makers, who created their work out of a passion for play, riches come with profound cost."
• Candy Crush Firm Slumps In Market Debut
• Tinder Exploited By Bots Promoting "Castle Clash" Game Downloads
• The "2048" game is why we can't have nice things—"The latest viral game breakout exposes the horrible economics of online gaming." Salon

Surveillance State, CIA Senate Spying, NSA, Data Privacy, Your Rights Online; Tech Cases; World TB Day

Surveillance State

• Jimmy Carter believes U.S. is spying on him—"I believe if I send an email, it will be monitored." Also, he says that Snowden's leaks "good for Americans to know."
• Sen. Ron Wyden scorches senior CIA and NSA officials and their 'pattern of deception'
• Spy Agencies, Not Politicians, Hold the Cards in Washington—"The CIA and NSA routinely ignore the Constitution, yet want the Justice Department to protect them from an over-reaching Congress."
• Government must stop requesting broad email search warrants, judge says—"District court says it will reject future broad requests." A federal judge says it's "repugnant to the Fourth Amendment."
• How Much Microsoft Charges the FBI for User Data
• Police keep quiet about cell-tracking technology—"Police across the country may be intercepting phone calls or text messages to find suspects using a technology tool known as Stingray. But they're refusing to turn over details about its use or heavily censoring files when they do."
• Navy database tracks civilians' parking tickets, fender-benders, raising fears of domestic spying
• America's Creepy, Surveillance-Endorsing Love of NCIS—"By featuring warrantless agents who thwart domestic terrorists with fantastical technology, shows like NCIS essentially ask Americans to root for Big Brother."
• Former US intelligence contractor speaks on 1975 Australian coup—"Boyce, now 61, confirmed his previous statements that the CIA was centrally involved in the dismissal of the Whitlam government."

CIA Senate Spying

• Terror Report Release May Fuel The Spat Between Congress And The CIA
• CIA chief vows fast review of declassifying interrogation report—Declassifying or destructifying?
• Nancy Pelosi: When Legislators Take on the CIA, 'They Come After You'
• How the CIA Blew It—"America's spooks aren't going rogue. They just picked a fight they couldn't possibly win." Politico
• False Equivalence and the Feud Between the CIA and the Senate—"The outbreak of open hostilities between Dianne Feinstein and the spy agency she oversees is not a problem—it is a glimmer of hope."

NSA

• Greenwald: Some Facts About How NSA Stories Are Reported
• This Is How the NSA Is Trying to Win Over the Media—"[T]he latest step in the NSA's PR campaign is perhaps its boldest and most bizarre yet: A glossy, full-color "media kit" sent to news organizations."
• Was FISC judge misled by gov't lawyers in evidence-destruction spat?—"And a CA judge makes clear: Spying data must be kept to resolve activist suits."
• Targeting Huawei: NSA Spied on Chinese Government and Networking Firm—Ruh-roh.
• SPIEGEL Interview with Former NSA Director Michael Hayden—"In a SPIEGEL interview, former NSA director Michael Hayden, 69, discusses revelations of US spying on Germany made public in documents leaked by Edward Snowden, surveillance against German leaders and tensions between Berlin and Washington."
• Google's Larry Page: We can't Have NSA Spying and a Functioning Democracy
• NSA hacker in residence dishes on how to 'hunt' system admins—"Latest Snowden docs offer lulz from NSA's internal hacker how-to board."

Data Privacy

• The White House wants to know how worried you are about data privacy
• How Microsoft tracked down a spy who leaked its secrets—Was the "sniffing" justified on Hotmail, which Microsoft owns?
• It's not just Microsoft: Apple and Google can also read your emails
• Google Under Fire for Data-Mining Student Email Messages
• Now Gmail Encrypts Messages Sent to Google Servers
• Twitter gives up on encrypting direct messages, at least for now
• Facebook's DeepFace Project Nears Human Accuracy In Identifying Faces
• Fighting Against Phony Location Privacy Protections in the States
• Yahoo forces fantasy sports users to divulge phone numbers

Your Rights Online

• Michelle Obama tells Chinese students internet freedom's a universal right
• The Trans-Pacific Partnership Will "Significantly" Restrict Online Freedoms
• Twitter website 'blocked' in Turkey—So far not so much.
• Orange Gives All Of Its Data To France's NSA
• The Australian Law that Would Force Suspects to Hand Over their Passwords

Tech Cases

• "Weev" prosecutor admits: I don't understand what the hacker did—""Andrew "weev" Auernheimer gets his day in appellate court."
• MIT faulted over its support for students—"School counters it is 'eager' to help 4 facing N.J. fraud charges." Here they go again.
• British man Lauri Love charged with hacking US Federal Reserve servers—"US indictment includes hacking and aggravated identity theft charges that carry a maximum prison sentence of 12 years."

World TB Day

The Net, Comcast Merger, Broadband; Digital Life; Windows H8.1; Apple; Facebook; Copyfight, Piracy; Apps; Patents; Ukraine

The Net

• The internet is fucked
• The Year We Broke the Internet
• Americans Would Give Up TV Before Internet
• Thirteen percent of U.S. adults say they don't use the Internet WaPo
• AT&T and Time Warner Cable ranked worst in customer service survey

Comcast Merger

• What's Wrong With the Comcast/Time Warner Merger—"If it's not blocked, a single corporation will be able to dictate digital communications and media content for decades to come."
• Comcast takes lobbying to new heights
• From the desk of a former FCC Commissioner—"Journalists need to generate a national discussion on the future of the internet.

Broadband

• ISPs Want To Destroy The Internet: Spread This Message So We Can Stop Them
• Broadband rage – symptom of a slow, patchy and expensive service—"Complaints are rising, with rural areas poorly served by fast broadband, but there are ways to try improving your service."
• Verizon says gamers should pay more for bandwidth

Digital Life

• Everything's Amazing And Nobody's Happy—"You are living in an age of wonders, says commentator Adam Frank. Every day we take part in activities that once seemed like the realm of science fiction. So why are you so dissatisfied?"
• Happy ending: @N has been restored to its rightful owner—Better late than @Never.
• Watch out for this Netflix "tech support" scam—"A security researcher has found an new twist on the traditional security hoodwink."

Windows H8.1

• Windows 8.1 update coming in spring, to improve controls, allow lower end hardware—And there's talk that there'll be a free version with Bing.
• Users mock Microsoft for asking their help on XP-to-Windows 8.1 upgrades—"After company's plea, users point out that upgrading XP to Windows 8.1 is 'impossible.'"
• Microsoft misjudges customer loyalty with kill-XP plea—"Expert questions Microsoft's strategic sense, calls XP upgrades a shakedown worthy of the 'Sopranos'."
• Windows XP will still get security support in China
• Windows XP: What to expect once Microsoft shuts down support

Apple

• Tim Cook Angrily Rejects Political Proposal Asking for Profits-First Policies—Climate change deniers can suck it.
• Apple CarPlay to bring iPhone experience to your next car's dashboard
• Sapphire crystal screens: why Apple is interested in a gemstone
• Apple wants US court to throw out 'radical' ebooks ruling
• Apple Maps sends skiers down dead-end road to fed-up homeowner
• Apple's Steve Jobs Memorial Statue Has Been Unveiled And ... It's Hideous—Not easy to defend.
• How to photograph a leaked Apple product

Facebook

• This Man's $600,000 Facebook Disaster Is A Warning For All Small Businesses
• How Facebook Exploits Underage Girls In Its Quest For Ad Revenue
• Bratty Teen's Facebook Post Cost Her Father $80,000

Copyfight

• Lawrence Lessig Wins Damages For Bogus YouTube Takedown
• 'To Kill A Mockingbird' Author Settles Copyright Suit Against Hometown Museum
• Candy Crush creator abandons 'candy' trademark efforts—In the US, but not in the EU.
• Keurig Will Use DRM In New Coffee Maker To Lock Out Refill Market
• Google Loses Emergency Bid To Keep "Innocence Of Muslims" Film Online
• Rep. Goodlatte Slips Secret Change Into Phone Unlocking Bill That Opens The DMCA Up For Wider Abuse
• House passes cellphone-unlocking bill with controversial limit on bulk reselling
• MPAA Shifts Its Funding Efforts To Republicans After SOPA Defeat
• Obama Nominates SOPA Lobbyist for TPP Trade Post

Piracy

• YouTube Ordered to Remove "Illegal" Copyright Blocking Notices
• MPAA's latest anti-piracy move accidentally, completely screws Hollywood studios
• Police Raid "Movie Cammer" and Family Twice - Then Drop All Charges
• "Dallas Buyers Club" Makers Censor Comcast On Demand, By Mistake
• Dotcom raid legal, FBI taking evidence not—"Police raids on Kim Dotcom's mansion in 2012 have been declared legal, but FBI removal of electronic information seized in the search was an unauthorised breach, the Court of Appeal has found."

Apps

• App-pocalypse Now—"I'm getting pretty sick of being nagged to install your damn apps."
• Europe invites Apple, Google to discuss 'in-app' purchases
• "Free-to-play" misleading advertising in Europe

Patents

• U.S. top court considers the 'patent troll' problem WaPo
• Inventor who shocked tech world stumped by 43-year patent delay
• Nokia, HTC End Patent Disputes, Begin Partnership

Ukraine

• Ukraine must exercise restraint in the face of Russian aggression WaPo
• G7 condemns Russia military build-up
• Russia blocks web pages linked to Ukraine protests Salon
• US concedes Russia has control of Crimea and seeks to contain Putin
• Poland's Tusk says must stop Crimea crisis expanding to regional conflict
• U.S. Spies Said No Russian Invasion of Ukraine — Putin Disagreed—"A day after U.S. intelligence said there would be no Russian invasion of Ukraine, Putin’s troops started coming over the border."

Comcast Merger, Broadband, Netflix; TPP, Copyfight, Pandora vs. ASCAP; Flappy Bird, Gaming; Windows Crash; Law and Disorder

Comcast Merger

• Comcast buys rival Time Warner Cable for $45bn
• Comcast Gives $854K to Subcommittee With Jurisdiction Over FCC
• Sen. Chuck Schumer recuses himself from Comcast-Time Warner deal—Huge conflict-of-interest with him praising the deal previously.
• Comcast: No promise that prices "will go down or even increase less rapidly"—"Former FCC commissioner urges defeat of "anti-consumer" Comcast/TWC merger."
• Comcast's Time Warner Deal Is Bad for America
• The Real Problem with the Comcast-Time Warner Merger
• Comcast monopoly: One Cable Company to Rule Them All?
• Forget TV, It's Internet Access at Stake in the Comcast Deal

Broadband

• ISP lobby has already won limits on public broadband in 20 states—"Bills limiting municipal ISPs in Kansas and Utah continue noble tradition.."
• Data Caps Are The Devil For Residents Of Rural Alaskan Towns; Are They In Our Future?
• Time Warner Cable still in denial, says users might not want faster data speeds
• How ISPs are working to keep you stuck with their slow service
• This is what a competitive broadband market looks like
• Google working on 10 gigabit Internet speeds
• Many Broadband ISP Consumers Suffer in Silence Rather than Complain

Netflix

• Netflix plan for cable boxes threatened by Comcast/Time Warner merger—"Supporting Netflix would 'cannibalize their business.'"
• Netflix To Deploy GPU-Powered Neural Networks For Deep Learning In Movie Recommendations
• Infographic: Netflix vs. Blockbuster

TPP

• Amid Growing Calls To Release TPP Text, NZ Says Transparency Would 'Destroy' Agreement, While USTR Won't Even Talk If Journalists Are Present
• Obama Pushes TPP Negotiations Despite Mounting Opposition at Home and Abroad
• Obama Trade Deals Are in Trouble, and They Deserve to Be

Copyfight

• Scary UFC Copyright Propaganda Matters to Everyone
• Why It's Getting Harder to Sue Illegal Movie Downloaders—"Some federal judges are becoming skeptical of the methods copyright holders use to identify culprits."
• Australian Government Signals Online Piracy Crackdown

Pandora vs. ASCAP

• Pandora Suit May Upend Century-Old Royalty Plan—"Pandora is squaring off against Ascap in a closely watched trial over royalty payments determined by a system developed long before digital streams and smartphone apps." NYT
• Surprise: ASCAP and Music Labels Colluded To Screw Pandora
• ASCAP, Pandora await verdict in court battle over digital music rights

Flappy Bird

• 28 Days of Fame: The Strange, True Story of 'Flappy Bird'
• Flappy Bird Creator Dong Nguyen Says App 'Gone Forever' Because It Was 'An Addictive Product'
• Flap no more: Google, Apple rejecting flappy-branded games—"Apparently they're just as sick of Flappy Bird as we are."
• Why Indie Developers Go Insane
• You can't actually sell your Flappy Bird phone on eBay

Gaming

• TotalBiscuit Fights Against Total Boneheads—FUN Creators seem to be out of their frickin' minds.
• Plants vs Zombies drops in-app fee
• 'CandySwipe', a Game Released Two Years Before 'Candy Crush', is the Latest Victim of the King.com Candy Trademark "Saga"
• Gabe Newell Speaks On Recent VAC Controversy, Asks For Trust—Valve accused of spying on users under guise of anti-cheating measures.
• Korea bans kids from late night gaming, they don't listen

Windows Crash

• What the Heck is Happening to Windows?—Tough love from Thurrott.
• Windows 8 UX designer on Metro: "It is the antithesis of a power user"
• After 15 months, Windows 8 has sold 100 million fewer copies than Windows 7 did
• Windows 7 on business PCs gets an extension—PC consumer sales end October 31.
• Hate Windows 8? 3 ways to downgrade to Windows 7
• Irish Govt signs €3.3m deal with Microsoft to fix Windows XP security issues
• Why do People Still Use Windows XP

Law and Disorder

• With Porn Filters Going Oh So Well, UK Roars Ahead In Expanding Them To Include 'Extremist' Content
• Hyperlinking is Not Copyright Infringement, EU Court Rules—"However, the ruling also makes it clear that while publishing a link to freely available content does not amount to infringement, there are circumstances where that would not be the case."
• Frenchman Fined For 'Theft' And 'Fraudulent Retention' For Finding Health Docs Via A Google Search
• The Facebook Comment That Ruined a Life—"A young man's violent threat on Facebook lands him in jail, and limbo."
• Google reaches antitrust deal with EU—"The Internet search giant dodges $5 billion in fines with pledge to display rivals' search results.

Tech Luddites, Digital Life; iPhone Follies, Not-so-smartphones, Microsoft, Patents, Wikipedia, Foul Play, Your Rights Online, Facebook and Your Privacy, NSA Spying and Surveillance, Haxx0red

Tech Luddites

• Computers are too difficult and people are computer illiterate
• The digital revolution's lingering literacy problem—"If so many of the 2.7 billion people already online still have trouble with basic computer concepts, how will the next 2.5 billion fare?"
• Pew: 15% Of Americans Don't Have Internet. 5% Think It's Irrelevant

Digital Life

• YouTube gets the yuck out in comments cleanup
• Are search engines and the Internet hurting human memory?
• Anger explodes at Yahoo Mail redesign disaster: Key functions removed or broken—"The redesign is Yahoo Mail's second redesign within a year (under the leadership of former Google executive, current Yahoo chief executive Marissa Mayer). It was publicized at launch as Yahoo's bid to make Yahoo Mail more like Gmail." Unfortunately, in my own experience, the new Gmail sucks donkey balls.

iPhone Follies

• And Then Steve Said, 'Let There Be an iPhone' NYT
• Apple Never Really Meant to Sell a 'Cheap' iPhone—The 5c didn't seem worth getting at its price with the 5s around.
• California man sues Apple CEO Tim Cook over automatic iOS 7 update
• Chinese couple sold baby to pay for iPhone—"Unemployed parents mastermind 'sinister conspiracy', auctioning daughter for £5,000 and using proceeds to buy luxury shoes and iPhone."
• Blast from the Past: No, phone app can't cure acne -- Sellers claimed that by holding iPhone to your face it could clear up your skin

Not-so-smartphones

• This is how a Helsingin Sanomat journalist tried to save Nokia
• BlackBerry pleads for patience in open letter to customers, partners
• 'They were completely oblivious'—"Hundreds of passengers on packed commuter train were so engrossed in mobile phones that they failed to spot gun-wielding student killer."

Microsoft

• Bill Gates admits Control-Alt-Delete was a mistake, blames IBM—A single button would've made things worse.
• 3 Steve Ballmer Quotes That Explain Why Microsoft's Mobile Effort Failed
• Microsoft bug hunter won't see much of that $100,000 bounty—"James Forshaw scooped a $100,000 reward from Microsoft – but his company and the taxman will get most of it."

Patents

• Crowd-backed EFF files to kill off 'podcast patent'
• Apple Patent on Touch Typing, Multitouch Upheld; Allows Ban on Most Androids
• Google Patents 'Heart-Shaped Hand Gesture,' But Taylor Swift Shouldn't Worry

Wikipedia

• Why Wikipedia Does Belong in the Classroom—A counterpoint to Why Wikipedia Doesn't Belong In The Classroom.
• The battle to destroy Wikipedia's biggest sockpuppet army
• How Much is Wikipedia Worth?

Foul Play

• This video is no longer available: The Day One Garry's Incident Incident—Wild Games Studio should be called out for abusing the DMCA to censor critiques, but their game is embarrassing by itself as it is.
• Gaijin Entertainment has Served Me with a UDRP Complaint—Trying to steal another's legitimately registered domain.
• EA finally "exploring the possibility" of offline mode for SimCity—After burning their fans, they claim the game is a "success".

Your Rights Online

• New York Comic Con Tweets From Attendees' Accounts Without Permission—Fuck @NY_Comic_Con's non-apology.
• The Darkest Place on the Internet Isn't Just for Criminals—"Darknet is populated by precisely who you'd expect to be skulking in the darkest corners of the online world. They have something to hide. But the Darknet, by itself, isn't evil, and we can use it too."
• How stores use your phone's WiFi to track your shopping habits WaPo
• Experian Sold Consumer Data to ID Theft Service
• Contrary to public claims, Apple can read your iMessages—"Control of keys gives Apple ability to read iMessages, despite end-to-end encryption."

Facebook and Your Privacy

• This Game Shows You How Terrible Facebook's Privacy Settings Really Are—First they make every profile searchable.
• Facebook changes privacy settings for teens—Then they sacrifice teen's privacy to keep them from leaving.
• This Won't Be Awkward: Mark Zuckerberg's Sister Writes Children's Book Telling Kids to Get Off Facebook

NSA Spying and Surveillance

• Obama has chance to reshape the NSA—"The upcoming retirement of National Security Agency Director Gen. Keith Alexander will give President Obama an opportunity to transform the agency."
• US asks top court not to take case on NSA cyber-snooping—Subverting check and balances.
• Fresh Leak on US Spying: NSA Accessed Mexican President's Email—Naturally, they're angry.
• US spy agency 'taped millions of French calls'—"France said on Monday it would 'immediately' summon the US ambassador in Paris to respond to the 'shocking' claims in Le Monde newspaper on Monday that the US NSA spy agency secretly recorded millions of phone calls made in France. Le Monde cited documents from whistleblower Edward Snowden."
• The NSA Spying and Lying Does Relate to 9/11

Haxx0red

• UK secretly arrested 16-year old boy for world's 'biggest' DDoS-attack
• 13 members of Anonymous indicted
• Japan promoting programs to produce more hackers for cybersecurity
• Silk Road: suspicions grow that server was hacked ahead of arrests
• Adobe source code breach; it's bad, real bad
• Cryptolocker Ransomware: What You Need To Know
• To pay off webcam spies, Detroit kid pawns $100k in family jewels for $1,500—"Video was so embarrassing, theft seemed the better option."

Government Shutdown Day 1, Politicking, Obamacare; Bill of Health, Issues, Malpractice; Assisted Suicide; NSA Spying and Surveillance

Government Shutdown Day 1

• Why Democrats Rejected The GOP's 11th Hour Conference Gambit
• Government shutdown: Get up to speed in 20 questions
• US shutdown: hundreds of thousands of workers forced into unpaid leave
• Dollar falls after US shutdown
• US government shutdown isn't the worst of it

Politicking

• Sen. Ted Cruz: The Pied Piper of Government Shutdown
• American Voters Reject GOP Shutdown Strategy 3-1, Quinnipiac University National Poll Finds; Dems Up 9 Points In 2014 Congressional Races
• Congress, tea party hit all-time low in CNN polling—Daily News nails it with their House of Turds cover.
• Juan Cole: Ted Cruz and America's Super-Rich say "Let them eat Cake"
• The House's food stamps cuts aren't just cruel. They're dumb.
• Ronald Reagan's shameful legacy: Violence, the homeless, mental illness Salon
• The Power of Stupidity

Obamacare

• Ten Questions About Obamacare You Were Too Embarrassed to Ask
• Obamacare: How do I sign up?—Go visit HealthCare.gov.
• Sen. Sanders: A single-payer system, like Medicare, is the cure for America's ailing healthcare—"Obamacare's reforms are a welcome but small step. To give all Americans healthcare as a right, we need a fair, efficient solution."
• Jon Stewart Shreds GOP Over Obamacare: 'Utter Insanity,' 'It's a F*cking Law!'
• What Epic Propaganda Looks Like: Obamacare And Permanent Right-Wing Misinformation

Bill of Health

• Medical scams increasing as Obamacare begins, officials say
• The SCOOTER Store shutting down after federal scrutiny, CBS probe
• 2 officers accused of selling NYC accident reports—"Authorities say they sold the documents to 'runners.' Those people find accident victims and bring them to certain doctors and clinics. The alleged bribes ranged from $40 to $1,500."
• Medical identity theft is fast-growing and dangerous
• Tips to Negotiate Your Medical Bills

Issues

• World Health Organisation warns Haj countries over Mers virus
• Brain amoeba found in tests of water supply where boy died in Louisiana
• Vaccine Refusals Fueled California's Whooping Cough Epidemic

Malpractice

• Man who died of cancer given notice of Trillium Health scan review—"Grace, who did not want her last name published, lost her husband to stomach cancer in February. Eight months earlier, a radiologist told him that he was cancer-free."
• UC Hospital Settles Medical Malpractice Lawsuit For $9 million—"Kaminer was in labor for 7 hours even though doctors knew that her child was in jeopardy. A C-section would have resulted in a normal birth. Instead, according to Kaminer's attorney... doctors were convinced that she strongly opposed the procedure."
• Chiropractor breaks baby's neck—"Fairfax Media has also seen evidence that chiropractors have been entering Sydney hospitals, including neo-natal intensive care wards and surgical wards, to treat patients without the required permission."

Assisted Suicide

• Stephen Hawking speaks out about assisted suicide
• Minn. Prosecutor To Appeal Assisted Suicide Ruling—"A Minnesota law banning the offering of advice or encouragement about how to commit suicide is an unconstitutional restriction on free speech, the state appeals court ruled Monday."
• Quadriplegic Conservative MP's support for assisted suicide puts him at odds with party

NSA Spying and Surveillance

• Ex-Microsoft privacy adviser: I don't trust company after NSA revelations—"Caspar Bowden says he was unaware of Prism data-sharing program when he worked at software firm."
• A CEO who resisted NSA spying is out of prison. And he feels 'vindicated' by Snowden leaks.
• Edward Snowden shortlisted for EU's Sakharov prize

Breaking Bad; Movies and TV, Comics; Entertainment and Culture, Arts; Tokyo 2020; Fun and Games, Tilt; NSA Spying, Surveillance and Privacy

Breaking Bad

• 'Breaking Bad' brings tourists to Albuquerque for 'meth' treats like blue rock candy, bath salts—It put them on the map.
• The two kinds of people who watch "Breaking Bad"—"Walt will likely walk free or pay for his crimes -- the choice you prefer says a lot about how you see the world." Salon
• "Breaking Bad's" Shakespearean final act—"If Gilligan wants to pay homage to the English playwright, Albuquerque's meth business will live on in some form." Salon
• "Breaking Bad" Viewers in Connecticut Call 911 during Cable Outage
• 'Breaking Bad' Spinoff Moving Forward at AMC
• Apple sued for false advertising after dividing up the final 16 episodes of Breaking Bad into two seasons on iTunes—AMC kept promoting Season 5 as whole.
• The End of Breaking Bad, According to Dean Norris—Does he go out with a bang or a whimper? So much for the good ol' days.
• Breaking Bad outside the US

Movies and TV

• Ben Affleck finally responds to Batman criticism
• Zack Snyder Explains "Man of Steel's" "Mythological" Destruction
• Clark Gregg: "Marvel has a way of respecting their audience, not just the nerds"—"The "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D" star on following up "The Avengers" on TV, and the staying power of superheroes." Salon
• A Political History of "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia"
• Billy Crystal reveals secret behind 'I'll have what she's having' scene
• Honest Trailers: World War Z
• The Dark Knight Legacy: Fan Film

Comics

• Creative Team Leaves Batwoman Over Marriage—DC says it's not because it would have been gay marriage.
• When Brian Bolland Revealed What Happened Between Batman And The Joker – And The Full Killing Joke Script
• Deadpool vs. Robin Thicke in 'Merc Lines'—Lonstermash makes for a hunky Wolvie cosplayer.

Entertainment and Culture

• Russell Brand and the GQ awards: 'It's amazing how absurd it seems'—"The comedian on his evening at the GQ awards, from which he was ejected after cracking a joke about sponsor Hugo Boss."
• Miss Saigon breaks West End box office sales record for London revival
• Lifting the veil of mystery from J.D. Salinger

Art

• New van Gogh painting discovered: 'Sunset at Montmajour'
• Unveiling of alternate 'Mona Lisa' raises questions
• NY art dealer admits to multi-million dollar art fraud

Tokyo 2020

• Olympics 2020: Tokyo wins race to host Games—Of the top three, they had the best logo.
• Wrestling wins IOC vote for 2020 Olympic Games
• Man evicted for 1964 Tokyo Olympics faces same fate in 2020

Fun and Games

• GTA V makes $1 billion in three days, may be fastest selling entertainment product in history
• Square Enix to allow monetization of videos and streams of Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn—"The new policy now allows players to monetize video content, as long as it's through official partners...." Sounds like a good compromise.
• 70 minute Street Fighter documentary will force you to love fighting games
• Cry (foam-padded) havoc! A day at Darkon’s Bellum Aeternus II
• Minecraft, an Obsession and an Educational Tool NYT
• Vin Diesel: Starbreeze Studios Working on New Riddick Game—The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay lays claim to being one of the best ever videogames adapted from a movie thanks much in part to Diesel's close collaboration with Starbreeze.
• Super Mario Brothers Parkour

Tilt

• Game over—"The implications are that Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft are beyond the point of no return in this industry."
• Nintendo faces 'path to irrelevance', says Atari founder
• Sony: It's The 'Decline Of A Generation' Not The End Of Video Game Consoles
• Microsoft was 'surprised' by negative Xbox One reaction
• How Zynga went from social gaming powerhouse to has-been—"Gaming giant has been on a wild ride in just 5 short years—while losing $600M."

NSA Spying

• Glenn Greenwald to Haaretz: Why whistleblower Snowden came to me—"How a meeting with a young computer expert in Hong Kong changed the life of a Guardian journalist."
• NSA job post for 'Civil Liberties & Privacy Officer' goes live—"The scandal surrounding the US National Security Agency is no laughing matter, of course. But it's hard not to look for telling lines in the agency's new job listing."
• Major US security company warns over NSA link to encryption formula—"RSA, the security arm of EMC, sends email to customers over default random number generator which uses weak formula."

Surveillance and Privacy

• Wikileaks releases Spy Files 3—"These documents reveal how, as the intelligence world has privatised, US, EU and developing world intelligence agencies have rushed into spending millions on next-generation mass surveillance technology to target communities, groups and whole populations."
• Beware of data spying, former NSA official warns Canadians
• Brazil data plan aims to keep US spies at bay

Microsoft; Facebook; News You Can Lose; Cable Wars; Copyfight; Privacy; Trolling and Tough Guys; Aaron Swartz; Censorship; NSA Spying

Microsoft

• Steve Ballmer to retire as Microsoft CEO
• Why Steve Ballmer Failed—He calls the development of Microsoft Vista the biggest regret of his tenure.
• Pogue: How Ballmer Missed the Tidal Shifts in Tech NYT
• If Steve Ballmer Ran Apple—To the ground, creativity- and innovation-wise that is.
• The Poisonous Employee-Ranking System That Helps Explain Microsoft's Decline

Facebook

• Facebook use 'makes people feel worse about themselves'
• Florida fraternity censured, loses national charter over Facebook posts
• Using Facebook is about to get a lot more annoying
• Addicted to Facebook? Try Shock Therapy
• Hacker posts bug report to Zuck's wall after security team blew him off—"Facebook refuses to pay $500 to hacker who reported bug because he 'violated the TOS.'" Because of that, the Palestinian programmer received $10,000 from the community.

News You Can Lose

• Extra, Extra! Newspaper Crisis Hits Germany—"It came to Germany almost a decade later than America, but the newspaper crisis is sweeping the country, with plummeting circulations and revenues. The German news media must reinvent itself in order to retain readers."
• SF Chronicle Releases Statement Confirming That All Chron Content Is No Longer Behind A Paywall
• Craigslist has cost U.S. newspapers $5 billion—And saved users $5 billion.

Cable Wars

• Kevin Spacey urges TV channels to give control to viewers—"Give people what they want, when they want it, in the form they want it in, at a reasonable price, and they'll more likely pay for it rather than steal it."
• Americans are starting to cut the cable TV cord, and here’s what it looks like
• Time Warner Cable Sued Over CBS Blackout
• Time Warner Cable offers antenna to customers who want CBS
• Apple reportedly blows off cable companies, talks directly with HBO, ESPN for iTV service

Copyfight

• SOPA Has Returned, Time to Kill it Again
• Cross a border, lose your ebooks—Ones that were legally bought.
• Newest YouTube user to fight a takedown is copyright guru Lawrence Lessig—"EFF has filed a second lawsuit over a "bogus" takedown, hoping for better results."
• Reddit's gay gamers knock out "gaymer" trademark
• Getty Just Made 4,600 Incredible Images Free to Download and Use

Privacy

• Geek Squad Accused Of Stealing, Distributing Customer's Naked Photos. Yes, Again
• Comcast letter said to confirm that Prenda, Steele planted porn torrents—"Hard to claim copyright infringement if you create and seed the torrent."
• Webcam spying goes mainstream as Miss Teen USA describes hack
• Report: Teens Actually Do Care About Online Privacy
• 'Boyfriend Tracker' app raises stir in Brazil
• Paysafecard Begins Banning VPN Providers

Trolling and Tough Guys

• Huffington: Trolls uglier than ever, so we're cutting off anonymous comments
• Dear Internet Tough Guys: Cut it out—"The plague of ridiculous "do you know who I am" threats has to stop." Salon
• BioWare writer received death threats to family—More Internet fuckwads.
• "ebayisajoke" BUSTED By Fox2 News HALL OF SHAME Rob Wolchek
• Comment threads? They're a fight to the death. Look, you know I'm right—"The reason why we can't quite let go of those online arguments turns out to have psychological roots that go a long way back. Don't argue, just read."

Aaron Swartz

• DOJ Decided To Ratchet Up Case Against Aaron Swartz Because He Spoke Out Publicly About Being Innocent—And that the "Internet community rallied on his behalf."
• Documents show Secret Service kept tab of Swartz
• Changing IP address to access public website ruled violation of US law—"CFAA forbids easy method of evading IP blocking used by 3taps (and Aaron Swartz)."

Censorship

• British Library's wi-fi service blocks 'violent' Hamlet—"A man using the British Library's wi-fi network was denied access to an online version of Shakespeare's Hamlet because the text contained 'violent content.'"
• Wikipedia Co-Founder Refuses to Comply With China's Censorship—And China retaliates with grounding Wikipedia's China editor until 2016.
• Finnish Court Censors Website That Criticizes Censorship
• Web-based apps pose tricky problem for Saudi monitors—"Saudi Arabia is seeking to tighten control over web-based applications that offer a freedom to communicate that is impossible for most Saudis in the real world, and may even seek to ban such apps altogether."
• On Day of Suicide, Blogger Launches Site About His Life and Death—And the increasingly irrelevant Yahoo takes the pre-paid site down, claims TOS breach.

NSA Spying

• Obama Was Wrong: NSA Employees Have Deliberately "Abused" Their Power
• Corker: Congress in the dark on NSA—"The American people want to know that those of us who are elected... understand fully what's happening here. I don't think we do. [...] I would imagine there are even members of the [congressional] intelligence committee themselves that don't fully understand the gamut of things that are taking place."
• Matt Damon: Snowden did a great thing
• Former Salt Lake mayor: NSA snooping is the scandal of the century
• NSA hacked into encrypted UN communications, leaked documents show
• How to Decode the True Meaning of What NSA Officials Say—"A lexicon for understanding the words U.S. intelligence officials use to mislead the public."
• A Guide To The Latest Flurry Of NSA Revelations
• NSA Snooping Was Only the Beginning. Meet the Spy Chief Leading Us Into Cyberwar