CY.TALK®: The latest internet news

TEDGlobal: Cloud schools offer new education

Jude — Fri, 14 Jun 2013 08:44:04 +0000

Children in developing countries could educate themselves using computers, the TEDGlobal conference in Edinburgh has been told. Prof Sugata Mitra was outlining details of the first “school in the cloud”. While there would be an online adult moderator at times, the pupils would largely organise themselves, he said. Meanwhile, an MIT professor laid out his [...]

One-third of US marriages start online

Jude — Thu, 06 Jun 2013 11:51:21 +0000

More than one third of US marriages begin with online dating, and those couples are slightly happier and more likely to stay together than couples who meet through other means, a study has found. Online dating has ballooned into a billion dollar industry and the internet “may be altering the dynamics and outcome of marriage [...]

How ASIC’s attempt to block one website took down 250,000

Jude — Wed, 05 Jun 2013 11:18:15 +0000

Australia’s corporate watchdog has admitted to inadvertently blocking access to about 250,000 innocuous websites in addition to the 1200 it had already accidentally censored. ASIC made the concession in a statement at a senate estimates hearing on Tuesday night, after it caused controversy by interpreting a 15-year-old law in the Telecommunications Act as giving it [...]

The Pirate Bay’s Oldest Torrent is “Revolution OS”

Mila Fisher — Tue, 19 Mar 2013 18:16:21 +0000

After nearly 9 years of seeding The Pirate Bay’s oldest working torrent is still very much alive. Interestingly, the torrent is not a Hollywood classic nor is it an evergreen music album. The honor goes to a pirated copy of “Revolution OS”, a documentary covering the history of Linux, GNU and the free software movement.

The Google bashing continues: Microsoft says ‘Scroogled’ campaign will go on

Mila Fisher — Tue, 05 Mar 2013 19:11:25 +0000

Scroogled will go on as long as Google keeps Scroogling people. We know Google doesn’t like it when the facts come out. Chapter two of the consumer education campaign has shown people care about their privacy. More than 3.5 million people visited scroogled.com, and nearly 115,000 people signed a petition asking Google to stop going through their Gmail. Stay tuned for the next chapter.

‘Angry Birds Toons’ cartoon series to launch March 16

Mila Fisher — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 08:19:54 +0000

Viewers will be able to watch what is happening "deep in the heart of Piggy Island" and find out whether those merciless piggies ever get hold of the birds' eggs.

Facebook social graph search results limited for teens

Mila Fisher — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 08:20:54 +0000

If an adult were to search for "single females aged 17", for example, no results would appear, it explained.

Google bug returns porn for mathematical queries

Dana — Tue, 12 Feb 2013 18:45:10 +0000

It was discovered by a user of the Q&A site Quora, who wrote a question asking why the search "-4^(1/4)" should return not just the result of that equation but hundreds of links to a wide variety of porn sites.

Lady Gaga stripped of 156m YouTube views

Janny Couper — Sat, 02 Feb 2013 03:33:33 +0000

Lady Gaga has had 156m views struck off her official YouTube account today just one month after the online video provider reduced the play counts of many major label acts by 2 billion views. At the time of the first purge in December 2012, a YouTube spokesman told Billboard magazine that the removed views occurred [...]

Cubacel St. Valentine’s Days promotion: Double Each Recharge

Bruce Sheldon — Fri, 01 Feb 2013 15:17:51 +0000

From www.cysend.com send money online to Cubacel prepaid mobile in Cuba and double your recharge. Send 20/30/50 CUC Get 40/60/100 CUC. St. Valentine’s promotion will run from 12 to 15 February (Cuba time) 2013.

Facebook adds free calling feature for US iPhones

Bruce Sheldon — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 08:34:05 +0000

Facebook has added a feature in its mobile phone app that allows free calling for US iPhone users. Users can now make calls to each other via the Facebook Messenger app anywhere they have a wi-fi or a cellular-data connection. The feature could be a boon for heavy talkers as they would avoid carrier call [...]

Kim Dotcom starts new file-sharing site

Janny Couper — Tue, 22 Jan 2013 08:58:47 +0000

Megaupload boss Kim Dotcom has set up a new cloud storage and file-sharing site. Mega, a web-based service that lets people upload and store files of any kind, is a sequel to the Megaupload system that was shut down last January. Police raids on the offices and home of Kim Dotcom led to the closure [...]

Here comes the new king (er, prince?) of Twitter

Janny Couper — Mon, 21 Jan 2013 13:15:25 +0000

Sometime on Sunday, the world will lurch a little on its axis. There’ll be a thunderclap heard around the globe, a blinding flash of light, and the people of the Internet will fall to their knees in reverence. On that day, Justin Bieber will pass Lady Gaga as the most followed account on Twitter. As [...]

Facebook unveils social search tools for users

Bruce Sheldon — Wed, 16 Jan 2013 22:59:00 +0000

Facebook has announced a major addition to its social network – a smart search engine it has called graph search. The feature allows users to make “natural” searches of content shared by their friends. Search terms could include phrases such as “friends who like Star Wars and Harry Potter”. Founder and chief executive Mark Zuckerberg [...]

MobiFone promo: add 50% to your recharge

Mary Harrison — Tue, 08 Jan 2013 11:47:20 +0000

MobiFone promo: add 50% to your recharge from 9 to 11 January, 2013

Cubacel New Year promotion (7-10.01.2013)

Janny Couper — Sat, 05 Jan 2013 13:07:51 +0000

Online from abroad from www.cysend.com send money to Cubacel mobile phones of your family and friends in Cuba and they will receive double mobile credit (7-10.01.2013)!

The top memes and viral videos of 2012

Dana — Tue, 01 Jan 2013 14:07:02 +0000

If your new year's resolution is to achieve worldwide fame and fortune - you would be wise to learn a thing or two from the stories below. In a year which saw a YouTube video break the one billion view mark for the very first time, barely a week went by without hearing about lives changing thanks to a viral smash.

Facebook tests paid messages to strangers

Janny Couper — Wed, 26 Dec 2012 01:03:36 +0000

How much would you pay to contact a stranger? Facebook is sprucing up its messaging system, and the most interesting change is a move to charge people to send a message to someone outside their network. Most important messages go straight to your inbox on Facebook. But there’s a second class of messages, including potential [...]

Viettel recharges add 50% bonus

Bruce Sheldon — Mon, 24 Dec 2012 15:03:39 +0000

From www.cysend.com send money to prepaid Viettel mobiles and they will receive 50% bonus (26-28.12.2012).

U.S. refuses to sign UN Internet treaty

Janny Couper — Wed, 19 Dec 2012 09:27:08 +0000

The United States, along with the United Kingdom and Canada, is refusing to sign a United Nations treaty on telecommunications and the Internet that has been under negotiation for the past two weeks. Terry Kramer, the U.S. Ambassador to the World Conference on International Telecommunications, said Thursday that “the U.S. cannot sign the [treaty] in [...]

So Instagram can now sell your photos: Get over it

Tony Russel — Tue, 18 Dec 2012 16:49:21 +0000

The Instagram community is complaining about the change to its terms and conditions which allows Instagram to generate revenue from your photos — without compensating you. Instagram made a change to its terms of service (TOS) yesterday, which has caused a kerfuffle about ownership of its photos. The TOS has been changed to include statements [...]

Viettel recharges add 50% bonus

Bruce Sheldon — Thu, 13 Dec 2012 22:35:52 +0000

From www.cysend.com send money to prepaid Viettel mobiles and receive 50% bonus (13-15.12.2012).

Pope starts tweeting as @pontifex, blesses followers

Janny Couper — Wed, 12 Dec 2012 14:52:05 +0000

Pope Benedict XVI has sent his first much-anticipated Twitter message using his personal account. The Pope was shown pressing a button on an iPad tablet at the Vatican. The message read: “Dear friends, I am pleased to get in touch with you through Twitter. Thank you for your generous response. I bless all of you [...]

Facebook gives Gifts (including wine) to all U.S. users. Happy Hanukkah!

Tony Russel — Tue, 11 Dec 2012 20:36:36 +0000

Just in time for the gift-giving season, Facebook is rolling out its Gifts product to all U.S. Facebook users. Gifts was recently in a walled-garden beta; with the new rollout, all us American types will be able to shoot presents back and forth with a few simple mouse clicks. Gifts is a really fun new [...]

Cubacel Christmas promotion (11-14.12.2012)

Bruce Sheldon — Mon, 10 Dec 2012 09:12:25 +0000

Online from abroad from www.cysend.com send money to Cubacel mobile phones of your family and friends in Cuba and they will receive double mobile credit (11-14.12.2012)!

MobiFone promo: add 50% to your recharge

Mary Harrison — Wed, 05 Dec 2012 13:18:43 +0000

MobiFone promo: add 50% to your recharge from 5 to 7 December, 2012

Microsoft: 40M Windows 8 licenses ‘in line’ with early Windows 7 sales

Janny Couper — Fri, 30 Nov 2012 03:05:28 +0000

A senior Microsoft executive on Tuesday said the company has sold 40 million licenses for Windows 8, essentially matching the first month performance of Windows 7 in late 2009. “We have sold 40 million Windows 8 licenses so far,” said Tami Reller, the new head of the Windows division’s business side, at the Credit Suisse [...]

Viettel recharges add 50% bonus

Tony Russel — Wed, 28 Nov 2012 21:29:43 +0000

From www.cysend.com send money to prepaid Viettel mobiles and receive 50% bonus (29.11.2012-01.12.2012).

MobiFone promo: add 50% to your recharge

Tony Russel — Mon, 26 Nov 2012 21:15:21 +0000

MobiFone promo: add 50% to your recharge from 27 to 29 November, 2012

Online protests after Chinese Twitter user arrested

Mary Harrison — Thu, 22 Nov 2012 07:15:33 +0000

Hundreds of web users have signed a petition demanding the release of a Beijing man accused of criticising China’s authorities, on Twitter. Zhai Xiaobing, who is being linked to Twitter name @Stariver, was stopped by police days before the new Chinese leaders were confirmed on 15 November. In a tweet, the account compared the Communist [...]

New internet name objections filed by government panel

Tony Russel — Wed, 21 Nov 2012 17:41:32 +0000

More than 250 objections to proposed new internet address endings have been filed by a panel representing about 50 of the world’s governments. It includes references to groups of people or locations including .roma, .islam, .patagonia, .africa and .zulu. There are also concerns about proposed suffixes covering broad sectors such as .casino, .charity, .health, .insurance [...]

Facebook Adds a Grab Bag of Gifts Partners

Janny Couper — Sat, 17 Nov 2012 10:24:09 +0000

As a part of a greater push into e-commerce, Facebook announced a whole slew of retail partnerships Thursday night at a press event held at the iconic FAO Schwarz toy store in New York City. The social network launched in September a service called Facebook Gifts, allowing users to buy and send real gifts to [...]

Israel and Hamas wage Twitter war over Gaza conflict

Janny Couper — Fri, 16 Nov 2012 13:11:25 +0000

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and Palestinian Islamist group Hamas have opened a new front in the propaganda war, via Twitter. On Wednesday, the IDF began live-tweeting and blogging about its current military operation against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Ahmed Said Khalil al-Jabari, head of Hamas’ military wing, was killed in the initial air [...]

Viettel recharges add 50% bonus

Janny Couper — Thu, 15 Nov 2012 09:28:49 +0000

From www.cysend.com send money to prepaid Viettel mobiles and receive 50% bonus. Promotion will run from 14 to 16 November, 2012 (Vietnam time).

HURRY UP TO TOP UP! +50% to Vinaphone recharges

Janny Couper — Thu, 15 Nov 2012 07:56:25 +0000

Vinaphone promotion is running now! Hurry up to send money to Vietnam from www.cysend.com!

MobiFone promo: add 50% to your recharge

Bruce Sheldon — Wed, 14 Nov 2012 01:04:41 +0000

MobiFone promo: add 50% to your recharge from 13 to 15 November, 2012

Google Maps Loses Its Way in China

Bruce Sheldon — Thu, 08 Nov 2012 13:02:02 +0000

Today in international tech news: Google Maps’ market share plummets in China. Also: The UK reviews Google’s pledge to downgrade search results for illegal file-sharing sites, Anonymous goes on a hacking spree, and China’s WeChat app boosts the number of users it has outside China. Google Maps’ mobile app is losing market share to local [...]

Russia internet blacklist law takes effect

Bruce Sheldon — Fri, 02 Nov 2012 13:02:31 +0000

A law that aims to protect children from harmful internet content by allowing the government to take sites offline has taken effect in Russia. The authorities are now able to blacklist and force offline certain websites without a trial. The law was approved by both houses of parliament and signed by President Vladimir Putin in [...]

Sandy is year’s No. 2 topic on Facebook

Tony Russel — Thu, 01 Nov 2012 19:50:18 +0000

Superstorm Sandy has been the year’s second most-talked-about topic on Facebook, after the Super Bowl, according to data provided to CNN by the social network. At its peak on Monday, Sandy scored an 8.34 on Facebook’s “Talk Meter,” which measures chatter about a news event on a scale of 1 to 10 when compared with [...]

Kim Dotcom reveals Mega to replace Megaupload file-sharing site

Mary Harrison — Thu, 01 Nov 2012 13:13:31 +0000

Kim Dotcom has announced plans for Mega, a service to replace his shut down file-sharing website Megaupload. Mega is expected to use encryption methods which will mean only users will know what they are uploading. It will be decided in March whether Mr Dotcom should be extradited from New Zealand to the US to face [...]

Bitcoin Foundation hopes to revive reputation of online currency

Tony Russel — Wed, 31 Oct 2012 06:25:36 +0000

Universal anonymity of virtual currency is both its advantage and disadvantage, attracting allegations of fraud and criminality. It was an idea that first emerged at the end of the heyday of cyber-utopianism: Bitcoin, the virtual and universal currency that could be exchanged for goods and services online, the brainchild of a mysterious pseudonymous cryptographer. Since [...]

Judge Rules Trayvon Martin Files Can Be Used by Defense

Kimberly Wayne — Tue, 30 Oct 2012 17:30:50 +0000

A judge in the second-degree murder case against George Zimmerman, the Sanford, Fla., man who said he shot an unarmed teenager, Trayvon Martin, in self-defense, ruled on Friday that Mr. Martin’s school and social media records should be provided to the defense. The judge, Debra S. Nelson of Seminole County Circuit Court, said Mr. [...]

Video: This 3-year-old kid uses Windows 8 like a champ (VIDEO)

Tony Russel — Tue, 30 Oct 2012 16:28:13 +0000

Meet Julian, a 3-year-old whose family has been running a preview of Windows 8 for the past month on their home computer. Despite relatively limited usage, Julian has no problem using the new Microsoft operating system — navigating to the Start screen from the traditional desktop, opening and closing applications, and more. In other words, [...]

Surmounting the Insurmountable: Wikipedia Is Nearing Completion, in a Sense

Janny Couper — Tue, 30 Oct 2012 15:50:04 +0000

And that’s something of a challenge for the collaborative encyclopedia going forward. For about the last five years, Wikipedia has had trouble getting and keeping new volunteer editors. The foundation behind Wikipedia has made building up the editor base a major goal, and is attacking it from all angles, such as encouraging a culture that [...]

Microsoft is risking an $18 billion empire on Windows 8

Mary Harrison — Thu, 25 Oct 2012 15:55:21 +0000

Windows has been Microsoft’s most reliable cash cow for nearly three decades. The software giant is gambling all of that success on what it deems to be the company’s future: a radically redesigned Windows 8. Windows is the linchpin of Microsoft’s empire. Without a significant design overhaul since 1995, the operating system has been [...]

Facebook stock pops 10% as ad sales surge

Mary Harrison — Wed, 24 Oct 2012 13:12:57 +0000

Facebook’s second earnings report as a public company comes out late Tuesday, and the social network is under pressure to prove it can make more money on its 1 billion users. Facebook watchers are focused on two key areas: The impact of FarmVille maker Zynga’s terrible quarter, and the company’s skill at monetizing its everyday [...]

Brazilian newspapers pull out of Google News

Mary Harrison — Tue, 23 Oct 2012 10:57:14 +0000

Newspapers accounting for 90% of the circulation in Brazil have abandoned Google News. Brazil’s National Association of Newspapers says all 154 members had followed its recommendation to ban the search engine aggregator from using their content. The papers say Google News refused to pay for content and was driving traffic away from their websites. Google [...]

Twitter blocks neo-Nazi account to users in Germany

Janny Couper — Thu, 18 Oct 2012 14:07:43 +0000

Twitter has blocked access to a neo-Nazi account at the request of the German government. The tweets will no longer be visible to users in Germany although the rest of the world will be able to view them. It is the first time the social networking site has implemented its local censorship policy, which came [...]

Don’t kill my Windows XP!

Kimberly Wayne — Wed, 17 Oct 2012 12:43:39 +0000

October 25th is the official release date for Windows 8, but I, for one, have no intention of “upgrading” to Windows 8 from Windows 7 or XP. Indeed, I still think XP SP3 is one of the best versions of Windows ever, so why exactly should I switch? Yeah, so XP SP3 is five years [...]

The Windows 8 ‘tutorial’ is a joke

Janny Couper — Wed, 17 Oct 2012 11:35:28 +0000

Given the huge user interface changes that Microsoft has forced onto users in Windows 8, I’d expected that the Redmond giant would have tried to ease the pain with a comprehensive tutorial. I was wrong. It’s now too late to whine about the user interface changes in Windows 8. They may be “confusing” and put [...]