Pages

Thursday, July 7, 2011

You can’t download illegal media content anymore

How many of us download illegal media contents these days? I guess there are most of us. :D Well, the recent news published by Online.wsj.com says that we can still download the illegal media content but you have to be ready that your Web connection will be downgraded – but not to be entirely cut off.

Your Internet service provider will be able to identify whether you are downloading illegal contents or not. If you are found guilty, there will be pop-up windows or email messages warning that you have violated the law. If you continue downloading the illegal contents, your Web connection will be made slower than ever as snail until you contact your ISP for clarification or, if you have enough time and resources, you may take an illegal action to suit your ISP.

There are several ISP and production houses that have joined this agreement. Among them are Verizon Communications Inc. and Film & Television Alliance. Of course this new agreement will benefit the entertainment workers who have worked hard to produce your entertainment media. It will also give the benefit – money profit – for the ISP too. The problem is how is the mechanism to consider whether or not you have violated the copyright law.

It is clear that slowing down the connection of alleged offender’s Web connection will mean a violation of the rights on Internet. Everybody has a right to have an Internet connection as long as they can afford it, right? Now, if your connection is slowed down because your ISP considers you had broken the law, what is the proof for that allegation?

The allegation is of course based on the data recorded by your ISP. But is the data legal? Is it stipulated in your contract with your ISP? Yes, may be it is. But the old contract must have not yet included that. It means that if tomorrow morning your Internet connection walks like a snail and you receive warning email message, you are considered an offender – but you are not guilty because the legal base for slowing down connection is not yet stipulated in your contract.

The allegation will not be fair and just also because it has not yet tested in the court. Without the court consent that agrees that you have done wrong, such slowing down the connection will be unlawful business. Clip this story

Saturday, July 2, 2011

Merged: GFW and Xbox.com

Microsoft on Friday merged its GWF Marketplace, the company's digital delivery store for PC games, with Xbox.com. There is no further details except the statement that "now you can get all your gaming needs in one place".

Tomshardware.com reported that the forum on Xbox.com surprisingly remains calm. Commenters only said that they hope the merge will provide more cross-platform compatibility.

Microsoft's PC games are less lucrative than Xbox 360 and Xbox Live service. The library for game videos, demos, downloadable contents and digital-only PC games, is small.

It is possible that Microsoft will make more mergers in the future and gather all of its diverse game marketplace into Xbox.com. Windows Phone 7 Apps/Zune Marketplace can be the next candidate.

If Xbox.com is really to become a one-stop-shop venue for all of Microsoft's games, there will be greater chance for cross-platform games. If such cross-platform capability is exist, then customers will be able to play the games on Xbox 360 console, a Windows 7 PC and a Windows Phone 7 device. Clip this story

Facebook's awesome next week is Skype video chat

CEO Mark Zuckerberg earlier this week teased journalists at the company' Seatte office to expect "something awesome next week". The guesses has been a Facebook app for the iPad and to desktop component pointing to a Skype video chat.

It is highly likley that the later will be the true guess. Michael Arrington reported via Techcrunch that Facebook's Seattle office are hiring desktop software engineers. The Seattle office probably has another job as their main task but a person close to the partnership said that next week Facebook will launch a video chat powered by Skype.

It is not yet clear whether the video chat will only work if the Skype had been already installed on the computer or the users should download the necessary app even if the user already uses Skype. Facebook and Skyp has been working together for some times. Skype has integrated several of Facebook's features into its service.

The new parnership will have significant effect for the general Inter-based industry. Facebook currently boasts of 750 million users while Skype only 170 million. Microsoft is a shareholder of Facebook and now having a pending FTC's approval to acquire Skype. Clip this story

Google launches new anti-phishing attack feature

Google on Tuesday launched a new anti-phishing attack for the Gmail. The new feature will automatically display the address of the senders which previously have not yet made a contact with the user's email.

The launching of a new feature is a part of Google's effort to provide more security measure for the users of Gmail. Last month, Google was able to stop some spear phishing attack which have penetrated Gmail accounts of several high ranking U.S. officials as well as South Korean officials, Chinese political activists, journalists and military members.

If the sender of a message is not yet in the contact list of the user, or if the address of the sender has never been sent a message to, the user will see the address of that user on the message header. Third party sender such as email marketing bulk mailers sending messages for retailers will also be displayed automatically.

The feature actually has been present in Gmail and the user can set it manually. In the email services' interface, the user must click "show details" to see the sender's address. With the feature turned on automatically, Google hopes to help users avoid being trapped by suspicious messages that will try to compromise the user's Gmail information.

Once the user has built a communication with a new address, either by adding the address into the contact list or by replying the message, the full address will not be shown. Clip this story