Simple PC » Internet

UK Broadband speeds are on the rise

Simon Salvin — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 22:44:44 +0000

The latest survey shows speeds have increased but users could benefit further by upgrading their service.
From as little as £5 extra per month many could benefit from additional speeds offered by 10+mbps services.
With BT’s roll out of FTTC (fibre to the cabinet) 40mbps service, BT, TalkTalk and Plusnet are offering the extra speed service and some upgrades are free!

Read the full story here:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-16842463

And if you haven’t checked your package price recently it’s time to start renegotiating or move supplier. There’s deals to be had.
Remember not to get attached to an ISP email address, buy a domain or use a free webmail service, it then makes the transition to a new service provider much easier, and switching is real easy, just request a MAC code from your current supplier and give it to the new provider, they’ll do the rest. And it can all be done online!

Sky widens catchup appeal

Simon Salvin — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 13:10:06 +0000

Sky has agreed with BBC & ITV to launch their catchup services on its Anytime+ service. The services are streamed across the internet to connected Sky+ HD boxes, which until an announcement today was only available if you took Sky’s broadband service, this has now been opened up to any broadband provider which broadens their coverage from 1.2m to over 5m.
Read the full story here:
http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/tech/news/a362796/bbc-iplayer-itv-player-to-launch-on-sky-anytime.html

Facebook sues Adscend Media

Simon Salvin — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 17:54:45 +0000

Facebook sues Adscend Media, a marketing firm which has been spreading spam through deceptive tactics, with Page Likes appearing on users accounts without their knowledge and links through to other sites, the company had been making around $1.2m per month from commissions paid when users landed on these redirected sites.

Read the full story here:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-16755434

Vimeo revamps site to attract new visitors away from Google’s YouTube

Simon Salvin — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 17:35:14 +0000

The site currently attracts 65 million views per month whilst YouTube recently announced they received 4 billion video hits per day!
The new site design is currently in closed testing to existing users but has been received well, the new version will be launched soon after the final tweaks are made, they are trying to attract sites and bloggers who embed video content in to their pages to use Vimeo for its advertising free player.

Read the full story here:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-16698637

File Sharing sites react to MegaUpload action

Simon Salvin — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 14:02:01 +0000

Other file sharing sites have quickly changed their terms to block sharing of files, sites will now only allow you to upload and download from your own account, turning the word file share into storage backup, in fear of action similar to MegaUpload. The move shows that these companies are taking illegal file sharing and copyright infringement seriously.

Read the full story here:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-16679174

Photo Sharing with Dropbox

Simon Salvin — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 14:00:45 +0000

If you are using Dropbox for backup or synchronising did you know you can also share photographs using the Photos folder. Place a folder of photos within the Photos folder in your Dropbox, then go to: Dropbox.com/photos and sign in, you’ll then see all the folders within the Photos folder, click on the folder you’d like to share and at the top of the page click “Get sharable link” to display a short-code link , you can now copy and paste this code in to a webpage, email, twitter or Facebook etc. to share your photo album.
Here’s one for you to take a look at:

http://db.tt/ubSAFSHW

Mega Upload Shutdown

Simon Salvin — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 20:08:13 +0000

The file sharing site Mega Upload was shutdown today after the US Department of Justice charged the company with violating piracy laws.
Coming just days after the blackout in protest of the SOPA bill, the hacking group Anonymous targeted the websites of the FBI, The Deapertment of Justice and The Motion Picture Association of America, crashing the sites in protest of the movement taking down Mega Upload.
The company defended itself stating it proactively removed content that breached copyright.
The co-founders were arrested, with money and cars seized, and appeared in court today.
As a paid service many of its fans and customers (around 150m) were today shocked at the news and their thoughts are being aired by the media across the world.

Read the full stories here:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-16642369

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-16646023

The end of the free internet…

Simon Salvin — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 20:30:24 +0000

Wednesday 18th January saw Wikipedia, WordPress and thousands of other websites stage a 24 hour blackout in protest of the SOPA/PIPA bills, currently being discussed by American government.
This all centres around websites offering downloads of copyright material such as music and movies, but the move could also persecute other sites which link to such content and sites even by way of automated advertising. The move is said to bring an end to the free internet.
Read the full story here:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-16628143

Android Tahiti comes to Orange

Simon Salvin — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 13:38:39 +0000

Orange has launched its own branded Android tablet, but it comes at a cost! Initial contract pricing adds up to the price of an iPad 16gb with WiFi & 3G.
The Android tablet features OS version 3 – Honeycomb, a dual core processor, 6gb of RAM and a 5mp camera. Read the full story here:

http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/tech/news/a359385/orange-launches-tahiti-android-tablet.html

4G is coming!

Simon Salvin — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 15:16:01 +0000

4G is coming! After the digital switchover the analogue TV frequencies are to be sold in an auction to mobile providers to enable a 4G network with huge mobile broadband speed increases, it is likely that terms will be imposed to widen the reach to rural areas currently with little or no access to broadband. Read the full story here:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-16527490