Social media has evolved over the years in ways that few could have predicted. The likes of Facebook and Twitter are used not only for keeping in touch with friends and family, but also for keeping up to date with news.

But there are endless problems with current social networks, with ads and fake or misleading news being serious problems and irritants. Jimmy Wales, the founder of Wikipedia, has launched a new social network called WT:Social. It is free from ads and has a news focus. Importantly, users are able to edit headlines which are incorrect or deceptive.

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Brave, the open-source web browser which focuses on speed, security and privacy, has officially hit version 1.0 and exited beta.

Available for Windows, macOS, Linux, Android and iOS, Brave boasts that it "blocks ads and trackers that slow you down and invade your privacy". The official launch comes three years after Brave first entered beta testing, and the browser has managed to amass millions of users.

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Google has updated YouTube with a new-look interface on tablets and the desktop. Thumbnails are bigger and easier to see, some superfluous links have been removed, and there are changes to the way the video queue works.

But, of course, not everyone likes change. If you're not a fan of the new interface, there are steps you can take to stick with the old look.

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Google has been tinkering around with Chrome quite a lot recently. For the most part this has meant adding new features and options, but there have also been removals.

One element of the browser that has fallen victim to some slashings is the context menu that appears when right-clicking a tab. Several options have disappeared from this menu -- much to the chagrin of some users -- but Google now appears to be considering opening it up to entries from third parties, potentially making it more useful than ever.

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Users of the Mac and Windows versions of Firefox are being targeted by malicious sites that display a fake warning message and then completely lock up the browser.

Hackers are taking advantage of a bug in Mozilla's web browser to tamper with the software and render it unusable without the need for user interaction. At the moment there is no fix, and the problem is wreaking havoc and causing distress.

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If you need to send large -- and we mean LARGE -- files to someone, your options are a little limited. However, thanks to Dropbox Transfer, you now have a new possibility to explore.

Previously available in beta, Dropbox Transfer is now available to everyone. It's a cloud-based tool that lets you share files of up to 100GB in size with others, and even if you have used the beta version, there are now new features to explore.

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Over the weekend we wrote about Microsoft revealing a new logo for the Chromium-based version of Edge; now there is bigger news.

Today, after various beta builds, the company is launching the release candidate of the new Microsoft Edge for both Windows and macOS. It has also revealed that the date for general availability is January 15.

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Mozilla is clamping down on browser add-ons in Firefox, and has announced that it is discontinuing sideloaded extensions in the browser.

The reason given for dropping support is that Mozilla believes that sideloaded extensions cause problems for users, and also that they do not offer users enough control. The company has set out details of the timetable for introducing the new policy.

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Domain name registrar Web.com has revealed that it fell victim to a data breach earlier in the year. Two of the company's subsidiaries, Network Solutions and Register.com were also attacked by the hackers at the same time.

The incidents took place back in late August, but were only discovered a couple of weeks ago. The attackers were able to access personal details of customers, but Web.com does not say how many people are affected -- although it is likely to run into the millions.

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50 years ago, on October 29 1969, a packet was sent between two computers -- one at UCLA and the other at Stanford Research Institute -- on the ARPANET. This doesn’t sound hugely exciting, but it was first step in the creation of the Internet.

In the half century since then, the world has transformed beyond recognition. The arrival of the World Wide Web in 1991 showed what the Internet could be and ultimately changed everything, bringing us online shopping, up to the minute news, social networking, and more.

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It's not something that everyone knows about, but Google owns the top-level domain .new, and the company has gone beyond using them as simple web addresses. Instead, addresses such as cal.new, doc.new and keep.new can be used as shortcuts to create new calendar events, Google Docs files, and Keep Notes.

Until now, .new shortcuts have only worked with Google's own products and services, but this is about to change. There are already shortcuts that can be used in conjunction with the likes of Spotify, Canva, Word and GitHub, and Google has announced that other sites will be able to register domains -- and therefore shortcuts -- very soon.

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Just a few days ago, Yahoo suddenly announced that Yahoo groups is to close down. More than this, all data that has been uploaded by users is to be deleted.

In just a week's time, it will no longer be possible to upload new content, and then in mid-December Yahoo will start to delete files, messages and more. If you want to preserve what you have uploaded, here's what you need to do.

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A piece of internet history is being consigned to the rubbish heap. Yahoo has announced that the once-popular Yahoo Groups service is being closed down later this month.

More than this, the huge amount of information and exchanges that have been uploaded will not be archived. Before the end of the year, all Yahoo Groups content will be permanently wiped out -- so if there's anything you want to keep, you'll have to act swiftly.

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New research from the UK's Office for National Statistics (ONS) reveals that average daily internet traffic is highest on Wednesdays, while evening traffic peaks on a Tuesday.

The ONS used data from the London Internet Exchange (LINX) network statistics portal to analyze usage trends across the country.

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Google has won a case in the European Court of Justice meaning the company does not need to apply the controversial "right to be forgotten" on a global basis.

In a case between Google and Commission Nationale de l'Informatique et des Libertés (CNIL ) -- a French privacy regulator -- the court ruled that Google need only remove links from search results within Europe.

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