Now you can buy a .dev domain for a sensible price
Google recently launched the new top-level domain, .dev. When the TLD was introduced, pricing was a little out of the reach of most people -- there are few who would be willing to part with $11,000.
Now, however, pricing has dropped dramatically. The crazy pricing was only part of the Early Access registration period, but now the domain is available from a range of registrars for a far more reasonable $12-$15.
Amazon Day lets Prime subscribers choose a specific delivery day
Once you sign up for Amazon Prime, it's hard to imagine how you ever lived without it. Well... that might be a slight exaggeration, but it's easy to fall in love with the service. Now Amazon is giving would-be subscribers another reason to sign up, and an added bonus for those who already have.
Amazon Day is a US-only service -- for now, at least -- that gives subscribers the option of consolidating all of their deliveries for the week on a day of their choice.
Twitter users can now access paywalled Medium content for free
It's the bane of any internet user. You stumble across a link to a fascinating-sounding article and click it only to discover that the site hosting the post is paywalled. Gah!
The Medium platform is one that can include paywalled content, and there's good news for Twitter users. If you access a Medium article via a tweet, it does not matter if it is a paid-for article or not -- you will be able to access it for free.
Now you can use Google Duo on the web as well as in app
One of Google's current crop of messaging tools, Duo, is spreading its wings and breaking out of the confines of being a mobile app.
Google Duo is now available to use online in a desktop web browser -- providing, that is, that you're using Chrome, Firefox or Safari (Microsoft Edge and Opera users are left out in the cold). The web-based version of the messaging tool can be used to make and receive voice and video calls.
Facebook to launch its Clear History tool later this year -- to the joy of privacy advocates and the pain of advertisers
Facebook is no stranger to privacy-related controversy, and to try to counter some of this the social network announced in the middle of last year that it planned to give users a "clear history" feature.
Although first talked about in May, no progress has been visible on this front, but Facebook's CFO, David Wehner, has now said that the feature will be launching later this year. This is good news for users, but bad news for advertisers. Facebook says that the feature will make it harder to target ads.
Drupal releases patch for 'highly critical' remote code execution flaw that puts millions of sites at risk
Sites based on the CMS Drupal are at risk from a remote code execution flaw which has been classed as "highly critical". Site owners are being urged to install updates to ensure they are protected.
The security flaw -- CVE-2019-6340 or SA-CORE-2019-003 -- affects Drupal 8.5.x and 8.6.x but there are certain conditions that must be met in order for a site to be vulnerable.
YouTube updates its strike system to make it 'clear and consistent'
Following criticism of how its strike system was implemented, YouTube has announced an update to its Community Guidelines that helps to make things clearer.
In the past it was often the case that strikes were handed inconsistently, and it was not always clear what misdemeanour had occurred. The updated system comes into force in the next few days, and it is slightly more lenient on first-time offenders.
The speed and cost of internet around the world
Within any given country, while you might have a choice of different internet providers, the speeds they offer and the prices they charge tend to be broadly similar.
UK-based comparison site Compare the Market has done some interesting research looking at the costs and speeds of broadband around the world. So prepare to be made jealous, or smug, depending on where you live.
Facebook says it is 'open to meaningful regulation' following damning report of the 'digital gangster' that considers itself 'ahead of and beyond the law'
A detailed report about fake news by a parliamentary committee in the UK has accused Facebook of being a "digital gangster" that has deliberately broken privacy and competition laws. The report by the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport select committee calls for the social network to be subject to statutory regulation.
The report comes after an 18-month investigation, and it is damning of Facebook and its executives in general, and Mark Zuckerberg in particular. Criticism is levelled at the lack of action taken against fake news and misinformation on the social network, and there is concern that current election laws were not enough to prevent sites such as Facebook being used by hostile foreign agents to interfere with the democratic process.
YouTube is to blame for the increase in Flat Earthers
In recent years it seems that there has been an astonishing increase in the number of Flat Earthers -- people who believe that the Earth is flat, and anything that suggests otherwise is a conspiracy. The thinking is that, for some reason, NASA, international government, scientists and so on are all desperate to convince people that the Earth is round when it is in fact flat.
While Flat Earther numbers are still relatively small, the increasing membership of this school of thought in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary is both confusing and worrying. So just what is going on? The rise in internet usage has been blamed for the spread of fake news, conspiracy theories and all manner of bizarre ideas, and a new study has concluded that one particular site is responsible for the increasing support for the Flat Earth theory. That site is YouTube.
VFEmail hack wipes out all of the email provider's US servers
Email provider VFEmail has been hit by a huge attack that resulted in all of the data it stores in the US being wiped out.
Describing the attack as "catastrophic", VFEmail revealed that a hacker had breached its security and succeeded in deleted not only primary data systems, but also the backups. The attacker was caught in the act, and it was possible to intervene before damage was caused to servers in other countries. But for VFEmail users whose data was stored in the US, the news is far from good.
DuckDuckGo reminds ignorant users that many websites ignore browsers' Do Not Track privacy requests
In an increasingly-connected world where data is collected and shared, privacy has become ever-more important to people. If you are of that mind, you may have enabled the Do Not Track (DNT) setting in your web browser in the hope that it will stop the websites you visit from tracking your online activities. Bad news: it probably makes no difference whatsoever.
This might be something you knew already, but research by privacy-focused search engine DuckDuckGo -- which famously does respect DNT requests -- found than more than three-quarters of people were not aware of that that many sites ignore DNT settings.
Most people believe they're more secure online than they really are
New research commissioned by Google, carried out by Harris Poll and released to coincide with Safer Internet Day suggests there is a gap between perception and reality when it comes to online security.
The majority of people (69 percent) give themselves an A or B when it comes to protecting their online accounts -- only five percent give themselves a D or an F. In fact, most people (59 percent) believe that their accounts are safer from online threats than the average person and 61 percent say they are too smart to fall for a phishing scam.
Download your Flickr photos NOW if you don't want to lose them
Three months ago, Flickr announced sweeping changes to its different accounts, the most significant of which was the news that anyone with a free account would be limited to storing 1,000 photos online.
If you are a Flickr user with a free account, you may well have already noticed that you are unable to upload any more photos -- the new limit kicked on in January 8. But in under two weeks, Flickr will not only prevent you from uploading photos that tip you over the magic number, it will start actively deleting files to keep you within the 1,000 limit. If you want to keep your photos, you'll have to upgrade to a professional account or -- as we'll show you -- download them.
Mozilla confirms Firefox Screenshots is here to stay, although one key feature will be lacking
It has been a busy time at Mozilla recently, with the relaunch of Mozilla Labs and the closure of the Firefox Test Program. The second piece of news -- coupled with the shelving of certain changes to Firefox -- led to speculation about the future of Firefox Screenshots, but Mozilla has come forward to try to calm these fears.
The company says that the screengrabbing tool -- which has become loved by many users since it launched nearly a year and half ago -- is here to stay. It's not all good news, however. One major feature is getting the axe: the ability to save screenshots to a Firefox-hosted server.
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