Articles about Internet

Amid growing concern about a disregard for Chrome Web Store policies, Google is slapping a ban on extensions that mine for cryptocurrencies.

With immediate effect, no more cryptomining extensions will be added to the Store, and as of July 2018, any existing mining tools will be removed. Google says that an astonishing 90 percent of mining extensions ignore rules that state cryptomining must be the extension's sole purpose, and users need to be fully informed about the mining.

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We all know that some countries censor their citizens' access to the internet. But which are the most intrusive when it comes to online surveillance?

Consumer security site Security Baron has created an infographic showing the best and worst, along with those named by Reporters Without Borders as, 'enemies of the internet'.

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With Net neutrality in the midst of upheaval, there are significant changes afoot for both businesses and consumers in terms of internet access and control. New rules are expected to create differing service categories, allowing ISPs to prioritize access and bandwidth for certain customers. This will undoubtedly create confusion in the market leaving IT executives to make adjustments based on any new restrictions. To be ready, IT leaders would be well-served to keep the following in mind:

Threat factor #1: Internet fast lanes with potentially higher prices

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If you're a user of Xmarks, there's some bad news for you -- the service is closing down in a month's time. The bookmark syncing tool, which is available as an addon for Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer and Safari, is to be shuttered on May 1.

Very little fuss is being made about the closure by the company behind it -- something which is perhaps indicative of the level of interest there is in the service these days. A banner at the top of the Xmarks website reads: "LogMeIn is retiring Xmarks from its line of products as of May 1, 2018. After this date, you will no longer have access to Xmarks."

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Still holed up in the Ecuadorian embassy in London, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has been given the snip. Ecuador took the decision to cut off the fugitive's internet connection, severing one of his lines of communication with the outside world.

Assange -- who a judge recently described as a man who "appears to consider himself above the normal rules of law" -- has been living in the embassy since 2012 when he was wanted for questioning in Sweden on sexual assault allegations. He has hidden away claiming he could be extradited to the US to face charges over WikiLeaks revelations, but he is also wanted by British police for skipping bail.

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Facebook is currently testing a new feature that would give users the chance to place time limits on friend requests. The idea is that requests that you ignore for a certain period of time would be automatically deleted.

While it's not a feature that will be of interest to everyone, it is something that could prove useful to anyone in the public eye who gets bombarded with endless requests to connect. Facebook has confirmed that automatically-expiring friend requests give users a way to more easily manage unwanted requests from people.

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Facebook is constantly messing about with its News Feed, and it's only a matter of weeks since the social network said it was going to prioritize local news. Initially, this was only the case in the US, but now the change is rolling out around the globe.

The company says that "people around the world will see more news on Facebook from local sources covering their current city and other cities they may care about." Unfortunately for Facebook, however, it's unlikely to serve as too much of a distraction from the call/SMS logging controversy or the Cambridge Analytica debacle.

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Google search results are, usually, multi-page affairs, but if a new test gets off the ground this could be set to change.

The search giant is conducting a limited test that sees the arrival of a "More results" button at the bottom of search results, replacing the "Next button" that is there at the moment. It's a variation on the idea of infinite scrolling, but a variation that grants the user more control.

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Ads may be central to the running of the web, but that doesn't mean people want to see them. Ad blocking is more popular than ever, and it's something that's been noted by Mozilla.

Revealing its 2018 roadmap for Firefox, the company says that an ad blocker is being added to the web browser -- albeit a limited one. On top of this, additional privacy controls are on the cards, as is a tool to block auto playing videos, and a breach alert system.

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YouTube has stepped further into the debate surrounding gun control by introducing new restrictions on weapon-related videos on its platform.

The move sees Google nailing its political colors to the mast, and it's a move that's likely to anger Republicans and the NRA, and lead to further allegations of a liberal bias. Under the new policies, videos that promote or link to sites selling firearms and accessories are banned, as well as those that show how to make weapons at home.

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Vivaldi Technology has announced a new collaboration with the privacy-centric search engine DuckDuckGo. In coming together, DuckDuckGo will be made the default search engine in a Private Window.

The aim is to further increase the privacy offered by the Vivaldi web browser, helping to ensure that searches that are conducted in a Private Window really are private.

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After five days of complete silence, Mark Zuckerberg finally decided to face the music and talk about the Cambridge Analytica debacle which has seen the private information of more than 50 million Facebook users harvested by the data analytics company

Yesterday, the Facebook founder condescended to issue a statement about the privacy breach, and also appeared in a CNN interview. He was, of course, quick to point out that his company has already cleaned up its act and would be doing a lot more, including auditing apps and developers. So far, so face-saving. One thing he rather forgot about, however, was saying sorry to the hordes of people affected by the matter.

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The seemingly throwaway tag of "fake news" has developed into an absolute phenomenon over the last year or so. Previously unheard of, it's now not only part of the technological zeitgeist, but also something that Twitter, Google, Facebook et al are on a mission to fight.

Today, Google announces its latest weapon -- the Google News Initiative. It sees Google trying to increase the output and promotion of quality journalism as it tries to "build a stronger future for news" and fight the spread of inaccurate information.

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The Internet Archive is a staggering piece of work, saving for posterity books, movies, music, and entire websites. For a number of years, the site has also offered in-browser emulation, giving everyone the chance to get teary-eyed with nostalgia and play a range of console games online.

Now the emulation collection has been expanded to cover a wide range of handheld games including the likes of Mortal Kombat, Double Dragon and Q*Bert. The new Handheld History Collection builds on the work the Internet Archive has already done with the MAME development team.

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YouTube has been embroiled in more than its fair share of controversy recently -- relating to conspiracy videos in particular -- but this is not standing in the way of Google forging ahead with new features.

Next on the horizon is a picture-in-picture mode; something that will be familiar to users of the YouTube mobile apps. Now the same feature is coming to desktop version of the site, giving you the ability to continue browsing through videos while another one plays.

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