http://www.osnews.com/ Exploring the Future of Computing en-us Copyright 2001-2012, David Adams OSNews version 4 donotreply@osnews.com (Adam Scheinberg) donotreply@osnews.com (Thom Holwerda) Wed, 15 Feb 2012 01:19:09 GMT http://www.osnews.com/images/osnews.gif http://www.osnews.com/ 120 http://www.osnews.com/story/25602/Germany_refuses_to_sign_ACTA_amid_protests/ http://www.osnews.com/story/25602/Germany_refuses_to_sign_ACTA_amid_protests/ Well, this is good news. "Germany will not sign an international anti-piracy treaty, despite having already agreed to it in principal, government sources in Berlin said Friday, February 10." with Germany on the side of reason - for now - we're a huge step closer to stopping ACTA. Fri, 10 Feb 2012 15:39:28 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Thom Holwerda) Internet & Networking 8 http://www.osnews.com/topics/34 News http://www.osnews.com/story/25594/Tribler_makes_BitTorrent_impossible_to_shut_down/ http://www.osnews.com/story/25594/Tribler_makes_BitTorrent_impossible_to_shut_down/ "While the file-sharing ecosystem is currently filled with uncertainty and doubt, researchers at Delft University of Technology continue to work on their decentralized BitTorrent network. Their Tribler client doesn't require torrent sites to find or download content, as it is based on pure peer-to-peer communication. 'The only way to take it down is to take the Internet down,' the lead researcher says." In a way, the efforts by Hollywood and the corrupt US Congress is actually increasing the resiliency of peer-to-peer technology. Karma. Wed, 08 Feb 2012 23:15:07 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Thom Holwerda) Internet & Networking 34 http://www.osnews.com/topics/34 News http://www.osnews.com/story/25568/EFF_To_Aid_Users_in_Retrieving_MegaUpload_Data/ http://www.osnews.com/story/25568/EFF_To_Aid_Users_in_Retrieving_MegaUpload_Data/ "The Electronic Frontier Foundation, supported by Carpathia Hosting, today announced its plans to assess the scope of the issue facing Megaupload users who are at risk of losing their data. Carpathia has created this website to assist users in contacting EFF. EFF will review the factual situations shared by users and, if possible, try to resolve their issues." I Wed, 01 Feb 2012 21:46:44 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Thom Holwerda) Internet & Networking 9 http://www.osnews.com/topics/34 News http://www.osnews.com/story/25550/European_Commission_Signs_ACTA/ http://www.osnews.com/story/25550/European_Commission_Signs_ACTA/ I promise we'll have more on ACTA next week, but for now, I'm too busy to properly cover the subject. In any case, the European Commission signed it today, but that means little - each individual member state's parliament still has to ratify it, and if one votes against it, it's over. The European Parliament has to accept it too - not a done deal either. My opinion on the matter is clear. Thu, 26 Jan 2012 22:50:03 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Thom Holwerda) Internet & Networking 26 http://www.osnews.com/topics/34 News kragil http://www.osnews.com/story/25542/Google_s_SPDY_To_Be_Incorporated_Into_HTTP_2_0/ http://www.osnews.com/story/25542/Google_s_SPDY_To_Be_Incorporated_Into_HTTP_2_0/ "Google's efforts to improve Internet efficiency through the development of the SPDY (pronounced 'speedy') protocol got a major boost today when the chairman of the HTTP Working Group (HTTPbis), Mark Nottingham, called for it to be included in the HTTP 2.0 standard. SPDY is a protocol that's already used to a certain degree online; formal incorporation into the next-generation standard would improve its chances of being generally adopted." Wed, 25 Jan 2012 22:05:51 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Thom Holwerda) Internet & Networking 12 http://www.osnews.com/topics/34 News twitterfire http://www.osnews.com/story/25541/Chromium-Based_Remixes_Worth_Trying/ http://www.osnews.com/story/25541/Chromium-Based_Remixes_Worth_Trying/ InfoWorld's Serdar Yegulalp takes an in-depth look at six Chromium-based spinoffs that bring privacy, security, social networking, and other interesting twists to Google's Chrome browser. 'When is it worth ditching Chrome for a Chromium-based remix? Some of the spinoffs are little better than novelties. Some have good ideas implemented in an iffy way. But a few point toward some genuinely new directions for both Chrome and other browsers.' Wed, 25 Jan 2012 18:59:46 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (OSNews Staff) Internet & Networking 7 http://www.osnews.com/topics/34 News snydeq http://www.osnews.com/story/25532/SOPA_PIPA_Shelved_Internet_s_Defeat_Postponed/ http://www.osnews.com/story/25532/SOPA_PIPA_Shelved_Internet_s_Defeat_Postponed/ Supposedly we've won today. Both the PROTECT-IP Act in the Senate and the Stop Online Piracy Act in the House of Representatives have been shelved by their respective sponsors. However, these acts have been shelved before, and the bags of money sent to DC didn't suddenly devalue, so I'm sure the next SOPA is being written as we speak. What did make me happy, though, was Neelie Kroes: the EU commissioner for the digital agenda has unambiguously distanced herself from SOPA, which she calls "bad legislation". Obama, the next time you want to make a statement with teeth, just wait for Kroes to do it for you. Fri, 20 Jan 2012 23:40:33 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Thom Holwerda) Internet & Networking 51 http://www.osnews.com/topics/34 News DrillSgt http://www.osnews.com/story/25523/SOPA_Not_Shelved_Hearings_To_Continue_in_February/ http://www.osnews.com/story/25523/SOPA_Not_Shelved_Hearings_To_Continue_in_February/ Well, well, well, well. Just like I, and many others with me, have said: SOPA is most certainly not dead. House Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith has just pushed out a press release stating that the House debate on SOPA will continue in February, 'unshelving' SOPA only a few days after it was supposedly shelved. Tue, 17 Jan 2012 21:49:42 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Thom Holwerda) Internet & Networking 10 http://www.osnews.com/topics/34 News http://www.osnews.com/story/25513/SOPA_Shelved_Wikipedia_Joins_Blackout_Anyway/ http://www.osnews.com/story/25513/SOPA_Shelved_Wikipedia_Joins_Blackout_Anyway/ Big news from Capitol Hill in Washington DC today: House Oversight Chairman Darrell Issa has said that the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) has been "shelved" in the House of Representatives, meaning it has been put on indefinite hold until a consensus about the act can be reached. Sadly, SOPA's counterpart in the Senate, the Protect IP Act (PIPA) will still be pushed forward, meaning we must remain vigilant. Despite all of this, Wikipedia has announced it will join the blackout coming Wednesday. Mon, 16 Jan 2012 19:33:52 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Thom Holwerda) Internet & Networking 45 http://www.osnews.com/topics/34 News http://www.osnews.com/story/25509/White_House_Uses_838_Words_to_Say_Nothing_About_SOPA/ http://www.osnews.com/story/25509/White_House_Uses_838_Words_to_Say_Nothing_About_SOPA/ The Obama administration has responded to two petitions regarding SOPA, but in true political fashion, the response is 838 words of absolutely nothing at all. Here's a link, but don't complain to me about losing 10 minutes of your life reading this empty drivel. How about taking a stand for once, eh? Sat, 14 Jan 2012 20:57:14 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Thom Holwerda) Internet & Networking 30 http://www.osnews.com/topics/34 News http://www.osnews.com/story/25482/Nginx_Overtakes_Microsoft_As_No_2_Web_Server/ http://www.osnews.com/story/25482/Nginx_Overtakes_Microsoft_As_No_2_Web_Server/ With financial backing from the likes of Michael Dell and other venture capitalists, open source upstart Nginx has edged out Microsoft IIS (Internet Information Server) to hold the title of second-most widely used Web server among all active websites. What's more, according to Netcraft's January 2012 Web Server Survey, Nginx over the past month has gained market share among all websites, whereas competitors Apache, Microsoft, and Google each lost share. Thu, 05 Jan 2012 15:11:38 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (OSNews Staff) Internet & Networking 36 http://www.osnews.com/topics/34 News snydeq http://www.osnews.com/story/25473/Google_Facebook_Amazon_May_Go_Black_in_SOPA_Protest/ http://www.osnews.com/story/25473/Google_Facebook_Amazon_May_Go_Black_in_SOPA_Protest/ So, this one slipped by completely undetected late last year (no, I don't grow tired of saying that). CNet reported that Google, Amazon, Facebook, and similarly large, anti-SOPA companies are mulling over the option of taking their websites off the air to replace them with an anti-SOPA message, asking users to contact their elected officials. Wed, 04 Jan 2012 10:37:08 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Thom Holwerda) Internet & Networking 28 http://www.osnews.com/topics/34 News http://www.osnews.com/story/25454/Facing_Boycott_GoDaddy_Rescinds_SOPA_Support/ http://www.osnews.com/story/25454/Facing_Boycott_GoDaddy_Rescinds_SOPA_Support/ Yesterday, it was revealed GoDaddy actively supported SOPA - to the point of arrogance and dedain towards those opposing the US censorship law. As a result, a boycott was instated on reddit, which was picked up all over the web. Today, the company rescinded its support for SOPA - but for some high-profile clients, it's too late. Behold, the power of the internet. Fri, 23 Dec 2011 22:38:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Thom Holwerda) Internet & Networking 45 http://www.osnews.com/topics/34 News http://www.osnews.com/story/25436/Clueless_EU_Politicians_Sign_ACTA/ http://www.osnews.com/story/25436/Clueless_EU_Politicians_Sign_ACTA/ It was fun while it lasted. This internet thing became too powerful, and shifted the balance of power too much to the people. Politicians found a partner in the content industry, and here we have it. After a mysterious unexplained 180 by a Dutch political party, ACTA has been signed by all 27 members of the EU. In the meantime, it's looking like SOPA, despite delays, is going to make it through, despite fierce opposition from the technology industry (except Apple and Microsoft, who don't care about a free and open web) and the very architects of the internet. To top it all off, UMG apparently has complete control over YouTube's content, allowing them to remove any video they don't like without even having to invoke the DMCA. Fri, 16 Dec 2011 20:34:53 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Thom Holwerda) Internet & Networking 29 http://www.osnews.com/topics/34 News http://www.osnews.com/story/25426/Facebook_Looks_to_Fix_PHP_performance_with_HipHop_Virtual_Machine/ http://www.osnews.com/story/25426/Facebook_Looks_to_Fix_PHP_performance_with_HipHop_Virtual_Machine/ PHP's popularity and simplicity made it easy for the company's developers to quickly build new features. But PHP's (lack of) performance makes scaling Facebook's site to handle hundreds of billions of page views a month problematic, so Facebook has made big investments in making it leaner and faster. The latest product of those efforts is the HipHop VM (HHVM), a PHP virtual machine that significantly boosts performance of dynamic pages . And Facebook is sharing it with the world as open-source. Wed, 14 Dec 2011 16:01:35 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (David Adams) Internet & Networking 54 http://www.osnews.com/topics/34 News fran