Internet

The number of people using Facebook has dropped in several major countries, according to a recent report. It's not enough to stop an ongoing rise in the global total, but the growth rate worldwide has notably slowed. The figure comes from a firm ... named Inside Facebook, which takes its figures from Facebook's own advertising tools. It notes that measures may vary from source to source and can depend on exactly what is counted. With these figures, only active users are counted, rather than those who leave accounts dormant. National drops include the US falling from 155.2 million to 149.4 million ... (view more)

As of Wednesday, the Winklevoss brothers abandoned an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court and it appeared that they had finally given up their long-running crusade to win further compensation from Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg. A day later, however, ... a new court document has been filed which aims to prove that Zuckerberg hid instant messages that may have helped prove their original case. How Facebook Came to Be As depicted in the movie "The Social Network," the Winklevoss twins were once involved in a very similar project with Zuckerberg, and their falling out led to years of legal wrangling ... (view more)

Justifying a $50+ month cable or satellite subscription is getting harder to swallow -- particularly when services like Netflix offer a huge database of TV and movie content for just $8 a month. In fact, a new report shows that many people are tired ... of those hefty cable bills, and are ditching their subscriptions in favor of Netflix. Dallas, Texas-based media research firm Diffusion Group is responsible for the report, which included a survey of 2,000 American broadband users. The report suggests that Netflix members were twice as likely as non-members to cancel or drastically reduce their ... (view more)

The Internet's governing body has given final approval to expand website addresses from .com, .net and .org to virtually anything. It could mean a major boost for the web, but may also lead to a barrage of court cases. The decision involved top ... level domains (TLD), the final section of a website address. At the moment these are strictly controlled, with just 22 international domains (the best known being .com) plus 250 or so country-specific domains (such as .ca for Canada). That system has been overhauled by ICANN, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Named and Numbers. It's just voted in ... (view more)

A coalition of Canadian singers and songwriters have demanded that the Copyright Board of Canada immediately start awarding royalties at the expense of popular online media destinations that continue to host content. The Society of Composers, ... Authors and Music Publishers of Canada (SOCAN) filed an interim tariff application after royalties were given to Access Copyright, an organization founded in 1988 by a group of authors and publishers for the purpose of "protecting the value of their intellectual property and ensuring fair compensation when their works are copied." SOCAN now ... (view more)

A new report has revealed that Netflix video streaming accounts for an incredible 22 per cent of all Internet traffic. This number is considerably higher than last fall, suggesting that the site's popularity and overall interest in Internet ... streaming has climbed significantly in the past six months. While the average Internet usage represented by Netflix users was around 22 per cent, researchers at analyst firm Sandvine found that during peak usage periods Netflix accounts for as much as 30 per cent of all Internet traffic. Sandvine says this is 10 per cent higher than was reported back in ... (view more)

A proposed new law under debate in the California senate would make drastic changes to the way social networks handle user privacy. It would mean sites like Facebook would have to maximize their privacy settings as a default. Under the proposals, ... social networking sites would have to allow users to set privacy levels at the time of registration, explaining the various options "in plain language." This would have to include a clear explanation of exactly which categories of people and businesses would be able to see information. (Source: ca.gov ) Full Control Over Information By default, a new ... (view more)

Should kids be allowed to use Facebook? Facebook Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Mark Zuckerberg doesn't see anything wrong with it, despite concerns that they might be exploited through a social networking platform known for its controversial privacy ... policies. 7.5 Million Kids Under 13 Already Use Facebook Zuckerberg took on the issue at the recent NewSchools Summit, where a Consumer Reports finding that approximately 7.5 million kids under 13 had lied about their age in order to create Facebook accounts was at the center of much discussion. In a presentation, Zuckerberg revealed that he ... (view more)

A woman from Malaysia was recently cajoled out of $366,000 by a Facebook con artist, according to reports. And while several arrests have been made, most of the cash remains at large. Overseas 'British Citizen' in Need of Bank Account The man behind ... the scheme allegedly told the woman he was a British citizen in need of access to a bank account in order to cash in a $1.53 million contract with Malaysia's national oil and gas company, Petronas. Here was the kicker: the man in question said he couldn't afford the service and insurance charges associated with the agreement, and was looking for ... (view more)

The recently announced death of Al Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden was big news around the world. Across the United States, people poured into the streets to celebrate. One of the more memorable moments came in a game between the New York Mets and ... Philadelphia Phillies on Sunday night, where fans greeted the news with an impromptu chant of "U-S-A!", "U-S-A!" But the most fervent activity might have been in the digital world, where Twitter members set a new record by Tweeting an average of over 3,000 times per second. (Source: tsn.ca ) Sustained Rate of Tweets a Record "[Sunday] night saw the ... (view more)