Skype goes down globally, investigation underway

There's a pretty widespread outage of Skype going on right this minute, judging by the explosion of tweets relating to it. It's not universal, as we've been able to log in and use the internet communicator for both text and video chat, but something's definitely gone wrong. So far, we've noticed our OS X machines are ticking along just fine, but our Windows computers are not. Importantly, we had to upgrade one of our Windows desktops to "break" Skype, which indicates it could be a fault contained in the latest version, but then again, it could have simply been just a case of terrible timing. The iPhone and Android apps look to be unaffected, but skype.com is down and out. Skype is on the case right now and will have more details for us "soon."



Update: Skype has a solution for bringing tech savvy users back online. It requires deleting the shared.xml file, instructions for which are available for Windows 7, XP and Mac OS X (so yes, Apple computers have been bitten by the same bug too). A simpler fix is said to be in the works as well.

@Skype (Twitter)

BT and Everything Everywhere will start LTE trial in rural UK this September

Some of the UK's most remote parts still don't have access to broadband of any kind, but later this year, they might have the sort that makes us look on in envy. BT and Everything Everywhere are planning to start an LTE trial in Cornwall, England's most southerly county, which will last from the 1st of September through to the end of December. Connection speeds could scale as high as 40Mbps, though the typical rate is expected to be closer to 10Mbps. Volunteers are now being sought to participate in the trial, though they have to reside (or be willing to move, we presume) in the pretty tiny 4G coverage area near Newquay. BT and T-MOrange have been allowed a temporary slice of 800MHz spectrum to do their experimenting in, which will likely be up for grabs in the LTE spectrum auction that's set for next year. First we take Newquay, then we take the world.

Daily Telegraph, BBC

Researchers create 26 terabit-per-second connections with just a single laser

Remember that pair of 100 terabit-per-second connections we told you about earlier this moth? Impressive? Sure, but not entirely practical thanks to the massive banks of lasers (370 to be exact) that guzzled several kilowatts of electricity. Researchers at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology in Germany haven't hit 100Tbps yet, but they were able push 26Tbps using just one, lonely laser. The new single-laser fiber-optic speed record was set using a technique called fast Fourier transform that pulses light at an incredibly high rate with data encoded in 325 distinct colors across the spectrum. A detector at the receiving end is able to distinguish between the various colored data streams, based on tiny differences in arrival time, and recombine them into a high-speed torrent of ones and zeros. The scientists behind the project believe that, eventually, the technology could make its way into commercial use and be integrated into silicon chips. Now, someone needs to hurry up and jack our FiOS connection into this thing -- all this talk of terabits-per-second and graphene modulators, yet we're still jealous of grandma Löthberg.

BBC

Lady Gaga uses Chrome, and here's the 91-second film to prove it

One of the world's most (in)famous names has picked a side in the browser battles -- last night saw the debut of a new Google Chrome commercial, starring Lady Gaga and her "little monsters." Spanning a minute and a half of Gaga and her fans singing and gyrating their way through her latest single, the ad is intended to illustrate the power of the web and its creative new modes of interaction. To be fair, said interaction is mostly Lady Gaga saying "jump" and a crowd of YouTubers doing it without bothering to ask how high, but hey, the result is fun to watch. You just need to disable your sense of shame for all humanity and click past the break.

googlechrome (YouTube)

The Protect IP Act: Google's Eric Schmidt squares off against RIAA and MPAA

Protecting intellectual property sounds like such a noble cause that you'd have to be a anarchistic free-market extremist to be against the idea, right? Actually, we don't think Google CEO Eric Schmidt is particularly extreme in any definable way, yet this past week he spoke with gusto, railing against the proposed Protect IP Act, which is was designed to "prevent online threats to economic creativity and theft of intellectual property." If passed into law, it would give the government the right to shut down any "Internet site dedicated to infringing activities" -- "infringing activities" largely being of the sort that allows dude A to download copyrighted item B from dude C when it's unclear whether dude C has legal rights to be distributing B in the first place.

So, you know, it's targeting the Pirate Bay and its ilk, giving government officials greater power to sweep in and snag the domains of such sites. Schmidt calls this approach a set of "arbitrarily simple solutions to complex problems" that "sets a very bad precedent." The precedent? That it's okay for democratic governments to go and kill any site they doesn't like, something Schmidt says would only encourage restrictive policies in countries like China. While we don't think China really needs any sort of encouragement at all to keep on building up its Great Firewall, we tend to agree that this is a much more complicated problem than the Act makes it out to be. That said, one must admit that Schmidt's opinions are necessarily somewhat swayed by the knowledge that any such law would also have a negative impact on the business of search engines in general.

But of course no such volley of words could go unanswered from the two shining knights of copyright protection, the MPAA and RIAA, which mounted up their corporate blogs, rode down from twin castles full of lawyers, and collectively told Schmidt he's full of it. The MPAA spun Schmidt's comments into some sort of act of civil disobedience, saying that "Google seems to think it's above America's laws." Meanwhile, the RIAA called the statement "a confusing step backwards by one of the most influential internet companies." Obviously it's only going to get nastier from here, so buckle your seatbelts, place your bets, and hang on to your BitTorrent clients.

Techdirt

The Guardian, MPAA, RIAA

NC governor will let cable-backed bill restricting municipal broadband become law

We've repeatedly hammered Time Warner Cable (and its big-cable cronies) for crying to the North Carolina legislature about municipal broadband. TWC claims it can't compete with taxpayer-backed ISPs such as Wilson, NC's Greenlight -- and that it shouldn't have to. In fact, Greenlight and four other municipal providers came about specifically because corporate players refused to provide inexpensive, fast broadband. And now that local governments have proven they can provide it, the cable companies have cried foul, pouring hundreds of thousands of dollars into select political pockets all the while. That's the drama so far, and now a bill restricting municipal broadband -- mandating that providers pay taxes similar to private companies, for example -- has landed on the desk of Governor Bev Perdue. She won't veto the bill, meaning it will soon become a law; for whatever it's worth (read: not much), she also refuses to sign it. The reason? Here it is from the horse's mouth:

I will neither sign nor veto this bill. Instead, I call on the General Assembly to revisit this issue and adopt rules that not only promote fairness but also allow for the greatest number of high quality and affordable broadband options for consumers.

The legislation strikes a blow against public ISPs in a country that ranks ninth in the world for broadband adoption and download speeds. And that, apparently, is what "fair competition" looks like in the US.

[Image courtesy of IndyWeek]

The Raleigh News and Observer

US lags in broadband adoption and download speeds, still has the best rappers

U, S, A! We're number nine! Wait, nine? At least according to a recent broadband survey by the FCC, yes. The good ol' US of A ranked ninth (out of the 29 member countries of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development) in fixed broadband penetration on a per capita basis, and 12th in terms of pure percentage -- behind the UK, South Korea, Iceland, the Netherlands, and plenty of others. Though, granted, these nations lack the sprawling amber waves of grain that America must traverse with cables. The US also trailed in wireless broadband adoption, ranking ninth yet again, behind the likes of Ireland, Australia and Sweden. Worse still, even those with broadband reported slower connections than folks in other countries. Olympia, Washington had the highest average download speeds of any US city with 21Mbps (New York and Seattle tied for second with 11.7Mbps), but was easily topped by Helsinki, Paris, Berlin, and Seoul (35.8Mbps). Well, at least we beat Slovenia... if only just barely.

Reuters

FCC

Study finds Netflix is the largest source of internet traffic in North America

In your daily Netflix news, the latest report on Global Internet Phenomena for spring 2011 from Sandvine has called out the movie service as the largest single consumer of bandwidth on the internet in North America. The last report in October suggested it made up around twenty percent of internet traffic during prime time, but this time around the stats say it accounts for 30% of traffic during prime time, and 22.2% of daily internet traffic. Sandvine gets the data from ISPs using its broadband technology and now foresees "Real-Time Entertainment" (which includes Netflix) shooting up over 55% of peak internet traffic by the end of this year. It also reports on net traffic from other regions, noting social networking outpaces YouTube traffic in Latin America, while European subscribers use twice as much data as North Americans. We'll have to wait and see if these stats are waved in our faces to justify the next round of bandwidth caps or throttling, in the meantime you can click through for more stats or hear about it from Sandvine CEO Dave Caputo discuss them in a video embedded after the break.

Sandvine, YouTube

Google adds Kansas City, MO to list of Kansas Cities covered by ultra high-speed internet (video)

It's gotta be rough being a Kansas City sometimes. It must be a constant cycle of excitement, only to realize that everyone was talking about your identically-named neighbor -- like back in late March, when Google first announced plans to bring its ultra high-speed internet fiber to the Kansas side of the border. Things are looking up for our friends in Kansas City, Missouri, however -- the city's awesomely-named Mayor Sly James held a press conference with Google and Kansas City Power & Light today to announce that his town will be joining in on the bandwidthy fun. Both Kansas Cities can expect to go ultra high-speed next year, pricing on either side of the invisible line remains elusive. Video of joyous local government officials after the break.

Google (1), (2)

GreenChip lighting lets you flip the switch remotely, thumbs nose at IPv4 depletion

Despite the looming IPv4 apocalypse, a new lighting system coming out of NXP Semiconductors promises an "IP address for every light bulb." The GreenChip "smart lighting solution" incorporates NXP chipsets into both LED and compact flourescents to enable dimming, extended lifespans, quick start times, and IP connectivity -- via IPv4 or IPv6. Proprietary network software allows users to control their bulbs from smartphones, PCs, and other devices, enabling them to fiddle with mood lighting -- including adjusting color -- via a specific IP address. So at least when IPv4 doomsday finally descends someone will have their lighting just right. Video and PR after the break.

NXP

Netflix seals deal to stream Miramax movies, starting in June

Netflix has just gone and scooped up another big content deal for itself. The movie streaming service has tied the knot with Miramax on a multi-year agreement to allow streaming of films from the latter's extensive library. Pulp Fiction, The English Patient, Kill Bill, and hundreds of others will be added to the Netflix Watch Instantly catalog on a rotating basis, starting next month. This marks the first time Miramax flicks have been available on a digital subscription service. An agreement between these two companies was last rumored in March, with a five-year term and $100 million price being mooted as the likely parameters for getting it done. Neither outfit would disclose the cost to Netflix, but the benefit to you, dear subscriber, is pretty obvious. Full PR after the break.

Japan won't allow Sony to turn PSN back on until it's assured it's safe

Sony may be busy flipping the PlayStation Network switch back to the "on" position around the globe, but one locale where it won't be doing so just yet is its homeland of Japan. The Dow Jones newshounds report that the Japanese government refuses to allow Sony to reactivate its ailing network until satisfaction is reached on a couple of outstanding issues. The first is that the company's promised counter-hacking measures announced on May 1st have not yet been fully enacted -- though details of what has or hasn't been done yet are understandably unavailable -- and the second is that Japan wants to see further preventive measures taken to ensure users users' credit card numbers and other private data won't be exposed through their use of Sony's online services again. These sound like rational demands to us, and Sony is already in talks with the authorities to make sure it lives up to their expectations.

News.com.au

Dow Jones Newswires (Fox Business)

Wi-Fi Hotspot Locator

The website TechNewsWorld has made available global directory of more than 110,000 locations offering WiFi internet access in 26 countries.

Since I often have to be out of home for most part of the day, in the moments of peace of which I can dispose I’d like to go on the web. But in the places I go to there’s a lot of space to examine to find a free WiFi, if I do not have my Internet Key with me. Now it’s not a problem anymore.

To receive results, you must enter the name of a city, zip/postal code or state name in the fields required. If you are searching for a free WiFi in a location outside of the United States, you have to select the country/region.

To find it you just have to go HERE

Enjoy it.

Microsoft Family Safety: The Most Secure Internet Program For Your Family Safety

There are a number of predators on the internet who can harm you and your family considerably if not taken care. Internet predators always look for young prey as they are much easier to exploit. There are some locations or area where these predators usually stay online such as social networking websites, chat rooms, internet forums, instant messaging and even in online game sites. Some of the biggest firms in productivity software along with Microsoft, the best operating system developer in the world, are working consistently to find a solution to keep you and your family away from the internet predators. It is not good enough to create user accounts in Google safe search and trying to filter contents through it. What you require is something more than an antivirus such as Family Safety by Microsoft which comes with the facility of filtering the internet content providing a powerful and high level security for you and your family. On top of that, Family Safe by Microsoft is available completely free of charge for anyone using Microsoft operating system. To begin with, you just need to visit the website (http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-vista/Protecting-your-kids-with-Family-Safety). All the necessary instructions required for setting up the Family Safety are available in the website.

The main components of Family Safety software:

The Filter – Which helps in monitoring the amount of time your kids spent on computer and determining the nature of work they did. After knowing these you are provided with means to control and manage every aspect of them.

The Website – Which is perfect for Internet filtering; it gives you all the necessary information which was filtered initially also allowing you to make any changes in the setting as per your requirement. You may do this as many number of times as you need.

Parental Control – This provides you with options to customize all the settings, for instance letting only predefined programs accessible and for exactly the set amount of time which you had already defined earlier.

There are several organizations and communities fighting against internet predators and online crime which seems to be a rather difficult task to accomplish. Several laws and amendments have already been made in order to control and discourage such activities; nevertheless the number of crimes happening seems to be increasing everyday. We need to take part in controlling these crimes by taking full precautions from our side, by making kids aware of such activities and also by installing safety software in your personal computer.

 Microsoft Family Safety is a complete solution to all the internet safety related problems. This program will single handedly manage and control all of the safety functions you might require. You can know more about website filters, its benefiting features and many other methods which will keep you and your family completely safe while working online, in our upcoming articles.

Stable version of Firefox 4 released

Yesterday, after a one-year long period of development, it has been released the stable version of Firefox 4. But the news aren’t finished: the Mozilla team has decided to have no break and, as reported by the US website Conceivablytech, the start day for the creation of the version 5 has already been chosen. Mozilla seems to be intentioned in a change of strategy about the time and ways to release it to the public. Apparently they want to follow the example of Google, that divides the browser development in four parts.

Download Firefox 4 here

The team has organized the development of every single version in 16 weeks, divided in 4 periods: in the first 6 weeks, Mozilla won’t release any version to the public, and will test it. Then it would start the distribution of the experimental and beta version, that would probably precede (as in tradition) the classical release candidate before that the final version of the browser was developed. There aren’t certain news about that, but we’ll see the decision of Mozilla in the next months.
The development of Version 5 should start in the last days of June, but for the moment it’s just a hypothesis, though it’s reliable enough to be took in consideration.