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We’ve all thought it, but never dared think it could be true: what if Microsoft, Yahoo, and AOL actively monitor our instant messenger chats? What if mentions of ‘bomb’ and ‘underage’ are tracked and sent to law enforcement agencies? What if chat providers don’t agree with the things we say, or the links we share, and filter or censor the content of our transmitted messages?

Well, it looks like our fears may actually have some basis in reality: Yahoo Messenger strips FilesTube links from instant messages. It doesn’t tell either party that a URL has been removed from chat — it just deletes it. Poof. FilesTube, in case you were wondering, is one of the largest file hosting meta search engines on the Web — it indexes RapidShare, Megaupload, Mediafire, and many other ‘cyberlocker’ services.

It’s fairly obvious why FilesTube links are being removed — the Censor General at Yahoo is probably one of those perplexed primates who think all uses of BitTorrent are illegal — but this situation poses a far more important question: is Yahoo censoring messages on the client side, or the server side. Does the messenger client itself maintain a list of ‘blacklisted’ words — and if so, why are we not told that FilesTube links are banned? What other words and terms does Yahoo protect us from?

Continue reading Yahoo! Messenger now censors the links you share

Yahoo! Messenger now censors the links you share originally appeared on Download Squad on Wed, 30 Mar 2011 05:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/03/30/yahoo-messenger-now-censors-links-raises-serious-privacy-issue/

PALM

Once upon a time, there used to be a DOS game with a caveman and a human powered helicopter. The caveman would shuttle around the screen, madly trying to get customers to where they wanted to go.

Jetbus is not that game, but it’s obviously inspired by it. You’re driving a yellow school bus which has jets. I guess the jet engine takes quite a bit of space inside the bus, because you can only pick up one person at a time.

There are several doors on the screen, each with its own number. As you pick up a person, the status bar at the bottom of the screen shows you which number door you have to take them to.

You must fly your bus carefully, because if it gets bumped around too much, you lose. You earn money on each level, and can visit the garage to buy better jets and damping, power-ups, or even a whole new vehicle.

So while this game isn’t made as well as the original that inspired it, it does provide a few minutes of fun. And now, which one of you guys remembers the original and feels like pointing to it in the comments?

Jetbus is a retro-tastic physics game, with a bus originally appeared on Download Squad on Tue, 15 Feb 2011 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/02/15/jetbus-is-a-retro-tastic-physics-game-with-a-bus/

DST SYSTEMS DISCOVER FINANCIAL SERVICES DIODES INORATED DIEBOLD DELL

The TouchPad may not be the perfect tablet, but it is selling for $100 right now, but it’s going fast. Actually, it’s pretty much gone. But if you did manage to snag one, here are ten good uses for it. More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/TeX3ssM3jSY/10-things-you-can-do-with-a-100-touchpad

DELL CYPRESS SEMICONDUCTOR ACCENTURE ACER ADOBE SYSTEMS

One of the worst things about summer is hearing the news report of a child’s death because someone forgot their infant was in the carseat.  They go in to work for hours, and it’s too late for the child when they finally remember.  A grandfather who suddenly became a care-giver for his grandchildren was determined [...]

Source: http://the-gadgeteer.com/2011/08/22/keep-your-child-safe-in-the-summer-heat/

SYNTEL SYNTAXBRILLIAN SYNOPSYS SYNNEX SYMANTEC

It’s hard to believe: our world-spanning network, our Internet, which is the cornerstone of free speech and free society — which, on a good day, is capable of causing populist revolutions – is still crippled by banal geolocation restrictions. We are, of course, talking about Amazon’s two latest offerings, both of which are only available in the United States. Last week it was the excellent Android Appstore for Android, and today it’s the Amazon Cloud Player for Web and Android.

Along with Cloud Player, Amazon also launched Cloud Drive, which is basically just like any other cloud storage digital locker. It’s not particularly feature rich, and there’s no real reason to use it over something like SugarSync or SkyDrive — it does work outside the US, however.

Its primary purpose, as far as we’re concerned, is that it stores your your Cloud Player music in a subdirectory. You get 5GB of Cloud Drive storage for free, and then it’s $1 per gigabyte per year if you need more space.

The Amazon Cloud Player itself will not, to put it bluntly, blow your mind. It works, but it’s very much an early, and possibly rushed, release. Let’s dive in to the Web and Android players for a closer look.

Continue reading Amazon Cloud Player review: functional, not mind blowing, and still US-only

Amazon Cloud Player review: functional, not mind blowing, and still US-only originally appeared on Download Squad on Tue, 29 Mar 2011 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/03/29/amazon-cloud-player-hands-on-review-functional-not-mind-blowin/

IXYS ITRON IRON MOUNTAIN INORATED IOMEGA INTUIT

The HP TouchPad for $99 seems too good to be true. “It is,” your nerd friend will tell you. “It’ll never get software updates. There won’t be new apps for it. It’s a dead platform. Don’t buy it.” Screw them. More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/8UQoQcMlGfE/the-99-hp-touchpad-is-an-amazing-deal-no-matter-what-your-nerd-friends-tell-you

MILLICOM INTL CELLULAR MOBILE TELESYSTEMS NANYA TECHNOLOGY NII HOLDINGS NIKON

Video: Complete Hand Recognition With 5-Finger Mouse Amenbo (Video) Konapun: Making Tiny, Inedible Food For Fun And Profit (?) The UNISROBO Robot Looks A Lot Like NEC?s PaPeRo ThinkGeek Now Selling The FastMac U-Socket, The USB Wallplug Gunbrella Will Get You Shot For Sure Audyssey Lower East Side Speakers Attempt To Mimic The LES In [...]

Source: http://www.crunchgear.com/2011/06/24/daily-crunch-rained-out-lunch/

SEAGATE TECHNOLOGY SCIENTIFIC GAMES SANDISK SALESFORCE COM SAIC

Here are some stories from the past week on CrunchGear: Weekend Giveaway: Toshiba 47-inch TL515 Series 3D LED TV Starbucks Merges Their Two iOS Apps, Lets You Gift Your Friends Coffee From Your Phone Warn Friends And Foes With These Nine Aperture Science Test Chamber Labels SocialBicycles Bike Sharing Is Now A Kickstarter Project Ricoh [...]

Source: http://www.crunchgear.com/2011/07/04/week-in-review-independent/

VARIAN SEMICONDUCTOR EQUIPMENT ASSOCIATES UNITED ONLINE UNISYS TRIQUINT SEMICONDUCTOR TRIMBLE NAVIGATION LIMITED

GNOME 3, after more than two years of development, has been released into the wild. GNOME 3 is not merely the logical successor of GNOME 2: it is an entirely new project, started from scratch, to create a “completely new, modern desktop designed for today’s users and technologies.”

The best way to check out GNOME 3′s new features — and it has lots of new features — is to run a live version of openSUSE or Fedora, or simply head over to the GNOME 3 website and watch the (rather pretty) introductory videos. If you want a synopsis, though, here it is: GNOME 3 looks a lot like Mac OS X, with a healthy dollop of iOSesqueness for good measure, but yet it still somehow retains an underlying feel of Linux.

The overall aesthetic is very simple, very elegant, and despite being slightly out of fashion, there are plenty of rounded corners, too. The main addition, workflow-wise, is the addition of an app-launcher-cum-alt-tab screen, where you can launch apps, or flip through your open windows. For a complete list of the new features and changes, check the GNOME 3 release notes.

Despite GNOME 3 being officially launched, there aren’t actually any releases for existing, stable Linux distros — it’s the live CD/USB images, or Ubuntu users will have to wait for the launch of 11.04 for a GNOME 3 PPA, but it will break Unity in the process. Fedora users will have to wait for for the May 24 release of Fedora 15. Of course, if you’re feeling crazy, you can always build GNOME 3 from source.

GNOME 3 released, ushers in an interesting amalgam of iOS and OS X originally appeared on Download Squad on Thu, 07 Apr 2011 06:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/04/07/gnome-3-released-ushers-in-an-interesting-amalgam-of-ios-and-os/

LAWSON SOFTWARE LAND SOFTWARE LAM RESEARCH L1 IDENTITY SOLUTIONS KINGSTON TECHNOLOGY COMPANY

Good design, it is said, should solve problems. Perhaps that is why the best designers occasionally focus their efforts on addressing issues helping the poor, the needy or those hit by natural disasters.
A team from Osaka University, working with famed designer Dr. Kazuo Kawasaki, created the “Vaccine Refrigerator” backpack to facilitate transporting and storing medicine in [...]

Source: http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2011/08/disaster-proof-backpack-keeps-you-stocked-for-emergencies/

NOVELLUS SYSTEMS NOVELL NETWORK APPLIANCE NETGEAR NCR