Hasta La Gadget!

Back in October 2013, after a string of leaks by Edward Snowden pushed major internet companies to do more with regards to user privacy, Yahoo announced that it will add automatic encryption to Yahoo Mail by early 2014. This means that all emails will automatically be encrypted by the email service. The company has formally announced that it has delivered on its promise. It is now automatically encrypting all connections between its users and Yahoo Mail.

What this means is that anytime anyone uses Yahoo Mail, through web or mobile apps, IMAP, POP, SMTP or mobile web, it will be 100 percent encrypted by default with 2,048 bit certificates. Not only that, this encryption also extends to attachments, contacts, calendar and messenger apart from all emails in Yahoo Mail. The company says that security is a key focus for it and that it will continue to enhance its security technology. Yahoo not only pledged to encrypt its mail service, it also promised to encrypt all data flowing to and from its servers by April 2014. Its about time that Yahoo added this security feature to its email service, rivals Gmail and Outlook have offered it since 2010 and 2012 respectively. Not sure who it would protect you against the NSA though, it is allegedly capable of cracking almost all kinds of encryption.

Yahoo Mail Now Encrypts All Connections original content from Ubergizmo.

There are some places in the world, some internet providers, and even some institutions where torrents and torrent-related websites are blocked, presumably for legal reasons of course. Well famed torrent website, The Pirate Bay, has a plan to circumvent such blocking and unnecessary censorship through the creation of a tool that will be reminiscent of its P2P roots in which its website will basically be hosted by users, rather than through domain names and server farms in which institutions, governments, and internet providers can easily block by finding out its IP address.

According to a Pirate Bay insider, “The goal is to create a browser-like client to circumvent censorship, including domain blocking, domain confiscation, IP-blocking. This will be accomplished by sharing all of a site’s indexed data as P2P downloadable packages, that are then browsed/rendered locally.” This tool is expected to be released as a standalone application, but can also be accessed through Firefox and Chrome plugins/extensions. The idea behind this tool is decentralization where instead of a domain or IP address that can be blocked, having it decentralized means that it will be harder for the authorities to shut it down.

Of course there are some legal conundrums to be thought out, such as does hosting a Pirate Bay website make one accomplice to piracy? It’s somewhat similar to the case of IsoHunt which was a place where one could search for torrents, although whether the material was copyrighted or not was not necessarily IsoHunt’s direct doing. The website has since been shut down and the owner fined a whopping $110 million. What do you guys think?

Pirate Bay Announces Plans To Circumvent Censorship And Domain Blocking original content from Ubergizmo.

Vine really took off this past year. The Twitter owned service lets users post six second videos, and there’s a loyal user base that uploads interesting clips. It did hit a hump last year when Facebook owned Instagram unveiled its Vine competitor, a feature called Video on Instagram. Vine’s stats dipped significantly but it continues to soldier on. In a major update, the folks at Vine have now introduced web profiles. Users can do just about anything through web profiles that they can do using Vine’s mobile applications, including follow users, like, comment and revine.

TV Mode is an exclusive feature that has been added to Vine on the web. Its a completely new way of watching those six second videos. In the upper right corner of the feed a TV Mode button is now displayed. Clicking on it will start the user’s entire collecting of vines in sequence and in full screen, thus offering a much more immersive experience. The team says that this is just the start, that they  are working to introduce a rich and more enjoyable experience on the web. More improvements that will be gradually rolled out later this year have been promised. Vine’s 40 million strong user base is probably going to love these new features.

Vine Introduces ‘TV Mode’ And Web Profiles original content from Ubergizmo.

One major advantage that Amazon has over physical retail stores is that customers usually don’t have to pay sales tax. The company has fought hard to retain that edge, but as it has continued to grow its warehouse network, it has had to budge in a few states. Prior to today, Amazon collected sales tax on online purchases from residents of 16 states in the U.S. Starting today, residents of Indiana, Nevada and Tennessee will also have to pay sales tax on products purchased online through Amazon.

State officials believe that the levies from these three additions are going to generate over $50 million a year, collectively. The number of states where paying sales tax on Amazon purchases is compulsory is now up to 19, the list isn’t going to grow until 2016, when South Carolina will get onboard as well making it an even 20. Amazon may have voiced concerns against taxes being levied at state level, but the company has been vocal in support of Congressional efforts that seek to impose nationwide online sales tax rules. It believes that such a law would level the playing field, though it can’t be said for sure just how long will that take to happen considering the bill is currently pending in Congress.

Three New States Join List That Pays Sales Tax On Amazon Purchases original content from Ubergizmo.

The Pirate Bay calls itself the world’s most “resilient” torrent website, and there’s truth to that claim. Copyright holders tried very hard to shut the notorious website down, but it persevered, even when it had to change its domain names six times. It even faced ISP blockades in a number of countries but that didn’t stop the site’s growth. Latest figures from TorrentFreak show that The Pirate Bay uploads surged 50 percent over the past year and it now plays host to more than 2.8 million files, video being the most shared category.

The blockades and crackdowns are meant to alienate the site to such an extent that it starts losing traffic, which would definitely hurt. Additional data shows that this year TPB’s traffic continued to grow despite its troubles with the law, the growth was in line with the surge in uploads. The number of torrents being uploaded have doubled as compared to nearly two years ago. The second most shared category on the website in Audio, trailed by porn, other, games and software. This it is quite evident that despite the war being waged against TPB, it continues to grow. The folks behind the website don’t seem to be in the mood to roll over, they’re putting their minds to safeguarding their future against takedowns and further blocking. Copyright holders certainly won’t give up as well, so this will be an interesting cat and mouse game to keep an eye on in 2014.

The Pirate Bay Uploads Soared 50 Percent Despite Rough Year original content from Ubergizmo.