Items tagged with downloads
Malware is a major problem and spreads easily through insecure downloads over the web. As such, Google's Chrome browser will begin to block "mixed content downloads" in order to guarantee that HTTPS (SSL secured) pages are only able to download secure files. Google's plan will be rolled out over various upcoming iterations of Chrome. Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS) pages are intended to be secure ways to send data over a computer network. However, their security can be compromised by mixed content downloads or non-HTTPS secured transmission of files. Mixed content downloads are vulnerable to attackers and can do major damage to users. The plan is for the Chrome browser to therefore...
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Are you getting the broadband speed you're paying for? An easy way to check is to use one of the many available testing services on the web, one of the more popular being Ookla's SpeedTest. Netflix has a vested interest in your broadband connection, so it went and released a speed tester of its own. It's a simple test found on Fast.com that measures your download speed from any location in the world and on any device, be it a desktop PC or a mobile phone. The test lacks the bells and whistles of SpeedTest, in that it doesn't detect your ping or upload speed, nor does it let you choose from different testing locations. "We all want a faster, better Internet, yet Internet speeds vary greatly and...
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The music industry has a history of fighting advances in technology, and rather than continue to do that, organizations like the RIAA and music labels in general would do well to pay attention to market trends and figure out ways to capitalize on them. Right now, the trend is towards streaming music -- downloaded album and song sales dropped sharply in 2014, while streaming services like Spotify are on the rise, according to data compiled by Nielsen SoundScan. Full album download sales declined 9 percent to 257 million albums in 2014, while individual song downloads dropped 12 percent to 106.5 million in the same time period. Interestingly enough, it's not just streaming...
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It didn't take long for Google Play Music All Access (still a terrible name) to assert itself in the streaming music category and become a legitimate contender to the likes of Spotify and Slacker. But don't just take our word for it, take a gander at the number downloads the Google Play Music app has notched to date for Android -- over 500 million times on Google Play. That figure only includes the number of downloads on Google Play and doesn't take into account any downloads on iOS devices through iTunes. Even without that qualifier, it's still an impressive feat, as the Google Play Music app joins select company in Google Play's "500,000,000 - 1,000,000,000" category. According to Android Police,...
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U2’s collaboration goes way beyond the album Apple forced on iPhone users at the launch event. According to a report in TIME, the band and tech company have been working on a project that could give bands a new way to deliver albums to their audiences. Hopefully, this new album format doesn’t involve auto-downloads. Itunes already puts album artwork front-and-center. The new album format Apple and U2 are developing is expected to make new uses of album artwork. Image credit: Apple People involved in the project are stressing that, although this new format is expected to be difficult to pirate, it’s not based on major new technology. Instead, the new format is based on presenting...
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Looking to learn a new skill? Perhaps you should considering learning how to build mobile apps. It's a booming business that's only going to get bigger in the coming years, that is unless users at large suddenly find themselves disinterested in smartphone and tablet devices (unlikely). How big? According to market research firm Gartner, mobile app stores will see annual downloads jump past 102 billion in 2013, up from 64 billion in 2012. Those downloads collectively translate into $26 billion, up from $18 billion a year prior. That's a lot of cash, especially when you consider that 91 percent of total downloads in 2013 will be free downloads. By 2017, Gartner says in-app purchases will account...
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CBS and Time Warner have been engaged in a public battle over network access fees and the result has been a blackout in key markets that's left TWC customers unable to access certain CBS properties, including Showtime. These sorts of battles are ill-received by a public that's generally sick of paying an average of $84 a month to watch a handful of channels and now, thanks to a license dispute, finds itself unable to consume content that's been legally paid for. The predictable result? Skyrocketing piracy rates. According to data gathered by TorrentFreak, people in the affected markets of Los Angeles, New York City, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Detroit and Pittsburgh, accounted for...
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There will always be people who pirate content, that's just the way it is. We don't condone illegally downloading movies and TV shows, nor are we being pessimistic, but unlike big media companies, we're willing to look at the situation realistically. Perhaps so is Comcast, which is said to be developing a new method to fight piracy that doesn't involve lawsuits. According to Variety, Comcast is in early talks with film and TV studios, as well as other leading Internet service providers (ISPs), about a technology that would give would-be pirates an opportunity to access legal versions of illegal downloads currently in progress. For example, let's say Joe Blow heads over to his favorite torrent...
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Apple on Thursday announced that over 50 billion apps have been downloaded from its App Store to date. The way things are going now, Apple says it sees 800 apps downloaded per second, and over 2 billion per month. Talk about growth -- the App Store opened its virtual doors in July 2008 with just 500 apps; today there are more than 850,000 apps for iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch users in 155 countries. "Apple would like to thank our incredible customers and developers for topping 50 billion apps downloaded," said Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior vice president of Internet Software and Services. "The App Store completely transformed how people use their mobile devices and created a thriving app ecosystem...
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For as much criticism as iTunes consistently receives, it hasn't prevented music lovers from downloading songs time and again. Just the opposite, Apple today announced that music fans have purchased and downloaded more than 25 billion songs from the iTunes Store to date. In case you're curious, the 25 billionth song was "Monkey Drums" by Chase Buch. Phillip Lüpke, who purchased the milestone track, will receive a €10,000 (he's from Germany) iTunes Gift Card for his impeccable timing. "We are grateful to our users whose passion for music over the past 10 years has made iTunes the number one music retailer in the world," said Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior vice president of Internet Software...
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Pirate Bay co-founder Gottfrid Svartholm Warg is under lock and key in Cambodia after local police, acting on an international warrant issued in Sweden, arrested the young man. Warg is one of four Pirate Bay founders who all found themselves in hot water for running one of the most popular illegal torrent tracking sites on the planet. "His arrest was made the request of the Swedish government for a crime related to information technology," a spokeswoman for the Cambodia's police told the AFP news agency. The spokesperson added that Cambodia doesn't have an extradition treaty with Sweden, though authorities are looking into how to proceed. Along with Warg, the other three Pirate Bay founders --...
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For all the ballyhooing over Apple's restrictive license for its iBooks 2 initiative, users seemed eager to flock to Cupertino's virtual book store and download in droves. To wit, All Things D is reporting that more than 350,000 textbooks were downloaded from Apple's iBooks Store within just the first three days of availability, a staggering number it sourced from Global Equities Research. It's hard to tell if those numbers are accurate, especially since Global Equities Research "doesn't much care to discuss" its proprietary tracking system, but even just being in the ballpark would be a huge deal for Apple. It is worth mentioning, however, that many of these could have been free downloads of...
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Looking for a last minute gift idea? Time is running out, but if you have $5 to spare, a sense of humor, and want to flip the finger at big media companies who insist on shackling their content with sometimes draconian-level DRM schemes, you need to purchase Louis C.K.'s "Live at the Beacon Theater" comedy download. Many of you already have. Louis C.K. cut out all the middlemen and made his performance available for purchase on his website for a Lincoln note, which entitles you to download the 720p video up to three times and watch it wherever and whenever you want. There's no DRM, just a reasonably priced 1-hour video that you're free to burn to DVD, and he even put up free DVD box cover and...
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My, oh my. Is the world ending? Is the sky falling? What, exactly, is going on here? New data from tracking firm Nielsen SoundScan has proven that U.S. music album sales are up for the first six months of 2011, compared to a year ago. That's the first time this has happened since 2004, over a half-decade ago. It's pretty wild to think that record sales have somehow turned around in a world that's both increasingly digital and now slammed with a myriad cloud storage options. The numbers weren't huge; they only rose four percent, but any increase is a big increase for the record labels. Overall album sales jumped to 221.5 million units from 213.6 million a year ago, and that number also includes...
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