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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Whether you think of Apple as makers of the trendiest and best performing mobile products on the planet or view Steve Jobs' 'Evil Empire' with the same contempt that Boston Red Sox fans have for the New York Yankees, Apple's doing well either way. Actually, that's a bit of an understatement. Despite a growing army of Android users, Apple today announced to the world that more than 200 million iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch users worldwide have downloaded over 15 billion apps from the App Store. "In just three years, the revolutionary App Store has grown to become the most exciting and successful software marketplace the world has ever seen," said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president...
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Today is the Fourth of July, and you know what that means, right? Of course you do, which is why the burgers are prepped (Protip: make a small indentation with your thumb in the middle and they won't balloon up on the grill, tempting you to flatten the flavor out with your spatula), Ladder Ball is setup in the backyard, and your big box of fireworks is at the ready. Of course we owe this holiday to our founding fathers who penned the Declaration of Independence that was officially adopted on July 4, 1776. The rest is history, and here we are 235 years later still celebrating that day. Image taken from the engraving printer William J. Stone in 1823. The original document is also available, though...
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Whoa, whoa, whoa, hold the boat a minute, young fella. We like to fancy ourselves an intelligent bunch, but something just isn't adding up. According to market research firm The Nielsen Company, music sales in the U.S. are up 1.6 percent in 2011. The reason, Nielsen says, has a lot to do with the explosive growth of digital album and track sales. How can that be if, as the RIAA would have us believe, starving artists are out in the streets begging for handouts as piracy kills the music business? We're embellishing a bit here, sure, but the point we're making is that the RIAA's fear mongering needs to stop. Let's look at some more stats. According to Nielsen, digital album and track purchases...
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Is Facebook really a place people will go to check out feature-length movies? Only time will tell, but clearly the initial test has gone well, otherwise we highly doubt Warner Bros. would continue to pursue it. And pursue it they are. The company has just revealed that they will start to offer five new movies for rent directly on the social networking site, and these are just dusty, old movies, these are hits. Inception, Harry Potter & the Sorcerer's Stone, Harry Potter & The Chamber of Secrets, Life as we know It, and Yogi Bear are all making the cut, all of which are exceptionally popular. The films are available to rent as of now, and in order to rent a film, consumers simply click...
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We knew there was the possibility that Amazon was looking into a Netflix-style streaming service to accompany its Prime membership option. Now, the online retailer has officially confirmed the service. With a paid subscription to Amazon Prime (which costs $79 per year), users will get the ability to stream unlimited, commercial-free content. Amazon claims there are 5,000 movies and TV shows available for streaming. The service is compatible with PCs, Macs, Internet connected TVs, Blu-ray players, and set-top boxes. Here's a full look at the announcement from Amazon:...
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Let's be real here, trying to take on Netflix in the streaming media space is like, well, trying to take on Netflix in the streaming space. It's hard to imagine an upstart coming in and dethroning Netflix's growing business, but what about Amazon? No one in their right mind would describe Amazon as a Johnny Come Lately, and with the recent acquisition of LoveFilm -- the European equivalent of a Netflix -- Amazon has as good a shot at competing with Netflix as anyone, does it not? We're not pulling this theory out of thin air, mind you. Someone sent a handful of screenshots to Engadget that shows an unlimited video streaming section for Prime members. "Your Amazon Prime membership now includes...
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Little did Gail Davis know that she was the winner of Apple's 10 billionth App download promotion, because had she known that, she wouldn't have hung on up the Cupertino company. But that's exactly what she did when Apple called to inform her she had won a $10,000 iTunes gift card. "I thought it was a prank call," says Davis. "I said, 'Thank you very much, I'm not interested,' and I hung up." According to Cult of Mac, it was actually one of Davis' two daughters who downloaded the app, who bolted downstairs to tell their mother the horrible mistake she had made. Davis tried to call Apple back, but the customer service rep on the other end of the line had no idea what she was talking about. Lucky...
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Oh the horror! The inhumanity! The injustice! Say it isn't so! What are we bellyaching about? Not much, really, but plenty of Netflix users are none too happy with the online DVD rental streaming service's decision to remove the 'Add to DVD Queue' from streaming devices. "We're doing this so we can concentrate on offering you the titles that are available to watch instantly," Netflix's Jamie Odell explained in a blog post announcing the change. "Further, providing the option to add a DVD to your Queue from a streaming device complicates the instant watching experience and ties up resources that are better used to improve the overall streaming functionality." Odell's explanation only tells part...
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