anonymity

Buzz Out Loud 1528: Is Apple killing its own app business? (Podcast)

Amazon and Vudu both launch full-featured Web apps for Apple's iPad to avoid the "Apple tax" and, in Amazon's case, so that they can actually have a link to their store in their mobile experience. Is Apple accidentally driving people toward a device-agnostic tech future? I hope so! Also, Nokia is out of North America, we're planning our visit to the Star Trek resort, and more Bronies than expected listen to BOL!

Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 blocked in Europe

Facebook releases a Messenger app for iPhone and Android, Anonymous threatens to shut down the social network, Amazon launches the Kindle Cloud Reader web app for e-books, and Wal-Mart shuts down its MP3 store.

Links from Wednesday's episode of Loaded:

Apple blocks Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 in Europe Wal-Mart closes MP3 store Anonymous threatens to shut down Facebook Facebook Messenger apps Twitter images for everyone Kindle Cloud Reader web app Subscribe: iTunes (MP3) | iTunes (320x180) | iTunes (HD) | RSS (MP3) | RSS (320x180) | RSS HD

The 404 879: Where we remember, remember (podcast)

Today we're exploring the trend of digital vigilantes (aka digilantes) taking to the Internet for crowdsourced criminal identification and cyberjustice. The most recent example is the hacker collective known as Anonymous' YouTube video threatening to take down Facebook on November 5, otherwise known as Guy Fawkes Day.

We'll also fill you in on the London police toying with facial recognition technology on Facebook to identify looters caught on camera, yesterday's 5,000 percent spike in blunt weapons sales on Amazon.co.uk, and a woman who used an airplane to wag a giant finger at Wall Street.

The 404 Digest for Episode 879

Anonymous: Facebook's going down November 5. Will London's police officials turn to Facebook's facial recognition technology to fight crime? Sales of aluminum bats are up more than 5,000 percent on Amazon.co.uk. The USB toothbrush: Philips' device is the "iPod of toothbrushes." Angry Birds makes it onto the cover of Mad Magazine. Airplane banner circles Wall Street: "Thanks For The Downgrade. You Should All Be Fired"

Episode 879 Subscribe in iTunes (audio) | Subscribe in iTunes (video) | Subscribe in RSS Audio | Subscribe in RSS Video… Read more

Anonymous: Facebook's going down November 5

The more Facebook seems to dominate the world, the closer it seems to be to its end.

Earlier this year, there was dastardly nonsense being peddled that Facebook would shut down March 15. However, now we have news of an apparently credible threat.

It comes from Anonymous, the interesting group of people who express their principles in an activist way by infiltrating the systems of the unsuspecting or the merely complacent.

The Village Voice has pointed me to an Anonymous press release that states quite unequivocally that Facebook is going to get it on November 5.

Should that date not … Read more

What a drag

We should all know the dangers of browsing the Web without any protection. That's why it's best to take the proper precautions. One way to do that is to hide your IP address from prying eyes. Surf Anonymous Free offers a way to disguise your IP address while you browse. It worked as promised, though our browsing performance suffered, often with connections that timed out.

The program's user interface is basic and to the point. Your real IP address appears in the small window, and from there, you have two options: Hide IP and Select Fake Location. … Read more

Anonymous takes over Syrian government site

There's been chatter about targeting the Syrian regime on Twitter and IRC channels where purported members of hacktivist groups like Anonymous hang out, but now it looks like those folks have gone and done it.

Anonymous says it replaced the home page of the Syrian Ministry of Defense site with its logo and a call for the downfall of President Bashar al-Assad. As of this writing Monday morning, the site was inaccessible.

A version of the logo and message were posted to a mirror site.

The message addresses both Syrian citizens fighting against a regime that has responded violently … Read more

Buzz Out Loud 1521: Internet Explorer IS for dummies (Podcast)

On today's show, the sad news that even those of you who are grandfathered in to AT&T's unlimited plans will be subject to throttling. sorry. Also, Adobe tries to future-proof itself with a new HTML5 Web animation tool, the darknet is not your mom's social network, and RIM doesn't make pizzas.

Anonymous touts its own social network: 'Anon+'

With the Defcon 19 hacking conference set to begin in Las Vegas next week, hacking group/movement/"idea" Anonymous is touting its own "social network," a site with the Googly moniker Anon+.

@YourAnonNews recently sent out a tweet advertising the effort, which seems to be an attempt to create an anonymous, open-source communications platform that will allow for an Internet space somehow immune to government shutdown and corporate censorship. Here's the tweet:

Welcome to a new why of thinking about a social network. - http://anonplus.com/

As you no doubt noticed, the tweet includes … Read more

Hackers strike government cybersecurity contractor

Hackers flying the AntiSec banner today released what they said was 400 megabytes of internal data from a government cybersecurity contractor, ManTech, as part of their campaign to embarrass the FBI every Friday, as well as target other government agencies and their partners.

"Today is Friday and we will be following the tradition of humiliating our friends from the FBI once again. This time we hit one of their biggest contractors for cyber security: Mantech International Corporation," the hackers said in a statement on PirateBay.

"What ManTech has to do with the FBI? Well, quite simple: In … Read more

The rising cost of video on the Web (week in review)

Things are changing fast in the Web video space, with Netflix and Fox raising the ire of frequent users.

Netflix said that while it "hates" upsetting customers by raising prices as much as 60 percent, the customer backlash to the rate hike announced last week would likely stifle growth and hurt earnings in the short term. But in the long run, Netflix expects the price hike to yield some important benefits and may help the company hit a key benchmark: generating $1 billion in revenue during a single quarter.

No doubt, many Netflix subscribers won't be impressed … Read more