Courtesy of TorrentFreak
Written by Ernesto on March 02, 2009
A few hours ago The Pirate Bay website started to slow down, and eventually it became completely unresponsive. With the trial going on at the moment, the downtime instantly led to all kinds of rumors. However, there is nothing to worry about, the downtime is not related to the trial and people are on their way to bring the site back up.
At the moment there is no estimate for when the site will return. The problem can’t be fixed remotely but people are on their way to the ’secret’ location where the Pirate Bay hardware is located to find out what the problem is.
When we receive additional information we’ll post an update here. The Pirate Bay’s trackers are still up so all the torrents that are downloaded already should work just fine.
For those who are interested in the trial coverage, a summary of the events of day 10 was posted earlier today at TorrentFreak.
One can’t help but think that if The Pirate Bay was a traditional business making lots of profits as the Prosecution in the case would have everyone believe, the site wouldn’t suffer anywhere near the amount of downtime it does. Of course, a torrent site that is fully operational all of the time would be no fun at all. Everyone knows that absence makes the heart grow fonder….
Pirate (Bay) Hardware
Facebook: We own your content forever, and ever
According to The Consumerist, Facebook made a small but significant change to its TOS ("Terms of Service"): now they claim complete ownership of all of the content you upload for all time and can use it for any purpose, including making money off it, even if you close your account.
A read-through of key points in Facebook's TOS shows just how extraordinary their claims are to your creations (words, photos, videos, audio--even your name!).
1. "You are solely responsible for the User Content that you Post on or through the Facebook Service.... You represent and warrant that you have all rights and permissions to grant the foregoing licenses."
In other words, if you infringe someone else's copyright by uploading material for which you do not have the right, then it is your fault and not Facebook's. And you assert that all the content you upload is yours to hand over forever to Facebook. "Hand over forever"?
2. "You hereby grant Facebook an irrevocable, perpetual, non-exclusive, transferable, fully paid, worldwide license (with the right to sublicense) to (a) use, copy, publish, stream, store, retain, publicly perform or display, transmit, scan, reformat, modify, edit, frame, translate, excerpt, adapt, create derivative works and distribute (through multiple tiers), any User Content you (i) Post on or in connection with the Facebook Service or the promotion thereof subject only to your privacy settings or (ii) enable a user to Post, including by offering a Share Link on your website and (b) to use your name, likeness and image for any purpose, including commercial or advertising, each of (a) and (b) on or in connection with the Facebook Service or the promotion thereof."
Yes, "hand over forever". They can do anything they want with it, even if you close your account. The previous TOS made it clear that, once you cancelled your account with Facebook, they would no longer retain these rights over your uploaded materials. However, things have changed. Now, even if you have left Facebook, the company can use your name and any photos or other content you uploaded in their advertising or "in connection with the Facebook Service". But what is the "Facebook Service"?
3. The "Facebook Service" is much more than what people normally think of as "Facebook-the-website". It can include any medium currently existing (books, films, audio, or whatever) and any medium developed in future. As detailed in the company's new TOS, "The 'Facebook Service' means the features, services and properties that Facebook makes available through (a) www.facebook.com or any other Facebook-branded or co-branded website (including, without limitation, any and all sub-domains and all international, mobile versions and successors thereof), (b) the Facebook Platform and ( c ) other media, devices or networks now existing or later developed."
In other words, once you upload it, they own it and can do whatever they like--however they like--with it until the end of the universe.
Update: At 2.09pm today (Monday, 16th February 2009), creator and CEO of Facebook Mark Zuckerberg posted a long blog entry that tries to downplay the significance of the company's TOS. However, even granting Facebook's current desire to maintain the "trust" of its users and not to use the powers it gives itself in the TOS, the problem remains that the wording of the TOS does let them do whatever they want with your content.
Tomorrow, June 27th, 2008 will mark the final day that Bill Gates serves as the "Chief Software Architect" for Microsoft, the company he helped found in 1975. He was still in his early 20's when he started Microsoft. It started as a small company that set out to market an operating system for the newly emerging personal computer market.
From the beginning, what Microsoft lacked in creativity it more than made up for in business sense. Their first major product, the Disk Operating System (MS-DOS), was purchased from a private developer and then marketed to IBM to be used as the exclusive operating system for their new line of personal computers.
With Gates at the helm, Microsoft went on to release many other products, most of which are now household names, like Windows. Microsoft Windows was originally designed as little more than a graphical front end for DOS, but later developed into it's own Operating System, eventually replacing DOS altogether. Other Microsoft products, like OS/2 did not fair as well and eventually fell by the way side to be forgotten in the annals of electronic antiquity.
No one can deny that Microsoft has thrived with Bill Gates at the helm. The fact is, he has become the very face of Microsoft. But the question now exists, how will they do when he is gone? Gates will remain the Chairman of Microsoft indefinitely, but he will no longer control the day-to-day operations of the company.
Gates is a brilliant business man, and has become a remarkable philanthropist. With his net worth being estimated at over 58 billion American Dollars, he certainly doesn't need to keep working. But the question remains what will be his legacy? Will he be remembered for the sometimes ruthless business tactics used by Microsoft to crush their competition? Will he be remembered as the richest man on earth? Will he be remembered as the founder of the Bill & Melinda Gates foundation? Time will tell. One thing is certain, Bill Gates will not fade into obscurity, and no one is likely to soon forget the name "Microsoft". What is not as certain is how the Microsoft product line will develop without Gates driving the ship, especially in the face of an ever more viable open source movement.
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Raleigh – Thanks to some text message-savvy grandchildren, North Carolina drivers whose license plates have the potentially offensive "WTF" letter combination can replace the tags for free.
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The News & Observer of Raleigh reported Tuesday the state Division of Motor Vehicles has notified nearly 10,000 holders of license plates with the letter combination. Officials learned last year the common acronym stands for a vulgar phrase in e-mail and cell phone text messages.
But this week, the DMV officials got another surprise when they learned the same letters appeared on the agency's own Web site on a sample personalized plate.
"I can't believe it," DMV Commissioner Bill Gore said Monday when told about the online glitch. "Obviously, I didn't know it was there."
Officials are working to remove the sample plate.
The "WTF-5505" used on the Web site's sample plate was the first random letter combination available when DMV switched from blue- to red-lettered plates, officials said. DMV spokeswoman Marge Howell received a sample plate WTF-5506 to use as a prop for news stories about the switch.
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Tired of juggling multiple phone numbers? Or just need an extra one? You should check out GrandCentral Beta, which offers all kinds of new tricks with phone calls by utilizing VoIP and the internet. First and foremost, they offer you a free local phone number from 47 states.
One Number For Everything
I think the main idea behind the name is that this free phone number will become your only phone number. This way, if you move or change jobs you can keep the same number forever, or at least for as long as you like. To entice you to do so, they add in some cool features. For example, when a person calls your GrandCentral number, you can:
1. Have them call different phone numbers in order, for example home, then work, then cell phone. So people only need to know one number to reach you anywhere.
2. Immediately redirect them by Caller ID to a specific phone number. Maybe certain friends just go straight to cell phone?
3. If they are a known telemarketer, you can set the spam filter to not ring your phone at all.
An Extra Number For Personal or Business
The way I’ve been using the free number is as my new business phone number. This way, you have a separate business number to give out to customers, but it can ring your regular cell phone. You can know that it is a business call by setting the caller ID to display your “Biz” GrandCentral number, and answer professionally.
They even have a cool WebCall button where a customer can click on your webpage and call directly you for free.
Avoid Long Distance Charges
Added: I haven’t worried about long distance for a while now, but you could also use it to avoid long distance charges for your friends (or yourself), by getting a number in one area code and forwarding it as needed to another area code. Thanks to commenter Ross below for the tip.
Get More Free Minutes With T-Mobile MyFaves or AllTel Circle
Both T-Mobile and AllTel have plans where you get unlimited calls to and from a few select numbers. So here, you would set your “Personal” GrandCentral number as one of your favorites. Then, just tell everyone to call the GrandCentral number instead, which will redirect to your cell phone, giving you unlimited minutes! It would seem that you would lose the ability to see who’s calling, however.
They also offer store your voicemail all in one place with unlimited storage, and have a ton of other features that I’ve never used yet. You can record phone calls, switch seamlessly between your home phone and cell phone to save more minutes, screen calls by name, and more.
Will This Stay Free?
It seems like unlimited inbound calling will remain free, but I’m sure they will start charging for some of their premium features, like calling outbound. From their FAQ:
Will GrandCentral always be free?
Yes, we’re excited to say that we will always offer a free version of GrandCentral, even after beta. Our free version will include unlimited inbound minutes, unlimited voicemail (up to 30 days old), and access to all of our core features.
During beta, we’re giving everyone unlimited access to our premium features. In exchange, all we ask is that you send us your feedback (good or bad) to beta@grandcentral.com. We’ll read every comment.
Got a better idea of how to take advantage of this service? Please share in the comments.