NewsChina Blocks Social Networks in Bid to Hide 1989 Tianamen Square Massacre Remembrance
Posted 06/04/09 at 02:09:10 PM by Mark Edward Soper
Today is the 20th anniversary of the Tianamen Square massacre in Beijing. Tianaman Square was home of the Chinese student freedom movement, the "Goddess of Democracy" statue, and the location for the iconic photo of the student staring down a row of Chinese People's Army tanks. However, if you use the Internet in China, you probably won't see anything about this event this week - unless you're clever.
Starting Tuesday, the Chinese government shut down access to virtually all search engines and social networking sites, including Twitter, Flickr, Bing (Microsoft's new search engine), Live.com, Hotmail.com, Blogger, and others. All YouTube videos are also being blocked, as are BBC World News reports on the anniversary.
Are these actions unexpected? How can you bypass these types of blocks? Join us after the jump for more.
NewsImagine Connecting to the Internet with a 300 Baud Modem
Posted 05/31/09 at 04:00:57 PM by Justin Kerr
An enterprising antique hardware collector known only as “Phreakmonkey” on You Tube has recorded and posted a video showcasing what the internet would have looked like in 1964. After detailing his lovingly preserved Livemore Data Systems “Model A” Acousitc Coupler 300 Baud Modem, he then proceeds to demonstrate how he uses it to establish a connection to the net.
Oddly enough, my 10 Mbps cable modem choked on the streaming video a bit, but my faith in my ISP was quickly restored when I compared it to the 300 characters per second this speed demon maxed out at.
This modem is about as (un)maximum as it gets around here, but it certainly is an interesting watch for nostalgic types who enjoy taking a look back at the history of digital communication.
Hit the jump to view this bad boy in action.
News4chan, Ebaumsworld Launch Porn Attack Against YouTube
Posted 05/21/09 at 03:00:00 PM by Paul Lilly
Jonas Brothers fans and those looking for marblecake recipes on YouTube may get more than they bargained for today. That's because 4chan and eBaum's World have teamed up for "Operation Porn Day," which involves uploading explicit video clips to YouTube using innocuous tags.
Many of the clips have already been removed, but according to Arstechnica, it was able to find others that haven't yet been caught (still reading?). In addition to the false tags, a lot of the clips contain 20 to 30 seconds of seemingly legitimately content, such as a newscast, before getting down and dirty.
"It may take some time for video search results and thumbnail images to disappear from the site," Google spokesperson Scott Rubin said. "Typically, this should not take more than a couple of days, but the videos themselves are no longer viewable."
In other words, you may want to keep your kids and nephews occupied with something other than YouTube for the time being.
NewsHulu Still Trying to Keep Foreigners Out; Blocks Proxies
Posted 05/08/09 at 05:31:56 PM by Andy Salisbury
Hulu is currently one of the hottest video sites available on the web. It’s about to take over the number two spot amongst streaming video sites (behind only YouTube), and it just signed a deal with Disney that will give it even more content. Though, these great features are only available to those that live in the US, and they’re making damn sure it stays that way.
In the past, if you weren’t living in the US and you wanted access to Hulu’s massive library of footage, you had to use a proxy server workaround. For a while, this worked without a hitch, but Hulu wised up to the tricky practices and began doing geo-checks. Still, a few VPN creators like Hotspot Shield would work by making your IP address anonymous. Sadly, these days have ended.
Hulu’s techniques for detecting location has once again changed, and they’re blocking all anonymous proxies. If you’re one of those looking to use the video site through a VPN, you’ll be met with this message: “Based on your IP address, we noticed you are trying to access Hulu through an anonymous proxy tool. Hulu is not currently available outside the U.S. If you’re in the U.S., you’ll need to disable your anonymizer to access videos on Hulu.”
Too bad, so sad.
NewsWho Needs Doctors? YouTube Helps Man Deliver Baby
Posted 05/04/09 at 06:04:22 PM by Andy Salisbury
Sure, you could always play it safe and have your wife shack up in a hospital when she’s in the beginning stages of childbirth, or, you could whip out your iPhone and begin to search YouTube for instructional videos on how to deliver it yourself! This is one Marc Stephens did, and it worked out well for him.
According to the BBC, “Marc Stephens watched the videos as a precaution when his wife Jo started to feel some discomfort. Four hours later, his wife went into labour and started giving birth before an ambulance could arrive at their home in Redruth. ‘I Googled how to deliver a baby, watched a few videos and basically swotted up.’”
Admittedly Mr. Stephens does have some very limited prior experience, given that this is his fourth child. “For our first I spent most of the time at my wife’s head, now I’m not afraid to go down to the business end.”
NewsYouTube Gets More Viral with "YouTube RealTime"
Posted 04/24/09 at 07:55:26 PM by Andy Salisbury
Sure, YouTube is already the home of such viral favorites as Chocolate Rain and the dramatic chipmunk, but let’s face it – it took you far too long to hear about these web gems. But, thanks to YouTube’s newest feature in progress, RealTime, waiting to hear about a video will be a thing of the past.
YouTube RealTime will allow users to see which of their friends are online, what video they’re watching, and even comments that they’ve left, all in a toolbar that will be visible no matter where you are on the site. So, if you log onto YouTube to watch something, but you’re just not sure what you’re in the mood for, check out what your pals are getting in to!
Currently RealTime is under an invite only embargo, but each person that receives an invite will get 25 of their own to pass out. So, if you’re lucky enough to get one, why not share the love with other Maximum PC commenters? Hook a brother up!
NewsToshiba's SpursEngine will Beautify Streaming Video
Posted 04/22/09 at 07:41:16 PM by Pulkit Chandna
Toshiba had last year chosen its Qosmio range of notebooks to lift the curtain on its SpursEngine chip, which is a co-processor based on the Cell Broadband Engine found in the PS3. SpursEngine-powered Qosmios are capable of some impressive graphical feats like real-time graphics processing and video upscaling (SD to HD).
Toshiba’s new Qosmio laptops, which bear the might of its quad-core SpursEngine chip, will arrive in Japanese stores on Friday with the promise of enhancing internet video. Two previous iterations of the Qosmio used the immense power of the SpursEngine at their disposal to upscale DVD video, but left streaming video untouched.
The SpursEngine co-processor will now be used to beautify video from websites like Youtube, though its corrective effect will only become evident in full screen mode. There is another strange caveat: this feature will only work with Internet Explorer. The new Qosmios include the 18.4-inch G50 ($3,421) and the 15.4-inch FX ($2,119). A U.S release is certainly on the cards but no one has the slightest whiff of exactly when it will occur.
NewsGoogle Introduces "CaptionTube" Caption Editor for YouTube
Posted 04/17/09 at 05:31:42 PM by Andy Salisbury
Yesterday YouTube announced an application that allows users of their popular video sharing service to add text captions to their videos, thanks to an all-new feature called (what else) “CaptionTube.”
CaptionTube, which is a part of YouTube’s TestTube labs section, allows the addition of captions directly inside your browser, thanks to a setup that will look and act much like a video editor. By selecting how long you want each caption to appear on screen for, and adding beginning and end points for each line of text it’s relatively easy to get a video captioned and ready for the Intertubes.
So, if you’re feeling up to the challenge, go forth and caption some MC Frontalot videos! I promise, it’ll take up at least an afternoon to do “Braggadocio.”
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