New Anti-Piracy System Comes to the US

A controversial new anti-piracy program has now come to the United States. The Copyright Alert System has been adopted by five of the major Internet service providers. The partipating providers, including Cablevision, AT&T, Time Warner, Comcast, and Verizon,  are all expected to launch the program. So what is it? The new copyright enforcement system has the power to force U.S. Internet users to complete educational programs, or to even slow down their Internet speeds. It was designed to combat “casual” piracy in the United States.  Essentially, when an Internet user is flagged as someone practicing piracy, then the enforcement system will kick in.  At that time, the user will have to complete “education.”  Repeat offenders will have their internet speeds slowed down.  After multiple offenses, internet speed will slow to a crawl. Some view it as a less severe form of the types of enforcement practiced in other countries such as France or New Zealand, where Internet Service Providers routinely cut off the Internet access of repeat offenders. However, many have criticized the Copyright Alert System as only a means for corporations to protect their interests, possibly at the expense of the average internet user. People opposed to the new [...]

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Chrome App Launcher Comes to Windows

Windows OS users can download apps for the Google Chrome browser as well as other Web apps. In a move to make using Chrome apps convenient for desktop users, Google has released a Chrome app launcher. Now, users would be able to start up the apps without having to first open the Google Chrome browser on their desktop PCs. They can simply open up the app launcher from the taskbar and fire up the apps they want to use. The launcher runs on Chrome OS, which is an operating system designed by Google to enhance the user experience for their Chrome browser. They don’t need to start up the browser every time they want to use the apps they have downloaded to their computers. The app launcher is displayed on the taskbar along with the browsers and other programs. You need only click on it to see the collection of apps which you can access directly from your desktop. All the Chrome apps you have downloaded on your computer are grouped under the icon providing you easy access. This also removes the need for full-fledged applications on your desktop. You can simply use the app launcher to start any app [...]

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