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Google has announced that for "Safer Internet Day" the search giant is offering 2GB of free, permanent Drive storage if you complete a "Security Checkup."

You have until February 17th to complete the checkup, which takes less than 5 minutes (unless you're having problems or someone is hijacking your account) and the checkup will go over the following:

Ensures your account recovery information is current
If we detect suspicious activity in your account, we use your recovery info to get in touch and make sure no one but you gains access.
Lets you review recent sign-in activity
Reviewing this lets you validate the sign-ins are coming from you and not someone who shouldn't be using your credentials.
Confirms the apps and devices that access some account information
This step lets you monitor this list and remove apps and devices that don't need access to your account any more.

Once you complete the checkup, you will see three green checkboxes showing your account is safe and that you are eligible for the free data, which will rollout starting on the 28th.

Once popular file sharing site RapidShare has announced it will shut down on March 31, 2015, with the site's administrators advising users to secure their data as soon as possible.

Started in 2002, the site became extremely popular as it allowed paying users to get fast access to unauthorized movies, music, games and any other files that were shared on warez sites. At one point, the site was one of the 50 most popular on the planet, controlling up to 5 percent of the Internet's total traffic.

Of course, such popularity also brought unwanted attention from the major copyright holders, and with that came lawsuits.

In the past few years, Rapidshare began taking down more pirated content and began to market itself as a cloud storage service. They even took down their free service, which allowed non-paying customers to download some files for free daily at slower speeds. The latter was the final nail in the coffin for the site, which could no longer compete with other sites in any respect.

R.I.P RapidShare.

KickassTorrents, the site that became the most popular torrent tracker on the planet after The Pirate Bay went down, has had their kickass.so domain name seized but were able to quickly make a comeback.

The Somalian registry has banned the domain name, effectively taking down the site, which was left to revert back to its kickass.to domain, based in Tonga after being offline for hours.

As the site and its operators look to evade law enforcement and lawsuits, it has flipped domains in the past, using the .to top-level-domain before moving to the .so one last year.

It is unclear why the registry seized the domain name, as Somalia is regarded as a piracy safe haven for the most part. Perhaps complaints from top copyright holders were enough to move the needle.

Source:
Ernesto

VESA or Video Electronics Standards Association has introduced a new DiplayPort standard. The Embedded DisplayPort (eDP) 1.4a standard promises 8K resolutions to laptops and other devices with embedded displays.

8K-resolution, which in pixels is 7680 by 4320, is four times more accurate than Full HD both vertically and horizontally. In addition to crisper and more detailed picture eDP 1.4a is bringing also more depth of color and higher refresh rates thanks to higher bandwidth.

All this is said to be delivered in a new embedded system that provides better energy efficiency and flexibility in terms of higher level of integration. The technology supports a new kind of "Segmented Panel Display" architecture which is designed to be thinner, lighter, and cheaper.

The new standard should ship in products with the latest DisplayPort in 2016 but it might be a bit longer than we will actually see a 8K display on a laptop.

Google is renewing its Knowledge Graph with more search relevant information. Last time it was concerts and gigs and now comes health information.

The Google search in both desktop and mobile will answer your health and disease related questions in a Knowledge Graph box which already delivers information about historical figures, places, sights and the previously mentioned concerts.

Now Google highlights also information about diseases and how to treat them. The addition is made in collaboration with Mayo Clinic and represents information from real doctors. Google however reminds you that in case of diagnosis and treatment you should always contact a health professional.

During the following couple of days the feature will roll out in the US in English. Further language and regions will be added later.

Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba has gotten into the smartphone business after taking a large stake in Meizu.

The company has paid $590 million for a minority stake in the company, which has a 2 percent share of the Chinese smartphone market.

Alibaba will use the deal to get more exposure for their own mobile operating system by placing it on Meizu handsets. Meizu will get access to Alibaba's e-commerce sales channels and other resources in exchange.

In China, the once fragmented market is quickly becoming a three-horse race with Xiaomi, Apple and Samsung leading the way. The top five brands in the country accounted for about 60 percent of all sales in the last quarter.

For Alibaba, the move is an expensive experiment to try to reach out to even more of China's 550 million mobile Internet users, who will then potentially be hooked on Alibaba's core products.

The world's largest chipmaker is preparing to end an anti-trust investigation brought by the Chinese government against it over a year go following 'significant' progress made between the two parties.

Qualcomm is preparing to pay $1 billion to end the dispute, which had claimed uncompetitive practices in the nation, and will likely reduce their royalty rates by a third on patents used in China.

The fine would be the largest ever paid by a company in China.

China's National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) said "The NDRC will soon release a new antitrust settlement. Qualcomm will be fined several times the total amount the NDRC fined last year."

Qualcomm gets half of its revenue from China, and a lot of its profits from high margin royalties from licensing. The NDRC had been telling firms to delay signing new licensing agreements while the dispute was still open.

Dish's new online TV streaming service is no longer invite-only, meaning any would-be consumer can sign up today.

Sling TV gives live access to over 10 channels that can be watched online, at a price cheaper than any standard cable or satellite package.

The new service will cost $20 per month and includes the following channels: TNT, TBS, CNN, Food Network, HGTV, Cartoon Network, Adult Swim, the Disney Channel, Galavision, El Rey Network, a Maker Studios channel and ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPN 3. AMC will be added soon. For $5 extra, there are add-on packages for additional sports channels, or additional news channels, or a family package aimed at kids.

While in theory, the practically ala carte service is great for cord cutters, especially given the access to ESPN and big-time sports programming, but under the hood there are quite a few caveats, as well. Only one person can watch Sling TV at any given time. You will need a streaming device and the Sling TV app to get the TV on your big screen. Roku will support it out of the box, Apple TV will not. Local broadcasting is missing such as NBC, CBS, FOX, and ABC. DVR features like fast forward and rewind are available on a channel-to-channel basis.

Research firm Canaccord Genuity's Mike Walkley posted a note to clients today in which he reveals some interesting and possibly shocking facts about Apple and their place in the mobile industry.

In the Q4 2014, Apple captured a shocking 93 percent of all the profits in the industry, thanks to a strong upgrade cycle to the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus. Samsung had the rest of the share as Microsoft, Lenovo, BlackBerry, LG, HTC and Sony all combined for a dud.

For the entire year, Apple brought in 79 percent of the industry's profits, with Samsung taking 25 percent and LG taking 1 percent. The numbers add up to above 100 because Microsoft and Lenovo both lost money for the year.

Additionally, Walkley expects there to be 650 million iPhone users by the end of 2018, nearing a third of the world's estimated total at that time: "We believe the strong iPhone 6 replacement sales should continue during C'15, as we estimate only 15% of the current estimated 404M iPhone installed base has upgraded to the new devices. We also anticipate continued strong share gains for the larger screen iPhones from high-tier Android smartphones during C'15 driving strong growth in the iPhone installed base and model the iPhone installed base growing to 487M subscribers exiting C'15 up 20% Y/Y. Longer term, we anticipate a gradually moderating rate of growth for the installed base from C'16 through C'18 and estimate 650M iPhone users exiting C'18. We note this base would only represent 1/3rd of an estimated 1.82B global premium smartphone subscribers anticipated by C'18. Finally, we anticipate steady long-term iPhone replacement sales within this growing iPhone installed base, and we believe this combined with our modest installed base growth expectations position Apple for steady sales of roughly 210M-215M iPhone units annually between C2015 to C2018."

As they have done in previous generations, Microsoft and Sony are very likely to be designing second-generation models of their Xbox One and PS4 consoles, ones that will be likely slimmer and potentially cheaper.

One feature that we can definitely expect, at least according to Netflix, is 4K resolution support.

Netflix CPO Neil Hunt says that Sony has "promised" 4K support for the upcoming hardware revision and Forbes independently confirmed the Xbox One.

Says Forbes' John Archer, speaking of an elaboration on Hunt's blurb: "Namely that he believes that when both the PS4 and Xbox One consoles do their traditional two-year hardware refresh (which would be due around October or November) they will add the necessary components to deliver 4K video playback."

If accurate, the consoles would most likely have to see some particular hardware and software revisions. HDMI 1.4 ports would likely have to be upgraded to 2.0 (which allows for 4K at 60fps) and HDCP 2.2 protection would have to be included as well.

Popular streaming video service Netflix will be available in Cuba starting today, at the same rate of $7.99 that Americans have enjoyed for years.

"We are delighted to finally be able to offer Netflix to the people of Cuba, connecting them with stories they will love from all over the world," said Netflix co-founder and CEO Reed Hastings. "Cuba has great filmmakers and a robust arts culture and one day we hope to be able to bring their work to our global audience of over 57 million members."

With the announcement, Netflix has become on of the first companies to take advantage of the relaxation of U.S. government's embargo on trade with Cuba for the first time since the 1960s.

The U.S. goverment is aiming to have U.S. telecoms provide better Internet and other communications services in Cuba, where it has been severely lacking for decades.

Google Nexus 9 tablet owners rejoice; if you wanted CyanogenMod 12, you now have access.

As part of the new nightlies release, there is support for the Nexus 9 (codename flounder in the code), and it is available for download.

CyanogenMod 12 is based on stock Android 5.0 Lollipop, which is also what the Nexus 9 runs on. You will get the Material Design goodness and Cyanogen's speed and other tweaks.

Keep in mind, the nightlies are normally alpha or if you're lucky, beta versions of the software so they cannot be expected to run perfectly.

Try it out here.

OnePlus has announced that its flagship One smartphone will finally have set sales dates following a year of invite-only and flash sales.

Every Tuesday, for a full 24 hours, the device will go on sale in 16GB Silk White and 64GB Sandstone Black. If you want different storage or color options, you will still have to go through the invite system, although there seem to be plenty of invites going around today.

Says the company: "Over the past few months, we've been exploring new ways of making the OnePlus One easier to purchase. The overall amount of available invites has increased significantly, but we've also held pre-order and open sales events, allowing for purchases without the need for an invite. During these events, we have been collecting data and fine-tuning our production schedules.
Today, we're glad to announce that we're making it even easier to buy the One.

Every Tuesday, we will open up sales for 24 hours, starting at 8 am London time (midnight in Los Angeles; 4 pm in Hong Kong). The OnePlus One will be available without an invite in both 16GB Silk White and 64GB Sandstone Black."

Check out the device and more info here.

Thanks to 9to5Mac, we have some details about how Apple finally plans to use Beats Music, which they acquired last year.

According to the report, Apple plans to release their new service later the year, integrating the existing Beats foundation into iOS, Apple TV and iTunes. Apple will update their existing Music app for iOS devices, and is currently doing so.

Cloud streaming will be very important to the service, and there will be a search feature that allows users to search the iTunes/Beats catalog and their own store music. You will be able to create playlists, save songs to your personal library and even dictate where specific tracks get saved (iOS, PC, cloud-only).

Beats Music featured human-curated playlists from DJs, music producers and others, and it seems that Apple will keep those, and add new ones. Existing Beats subscribers can easily merge their accounts with their Apple ID or iTunes profiles and merge all existing libraries to the new service.

Apple is also said to be creating their first Android app developed in-house.

Notably, Apple is looking to charge just $7.99 per month, two dollars less than nearly all streaming services including Google, Spotify, Rdio and even Beats Music.

Corning has announced this weekend a new type of protective display glass that can potentially rival the more expensive scratch-resistant sapphire crystal.

'Project Phire' will combine the strengths of Gorilla Glass (used currently in most high-end smartphones) with scratch-resistance on par with sapphire crystal.

James Clappin, Corning's president of Glass tech, says the company will sell the material later in the year. "We told you last year that sapphire was great for scratch performance but didn't fare well when dropped. So, we created a product that offers the same superior damage resistance and drop performance of Gorilla Glass 4 with scratch resistance that approaches sapphire."

Gorilla Glass is used in over 3 billion devices, including the latest iPhones, but there had been worries within Corning that Apple would move to sapphire through its partnership with GT Advanced. GT Advanced filed for bankruptcy late last year and had a public falling out with Apple, killing that notion, at least for the latest iPhones.

While Gorilla Glass is hard to break, it scratches easier than sapphire and vice versa. Project Phire shows just how important scratch resistance is going to become in the industry moving forward.