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Your traffic will no longer be treated equally.

The Court of Appeals for the D.C. circuit has effectively killed net neutrality in the U.S., striking down a 2010 Federal Communications Commission plan to block ISPs from playing favorites among websites.

For example, the major ISPs (not including Comcast that has to adhere to net neutrality rules until 2018), can now throttle speeds for services or websites based on whatever reasons they want. Many traffic hogs like torrent site, cyberlockers and streaming services like Netflix and Hulu Plus are likely going to be the big losers with the decision.

"AT&T, Verizon, and Comcast will be able to deliver some sites and services more quickly and reliably than others for any reason," telecommunications lawyer Marvin Ammori says (via WaPo). "Whim. Envy. Ignorance. Competition. Vengeance. Whatever. Or, no reason at all."

The telecom companies, most notably Verizon, AT&T, Charter and Time Warner all claim that no net neutrality will allow them to better service all customers. Of course, this is untrue, as the ISPs have been already been caught throttling traffic from video services that competed with their own.

Netflix has confirmed their next original series, based on Marco Polo in 13th-century China.

The series is described as having "elements of action, adventure, politics, and war."

Nine episodes have been ordered for "Marco Polo," which will premiere in late 2014. The drama had originally been developed at Starz, but different issues caused it to be sent back to its producers, The Weinstein Co. The series will begin shooting in Malaysia in the coming months.

"John Fusco and his team have created a timeless tale of power, adventure, betrayal and lust that combines deft storytelling and cinematic ambition," Netflix chief content officer Ted Sarandos said. "It is a fantastic addition to our slate of original series, both because of its quality and because it is the kind of gripping action-adventure that Netflix members love."

Adds Harvey Weinstein: "With the glowing success of series like House of Cards and Orange Is the New Black, it's clear that Netflix is breaking tremendous ground in the realm of streaming original content. We could not be more excited to partner with them on this project, along with the creative tour de force of John Fusco and his talented team."

A test lab in the U.S., led by researcher Joshua Cogliati has confirmed that your smartphone can detect the presence of radiation.

Early last year, an app called "GammaPix" turned smartphones into faux Geiger Counters under the theory that CMOS sensors should also be able to make a signal when near radiation.

The team at Idaho National Labs found this to be true, and even went as far as to find which phones were best. Using their own app called CellRad, the team found the Nexus S found the most radiation per image. Other Galaxy and other Nexus smartphone devices were tested, as well, and the Galaxy S III was found to produce too much noise.

CellRad tested for Selenium, Iridium, Caesium, Cobalt and Americium.

Time Warner Cable has rejected Charter's $61 billion offer for the U.S.' second-largest cable provider.

Earlier today, Charter offered $132.50 per share for Time Warner Cable, which is $61 billion in current value including Time Warner's nearly $24 billion in debt.

The proposal is the third largest offer on record since 2009, and Charter would pay $83 cash per share and the rest in its own stock.

Tom Rutledge, CEO of Charter, has been in talks with Time Warner for some time now. Charter has a market value nearly one-third the size of Time Warner, and previous non-public offers from the smaller cable company were laughed off as "grossly inadequate."

Time Warner Cable's stock has jumped nearly 40 percent in the last six months, on speculation that they are a takeover candidate.

"We're really trying to engage the shareholders of Time Warner Cable because we haven't been able to engage the management and the board," Rutledge said (via FT). "This is an offer that we think is quite compelling and creates tremendous value for Time Warner Cable and for Charter."

Civil and digital rights activists are targeting February 11 as 'the day we fight back' against widespread state surveillance, using the life, work and words of Aaron Swartz as motivation.

It's over a year now since Aaron Swartz took his own life while being prosecuted for the alleged theft of millions of documents from MIT and JSTOR. The 26 year old had given a considerable amount of his time to digital rights and confronting government attempts to infringe too heavily on the free and open Internet.

Swartz gained a lot of respect from his efforts against the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), which was shelved after a global protest against its proposed measures to tackle Internet piracy. His life and work are now the subject of an upcoming documentary called, "The Internet's Own Boy."

Now, just after the anniversary of his untimely death, Internet activists are fired up to make the next month count, and culminate it with an Internet-wide protest on February 11 similar to the protests that shocked the U.S. congress into turning against the controversial SOPA act. This time the target is on the NSA and its activities.

For more information, check out thedaywefightback.org

A U.S. federal judge has blocked Apple's attempt to have antitrust monitor, Michael Bromwich, removed from position.

Apple was found to have conspired to fix e-book prices after a length investigation by the U.S. government which also included settlements from major publishers who were also involved.

U.S. District Judge Denise Cote in Manhattan appointed Michael Bromiwch as an antitrust monitor in October, 2013. Since then, Apple made several complaints about Bromwich. First, it complained that Bromwich was aggressively trying to interview top execs at the company in November, despite his mandate calling for him to review Apple's antitrust policies after 90 days. The iPhone-maker also objected to the $1,100 per hour fee.

Bromwich filed a declaration disputing Apple's claims and detailing difficulties in getting cooperation from the company, prompting Apple to claim he had a personal bias against it. The Justice Department has accused Apple of carrying out a campaign of character assassination against Bromwich.

If that's the case, it hasn't yet been successful as Judge Cote denied Apple's move, saying she wanted the monitorship to work for Apple, which now has an option to appeal.

UK broadcaster Channel 4 has decided to pull its full length programming from YouTube, directing users to its own 4oD catch-up services instead.

Back in 2009, Channel 4 and YouTube announced a partnership that would put the content from its 4oD catch up service on YouTube, hailing it as the first time that a broadcaster had made a comprehensive catch-up schedule available through the service.

Fast forward to 2014 and Channel 4 has had a change of heart.

"As a not-for-profit broadcaster funded by advertising, we put our money back into the programmes themselves," a statement reads when users try to watch full-length programming on YouTube.

"To make the best of this investment, we've decided to focus on bringing online viewers of our full-length shows to our own 4oD apps - such as those on iOS, Android and channel4.com. These apps also allow us to encourage more viewing by recommending programmes we think people will appreciate and to provide viewers with additional services."

Channel 4 will still upload trailers, clips, interviews and other short-length content to YouTube.

'If it was any more real, it would be real,' claims a new strange ad for Xbox One from Microsoft.

The new advert shows a man washing his face in the bathroom, while having strange flashbacks of Xbox One gameplay and seeing wounds acquired in virtual battles momentarily become real on his body.

The message is easy to get; the Xbox One is so real, that if it were any more real, it would be real - yes, that's actually how the ad puts it.

There was a recent study - though controversial over its use of forum users as subjects - that linked extended gameplay with hallucinations of sorts, so maybe it's not the best time to be showing something like that in an ad. Either way, the ad is strange enough to get people to write about it, so it works.

Check it out.

The U.S. Supreme Court will not re-examine the ruling of an appeals court in favor of Newegg that found its Internet shopping cart system did not violate patents held by Soverain.

Soverain Software LLC holds patents related to the "shopping cart" checkout method in use on many e-commerce websites, including Newegg. It filed lawsuits against a long list of companies who use this familiar system for facilitating a virtual online point of exchange.

In a case filed against Newegg, Soverain was successful in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, but after Newegg sppealed, it lost in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.

The appeals court sided with Newegg on the grounds that the three patents in question referenced an obvious method of transaction.

"Petitioner's notorious 'shopping cart' patent merely applies the common sense concept of a shopping cart to the Internet," Newegg argued in a filing with the Supreme Court.

The top court in the U.S. must have agreed because it decided not to review the case.

"The witch is dead, hurray," Lee Cheng, chief legal office for Newegg, said.

Google has announced that it has entered into an agreement to buy Nest Labs, Inc. for $3.2 billion in cash.

Nest Labs specializes in reinventing common household items in clever ways. It's Nest Learning Thermostat has been a best seller and its recently released Protect smoke and carbon monoxide alarm launched to considerable acclaim and attention.

"Nest's founders, Tony Fadell and Matt Rogers, have built a tremendous team that we are excited to welcome into the Google family. They're already delivering amazing products you can buy right now--thermostats that save energy and smoke/CO alarms that can help keep your family safe. We are excited to bring great experiences to more homes in more countries and fulfill their dreams," said Larry Page, CEO of Google.

Those founders, Tony Fadell and Matt Rogers, both worked on the iPod at Apple in their past, and you can even get the Thermostat at Apple stores.

On its official blog, Nest said that it will continue to operate as a separate company under Google's ownership, and that of course, iOS devices will still be able to interact with Nest products.

"We're thrilled to join Google. With their support, Nest will be even better placed to build simple, thoughtful devices that make life easier at home, and that have a positive impact on the world," Tony Fadell, CEO of Nest, said.

BioShock Infinite will be available free to PlayStation Plus subscribers from tomorrow, and Sony is launching its 14 for '14 set of discounts for PS3 and PS Vita games.

The critically-acclaimed chapter in the BioShock franchise will be available free to PS Plus subscribers on PlayStation 3 (PS3) through Instant Game Collection from tomorrow. The game typically sells for $40 in the PlayStation Store.

In addition, Sony announced that the 14 for '14 Sale starts tomorrow offering huge discounts on selected PS3 and PlayStation Vita titles.

"Starting tomorrow, January 14th, and running through January 20th, we've got a sweet lineup of 14 PS3 games and 14 PS Vita games on sale," Sony announced via the PlayStation Blog.

For PS Plus subscribers, discounts are as high as 75 percent off - here's the details.

SimCity players who were bugged about the requirement to keep a constant-on Internet connection to play single player games will be happy to hear that will soon change.

The upcoming Update 10 will make it possible to play SimCity offline, it has been announced. "When we launch it, all of your previously downloaded content will be available to you anytime, anywhere, without the need for an internet connection," said Patrick Buechner, General Manager of the Maxis Emeryville studio.

"We are in the late phases of wrapping up its development and while we want to get it into your hands as soon as possible, our priority is to make sure that it's as polished as possible before we release it."

Your saved games in Single Player Mode are stored locally, so you can save and load to your heart's content.

Buechner noted that the update is also good news for the community of Modders.

"They can now make modifications to the game and its components without compromising the integrity of the Online game," he said.

The launch of SimCity last year was marred by server problems that made playing the game impossible for many players.

A U.S. court has found that users who posted anonymous negative reviews of a carpet cleaning business should be identified.

The users posted negative reviews about Hadeed Carpet Cleaning - owned by complainant Joe Hadeed - to the Yelp service, which enables consumers to post reviews of local businesses and counts 47 million reviews over the past decade.

Mr Hadeed argues that seven negative reviewers had never used his service, and so their anonymity should not be protected. The Virginia court found that Hadeen provided sufficient reason for it to think that the reviewers may never have used the carpet-cleaning service.

"Generally, a Yelp review is entitled to First Amendment protection because it is a person's opinion about a business that they patronised," the Judge said in a statement, reports the BBC.

"If the reviewer was never a customer of the business, then the review is not an opinion; instead the review is based on a false statement."

If the review is based on a false statement, then the reviewer is not protected by the First Amendment, according to the Judge.

Yelp strongly disagrees with the court's ruling. "We are disappointed that the Virginia Court of Appeals has issued a ruling that fails to adequately protect free speech rights on the internet, and which allows businesses to seek personal details about website users -- without any evidence of wrongdoing -- in efforts to silence online critics," said Vince Sollitto, a spokesman for Yelp.

China is lifting its 13 year ban on gaming consoles in the region, but is writing new rules that consoles and content need to abide by to be sold in the market.

The news that China was lifting its ban on game consoles - enacted in the year 2000 - will undoubtedly have grabbed the attention of Microsoft, Nintendo and Sony, as it may give them access to a $10 billion market dominated by PC games and mobile gaming.

However, you have to remember this is China we're talking about, so there's likely to be strings. Cai Wu, who heads up China's Ministry of Culture, said at a press conference that the government body is drafting new rules on video game consoles that will be sold in the Shanghai free-trade zone.

"Things that are hostile to China, or not in conformity with the outlook of China's government, won't be allowed," Cai said, reports Bloomberg, which attended the Beijing press conference.

"We want to open the window a crack to get some fresh air, but we still need a screen to block the flies and mosquitoes."

Consoles have long been made in China and sold in the rest of the world due to the lower production costs in the country, but Chinese citizens were not allowed to own one. Consoles were still sold in China though through the country's considerable black markets.

Microsoft's official blog on its Technet website, and two of its Twitter feeds were compromised by the Syrian Electronic Army over the weekend.

Messages were posted to the blog and to the Twitter accounts informing users to avoid using Microsoft services. The two Twitter accounts in question were the @MSFTnews and @XboxSupport accounts, which Microsoft shut down for "maintenance".

It has since said the accounts were temporarily affected but that no customer information had been stolen or leaked in any attack.

The SEA group - which frequently posts messages in support of Bashar al-Assad - apparently have relied on phishing attacks in the past to get login credentials from targets within media organizations, such as the Washington Post, the BBC, AP, Skype, the New York Times, the Guardian, the Financial Times and Reuters.

In a separate incident over the weekend, the MIT website was compromised for about an hour by group claiming to be Anonymous. The homepage redirected users to a page about web surveillance. It appeared to be timed with the one-year anniversary of the death of Aaron Swartz, who committed suicide on January 11 2013 in the middle of an aggressive prosecution campaign against him for allegedly downloading millions of academic articles from a database run out of MIT.