Facebook's free internet program shuts down in Egypt

Facebook announced that Free Basics, its program for providing free internet for over 30 developing nations, will no longer be available in Egypt.

Developed under Facebook's Internet.org branch, the service had over 3 million users in Egypt, a third of which were first-time users. The hiatus of Free Basics in Egypt comes just two months after telecom provider Etisalat Egypt began offering the service.

"We're disappointed that Free Basics will no longer be available in Egypt," said Facebook in an official statement to the Associated Press. "More than 1 million people who were previously unconnected had been using the Internet because of these efforts."

While the reason behind Egypt's ban is still unclear, it more than likely has to do with the criticisms concerning Free Basics and net neutrality. Such was the case for India, the only other country so far to have put down a freeze on the program alongside Egypt.

According to The Times of India, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India will reconsider the service after it is clarified "whether a telecom operator should be allowed to have differential pricing for different kinds of content," a chief concern for proponents of a neutral internet.

Since Free Basics would only be providing access for Facebook's pre-approved list of sites, putting the rest behind a paywall, many critics believe the service to violate net neutrality, as well as mask an possible ulterior motive for Facebook. (Facebook and its standalone Messenger app are included in Free Basics, after all.)

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg vehemently disagreed with these claims, saying that "If we accept that everyone deserves access to the internet, then we must surely support free basic internet services."

"Instead of recognizing the fact that Free Basics is opening up the whole internet, [critics] continue to claim – falsely – that this will make the internet more like a walled garden," said Zuckerberg in a published opinion piece. "What reason is there for denying people free access to vital services for communication, education, healthcare, employment, farming and women's rights?"

While Free Basics is currently on ice in Egypt and India, the program could make a comeback after regulators in each country have a chance to examine it. While Free Basics toes the line with net neutrality, it is hard to argue the benefits of bringing more people to the modern age, making the issue a worthwhile discussion for each nation in the program.

• Still curious what all the hubbub is? We explain the implications of Free Basics.

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Twitter to bring back archive for politicians' deleted tweets

Twitter announced today that it has come to an agreement to revive Politwoops, the public archive of tweets deleted by politicians.

The announcement came after a decision earlier this summer to shut down Politwoops over concerns around Twitter's API Terms of Service. The decision was met with criticism from the Sunlight Foundation and The Open State Foundation, the nonprofit organizations behind Politwoops.

"Politwoops is an important tool for holding our public officials, including candidates, accountable for the statements they make," said Sunlight Foundation communications director Jenn Topper. "We're glad that we've been able to reach an agreement with Twitter to bring it back online both in the US and internationally."

Politwoops chronicles deleted tweets swept under the rug by public officials, primarily developed to boost transparency between political figures and the public. According to Topper, Politwoops will resume operation over course of the coming weeks.

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey believed the move to exclude Politwoops was a misstep in hindsight, with The Verge reporting his apology and refocused efforts for the social media hub.

"We have a responsibility to continue to empower organizations that bring more transparency to public dialogue, such as Politwoops," said Dorsey at the company's Flight conference in October. "We need to make sure we are serving all these organizations and developers in the best way, because that is what will make Twitter great."

• We came up with five other ways Twitter could improve in 2016.

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The Best Apps For Finding Events

 Bored? These apps will tell you what to do tonight. From concerts and art gallery openings to street festivals and wine tastings, these apps know where the action is. Read More

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Happy 46th Anniversary! Love, Facebook

 There’s a funny Facebook glitch telling people they’ve been friends on Facebook for 46 years, even though Facebook has only been around since 2004. Read More

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Oculus Pushes Back Touch Controller Launch To Second Half Of 2016

 Sometimes timing creeps up on you and you have to move things back. It’s an ugly reality for hardware creators, but it happens. Today, Oculus announced that its Touch controllers will be shipping in the second half of 2016 instead of immediately with the Rift, which is still coming in Q1 2016 with preorders coming “soon.” Oculus founder Palmer Luckey tweeted a link to a blog… Read More http://ift.tt/1OuYf3u

We’re Close

 All of the chatter about virtual reality shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone. Over the years, we’ve been forcing our way to get closer and closer to content of all types. For example, before anyone ever sat to watch a movie we’d hang out at a playhouse to watch a live show. The people who actually enjoyed sitting in the back were few and far between. They were probably there… Read More http://ift.tt/1IGD82j

We’re Close

 All of the chatter about virtual reality shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone. Over the years, we’ve been forcing our way to get closer and closer to content of all types. For example, before anyone ever sat to watch a movie we’d hang out at a playhouse to watch a live show. The people who actually enjoyed sitting in the back were few and far between. They were probably there… Read More

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Twitter Announces Deal To Revive Politwoops

 Political gaffes on Twitter will once again be preserved on the website Politwoops, according to an announcement from Twitter. The company blocked API access for Politwoops earlier this year, a move that apparently crippled the service’s ability to archive politicians’ deleted tweets. A number of open government and human rights groups (and not just the ones operating the… Read More

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Pirates apologise for leaking The Hateful Eight, but say they did Tarantino a favour

The movie pirates who recently leaked a selection of movies, including Quentin Tarantino's The Hateful Eight, have apologised for their actions.

The group, Hive-CM8, released copies of several movie screeners that had been sent out to judges for award consideration.

Now the group has put out a statement saying it is "sorry for the trouble" it caused, while claiming that the screeners were obtained from "a guy on the street".

The note, which was posted to Reddit and also sent out in the nfo file attached to torrented copies of The Big Short, states that the group "never intended to hurt anyone" and recommends people watch these movies on the big screen as intended.

"The producers need the money from ticket sales to get back the production costs," the group insightfully commented.

Hateful or ungrateful?

The statement makes particular reference to Quentin Tarantino's The Hateful Eight, calling it an "excellent, thrilling and entertaining Western" and an "unforgettable film".

However the group refuse to eat the entire humble pie, adding that it believes its actions have helped create added hype to the movie.

"This will push the cinema tickets sale for sure," says the statement. We're not sure the studios will see it that way.

The group originally announced that it would release 40 pirated movies - making this an unprecedented leak - but now says that it will not release anymore movies before their cinema release date, falling short of the promised total.

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Forget passwords, McAfee wants to meet all your security needs with EveryKey

The days of the humble password are clearly numbered, and John McAfee, that always colourful character from the security world, has his own invention which he believes will hammer the final nails into the coffin of the traditional user/password combination – the EveryKey.

EveryKey is basically a little Bluetooth dongle which you can carry around (or slip on a key-ring), and it provides access to all your password protected devices – so that's your phone, laptop, tablet, PC and so forth, plus also your website logins and even potentially your car or the front door of your house.

When you're near a device with the EveryKey on your person, it automatically unlocks the hardware. When you walk away and the EveryKey is out of proximity, the hardware is automatically locked again. Clever stuff, eh?

It's certainly clever enough to have more than trebled its funding goal on Indiegogo, hitting over $66,000 (around £45,000, or AU$90,000) at the time of writing with still just under two weeks of the campaign left to go (as Kitguru reports, McAfee has already run a successful Kickstarter campaign, scooping almost $120,000, which is around £80,000 or AU$165,000).

Remote kill

It's certainly a hugely convenient idea in terms of a security device, but what of the potential problems your mind is probably already mulling over? The issue which is probably foremost in your noggin is what happens if you lose the thing…

The good news is that if you happen to misplace EveryKey (or are unfortunate enough to have your gadget stolen) you can remotely disable it.

Furthermore, passwords aren't actually stored on the EveryKey itself, but rather in encrypted form on your respective devices. And when EveryKey transmits data to identify itself and unlock your devices, it boasts AES 128-bit encryption, and uses a spoof prevention system to prevent hackers from tapping into a message and rebroadcasting it in an attempt to crack into a piece of hardware.

You can currently order McAfee's gadget for $128 (around £85, or AU$175) on Indiegogo not including shipping, with the delivery date currently set at March 2016.

• Google's new login method replaces passwords with your phone

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Roundup: The highs and lows for Google in 2015

It's hard to believe that Google is just seventeen: it runs through our lives like a word through a stick of rock, and for many of us its products are as essential as electricity. As a firm with big ideas and big budgets to back them up it's capable of incredible things, but like any big corporation it's also capable of making the odd mess too.

Here are our picks of Google's highs and lows in 2015.

High: Android

Android has been an extraordinary success for Google. What began life as a fairly uninspiring mobile OS has become the world's favourite mobile operating system, and while there have been a few bumps along the way - while market share in the US is rising, it's falling slightly in France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK - and it's driven down the cost of smartphones quite dramatically. More smartphones means more people using Google services and seeing Google ads, of course.

Low: Car wars

It's easy to chuckle at Google's self-driving car being pulled over for driving too slowly, but Google's autonomous vehicle project has to deal with another, much more serious legal issue: Californian regulations that might mandate a fully trained and qualified human driver in every self-driving car.

If you're thinking that could stall the progress of self-driving vehicles in California at least, you're probably right. Google, it's safe to say, isn't over the moon.

High: Nexus 6P

The Nexus programme has been a bit hit and miss for Google in the past, with some supposed Android flagships looking a little uninspired. You can't say that about the Nexus 6P, which is an enormous improvement over its predecessor and arguably the best Android device around.

As a showcase for the latest version of Android, Android Marshmallow, it does its job very well indeed - and it's priced to sell, too.

Low: Adblocking

Apple's support for ad-blocking doesn't sound like a big deal, but when your business still largely depends on advertising, everybody's moving to mobile, and the biggest mobile spenders are all iOS users, the dawn of iOS ad-blocking is clearly an existential threat to Google.

For now it's more of a potential threat than an actual one as the number of blocking users is still relatively low, but if blocking takes off then Google has a big problem.

High: Android Wear

Like the original Android, Google's version for wearables got off to a bit of a shaky start - and like the original Android, Android Wear has evolved very quickly.

Where early Android Wear devices looked more like something you'd have to wear in prison than something you'd willingly wear on your wrist, the current generation includes some very pretty designs and lots of customisation to make your Android Wear device unique to you. The wearable sector is still in its very early stages, but Android Wear has learned to walk very quickly.

Low: Android OEMs

It's starting to look a lot like Windows out there: OEMs battling one another with barely differentiated products and profit margins so thin they'd be better off opening discount stores. The horrible truth about making Android devices is that if you aren't Samsung, you probably aren't making much money - and that's a problem, because it suggests that Android isn't cracking the higher end market. Meanwhile Apple is raking in nine-tenths of the entire smartphone industry's profits.

High: Alphabet

Corporate reorganisations don't usually make our lists of hits and misses, or even our lists of things that are quite interesting, but Alphabet is very different. As Michelle Fitzsimmons explains, "As Alphabet, which Google Co-founder Larry Page described as 'mostly a collection of companies,' the new-look Google can focus on what it wants to do best (search, ads, apps, YouTube and Android, specifically) and every other company not a part of this (Calico, Google Fiber, Google X, Google Ventures, Google Capital, and Nest) can thrive as its own entity with generally its own distinct leadership."

That will be hugely important for Google's future.

Low: Europe

How worried is Google about the European Union's ongoing anti-trust investigations? It's worried enough to spend $3.5 million to get US congressfolk to lobby the EU on its behalf. That sounds like a lot of money, but if Google is found guilty it could lose $6 billion.

And it's just one of multiple EU investigations, one of which is looking at Google's Android business. Remember the damage the EU dealt to Microsoft? Google does.

High: Quantum Computing

Imagine a computer so powerful it could crack any encryption in the blink of an eye. Google's working on it, and this month it announced in a research paper that it had actually got the technology to work.

The goal is to make machine learning and artificial intelligence much more powerful. As Google engineering VP John Giannandrea puts it: "We've already encountered problems in the course of our products impractical to solve with existing computers, and we have a lot of computers."

Low: ChromeOS

Is ChromeOS on the chopping block? Despite powering a lot of really nifty Chromebooks and generating decent market share, especially in education, the arrival of the Pixel C tablet/hybrid running Android rather than ChromeOS suggests so.

According to a report earlier this year, Google doesn't want to make and support multiple mobile platforms and it therefore planning to kill ChromeOS and merging it with Android to form a new computing Android OS - to be revealed in 2017. However, Google has since denied this.

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