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Facebook's video tutorials sweetly teach you how to block someone
Even the most socially adept of us can fluff an attempt to quietly block an ex or do other Facebook stuff. That's because the apps differ from Android to iOS to the web and are regularly overhauled to boot. To help, Facebook has released some wildly over-produced but effective videos on how to do important functions. The four videos present a scenario that requires action from the protagonist -- a girl broke up with her boyfriend and wants to block him, for instance. Each then lays out the step-by-step actions needed to share a photo privately, untag yourself from a embarrassing photo, block and unblock someone or edit a post (web only), for both Android and iOS. We've embedded two below and you can find the rest at the source.
LinkedIn now allows you to block other users
The ability to block people on social networks seems like a basic idea, but that's one thing LinkedIn didn't have prior to today. Now, thanks to a new (and aptly named) Member Blocking feature, LinkedIn will start letting you block other members on the site. LinkedIn points out that while having an option to block users may sound quite simple, it wasn't easy to bake into its product. Paul Rockwell, LinkedIn's head of Trust & Safety, cited the need to research different use case scenarios, and coming up with the right interface as some of the reasons why this tool took a while to develop. Member Blocking is currently rolling out to all profiles, and thus it shouldn't be too long before you can go to town on those unwanted connections.
US carriers can now block activation of stolen smartphones if they head abroad
US wireless industry group CTIA has announced that a stolen phone database launched last year by T-Mobile, AT&T, Sprint and Verizon is now final, including integration with international carriers. That'll let foreign operators block stolen US device activations, a bone of contention for law enforcement officials stateside. They complained that the list was having no impact on thefts, since organized crime groups were simply dumping devices overseas where their serial numbers couldn't be detected. Police would prefer to also see kill switches installed in handsets to truly put a dent in phone-knapping, but carriers have strenuously objected to that idea -- strictly out of self-interest, according to some. For its part, the CTIA said that the completed database at least means there are fewer countries where gangs can hawk their stolen wares. Still, as the carrier group pointed out, if a stranger asks to "borrow" your phone for directions, just, don't.
The Art of Wushu: The facts about autoguard
The automatic blocking feature in Age of Wushu is treated as anathema by players. You guys have no idea how many people I have talked to about it who tell me, "I would never use something like that!" It seems that in general, people don't like the idea of something that takes decision-making out of their hands. However, autoguard isn't as bad as people think. In fact, it is an exceptional answer to poor latency and is completely controllable. The truth is, not many people understand it at all, and even fewer realize the benefits of the system.
Advocacy groups notify AT&T of net neutrality complaint with the FCC over FaceTime restrictions
Public advocacy groups aren't all that impressed with AT&T's justifications for limiting FaceTime access over 3G and 4G to those who spring for its costlier Mobile Share plans. Free Press, Public Knowledge and the Open Technology Institute have served formal notice to AT&T that they plan to file a net neutrality complaint with the FCC within 10 days. It's not hard to understand why, given the groups' existing pro-neutrality stances: the Free Press' policy lead Matt Wood argues that the carrier is unfairly pushing iOS users into plans they don't need, a particularly sore point for iPad-only customers that have no AT&T phones to share. We've reached out to AT&T for comment, although we're not expecting a change from its position that allowing app use over WiFi makes its restrictions okay. As for the FCC? It's mum on the current situation. A literal reading of its net neutrality rules, however, doesn't include a WiFi exemption and might not favor AT&T when Skype video is allowed and Verizon has no problems with unrestricted access.
UK High Court rules ISPs to block Pirate Bay, forgets it ain't the boss anymore
The High Court has ruled that British ISPs must block web-browsing citizens from accessing the infamous Pirate Bay. The controversial ruling comes just six months after the European Court of Justice (a superior court) declared that companies like Sky and TalkTalk were protected against injunctions to block, filter or monitor internet traffic for that purpose. Virgin Media told the BBC that it would comply, before sensibly adding that censorship measures like this are ineffective in the long term.
Lichborne: The effect of the new stat changes on death knights
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Lichborne for blood, frost, and unholy death knights. In the post-Cataclysm era, death knights are no longer the new kids on the block. Let's show the other classes how a hero class gets things done. We're still a couple of weeks away from the dam burst that is the Mists of Pandaria press event, but in the meantime, Lead Systems Designer Greg "Ghostcrawler" Street has posted a new Dev Watercooler. He listed some stat changes coming in Mists that, while ostensibly not as complicated as those in Wrath, still hold some interesting and possibly major implications for class balance in the coming expansion. Let's dive right in and see what they mean for death knights. Blocking takes a week While it doesn't directly affect us, the blocking changes will certainly shake up the tanking hierarchy that we're a part of, so it's worth pointing out that the usual single roll combat table for dodging, parrying, or blocking a hit is gone. Instead, the chance to block will be calculated only after the dodge and parry chance is calculated. This essentially means that being unhittable is gone. You can't just stack to 102.4%. Of course, death knights and druids have never been able to do this, but they will now be joined by the shield tanks.
Behind the Mask: The best defense isn't a good offense
Blocking is one of the elements that separates Champions Online from just another MMO. Along with combat movement, blocking turns CO from another game of "1, 2, then 4 until dead" into a dynamic action experience. Blocking reduces incoming damage by a ton, even with no investment in upgrading it. It also gives you sizable energy boosts for every attack you block, which gives you comeback potential. Many players block only charged attacks, and even more simply never block. While it's important to block charged attacks, blocking isn't just for the few times when those happen.
MobileMe webmail balks at political bulk mailings
Unfortunately, as originally reported by John Brownlee at Cult of Mac, it looks like Apple may be filtering out emails sent from the online MobileMe client based on content. The story is that a user was trying to send an email mentioning "Authoritarian Oppressive Regimes," and when sent, those messages would not go through to their intended recipients, with no error message back from Apple. Cult of Mac sent a few more test messages through the system, and found that simpler emails with less political messages made it through just fine. There's a few things to note here: First, this is the web client only -- there's no indication that any emails sent via MobileMe's SMTP/IMAP interface are being blocked in this way. Second, Apple has replied to the CoM story to say that certain messages caught by spam filters may be blocked from sending through the web client, but that "Apple is not blocking MobileMe email due to political content." Anyone having a problem sending anything through MobileMe is encouraged to contact MobileMe support. Perhaps most importantly, when Apple's rep was asked why no error message was given, there was no further comment. That's perhaps the biggest problem here -- Apple can do what it wants with its own service (even if that's to block messages based on political content, as unlikely as that actually is, a private service can do it), but Apple should at least notify users when messages are being blocked. You could argue that Apple is trying to discourage mass email spammers from abusing the MobileMe system, and because of that doesn't want to clue spammers in on which message can and can't go through. That's a legitimate concern, but even so, if non-spammer customers are being blocked, there needs to be some way for them to be informed about the issue so it can be fixed.
Behind the Mask: The numbers are coming
Last week threw a bit of a wrench in my plans. I intended to interview a very prominent member of the Champions Online community for this column, but I was sidelined by the flu and some dental work. This delay means that things must be pushed back and shuffled around while some old ideas will come to the fore. This week, I decided to cover a controversial topic: Inertial Dampening Field. However, IDF affects player survivability in a very particular way, and in my 40-plus weeks of writing about Champions, I've neglected to cover one basic thing: how defense actually works. If you don't know how defense, dodge, and linear damage reduction work in tandem, it's hard to understand just how powerful IDF can be. I think this week's column would be very valuable to a lot of players, but it is pretty complicated, and the math involved will throw a lot of people off. I'll cover the nitty-gritty math and the rules of thumb, but if you're casual, this is going to be hard to swallow. Like my guide on gear (and the more recent forum post), this is one of those things most people will have to read a few times. As a side advantage, much of this information can be transferred to Star Trek Online, since it uses similar defense mechanics. If you don't want to worry too much about the specifics, hit the jump and scroll to the bottom, where I'll sum up all the essentials.
Google rolls out Chrome extension that lets you block sites from search results
Tired of waiting for Google and its algorithms to filter content farms and other shady sites out of your search results? Then you can now finally take things into your own hands thanks to an "experimental" extension that Google has just made available for its Chrome web browser. That works about as straightforwardly as you'd expect -- once installed, you'll simply see a link to block a site along with each search result, and you'll also be able to unblock sites at any time if you go a bit overboard. What's most interesting, however, is that Google says it's going to study the feedback it gets from extension and that it will consider using it as a potential ranking signal for its search results.
YouTube streams are down on Boxee but not blocked (update: fixed)
Last night Boxee users apparently noticed they were unable to stream YouTube videos via their app or Boxes as noted above by TheNewTVRepublic, leading to some speculation that we were seeing a repeat of licensing related blocking that once shut down access on Popcorn Hour hardware. Fortunately that's not the case, as the official YouTube account just tweeted out a notice that it's only a glitch which it is working to address "quickly." We'll return to DEFCON level 4 pending an actual fix, but until then the latest series of Vote 4 Bieber My YouTube entries will just have to wait. Update: And just that fast things are apparently working again. Return to your normal schedules citizens -- nothing to see here.
Viacom drops the ban hammer on Google TV devices, blocks streaming episodes
We have high hopes that Google TV will evolve into something magical and wondrous over the next year or so as its namesake adds apps and features to flesh out the platform's somewhat underwhelming current state. Today, though, it just got a little less attractive thanks to a move by Viacom to block full episodes from streaming on your Logitech Revues and your Sony Internet TVs and the like. We've confirmed with our own Revue that attempting to stream episodes from network sites like MTV, Nickelodeon, and Comedy Central show messages like "this content is not available for your device," which is an unfortunate and frustrating change. Yes, the user agent tweak still works, but wouldn't it be nice if we could all just get along? Surely Google is still working on its content partnership agreements and hopefully things will improve in the future, but given how friendly the company's past dealings with Viacom have been we're not optimistic about this particular front.
Fox.com joins NBC, ABC and CBS by blocking Google TV
Looks like Fox has finally made a decision, following the other major networks, Hulu and several cable channels by opting to block streaming video on its website from Google TV devices. Blocking by Flash ID is the order of the day and takes simple browser workarounds out of play, so unless users want to go the PlayOn route, there's large swaths of legitimate video on the web that's now inaccessible. This same type of blocking is likely to affect other devices like the Boxee Box that launches tonight, so prepare for a bit more preening by the "get an HTPC!" crowd while fans of dedicated media streamers will have to look elsewhere for video to feed their hardware.
'Managed access' trial screens prison phone calls without jamming the airwaves
Yeah, we've been to this rodeo before... kind of. If you'll recall, prisons have had one heck of a time getting the Feds to sign off on a new law that would allow cellphone jamming equipment to be installed on their premises, and due to a 1934 law that allows only federal agencies to jam public airways, they've had little choice but to sit and wait. A bill is resting in the House right now that would allow pilot jamming programs to commence, but given that it's unlikely to go anywhere anytime soon, South Carolina's prison director (Jon Ozmint) is eying something else. In fact, he's already trying something else. A "managed access" trial has begun in the Palmetto State (as well as Mississippi), which routes mobile calls originating in the prison to a third-party provider that check's each number to see if it's on a whitelist; if it doesn't make the cut, the call is blocked. Jon's still pushing for jamming, but it looks as if this second-rate system may just be good enough to convince most criminals to stop trying to reach the outside world. Or at least add yet another level of frustration to their lives. [Image courtesy of Wired]
Google and Verizon publish joint policy proposal for 'an open internet'
UPDATE: We've done a full breakdown of the proposal right here -- go check it out! Back in October of last year, Google and Verizon came together in order to provide an intense amount of corporate support for the FCC's then-fledgling net neutrality push. Today, said push has turned into quite the monster, with a recent court ruling asserting that the FCC doesn't actually have the authority to impose net neutrality. Since then, a cadre of telecommunications firms have banded together in one form or another to attempt a compromise (and slyly get what each of them really want), and today the Big G and Big Red have taken the stage together in order to publicize a well-thought out policy proposal for "an open internet." Both firms seem to agree that web users "should choose what content, applications, or devices they use," and they both want "enforceable prohibition against discriminatory practices" -- and yeah, that definitely includes prioritization and blocking of internet traffic, including paid prioritization. In an odd twist, what seems to be happening here is that both Google and Verizon are actually in favor of more government oversight on the internet, but they want that oversight to be beneficial to consumers. In other words, more regulations from the feds to enforce fewer regulations imposed on you from your ISP. Get all that? Where things really get interesting is when they touch on the wireless angle; essentially, they're admitting that the very proposals they are putting forth for wireline shouldn't apply to wireless just yet (aside from the whole "transparency" thing). It seems that the prevailing logic is that there's simply not enough spectrum for this idyllic "play fair" scenario to truly work, so fewer restrictions would be necessary for the wireless internet space to blossom as the wireless side already has. Moreover, we get the impression that these guys feel the wireless space as a whole is simply too competitive right now to withstand any red tape. The proposal also mentions that, if passed into law, the FCC would have the ability to fine "bad actors" (read: misbehaving ISPs) up to $2 million for breaking any of these "open internet" stipulations, and naturally, both outfits are highly in favor of the National Broadband Plan taking hold, moving forward and getting broadband to places that are currently using a strange mixture of used canisters and rope to check their inbox.
Phat Loot Phriday: Wisdom's Hold
Not all shields are for blocking. If you're a Shaman or a Pally, this caster shield is probably droolworthy.Name: Wisdom's Hold (Wowhead, Thottbot, WoWDB)Type: Epic ShieldArmor: 8130, 227 BlockAttributes: +70 Stamina, +48 Intellect, which means lots of HP and Mana for you. Improves crit strike by 40, haste by 47, and spell power by 75. Nice set of bonuses there, too. And a blue socket, with a socket bonus of +5 spell power. It's a slight upgrade over Voice of Reason, the other big caster shield near endgame, but enough of an upgrade that you want this one if you can get it. %Gallery-33600%
Cellphone jammer crammed into key fob, ends texting / talking while driving
Face it, kids. You missed the best time to be a teenager by around five or so years. As it stands now, technology is cutting into that adolescent fun, with device like Ford's MyKey and this one here ensuring that you're actually safe behind the wheel. In all seriousness, the terribly named Key2SafeDriving is a fine concept (at least in the parent's eye), as it fuses a cellphone jammer (of sorts) into a key fob in order to put the kibosh on freeway conversations. Essentially, the signal blocking kicks into action anytime the "key" portion is flicked out, connecting to a handset via Bluetooth or RFID and forcing it into "driving mode." No actual jamming, per se, is going on; it's more like a manual override of the ringer. Anyone who phones / texts you while you're safely driving will receive an automated response informing them of such, though we are told that handsfree devices can be utilized. Researchers at the University of Utah are hoping to see it on the market within six months via a private company "at a cost of less than $50 per key plus a yet-undetermined monthly service fee."[Via Gadgets-Weblog]
Japan installs cellphone jammers near ATMs to prevent fraud
If you're tired of being scammed at ATMs by kind, gentle-hearted con artists (and then forgetting it ever happened), you'll be stoked to know that Japan is looking out for you. Chiba Bank has installed phone signal jammers at four unnamed ATMs at bank branches in the Tokyo region, and while it has gone down as the first institution to go to such lengths, we highly doubt it'll be the last. It's not entirely clear what exactly the criminals were able to convince people to do via mobile, but it's probably something like "psst... get me out some cheddar and meet around back." Not that we have any experience in the field or anything...[Via textually]
AT&T decides some employees shouldn't see the future, changes mind
Remember, carriers: you can't stop leaks, nor can you hope to contain them, and therefore any effort you put into dealing with them should be used to spin 'em to your advantage. That's a simple reality that sites like the very one you're presently reading have proven time and time again over the years. Alas, AT&T suddenly (and briefly) decided that most -- but not all -- of its employees shouldn't be clued into what's coming down the pike, blocking Boy Genius Report from its intranet for all but senior-level folks who presumably want to see what sort of scoops du jour have made their way into the public domain. That's really awesome, guys; good plan, because your sales force obviously has no other way to reach the internet, Boy Genius Report's scoops are never reposted elsewhere on unblocked sites, and clearly, it's in the best interest of the company for them to be as uninformed about your roadmap (and those of your competitors) as possible. Fortunately, it seems the decision was reversed almost as quickly as it was made to start with, so no harm, no foul. We guess.
