New free tool promises to block tracking cross-browser, as much 4x speed-up on some sites

A newly released free tool, "Do Not Track Plus" (DNT+) promises to go beyond the standard private browsing settings that are available in most browsers in its ability to block websites from tracking you, while at the same time reducing page load times by as much as four times, on some sites.

Released in version 1.0 on Thursday (it had been released in beta form last year, but for Firefox only. That version was downloaded more than a million times, according to developer Abine. The new version is cross-browser and cross-platform and works wtih Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome, and Safari (sorry Opera fans). It's also cross-platform, running on both Mac OS and Windows.

As a result of its blocking, you'll see some ads blocked --- not all, though. And Abine says that unlike most anti-tracking tools, DNT+ allows users continue to use social-sharing buttons even though the software blocks social tracking.

Once installed, DNT+ allows users to see who is tracking them on each website they visit. It currently blocks 580 different tracking technologies and more than 200 tracking companies. Users can set tracking to be blocked or allowed on a per-site basis.

You can download the app from Abine's website. It uses C|Net's Download.com site, and will redirect to an appropriate version for your browser. Indeed, that's a slight drawback: although it works on four browsers, you have to install an app / plug-in / extension for each one.

The tool will automatically update to block new tracking technologies and companies.

One caveat: if you install the Chrome extension, it will warn you after installation that "due to a Chrome limitation," DNT+ doesn't work as well on Chrome as on other browsers, but that the next release of Chrome (not DNT+, apparently) will remedy that.

Amazon Appstore's Free App of the Day, 2/10/2012: Buzzwords

Amazon.com has promised to make a paid app free every day in the Amazon Appstore, and today's app is Buzzwords.

Buzzwords is priced at $0.99 in the Android Market. It is normally priced at $0.99 in the Amazon Appstore. As we've noted previously, prices sometimes differ between the two marketplaces.

Buzzwords is described as follows:

Don't Say That Word!

Buzzwords turns the art of description into a fun and hilarious party game. You're trying to get your teammates to guess a specific word. The tough part involves the words you're NOT allowed to use. Each word comes with five "buzzwords" that happen to be the most common clues related to that word. Naturally, you're not permitted to say any of the buzzwords.

For example, for the word "bankruptcy", you can't say the words "debt", "money", "loan," "file", or "broke" to your teammates. Now just try to describe the concept of bankruptcy without these obvious clues.

Move It or Lose It

If you do use any of those forbidden words, you get buzzed and you lose the turn. You'll soon discover it's an absolutely mind-blowing, frustrating, and uproarious challenge to get your teammates to guess your word without those five common clues.

If you simply can't describe the word successfully to your teammates, tap on Skip to go to the next word. But you better hurry up! You have a limited amount of time to get your teammates to guess the correct word.

Customize Your Game

The team that successfully guesses the most words by the final round wins. Play with up to four teams, and set the number of turns each team will take (2, 4, 6, or 8 turns). You can also customize the length of time per turn (30, 60, or 90 seconds), and play with or without the Skip button.

Buzzwords comes with 1,000 word cards, and the option to use Gesture to mark cards during a turn. Choose team colors and create custom team names, and review and modify cards after each turn if needed. For added quiz show realism, install Buzzwords on a second smartphone so you can buzz your opponents if they say a buzzword.

Party Time

If you enjoy party word games such as Taboo, Charades, and Pictionary, Buzzwords should be invited to your next get-together. Match your verbal and vocabulary wits with your friends, and get buzzing.

Buzzwords has a rating of 4.7 stars in the Android Market and 3.8 stars in the Amazon Appstore.

There is also a Lite version of Buzzwords in the Android Market, with a 4.2 star rating.

This is another of Amazon Appstore's FAOTD selections for apps that have been around for a while that haven't really garnered much attention.

Those who are considering "buying" a Free Amazon Appstore app might want to consider what it means to developers.

Amazon.com opened up the Appstore despite a lawsuit by Apple, which has previously trademarked the term "App Store." Microsoft has filed an appeal against that trademark, saying the term is too generic. Amazon.com has responded to the lawsuit in the same manner.

After all these years, Google's cloud storage service nears release

Google is finally ready to unveil its long-rumored, long-awaited, and previously almost launched online storage product. Google Drive, as the Wall Street Journal says it will be called, is a natural extension of Google's Docs service.

According to the WSJ's sources, Drive will allow users to upload documents, images, and videos to Google's servers where they can be accessed from any Web-connected device, as well as easily shared. We'd imagine there will be a Google Drive Android --- and iOS --- app very shortly or even simultaneously with launch.

Drive will fulfill the unfulfilled promise that was GDrive, which nearly launched five years ago, but was instead stillborn. Set to launch in late 2007, it never did, but the multitude of mobile devices and a need to store data online has created room for products like Apple's iCloud and Dropbox, which says that as of October 2011, it had more than 45 million users who saved one billion files every few days.

As you might expect, Google Drive will be added to Google Apps, its suite of online software that the company sells to businesses. In that space, Drive would compete with Box.net, which sells cloud storage to businesses.

Although the news is welcome, the date remains vague. The WSJ said the service could launch in weeks --- or as far out as months. There will be a basic free package, but those who wish to store a large amount of data can pay for additional storage (nothing new there, meaning that it's a scenario many such services use).

Pricing for that extra storage is unknown, but a source familiar with the initiative said that Google aims to price such storage for a smaller fee than Dropbox, which allows people to store as much as 2GB for free, but then charges $10 (50GB) or $20 (100GB) a month for additional storage, and 1TB of team storage for five users at $795 a month.

iPad 3 launch announcement scheduled for first week in March: report

It's only barely into the second week of February and already the iPad 3 rumors are running full steam ahead. It's because --- assuming Apple sticks to its annual refresh cycle --- the iPad 3 should launch in March.

Rumors have run that Apple might announce the iPad 3 in February, because with Leap Year, Feb. 29 falls on a Wednesday, and Apple loves aligning itself with past history. A Wednesday announcement for an iPad is de rigueur, but it's not going to be Feb. 29.

Instead, sources say that Apple has chosen the first week in March. If it sticks with Wednesday that would mean a March 7 announcement, and most likely the event will be held in San Francisco at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, Apple’s preferred venue for big announcements like these (at least until its new spaceship-style headquarters is built).

Apple typically sends press and media invitations to these events about a week in advance.

There's no word on a street date for the iPad 3. We'd guess it would be late March, but of course, who really knows, except Apple. It's not even a sure thing that it will be announced in March.

Although Apple likes annual refresh cycles, it missed badly with the iPhone 4S. However, the report, coming from AllThingsD as it is, seems credible because of that. The iPad 2 was introduced in March 2011.

As far as specifications for the iPad 3, we're expecting, and sources are saying, that it will be very similar in form factor to the iPad 2, meaning a 9.7-inch screen, but with a faster processor (though whether or not it is quad-core is still up in the air), an improved GPU, and a 2,048 x 1,536 retina display.

Apple proved in 2011 that specs would not win the tablet race. While the iPad 2 was outspecc'ed by many devices, no Android or other device came close to it sales. The Kindle Fire made a dent, but mostly due to price.

Speaking of price, one more big question: will the iPad 2 continue to be sold as a lower cost device when the iPad 3 launches? We're betting the answer will be yes, though with less storage to better reduce the price.

All Foxconn user credentials, incl. parent co. CEO Terry Gou, leaked by hacker group

A group of hackers known as Swagg Security is claims to have breached the security of Apple's manufacturing partner Foxconn. With an avatar very similar to that of LulzSec, we can imagine it's an offshoot of that group, and that this hack was part of the AntiSec campaign (against corruption in government and big business)

The group said it had stolen usernames, passwords, and other private information for every employee including Terry Gou, who is the CEO of parent Hon Hai Industries. Those credentials were uploaded to the site where these groups like to dump data and press releases: pastebin. The group also uploaded the data to The Pirate Bay.

Swagg Security said: "The passwords inside these files could allow individuals to make fraudulent orders under big companies like Microsoft, Apple, IBM, Intel, and Dell," Swagg Security said on its Pastebin page. Be careful ; )"

As a result of the hack, Foxconn has taken down a Web site (Google's cached version here) which explains the services it provides to its key partners, including Apple, HP, Cisco, and Acer.

Why Foxconn? The answer should be obvious, in light of recent news and reports about the miserable conditions at manufacturing sites in China and other countries. Key among them is Foxconn, one of Apple's key manufacturing partners.

The hacker group exploited an unpatched version of Internet Explorers used by one of Foxconn's employees. It's another example of what happens when someone does not keep their desktop software up to date.

Swagg Security gave fair warning, more or less. It warned its "intended victim" on January 26th to ensure that its Web browsers were up-to-date, although it did not name Foxconn as that victim.

The hack came on Wednesday, the day before global planned protest at Apple stores, where petitions asking Apple to produce "ethical" iPhones would be presented, sporting 250,000 signatures.

Although both Foxconn and Apple have denied that these manufacturing conditions exist, or at least assured the public that, in the case of Apple, it is making improvements is its supply chain, statements in the original New York Times report from both past and present Apple executives seemt o belie those denials.

On the pastebin upload page, Swagg Security said,

"So Foxconn thinks they got 'em some swagger because they work with the Big Boys from Intel, Microsoft, IBM, and Apple? Fool, You don't know what swagger is. They say you got your employees all worked up, committing suicide 'n stuff. They say you hire chinese workers 'cause you think the taiwanese are elite. We got somethin' served up good...real good. Your not gonna' know what hit you by the time you finish this release. Your company gonna' crumble, and you deserve it."

Kodak closes the shutter on its digital camera business

In a move that seems to bring a sad end to another once-giant in the photo industry, Eastman Kodak has announced it is pushing its digital camera business ino the same place that Polaroid's instant film business went: into the dustbin of history. The company, which misjudged the effect of digital cameras on photography, waited too long to enter the fray, and now will phase out all digital camera sales within the first half of 2012.

Also going the way of the dodo will be digital photo frames and pocket video cameras. Kodak will instead focus heavily on brand licensing and on attracting companies that might need some of its patents. Still offered will be Kodak's inkjet printers, retail-based photo printing, and its online Kodak Gallery service.

The company had filed for Ch. 11 bankruptcy protection in January.

Pradeep Jotwani, president, consumer businesses, and Kodak chief marketing officer, said the following in a press release from the company,

"For some time, Kodak’s strategy has been to improve margins in the capture device business by narrowing our participation in terms of product portfolio, geographies and retail outlets. Today’s announcement is the logical extension of that process, given our analysis of the industry trends.”

The company hopes to emerge from bankruptcy by next year. It has secured $950 million in debtor-in-possession financing to help it manage the process.

For some time, Kodak has been trying to sell some or all of its patent cache. The company currently holds over 1,000 digital imaging patents, and as we have seen of late, buying patents as protection against lawsuits seems to be a booming business.

When Google made its move to acquire Motorola, still awaiting federal approval, it was made quite clear that a big reason behind the acquisition was Motorola's patent hoard.

AT&T confirms that throttling for unlimited users can begin at 2GB

We wondered if, when AT&T began throttling users at just over 2GB, if that could really mean that 2GB had become the dividing line between normal and the top 5 percent of usage, which is the only set that AT&T said they would throttle. We actually didn't believe that could possibly be the case, but now AT&T has confirmed it.

The news started with reports from an AT&T user, John Cozen, who said that he was being throttled. AT&T told him that he was in the top 5 percent of its heaviest data users because he had used 2.1GB of data.

What doesn't make sense, and what Cozen pointed out, is that AT&T offers a tiered data plan for 3GB, above the point that he was throttled at, for the same price he paid for his grandfathered --- and no longer offered --- unlimited data plan. AT&T has always said it would only throttle those with grandfathered unlimited data plans.

The question was, are those above 2GB of data use really in the top 5 percent. Mark Siegel, an AT&T spokesman, confirmed that to the New York Times. He said that as of the summer of 2010, the top 5 percent of the network's heaviest data users have typically used 2GB or more per month.

There's also a support document that verifies that as of August 2011, 2GB was in the top 5 percent of data usage.

Additionally, Siegel said that topping the 2GB limit doesn't mean you will be throttled. You will only be throttled, he said, if network capacity or spectrum is insufficient, on a case-by-case basis.

While both the AT&T spokesperson and the support document state that 2GB was in the top 5 percent as of August 2011, there are comments around the Web that seem to belie these statements.

For example, this one says

"I am in Houston and got warned on day 30/31 for reaching 1.54 GB! I was shocked because about two months ago I got warned at 4.5 GB. I find it impossible to believe that Houston is an "insuffcient network" area, and/or that the threshhold for 5% has dropped from 4.5 to 1.5 in a few months. This is BS!"

It's clear to many: AT&T is doing this to eliminate the unlimited plans, once and for all.

Another comment:

"This isn't about congestion. It's about getting people to switch off of the old unlimited plans."

And another:

"They are not worried about congestion if they are offering data plans higher than the ceiling of the throttling point."

It seems clear to anyone with common sense. The question is, what will Verizon do? They also throttle the top 5 percent. Will they begin following this sort of policy, strictly intended to remove the rest of their grandfathered unlimited plan users?

Amazon Appstore's Free App of the Day, 2/9/2012: Horoscope HD Pro

Amazon.com has promised to make a paid app free every day in the Amazon Appstore, and today's app is Horoscope HD Pro.

Horoscope HD Pro is priced at $0.99 in the Android Market. It is normally priced at $0.99 in the Amazon Appstore. As we've noted previously, prices sometimes differ between the two marketplaces.

Horoscope HD Pro is described as follows:

Discover Your Destiny

Do you love to read your horoscope every morning? Horoscope HD Pro brings you your daily horoscope from the popular horoscope site Astrology-Planet website. Whether you're a hard-charging Taurus or an introspective Capricorn, Horoscope HD has got you covered.

Horoscope HD Pro gets its horoscopes from a renowned Swiss astrology center. Get a full week of predictions so you can plan out your next seven days. This very simple interface features fun graphics and easy-to-read text.

Choose Your Language

Horoscope HD Pro supports 20 languages, translated by professionals. Get your horoscope in Arabic, Chinese, German, Italian, Spanish, Russian, and many other major languages. The horoscopes are divided into three decantes. You only need to connect to the Internet once a day.

Share your horoscope with your friends through e-mail, Facebook, and Twitter, or you can send them their horoscope. With Horoscope HD Pro, you'll always know what the stars have in store for you.

Horoscope HD Pro has a rating of 4.2 stars in the Android Market and 3.6 stars in the Amazon Appstore.

The future is cloudy for this horoscope app. It's a horoscope app. If you believe in horoscopes,it might not be bad. To be honest, some of the negative ratings in the Appstore were joke ratings about how the "predictions" were inaccurate, bringing the overall rating down.

Those who are considering "buying" a Free Amazon Appstore app might want to consider what it means to developers.

Amazon.com opened up the Appstore despite a lawsuit by Apple, which has previously trademarked the term "App Store." Microsoft has filed an appeal against that trademark, saying the term is too generic. Amazon.com has responded to the lawsuit in the same manner.

iPad 3 rear shell suggests redesigned logic board, larger battery

It's been some time since the last iPad 3 rumor, and we wouldn't want you to get complacent. The latest rumor comes via the website Repair Labs, which claims to have obtained the rear shell of the upcoming iPad 3 from an industry insider in China.

It's now unknown for those involved in Apple's manufacturing and supply chain to leak information on their new devices. Thus, this report can't be discounted out of hand.

Repair Labs compared the shell to an iPad 2 case, a noted a number of differences between the old and new.

a) The logic board mounts were differently, implying the board will be shaped differently.
b) In addition the iPad 3 will have a larger battery pack, based on the logic board width.
c) The iPad 3 will also have a different camera, although they couldn't give any specifics based on the rear shell. However, the rear --- and front --- cameras on the iPad 2 are admittedly quite anemic compared to those of other tablets.
d) There has been much speculation about the iPad 3 shipping with a "retina display" and although the site can't make out details on that based on the rear shell, the mounts, they said, indicate that the LCD will, at the very least, be redesigned.

Earlier rumors were that the iPad 3 would be slightly thicker than the iPad 2. That could be to include a larger battery, or to include LTE support, or both. However, Repair Labs' source said that it was possible that the thickness rumor would turn out to be false.

One other thing coming from a different source. Although Android tablets have already been produced with quad-core processors, it appears the iPad 3 will stick with dual core.

Instead, the iPad 3 will sport a significantly improved GPU, all the better to power the 2,048 x 1,536 retina display. Assuming Apple sticks to its annual refresh cycle, we should find out soon the truth of the matter.

Apple's been fairly consistent on releases of its iDevices, but the iPhone 4S was months later than its normal summer refresh.

Amazon.com adds Viacom content to Prime Instant Video selections

A lesson learned from the death of HD-DVD: it's all about content. And on Wednesday Amazon.com announced a deal with Viacom that will raise the number of titles available in its Prime Instant Videos service to over 15,000. That would be three times the number of titles the service launched with.

The deal will give Amazon Prime members the ability to instantly stream (hence the name, Prime Instant Videos) television shows from MTV, Comedy Central, Nickelodeon, TV Land, Spike, VH1, BET, CMT and Logo.

Amazon Prime is one of the company's cash cows. For $79 annually, Prime members have always gotten free two-day shipping on most items (those sold or fulfilled by Amazon.com) as well as lower-cost upgraded one-day shipping. In addition they have access to Prime Instant Videos, which are a subset of the video selections available from Amazon.com's Amazon Instant Video.

In addition, Prime members who are also Kindle owners get access to the Kindle Owners' Lending Library, from which they can borrow books as frequently once a month, with no due dates.

The additional content brings Amazon.com's video selection and its service closer toward directly competing with Netflix. It's also been rumored that Amazon.com might split the Prime Instant Video service away from its Prime service, meaning you could get it without a Prime subscription.

It's not clear, however, if a split would be all that great a move. At $79 annually, it's already cheaper than Netflix' streaming-only service.

Android gains strength among new smartphone buyers, as iPhone has huge Q4 2011: NPD

Market research firm The NPD Group issued a new report on the state of the U.S. mobile market for Q4 2011, and it echoed prior reports: Apple and the iPhone had a huge quarter. While that was interesting, there's something more interesting in the report: Android attracted a lot of first-time smartphone buyers.

The report echoes earlier ones by Nielsen and comScore. These reports all note how the iPhone's recent sales, in Q4, were huge after the introduction of the iPhone 4S. However, Android continues to assert its lead, overall, in all these reports.

The top three handsets in the U.S. for Q4 2011 were the iPhone 4S, the iPhone 4, and the iPhone 3GS in that order.

Ross Rubin, executive director, Connected Intelligence for The NPD Group said,

"Attracted by a faster processor, improved camera and the Siri speech-driven agent, most iPhone buyers paid a premium for the iPhone 4S, making it the top-selling handset in Q4. The iPhone 4S outsold the iPhone 4 by 75 percent, and outsold the iPhone 3GS, available for free on AT&T, five to one."

It should not be considered huge news that the iPhone in 3 variant were the top sellers. Android has never had a single handset that compares with iPhone-ish numbers (though Samsung's devices are starting to show real uptake), yet Google's platform has overall market lead because of a number of devices with varying form factors and styles. The Galaxy S II and Galaxy S 4G were No. 4 and No. 5 on the list of top sellers.

And that is correct: Android continues to hold overall market share lead, with 48 percent of smartphone buyers opting for Android during Q4 2011, while 43 percent selected iOS. Among first-time smartphone buyers, a burgeoning group, 57 percent chose an Android handset vs. an estimated 34 percent who chose an iPhone.

That's interesting because Android has been criticized for being more technical, something requiring more experienced users because of its relative complexity compared to iOS. Some of that translates to extreme power, such as with apps like Tasker, but it has been said to dissuade new users.

Rubin noted the new user uptake, saying:

“Android has been criticized for offering a more complex user experience than its competitors, but the company’s wide carrier support and large app selection is appealing to new smartphone customers. Android’s support of LTE at Verizon has also made it the exclusive choice for customers who want to take advantage of that carrier’s fastest network.”

The iPhone has yet to adopt LTE, though it is expected that this year's iPhone 5 will have LTE connectivity on both AT&T and Verizon, and perhaps even Sprint, which has begun transitioning from WiMax to LTE.