New YouTube Layout

I love watching YouTube videos every time I am passing my time away or whenever I am feeling lazy.

Last April 1, I had the chance to check out some videos. But, one thing I noticed was that the layout of YouTube has changed. It was a little inconvenient trying to figure out how things worked.

Personally, I believe that the previous layout was better and easier to use. But that could just be because it was the layout that I was used to. It takes a while getting used to a new layout when you have been so comfortable with an old one. I remember when Facebook changed its layout few months ago. My friends were so pissed off because they did not know where things were. However, now, they have gotten used to it and they are already fine with it.

Anyway, back to YouTube.

If you are still finding it hard to do things on YouTube because of the new layout, watch this video uploaded by Philip DeFranco, a [famous] YouTuber, showing the changes on YouTube's layout and how to go about doing your stuff on the site. This is very informative:

ICANN Postpones Decision on .xxx Domains

by LARRY MAGID (taken from CNET News)

Just before wrapping up its meeting in Nairobi, Kenya, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) board voted to postpone any decision about aproposal to create a ".xxx" top level domain for adult Web sites.

The matter is scheduled to be taken up again at its June meeting in Brussels.

The board voted unanimously to direct the organization's CEO and general counsel to write a "report of possible process options" within the next two weeks that will be posted online for a 45-day public comment period.

In 2005, the ICANN board voted to negotiate a contract with ICM Registry for the .xxx domain, finding that ICM's proposal met required criteria. But in 2007, the board rejected the proposal. ICM appealed that decision to the organization's Independent Review Panel which, last month, ruled that ICM had been treated unfairly.

The review panel's ruling (PDF) noted a 2005 letter to ICANN from an official with the Bush administration Commerce Department saying that the department had received "nearly 6,000 letters and e-mail from individuals expressing concern about the impact of pornography on families and children and opposing the creation of a new top level domain devoted to adult content." The panel found that, in 2007, the board was pressured to reject the proposal "by the government of the United States and by quite a number of other influential governments."

By e-mail from Nairobi, ICM Registry CEO Stuart Lawley said: "We note the ICANN board's resolutions and are looking forward to seeing the proposals in the next 14 days for the process to implement the Independent Review Panels decision."

Microsoft Offers Web Browser Choice to IE Users

Source: BBC Technology News

Millions of European Internet Explorer (IE) users will have the option to choose an alternative browser from 1 March, Microsoft has announced.

It follows a legal agreement between Microsoft and Europe's Competition Commission in December 2009.

Microsoft committed to letting Windows PC users across Europe install the web browser of their choice, rather than having Microsoft IE as a default.

Figures suggest that over half the world's internet users have IE.

Testing for the update is already underway in the UK, Belgium and France.

The software update choice will arrive automatically for Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7 customers, according to a blog post by Dave Heiner, Microsoft's vice president and deputy general counsel.

The blog also contains screen grabs of the message as it will appear.

"Users who get the choice screen will be free to choose any browser or stick with the browser they have, as they prefer," wrote Mr Heiner.

Google Chrome, Firefox, Safari and Opera are the alternative browsers that people will be offered.

"Millions of people who have never really thought about which browser to use will now be forced to make a choice," said BBC technology correspondent Rory Cellan-Jones on his blog.

"That presents Microsoft's rivals with a unique marketing opportunity."

Mozilla Foundation chair Mitchell Baker described the news as "an important milestone towards helping people take control of their online lives."

How To Increase Your Farmville Level Fast and Easily

By Amir Fikri

The nation of Farmville-ers are increasing each day that would soon reach billions of players sooner or later!The 'farmers' out there are competing each other to get to the top rank in Farmville. The game gives a sense of ecstasy that activates every each player's addiction towards it and there are plenty of reasons why and how. Players can get out from their usual daily boring activities that gives stress to them. Farmville provides a natural and lively 'farm' environment to players to soothe the stress and depression that we go through daily. Relax your toes, plant some seeds, grow them and level up. If you do this in repetition, you'll advance in levels thus discovering more about the world of Farmville.

But sooner or later, you'll get the feeling of wanting to get more from the game-to advance your levels and achieve better rank in the Farmville ranking lists. You'll unlock new items, decorations and will be given bonuses each time you level up. This can be concluded that, in order to get those bonuses and items, you have to level up quickly and of course, strategically and not struggling each day playing Farmville figuring out how to do it.

The Basics

So how to do it? Experience points is vital in order to level up. The faster you gain your experience points, the faster you level up!As an example, each plot of land you plow gets you 1 experience point. When you start playing, you get plenty of experience points for each time you plow so that you could advance in a steady pace and motion. This will eventually will continue for some time until you realise something different because after the easy part is done, you'll be needing more and more experience to level up.

Focus on Experience

The secret way to gain experience points fast and easily is that, you have to supplement what you gain from your normal harvests with other activities. Renovate your farm like construct buildings to improve your farm's environment. This is because buildings yield the most experience points, but you can get experience from putting up just about any decoration or structure. Make a note to yourself to always watch over the experience points you get for every each action you take. Plan a research in doing so.

When planting crops, make sure you take the experience points you'd gain as consideration so that you know which is better to plant than just wasting your coins for no benefits. Crops that take less than a day to grow only yield 1 experience point, while crops that take longer yield 2. That doesn't mean you only want to plant crops that offer 2 experience points. However, there are ways to get more than just 2 experience points. Crops like strawberries give you advantage only IF you harvest them as soon as they are ready, it is like getting the right moment to harvest them when the fruits are still fresh and good.

You have to be on top of your harvesting and planting cycles in order to make progress this way though. Putting up buildings on your farm remains the best way to get big boosts in your experience quickly. Save up your cash for those, and you'll be well on your way to unlocking all of the available items in FarmVille.

There are more secrets that I would love to share you with-ways of speeding up your leveling goal other than just constructing buildings at your farm. These secrets are used by only smart players and believe me, you'll be shocked and amazed on how the process works! I, myself, could not believe my eyes when I found out about them. For more tips and information, email me at winter2autumn@yahoo.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Amir_Fikri

YouTube Turns To Movie Rental Business

By Maggie Shiels - Technology Reporter, BBC News, Silicon Valley

Video-sharing site YouTube is taking its first steps into the online movie rental business.

The fledgling service will go live on 22 January. Initially only five films will be available to rent.

The movies will come from the 2009 and 2010 Sundance Film Festival and will only be available in the US.

The move for the Google owned company represents a major development for the site which has been looking for ways to boost its bottom line.

"This is a huge move for YouTube in the sense of them trying to monetise the site," Mike McGuire, principal analyst at Gartner Research told BBC News.

"This certainly opens the door for them with bigger movie studios."

Content providers will be able to set their own prices, with YouTube taking a cut of the revenue. All but one of the Sundance films is being offered for $3.99 (£2.50) each for users to watch over a 48-hour viewing period.

The site which is best known for its user-generated content, including dogs on skateboards and performing cats, said 20 hours of video is uploaded every minute.

Last August, Comscore reported that over 10 billion videos were streamed on YouTube.

Hollywood signs

Industry insiders say this first step into online rental is a curtain-raiser for more ambitious pay-per-view plans.

It is expected that in the near future the site will expand its rental catalogue with television shows and feature films from major studios.

"Content is king in this kind of business and Sundance is a good first step," said Mr McGuire.

"Negotiating with the major studios over distribution rights however is not for the faint hearted. Google has to perfect its delivery model and its billing system."

YouTube already offers full-length films from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's archives. It is expected similar deals like this will emerge in the coming weeks and months and extend to newer movies.

In its blog, YouTube hinted at that possibility.

"In the coming weeks we'll also invite a small group of partners across other industries, in addition to independent film, to participate in this new option."

Some industry watchers say YouTube has had a tough time in the past persuading the studios to part with their crown jewels such as newly released movies and Hollywood blockbusters.

"YouTube has had little luck over the last several years wooing major studios and networks to stream premium content on the site, which would make it easier to draw advertising," said Ben Fritz of the Los Angeles Times.

"Most studios have instead opted to put their content on Hulu, a joint venture of NBC Universal, News Corp and Walt Disney that has had more success luring marketers."

Analysts point out that the pay-per-view movie offering will put YouTube in direct competition with other services including Apple's iTunes store, Amazon.com and Microsoft's XBox Live.

The first five films for rent are "The Cove," "Bass Ackwards," "One Too Many Mornings," "Homewrecker" and "Children of Invention."

The Sundance film festival runs until 31 January.


SOURCE: BBC

Support the Haiti Disaster Relief Effort

Last January 12, Haiti was rocked by a magnitude 7 earthquake. This earthquake brought about a lot of damage not only to property but also to lives. It is estimated that more than 100,000 people died in the earthquake. In addition to this figure, millions more have lost so much that it would take a lot of courage, hope, and assistance to get them back on their feet.

The Internet has not only been a great source of information but, more importantly, it has become a great way for us to reach out to others. Let us put this into good use. Support the Haiti disaster relief effort.

Donate to the American Red Cross. Click here or on the American Red Cross banner in the sidebar. Tell your friends about it. E-mail them.

Thank you.

Let us all pray that the Haitians recover from this tragedy as soon as possible before other problems crop up (like lawlessness and violence.)

Computers and the Internet have a Patron Saint

Yes, that is so true! As a matter of fact, this saint is not only the patron saint of computers and of the Internet but also of computer users and of IT professionals (hackers not included - for hackers, check out St. Expedite, although that's unofficial).

He is none other than St. Isidore of Seville.

He was born about 560 AD in Cartagena Spain and died on April 4, 636. During his lifetime, he became the Bishop of Sevilla and.. wait, wait! If you are interested in finding out more about his life, just click here for the Wikipedia article.

Let us jump right to the reason why he is considered as the patron saint of computers, computer users, IT professionals, and of the Internet. Here it is:

In the 7th century, he created the Etymologiae, which is an encyclopedia in itself comprising of 20 volumes. He intended the Etymologiae to be a compilation of universal knowledge in much the same way that our present-day encyclopedias deal with multifarious subjects - from mundane to unusual. You name it!

In essence, he created the very first database of everything known in the world he lived in. This is basically the reason for his selection.