Chrome 29 arrives with omnibox

Google has just put online version of Chrome 29 browser. As expected, it brings improvements of the Omnibox side, corrects not less than 25 security vulnerabilities while improving stability and performance. For its part, the OS X version finally takes advantage of the notification center. A little over a month after Chrome 28, Google continues its stride and has published the 29th version of its permanent home browser. As a reminder, it now operates its own rendering engine Blink, the Mountain View Company has decided to set aside Webkit to chart its own course. This version does not bring big surprises and resumes the main novelty announced with Chrome 29 beta. Thus, the Omnibox, the address bar that allows you to search, offers suggestions that want to be more relevant and which are based on the timing of your visit.

Users of Chrome for OS X can now enjoy the notification center that is available on Windows since the previous version of Chrome. The wait will finally not so very long. This is not the only novelty and Google announced that it is now possible to restore the profile to its original state. You must go to settings, display the advanced settings and click the "Reset Browser Settings" button. This will remove the extensions and themes, delete cookies, temporary as well as Tabs data, etc. As a advantage the list of your favorite and the saved passwords are not affected by this reset. As always, the overall performances have been revised upwards. In addition, no less than 25 security vulnerabilities have been corrected, with awards ranging from $ 500 to $ 1337 for those who discovered them.

Is The Government Reading Your Tweets?

The US Government is facing tough questions and mounting pressure over its surveillance programs as a result of information revealed by Edward Snowden. Leaders in the National Security Agency have endured grilling from Congress and increased scrutiny from journalists due to recent revelations that the phone and Internet activity of millions of Americans has been viewed by the government agency. But does the added scrutiny mean that the NSA pulling back on how much data it gathers on social media users? According to Twitter, the answer is a definitive “No.”

Big Jump In Information Requests

In Twitter’s transparency report it appears that the number of government requests in connection with criminal cases is rising. A total of 1,157 information requests by governments worldwide were made in the first six months of 2013. That is an increase from 1,009 requests from the previous six month period and 849 requests in the six months before that. In 2013, the United States lead the pack in amount of requests by far with 902. Japan came in second place with just 82.
Since this is the first transparency report to be released since the leaks of NSA documents, Twitter recognized its significance. "An important conversation has begun about the extent to which companies should be allowed to publish information regarding national security requests," Twitter said in a blog post on Wednesday. "We have joined forces with industry peers and civil liberty groups to insist that the United States government allow for increased transparency into these secret orders."

Information Removal Requests

Federal institutions worldwide aren’t just contacting Twitter in order to collect IP addresses and other personal information. Twitter has also received requests from governments to remove content from their site. In the first half of 2012, Twitter handled only six removal requests. In first half of 2013, however, that number shot up to 60. Most of these requests were designed to remove libelous tweets and hate speech. Brazil sent in the most content removal requests with 39. While the US government requested that two tweets be removed, Twitter didn’t comply with either one.
"Over the last six months, we have gone from withholding content in two countries to withholding content (ranging from hate speech to defamation) in seven countries," said Jeremy Kessel.
Twitter says that all users affected by government requests are notified unless prohibited by law.

The Future

It has long been known that the police and other government organizations monitor Twitter for dangerous or threatening tweets. More than a few people have added an entry to their arrest records because they tweeted something violent or threatened another person. But these revelations by Twitter show that the government is interested in more personal information, such as your IP Address (which can reveal the geographic location of someone making a tweet.) Will the US government cave into public pressure and leave Tweeters alone now that surveillance programs are in the hot seat? We may have to wait until Twitter’s next transparency report (due to be released early next year) until we get an answer.
Phillip Harding is a writer from Rainbow, California. He writes about social media, crime, and the law.

Waze Reports integrated into Google Maps

Waze was bought by Google ht two months ago, Waze Community GPS will allow in Google Maps to improve, at least on mobile. The first Advanced announced by Google Maps integration into the incidents of Waze community reports. The latter is however not the only one giving, since technology from Maps are also available to "wazers" said the Web giant. In recent years, the Waze app is available on iOS and Android, has attracted tens of millions of users. The Wazer’s statement during driving, allow the whole community to enjoy their statements in real-time accidents, traffic jams, police presence, radar, work stations, etc. Its acquisition two months ago by Google, for nearly a billion dollars, was not a surprise. In June, when formalizing the acquisition of Waze, Google did not hide his desire to improve Maps quickly. Yesterday, Google has confirmed this philosophy perfectly, announcing further concrete improvements on both sides. On Maps mobile users benefiting by getting reports from other Waze users about the incident reports in real time Waze users. This includes accidents also the work and road closures. Waze community can in turn benefit from the Google search, complementing already services including Foursquare and Yelp. The Waze map editor, which allows correcting some errors, also now it has Street View technology and satellite imagery from Google. Finally, note that the Federal Trade Commission, the government agency responsible for competition in particular to investigate the acquisition of Waze by Google. I must say that Maps is already one of the most important mobile applications in the world, crushing all competitors. And on the Web, its dominance is equally impressive. The acquisition of Waze can be interpreted as a strengthening of a dominant position. In the worst case scenario, it could go up to the cancellation of the acquisition of Waze. However, Google seems sure of himself in terms of comparisons between Maps and Waze.

Sony Xperia Z Ultra

Sony Xperia Z with 6.44 inch Ultra has an enormous Full HD screen. The Sony Xperia Z Ultra has a 6.44-inch full HD screen (1920x1080 pixels, 342 ppi) and is dust and water proof according to the norms IP55/IP57. So it not only looks similar to the Xperia Z. The Z Ultra is available in black and white. Sony's XL Smartphone is extremely large but also impressively thin of about 6.5 mm. The clear-edged design is very classy. Shade of this particular display affects the black model as a solid glass plate. The look is reminiscent of the Xperia Z, but in this format (17.9 x 9.2 inches), it is simply impressive. Even if it is only nine millimeters shorter than about Samsung's seven-inch tablet Galaxy Tab 3. The sleek and slim design ensures that the Z Ultra can still use it as a phone. This XXL Phone also the new Snapdragon processor by Qualcomm 800, clocked at up to 2.3 GHz. At least at first benchmark tests outdated processor all previous Smartphone processors significantly and it is twice as fast as the Galaxy S4 Snapdragon 600 processor with 3D graphics performance is about 50 percent faster than the S4. The RAM is lush two gigabytes. The internal memory is 16 gigabytes via microSD card but can be expanded up to 64 GB. Thanks to a generous 3,000 mAh battery, the Smartphone will still last long. In practice, however, the test battery was under intensive use similar fast running out as with other Smartphones. Sony promises brilliant colors for the "Triluminos” screen with OptiContrast technology. In the first vision test, confirms this: The screen in HD (1920x1080 pixels, 342 ppi) displays photos in vibrant colors that will not fade even when viewed from the side. He still acts as a whit more brilliant than its little brother, the Xperia Z. While the rather dark screen of the Galaxy Note and Note 2 is virtually impossible to read outdoors, working in the Ultra Z in sunlight by turning up the brightness to maximum barely possible. An innovation that has so far not a competitor: With any luck, you can use their old pencil as screen pen for writing and drawing. The camera uses an Exmor sensor with eight megapixel HDR function for photos and video. The first test photos showed decent image quality, but does not reach the level of 13-megapixel camera in the smaller Xperia Smartphones V and Z. In addition, the default automatic exposure yielded quite convoluted results. A quick start mode is supposed to ensure that you get off the sleep mode in less than a second, the first picture in the box. Design, processing speed and working are convincing. With the Sony Xperia Z Ultra delivers the most compelling current mobile phone giant over six inch diagonal display. The phablet bridges the gap between tablet and super phone - and can be used as a phone or tablet either.

Chrome 30 for Android with gesture control

Google has released a new Beta Version of Chrome for Android introduces new gesture controls and a tool for image search. Chrome 30 is available in beta since two days before for the Android edition, a series of news about the gestural controls. The Internet browser allows you to browse the active tabs by making a horizontal or vertical scanning. The same gesture is used to open the Options menu without lifting your finger from the screen. This beta version supports the accelerometer information so that websites will know the position of the Smartphone. Chrome 30 also introduced a new search tool for images. Holding your finger on an image, it opens a context menu option to access the "Search Google for that picture," which provides information on the plate, the web pages containing the same image and a selection similar image. This function is also available in the desktop version of Chrome 30 Beta.