internet

A Microsoft creative director who got into hot water in the wake of comments about the next Xbox is apparently no longer with the company.

"Sources close to the matter" revealed the news to gaming site Game Informer. The site also called Microsoft's main switchboard to confirm that Orth is no longer working at the company.

The anonymous sources say the former creative director resigned following the controversy he created last week with Twitter comments. But Game Informer hasn't learned whether Orth resigned voluntarily or was forced out.

Orth allegedly got into trouble last week after posting a series of tweets … Read more

Microsoft has released two critical security updates for Windows and Internet Explorer as part of its latest round of Patch Tuesday updates. 

Included in the patches are seven important updates for Office, SharePoint, and Windows Server products, which are hitting the usual update channels today.

The first critical bulletin affects versions of Internet Explorer 6 and above on Windows XP, Windows Vista, and Windows 7. It also affects Internet Explorer 10 on Windows 8 and Windows RT-based tablets.

It addresses two separate flaws, one that allows remote code execution -- such as a malware injection -- if an affected … Read more

LAS VEGAS--One major U.S. broadcaster upset with last week's court decision that upheld the right of Internet TV company Aereo to stream broadcast TV to its customers in New York without paying retransmission fees says his company will find new ways to monetize its content if the courts don't protect its copyright interests.

Speaking at the opening session of the National Association of Broadcasters' annual trade show here today, Chase Carey, chief operations officer of News Corp., said that his broadcast network, Fox, will change its business model to ensure it gets paid for TV content it … Read more

AVG AntiVirus Business Edition 2013 continues the slimmer, flatter redesign from 2012, and brings the same interface improvements from its younger, smaller Free and Pro Antivirus counterparts.

The AVG installer will walk you through a few screens and present the option to install or omit additional products like Identity Protection, Email Scanner, and Surf-Shield. However, it also includes additional tools more appropriate for corporate IT environments, like Remote Admin. The AVG Toolbar is also offered, though, as opt-in as opposed to the opt-out setups found in the free counterparts. AVG does include Do Not Track, which some users may find … Read more

Review: Firefox for Android used to be a must-use mainly for Firefox fans. It was good at what it did, but it wasn't great, and the competitive field of Android browsers surpassed it on many levels.

In response, Mozilla spent the better part of a year redesigning the browser from the ground up. The new Firefox for Android brings an interface powered by native code, competitive page-load times, and Flash support. As important for Mozilla is that the sum of the new browser's parts will keep its flagship brand relevant on Android as Chrome for Android grows.

New … Read more

Mozilla Firefox has undergone an enormous rebirth over the past two years. Since Firefox 4 debuted in March 2011, the browser has been hell-bent on improvements. These have come, in large part, on the rapid-release cycle, which sees a new version of Firefox every six weeks. Many people like them, but a vocal minority has pooh-poohed the increase in version numbers. That's hardly a legitimate complaint in a world where mobile apps also update silently and effectively, but the transition for Firefox hasn't been an easy one.

Firefox is on version 20 at the time of this review. … Read more

Another tantalizing tidbit has emerged from last month's leaked IE11 build: the possibility that the next version of Internet Explorer could support Google's SPDY technology for faster browser-server communications.

It's not working yet, but SPDY "is being implemented," said Rafael Rivera of the Within Windows blog. Paul Thurrot of WinSuperSite also said SPDY is coming.

The SPDY support is at the operating system level, meaning that other software besides just IE11 could take advantage of it, Rivera said.

Microsoft declined to comment on the matter.

Google has rounded up several allies to standardize SPDY technology, … Read more

Safari has won back some of the ground it lost recently to rival mobile browsers.

Apple's iOS browser captured 61.79 percent of all mobile browser Web traffic seen by Net Applications in March. That was a healthy rise from the 55.41 percent tracked in February.

Safari remained firmly in the lead last month, followed by the default Android browser in second place with a 21.86 percent share and Opera Mini in the third spot with 8.4 percent. But Safari has seen its share of Net Applications' Web traffic rocked by the competition.

After rising steadily … Read more

I'd like to help you work out your frustrations today.

There again, you have so many -- at least judging by the comments section here -- that I don't really have enough time.

Instead, then, here's an ad -- thank you, Techdirt, for exposing it to me -- that will help you be at one with your feelings about your high-speed Internet and cable provider.… Read more