Stop the presses!!! Google has decided that they are shutting down their paid video service. Did you even know Google had a paid download service? Don’t think many people did, hence the shutdown.

Google however is crediting anyone who bought a video a $2 Google Checkout voucher for their troubles.

As a valued Google user, we’re contacting you with some important information about the videos you’ve purchased or rented from Google Video. In an effort to improve all Google services, we will no longer offer the ability to buy or rent videos for download from Google Video, ending the DTO/DTR (download-to-own/rent) program. This change will be effective August 15, 2007.

To fully account for the video purchases you made before July 18, 2007, we are providing you with a Google Checkout bonus for $2.00. Your bonus expires in 60 days, and you can use it at the stores listed here: http://www.google.com/checkout/signupwelcome.html. The minimum purchase amount must be equal to or greater than your bonus amount, before shipping and tax.
After August 15, 2007, you will no longer be able to view your purchased or rented videos.

If you have further questions or requests, please do not hesitate to contact us. Thank you for your continued support.
Sincerely,

The Google Video Team

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I had to click on this link when I saw it in my feed reader. Apparently on an install a Verizon tech lit fire to the home of one by drilling into the electrical wiring of his house. That single incident managed to cause a small power outage in a small Boston town.

Needham Deputy Fire Chief Al Deiulio tells me that the Verizon technician “was drilling on the outside of the house when he hit an electrical main” and started the fire.
“He’s lucky he’s not dead,” says Deiulio.

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Popular online file sharing utility, Bit Torrent, has closed the source on both their application and source code.

There are two issues people need to come to grips with,” BitTorrent CEO Ashwin Narvin told Slyck.com. “Developers who produce open source products will often have their product repackaged and redistributed by businesses with malicious intent. They repackage the software with spyware or charge for the product. We often receive phone calls from people who complain they have paid for the BitTorrent client.” As for the protocol itself, that too is closed, but is available by obtaining an SDK license.

I think making the software available as an SDK will not hamper the development of other alternative clients, but it is a shame to see more and more open source projects go private.

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A panel in the US congress has begun to explore the issue of Bloggers rights providing protections that traditional journalists get. Before you get excited this is just a panel that approved the issue, not the full house and President Bush has voiced strong opposition to the shield, but at least the conversation started.

In response to concerns raised by the Bush administration and other politicians, the revised bill attempts to exclude the “casual blogger” from reaping those benefits by stipulating the protections apply only to those who derive “financial gain or livelihood” from the journalistic activity, Boucher said Wednesday. That broad rule could, however, include part-time writers who receive even a trickle of revenue from Google Ads or Blogads.com.

I’m still shocked how slow this country and corporations have taken to even mention the word blogger and journalist in the same sentence and how people don’t recognize that some blogs provide better well researched information then mainstream media. Thankfully a conversation is started and hopefully in a few years and hopefully in a few years the law will be on our side.

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For those people who almost 3GB of online storage isn’t enough, Google has launched a new paid service to let you beef up your GMail and Picassa quota. The plans are as follows:

6GB for $20/year
25GB for $75/year
100GB for $250/year
250GB for $500/year

The additional storage that you buy can be spread across all your Google services. Google notes that users will not receive the upgrade instantly, and may take the classic “up to 24 hours” for it to appear. Also, this storage will be extra to the free storage you already have through different Google services.

I’m rather shocked that Google has decided to charge for the extra storage considering how Yahoo, the worlds largest email provider, went unlimited. Will you buy the extra storage? What is your GMail usage?

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60% of surveyed IRS employees easily gave up personal and confidential information about individuals. IRS employees were found to be easily socially engineered into giving up information that could be used to commit identity theft. The study involved 102 people who, when called on an outside line, gave up their private IRS username and password to the caller which then could be used to surf unrestricted in the IRS system.

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Google, the search engine that garners all my ire, has long filtered their search results mostly without their users knowing but now they are filtering out torrents from their index based on DMCA complaints they receive (but at least now they TELL users).

So, apparently one day Google decided that it is illegal in nearly every country of the world to host a .torrent file that (allegedly) links to infringing material. Strange, because there is no legal precedent for this decision in most countries.

The owner of SumoTorrent told TorrentFreak that he discovered that A search on Google for sumotorrent now triggers the following message at the bottom of the results page:

“In response to a complaint we received under the US Digital Millennium Copyright Act, we have removed 1 result(s) from this page. If you wish, you may read the DMCA complaint that caused the removal(s) at ChillingEffects.org.”

A search for other BitTorrent sites like Torrentspy and Torrentreactor comes up with the same message (note. the sites are still indexed but some results are removed). Strangely enough, for torrentreactor it only shows up for a search on the .com domain.

Is this the beginning of a very slippery slope? Does a website exist if it isn’t in Googles index?

Google™: It’s only evil if we say it is

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Still using TDMA? If so AT&T will start charging you $9.99 for the right to do so and to top it all off AT&T is slowly shutting down the network subsequently decreasing service and coverage for these AT&T “blue” customers.

Is anyone reading this site still using TDMA? How about any 1G or 0G networks?

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It might not be as awesome as µTorrent, Transmission is arguably the best BitTorrent client available for OS X. After a period of stagnant development, Transmission got a second wind a few months back with the release of 0.7, when it was taken off the block list of many private trackers. 0.8 brings selective downloads, torrent creation, and a cleaned-up UI.

The Transmission development team recommends finishing any incomplete transfers before upgrading.

[via TUAW]

Ever think technology was out to get you? These fears may not be just in your head.

A college student in China was reportedly killed this week when his own PC electrocuted him. He didn’t want his computer to overheat, so he removed the CPU case. When his sweaty leg touched internal wiring, he was fatally zapped.

Also in China, a welder died last month when his cell phone battery exploded. The blast may have been caused by an unsafe battery, by high heat or both.

Australian scientists revealed research this week that shows many standard laser printers can release toxic particles into the air that when breathed, “cause a range of health problems, from respiratory irritation to more chronic illnesses,” according to the BBC.

And, of course, the hottest game on the market, the Nintendo Wii, is responsible for a wide range of injuries. Its motion-controlled gaming has led to everything from repetitive strain injuries to accidental black eyes.

The article goes on to say that although when a laptop battery explodes or a washing machine burns down a house it becomes big news – the injuries related to technology are VERY small especially when you compare it the number of deaths in car accidents or even a simple slip and fall.

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