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No, Twitter has not been hit by a massive spam botnet

Mar12
by on March 12, 2014 at 5:58 pm
Posted In: Around the Web, Insider

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Earlier this week, programmer Paul Dietrich made a posting on the site Cryptome about what he called a “Massive Twitter Botnet,” which was then picked up by Hacker News as well as a few publications. Among other claims, he put together a list of some 35,000 fake twitter handles, which he believes belong to a single botnet that is retweeting spam messages on the social network. Yet a closer look shows that this is by no means anything unique. Social networks the size of Facebook and Twitter often delete many more accounts in the space of just a few hours….

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YouTube down for you? You’re not the only one [Updated]

Mar12
by on March 12, 2014 at 5:12 pm
Posted In: Around the Web, Google, Insider

Update: We’ve received a statement from a YouTube spokesperson on the situation, which the company says is now fixed: Some people encountered errors, or a slower than normal experience on YouTube today. We worked quickly to address the issue and fixed the problem. We’re sorry for any inconvenience this caused. It seems that YouTube is having a bit of a hiccup today with some users being left unable to access the site or videos via the YouTube.com homepage. How widespread the problem spreads is yet to be established, but there are certainly plenty of Tweets from disgruntled users. In our own…

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Epic Games teams up with Mozilla to bring Unreal Engine 4 to Firefox

Mar12
by on March 12, 2014 at 4:36 pm
Posted In: Around the Web, Insider

Epic Games is bringing Unreal Engine 4 to Firefox. After successfully porting Unreal Engine 3 – the software that powers high-end video games such as the Gears of War and Mass Effect franchises – the company has given an early look at how its successor will run on the web. The video below shows two demos, Soul and Swing Ninja, running inside Mozilla’s browser without the use of plugins. In a blog post, Mozilla said both titles were running at “near-native” speeds and the based on this early footage, the results look promising. “Any modern browser can run asm.js content,…

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Facebook opens up registration for its F8 developer conference on April 30

Mar12
by on March 12, 2014 at 4:18 pm
Posted In: Around the Web

Facebook is now accepting applications for its F8 developer conference on April 30 at the San Francisco Design Concourse. Tickets are limited, so interested attendees can submit their applications and Facebook will choose from the list in order to have a “diverse mix” of developers. If you’re lucky enough to be chosen, you’ll have to shell out $495 for a ticket. Facebook also plans to livestream keynotes and afternoon sessions, so you can still keep up with the proceedings if you don’t score a ticket. After a three year hiatus, Facebook announced earlier this week that it is bringing back…

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Google Maps Embed API lets developers generate HTML snippets for including maps in their own websites

Mar12
by on March 12, 2014 at 4:03 pm
Posted In: Around the Web, Google, Insider

Google today launched the new Google Maps Embed API, which lets developers generate HTML snippets for embedding Google Maps within their own websites. The API offers location and appearance customization options as well as a handful of simple URL parameters. It also makes it easier to quickly build multiple maps with the same settings. Google first brought back embedding for the new Google Maps in November 2013, when it emphasized that embedded maps are free of usage limits. At the time, the company also updated its Google Maps/Earth APIs Terms of Service to include an advertising section, which says the…

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