Mozilla is developing a push notification system for the company’s Firefox Web browser. The system will allow users to receive notifications from any website, even if the site is not open in a tab or window. The system will also be able to relay push notifications to mobile devices. Mozilla is seemingly looking to close the gap between desktop Web apps and native mobile apps, which utilize push notification systems on a number of mobile platforms. “Push notifications are a way for websites to sen...

In an attempt to evade U.S. prosecution, Julian Assange’s investors are said to be in the process of moving Wikileaks’s servers offshore, according to Fox News. Multiple unnamed sources spoke with the news network and said Assange’s financial backers have been going through the logistics of moving the servers to international waters. “They can keep running Wikileaks and nobody can touch them,” a source told Fox News. “If you get a certain distance away from any land then you’re dealing w...

Co-founder and former CEO Jerry Yang has resigned from all of his positions with Yahoo, the company announced in a press release on Tuesday. Yang co-founded Yahoo in 1995 with David Filo and served as a member of the Board of Directors since March 1995. Yang was also the company’s CEO from June 2007 to January 2009, until he was replaced by Carol Bartz. ”My time at Yahoo!, from its founding to the present, has encompassed some of the most exciting and rewarding experiences of my life,” sai...

Smart TVs will see significant growth next year according to Topology Research Institute, which expects current shipments to double to 52.85 million units. The research company said just over 7 million Smart TVs were shipped in 2010, and that figure is likely to increase to 25.18 million units in 2011. Smart TVs are defined as television sets that are capable of accessing the Internet, can be used to download and install applications, surf the web and more. Topology Research Institute believes there will be t...

After having initially said the issues were resolved following one day of service interruptions, millions of BlackBerry users across Europe, the Middle East, Africa and even some areas in South America still find themselves without access to the Wen or messaging services for the third consecutive day. Research In Motion confirmed earlier that a bug on a Blackberry server was responsible for knocking millions offline on Monday, and the Waterloo, Ontario-based smartphone maker elaborated on Tuesday that the c...

Sprint’s head of business markets Paget Alves recently confirmed to CNET that the carrier will launch cloud-based services during the fourth quarter of this year. The offering will be available to small and medium sized business customers. Sprint will provide security, software and Internet hosting, and it will also offer an “infrastructure as a service” option, Alves told CNET. “The telcos are in a unique position because our business is centered around the cloud,” Alves said. ...

We live in a digital age where it seems nearly impossible to maintain your privacy. There are some measures that can be taken to limit your exposure, however. While numerous companies make money by collecting data from public records and selling it to people looking to perform quick and easy background checks, there are ways to stop these companies from tossing around your personal information willy nilly. Reddit user “pibbman” has compiled a list of all the major background check sites that hand ...

We now spend more time using mobile apps than on the Internet, according to a new research report from Flurry. The firm, which pulls its data from more than 85,000 applications, noted that in June 2011 the average person spent 81 minutes using mobile applications each day and just 74 minutes surfing the web. That’s up from December, when the firm found that users spent more time surfing the web (70 minutes) than using mobile apps (66 minutes). More surprisingly, it’s a 91% jump from last year when...

Reports have begun sprouting up all over the Internet claiming that Comcast, and a handful of other ISPs, are blocking access to torrent treasure trove, The Pirate Bay. Being a Comcast customer here in Boston, I thought it might be a good time to test the reports. My findings: yup, they’re definitely blocking it. Attempts to navigate to thepiratebay.org result in a timeout error — I even switched DNS servers to make sure it wasn’t a name-server record error causing the behavior. After firing ...

The first commercial promoting Samsung’s new flagship Android handset — the Galaxy S II — was a bit bland. And while we can’t say this second commercial sport has blown us out of the water, it does a much better job accentuating one of the device’s new enhanced features, Voice Talk. Bottom line: if you find yourself in the Arctic — wearing a parka, mukluks, and mittens — Voice Talk is going to be extremely useful. The thirty-second clip is after the break. (more…)

Can’t say we all didn’t see this one coming. According to a new report from the Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB), annual revenue for Internet advertising surpassed newspaper ad revenues for the first time in 2010. The IAB said the record breaking $26 billion in ad revenue last year was up 15% from the $22.66 billion reported in 2009. Search remains the biggest category in online ads and represented 45% of all revenues during the fourth quarter of 2010, but the IAB says display/banner ads are grow...

Mozilla announced on Tuesday that the final release version of its Firefox 4 Web browser was available for download. Within its first 24 hours of availability, the browser was downloaded over 6 million times. Microsoft’s latest browser release, Internet Explorer 9, was downloaded 2.35 million times in its first 24 hours of availability. Version 4 of the popular Firefox Web browser features a variety of enhancements including a redesigned UI, improved tab management and faster performance. Mozilla’...

In a meeting with analysts, Redbox President Mitch Lowe reaffirmed the Coinstar-owned company’s plans to launch a Netflix “Watch Instantly” competitor this year. Coinstar CEO Paul Davis first confirmed the forthcoming service last year during an earnings call, though he would not specify whether the company’s Internet streaming service would utilize an all-you-can-eat pricing model or and a la carte model. Lowe has now confirmed that the service will be subscription-based, but he did n...

Verizon’s Home Phone Connect service just went live on the carrier’s website, though the link for the service is down at the moment. The new offering will let you connect your home phone to Verizon’s wireless network, and it uses a base station that merges your landline phone and Verizon’s cellular network. For $19.99/month, you get unlimited calling or $9.99/month to add your home landline to your existing wireless family plan. Not a bad deal at all, and it’s a pretty interestin...