Consumer content

Yahoo's plan to recycle old user IDs has prompted some concern among security experts who fear hackers could take advantage. But Yahoo says their fears are unfounded.

Speaking to Reuters in an interview published on Thursday, Yahoo senior director for consumer platforms, Dylan Casey, said that he's "aware" of the concerns over identity theft, but his company has "gone through a bunch of different steps to mitigate that concern."

Yahoo announced last week that it's resetting all user IDs that have been inactive over the last 12 months starting in July. The company … Read more

After tinkering and perfecting, Rockmelt has finally released its app for Android.

The company announced Wednesday that to get this app ready for the public, it had to make sure it was "the right experience for Android users and not merely a port of an iOS app."

So, what are the differences between the social browser's Android and iOS app? A lot.

First of all, the Android app is tooled for bigger screens, which means navigation is at the bottom of the screen in portrait mode and on the right in landscape mode. Also, as users scroll … Read more

Way back in 2003, the rapper known as Chuck D got up in front of the U.S. Congress and told them exactly what "P2P" meant to him.

"P2P to me means power to the people," said the member of political rap superstars Public Enemy. The sentiment that peer-to-peer file-sharing can be good for musicians is still being debated, but at the time it was borderline revolutionary. Chuck D continued to say that he trusted "the consumer" far more than those "at the helm of these [record] companies."

Ten years and a … Read more

Twitter has signed a deal to begin delivering social video ads built around Viacom's most popular TV shows.

In the announcement, put out by Viacom, the two companies said that the campaigns would center around shows aired on networks like MTV, Comedy Central, Nickelodeon, VH1, CMT, TV Land, Spike and more. The first ads will appear during the MTV Video Music Awards on August 25. During that show, MTV will tweet a series of the most notable moments, as well as backstage access, interviews, and more, all with integrated advertising.

Bloomberg first reported in April that a deal between … Read more

Feedly has completed its next wave of Web site upgrades designed to serve as a spiffy, new welcome mat for users of Google Reader, which is shutting down.

Existing users of the Feedly news aggregator and those migrating from Google Reader will now find a refreshed site compatible with all major browsers, Feedly said in a blog post Wednesday. The overhauled site adds support for Internet Explorer and Opera and boasts a new interface that doesn't require plug-ins or browser extensions.

In line with its new cloud, Feedly is no longer shackled to Google. Previously, the site depended on Google Reader's servers for its back-end technology. … Read more

Vdio, the online movie and television service from the makers of Rdio, is now open to anyone in the U.S. and U.K.

Rdio announced the news on its blog Wednesday, saying Vdio is no longer available solely to those people who have Rdio subscriptions.

Rdio launched Vdio in April as a competitor to similar services from Apple and Amazon. The offering lets users buy, rent, and share movies and television shows with others in real time. In addition to Web-based viewing, Vdio lets users access its programming from the iPad through its mobile application.

Vdio is available now … Read more

Windows 8 and RT users can now check out their favorite artists and music videos via the new Vevo app.

Debuting in the Windows Store on Wednesday, Vevo lets you view music videos and watch live concerts from an array of artists. The app offers access to more than 75,000 high-definition music videos, according to Vevo.

Tapping into the Windows 8 Search charm, you can track down your favorite songs by title to find related music videos. You can also hunt for your favorite artists and bands, and in return, Vevo displays links to their music videos, shows you … Read more

Fab is now worth a cool $1 billion.

Self-dubbed the world's design store, Fab is an online retailer that sells quirky products, ranging from clothes to jewelry to furniture to food. Its "True Blood" shop, for example, allows fans of the HBO series to buy books, perfume, and even fangs to celebrate the show.

Chinese Internet site Tencent Holdings clearly sees something in Fab. The company has led a new investment round that kicked in $150 million, with Tencent snagging a spot on Fab's board.

Fab is now worth more than $1 billion -- not even … Read more

Sony has put the kibosh on a new update for the PS3 after that update created bootup problems for many users.

A host of PS3 owners who installed update 4.45 on their consoles have been reporting the trouble on Sony's PlayStation forum since Tuesday. The update, which was designed to let people turn trophy notifications on or off, essentially renders the console unusable. Users are complaining that the PS3 freezes at some point during the bootup process.

Ironically, Sony had touted the update as offering improved system stability, but it seems to have done the exact opposite.

In … Read more