Download Squad

Mobile web browser Skyfire is one of the only browsers around that lets users watch movies from online video site Hulu. Or rather, it was. WMExperts reports that Hulu has begun blocking Skyfire users.

This development comes on a long, protracted battle between Hulu and Boxee, a media center application for OS X, Windows, and Ubuntu Linux that provides access to web video from dozens of sources.

After killing Boxee support, Hulu eventually launched its own desktop application, cleverly called Hulu Desktop. Does this mean that Hulu might be working on a mobile viewing device? I wouldn't be surprised if the company simply wanted more control over how users can interact with the media on its web site. On the other hand, since Boxee, Skyfire, and most other applications that allow users to watch Hulu video leave the advertising intact, I can't see how it should make much difference to Hulu and the company's content partners how you watch the videos.

[via AppScout]

Ever try closing a series of tabs in Firefox by hitting Ctrl+W over and over until you were down to your last tab? Ever overshoot and accidentally wind up closing the whole browser and then having to wait (im)patiently to reload the browser?

There's a setting tucked away in the recesses of Firefox 3.5's configuration options that will keep the browser running after you close the last tab. Instead of closing, Firefox will simply display a single blank tab.

Here's how it works. Type "about:config" into the location bar (without the quotation marks), and then finding the setting labeled "browser.tabs.closeWindowWithLastTab" (again, without the quotes) and double click that setting to change the value to false. That's it. Now when you close all your browser tabs Firefox will stay open.

[via Lifehacker]

After what seems like an eternity in closed private testing, Google is starting to send out beta invitations for Google Voice (formerly GrandCentral). The company also reportedly snagged about a million US phone numbers to use for the service, which lets users give out a single phone number that will ring all their phones and record, transcribe, and email voicemail messages.

Those new phone numbers will come in handy for new customers. But what if you're an existing user looking to change your number? I signed up for GrandCentral when I lived in Brooklyn and got myself a number with a 718 area code. Now I live in Philadelphia and feel silly giving out that number.

Now Google is offering users like me a chance to change our numbers. You'll have to pony up $10 for the change, but since most of Google Voice's features are free, that seems like a pretty reasonable price.

When you change numbers, all calls made to your old number will continue coming to your new number for 90 days.

[via TechCrunch]

In the few days since Firefox 3.5 was officially unleashed on the public, it's been downloaded well over 7 million times according to Mozilla's real-time download tracker. That's nowhere near the estimated 8 million downloads achieved in the first 24 hours after Firefox 3.0 launched, but it's still pretty good.

It's also probably worth pointing out that anyone who was running Firefox 3.5 RC3 on launch day probably isn't included in these numbers since RC3 is basically the same as the final release, which means if you had that version installed you didn't download any updates.

Now that there's a new version of Firefox, there's also a new version of Firefox Portable, which lets you run the browser from a USB flash drive. If you were running an older version of Firefox Portable you should be able to upgrade automatically from within the browser. But if you want to give Firefox 3.5 a try without installing it to your computer, the portable version is an excellent alternative.

And while Mozilla thinks Firefox 3.5 is stable enough to take remove the "beta" and "release candidate" labels, some Linux distributions might be slower to add the browser to their repositories. But that doesn't mean you can't install the browser manually. Kabatology has posted instructions for installing Firefox 3.5 in Ubuntu by typing a single line of code into a terminal window.

[via Lifehacker]

Amazon isn't the only company ending its affiliate programs in a handful of US states in an effort to avoid being forced to collect sales tax in those states. The Wall Street Journal reports that Overstock.com has shut down its affiliate programs for California, Hawaii, North Carolina, and Rhode Island.

Each of those states has either adopted or is about to adopt a law that would require online retailers with in-state affiliate partners to collect sales tax on items sold. The idea is that a web publisher who posts links Amazon, Overstock, or other web stores and gets a commission for items sold through those links is essentially giving the online store a physical presence in the state, which means state tax laws come into play.

On the one hand, states are struggling thanks to the recession, and it makes sense that some states would turn to this tax as a revenue source. On the other hand, if companies like Amazon and Overstock decide that the laws are too burdensome and just pull out of those states altogether, then nobody wins.

It's worth pointing out that you're really supposed to pay sales tax for most things purchased on the internet. But in most cases, the burden is on the shoppers, not the retailers. If enacted, these state laws would require the stores to collect the taxes which consumers pretty much never pay voluntarily.

[via The Business Insider]