While it still beats commercials, few things kill a good Netflix binge like constant buffering.

To help prevent streaming on sub-par connections - or possibly just so customers stop blaming Netflix for poor service when it's actually an ISP's fault - the company has created a brand new website devoted to seeing just how fast your internet really is.

Fast.com, powered by Netflix servers, measures your download rate in a matter of seconds on both mobile and broadband connections. While the site is minimalist in design, its results appear to be as accurate as other internet speedometers, like speedtest.net.

While anyone worldwide can access Fast.com's megabytes-per-second analysis, other stats like jitter, upload rate, ping, or latency are absent. Netflix's reasoning is that it intends Fast.com to be a simple and easy tool to measure download speeds - the only metric that really impacts streaming movies and TV.

Fast.com isn't the only tool Netflix's developed to keep users in charge of their data. Earlier this month, the streaming service added controls to its mobile apps so viewers don't gouge their cellular data plan when watching House of Cards on the go.

• The 25 best Netflix shows you can catch right now

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Google has announced Google Assistant, showing off the conversational AI helper at Google IO 2016.

Backed by ten years of language processing, Google Assistant's big sell compared to digital assistants like Microsoft's Cortana and Apple's Siri is an emphasis on conversational clues.

In an example demonstrated by Google CEO Sundar Pichai, Google Assistant could not only look up movie listings from a voice command, but could also process phrases like "I want to bring the kids this time" to sort out family-friendly films, or "is that any good?" to find reviews or a trailer.

"This has historically been hard for computers to do," Pichai added. "The reason we can do it is that for the last decade, we've been building the world's best natural linkage processing technology."

Google has big plans for its Assistant, with the intentions to put the AI in phones, smartwatches, its recently-announced Google Home, and even cars in the near future.

• Everything you need to know about Android N

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There's bad news for some LinkedIn users, as a ton of account details for the social network have just gone on sale, even though they were pilfered in a security breach that happened years ago.

You may recall the breach which happened in 2012 and apparently resulted in 6.5 million passwords being stolen, but it seems the true gravity of this incident is only now being realised.

Motherboard spoke to the hacker who has posted the fresh account details for sale online, and the individual known as 'Peace' claims there are no less than 167 million accounts involved, although only 117 million of these have both emails and hashed passwords.

Those are hugely worrying numbers, and unsurprisingly LinkedIn has already responded to this news with a blog post.

LinkedIn said it was aware of a new set of data which has just been released claiming to be the details of over 100 million accounts, and the social network is taking this very seriously, saying it is introducing "immediate steps to invalidate the passwords of the accounts impacted".

Those account owners will be contacted by LinkedIn to reset their passwords, so if you have been affected, you've probably already heard about it or will do very shortly.

Making a hash of it

LinkedIn also noted that back in 2012 at the time of the breach, its response included a mandatory password reset for accounts the social network believed to be compromised, but that number was far smaller than the true figure if this leak is indeed kosher. Which it certainly sounds like it is.

When this incident happened four years ago, LinkedIn got into trouble for failing to "salt" password hashes before storing them on servers, meaning even though the passwords obtained were encrypted, the encryption wasn't as watertight as it should have been.

This resulted in a class-action lawsuit being filed against the social media site, so it was quite a traumatic affair for LinkedIn all round – but the pain isn't over yet, it would seem.

In its blog post, LinkedIn reminded us that it now hashes and salts every password, and also urged members to make use of two-factor authentication which the site supports, to prevent an attacker from accessing an account even if they do manage to learn the password.

• Also check out: LinkedIn's next big feature will follow in Facebook's footsteps

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Queen's speech

Westminster has come together for one of its most high profile traditions: the State Opening of Parliament, in which the Queen visits the House of Lords and reads a short speech (written by the government) explaining what major bills her government intends to try and pass in the next year.

It's very serious, as all of the proposed laws could have a huge impact on British society - but also faintly ludicrous because the speech is delivered like a live-action role-play, with the Queen on a Gold Throne wearing a massive crown and the Lords wearing their best tights.

From driverless cars to drones to broadband, several plans were put forward that should keep the UK to the the forefront technology. Here's all you need to know.

Fast broadband and porn blocks

Amazingly, there's still a small chunk of the country that can't get a broadband internet connection. Typically living in the rural areas, the government now wants to ensure the "final 5%" can get connected.

In the speech the Queen said, "Measures will be brought forward to create the right for every household to access high speed broadband", adding that "Legislation will be introduced to improve Britain's competitiveness and make the United Kingdom a world leader in the digital economy."

This appears to be a reference to the proposed Digital Economy Bill which sets out a number of measures including previously announced plans to turn broadband into a "universal service obligation". That means ISPs will be required to make sure their service will reach even the furthest afield customers, just like with electricity, water and landline telephones.

Of course, how fast "high speed broadband" is in the government's mind remains to be seen. This number was previously pegged at 10mbps - but by the time the legislation goes into effect, it might already be too slow (experts have called for a minimum of 19mbps - which still seems rather slow to us).

There are also currently still questions over exactly how it will be paid for. It'll be interesting to see if the government offers subsidies to companies so they can lay down some fibre, as well as whether the requirements will be for wired connections with the rest of the world, or whether 4G will do.

The bill also wants to cut down the cost of installing mobile phone masts and other infrastructure, and will enable consumers to claim compensation when their connection goes down. It also plans to enforce a law requiring porn websites to require age verification to access.

Additionally, the bill will enable Ofcom to release data "in the interests of the consumer and competition", such as reports on broadband speeds - which should hopefully keep ISPs on their toes. Switching provider should also be easier too as the bill includes previously announced plans to make providers coordinate the switching more themselves, which should hopefully make transitioning more seamless (like switching electricity provider, perhaps).

It may not be all good news though, as the Open Rights Group have warned that the bill also includes measures that could see internet piracy punishable by up to ten years in jail. Jim Killock, the group's Executive Director said of the plans that "Proposals to make online copyright infringement punishable by ten years in jail risk punishing people who share files more harshly than ordinary, physical theft.

There was considerable opposition to this when the Government carried out a consultation. We need to see how the government proposes to draw the line between civil and criminal infringement. The threat of criminal sanctions can easily be abused if this is not clear."

Prisoner GPS tracking

One of the big announcements that will be dominating the mainstream headlines is the planned shake-up of the prison system. But what's most interesting to us is that today the government has also announced that 8 police forces will be trialling GPS of offenders.

They'll be given (well, forced to wear, we guess) ankle bracelets that will keep the police updated on their location. The pilot will begin in September, in Nottinghamshire, Leicestershire, Staffordshire, West Midlands, Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Northampton.

Drones and driverless cars

"My ministers will ensure the United Kingdom is at the forefront of technology for new forms of transport, including autonomous and electric vehicles", the Queen announced, which lines up with the proposed Modern Transport Bill.

This law looks set to put the, ahem, wheels in motion, to enable wider usage of autonomous vehicles, like those that are currently being tested at numerous sites around the country (including Greenwich, Milton Keynes, Coventry, Bristol - and the most northerly stretch of the M6).

The news was clearly pre-briefed ahead of the Queen's Speech, as a number of outlets are quoting Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin as saying, "If we want to propel Britain's economy into the modern age, and generate the jobs that will come with it, it is vital that the right rules are in place to allow new transportation to flourish."

Though the Queen didn't mention it specifically, background notes show that the bill plans to regulate drones for the first time. It isn't clear what exactly that will entail, but it is highly possible that it'll introduce a registration system similar to the one recently launched in the US, which requires drone owners to register their drone using an app, and then display their registration number clearly on their drone.

However, there are questions over how effective this method could be.

The Civil Aviation Authority has previously said that it is planning a consultation on this for later this year. Presumably we could also conceivably see the rules tightened on where you can fly, or even the statutory backing of a drone air traffic control system of some sort, if the bill is sufficiently forward thinking (there have already been a number of proposals for how it could work, advocated by the likes of Amazon).

More concretely, the Modern Transport Bill also includes plans for a UK spaceport in Newquay with the first flights planned to take off in 2020. We'll believe it when we see it.

Investigatory Powers Bill

And finally, it seems that the government sadly isn't giving up on its attempt to explicitly legalise the sorts of draconian mass surveillance Edward Snowden warned us about, as in the next Parliamentary session it plans to continue the push to turn the Investigatory Powers Bill into law.

The Queen said, "My government will continue with legislation to modernise the law governing the use and oversight of investigatory powers by law enforcement, security and intelligence agencies."

If the law passes, the government will continue to record all of our internet activity - and will have legal mechanisms through which to access and use the data. As a sop to those worried that the laws are too draconian, the bill will also create an "Investigatory Powers Commissioner", whose job it will be to oversee how the powers are used.

Since the bill was first announced it has been opposed by civil liberties and rights organisations, including a coalition called Don't Spy On Us, which recently launched a poster campaign arguing that the plans in Britain could give dangerous ideas to dictators like Vladimir Putin.

It seems fairly likely that such measures will pass anyway, as during the first reading in the House of Commons it was only opposed by the Liberal Democrats' 8 meagre MPs - with both Labour and the Scottish National Party abstaining.

• Aerospace authority calls for better enforcement of existing drone laws, not registration

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Introduction and rise of MOOC

Robots are taking our jobs, with as many as half the world's population set to be unemployed by 2045 according to some. This kind of fear-fed hyperbole has accompanied the introduction of every piece of new technology since the dawn of mankind. The catalyst for the current panic is the rise of robotics and AI, which could cause massive restructuring and a much more competitive job market.

Speaking to the New York Times in February 2016, AT&T's CEO and Chairman, Randall Stephenson, said that people who don't spend five hours a week online learning will make themselves obsolete. He went on to add that: "There is a need to retool yourself, and you should not expect to stop." Cue online learning for everyone – forever.

The rise of MOOCs

Such is the fast-paced nature of computing that the threat of IT staff especially becoming obsolete is not a new one, but across all kinds of industries there's a new understanding of – and thirst for – e-learning to capitalise on the new opportunities that tech is creating.

Cue the MOOC (massively open online course), bite-size downloadable video lectures and courses for phones and tablets, often consumed on the commute, or in free moments, on any subject you can think of.

There are now about 4,200 MOOCs offered by more than 500 universities around the world, according to MOOC aggregator Class Central, with the number of students who signed up for at least one course hitting over 35 million in 2015. That's a doubling in popularity compared with a year earlier.

Anarchy in the classroom

For now, MOOCs form a philanthropic and altruistic movement, but it's pretty anarchic. Many of the courses are being offered by top professors and specialists around the globe at the big universities, largely as a testing ground for a future where all education will, most likely, be delivered primarily online.

That's great for learners, but e-courses are beginning to coalesce around particular global e-learning 'marketplace' platforms. Coursera and edX claim over half the global market of sign-ups to MOOCs, but other hubs like NovoED, Udacity, Udemy and Memrise are just as good.

They're largely US-based and in English, but this is a global trend – MOOCS are growing in China, too, which has XuetangX and CNMOOC.

There are scores of other one-trick hubs online including Lynda, which hosts masses of online video tutorials, and CreativeLive, which offers courses in music, art and photography.

The virtual workplace

The catalyst for all this is, of course, technology – and on two counts. Not only has a faster internet and collaborative cloud working meant more remote working and freelancing (so a more competitive job market) and a more globalised economy (think call centres in India serving the US and Europe, and a huge spate of software, IT and services companies that have no physical HQ), but that same technology is also enabling the flowering of the MOOC concept. But faster broadband and mobile internet are just the start. Next comes game-based learning, virtual reality and real-time interactivity over 5G.

(Top Image Credit: Pamela Krewson Wertz)

Classroom VR and low-bandwidth learning

Game-based learning on the rise

Books are fast being replaced by e-readers, but taking a phone or laptop into a classroom is still a big no-no. Not so in the MOOC world, where smart devices play an intrinsic part. For now, it's mostly downloadable videos lectures and multiple choice testing, but learning by app is fast becoming very similar to smartphone gaming.

For instance, language learning app Duolingo has levels, points and extra lives to help foster an addictive environment that is trying to capitalise on the current pandemic in smartphone gaming. It already has 110 million users. Similarly interactive is Memrise, another language learning app platform based on brain science and memory research that uses a series of images, as well as very regular testing and reminders, to help users more easily recall vocabulary and phrases.

Virtual reality in the classroom

Could VR, which is so often talked-up as the future of gaming, social media and more, actually find its niche in online learning? At Penn State University there's a proposal to create an immersive, interactive online experience that is capable of teaching core engineering concepts to an entire class of students.

"Through the use of an Oculus Rift headset retrofitted with a Leap Motion sensor, students will be able to use their hands to rotate, explore and dissect a virtual model the same way a traditional student would explore a physical object or prototype with his or her hands," says Conrad Tucker, assistant professor of engineering design and industrial engineering at Penn State University.

Tucker's stance is this: MOOCs are presently merely a way of passively consuming more content. With VR, they could be interactive experiences available to anyone in the world with the right hardware (and super-fast internet).

5G rollout

The missing link in all of this for mobile learners is, of course, the rollout of 5G mobile signals, which could offer up to 100 times faster web connections from 2020 or so. It will mean more video and high density content for MOOCs, as well as ubiquitous and instant communications between teachers and students – two virtual reality users on 5G will be able to collaborate as if they are in the same physical location.

It's also been suggested that blockchain technology could be used to ensure grade scores and past certificates digitally 'follow' students throughout their careers in a tamper-proof manner, though the initial phase would require a data entry nightmare to retrofit the entire population's past academic achievements.

Low-bandwidth learning

Arguably more important than high-speed education is low-bandwidth learning applications for remote places. Improving access to education in the off-grid world is a problem being addressed by New York-based charity Outernet, which is aiming to become 'humanity's public library' by providing free, unrestricted and uncensored web access for the entire globe.

Available to anyone with its portable, solar-powered Wi-Fi receiver called Lighthouse, Outernet promises free internet from existing telecoms satellites, but is limited to 10 megabytes per person, per day. It's only a one-way link – no uploads are possible – and it's primarily designed to push Wikipedia, eBooks and Teachers Without Borders resources to schools in remote places.

Outernet will most likely be used by philanthropic organisations wanting to help off-grid folk in less developed countries, which adds a new dimension to the wider, altruistic MOOC movement already set on creating global high-quality education beyond physical boundaries.

With MOOCs and new tech concepts, education is suddenly entering a period of massive digital disruption. But then isn't that exactly what the internet was originally designed to do?

• Also check out: The ultimate education for video game lovers

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Facebook may be busy with virtual reality, chatbots, and 360-degree cameras, but the company hasn't forgotten about your News Feed.

In fact, its latest work with artificial intelligence may make change the ever-scrolling landscape of our status updates and posts.

The tech company revealed concepts for how AI can augment its social media platform. Facebook's Applied Machine Learning team has been working on overdrive - conducting nearly 50 times as many experiments on the site's AI algorithm a day than compared to last year, producing some intriguing uses along the way.

What can all that processing power and boundless parameters do for your Facebook feed? Well, the company wagers that all that deep learning could come in handy in lowering language barriers, searching through image albums, or helping the visually-impaired "see" a photo.

Seamless searching & sharing

According to Facebook, half of all its users don't speak English, and few are fluent in the language of another group of users. One aspect Facebook's AI is working on is the ability to understand context from speech.

By being able to understand abbreviations, emoticons, or regional phrases from across the world, Facebook could instantly translate posts from friends you've met abroad - or international news sources - with better accuracy than an average copy-paste translation tool.

Another tool that would be of use to any fervent Facebook photographer is the ability to search albums by content. By typing "snow," "lake," or "suede jacket" into the search bar, the AI can actually detect images featuring those subjects, saving you from having to scroll through your post history for an hour just to show a friend that sweet jacket you took a picture of at a flea market last year.

An additional application of the AI's object recognition would let Facebook name subjects in a photo out loud for those with sight impairment. By calling out objects in the forefront and background as they scroll around the image, an imaginary copy of the photo can be formed in a person's mind to enjoy, as well as reinforce the AI's ability to parse who or what is being tagged in a photo.

The AI's ability to recognize subjects is also being applied to video, where a demonstration shows the machine sorting through fireworks, food, and - of course - cat videos without the need for humans to pre-tag them for content.

While the tech isn't ready for the world at large yet, it probably won't be long before we find ourselves logging onto a more intelligent Facebook...and we thought adding Vines as your profile picture was advanced.

• Facebook's 10-year plan is daunting, to say the least

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Symantec has published new research which makes some alarming revelations on the security front, including observations on the spread of ransomware and identity theft.

According to the company's Internet Security Threat Report, no less than half a billion digital identities were stolen or at least exposed over the course of last year, leaving a huge amount of people potentially vulnerable to fraud of one form or another.

That number does include an estimation of unreported breaches, but it's not unreasonable to assume that some organisations will try and keep things quiet, and Symantec says this is a conservative estimate.

We've been hearing a hell of a lot about ransomware lately, of course, and Symantec observed a sizeable rise in these attacks where a victim's files are encrypted and a ransom demand is made for the key – these incidents increased by 35% in 2015.

The security firm also said that malware multiplied at a "staggering rate" with 430 million fresh pieces of malware discovered last year. Zero-day vulnerabilities more than doubled, too, hitting a new record high of 54.

Tech support trickery

Fake technical support scams trebled in numbers last year, becoming more sophisticated with cybercriminals now sending out warning messages to smartphones, attempting to persuade potential victims to get in touch with fake call centres.

Kevin Haley, director, Symantec Security Response, noted that cybercriminal groups are running operations like proper businesses, having access to extensive resources and employing staff who are given working hours and even holidays.

Hayley commented: "We are even seeing low-level criminal attackers create call centre operations to increase the impact of their scams."

Symantec also commented on ransomware hitting not just PCs, but also Macs, Linux computers, and phones. As we noted yesterday, ransomware is becoming increasingly sophisticated and already uses 'semi-automatic' propagation to attack business networks, with fully self-propagating 'cryptoworms' expected to be menacing computers across the globe in the near-ish future.

• Should you ever pay up to ransomware criminals?

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Top Gear is currently in the Guinness Book of World Records for being the most-watched factual TV programme in the world. Thanks to the BBC's brilliant record of shipping its programmes worldwide, it's a show that's watched by 350 million people in some 214 territories.

As a brand there's not much bigger, so the news from Buzzfeed that Netflix has secured the rights to Top Gear outside of the UK is massive. It's yet another step to make sure that its main streaming rival, Amazon Prime, doesn't find itself in Pole Position with the rival show it's creating with Top Gear alumni Jeremy Clarkson, James May and Richard Hammond.

There's no doubting that Clarkson and co's car show will be big but, for Amazon, it has to be big. The sum it paid to have the rights to the series is vast.

The only reason the show is parked with Amazon is because of a big bidding war. As Netflix CEO Ted Sandros told Buzzfeed: "They bid themselves out to many people and to the highest price, like most creators do. It's a natural process and Amazon paid the highest price."

Worth a lot

Netflix hasn't done this with Top Gear. It hasn't had to pay the millions for the hosts. It hasn't had to pay the millions for the stunts. And if it is indeed part of its current deal with the BBC, then it's very unlikely to have dipped much further into its own vast pockets to secure the license.

The outlay, then, is minimal while Amazon chief Jeff Bezos told the Telegraph that its car show will be "very, very, very expensive," for Amazon. "They're worth a lot and they know it."

According to The Financial Times "a lot" equates to £160 million ($250m).

The BBC used to make £50 million a year out of Top Gear, which included DVD sales, merchandise and live shows. Oh, and its ability to sell the series globally, according to the Guardian. For Amazon to just break even over the contracted three series it will have to better this.

There is no doubt, for Amazon, the car show it will get from Clarkson and co will be the biggest show ever for Amazon Prime, possible ever. The kudos that comes signing up three former Top Gear stars is massive, as is the press, but then so is the weight of their pay checks.

House mates

It's clear that Amazon hopes to one day oust Netflix as the streaming king but it still has a long way to go. So far, it's made some brave if clumsy decisions to push Amazon Prime as much as it can.

Currently for £79 ($99) you can get Amazon Prime bundled with free one-day delivery, Amazon Music, the Prime Kindle eBook Library, Prime Music and Prime Photo storage. It's so close to throwing in the kitchen sink, yet people still prefer Netflix.

According to research by Enders Analysis, in the UK, Netflix is outpacing all of the current VOD offerings combined.

It believes that in 2015 Netflix saw 37% growth, adding 1.8 million new subscribers pushing its user base to 5.2 million. In contrast Amazon Prime, according to the same research, has just 1.6 million paying subscribers.

How has Netflix done this? Through savvy advertising and clever show creation. Netflix will always be known as the house that House of Cards built but then there's also Daredevil, Better Call Saul, Breaking Bad's final season, Orange is the New Black... it's had hit after hit, or at least perceived hits given it rarely gives out its viewing figures.

Amazon Prime's Originals success has also been fantastic - thanks to Emmy-embraced shows like Transparent - but fleeting. Amazon has yet to ride the wave of success as well as Netflix.

Which brings us back to that car show. Clarkson, May and Hammond are Amazon's best shot yet at driving Prime into the prime time, but if it thinks it has bought something more powerful than the Top Gear brand, then it needs to come up with yet another plan.

• The best TV shows to watch on Netflix right now

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