Good morning, welcome to another Monday!
Fox Tip of the day: treat yourself today. Get that overpriced cup of coffee or that new graphics card you’ve been thinking of. 

We’d like to give a big HEY THANKS! to the very cool, useful, and exceedingly interesting blog Secrets of the Dark for including us in their post “What Does The FoxyProxy Say,” all about the joys of proxy usage on the Dark Web. If you want to give it a shot yourself, you can find our free software downloads as well as info on our subscription service right here!

There’s a pretty good (100%) chance that I, your blogess, will be reading up on Dark Web tricks and tools in order to better track down even more weirdo conspiracy theories.

Last week, we solved a very annoying Netflix feature which has been plaguing some American users. Specifically, Netflix turned on a test mode for a good chunk of you without even asking, switching up the search categories into useless, non-genred descriptions. Not cool to just flip that test switch with no warning, Netflix.

This week, we’re breaking down some Netflix titles for you so that you can make some good decisions when deciding what to watch while you’re supposed to be working.

As you know, one of the perks of using a proxy is that Netflix’s options change from country to country. We’re sticking with the UK this week, breaking down some of the different choices for Sci-Fi picks, because Sci-Fi is great and we all should watch more of it.

Seriously, it’s a very influential genre both within popular culture and literature, even if those Literary Fiction people think they’re too good for it.

Anyway. 

Available on Netflix UK, but not on US: 

Captain America, Captain America Winter’s Soldier, Thor (UK edges out the US options for Marvel films) Cloverfield, The Mist  (Two very good horror/sci-fi entries) Star Trek Into Darkness, Coherence (A pretty good little indie,) The Hobbit Battle of Five Armies (this is completely not sci-fi but that’s another discussion all together.) Tank Girl, Night of the Comet, Tremors, Spaceballs, (very important movies), Invasion of the Body Snatchers

Available on Netflix US but not Netflix UK:

Star Trek (Netflix US absolutely beats the pants of the UK in regards to Trek. All of the series – even the animated! and all of the films other than the JJ Abrams “efforts”) Galaxy Quest, Nightbreed (a must watch for fans of Clive Barker weirdness) Batman, Serenity, Hellboy, Sharknado 2 (you know you want to) Melancholia, Young Ones, Goodbye World, Snowpiercer (for those of you in the mood for depressing apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic stories) Blade Runner (Your blogess’s most favorite movie)

Happy Binging!

Good morning!
Was your weekend a good one?
Are you well rested and ready to tackle the week ahead? 

Weekends are excellent for binge watching, as no doubt most of you know. Most of you probably also use Netflix, so today’s post is going to be the first in a series of educational topics on everyone’s favorite procrastination enabler.

Before I get too far today, I want to share with you this little discovery I made. Fellow American users may have noticed a recent and infuriating change in the way Netflix displays browseable categories.

They apparently are testing some changes requested by customers (I don’t believe that for a second. No one would want this, it was probably an intern called Kevin. Thanks, Kevin.) and decided to just blanketly involve us all in testing this without notification.

I finally figured out how to revert back to the old category listing, so I thought I would share this enlightenment with all of you.

Just head on over to your account settings, and click on “test participation.” Then, select the little slider thing to “off.”

You’re all, of course, aware that Netflix offerings change depending on which country you’re watching from. So today, I’m going to highlight some differences between Netflix US and Netflix UK.  For science!

I’ll be looking at British Comedies for this session. The Brits have a unique sense of humor, and one of the best ways to really get to know it is by diving head first into classic British Comedy.

Here are some which are available on Netflix UK but not Netflix US.

Black Adder is a classic starring Rowan Atkinson as an awful nobleman, set in differing time periods. Just…go with it. It also stars Stephen Fry, Hugh Laurie (Yes, Dr. House himself,) Miranda Richardson, and others.

I’m Alan Partridge Starring Steve Coogan as a failed tv host/radio host/everything. Weird, sad, dipping with satire and sarcasm, it’s something of an acquired taste for Americans but it’s a good illustration of British humor. Wait, let me spell is as “humour” for my British readers.  I also heartily recommend checking out The Trip, which is Coogan not at Alan Partridge, but really at his best.

The Mighty Boosh  Boy, this is a weird one. There’s not really any describing this skit show other than surreal. Odd. Weird. A bit acid trippy.

Red Dwarf  This one is a classic, well loved among nerds and geeks. It’s set in outer space and features a humanoid cat, a robot, a sentient computer and..well. It’s very British.

Still Game  This one is about three old Scottish friends, in a little Scottish town, with accents so thick you’ll need a Brit with you to translate. Seriously, I can’t understand 80% of it.

Well there you have it. A tiny percentage of the British comedy available on Netflix. Did I miss anything? Let me know!

By now you’ve all heard about the Apple vs. FBI debacle in which the FBI has been making demands of Apple in regards to breaking the encryption on an iPhone involved in a criminal case. This would set a dangerous precedent that all of us should be vocally opposed to. 

Fight for the Future has coordinated with many groups to come together today at 5:30 pm local time, rallying at Apple stores across the country in protest of the FBI’s demands. More information, including listings of rallies happening across the world at 5:30 pm local time, can be found HERE.

Show your support on social media by following Fight for the Future on Twitter and on Facebook with  #DontBreakOurPhones and #AppleVsFBI!

Good morning everyone! Another Monday come, another week gone. We hope week 6/52 was a good one for you.

We’ve had a pretty good one. We’re still pleased as punch about partnering with FlashRouters. If you’re in the market for a new router, FlashRouters offers routers with your FoxyProxy account info already programmed, ready to integrate with all of your devices including things like Chromecast and Roku! Yes, with these routers you can easily stream things like the BBC iPlayer to other devices via your VPN.

 12 hour Great British Bake Off marathon, here we come!

It’s been an interesting week in the land of the Internet. No doubt you’ve read about the Apple vs. FBI  story. Support from all corners of the web has led up to an increasing back and forth between the two parties. Keep a close eye on this one, folks, as it has implications for privacy matters that involve all of us.

And then there’s China.  China is set to ban foreign media companies from publishing any content online without the government’s approval. The Ministry of Keeping You Safe From Dangerous Thoughts and Ideas (just kidding. It’s the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology) has taken steps to further tighten its control over what the Chinese people can view online. Good thing services like FoxyProxy exist, eh?

And then there’s Turkey.  China has some competition when it comes to governments meddling with its citizen’s informational affairs. Turkey has topped the list Twitter’s biannual Transparency report, coming first among nations in censorship. Just days ago, in fact, Turkey throttled access to social media in response to a bombing in Ankara.

You’ve all seen that photo of Mark Zuckerberg, moving through a pack of humans with devices strapped to their faces, triumphant grin on his face. Just for fun, here’s a collection of images to jauntily distract us from the inevitable march towards The Singularity.

Speaking of The Singularity:
Did you know it’s going to happen in 2045? It’s true.
Someone came back from the future to tell us via youtube.

Good morning! We’ve all made it through to the 7th Monday of the year. Congratulations.

First off, a reminder about our great news from last week. If you didn’t catch it, we’re partnering with FlashRouters to bring you flashed routers pre-configured to your FoxyProxy account! 

This means you can do all the things you use FoxyProxy for with any device connected to your home router, INCLUDING streaming things like the BBC iPlayer to your Chromecast or Roku.

Pretty exciting, eh? We thought so, too.

As always, here are some other cool/interesting things from through the week. Enjoy!

Why DOES your iPhone brick when set to 1970?  It’s not because it’s trying to travel back in time to the glory days of soft rock (we totally would if we could). This guy explains just what’s going on in your iPhone’s brain.

THINGMAKER MAKE THINGS FOR YOU.  The fabulously named Thingmaker is a new 3D printer designed to make toys at a pretty reasonable price. Time to get fancy with those RPG dice deigns.

PC Makers have decided what you’ll want for 2016  The Register asked Dell, Lenovo, and HP what they think buyers will be looking for this year. The answer? Shrinkage.

Instead of a conspiracy theory, you’re getting some glorious 1970’s soft rock. We couldn’t decide between James Taylor and Neil Diamond, so you get both.
You’re welcome. 

How much would you love to watch the BBC iPlayer on any device in your home, at any time, without having to configure anything?

Then have we got some news for you! FoxyProxy has partnered with FlashRouters  to provide you with wifi routers that are pre-configured to work with your FoxyProxy account! Exciting, isn’t it?

So what does this mean for a FoxyProxy user? Watch BBC iplayer on any device, at any time without configuring it. All devices using the wifi router automatically use your proxy or VPN. No need to configure your phones, laptops, tablets, PCs, and smart TVs. 

Here’s how it works. You select which wifi router you want (as low as $169), go through checkout, and then you are prompted to provide your FoxyProxy username, password, and server (details we give you when you purchase a FoxyProxy account.)

FlashRouters configures the router, then mails it to the customer. The customer plugs it in and, with zero setup, all devices that use that wifi connection are now “FoxyProxy-ified.” (including things like ChromeCast and Roku!)

So how are we able to do this? You’re probably familiar with all the firmware, bloatware, and other things which come pre-installed on many devices including TVs, computers, and phones. Wireless routers are no different. FlashRouters takes that pre-installed software and replaces it with their own custom programs. Replacing that software is called (wait for it…) “Flashing.”

FlashRouters buys off-the-shelf wifi routers, then “flashes” them with 1 of 2 open-source alternatives: Tomato Shibby or DD-WRT.  Why do they replace the manufacturer’s firmware with Tomato or DD-WRT? A few reasons:

1. Manufacturer firmware is usually just powerful enough to let you do simple things.

Router manufacturers make most of their products for non-technical users, making them simple and easy to use for the average customer, but also thereby limiting the potential of what they can really do.

Tomato and DD-WRT are much more feature-packed, and support things like VPN, increase your wireless coverage, monitor your bandwidth allocation, and keep your network as secure as humanly possible.

By using Tomato’s Advanced QoS (Quality of Service), you can even determine which of your online activities is given the most bandwidth (gaming and movie streaming can take top priority in order to avoid annoying freezes, stalls, etc), along with many other benefits. 

And DD-WRT transforms a retail, personal-class router into a powerful, multi-use, business-class router. With DD-WRT, a router’s enterprise potential can be unlocked at a home user’s price.

2. They are open-source.

So you know exactly what it’s doing. Thousands of eyes have written and reviewed the software, unlike the proprietary software that comes with wifi routers. This means there’s a much higher chance that your factory-loaded router is, or can be, compromised in some way.

There have been many cases of governments (US, China, just to name two) planting back-doors into router and networking software. In some cases, the company may be cooperating with its government, but in other cases the government physically intercepts and tampers with networking devices.

It’s true! Here are some examples:

FlashRouters has selected 4 devices for you to focus on, but any of the devices on their website can be pre-configured for FoxyProxy.

You can shop these routers HERE.

Happy Monday to you all!

It’s the fifth Monday of the year. Only 47 more to go, but hang in there. We can do this.

Good news, rugby fans! The Six Nations Championship starts this weekend. If you want to make sure you catch all the matches as they happen, we can help. We have rock solid UK, France, and Italy proxy and VPN servers which will do the trick.

If doing it yourself is more your style, we have numerous free software downloads to help you keep up with all the action.

And now for the roundup of interesting/weird/useful things! 

Netflix continues to not think things through  Netflix is moving forward with its plans for global streaming domination by announcing plans to introduce more local content, as well as bending to censorship laws in order to please restrictive governments. How they think that this won’t draw even more people using proxies and VPNs to view content isn’t really explained.

This is not a fox   The Maned Wolf looks like an awesome long legged fox, which is why I’m sharing this, but it’s not. It’s not even a real wolf. What is it? YOU DECIDE.

The US and the EU are knee deep in privacy negotiations  In case you forgot about that whole Safe Harbor debacle, the negotiations are still going strong, and could have big ramifications if they go south.

Tech experts tell the Government to chill already  Real live tech experts are telling the Government to quit the scaremongering over encryption and get a damned grip already.

NASA has given us a 360 Mars Viewer  Now you, too, can look for aliens on Mars!

Speaking of aliens on Mars, here’s a 100% true video of evidence which totally isn’t just a bunch of rocks.

We have some happy news! Fast VPN Service has chosen to list FoxyProxy as one of their World’s Leading Fast VPN Service Providers of 2016. We’re proud to remain on top of the game after 10 years of in the business and honored by their award.

Fast VPN Service is a well-known service review site whose aim is to provide for their users the latest reviews and ratings on different VPN providers. They cover many different areas, such as fastest VPN, VPN for torrenting, and more. They are constantly searching out and testing the best VPN connections worldwide to give their users the best experience possible.

They’ve reviewed and tested FoxyProxy and, based on our impressive performance, have listed us as one of their World’s Leading Fast VPN Service Providers of 2016.

Fox Fact: The Kit Fox is the smallest fox found in North America

Good morning! Congratulations, you’ve all made it to the fourth Monday of 2016. So far, so good.

We want to take a minute and remind you all that we’re doing some maintenance tomorrow.  We’ll be greasing the wheels, checking the tubes, and oiling the gears.

So tomorrow, Tuesday the 26th January at 20:00 UTC, all services will be down for maintenance. This includes all VPN and proxy service, as well as the website and support. The downtime may be as much as 3 hours, but is likely to be much shorter!

On Thursday the 28th, our support will be down, starting at 20:00 UTC, with downtime possibly as much as 3 hours, but likely to be much shorter. 

Here’s a handy UTC time zone converter so you know just when this will happen.

And now for your Monday Morning Procrastination! 

Cortana doesn’t like it when you break a promise  In a not at all creepy, invasive, or uncomfortable move, Microsoft will start rolling out its new Commitments feature. Cortana, the Windows 10 digital assistant with the soothing voice, will scan your emails and remind you to keep the promises you make to others.

Are you still digging out from the US blizzard? Here’s some great stuff to watch if you’re still snowed in or if you’ve convinced your boss that you can’t get into work. Not snowed in? Watch anyway!

And speaking of watching things Here’s a site that lets you search the global Netflix library. Happy hunting, and you know where to find us when you need a proxy for that awesome new thing you want to watch.

Did you know that the US Blizzard was geoengineered by the HAARP program? Now you do. 

Good morning, everyone! We’ve made it to the third Monday of the year. It’s been a rough one so far, in some regards.

Your blogatrix is still reeling about David Bowie, to be honest.

But in other news! You’ve all heard the rumblings about Netflix suddenly deciding that VPN and proxy usage is a no-no. Why did this happen? Who knows, but their announcement of expansion into 130 countries may have something to do with this. They have been under pressure from Hollywood for a while about restricting content and abiding by licensing agreements, so this move may be a way to placate the entertainment hand that feeds them while at the same time biting the other hand which feeds them; paying customers.

The question remains about how well they’ll be able to effectively ban the tech. But does Netflix actually WANT to do this? Or will it be making a show and a little bit of effort with the intent of quieting the folks pressuring them about international licensing? Netflix must be fully aware that the very international users it’s seeking to block account for a chunk of income it doesn’t want to lose.

Rest assured, dear foxes, that we’ll be playing this cat and mouse game to the fullest! FoxyProxy will be doing our best to stay ahead of the game to keep providing you with the service you need. We’ll be keeping a close on things as they develop.

And why not? Netflix is all part of the big conspiracy anyway.