Forgetful Facebook users and wannabe-burglars can now rest a little easier at night knowing that they can remotely log themselves out if they accidentally left logged-in sessions in other locations. Facebook users will soon be able to see where else they might be logged on, adding another layer of security to the social networking service.

Some of you may know the scenario all too well: you log into your Facebook account at your friend's place or your parents' house to check an event page or post a quick update. Then you forget to log out before you leave, which you realize after your friend has posted 30 penis photos to your profile wall. If you think this doesn't really happen, think again: members of the Ars staff are constantly finding logged-in Facebook accounts at places like the Apple Store, and we aren't always able to resist the temptation to post a (polite, but) embarrassing update to the user's profile, reminding them to log out next time.

You'll be able to go to Account > Account Settings > Account Security in order to see which devices are currently logged into Facebook as you. (The feature is slowly rolling out to all users, so it may not be available on every account just yet.) There, Facebook will provide a list of active sessions along with as much device and location info as it can gather.

You then get the choice to "end" each session by logging it out, and there are extra steps you can take if those sessions aren't your own doing. "In the unlikely case that someone accesses your account without your permission, you can shut down the unauthorized login before resetting your password and taking other steps to secure your account and computer," the Facebook team wrote on its blog.

This update follows one from earlier this year that allows Facebook users to authenticate each device they want to use to log into their accounts. When someone tries to log into a locked-down account on a new device, Facebook will ask a series of questions to ensure the user is who she says she is. And, Facebook says these features are just the beginning: "Stay tuned over the coming weeks and months for more improvements," says Facebook.

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"Men," said he, "must have corrupted nature a little, for they were not born wolves, and they have become wolves." —Voltaire, Candide

One of the less pleasant aspects of our online Age of Anxiety is that most of us now get anonymous e-mails on a daily basis from people who, given their druthers, would rob us silly as fast as technologically possible. Of late, I've been getting a frenzy of bogus missives thanking me for the five thousand dollars or so worth of software, gadgets, self-help books, and lingerie I supposedly purchased on a famous online shopping service over the last five minutes.

Of course, if this message was a mistake, I'm helpfully directed to an online form, where, upon disclosing my credit card data, someone will presumably clean my financial clock in nanoseconds.

What fun. Good to know that there are so many people out there who care. But better to know what the most common scams look like. Here is security vendor Panda's new list of the biggest Web scams of the decade.

Google says that it plans to keep the site for Google Wave online "at least" through the end of 2010, and existing users will be able to export their waves before the whole thing turns into a pumpkin. The news comes as a relief to the small group of users who actually utilized Wave during its short lifespan; those who want Wave to live on will be disappointed by Google's determination to shut off the service.

Google introduced Wave in May of 2009 as a way for users to collaborate using a plethora of media capabilities. Some users were cautiously optimistic—the concept was certainly a unique one and it had some potential to change how we communicate online. Others felt that the implementation was half-baked, the UI was complex and ugly, and most users simply couldn't figure out what it was. There were lots of reasons not to use it, and Google finally pulled the plug on the project in early August.

Immediately following the announcement that Wave was no more, some passionate fans started putting together online petitions to beg Google to keep the project around. Unfortunately for those people, Google isn't giving in, but the company is throwing them a bone by letting them export their waves through the end of the year.

Google Wave team member Lars Rasmussen wrote that the team is still "working on plans," which may include extending Wave's technology into other products or open sourcing more of the code. But in the meantime, "We're grateful to all the people who have been using Wave and the partners and developers who have built on and improved the technology with us," Rasmussen wrote.

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You know the feeling: opening up your e-mail to find hundreds of messages of varying importance. Some are automated reminders from your favorite sites, some are newsletters you have subscribed to, some are actually from real people trying to contact you, and so on. Separating the wheat from the chaff can be overwhelming much of the time, and even the most carefully crafted filters don't keep up with the ever-changing nature of what's important to you.

Google is hoping to address that problem with a new feature in Gmail called Priority Inbox. Aimed at providing users a way to get through their inboxes as efficiently as possible, Priority Inbox tries to learn your e-mail habits in order to decide which messages are important to you, and move them up to the top where you can see them first.

The Financial Times is reporting that Google is in talks with major Hollywood studios to bring streaming movie rentals from their catalogs to YouTube by the end of the year. Citing multiple sources with knowledge of the plans, the FT claims that the YouTube on-demand video service will probably launch first in the US, and will offer movies, simultaneous with the DVD release, for about $5.

The movies won't be downloadable, so you'll need a live Internet connection to watch them. But the lack of a download capability isn't as big of a deal as you might think at first. The recently launched Google TV platform, which brings YouTube directly to Internet-connected televisions, presumes a constant Internet connection, so the rumored streaming rental model is a perfect fit for it.

Unbeknownst to most users, YouTube has actually been offering streaming movie rentals from a number of smaller studios since January. YouTube then began quietly expanding the service to a wider number of content partners, adding not just indie films but some major movie releases to its catalog. What will launch later in the year, then, will presumably be a version of the service with most or all of the major studios on board.

The FT's story comes at a time when Apple is set to make a major music-related announcement next week, amid rumors of an A4-based AppleTV built around a new streaming platform.

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Paul Allen, entrepreneur and cofounder of Microsoft, has filed a lawsuit against 11 companies for infringements on his Web search patents. Announced on Friday afternoon, the suit names Apple, Google, Facebook, Netflix, YouTube, and Microsoft partner Yahoo as defendants for violating four Interval Licensing LLC patents, though the court will likely have to weigh whether the patents in question are "obvious" or not.

The patents revolve around three main concepts: browser use for navigating through information, managing a user's peripheral attention while using a device, and alerting users to items of current interest. They collectively address the general concept of presenting searched-for information to a user along with related news articles, media (such as music or videos), status updates from friends, or data (such as stock or weather info).

Movie studios are extending their efforts to take down sites that offer pirated material, with a new lawsuit targeting an advertising company that provides services to such sites. Warner Bros. and Disney have teamed up to sue Triton Media, accusing the company of both contributory and induced copyright infringement because Triton helps to keep the sites alive by providing them with advertising and referral income.

Warner and Disney say that Triton has relationships with at least nine sites that they consider to be "one-stop-shops" for illegal copies of the studios' work. The list is made up of mostly no-name sites, such as free-tv-video-online.info, watch-movies-links.net, and thepiratecity.org. According to the complaint, Triton and the nine sites basically had a symbiotic relationship—both sides allegedly profited from the distribution of pirated works, and Triton made it possible by offering "material assistance" to the websites.