News

Before another court challenge, a slew of experts explain why the FCC’s net neutrality rules won’t work.

In August of 2015, a diverse collection of engineers, economists, civil rights organizations, manufacturers, businesses and legal scholars filed briefs with the Washington, D.C. Court of Appeals arguing why the Internet should not be subject to the Federal Communications Commission’s new open Internet rules – regulations copy-pasted from the telephone network of the 1930s. The briefs highlighted several arguments against the FCC’s decision, including the negative impact on the future of health care and education, First Amendment violations and how the new rules harm digitally underserved and unserved communities. All told, a broad cross section of Americans told the court that the unelected agency’s misguided decision will diminish America’s world-class Internet, unless it’s overturned. (more…)

One sparkler is fun, but 10,000 igniting at the same time is something you have to see.  It may be tough to get a hold of ordinance like sky-rockets, roman candles, and fire crackers these days.  But, sparklers are a bit more easily attained.  Get a few (hundred) boxes and you can ring in the New Year with a bang! (more…)

Few things are as exciting as shooting something out of a cannon…but try shooting a GoPro using a 3D-printed projectile!  This very cool video is going viral as hell, showing two guys doing just that.  David and Ryan, created a homemade cannon with their GoPro as a cannon ball.  The footage it shoots on its way up, and then back down where they catch it, is astounding! (more…)

Sidecar has announced it’s shutting down at the end of the year. Company chief executive Sunil Paul explained in a Medium post (not the company’s official blog, strangely) that the move was intended to help pave the way so his team could “work on strategic alternatives and lay the groundwork for the next big thing.” All ride and delivery operations will shut down at 2 p.m. Pacific time on December 31, 2015.
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While he’s technically on paternity leave, he couldn’t sit idly by as India attempts to halt Internet.org, Facebook’s initiative to provide free but limited internet to the developing world.

Last week, the Times of India reported that the country’s telecom regulatory body had asked Facebook’s partner, wireless carrier Reliance, to cease the Internet.org service as it determines whether operators should be able to price their services based on content. Responding to criticisms of the program, Zuckerberg penned an op-ed published Dec. 28 in the English-language daily. In it, he expressed annoyance that India is debating net neutrality—a principle dictating that telecom operators provide people with equal access to the internet—as the country struggles to connect its citizens to the internet.

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EE has decided to take on rivals including BT and TalkTalk with its own set-top box and TV platform

UK – In a bid to take on the likes of BT and TalkTalk, mobile network EE has announced its own EE TV set-top box which will rival YouView. The device is available now from EE stores nationwide and here’s what you need to know about getting one, it’s price and features. (more…)

The Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) new rules on net neutrality may ban paid prioritization, aka Internet fast lanes, but TV streamers are reportedly looking for loopholes to help them get around the rules to be put in effect in a few months.

HBO, Sony and Showtime reportedly want special treatment from Internet service providers (ISPs) as a way to avoid bandwidth data caps and Internet congestion as more and more people start streaming movies and TV shows online. This is according to a new report by the Wall Street Journal, which cites people familiar with the matter who say that the companies have reportedly been in discussions with Comcast and other ISPs to have their TV streaming services treated as “managed” services. (more…)

CES 2015 (Las Vegas) – TV makers are now catering to online viewers with 4k display TVs.

People are watching TV, but less and less each year.  The dramatic shift toward online and mobile viewing is driving television set makers to design as much for streaming video as for watching broadcast or cable channels. (more…)

What is “Goliath” and why are Hollywood’s most powerful lawyers working to kill it?

Leaked emails from the hack against Sony show that major movie companies are working together with the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) on a project aimed to stop a company known as “Goliath.”

It’s pretty clear they’re referring to Google. (more…)

Last month, hackers infiltrated the computer network of Sony Pictures Entertainment. The attackers stole a huge number of confidential documents, which are now being downloaded (primarily by journalists) from file-sharing networks. Since then, journalists have been poring through the files looking for tabloid-worthy information.

The FBI, and Obama Administration, have now formally accused North Korea’s government of being responsible but offered few hints about how or whether it would retaliate. Its proof: The U.S. detected communications between computer Internet addresses known to be operated by North Korea and hacking tools left behind at the crime scene, which the FBI also said contained subtle clues linking them to that country’s government. (more…)

2 percent of Americans can’t even get 3Mbps!

More than one quarter of American homes have not adopted Internet service, many citing cost as their primary reason. Since market competition can significantly affect consumer prices, we set out to ask: how many Internet service providers (ISPs) are available to consumers at different levels of download speeds? – Department of Commerce

Though some pockets of the US have a competitive market for ultra-fast broadband, a new government report shows that Internet service of at least 100Mbps is limited, and where it exists there is usually just one provider that offers it. (more…)

In an article today on GigaOM.com the author discusses the concept of how browsing HTML based sites is shrinking as a percentage.  Although the Internet is used as a conduit for connecting users to content and software, the number of folks actually browsing random websites is definitely shrinking.  Gigaom does passively discount the idea that browsing may soon be dead, with the cavelier phrase “it’s complicated” in their title.  However, there is no doubt users are basically pushed content these days.  And, control of this medium is definitely in play. (more…)

Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba will debut this morning on the New York Stock Exchange as the biggest public offering of all time. The company founded by Jack Ma in 1999, will raise as much as $22 billion.

The historic IPO was set to price at $68 a share, but quickly shot to over $92/share! The company will have a market capitalization of $168 billion. Alibaba will be listed under the ticker ‘BABA’. (more…)

As predicted in our recent article, How to Cancel Cable and Save with Free TV, cable companies starting to lose TV subscribers as consumers find better alternatives to cable TV.  We can now safely say that folks are listening, and jumping off the triple-play bandwagon. (more…)

About 20 years ago, the AOL startup disc was as ubiquitous as McDonald’s locations. In the era before broadband, AOL was the most dominant Internet service provider with more than 126 million subscribers. I actually worked for PeoplePC for a period of time, and we had the same direct mail initiatives. At that time CD’s were an awesome way to attract new subscribers. (more…)