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Tech NewsThe FCC Just Won a Huge Net Neutrality Victory in Federal Court
On Tuesday, a federal appeals court upheld the regulations behind the FCC’s latest net neutrality regulations, which hands the federal agency and net neutrality supporters a big, important victory. The issue is a contentious one that could still be appealed at the Supreme Court level, but today’s ruling certainly make the FCC pretty happy. It … Continued
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Tech News
The Web’s Creator Now Wants to Unfuck It
The web is a little fucked up right now. Governments are spying on civilians, some block specific websites, and companies like Amazon have a stranglehold on the cloud services business. But what if we could create a decentralized web, with more privacy, less government control, and less corporate influence? Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of the World … Continued
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Tech News
Teens Know the Internet Is Dark and Full of Terrors, Just Not For Them
There’s a common refrain among people of a certain age: “Wow, I’m really glad I wasn’t a teenager in the age of smartphones and Snapchat.” They’re not wrong. After polling over 10,000 18-year-olds from 25 different countries, a new UNICEF study confirms that being a teen online these days is fraught with risk, danger, and … Continued
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Tech NewsSocial Media
Vietnam Allegedly Restricted Facebook Access During Obama Visit
It was a big deal for the people of Vietnam when the President of the United States visited their country earlier this week. But sadly, posting about the event on Facebook proved rather difficult. Reuters cites sources from two activist organizations—Access Now and Viet Tan—that both claim Facebook was “restricted and at times blocked” in … Continued
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Tech News
Facebook and Microsoft Will Run the Most Badass Undersea Cable in History
Investing in undersea internet cables has been a big part of data strategy plans for tech giants in recent years. Now Microsoft and Facebook are teaming up for the mother of all cables: A 4,100-mile monster that can move 160 Tbps, which will make it the highest-capacity cable on Earth. The cable even has a … Continued
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Tech NewsGadgets
How to Give Guests Access to Your Wi-Fi Without Exposing Your Network
Most of us have a steady stream of visitors to our houses—friends, family, landlords, pizza delivery guys, Airbnb travelers—and many of them are going to want access to your wi-fi at some point. The normal process would be to hand over the passcode printed on the back of your router, but there’s actually a much … Continued
By David Nield -
Tech News
Why Is the BBC Planning to Delete 11,000 Recipes From the Internet?
News reports this morning claim that the BBC is planning to delete over 11,000 online recipes. But the internet didn’t suddenly run out of room, so what gives? The BBC itself reports that the plan is for the archived recipes to be removed from its own food website as part of a push to save … Continued
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Tech News
A Rule Change In Germany May Allow For Widespread Free WiFi
After years of being a “hotspot desert,” Germans could finally have widespread free WiFi by fall, thanks to a proposal that relaxes some online piracy guidelines. Until now, businesses—from local coffee shop owners to hotel chains—were responsible for what happened on their networks, which discouraged them from offering free WiFi out of fear that they’d … Continued
By Angela Chen -
Tech NewsHow to Build a Better Internet
I pay Time Warner Cable $70 a month for broadband that works 70-percent of the time. Just for fun, I recently upgraded to the company’s best, fastest service—300 Mbps—and guess what. After a year of speed tests, I can confidently say that I don’t get those speeds. Ever. This is all too common in the … Continued
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io9
RIP SF Signal, One of Science Fiction’s Greatest Online Watering Holes
Earlier this week, one of the best websites for the science fiction and fantasy community announced that they were shutting down: SF Signal. Founded by John DeNardo and JP Frantz in 2003, the website has been updated daily ever since, posting thousands of reviews for books, comics and movies, while also providing an indispensable morning … Continued
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Tech News
China Bans Videos of People Eating Bananas
Well, fuck. China has reportedly banned people from seductively eating bananas on film. I am devastated. According to state outlet CCTVNews, the country has banned people from live-streaming their consumption of the delicious yellow fruit. It’s supposedly part of a larger effort to crack down on “inappropriate and erotic content online,” and the regulations will … Continued
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Tech NewsLouis CK Explains Why He’s Quit the Internet
Louis CK has a long, complex and hilarious history of interacting with modern technology. But now he’s decided to quit the internet. In an interview with Conan O’Brien, he explained that he’s “grown up” and realized that his constant staring at a phone was straining his familial relationships. So he had his daughter impose a … Continued
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Tech NewsGadgets
When Your Internet Goes Out, This Smart Plug Resets Your Router Until It Works Again
When your internet goes out, resetting your wi-fi router and cable modem often seems to fix the problem. Instead of getting up from the couch to fiddle with power cords, why not let a tiny outlet adapter power cycle your hardware for you? You might balk at the ResetPlug’s $60 price tag, but it’s not … Continued
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Tech News
Radiohead Has Erased Itself From the Internet
Radiohead has left the internet. The band seems to have removed its online presence, replacing its home page with a plain white screen, deleting its Twitter and Facebook history—and sending out hard copy leaflets in the post. The Guardian points out that Radiohead.com is a blank page. On Twitter, it appears that “@Radiohead hasn’t tweeted … Continued
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Tech NewsInstagram Does Not Want This Garbage-Reporting App To Be Called Littergram
There’s a small British app that allows people to take pictures of trash on the street then report it to local authorities so that they can do something about it. But Instagram thinks that its name—Littergram—is garbage. Instagram’s lawyers have apparently told Littergram’s owner Danny Lucas that the name is “not acceptable,” according to the … Continued
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Tech NewsCommerce
Amazon Is Taking More Fake Reviewers to Court
Amazon takes its reviews seriously. That much is clear from the multiple lawsuits the company has already filed against websites offering fake Amazon reviews. The latest round of legal action just reinforces that you probably shouldn’t mess with Amazon’s reviews system. Amazon’s beef isn’t with fake reviewers, per se—it’s with the dealers, the websites that … Continued
By Chris Mills -
io9Television
FCC Chairman Just Gave the Nightmare Charter-Time Warner Cable Merger a Thumbs Up
In a completely frustrating, but not all that surprising, piece of news, FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler is recommending that the commission approve Charter Communications’ plan to buy Time Warner. This could make things so much worse. Wheeler claimed in a statement that the proposal “outlines a number of conditions in place for seven years that … Continued
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Tech News
One of Google’s Loon Balloons Crashed in Chile
The internet is down in part of Chile, quite literally. One of Google’s data-spewing Loon balloons appears to have crashed in the South American country over the weekend. The balloon seems to have landed in a farmer’s field east of Los Ángeles (not that one, no, the one in Chile). Google tells the local press … Continued
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Tech News
Child Porn Is Being Hidden in Legal Porn Sites and It Could Land You in Trouble
Your favorite porn sites may not be quite what they appear. A report by the Internet Watch Foundation reveals that there’s been a rise in the practice of storing child abuse images within otherwise legal porn sites—and it warns that it could put regular porn viewers at risk of prosecution. The Foundation explains that the … Continued
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Tech NewsSploidHere Are 10 Original Movie Scenes That Became Popular Memes
Ever wondered what exact scene condescending Willy Wonka came from or what Buzz and Woody were talking about in that Toy Story everywhere meme? Wonder no more. Here are 10 original movie scenes that became memes thanks to the power of the Internet and the curious filtration system it uses to transform ordinary scenes into … Continued
By Casey Chan