Pebble: More than 1 million smartwatches sold
Pebble has sold more than 1 million smartwatches, the company said Monday. The milestone was reached on December 31, a company rep confirmed with CNET. The sales figure is up dramatically from the 400,000 sold as of last March, CEO Eric Migicovsky told The Verge. A price drop last fall may have helped boost […]
FCC redefines advanced broadband as 25 Mbps; Republicans blow a gasket
The U.S. Federal Communications Commission has redefined advanced broadband as having 25Mbps download speeds, up from 4Mbps, giving the agency new authority to pass rules to encourage deployment across the country. The FCC, in a 3-2 party-line vote Thursday, also determined that this newly-defined advanced broadband wasn’t being rolled out in a timely manner […]
China Further Tightens Grip on the Internet
BEIJING — Jing Yuechen, the founder of an Internet start-up here in the Chinese capital, has no interest in overthrowing the Communist Party. But these days she finds herself cursing the nation’s smothering cyberpolice as she tries — and fails — to browse photo-sharing websites like Flickr and struggles to stay in touch with the […]
Congress should let cities provide their own Internet
PRESIDENT OBAMA made it a point to highlight the importance of providing high-speed Internet access to all Americans in his State of the Union address last week. No one disagrees with the sentiment. The method he proposed, however — removing legislative barriers that prevent some cities and towns from creating their own Internet networks — […]
Cuban youth build secret computer network despite Wi-Fi ban
Cut off from the Internet, young Cubans have quietly linked thousands of computers into a hidden network that stretches miles across Havana, letting them chat with friends, play games and download hit movies in a mini-replica of the online world that most can’t access. HAVANA — Home Internet connections are banned for all but a handful […]
Opinion: Show us your internet search history if you’ve got nothing to hide
It’s surely time to ask whether we’ve got the balance right between openness and protection. “I guess seeing your passwords on someone else’s computer screen generates some strong feelings,” cyber expert Markus Alkio said to me, as I stared at the results of what he’d managed to dig up. He was right. After two weeks […]
Google Chairman Eric Schmidt: “The Internet Will Disappear”
Google executive chairman Eric Schmidt on Thursday predicted the end of the Internet as we know it. At the end of a panel at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, where his comments were webcast, he was asked for his prediction on the future of the web. “I will answer very simply that the […]
Elon Musk Wants To Bring The Internet To Mars
Elon Musk announced on Friday that he wants to build a second internet in outer space that may be able to stretch all the way to Mars one day, according to Bloomberg Businessweek. This space network would be much faster than the internet we experience today, Musk said to Businessweek as a SpaceX event […]
Obama calls for expanding broadband Internet
CEDAR FALLS, Iowa — President Obama bit the hand that helped to fund his re-election Wednesday, criticizing big cable companies for holding monopolies in many communities and calling for faster broadband Internet service across America. Many Americans are “pretty much at the whim of whatever Internet provider is around,” Mr. Obama said. “Meanwhile, you’re wondering […]
Obama turns focus to Internet security, privacy
President Barack Obama will highlight plans next week to protect American consumers and businesses from cyber threats, a month after the most high-profile hacking attack on a U.S. company. Internet security became a national focus after a cyberattack on Sony Pictures that Washington blamed on North Korea. The attack and subsequent threats of violence […]
Govt considering Internet, smartphones for 2020 census
The days of the census taker with clipboard in hand may be numbered. The Census Bureau plans to test digital tools in preparation for the 2020 census, a change that could save millions of dollars. People may be asked to fill out their census forms on the Internet instead of sending them through the […]
The Internet of Things now has a gun
We’ve talked plenty about how the Internet of Things has become the biggest category at CES — a broad descriptor that basically means “everything is connected.” Sometimes that’s a flowerpot. One day it might be chairs. The Internet of Things’s logical conclusion is The Internet of Everything. And that includes guns. TrackingPoint is an Austin […]
CES 2015: Warning over data grabbed by smart gadgets
A “deeply personal” picture of every consumer could be grabbed by futuristic smart gadgets, the chair of the US Federal Trade Commission has warned. Speaking at CES, Edith Ramirez said a future full of smart gadgets that watch what we do posed a threat to privacy. The collated data could create a false impression if given […]
DRONE FILMS MAN CHANGING A LIGHTBULB 1,500 FEET ABOVE THE GROUND
On the great windswept plains of South Dakota rises a tower in stark mockery of the flat environment around it. Once that tower, so tall and so sudden, relayed television to viewers in the Mount Rushmore state. Now defunct, it is 1,500 vertical feet of hazard for any aircraft in the area when […]
Google Fiber, Comcast’s nightmare come to life
What’s every incumbent ISP’s worst nightmare? If we had to guess, it looks something like the filing that Google just made with the Federal Communications Commission. As The Wall Street Journal reports, Google this week told the FCC that reclassifying broadband providers under Title II of the Telecommunications Act would have a big side benefit […]
Want to see broadband’s future? Check out the airline industry
A New Yorker explainer on why the airlines want to make you suffer has been making the social media rounds. It’s an excellent case study in how the airlines have created a miserable experience for passengers so they can build a profitable business based on charging fees for bags, early boarding and better seats. […]
F.C.C. Backs Opening Net Neutrality Rules for Debate
F.C.C. Backs Opening Net Neutrality Rules for Debate WASHINGTON — Federal regulators appear to share one view about so-called net neutrality: It is a good thing. But defining net neutrality? That is where things get messy. On Thursday, the Federal Communications Commission voted 3-2 to open for public debate new rules meant to guarantee […]
AT&T could become a television giant, too, with a $50 billion DirecTV merger
AT&T could become a television giant, too, with a $50 billion DirecTV merger The rumors keep escalating. AT&T might be willing to pay $100 a share to acquire DirecTV, one of the nation’s few satellite TV operators, according to Bloomberg. The deal would amount to about $50 billion. That’s a staggering figure, particularly when you consider […]
Comcast plans data limits for all customers
Comcast is considering imposing monthly usage limits for all of its Internet customers. David Cohen, executive vice president of America’s largest cable company, predicted at a conference Wednesday that in five years’ time, the company will have “a usage-based billing model rolled out across its footprint.” That means Comcast (CMCSA, Fortune 500) customers could only […]
CABLE PROVIDERS, ISPS RANK DEAD LAST FOR CUSTOMER SERVICE
CABLE PROVIDERS, ISPS RANK DEAD LAST FOR CUSTOMER SERVICE The bottom of the barrel in this survey from Temkin Group is a who’s who of TV and Internet providers: Charter, Cox, TWC, Comcast, Verizon, AT&T… Cable TV and Internet providers aren’t scoring well with their customers, at least according to a report out […]