Not as SPDY as you thought SPDY is awesome. It’s the first real upgrade to HTTP in 10+ years, it tackles high latency mobile networks performance issues and it makes the web more secure. SPDY is different than HTTP in many ways, but its primary value comes from being able to multiplex many requests/responses from client to server over a single (or few) TCP connections. Previous benchmarks tout great benefits, ranging from making pages load 2x faster to making mobile sites 23% faster using SPDY and HTTPS than over clear HTTP. However... Guypo
Hybrid drives already passe, as SSD sales skyrocket Hybrid drives, which combine NAND flash with spinning disk, may still be a nascent technology, but their lifespan could be cut short by a lack of interest from consumers and computer manufacturers. A new report from IHS iSuppli shows that while sales of hybrid drives are expected to double over the next year, that increase is unremarkable compared with sales of pure solid-state drives (SSDs), which are expected to skyrocket 2,660%. Computerworld
Die, contracts! Prepaid mobile phone use surges Whether we like it or not, my wife and I recently became statistics. About eight weeks ago, we moved back to California after spending two years in Germany. We had a suspended T-Mobile USA contract while we were away and were likely going to re-activate it on our unlocked iPhones upon our return. But knowing that we’d only get EDGE speeds on our phones back in the US, it didn’t seem worth it to pay well north of $100 for two phones per month. Ars Technica
Has Commodore Amiga flopped.....again? If you are old and bald like me, or even just heard the creaky old graybeards yammering on then you might have heard about the Amiga computer. This was the computer which was far ahead of it's time yet, due to mismanagement, flopped like a fish out of water and lasted almost as long. The business has been sold, resold and is now trying to make a comeback by bringing out old/new computers. Toolbox
What Facebook knows If Facebook were a country, a conceit that founder Mark Zuckerberg has entertained in public, its 900 million members would make it the third largest in the world. It would far outstrip any regime past or present in how intimately it records the lives of its citizens. Private conversations, family photos, and records of road trips, births, marriages, and deaths all stream into the company's servers and lodge there. Technology Review
Fight or flight: The neuroscience of survival horror Fear is one of the most primitive instincts in humans. Although it has been particularly useful in keeping us alive in dangerous situations, it has also helped the entertainment industry capitalize on our sheer joy of being scared. The video game industry has done a good amount of scaring by taking advantage of these emotions and employing them in gameplay narrative and design. Gamasutra
Google Maps vs. Apple Maps: A side-by-side comparison The biggest change -- among many -- in iOS 6 will undoubtedly be Apple's new Maps app. And though its turn-by-turn directions, Flyover and oh so sweet Siri look promising, the real question is how Apple's maps will compare to Google's. Here's a side by side comparison of the two, so you can see for yourself. It may have you wishing Apple hadn't gone it alone quite yet. Gizmodo
Websites to be forced to identify trolls under new measures New government proposals say victims have a right to know who is behind malicious messages without the need for costly legal battles. The powers will be balanced by measures to prevent false claims in order to get material removed. But privacy advocates are worried websites might end up divulging user details in a wider range of cases. BBC
Intel dismisses ‘x86 tax’, sees no future for ARM or any of its competitors Walking cautiously through the automatic revolving door of a swanky, black, shiny, minimalist hotel in London, the first thing I notice about Mike Bell, Intel’s chief of mobile, is that he’s large. Sitting on a chair in the lobby, Bell’s head is framed by his knees. Standing up to shake my hand, he towers over me -- and I’m 6’5″. ExtremeTech
Functioning Apple 1 sells for $375,000 at Sotheby's auction A functioning Apple 1 computer, one of the first 200 computers sold by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak, sold for $374,500 including the 12% buyer's premium at a Sotheby's auction in New York. The Apple 1 originally sold for $666.66. The BBC notes that only about 50 Apple 1's still exist and only a handful actually work. MacRumors
Snuff: Murder and torture on the internet, and the people who watch it Most people had never heard of Luka Magnotta… until a severed human hand and foot were mailed to Canadian government officials. But by the time the 29-year old alleged killer was arrested in an Internet café in Germany less than a week later on June 4th, his name and back-story were infamous. The Verge
The Amazon effect From the start, Jeff Bezos wanted to "get big fast." He was never a "small is beautiful" kind of guy. The Brobdingnagian numbers tell much of the story. In 1994, four years after the first Internet browser was created, Bezos stumbled upon a startling statistic: the Internet had been growing at the rate of 2,300 percent annually. The Nation
Get used to ‘overage’ fees on your Internet bill, Canada A global Internet industry forecast released Tuesday contains a subtle message for the many Canadian Internet subscribers who’ve been billed "overage" fees after they unwittingly exceeded their monthly data allotment -- get used to it. Financial Post
StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm Is 99% complete StarCraft II's next expansion doesn't have an official release date yet, but its creators say it's almost crossed the finish line. Speaking to lead designer Dustin Browder in a phone interview this afternoon, I asked how close the team was to completing the game. Kotaku
