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Industry The Web

Democrats introduce bill to ban paid prioritization of Internet traffic

Amid the ongoing public debate over net neutrality, a group of democratic US lawmakers yesterday introduced legislation that would ban ISPs from charging Web content generators for the so-called "fast lanes" -- deals similar to the recent agreement between Netflix…

By Himanshu Arora, June 18, 2014, 11:30 AM 43 comments

Mobile Computing Industry

Comcast turns residential routers into public Wi-Fi hotspots in Houston

Comcast’s initiative to turn residential wireless routers into public Wi-Fi hotspots has taken a major step forward this week as the company flipped the switch on 50,000 routers in the Houston, Texas, area. Another 100,000 hotspots are expected to go live…

By Shawn Knight, June 11, 2014, 2:45 PM 34 comments

The Web

Microsoft's vision of the 'smart home' from 1999 was stunningly accurate

Back in 1999, Microsoft released a promotional video detailing its vision of a futuristic “smart home.” Clips from the past like these are usually good for some laughs as the predictions presented typically prove to be way off the mark…

By Shawn Knight, June 5, 2014, 6:45 AM 6 comments

The Web Industry

Net Neutrality: Here's all you need to know about it, in a hilarious yet informative video

For over two years we've kept you up to date on the subject of net neutrality, a crucial discussion for anyone who cares about the internet as we know it, but at the same time a complex and tedious topic. If you've…

By Julio Franco, June 3, 2014, 2:00 PM 6 comments

The Web Industry

Google planning to spend $1B on Internet satellites, says WSJ

Google is planning to spend more than $1 billion on low-Earth orbit satellites to bring internet access to unwired regions of the globe, according to the Wall Street Journal. Details are scarce at this time, but it is being speculated that the…

By Himanshu Arora, June 2, 2014, 9:13 AM 4 comments

The Web Industry

Could your Internet access and emails be taxed? Luckily, it's not a popular political move, at all

The Internet Tax Freedom Act of 1998 is set to expire on November 1, which means internet access and usage in the US could soon be taxed for the first time. Combined with efforts to standardize a sales tax on…

By Elizabeth Harper, May 23, 2014, 3:45 PM

Microsoft The Web

Zero Day Initiative issues advisory about an unpatched security vulnerability in IE8

Microsoft hasn't fixed a critical IE8 security flaw that was reported to the company back in October 2013, according to an advisory published yesterday by HP’s Zero Day Initiative (ZDI). The bug was discovered by Belgian researcher Peter Van Eeckhoutte. …

By Himanshu Arora, May 22, 2014, 9:32 AM

Industry The Web

Top ISPs warn FCC against adopting more regulations of broadband lines

The US' biggest telecommunications providers have warned the FCC against reclassifying and regulating the internet as a public utility. They want the agency to avoid Title II reclassification of the internet, and stick to its original plan that allows ISPs…

By Himanshu Arora, May 14, 2014, 12:00 PM 8 comments

The Web

Nearly 40 percent of the world's population will be online by the end of the year

Around 40 percent of the world’s population will be online by the end of this year. Two-thirds of the nearly 3 billion Internet users will be from the developing world with mobile broadband penetration coming in at roughly 32 percent…

By Shawn Knight, May 7, 2014, 3:00 PM 5 comments

Industry

Netflix signs traffic deal with Verizon following Comcast agreement last month

Netflix has reached an agreement with Verizon that will allow the streaming service to connect directly with the provider’s network instead of having to route traffic through third-party content delivery companies. Terms of the deal weren’t disclosed. …

By Shawn Knight, April 29, 2014, 7:15 AM

Industry

AT&T to offer in-flight Internet service starting late next year

AT&T is throwing its name into the hat of companies aiming to offer in-flight Internet service. The telecommunications company on Monday revealed plans to launch a high-speed connectivity service late next year that will be powered by a new air-to-ground…

By Shawn Knight, April 28, 2014, 6:30 PM

Industry

AT&T roadmap outlines plan to bring fiber to 100 U.S. cities

AT&T on Monday published a roadmap that aims to bring fiber Internet connectivity to 100 cities and municipalities across the country. The service would deliver U-Verse TV and broadband speeds of up to 1 gigabit per second to both consumers…

By Shawn Knight, April 21, 2014, 4:00 PM 15 comments

Weekend Open Forum

Weekend Open Forum: How fast is your home internet connection?

Here in Australia, our internet infrastructure isn't fantastic, with most premises relying on ADSL2+ connections that are physically capped at 24 Mbit/s and limited by the distance you are from the local exchange. Many people are stuck with relatively slow…

By Tim Schiesser, April 18, 2014, 7:15 PM 116 comments

Industry

Google acquisition of drone maker Titan Aerospace will lift Project Loon to new heights

Google has agreed to purchase drone maker Titan Aerospace for an undisclosed sum, the company confirmed on Monday. The company and its 20 or so employees will remain in New Mexico and operations will continue as usual according to Google…

By Shawn Knight, April 14, 2014, 5:00 PM

Industry

Google's Project Loon hot air balloon goes around the world in 22 days

Google’s Project Loon is off to a flying start – quite literally. The search giant recently revealed that one of its hot air balloons did a full lap around the world in just 22 days – far more efficient than…

By Shawn Knight, April 4, 2014, 11:45 AM

Industry

Nine out of 10 Americans now use the Internet, latest survey finds

The World Wide Web is set to celebrate its 25th anniversary in just a few short weeks. The occasion provided Pew Research with a timely opportunity to gauge the impact of the rapid growth of the Internet since its inception.

By Shawn Knight, February 27, 2014, 6:15 PM

The Web Mobile Computing

Australia's 4G is the fastest in the world, US' ranks second slowest

Users of 4G LTE in the US: Your last-gen network isn't as fast as you think. British research firm OpenSignal, which specializes in wireless coverage mapping, has released a report which states that Australia has the fastest 4G Internet speed…

By Himanshu Arora, February 21, 2014, 3:30 PM 22 comments

Industry

Google selects 34 cities for possible Google Fiber expansion

Google has sent out formal invitations to nearly three dozen cities in nine metro areas across the country to explore what it would take to build fiber-optic networks in those communities. A number of the cities in question petitioned Google…

By Shawn Knight, February 19, 2014, 6:45 PM 24 comments

The Web Industry

What happened to the much talked about IPv4 address crisis?

Back in February 2011, when the global Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) allocated the last blocks of IPv4 address space to the five regional Internet registries (that further distribute IP addresses), many experts warned of a fast approaching crisis that would…

By Himanshu Arora, February 18, 2014, 10:30 AM 13 comments

Industry

Three in five US households with broadband also own a connected TV

A new report from TDG Research suggests that if you have a broadband connection but don’t own an Internet-connected television, you’re now part of the minority. A full 63 percent of all US broadband households now own such a device…

By Shawn Knight, February 14, 2014, 4:30 PM 8 comments

The Web

Google is working to provide 10 gigabit Internet speeds

According to a USA Today report, Google is working on increasing data transfer speeds for its Fiber Internet service by 10 times. Patrick Pichette, Chief Financial Officer at Google, announced during the Goldman Sachs Technology and Internet conference that developers…

By Himanshu Arora, February 14, 2014, 3:30 PM 10 comments

The Web

EU calls for less US controlled internet with web globalization proposal

Following news of NSA surveillance operations along with years worth of concern regarding US control over the internet, the EU has set forth new proposals calling for globalization of the net. Among suggestions of a much more global internet management…

By Justin Kahn, February 12, 2014, 1:15 PM 3 comments

The Web

These are the worst countries when it comes to throttling BitTorrent traffic

Back in 2009 Google and a group of partners formed the Measurement Lab (M-Lab) platform, an open project of distributed servers meant to help researchers gauge just how well an internet connection is working, and conversely help customers determine if…

By Jose Vilches, January 24, 2014, 4:30 PM 21 comments

Industry

Intel sells Internet television project to Verizon

Verizon has agreed to purchase Intel’s Internet television venture. The project from Intel Media, which was to include a set-top box, never got off the ground as the chip maker was unable to secure content deals – a dilemma that…

By Shawn Knight, January 21, 2014, 11:45 AM

Industry The Web

Net neutrality update and a potential future of selective data capping and Internet price gouging

Live in the United States? Enjoy being able to stream and browse the Internet to your cold little heart's content? Don't want your Internet costs to go up? It's time to start thinking about what could be one of this generation's biggest issues for gamers: net neutrality.

By Julio Franco, January 17, 2014, 12:09 AM 33 comments

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