The U.S. Federal Communications Commission has denied the requests of several broadband providers and trade groups asking the agency to delay its net neutrality rules.The FCC, late Friday, denied petitions for a stay of its net neutrality rules from Daniel Berninger, founder of the nonprofit Voice Communication Exchange Committee, the American Cable Association, the National Cable and Telecommunications Association, USTelecom, the Wireless Internet Service Providers Association, AT&T and CenturyLink.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Some Flickr users are reporting problems with the photo sharing site that may be related to what browser they’re using—even if the browser’s up to date.Since late last month, some users have reported problems after seeing a message telling them their browser was unsupported. Some say they’ve lost the ability to do things on Flickr, like comment on or download photos, while others say their photos now appear in lower resolution.On April 21, Flickr began notifying users they would need the latest browser versions. The service supports Firefox, Chrome, Safari, Internet Explorer and Opera, but its help page now says Flickr may not work properly on older versions of those browsers.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Edgar Antillon, owner of a Colorado barbecue joint called Rubbin’ Buttz, had a dumb idea that he says started as a “joke:” Let’s declare June 11 “White Appreciation Day,” complete with a 10% discount for white customers. A scribbled sign was posted on the door.And then, since not everyone finds racism funny, some took it out on the Rubbin’ Buttz website.
It’s difficult to tell from a small sample size whether Antillon is as racist as his “joke” would indicate or merely a dunderhead without an ounce of common sense. Despite a wave of criticism, the eatery’s Facebook page indicates that he’s sticking to his guns, so the answer may be both.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
The operator of a so-called revenge porn website has pleaded no contest to criminal charges, including extortion, in a California court.Casey Meyering, operator of WinByState.com, pleaded no contest Friday in Napa County Superior Court to one count of extortion, three counts of attempted extortion, and one count of conspiracy, California Attorney General Kamala Harris announced.WinByState.com encouraged users to post and trade nude photographs of women, including their ex-girlfriends and current girlfriends. WinByState.com asked uploaders to identify their “wins” by city and state, sometimes using the victim’s complete or partial name. At one point, the website claimed to have more than 60,000 members and more than 30,000 pictures posted.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
There's been talk for years of a more accurate Global Positioning System. The current GPS system tells you roughly where you are, but it's only accurate to within a few feet. That vagueness means that although it's fine for mapping, it isn't good enough for narrowly targeted proximity or geo-fencing that can be used in e-commerce.Existing GPS has been used in toll-road billing, and has been fine-tuned for surveying with large, expensive antennas, but it's currently not much good for tracking customers as they choose a concert seat, for example.Galileo
The European Space Agency is building a new, highly-accurate system called Galileo that they say will be fully functional by about 2020.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
In the near future, you may hear about the appointment of a Chief Internet of Things (IoT) Officer. Before you roll your eyes and chortle at the thought of another chief-of-something, consider the problem.First, companies are beginning to make and implement smart, connected, data-producing products. That can be anything -- automobiles, assembly line robots, washing machines and even coffee makers. This data can be used in predictive analytics to avoid product failures, as well as to schedule maintenance around when a product actually needs it. These products, mechanical and electronic, will likely get ongoing software updates.INSIDER: 5 ways to prepare for Internet of Things security threats
Second, connected products are now part of a broader system. Or as Michael Porter, a Harvard economist, pointed out at this week's ThingWorx conference, you aren't just selling a tractor, you are selling a tractor that is becoming part of a smart farm, a system. Things have to be able to work together.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Surgical robot can be taken over by hackersThe dark underside of the revolution in medical technology is that security is usually an afterthought, if it’s considered at all. Now researchers at the University of Washington have proved another nightmare scenario by taking over a tele-operated surgical robot, Computerworld reports. One of the problems is that the device communicates with the remote control console using a publicly available protocol that’s easy to hijack.NSA data dragnet broke the law, appeals court rulesTo read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
What’s cool?The Internet of Things presents unique challenges to businesses considering the secure use of these devices. Gartner has taken a look at some of the vendors trying to address these concerns and has designated four of them cool. It’s not an exhaustive list, Gartner says, but it highlights interesting, new and innovative vendors, products and services.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
A U.S. appeals court judge shredded the government’s defense of an extensive National Security Agency program targeting the phone records of the nation’s residents.Judge Gerard Lynch, writing for a three-judge panel in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, picked apart the Department of Justice’s arguments for the phone records collection program, revealed by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden in mid-2013.The appeals court ruled that Congress didn’t authorize the massive phone records collection in the Patriot Act of 2001, the antiterrorism law the past two U.S. presidents have used as a basis for the collection. A representative of the U.S. White House’s National Security Council noted that President Barack Obama’s administration is working with Congress to create a more limited program.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Lyft is looking to better compete against larger rival Uber through a partnership with Verizon Wireless.Lyft’s ride-hailing app will now come preloaded on select Verizon Android smartphones, under a national partnership with the carrier that Lyft is announcing Thursday. The change will go into effect immediately for the newest Android smartphones, Lyft said. It didn’t specify which handsets are included. The partnership does not change the way Lyft’s app works.The deal, the first of its kind between the companies, will get Lyft’s app in front of more potential users. Lyft’s service, which lets people request rides through their smartphones, is currently available in 65 cities across the U.S. Uber is active in more than 300 cities and nearly 60 countries.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
The U.S. National Security Agency’s program to collect domestic telephone records in bulk was not authorized by Congress in the Patriot Act, an appeals court has ruled.The NSA’s phone records program violates U.S. law because it “exceeds the scope of what Congress has authorized,” a three-judge panel for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit has ruled.The appeals court vacated a December 2013 ruling by a district court judge who granted the government a motion to dismiss the case, but upheld the district court decision to deny plaintiffs, including the American Civil Liberties Union, a preliminary injunction to halt the so-called phone metadata collection program.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Three men accused of selling and exporting over $10 million worth of fake Cisco networking equipment into the U.S. have been arrested by U.K. police.The men are believed to have imported and exported counterfeit Cisco equipment through a company website and telesales. The arrests, made last week by the U.K. Police Intellectual Property Crime Unit (PIPCU), were announced Thursday.“Last week’s action saw PIPCU dismantle a criminal gang suspected of cheating the computer industry out of millions of pounds,” said PIPCU Detective Inspector Mick Dodge, in a statement. Using counterfeit products could also seriously harm businesses that use them, since company network integrity could be compromised and significant network outages could occur, Dodge said.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
AMD is Zen about Intel’s SkylakeAMD’s recent chips haven’t rocked Intel’s PC market dominance, but new chips based on the company’s Zen architecture aim to change that next year. On Wednesday it shared initial details about the new FX and seventh-generation A-series chips, which are the brainchild of Jim Keller, a leading mobile chip designer at Apple until AMD hired him in 2012. The new AMD chips will battle Intel’s highly anticipated Skylake line, which is designed to bring new wireless charging and data transfer features to laptops.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Internet of Things projects can yield data and insights that help companies operate more efficiently and improve products, but also give hackers additional targets to attack.Expect more malware like Stuxnet, a worm that went after Siemens industrial control systems and mostly infected computers in Iran, said Alan Tait, CTO of Stream Technologies, a London company with technology that enables machine-to-machine communication.“As we connect more things to any form of the Internet, even if there’s security, people will still go after them,” he said.Tait, along with other speakers on different panels, appeared at the LiveWorx conference in Boston on Wednesday to discuss how companies are handling IoT security issues and finding value in linking devices to the Internet.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Legislation intended to end the U.S. National Security Agency’s bulk collection of domestic telephone records is drawing opposition from several unlikely sources, digital and civil rights groups.The USA Freedom Act, approved last Thursday in a 25-2 vote by the House of Representatives Judiciary Committee, doesn’t go far enough to protect privacy, several digital rights groups and government whistleblowers said in a letter to members of Congress.The USA Freedom Act would result in “minimal reforms” to the NSA telephone records program, said the letter, sent Wednesday by CREDO Action, Demand Progress, Fight for the Future, the Republican Liberty Caucus and other groups.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
The United Kingdom, which is ranked on a GDP basis just behind France, Germany, and Japan – which in-turn are out-ranked only by the U.S. and China – is going to run out of internet soon, and might need to ration it, according to Andrew Ellis, a professor in optical communications at Aston University in Birmingham, England.
The web will collapse because existing fiber optic cables can't accept any more data, and telcos can't afford to keep laying more fiber, Ellis has said recently.
In any case, pumping data through cables is using up the country's power supply, Ellis says. At the current rate of growth, the web will consume the country's power supply within 20 years, he reckons.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
BOSTON - The view from Harvard's Michael Porter, an economist noted for his work on competition, is that the last 10 or 15 years have been "pretty dismal" for the economy. The IT- and Internet- driven innovations over the past four decades or so have played themselves out. The rate of investment and innovation "has been slowing down," he said.But that will change thanks to Internet of Things (IoT) technologies, which will deliver "tremendous" efficiency gains, he said.
Harvard economist Michael Porter.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Are Apple music-streaming deals under government scrutiny?With Apple’s new Beats music-streaming service readying a June launch, there’s a flurry of reports that its tough deal-making with record labels is drawing the attention of the U.S. Federal Trade Commission. Bloomberg reported that the regulator is investigating whether Apple is using its position as the largest seller of music downloads via iTunes to get better deals than rivals like Spotify. The Verge had earlier reported that both the Department of Justice and the FTC were digging around to find out if Apple was leaning on labels to stop letting streaming competitors offer free music options, so that users are pushed to paid services.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Europe’s e-commerce market will be subject to a full-fledged antitrust probe, as part of the European Commission’s push to tear down walls between the European Union’s 28 national digital markets.The competition inquiry will look for barriers to online cross-border trade of electronics, digital content, clothing and shoes, the Commission said Wednesday. The probe was proposed by Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager in March and is one of 16 initiatives announced Wednesday that the Commission hopes will make the EU a single market for digital goods and services.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here