As reported on The Verge. By Russell Brandom What do you do when the network goes out? How do you build a network that survives when the rest of the web goes down? It’s a strange question, but one with a surprisingly concrete answer. You can find the networks in Athens, Berlin, and Red Hook, Brooklyn — small-scale traffic webs that let computers connect peer-to-peer without going through the larger web. It’s called a mesh network,…
As reported on The Verge. By Chris Ziegler A notorious road rally drops by NYC on the way to Ibiza “Rev it!” screams a man in the crowd. He gets his wish: a McLaren MP4-12C, covered from nose to tail in fluorescent livery, blips its throttle to the delight of a few hundred people gathered in New York City’s historic South Street Seaport. I came here to get a glimpse of the Gumball 3000, an annual…
As reported on TechCrunch. by John Biggs On paper it looks like a win-win: in the past few days, Comcast is quietly turning on public hotspots in its customers’ routers, essentially turning private homes into public hotspots. Comcast customers get free Wi-Fi wherever there is a Comcast box and the company gets to build out a private network to compete with telecoms. Win-win. Fifty thousand users with Arris Touchstone Telephony Wireless Gateway Modems – essentially basic modems that cable…
As reported on Engadget. BY STEVE DENT Microsoft has filed a court challenge to a US government demand that it hand over emails from its data center in Ireland. That appears to be the first time a US corporation has opposed such an order, and Microsoft has been backed by the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and an amicus brief from Verizon. The US prosecutor heading the drug case in question said that if the objection succeeds, tech companies like Microsoft…
As reported on Engadget. BY MATT BRIAN Amazon’s quest for better deals and cheaper prices has seen it squeeze publishers, but it isn’t limiting itself to just books. The New York Times reports that the retailer is refusing to list DVD pre-orders for upcoming launch of many Warner Home Video movies. We’re not talking small releases either: The Lego Movie, 300: Rise of an Empire and Winter’s Tale are just three titles launching in the coming days that Amazon lists but isn’t allowing customers to…