Tag Archives: internet

Business Insider reports: The US Senate on Wednesday voted narrowly in favor of reinstating the Federal Communications Commission’s net-neutrality rules. Though the vote on the measure has been expected for months, its outcome had been uncertain going into the vote. Fifty senators previously declared their support for it — one shy of the majority needed to pass it. In the …

The Hill reports: Democrats will force a Senate vote on Wednesday on a bill that would save the Federal Communication Commission’s net neutrality rules from repeal. Senate Democrats filed a discharge petition on the bill last week, starting the clock on the long-shot effort to preserve the Obama-era consumer protections. The legislation, introduced by Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.), would use …

Gizmodo reports: Google is well aware that YouTube is the internet’s biggest time suck, sending users down endless rabbit holes of related videos. Now, as part of the company’s apparent newfound interest in digital well-being, it’s introducing a feature that will encourage people to step away from the endless stream of videos—but only if they opt into it. The new …

CNET reports: According to a Pew Research Center survey published on Monday, the majority of US adults surveyed in January said the internet is mostly a good thing for them personally and for society as a whole. But the number has declined since the Center started asking the questions in early 2014. An overwhelming majority of US adults still said …

Krebs On Security reports: Authorities in the U.S., U.K. and the Netherlands on Tuesday took down popular online attack-for-hire service WebStresser.org and arrested its alleged administrators. Investigators say that prior to the takedown, the service had more than 136,000 registered users and was responsible for launching somewhere between four and six million attacks over the past three years. The action, …

The Washington Post reports: SpaceX has received official permission from the U.S. government to launch a fleet of satellites designed to beam high-speed Internet signals down to earth. The decision marks a major milestone for chief executive Elon Musk as he pursues a dream of putting 12,000 small satellites into low-earth orbit, connecting rural and developing parts of the world …

The Wall Street Journal reports: President Donald Trump criticized Amazon.com Inc. on Thursday, saying the e-commerce giant was “putting many thousands of retailers out of business.” Shares of Amazon.com slid on Wednesday amid speculation that the White House wanted to curb the company’s growing dominance. In a briefing on Wednesday, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said that Mr. …

Fast Company reports: The popular classifieds website has announced it has pulled its personal ads section from the site. Craiglist made the move after the passage of the Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act (FOSTA) on Wednesday. The act makes it easier for sex trafficking victims and prosecutors to sue websites that allowed sex traffickers to …

Bloomberg reports: Claire’s Stores Inc., known for tween jewelry and ear piercing, has become the latest victim of the retail apocalypse. The company filed for bankruptcy Monday and said it reached an agreement with creditors including its private-equity backer, Apollo Global Management LLC, to restructure around $1.9 billion in debt. Its plan to survive rests on its reputation for trendy …

The Washington Post reports: Toy store chain Toys R Us is planning to sell or close all 800 of its U.S. stores, affecting as many as 33,000 jobs as the company winds down its operations after six decades, according to a source familiar with the matter. The news comes six months after the retailer filed for bankruptcy. The company has …

Bloomberg reports: Toys “R” Us Inc. is making preparations for a liquidation of its bankrupt U.S. operations after so far failing to find a buyer or reach a debt restructuring deal with lenders, according to people familiar with the matter. While the situation is still fluid, a shutdown of the U.S. division has become increasingly likely in recent days, said …

Courthouse News reports: The Federal Communications Commission published its official order repealing net neutrality rules in the Federal Register Thursday, prompting New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman to immediately challenge the repeal along with 23 other attorneys general. FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, a former Verizon attorney appointed by President Donald Trump last year, completed his campaign to repeal the Obama-Era …

CNBC reports: The newspaper printing presses may have another decade of life in them, New York Times CEO Mark Thompson told CNBC on Monday. “I believe at least 10 years is what we can see in the U.S. for our print products,” Thompson said on “Power Lunch.” He said he’d like to have the print edition “survive and thrive as …

CNN reports: Unilever is threatening to pull its advertising from digital platforms that it says have become a “swamp” of fake news, racism, sexism and extremism. The forceful warning to digital platforms such as Google and Facebook will be delivered at an advertising conference in California later on Monday. “We cannot continue to prop up a digital supply chain which …

The Daily Beast reports: Facebook is testing a “downvote” button with certain users, effectively creating the “dislike” button long predicted by memes and articles since inception of the Like button. The test appeared for several users on Thursday in the comment section of posts within Facebook groups and on old Facebook memories content. Users shared screenshots with The Daily Beast. …

Reuters reports: Twitter shares surged 22 percent at the market open on Thursday after it reported its first quarterly profit and better-than-expected revenue, helped by ads that better targeted users and sales growth outside the United States. Investors shrugged off zero growth in Twitter’s users from a quarter earlier, which the company blamed in part on seasonal weakness and its …

The New York Times reports: Toys “R” Us is planning to close as many as 182 of its stores as it struggles to reorganize in bankruptcy. The toy chain, which filed for bankruptcy last September, said in a court filing late Tuesday that the stores selected for closing have failed to meet “performance standards.” The planned closings represent about 20 …

The New York Times reports: Amazon said on Thursday that it had whittled the list of possible homes for its second headquarters down to 20, including centers of technology like Boston as well as some surprise locations like Columbus, Ohio. The company, based in Seattle, selected the finalists out of a pile of more than 238 applications submitted by local …

The Associated Press reports: Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai is skipping the CES gadget show because of death threats, according to reports. Pai has scrapped popular net-neutrality rules that had barred broadband providers like AT&T, Comcast and Verizon from interfering with internet traffic. The policy’s supporters have reacted strongly. Pai and his staff have called out racist tweets and …

The Los Angeles Times reports: Hollywood is celebrating the end of 2017 with astronomical sales from “Star Wars: The Last Jedi,” which is on track to soon exceed $1 billion in global ticket sales and eventually become the biggest movie of the year. But that won’t be enough to write a happy storyline for the industry. Although movie ticket sales …