FiOS dominates as FCC measures actual Internet speeds : If you can either get FiOS or avoid Cablevision, you should do so. [......]
Nearly 2 percent of all US Internet users suffer from "malicious" domain name system (DNS) servers that don't properly turn website names like google.com into the IP addresses computers need to communicate on the 'Net. And, to make matters worse, the problem isn't caused by hackers or malware, but by the local ISPs people pay for access to the Internet. Though the 2 percent number might sound low, it's astonishingly high for a core Internet function, as is clear from the fact that no other country—apart from Haiti—sees more than 0.17 percent malicious DNS servers. [......]
ISP speeds throughout a day For the first time ever, the FCC has collected data (PDF) showing real-world speeds that Americans receive from their Internet providers. [......]
Every month we examine the state of the browser market in terms of market share, and it's usually more of the same. Internet Explorer, while still dominating with over a 50 percent share, slides downward month after month. Firefox, still the biggest threat to IE if looking at the numbers and not the trend, also continues to lose market share, but at a much slower pace[......]
Like our current generation of PC tech, humans may well have hit the peak of their current evolutionary cycle, according to new research from Cambridge University, which suggests that our brains may have hit their maximum capacity for intelligence. The news follows claims from an Nvidia VP back in May 2010 that Moore's law - that trend for computing performance to double approximately every two years - was also dead, likening dual, quad- and hex-core multi-core chips to "trying to build an airplane by putting wings on a train." Simon Laughlin, professor of neurobiology at Cambridge University, said: "We have demonstrated that brains must consume energy to function and that these requirements are sufficiently demanding to limit our performance and determine design." While Ed Bullmore, professor of psychiatry at Cambridge, agrees, noting: "You pay a price for intelligence. Becoming smarter means improving connections between different brain areas but this runs into tight limits on energy, along with space for the wiring." Limits of humanity Prof Laughlin added: "The fact that brains both expand and contract during evolution shows that the optimum balance changes with circumstances." What does all of this latest thinking in neurobiology and psychiatry mean for tech? [......]
PortableApps.com has released the latest build of its upcoming Platform 2.0, Pre-Release 2.1 , a suite of tools which makes it easy to create and manage your own customised portable toolkit. The Platform's Portable App Directory, for instance, is a capable app store[......]
The best way to stop the tide of global cybercrime may be to sue the pants off the hosting companies and Internet Service Providers Online that are backing the crooks. That’s the central conclusion of my policy paper , out today from the Brookings Institution [......]
The US 2012 presidential election race has already begun, with Republicans and assorted third parties currently jockeying for position and attention in advance of the primary season next year. As the race heats up, Ars will be your go-to source for tech policy information on the various candidates with our "Tech President 2012" coverage. [......]
Sometimes, I love my job - and today's one of those days, because the Performing Right Society has found a new way to fight piracy . In future, when you search, the results will tell you which of two internets a particular page comes from: the NiceyNet, or the NaughtyNet[......]
Google's engineers say they have noticed unusual patterns of activity on its search engine which has given it a way to detect a certain type of malware. As a result, the company has altered the code for its search engine to place a warning at the top of the search results that a computer has been infected. [......]
Streaming videos need an active Internet connection to play and even then you can get stuck with buffering problems. Not all videos play on mobile devices either, but if you can download the video you can move it where you like. [......]
Splashtop's Remote Desktop software is arguably the best software of its kind for the iPad. [......]
Attention spans are short these days, and some might even say the Web isn't helping this phenomenon. Regardless, time is money, and people are ever-looking for more useful ways to maximize what time they have. Many have little tolerance (or time) for long-form digital content, and we're seeing the proliferation of the "tl;dr" (too long; didn't read) mentality as it sweeps the Internet nation[......]
Update: Shaw provided no information when I contacted them before running this story, but starting this afternoon, the company suddenly started tweeting up a storm . According to the company, watching Movie Club on a television incurs no data cap because it is delivered through Shaw's existing video-on-demand QAM cable infrastructure. When users access Movie Club through a computer, they will access an IP-based version of it delivered over the Internet—and this will affect monthly data caps[......]
The United States and Russia have for several years been engaged in a high-level diplomatic “reset” of their relationship, complete with a physical "reset" button; now, that “reset” has been extended to the Internet. The current goal of a better working relationship with Russia is much like the goal pursued by the US during the Cold War: making sure that the two countries did not misinterpret each other's actions in such a way as to start an unnecessary conflict. While such relationships used to be about understanding troop movements or missile positioning, the two countries are now just as concerned with Internet actions. [......]
