Alan Turing; Tech Life; Net Neutrality and Telcos; Bad for Business; Bitcoin; Patents; Social Media; Online Text; Clickbait; Music

Alan Turing

• What was Alan Turing really like?
• Computer becomes first to pass Turing Test in artificial intelligence milestone, but academics warn of dangerous future
• No, A 'Supercomputer' Did NOT Pass The Turing Test For The First Time And Everyone Should Know Better

Tech Life

• With the Americas running out of IPv4, it's official: The Internet is full
• Dot Whine: France Angry Over .Vin Domain Names
• House committee approves permanent Internet tax moratorium
• The richest man in Vegas has declared war on internet gamblers—"Eighty-year-old billionaire casino owner Sheldon Adelson hates email, doesn't text, and wants to stop you from betting online."
• Uber isn't the problem; taxi regulations are

Net Neutrality and Telcos

• Father of "net neutrality" runs for office, wants to block Comcast/TWC merger—"Tim Wu, running for Lt. Governor in New York, says 'cable prices are too high.'" Tim Wu is Tim woof, in more ways than one.
• Democrats unveil legislation forcing the FCC to ban Internet fast lanes—"Leahy and Matsui's proposed ban on fast lanes would apply only to the connections between consumers and their ISPs — the part of the Internet governed by the FCC's proposed net neutrality rules." The real issue is between ISPs and content providers, but this does trickle down to consumers. WaPo
• AT&T claims 'strong' net neutrality would actually ruin the Internet. That's a big leap.—It's bullshit, that's what it is. WaPo
• What Everyone Gets Wrong in the Debate Over Net Neutrality
• Many Verizon DSL and AT&T customers not getting speeds they pay for
• T-Mobile's CEO Went Off Last Night And Said AT&T And Verizon Are 'F------' That Are 'Raping You'

Bad for Business

• Mobile crammers settle case, forfeit $10M in assets, including Bentley
• Intel forced to pay record $1.4 billion fine for unfair sales tactics
• Chinese site in signal-jammer sting could pay record $34.9M FCC fine—"CTS boldly—and falsely—claimed that some of its jammers were approved by the FCC...."
• Apple settles e-book price fixing class action suit, dodges possible $840M in claims

Bitcoin

• One Bitcoin group now controls 51% of total mining power, threatening entire currency's safety
• Mt. Gox CEO Returns to Twitter, Infuriates Burned Investors
• US Marshal CCs, rather than BCCs, those interested in anonymous Bitcoin auction

Patents

• Supreme Court smashes "do it on a computer" patents in 9-0 opinion—"Court declines to stop software patents altogether."
• The Supreme Court doesn't understand software, and that's a problem
• Patent trolls take their toll—"Patent trolls are, in a sense, legal extortion. These entities, which do not produce a product or sell a service, are set up only to bring about patent infringement lawsuits in hopes of collecting a payday."

Social Media

• The FBI Built the Most Comprehensive List of Twitter Slang We've Ever Seen
• CLAIM: Harvard Has 3.3 Million Facebook Fans And 'About Three Million Of These Are Fakes'
• This Is What Your Facebook Profile Really Says About You
• ABA: Lawyers can scour jurors' social media sites

Online Text

• After Forty-Seven Years, Computerworld, Tech Publishing's Elder Statesman, is a Print Publication No More
• German publishers want an 11 percent cut of Google News
• Journamalism: Google Gesture-edition
• Wikipedia creates new rules, forcing editors to disclose if they're paid—"Change comes after a few high-profile instances of articles-for-hire."

Clickbait

• You Have No Idea What's Behind These Clickbait Headlines! So I'll Tell You!
• A New Weapon In Upworthy's Unlikely War On Clickbait
• The Way One Man Is Waging War On Clickbait Will Blow Your Mind
• The Onion: ClickHole—"Because all content deserves to go viral."

Music

• It Doesn't Matter That Amazon's Music Streaming Service Is Lame
• T-Mobile's 'Music Freedom' is a great feature — and a huge problem
• YouTube to block indie labels who don't sign up to new music service

Net Neutrality, Broadband and Telcos; Copyfight, Tech Life, Sharing, Patents; Facebook, Apple, Amazon.com; Gaming, Tetris@30, Nintendo, XBone, Mobile, Gamers

Net Neutrality

• Verizon Says It Wants to Kill Net Neutrality to Help Blind, Deaf, and Disabled People—"Lobbyists are telling Congress that the administration's plan to create internet fast lanes and slow lanes is important for Americans with disabilities."
• Netflix got worse on Verizon even after Netflix agreed to pay Verizon
• Why Verizon won't solve its Netflix problem as soon as Comcast—"Comcast spent months preparing network connections with Netflix—Verizon didn't."
• Netflix: Verizon decided to 'leave three lanes closed during rush hour
• Community Groups Were Duped Into Joining the Telecom Industry's Anti-Net-Neutrality Coalition
• Mobile 'net neutrality' faces new day of reckoning at FCC
• In Harm's Way: The Dangers of a World Without Net Neutrality
• BitTorrent Shows You What The Internet Looks Like Without Net Neutrality; Suggests A Better Way
• Join the FastLane™
• John Oliver challenges FCC head Tom Wheeler to prove he's not a 'f*cking baby-eating dingo'

Broadband and Telcos

• Comcast is turning your Xfinity router into a public Wi-Fi hotspot
• Verizon will miss its deadline to bring citywide broadband to New York
• Verizon has done the seemingly impossible: It's made Comcast look good
• Comcast testing Internet data caps in parts of the country, could become widespread
• The FCC Can't Help Cities Trapped By Predatory Internet Deals With Big Telecom
• FCC looking into complaints that broadband ISPs are dragging their heels
• State laws deprive Americans of broadband Internet, FCC chairman says
• Boulder lost out on Google Fiber because of Colorado's anti-municipal broadband laws
• Google Fiber franchise wins approval from Portland City Council
• Legere pounces on AT&T's decision to raise activation fees

Copyfight

• Obama Blasted for Lumping Critics of Trade Deal Secrecy with 'Conspiracy Theorists'
• In win for libraries, court rules database of Google-scanned books is "fair use"
• IKEA waits 8 years, then shuts down IKEAhackers site with trademark claim—"IKEA lawyers pushed site to go non-commercial or give up its domain name."
• Crushing Blow for Copyright Trolls: Appeals Court Halts AF Holdings' Extortion Scheme

Tech Life

• Selfies replace the autograph The Times
• Theater chain bans Google Glass—"Alamo Drafthouse, with theaters nationwide, bars the eyewear amid piracy fears." Alamo has always had pro-movie-watching principles and do not suffer fools lightly.
• The Pocket Watch Was the World's First Wearable Tech Game Changer

Sharing

• UK: Uber sign-ups soar by 850 percent as cab drivers protest
• CA: Ride-shares warned by regulators: no airport runs
• Uber and Airbnb show the sharing economy is on its way – like it or not

Patents

• New study suggests patent trolls really are killing startups
• Chinese gov't reveals Microsoft's secret list of Android-killer patents
• Facebook wins patent trial that targeted Newsfeed, Timeline

Facebook

• The Dark Side Of Facebook, Where People Lie, Steal, And Make Millions
• Facebook Australia's $60 million a year business that it wants to keep hidden
• #Love: My 'Friends' Don't 'Like' Me
• Yo Facebook, Ban Links With Fake Video Play Buttons
• Facebook Is Beginning to Look Like a Bonafide Online Ad Network

Apple

• Apple Begins Rejecting Apps That Offer Rewards For Video Views, Social Sharing
• Apple recalls millions of iPhone chargers across 37 countries
• Apple Starts Letting Bitcoin Transfer Apps Back Into Its App Store

Amazon.com

• Amazon Stops Taking Advance Orders for 'Lego' and Other Warner Videos—"Amazon, embroiled in a standoff with a book publisher, is using the same hardball techniques with new movies from Warner Home Video." NYT
• Amazon adds lower movie prices to battle over books
• Book Fight: Amazon vs. Publishers—Some letters to the editors.
• How the Government Blew Its Chance to Rein in Amazon
• The Colbert Report: Amazon vs. Hachette

Gaming

• Why Game Developers Keep Getting Laid Off
• Success! Atari E.T. games found in New Mexico dump—"Despite doubters, the first of what could be thousands or millions of buried E.T. game cartridges were discovered in the Alamogordo landfill where Atari buried them 31 years ago."
• Sony making a Last of Us movie -- Who would you cast as Joel and Ellie?—From what little I've seen of the game, I'd like to see feature-length version based on the cut scenes.
• The man who made the game in 'Her' is about to release a game you can play
• Grammy-nominated composer speaks up against union blockage of Game recordings

Tetris@30

• Tetris at 30: a history of the world's most successful game
• Tetris Turns 30, Creator Says He Still Plays Every Week
• Tetris Creators Talk About Staying Relevant in a Candy-Crushed World
• Video: The addictive game explained in Tetris blocks
• 10 insane covers of the Tetris theme tune

Nintendo

• How we'd save Nintendo
• The Rise of Nintendo: A Story in 8 Bits—"From 'Donkey Kong' to the NES — how a Japanese company took over the American living room. An exclusive first serial from 'Console Wars.'"
• Nintendo announces plan to share ad revenue with YouTube streamers

XBone

• Why the death of Microsoft's Xbox One vision means we all lose—"Commentary: By unbundling the Kinect sensor from Xbox One, Microsoft strips away the console's last differentiating element. The industry and gamers will suffer for it."
• Xbox One doesn't mark the spot—"Kinect's decoupling hasn't been matched with enough exclusive fare to excite us."
• Xbox One ad is switching on Microsoft consoles

Mobile

• Two thirds of players ditch free mobile games in less than 24 hours
• Mobile is burning, and free-to-play binds the hands of devs who want to help
• In just one year, Zynga lost nearly half of its daily active users
• Flappy Bird to return in August as multiplayer game, creator says

Gamers

• Study: Gamers are more educated, more social than the people who make fun of them—"A new study commissioned by Twitch suggests gamers are more social and more successful than non-gamers." WaPo
• Looking at Link Between Violent Video Games and Lack of Empathy NYT
• Aggression from video games 'linked to incompetence'
• Teamwork OP: Riot on making 'good' the easy choice—"That's a paradigm shift: trolls aren't trolls all the time, they're sometimes trolls because they're in a bad mood every now and again."
• Boy Credits 'Grand Theft Auto' Game For His Life-Saving Reaction In Out Of Control Car
• Online gamers witness home invasion; 1 suspect in custody, 1 on the loose

Family Day, Domestic Disputes, Husbands and Wives, Parenting, Twins, Reunions; Net Neutrality, Speed Bumps, Trouble with Telcos, Comcast-TWC Merger

Family Day

• Teen, upset at not getting iPhone for Xmas, allegedly pulls knife on dad
• Oakland teen accused of killing sister surrenders to police
• Son obsessed with TV serial killer Dexter murdered his mum in 'appallingly savage' knife attack

Domestic Disputes

• Police: Wife tried to frame husband for porn
• Man killed wife, parrot because they talked too much
• Man assaulted and locked wife in shed after she kept singing 'ding dong, the witch is dead' when his mother died
• Nagging could drive men to an early grave, study suggests
• Dear Prudence: My mother-in-law found out my baby's sex against my wishes—And then told everyone

Husbands and Wives

• Time capsule unearths heartache, joy for Scottsdale man
• Why We Cheat—"Spouses in happy marriages have affairs. What are we all looking for?"
• Wife Dies, Husband Wins Lottery Next Day—Looking out for him one last time?

Parenting

• Touching, Unguarded Portraits of Sleeping Parents-to-Be
• Louis C.K. Gives Parenting Advice to Jimmy Fallon
• Parents to share childcare leave for up to year, says Nick Clegg—"The government has committed to introducing a year of shared leave for new parents by April 2015."

Twins

• Twinsters—'Adopted, raised on different continents and connected through social media, Samantha and Anaïs realized they might be twins separated at birth."
• Stunning Photos Of Identical Twins As Grown-Ups Show How Fate Takes Its Course
• Dear Prudence: My twin brother had a one-night stand, gave her my name, and now we're dating.

Reunions

• Co-workers discover they're brothers
• Man Finds Long-Lost Sibling…at Walmart
• Missing N.Y. man reunites with family after they spot him in AP photo WaPo
• How Facebook found Hailey: Why this Seattle parent shared her search for her teen

Net Neutrality

• The FCC is pretending to back down from its controversial net neutrality plan
• FCC Net-Neutrality Plan in Chaos
• Sanders sends FCC 19K comments protesting 'fast lane' plan—"Whether you run a huge website or a small blog, you should have equal access to Internet users without paying a ransom to providers like Comcast."
• Let's Dissect The Cable Industry's Latest B.S. Argument Against Net Neutrality
• FCC vote on 'net neutrality' will kick off long battle
• America's biggest internet providers urge FCC not to turn their networks into public utilities—"Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Verizon, and AT&T all agree, which can't be good news."
• Top ISPs threaten to innovate less, spend less on network upgrades—All scare tactics.
• Comcast gave Republican leader 4x more money than Google. Now he opposes net neutrality
• How Big Cable is organizing against net neutrality
• FCC approves plan to consider paid priority on Internet—Thanks Obama! WaPo

Speed Bumps

• Sen. Al Franken Calls For #NoSlowLane
• Yes, Your Internet Is Getting Slower—"Your provider likes it that way. And the government doesn't care."
• Google to Name and Shame ISPs With YouTube Buffering Issues
• Netflix Streams Faster in Canada than the US
• Fast Internet Is Chattanooga's New Locomotive—"Internet service that is inexpensive and lightning quick has allowed the city to attract high-tech businesses, talent and capital." NYT

Trouble with Telcos

• Verizon, AT&T leaving landline phone networks to rot, complaint says
• Opting Out of AT&T's 'Gigapower' Snooping is Comically Expensive
• Comcast plans data caps for all customers in 5 years, could be 500GB—"Cable company already enforces 300GB limit in seven states."

Comcast-TWC Merger

• Time Warner Cable Makes Hilariously Absurd Argument For Comcast Merger
• Full Page Comcast Ad Tries to Sell Public on Time Warner Deal—"At the top of the list is 'net neutrality protection.'" More like protection rocket is what that is.
• This TV Megamerger Would Actually Be Anti-Competitive

War on Terror, FBI Entrapment, Domestic Terror, Israel and Palestine, NYT Fraud; Surveillance and Privacy, Whistleblowers, Tech Tracking, Your Rights Online; Net Neutrality, Comcast vs. Netflix; Haxx0red

War on Terror

• Supreme Court rejects hearing on military detention case—"The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday handed a victory to President Barack Obama's administration by declining to hear a challenge to a law that allows the U.S. military to indefinitely detain people believed to have helped al Qaeda or the Taliban."
• US senators remove requirement for disclosure over drone strike victims
• Judge Dismisses Case Against Blackwater Defendant
• State Department Gives 87% of Afghan Funds to Only Five Recipients
• Nursing mom wins $75K settlement from TSA over airport incident

FBI

• Dzhokhar bombshell: FBI pressed Tamerlan to become informant
• At the Tribeca Fest: Two bold documentaries expose FBI spying and entrapment
• FBI knew of zero-day attack on websites, let hackers use it—"NY Times reports Sabu directed attacks with Plesk exploit after arrest."

Domestic Terror

• Why it's time to take domestic terrorism seriously
• Minnesota militia member facing jail despite failure to prove terror plot
• Reports Back Op-Ed Linking Vets to Hate Groups
• Concerns growing about militia members at Bundy ranch

Israel and Palestine

• Abbas denounces murder of Jews in Holocaust as 'most heinous crime in modern era'
• Israeli push for visa-free travel to US faces test—"A campaign to allow Israelis to enter the United States without a visa is gaining steam in Congress, but is still running into a brick wall with the Obama administration over the U.S. government's most elementary demand: that the Jewish state provide the same treatment at its borders to all Americans, even if they are Arab or Muslim."
• MKs pan Kerry for saying Israel could become 'apartheid'—"Anti-Defamation League also slams Washington's top diplomat, who warned of aftermath of talks' collapse." Kerry goes oooops [Politico] but gets his message across.

NYT Fraud

• 'New York Times' Admits It Agreed to 'Gag Orders' in Israel
• New York Times Admits It Pushed Fabricated Evidence about Iraq, Syria and Ukraine
• In 'A Fragile Trust,' Jayson Blair Tries to Give Answers—"Samantha Grant's documentary, 'A Fragile Trust,' comes a decade after the fraud scandal at The New York Times perpetrated by the reporter Jayson Blair." NYT

Surveillance and Privacy

• Surveillance court rejected Verizon challenge to NSA calls program—"A ruling said that another judge's criticism of the NSA's data collection had been considered and rejected." WaPo
• Telecom firm fails in first known FISA court surveillance challenge—"Unnamed company challenged metadata surveillance in court for the first time but lost, an unsealed order reveals."
• Where's the White House on Warrantless Email Snooping?
• Mathematicians at the NSA and GCHQ: Is it ethical to work for spy agencies?
• DC thinks it can silence a new Snowden, but the anti-leak hypocrisy is backfiring—"The Obama administration's latest secrecy guidelines would make Deep Throat spin in his grave. Good thing the floodgates are about to open on drones"

Whistleblowers

• Pentagon Papers Whistleblower Says Americans Have 'Lost the Republic'—"Daniel Ellsberg says that whistleblowers are the last people able to stand up to the federal government."
• The glamorous life of a whistleblower: Working a dead-end job for minimum wage—"Long before Snowden made headlines, Peter Van Buren shined light on the State Dept. Then the other shoe dropped..." Salon
• Hillary Clinton Mocks Snowden, Displays Her Ignorance When It Comes to Whistleblowers

Tech Tracking

• The White House Wants to Issue You an Online ID
• Verizon's mobile advertising will now use your desktop browsing habits
• Reddit Frontpage Ads Get Location Targeting

Your Rights Online

• Brazilian Congress passes Internet bill of rights
• Russia Internet sovereignty: Vladimir Putin is tightening his grip on the Internet
• Weibo: We can't censor our users enough to satisfy the Chinese government Salon

Net Neutrality

• If John Kerry Thinks the Internet Is a Fundamental Right, He Should Tell the FCC
• Congress screwed up net neutrality, not the FCC
• Obama Has Not Kept His Promise to Enforce Net Neutrality
• Internet service providers charging for premium access hold us all to ransom—"An ISP should give users the bits they ask for, as quickly as it can, and not deliberately slow down the data."
• Could new net neutrality rules fuel piracy?
• The Costs of Internet 'Fast Lanes'
• FCC Offers E-mail Address to Field Neutrality Complaint
• Turncoat? FCC says new Internet 'fast lane' rules won't kill net neutrality
• FCC chairman says he won't let ISPs snuff out the next Google or Amazon—"'I won't hesitate' to declare ISPs common carriers, Wheeler writes."

Comcast vs. Netflix

• Comcast Has About 76 Lobbyists Working Washington On The Time Warner Cable Merger. This is Why.
• Comcast sells 1.4 million customers to Charter ahead of Time Warner Cable merger
• Comcast accuses Netflix of lying as public feud escalates
• After Comcast, Netflix signs traffic deal with Verizon

Haxx0red

• U.S., UK advise avoiding Internet Explorer until bug fixed
• Zero-day Flash bug under active attack in Windows threatens OS X, Linux too—"Adobe issues emergency update for exploits targeting Syrian dissidents."
• After Heartbleed, NSA reveals some flaws are kept secret—"The White House explains the government's process when deciding whether to withhold knowledge of a security vulnerability -- 'There are legitimate pros and cons to the decision to disclose.'"
• Tech giants, chastened by Heartbleed, finally agree to fund OpenSSL —Thousands of sites and devices still vulnerable.
• Easter egg: DSL router patch merely hides backdoor instead of closing it—"Researcher finds secret 'knock' opens admin for some Linksys, Netgear routers."
• You've Got Hacked: AOL Confirms 'Significant Number' of Mail Users Hit

Copyfight, Patent Trolls; Digital Life, IT Jobs; Haxx0red; Your Rights Online; Tech Corruption; Broadband and Wireless, Comcast-TWC Merger; Streaming; MH370; Planes, Trains, and Automobiles; Tesla

Copyfight

• "Copyright troll" Prenda Law completely bombs at appeals court—"Appellate judge is shocked as Prenda's own lawyer can't unwind the 'shell game.'"
• Porn site that spews copyright suits uses lie detectors on defendants—"Malibu Media fights 'copyright troll' label, reveals data about its caseload."
• Major media publisher admits it is "afraid of Google"—"Worries the search giant is turning into a 'superstate' immune from prosecution."
• The Netherlands Must Outlaw Downloading, EU Court Rules
• A band stole a photographer's work and then made his life hell for complaining

Patent Trolls

• Anti-patent-troll bill stalls in Senate, but reformers remain hopeful
• Idaho governor signs patent troll bill into law; New Hampshire working on its own
• Vermont and Nebraska Attorneys General Take Patent Trolls Head On
• Google wins a game of "Escape from East Texas," linking Rockstar to Apple—"Judge: Patent troll 'advances Apple's interest,' must fight Google in California."
• For world's biggest troll, first patent case ends up in tatters—"Intellectual Ventures rolls out the 'inventors'—a lawyer and a lawyer's wife."

Digital Life

• Oculus Says They Didn't Expect Such Negative Reactions to Selling to Facebook
• Google's new Motion Photography Prize transforms humble GIF into high art
• Man Compares His $42k Prosthetic Hand to a $50 3D Printed Cyborg Beast

IT Jobs

• Apple Wants To Keep Evidence That Steve Jobs Was A 'Bully' Out Of Court
• H-1B loophole may help California utility offshore IT jobs—"It is the second major utility in a year to announce IT outsourcing."
• Inside the GitHub scandal: is sexism part of the Valley's DNA?—"Julie Ann Horvath wanted to help other women — and it may have cost her a job." The PR fallout cost Preston-Werner his.
• 12 ethical dilemmas gnawing at developers today—"As software takes over more of our lives, the ethical ramifications of decisions made by programmers only become greater."
• The Secret Shame of an Unacquired Tech Worker

Haxx0red

• Appeals court reverses hacker/troll "weev" conviction and sentence—"Appeals court skirts Computer Fraud And Abuse Act analysis."
• Whitehat hacker goes too far, gets raided by FBI, tells all—"Hacker exposed client's data to teach a lesson, was 'tired of being ignored.'"
• Alleged Heartbleed hacker known for finding flaws
• This reader mocked Heartbleed, posted his passwords online. Guess what happened next. WaPo

Your Rights Online

• Court Declares That, Yes, Bloggers Are Media
• Supreme Court weighing when online speech becomes illegal threat—"High court has never defined online 'speech crime.'"
• General Mills Backtracks on Legal Policy After Angering Facebook Users—"Those terms — and our intentions — were widely misread, causing concern among consumers."
• Twitter parody account holder sought in police raid—"Authorities say Twitter impersonation carries maximum year jail term, $2,500 fine."
• Reddit downgrades technology community after censorship—Moderators maxwellhill and anutensil should quit.

Tech Corruption

• Four US tech firms face $3bn payout over claims they conspired on pay—"Four of the world's best-known large technology companies could face damages claimed of $3bn (€2.17bn) over claims they worked together to keep down pay in the sector."
• HP pays $108 million to settle foreign bribery probes
• Tampa grand jury accuses phone company execs of $33M fraud

Broadband and Wireless

• Verizon led massive astroturf campaign to end NJ broadband obligation—"Some Verizon "supporters" had no idea e-mails were sent on their behalf."
• T-Mobile's next move: Shame AT&T and Verizon into ditching data overage fees
• FCC sets up the 'incentive auction' that will lead to better wireless internet for everyone
• Google Fiber signs franchise agreement with Portland
• Yes, Net Neutrality Is A Solution To An Existing Problem

Comcast-TWC Merger

• Most Senators Overseeing the Comcast-Time Warner Deal Have Taken Money From Both—Including Franken.
• Franken: Comcast Time Warner Cable a competitor until they wanted to merge
• Comcast: Without Time Warner Cable, we can't compete against Google, Netflix
• Comcast named Worst Company in America on the same day it files TWC merger paperwork
• Time Warner Cable Pretends Customer Complaints Don't Exist

Streaming

• Netflix officially comes out against the Comcast-TWC merger
• Netflix Begins 4K Streaming
• Netflix, adding customers and profits, raises prices
• Yes, Netflix And Hulu Are Starting To Kill Cable
• Why Movie Streaming Sites So Fail to Satisfy NYT

MH370

• Malaysian military withheld radar data on Flight MH370 as nations searched wrong area, sources say
• Malaysia Airlines co-pilot reportedly made call before plane disappeared
• MH370 hunt proves too deep for robot vehicle

Planes

• New solar plane is as big as a 747, will circumnavigate the globe
• An Airship The Size of a Football Field Could Revolutionize Travel—"A new fuel-efficient airship, capable of carrying up to 50 tons, can stay aloft for weeks and land just about anywhere."
• You Can Finally Fulfill Your Fantasy of Sleeping Inside a 747 Engine

Trains

• 11,000 Kilometer Proof That Trains Still Win at Moving Stuff Around the Planet
• Siemens wins US high-speed train contract
• Tel Aviv to Eilat in 7 minutes: The first Hyperloop will be in Israel
• China's high-speed rail is so popular, it's hurting the domestic airline industry
• Japanese railway operator to offer maglev tech to US for free

Automobiles

• The Germans Have Figured Out How to 3-D Print Cars—You wouldn't download a car.
• Automakers say self-driving cars are on the horizon
• Glow-in-the-dark roads make debut in Netherlands—"They look beautiful, but they could also save a lot on streetlight power."

Tesla

• Lawmakers approve deal to allow Tesla in Ohio
• Tesla's Musk to '60 Minutes': 'I thought we would most likely fail'
• Evergreen State Signs Bill To Keep Tesla Showrooms Open For Direct Sells
• Five ways Tesla Motors pushes technology change in auto industry
• The future of "Made in America" is Tesla, not Ford
• CBS Says It Made 'Audio Editing Error' With Tesla On 60 Minutes—More of 60 minutes-style hackery. Not as bad as their NSA propaganda piece, I suppose.

MH370; Net Neutrality, Broadband and Wireless; Amazon Prime; Apps, Gaming; Copyfight; Tesla; Haxx0red; NSA Spying and Surveillance

MH370

• Search for missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 suspended after confirmation it went down in Indian Ocean
• Maybe Those Cold-Hearted Texts to the MH370 Families Weren't So Cold-Hearted After All
• How 'groundbreaking' number crunching found path of Flight 370
• Jon Stewart Mocks CNN's 'F*ck It, Let's Go Nuts' Missing Jet Coverage

Net Neutrality

• Al Franken: Don't let Comcast "manipulate Internet traffic"—"Time Warner merger review should focus on net neutrality and peering, Al says."
• Netflix says it will pay "tolls" to more ISPs, not just Comcast—"Video service calls for stronger net neutrality law that covers peering."
• AT&T Exec Calls Netflix's Reed Hastings "Arrogant" For Net Neutrality Post—Also claims lower bills will result from having no net neutrality.
• After 2 months on the job, TWC CEO will grab $80 million payout if Comcast buys his company
• Not A Joke: Comcast Says No One Is More Dedicated To Net Neutrality Than It Is

Broadband and Wireless

• UK operator Three will limit data tethering to 2GB for new customers, even if the plan is 'unlimited'
• Level 3 blames Internet slowdowns on ISPs' refusal to upgrade networks—"Cogent and Netflix aren't the only ones haggling with Verizon and AT&T."
• Verizon accused of forcing Internet phones on land-line users—"Ratepayers complain that the telecom is pushing unwitting Southern California customers to give up their traditional land lines."
• CenturyLink: Trust Us, You Don't Need Google Fiber
• Google Fiber to study bringing high-speed Internet to low-income areas in Nashville
• Silicon Valley is fed up with slow Internet speeds

Amazon Prime

• Amazon raises Prime price to $99, in first ever price hike
• Amazon Accused of Cheating Customers Through Shipping Costs
• Amazon faces a surprisingly strong backlash against Prime price hikes

Apps

• Dear App Store game developers, knock it off with the useless push notifications
• The Flight of the Birdman: Flappy Bird Creator Dong Nguyen Speaks Out—"How did a chain-smoking geek from Hanoi design the viral hit Flappy Bird - and why did he walk away?" Methinks they spoke too soon.
• How clones, fear, sanitisation and free-to-play soured Apple's iOS gaming revolution
• Apple Highlights Indie Games In "Indie Game Showcase" Section

Gaming

• Xbox VP: It was a mistake to 'sugar-coat' the Xbox One controversy
• The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Game - 30th Anniversary Edition
• "The Power of Sheng" w. Super Mario—Old meets new.
• This guy went to a Magic tournament and took photos with every exposed butt crack—He got banned for six months.
• Excavation halted of Atari 'E.T.' dump in New Mexico

Copyfight

• Fluke extends a generous hand in $30,000 multimeter trademark issue—"SparkFun ordered 2,000 multimeters from China, but they ran afoul of US Customs." Fluke's statement.
• Copyright Lawsuit Against Medina Bar: 'Unauthorized' Show By Local Classic Rock Cover Band Caused 'Great and Incalculable Damage'—Over-the-topbullshit.
• Musician Claims $5.2 BILLION In Damages In Copyright Infringement Lawsuit Against Apple, Amazon And CDBaby
• Judge: IP-Address Is Not a Person and Can't Identify a BitTorrent Pirate
• Warner Bros Fights Looming Exposé of Anti-piracy Secrets
• Popcorn Time Is Hollywood's Worst Nightmare, And It Can't Be Stopped—Should the industry adopt the technology?
• Kim Dotcom loses key evidence ruling at NZ Supreme Court—"Dotcom can't look at his own data to prepare an extradition defense."

Tesla

• Auto dealers fire back at Tesla CEO: 'This Musk guy, he wants all the profits for himself'—As Gruber says, it's like it's from The Sopranos.
• Lawmaker answers Christie's call on Tesla electric car sales—"A Bergen County lawmaker has introduced a bill that would let electric car retailers, like Tesla Motors Inc., sell directly to consumers."
• Tesla Sales Model Upsetting Traditional Auto Dealers—"Tesla's Musk is focusing his attention right where it should be focused: on the well-being of his customers. If his behavior is threatening to the status quo, then those defending the status quo ought to be looking at changing their behavior rather than running to government for protection."
• Texas to Tesla: You Can't Sell Your Cars Here… But Can We Have Your Battery Plant?—Perry may be making moves.
• Fake Tesla Ad Is Better Than Most Car Ads We've Seen (Even Elon Musk Loves It)

Haxx0red

• Attackers to Basecamp: If you ever want to get back online, pay us or else—"Site fights back against extortion-motivated denial-of-service assaults."
• Judge Refuses to Dismiss Confession, Evidence in Reuters Employee Hacking Case
• ATM malware, controlled by a text message, spews cash

NSA Spying and Surveillance

• White House to propose law to end NSA bulk collection of phone data—"Phone companies will keep data, provided only with new court's order."
• Greenwald: Obama’s New NSA Proposal and Democratic Partisan Hackery—"As for the substantive reform, the fact that the President is now compelled to pose as an advocate for abolishing this program – the one he and his supporters have spent 10 months hailing – is a potent vindication of Edward Snowden’s acts and the reporting he enabled."
• After Reports on N.S.A., China Urges End to Spying—"The Chinese called on the United States to explain its actions after news reports said that the N.S.A. had hacked into the computer systems of Huawei, a telecommunications company." They probably didn't like Obama's answer. NYT
• Schneier: An Open Letter to IBM's Open Letter—IBM claims it's committed in maintaining trust with their clients (does that include the US government?).

Comcast Merger, Broadband and Wireless; Copyfight and Piracy; Patent Trolls; Digital Life, Tech Death; CIA Senate Spying; Snowden, SXSW, Surveillance and Privacy, Media and Whistleblowers, Cybersecurity

Comcast Merger

• Comcast-Time Warner Cable deal to face antitrust probe
• Time Warner Cable Deal Sets Comcast's D.C. Lobbying Machine in Motion
• Comcast spreads cash wide on Capitol Hill Politico
• Top Official Can't Rule on Cable Merger—"The Justice Department official, William Baer, represented NBCUniversal during its takeover by Comcast and is therefore forbidden from considering the merger." NYT
• Our Rights Shouldn't Come with an Expiration Date

Broadband and Wireless

• In Tennessee, four bills seek to reverse restrictions on public broadband—"Telco lobby angry about prospect of facing competition."
• Frustrated Cities Take High-Speed Internet Into Their Own Hands
• This is why Verizon gets away with charging customers more money
• Our $7 Billion Emergency LTE Network Appears Stuck In Corrupt, Bureaucratic Purgatory
• Ultra-fast 5G broadband to download a film in less than ONE SECOND
• True Detective Finale Crashes HBO GO—Took them 3.5 hours to come back online.
• Why a Netflix Price Increase Is Inevitable

Copyfight and Piracy

• US Solicitor General's Office, Run By Former Top MPAA Lawyer, Shockingly Sides With Broadcasters Over Aereo
• The world's largest photo service just made its pictures free to use—"Getty Images is betting their business on embeddable photos."
• 'Candy' Trademark Bully King Gets Trolled In Exquisite Fashion By 'Trademarkville'
• Popcorn Time Is So Good at Movie Piracy, It's Scary
• Dutch Supreme Court Agrees To Let Rights Group Collect Back 'You Must Be A Pirate' Taxes On Mp3 Players And Hard Drives

Patent Trolls

• Stalking trolls—"Intellectual property: After being blamed for stymying innovation in America, vague and overly broad patents on software and business processes could get the chop."
• Congress gets out club for patent 'trolls'
• Nintendo and HTC score a win against patent trolls
• German court dismisses $2 billion patent troll claim against Apple
• EFF goes to court, quashes patent troll's attempt to grab donor names—"Podcasting patent troll sought 1,300 EFF donor names; it's getting zero."

Digital Life

• 15 Theses About the Digital Future
• Study: 11% of Americans Think HTML Is an STD
• Keurig Insists Coffee DRM Brings 'Interactive-Enabled Benefits' And Is For Your Own Safety—Keep bullshitting.
• Yahoo will block Google and Facebook accounts from accessing its services
• Mozilla anger over Dell Firefox fee—Charging users to install the free browser.

Tech Death

• History's 15 Worst Named Tech Products
• RadioShack closing 1,100 stores after dismal holidays
• How QuarkXPress became a mere afterthought in publishing—"In the early '90s, Quark boasted 95% market share. In '99, InDesign arrived..."

CIA Senate Spying

• Feinstein: CIA searched Intelligence Committee computers—"Head of intelligence panel said agency appears to have violated Constitution and federal laws." What's Dianne complaining about? Isn't that what she's enabling the NSA to do anyway on ordinary citizens? WaPo
• Snowden accuses Senate intelligence chair of hypocrisy over CIA disclosures—"NSA whistleblower accuses Dianne Feinstein of double standards, pointing out her lack of concern about widespread surveillance of ordinary citizens."
• How CIA snooped on Senate Intel Committee's files—"It's easy to search someone's network when you hired the IT department."
• Why Does Congress Lack the Backbone to Oversee the CIA?—"The spy agency should pay a price for its intransigence. But not enough legislators are willing to defend the oversight role of their colleagues."
• Behind Clash Between C.I.A. and Congress, a Secret Report on Interrogations—"A dispute over a classified C.I.A. report has led to a bitter fight between the agency and the Senate Intelligence Committee, with each side accusing the other of spying on it." NYT
• CIA: We Only Spied On Senate Intelligence Committee Because They Took Classified Documents That Prove We're Liars
• The CIA has brought darkness to America by fighting in the shadows—"After 9/11 the agency was given free rein to break the rules but when allowed to play dirty abroad, it's difficult to stop at home."

Snowden

• Snowden: I raised NSA concerns internally over 10 times before going rogue WaPo
• Snowden Gives Testimony To European Parliament Inquiry Into Mass Surveillance, Asks For EU Asylum
• Snowden has shown the 'huge disparity of surveillance and power', says Gellman—"Government needs reminding that they work for us, says Pulitzer-winning reporter Barton Gellman, who describes Edward Snowden as ending an era of indifference to surveillance."
• Edward Snowden is Becoming the Face of Leadership in America—"He may not even be allowed back on American soil, but Edward Snowden is becoming a pioneer for an America that is finally beginning to value information and transparency over pride and fear."
• Weirdest Snowden leak yet: The NSA has an advice columnist—"'Ask Zelda' column was a favorite among staffers."

SXSW

• Kill the Snowden interview, congressman tells SXSW—"Kansas Rep. Mike Pompeo wants organizers of South by Southwest Interactive to back out of their scheduled video conference interview of Edward Snowden." Fat chance.
• Edward Snowden speaks at SXSW, calls for public oversight of U.S. spy programs—And of Congress itself.
• Edward Snowden: 'They're setting fire to the future of the Internet' WaPo

Surveillance and Privacy

• Court Rejects NSA Bid to Hold Phone Data Longer—"A federal surveillance court has rejected the Obama administration's bid to hold onto millions of phone records beyond the current five-year limit."
• Julian Assange: 'We're heading towards a dystopian surveillance society'—"Wikileaks' founder Julian Assange joins Alex Wagner to discuss society 'heading towards surveillance totalitarianism,' his exile, censorship and why Edward Snowden 'has become a symbol.'"
• Digital surveillance: How you're being tracked every day
• Disney Bets $1 Billion on Technology to Track Theme-Park Visitors
• Judge orders Internet commenter's name revealed

Media and Whistleblowers

• Outgoing NSA chief hints at 'media leaks legislation' Politico
• The Guardian's Alan Rusbridger: 'It's Essential to Be Paranoid' NYT
• I got 30 months in prison. Why does Leon Panetta get a pass?—"The Espionage Act should be rewritten to deal with issues of intent and motive, and it should be enforced equally."

Cybersecurity

• Embarrassing stories shed light on U.S. officials' technological ignorance—"One U.S. official asked what an ISP is in preparation for cybersecurity negotiations with China."
• Why Your Mobile Device Isn't As Secure As You Think
• Stop Glorifying Hackers—"I would not learn for nine months that within my short, oblivious interval of defenselessness Guccifer had managed to capture a passwords list I had Gmailed to myself at the office." Maybe she should stop doing stuff like that in the first place.
• HTTPS can't be trusted to obscure private online activity
• Apple security rules leave inherited iPad useless, say sons—Sound like a necessary CYA on Apple's part.

Net Neutrality Neutered, AT&T Sponsored Data, Broadband and Cable; NSA Spying, Haxx0red; Reviews, Uber, Cameras; Digital Life, Law and Disorder

Net Neutrality Neutered

• Appeals court strikes down FCC's net neutrality rules
• How the FCC screwed up its chance to make ISP blocking illegal
• Net Neutrality is Dead. The FCC Won't Save It. It's Time to Start Building.
• Net neutrality is dead. Bow to Comcast and Verizon, your overlords
• Verizon Victory on Net-Neutrality Rules Seen as Loss for Netflix
• A Federal Appeals Court Killed Free Speech on the Internet Today. The Internet Will Now Be Enforced by a Handful of Companies.
• The Net Neutrality Battle Has Been Lost—"But now we can finally win the war."

AT&T Sponsored Data

• AT&T's Sponsored Data slammed by lawmakers as a blatant shakedown
• FCC is ready to stomp on AT&T's Sponsored Data dreams—Yeah right.
• AT&T: No, Sponsored Data does not violate Net neutrality
• AT&T's Sponsored Data is bad for the internet, the economy, and you
• Op-ed: AT&T's new data cap "deal" is just another weapon against regulation

Broadband and Cable

• Municipal broadband's death by lobbyist: San Antonio has the fiber, they should have the network.
• Internet providers push for two-tier Internet based on data caps: Geist
• Broadband price per Mbps shocker for South Africa—"South Africa’s price of $30.72 per Mbps is multiple times higher than the global average of $6.95 per Mbps."
• Time Warner Cable Loses 215,000 TV Customers in Fourth Quarter—More cord-cutters.
• Time Warner Cable rejects Charter's $60bn bid as 'grossly inadequate'
• Robbinsville mayor vetoes Cablevision franchise ordinance after provider drops NY station
• 'I fought my ISPs bad behavior and won'

NSA Spying

• N.S.A. Devises Radio Pathway Into Computers—"The agency has put software in thousands of computers that allows for surveillance and can also create a path for launching cyberattacks, according to documents, experts and officials." NYT
• Mozilla Calls on World to Protect Firefox Browser From the NSA
• Out in the Open: An NSA-Proof Twitter, Built With Code From Bitcoin and BitTorrent
• Telecom Believed to Be at Center of Government Court Fight Files Surveillance Transparency Report
• Tech firms: We don’t want to keep Internet metadata for the government—"The tech firms are urging the White House and Congress to ban the bulk collection of Internet communications." WaPo

Haxx0red

• Neiman Marcus says hackers may have stolen payment card data
• Target: Data Was Stolen From 70M Americans During Security Breach—Part of their mea culpa: one year of free credit monitoring and identity theft protection.
• Yahoo ad malware attack far greater than anticipated
• Microsoft hit in weekend of hacking attacks
• 'Zero-day' hacking reform raises hackles with US tech groups FT

Reviews

• What Amazon Reviewers Think of Samsung's $45,000 TV
• Awful app-review trend among Turkish users: This is why your app gets so many one star reviews!
• Court Rules That Yelp Must Unmask the Identities of Seven Anonymous Reviewers

Uber

• Uber, LeCab And Others Now Have To Wait 15 Minutes Before Picking You Up In France
• Uber Did Its Best To Warn You About New Year's Eve Surge Pricing, But Everyone Complained Anyway
• Uber car attacked as Paris taxi strike turns violent

Cameras

• Smartphones Are Killing Camera Companies Again
• Goodbye, Cameras
• Horizon Shoots All Of Your Videos In Landscape, No Matter How You Hold Your Phone

Digital Life

• Internet-Speak is Improving English Because Empathy
• Why Her Will Dominate UI Design Even More Than Minority Report
• The PC's Death Might Also Mean the Web's Demise
• How funny would it be if Google was a real person you had to talk to?
• The London 'Anti-Cafe' Where Everything Is Free But You Pay 5 Cents A Minute Just To Be There

Law and Disorder

• Facebook hit with lawsuit over "Like" ads – user says he never "Liked" USA Today
• Patent stunner: Under attack, nation's most notorious "troll" sues federal gov't
• Judge rebuffs Apple attempt to block e-books monitor

TPP, Copyfight; Patents; Broadband and Bandwidth, Cord-Cutters; Online Scams, Bad Companies, Reviews, Spam; Obamacare

TPP

• Jailbreaking and unlocking might be restricted in treaty pushed by Obama—"International ban could make it difficult to change US law for the better."
• Want 'free trade'? Open the medical and drug industry to competition—"Agreements like the Trans-Pacific Partnership distribute wealth upward. Real 'free trade' can lower medical costs for everyone."
• For Free Trade's Sake, Get IP Out of the TPP
• Australia: Outrage after TPP leak reveals piracy criminalisation
• Civil Society Groups Demand Transparency and User Protections in TPP

Copyfight

• Why pressing 'upload' means losing your rights—"If you store your precious photos and documents online, then you may be disturbed to discover the rights you give away, says Tom Chatfield."
• Photojournalist gets $1.2 million in damages for images cribbed from Twitter—"Jury maxed out statutory damage awards for eight photos."
• Automattic files two lawsuits and strikes back at fraudulent DMCA takedown notices on WordPress.com

Patents

• Software patent reform just died in the House, thanks to IBM and Microsoft
• Judge rejects patent troll's request for no-media "gag order"—"FindTheBest has the right to tell others about a $50,000 patent demand."
• Newegg on trial: Mystery company TQP rewrites the history of encryption—"Once-secret details of a mass-lawsuit operation are revealed in Texas courtroom."
• Jury: Newegg infringes Spangenberg patent, must pay $2.3 million—"Determined lawyers—and the father of modern crypto—couldn't stop TQP patent."
• FindTheBest destroys "matchmaking" patent, pushes RICO case against troll—"The patent is found abstract, six months and $200,000 after the suit was filed."

Broadband and Bandwidth

• We're About to Lose Net Neutrality — And the Internet as We Know It
• How Verizon's Lawsuit Could Kill Netflix, YouTube
• Netflix, YouTube gobble up half of Internet traffic in North America
• Looks like Comcast is quietly pushing a 300 GB cap and overage charges
• Big Cable may have felled Seattle's mayor, but it couldn't stop this Colo. project WaPo
• Comcast seeks advice on possible Time Warner Cable bid: Sources
• Verizon Hit By Too Much LTE Demand, Pushing Some Customers Down To 3G
• Fed up with slow and pricey Internet, cities start demanding gigabit fiber—"Google Fiber can't do it all, so city governments start taking charge."
• Bill would make it illegal for ISPs to slow down online video services—"Data caps and deceptive pricing would also be regulated by proposed law."

Cord-Cutters

• Time Warner doesn't want you to know you can get HBO without cable
• Netflix is killing television to keep it alive
• Charter CEO 'Surprised' More Users Want Broadband With No TV
• Cord-cutting: Pay-TV companies lose 113,000 customers in quarter
• TV market continues worldwide decline in 2013
• TV Is Dying, And Here Are The Stats That Prove It
• This politician wants to blow up the cable industry's stranglehold on what you can watch

Online Scams

• Wikipedia names Texas PR firm over false manipulation of site entries
• Model sues Match.com for $1.5B over fake profiles
• FBI: Be wary of Cyber Monday scams

Bad Companies

• LG Admits Its Smart TVs Collected Info, Promises Fix So Customers Can Actually Opt Out—Future customers should opt out form buying LG.
• How far the once mighty SourceForge has fallen…—The new owners foisting adware-infested installers on unsuspecting users.
• The Dirty Secret Behind the Salesforce $1M Hackathon

Reviews

• Fined For Posting A Negative Review Online
• So much for my Yelp revenge—"When I posted a negative review, the shop owner threatened to smear me — but that was only the beginning." Salon
• Nasty online reviews can lead to lawsuits: Roseman—"If a company gives bad service, you might write an online review telling others to stay away. Make sure your comments are factual first."

Spam

• Why Did 9,000 Porny Spambots Descend on This San Diego High Schooler?—"A voyage into the strange underworld of spambots, shady marketing, and non-human intelligence."
• Firm That Sent 42 Million Texts Settles in Spam Case—"Rentbro and its principals, Daniel Pessin and Jacob Engel, agreed to turn over all remaining assets and to repay up to $377,321." NYT
• Ban on most robocalls and text message spam gets stronger

Obamacare

• Obamacare Cutbacks Shut Hospitals Where Medicaid Went Unexpanded
• Reich: How the Republican Tempest Over the Affordable Care Act Diverts Attention from Three Large Truths
• Ted Cruz Bristles At CNN Anchor's Obamacare Questions
• In rural Kentucky, health-care debate takes back seat as the long-uninsured line up WaPo
• Seven reasons Obamacare isn't facing a "death spiral" WaPo