In recent weeks, Verizon and AT&T have been At least for now. AT&T tells ProPublica that its use of permacookies was “part of a test,” which has since wrapped up, but the company says that it “may still launch a program to sell data collected by its tracking number.” For its part, AT&T says that it will allow customers to opt out of the program if—or when—it decides to use permacookies for advertising purposes.
Here’s some good news for Google Play Music All Access subscribers: You will soon be able to get free, unfettered access to YouTube’s new Music Key service. According to Music Key, of course, is
Facebook lets its users control whether other people can see the information they post, but when it comes to controlling what Facebook itself gets to see, privacy-conscious users are out of luck. In fact, Facebook doesn't think it would make sense to let users do that. “With most online services, there’s an understanding that when you use those services to share information, you’re also sharing information with the company providing the service,” said Matt Scutari, manager of privacy and public policy at Facebook. “For users who are truly concerned with sharing their information with a particular platform, honestly, you might not want to share information with that platform,” he said, speaking during a
U.S. President Barack Obama’s call for the Federal Communications Commission to pass net neutrality rules by reclassifying broadband as a regulated public utility is a bad idea that could raise broadband prices by 16 percent or more, a parade of Republican politicians and conservative activists said Friday. Reclassifying broadband as a regulated common carrier under Title II of the Communications Act would expose broadband services to a 16 percent telecom service fee that supports the FCC’s Universal Service Fund, said several speakers at net neutrality discussion hosted by antiregulation think tank the Free State Foundation [FSF]. Title II regulation would open broadband up to several new regulations, including USF fees and state and local telecom taxes, speakers at the event said. “Consumers of these services would face an immediate increase in their bills,” said Republican FCC member Michael O’Rielly.
Nokia-branded smartphones may not be dead—they just won’t be made by Nokia, let alone Microsoft. Confused? That’s understandable, since Nokia, meanwhile, retained several businesses: its enterprise networks, its HERE mapping subsidiary, and assorted, largely overlooked licensing and technology businesses. It’s that licensing subsidiary that Nokia plans to exploit, according to Nokia executives speaking at an investor day, according to
Welcome to a special "Catching up on two weeks of news!" edition of Missing Pieces, courtesy of BlizzCon last week. This week we have Doritos-flavored Mountain Dew, new If you're tired of boring ol' analog thumb wrestling, you can join the rest of the 21st century with
Cisco, Comcast, Yahoo and others formed the Streaming Video Alliance
The floodgates are finally cracking open for Android Lollipop. Nexus device updates are rolling out, while It’s also a happy Friday for AT&T customers, who are seeing a bunch of updates, though unfortunately none of those bring the new Android OS. Each week we gather up all the major software updates for the biggest devices; phones and tablets on U.S. carriers (and unlocked phones, of course), wearables, and round them all up so you don’t miss a thing.
A malware program distributed recently through a rogue server on the Tor anonymity network was also used in targeted attacks against European government agencies. The malware has been dubbed OnionDuke by security researchers from antivirus firm F-Secure, who believe it is connected to MiniDuke, a cyberespionage threat of Russian origin that was used to attack NATO and European governments before its discovery in February 2013. In October, Josh Pitts, a researcher with Leviathan Security Group, found a Tor exit node located in Russia that
A new leasing program lets subscribers get an iPad for a monthly fee and no money down, but don't forget the fine print.
After months of teasing, tweaking, and controversy, Firefox’s native ads have They’re unobtrusive, clearly labeled, and only collect user information in "aggregate form, meaning no data is personally identifiable." And the ads reduce Mozilla’s overwhelming reliance on Google—which definitely
After Before we get too excited, Skype says the new beta web app will be rolling out very slowly to a small number of existing and new users, with a worldwide happening sometime in the coming months. To see if it's available for you, log in to your account on Skype.com and see if you've got an invite.
Mozilla's controversial Mozilla's advertising looks no different than it did when we saw the tiles pop up in
We may live in the era of free productivity apps like Google Docs and Office Online, but I still find value in owning the paid, desktop-bound version of Microsoft's productivity suite—especially with all the extras Microsoft keeps throwing at Office 365 subscribers, like Today, I've got two quick tips for Office 2013 owners and Office 365 customers. One helps you keep your oft-used files and folders at the top of your Office suite apps, and the second one is for those who prefer to use Dropbox or another cloud storage service over OneDrive.
Nearly 20 years after conquering it, Why mention it? Because I'm impressed at how well
We all have a phrase, a number, or another string of text that we type over and over again: a lengthy street address, your office number, or any other common bit of data you wish would simply flow from your fingertips to your touchscreen. You can save yourself a ton of tapping by creating your own custom keyboard shortcuts for iOS and Android devices. How does a keyboard shortcut (or "text expansion," as it's also called) work? Here's an example: if you were to type, say, the letters "mpn" (for "my phone number"), your phone or tablet would immediately substitute the phrase or text string of your choice—like "212-555-1212." In Android, you create shortcuts in the keyboard's personal dictionary.
