The 2021 infrastructure bill is poised to deliver $42.5 billion in broadband subsidies to the states under a program called Broadband Equity, Access, And Deployment (BEAD). This program has been slow sledding, because America’s broadband maps were absolute garbage, requiring that states work overtime to fix our broadband maps and ensure the money is spent semi-wisely. Republicans and […]
One of the most important shifts in computing over the last few decades has been the increasing use of open source software on nearly every platform, from cloud computing to smartphones (well, I would say that). For the distributed development methodology pioneered by Linus Torvalds with Linux to work, modularity is key. It allows coders […]
This may not mean much in the grand scheme of things but it’s good to see these objections on the record. It’s incremental, but in these times, every increment helps, especially when the Supreme Court seems actively disinterested in discussing cases in which government officials might be found to be in the wrong. Cert has […]
If you’re not of a certain age, you may not be entirely familiar with the story of Enron, the once-vaunted energy and bandwidth trading company that went down in one of the most public bankruptcy and financial scandals of all time. It all ended in 2001, with several Enron executives being charged with accounting fraud […]
In the only country in the world where this sort of violence happens frequently enough it’s become a despairing meme, legislators continue to ignore the obvious solutions in favor of throwing money at esoteric options that won’t stop Americans from entering schools to murder children en masse. In Texas, this problem hits home harder. Not […]
Whether you’re a science enthusiast, history buff, or technology geek, Curiosity Stream has something for everyone. Unleash the power of on-demand streaming that allows you to choose what you want to watch, when you want to watch it, and where you want to watch it. From the comfort of your living room to the remote […]
Over the weekend, I saw Andy Baio post on Bluesky an amusing experiment in response to Mark Sample posting about how the name “David Mayer” appears to break ChatGPT: The “David Mayer” issue got a fair bit of attention in some corners of the media, as lots of people tried to figure out what was […]
For decades, U.S. cable and broadband providers have statistically had some of the worst customer support and satisfaction ratings of any industry or government agency in America (see: the American Customer Satisfaction Index). That’s quite a feat in a country where banks, airlines, insurance companies, and medical giants intensely compete to deliver vast untold frustration […]
If you haven’t been following along on our posts about a trademark dispute between the famed Ravinia Festival Association (RFA) and Ravinia Brewing for the last decade or so, here is a quick synopsis. The RFA operates the Ravinia Festival outdoor music venue north of Chicago. “Ravinia” isn’t a fanciful name, as locals here know. […]
Yes, it’s that time of year again! We’re gearing up for the latest edition of our annual public domain game jam, Gaming Like It’s 1929! We’ve been running these game jams ever since 2019, when new works began entering the public domain in the US for the first time in over two decades, as a […]
Scores of organizations from across the anti-pornography movement have filed amicus briefs supporting the state of Texas and Attorney General Ken Paxton in a U.S. Supreme Court case dealing with his state’s draconian age verification law. In 2023, members of the Texas legislature adopted House Bill (HB) 1181, which explicitly singles out online adult platforms […]
Just weeks after a court swiftly struck down California’s unconstitutional “deepfake” law, a similar challenge is underway in Minnesota (using the same plaintiff and same lawyers) — and the state’s defense is off to an inauspicious start, with one of their own expert witnesses submitting a declaration that cites non-existent research, “hallucinated” by the very […]
Costco 1-Year Gold Star Membership Plus $45 Digital Costco Shop Card Costco is your one-stop shop for everything you want and offers a wide range of merchandise that will likely cover all of your shopping needs! With hundreds of locations across the country, Costco is the ideal place to shop without the hassle of having […]
If you put cops in schools, this is what you get: On the morning of January 10, 2020, a parent complained to school officials about a sketch N.B. and other students had drawn in response to another student bullying N.B. The parent unreasonably insisted that school officials call the police. After arriving on school grounds, […]
The FCC has long run an $8 billion federal subsidy program to help bring phone and broadband services to lower income homes and schools called the Universal Service Fund. The historically bipartisan program has long been funded by a fee on traditional phone lines. But with traditional phone lines dying, there’s been a long, ongoing discussion […]
This week, our first place winner on the insightful side is Stephen T. Stone with a comment on our post about the push to post the Ten Commandments in school, in reply to a comment asking us not to insult the people asking for this: Yes, we could avoid insulting Christian nationalists who want to […]
Five Years Ago This week in 2019, the EU was pushing back against the US on the topic of strong encryption, while Pennsylvania’s Supreme Court said compelled password production violates the fifth amendment. We learned more about how freely Amazon gave cops access to Ring doorbell recordings, and about how much California was raking in […]
As you likely know by now, we are running a Kickstarter to fund the release of One Billion Users, our new card game about building the biggest and best social media network. Earlier this week, Mike wrote about the game’s roots in Touring and Mille Bornes and explained some of the new mechanics we’ve added, […]
We’re waiting for the lawsuit in Japan between Nintendo, The Pokémon Co., and Pocketpair, the developers of the hit game Palworld to really get going. In the meantime, the public commentary is filling the information void, including commentary from IP experts. The suit revolves around a series of patents the plaintiffs hold that cover a […]
We’ve noted how Trump’s win means that Brendan Carr (R, AT&T) will now be in charge of the nation’s top telecom and media regulator. We’ve also made it very clear his tenure will involve dismantling whatever’s left of FCC broadband consumer protection, killing remaining media consolidation limits, and threatening to pull the broadcast licenses of […]
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