The Complete Photoshop Master Class Bundle has 6 courses to help you learn all you need to know about Photoshop. Courses cover basic editing, layers, retouching, light effects, outdoor portraiture, web design, and more. It’s on sale for $30. Note: The Techdirt Deals Store is powered and curated by StackCommerce. A portion of all sales […]
As we mentioned yesterday, our crowdfunding campaign for One Billion Users is in its final hours. Although we’re still below the funding threshold, we did get a decent bump yesterday, so there’s still a chance we’ll reach our goal. And just in time, Adi Robertson at The Verge has written a very nice review of […]
We’ve documented in detail how the whole AT&T–>Time Warner–>Warner Brothers Discovery merger process has been a pointless mess, resulting in no limits of layoffs and damage to the underlying brands. What was supposed to be a gambit by these companies to dominate streaming TV, wound up being a very expensive act of seppuku by over-compensated executives clearly out of […]
It’s the same as it has always been. Some cops do something horrible, the DOJ steps in, the DOJ finds plenty of things wrong with the place housing the cops, the DOJ imposes its will on the cop shop… and years later, no one can really tell that anything happened. Even less will happen now […]
In our stories about how you don’t actually own what you’ve bought in the digital and IoT world, one of the sub-genres of those stories concern products bought by customers that become entirely or partially useless due to the decisions made by the seller. This itself can take a variety of forms, from video games […]
Last week, the Senate released yet another version of the Kids Online Safety Act, written, reportedly, with the assistance of X CEO Linda Yaccarino in a flawed attempt to address the critical free speech issues inherent in the bill. This last minute draft remains, at its core, an unconstitutional censorship bill that threatens the online speech and […]
In this new era of censorship — aided and abetted by people who think they can “make America great again” by destroying the rights that actually make America great — almost every state is dealing with mass censorship efforts. Most of these involve libraries because motivated bigots have found leverage points to maximize their efforts […]
Donald Trump has made it quite clear that he views his reelection as not just a vindication of his views, but as a blessing for his plan to bring vengeance on those who disagree with him. His cabinet picks are following in his footsteps on that, with various threats of lawsuits flying this way and […]
To completely understand computer security, it’s vital to step outside the fence and to think outside the box. Computer security is not just about firewalls, Intrusion Prevention Systems, or anti-viruses. It’s also about tricking people into doing whatever a hacker wishes. A secure system, network, or infrastructure is also about informed people. The All-in-One Super-Sized […]
Tomorrow is the last day of our Kickstarter campaign for One Billion Users. We’re still beneath the funding threshold, so unless there’s a big closing rush, this campaign won’t reach our goal. Still, if we can get that big closing rush, we’d love your support for the campaign. At the very least, supporting it now […]
I’ve covered the cable TV and broadband industries for a long while, and for the vast majority of that time, U.S. regulators have looked the other way while companies rip consumers off with hidden fees. At some point the U.S. just decided that this type of false advertising was a form of acceptable creativity. And […]
Monster Energy. Go ahead, I’ll wait for your eyes to finish rolling. The trademark bullying company with a side business in making beverages has been the subject of discussion here for years and years and years. Monster Energy is one of the most prolific trademark bullies I’ve ever come across. It behaves so absurdly in […]
I apologize in advance for the non-specific nature of this headline. But there’s too much going on here to be summed up pithily in a few hundred words or less. No one here gets paid by the word, but we’re going to need a whole lot of them to get to the bottom of this […]
Long before TikTok histrionics took root, you might recall that numerous members of Congress spent numerous years freaking about another Chinese company: Chinese telecom equipment maker Huawei. The argument, made without much in the way of public evidence, was that Huawei was systematically using its network gear to spy on Americans at a massive scale. Congress then […]
As a non-fan, non-supporter of Donald Trump, I don’t have much left after discovering a disturbing number of my fellow Americans prefer fascism to liberty. But I still have these things I will forever hold near and dear to my heart: schadenfreude and irony. And, if you’re like me, you get both of these things […]
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 to run numerous errands around town. A Gold Star Membership includes a FREE […]
Katie Couric recently claimed that repealing Section 230 would help combat online misinformation. The problem is, she couldn’t be more wrong. Worse, as a prominent voice, she’s contributing to the widespread misinformation around Section 230 herself. A few years ago, for reasons that are unclear to me, Katie Couric chaired a weird Aspen Institute “Commission […]
For the better part of the last thirty years, telecom giants and “free market” libertarian think tanks have told anybody who’d listen that gutting regulatory oversight of the U.S. wireless and broadband markets would result in near-Utopian outcomes across innovation and competition. Instead, the reduction in both competition and real oversight resulted in regional telecom […]
A few years back, Karl Bode wrote about YouTube TV’s 2020 price hike, going from $50/month for its base package, to $65/month. The framing of that post was spot on: Google was behaving much like that of a cable company, with the exact customer-angering actions being taken that drove so many people into YouTube TV’s […]
If you’ve ever wondered how the right-wing media ecosystem operates and why it’s effective, try viewing it as a form of improvisational theater or improv. In the wake of the 2024 U.S. elections, everyday people and political pundits alike have been trying to make sense of the results and the related observation that many Americans […]
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