If your internet connection isn't at least 25Mbps, it's not broadband
For a long time, the official definition of a broadband connection is one that delivers a download speed of at least 4Mbps. Now the FCC has increased the lower limit so any connection that has a download speed of less than 25Mbps and an upload speed below 3Mbps will no longer be considered a broadband connection.
If you look at your line stats and feel a little let down, you're far from being alone, and the FCC feels your pain. The Federal Communications Commission voted to increase the minimum speed as part of an ongoing effort to push ISPs into offering higher speeds. The reason? The modern web demands it.
Follow Super Bowl 49: Patriots vs Seahawks on Twitter with #SB49
Hey bro, it's almost Super Bowl Sunday! You know what that means, right? Testosterone and fatty foods. For one day a year, weak computer nerds like me pretend to be men by watching NFL football and eating junk food. Truth be told, I enjoy watching American football, but for the most part, I am happier watching Big Bang Theory or The Bachelor with a nice cup of herbal tea!
Don't worry, if you are a computer nerd that isn't interested in watching sports, you can at least use technology to enhance the Super Bowl experience. How? With Twitter, of course! Yes, between watching the commercials, you can pull out your iPad or Nexus 9 and follow the action with the hashtag #SB49. This will enable you to at least look like you know what you are talking about when the other guys are discussing the game.
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Today in Tech History
Apple is boring
Perhaps you have seen such statement somewhere on the InterWebs sometime during the last couple of months and increasingly the past few weeks. It's a meme slowly growing -- and for good reasons. While others innovate, Apple iterates and succeeds unblushingly well. The company is mountains more successful today innovating less and taking fewer risks.
Apple is the new Microsoft, where maximizing margins matters more than innovation. Look how much more successful Apple is by being boring and following where innovators lead. Consider today's Strategy Analytics report that puts Apple and Samsung tied for calendar fourth-quarter smartphone shipments. Such scenario was all but unfathomable two quarters earlier. Yet the foundation laid long before Apple cofounder Steve Job's death, when logistics genius and now CEO Tim Cook managed day-to-day operations. Risk-to-innovation defined Jobs' management style. Cook is more tactical.
The EU's awful cloud adoption rates revealed
The growth in high-speed internet connectivity across Europe, the increasing adoption of cloud services, the consumerization of IT and the move towards mobile working are all trends that, in theory, play to the strengths of SMBs -- allowing them to compete more effectively.
The proliferation towards cloud-based services such as Skype, Google Drive and Salesforce is also making life easier for employees -- allowing staff to access content from anywhere and work collaboratively. However, research of 2,500 European office-based workers recently conducted by ZyXEL, has found that while SMBs are starting to make the most of new technologies and services, there are inconsistencies with the progress being made in each country.
US firms don't want to hand over source code and provide backdoors to Chinese government
Technology firms in the US have written to the Chinese government asking for a postponement to the introduction of rules that would oblige companies to hand over source code as well as providing backdoors into hardware and security products sold to Chinese banks. A group of companies wrote to the Communist Party committee on cybersecurity to express disapproval at plans to underrcut the requirements later in the year.
China says that it is concerned solely with cybersecurity and wants foreign technology companies to submit to audits in addition to complying with the other demands. Outside China, the feeling is that the proposed regulations have been designed to either control outside business, or to scare companies out of the market, opening the way for Chinese firms.
New business collaboration platform secures data with personalized cryptography
Data security is a big concern for both individuals and businesses. This doesn't only apply to the public face of a business, but to exchange of information and collaboration between employees too.
Canadian company Witkit is launching a new platform that allows the creation of teams and groups within industries, companies, and departments to tackle projects and solve problems collectively, with the safety and security of knowing their data cannot be breached.
How the 'Health of Things' could replace your trip to the doctors [Q&A]
One of the biggest trends of this year's CES was the "Health of Things", with wearable technology increasingly being connected to healthcare in order to enhance users' lives.
I spoke to health tech specialist Nudge about what exactly the "Health of Things" means to the general consumer and the impact it's having -- and will have -- on the tech and healthcare industries.
Federal cyber security rules should learn from industry guidelines
For many in the cyber security field, this year’s State of the Union speech was particularly notable, as information security took the spotlight alongside other major international and domestic issues.
President Obama said he would propose several sensible new security measures, including:
Smartphones: Apple ties with Samsung, Android still growing, Windows Phone still failing
Samsung is no longer the leading smartphone vendor. According to a new report from Strategy Analytics, Apple caught up with the South Korean maker in Q4 2014, thanks to a record number of iPhone shipments totaling 74.5 million units. The two players now share the top spot on the podium.
How did it come to this? Well, it's simple. Apple's shipments increased from 51 million units by 46.07 percent year-over-year, while Samsung's shipments decreased from 86 million units by 13.37 percent, each converging to 19.6 percent market share. Thanks to the strong performance shown by iPhones, iOS' market share rose also, to 19.6 percent from 17.6 percent a year prior, while Android's market share dipped slightly to 76.7 percent from 78.3 percent.
A single DDoS attack could cost over $400,000
One of the major worries for online businesses is being subject to a DDoS attack. As well as damaging reputations these can have a serious effect on finances too.
According to a new study by Kaspersky Lab the average cost of a DDoS attack ranges between $52,000 and $444,000 dollars depending on the size of the business.
Google faces a Sisyphean task to remove terrorist content from YouTube
Too much content is uploaded to YouTube for Google to be able to effectively police users' videos. This is what the search giant said in response to calls for more to be done to counter terrorism-related content on the video network.
Online censorship versus the right to freedom of speech is a battle that has waged online for some time now. Some parts of the world are more prone to censorship than others, and it's an argument that bubbles up from time to time. The debate usually centers around the moral rights and wrongs of censoring content, but the issue of practicality occasionally rears its head as well.
Intel's 5th generation Core vPro processors now available for enterprise and enthusiasts
Whether you are a home or business user, there is probably an Intel processor in your PC or workstation. Let's be honest, it has become a one-horse race; Intel is really the only player in the processor game nowadays. True, AMD is still producing chips, but the best value is Intel's "Core" line -- great performance paired with impressive battery life and temperatures. Sadly, AMD has nothing to compete with Intel's 14nm 5th generation Intel Core processors.
Today, Intel furthers its lead against competitors by announcing the immediate availability of the vPro-enabled 5th generation Intel Core processors. These chips are aimed at business users and workstations, but enthusiast home users will be interested in these chips too. The new features should allow workers to be more productive, while working smarter instead of just harder.
Monitor HTTP and HTTPS traffic with FiddlerCap
If you’re trying to diagnose web problems, or you’re concerned about security, then it can sometimes be useful to watch your PC’s HTTP and HTTPS traffic.
Fiddler is one possible solution, an industrial-strength web debugging proxy with a lengthy feature list and enough monitoring power to satisfy the most demanding of developers.
Employees can put corporations in danger for little money
The recent breaches of large corporation internal systems has lead some security analysts to believe indifference from employees is a key factor, rather than rogue nations attacking the private sector.
Identity management firm SailPoint claims employees would be willing to sell corporate information like passwords for as little as £100 and routinely use the same passwords for almost all applications.
Microsoft's decision to ditch Surface is a long-overdue mercy killing for Windows RT
For too long it was the metaphorical unwanted litter of kittens tied in a sack just waiting for someone to ditch it in the river. Windows RT is dead, having enjoyed a cancer-ridden 'life' for longer than many people expected. Microsoft announced that it is no longer going to manufacture Surface devices, all but signing the death warrant for Windows RT.
Hear that sound? No? That's the sound of everyone caring about it. To be fair, the writing has been on the wall for quite some time. Windows RT was always the sickly twin sibling of Windows 8 and now Microsoft has done the decent thing. It might not quite have delivered the lethal shot to the brain yet, but the gun has been cocked. And not before time.