In a new essay Friday, technology pundit Robert Cringely remembers the day he got his first home fax machine in 1986, arguing that broadcast television is like a fax machine — in that “they are both obsolete.” Then he offers a quick history of television, cable TV, and the rise of Netflix, concluding “I’ll be surprised if broadcast TV in the…
Tag: mobile
For Two Hours, European Mobile Traffic Was Rerouted Through China
An anonymous reader quotes a report from ZDNet: For more than two hours on Thursday, June 6, a large chunk of European mobile traffic was rerouted through the infrastructure of China Telecom, China’s third-largest telco and internet service provider (ISP). The incident occurred because of a BGP route leak at Swiss data center colocation company Safe Host, which accidentally leaked over…
Robocalls Can Now Get Blocked By Your Carrier By Default
The FCC voted unanimously today to allow carriers to block robocalls by default, setting the stage for the major carriers to take action against the surge of unwanted automated calls that basically everyone hates. From a report: The agency also voted to move forward on a proposed rule that would require carriers to adopt the SHAKEN / STIR caller ID authentication…
Google Launches Android Q Beta 4 With Final APIs and Official SDK
An anonymous reader quotes a report from VentureBeat: Google today launched the fourth Android Q beta with final Android Q APIs and the official SDK. If you’re a developer, this is your fourth Android Q preview, and you can start testing your apps against this release by downloading it from developer.android.com/preview. The preview includes system images for the Pixel, Pixel XL,…
Apple Expands tvOS Gaming With PS4, Xbox One S Controller Support
Apple CEO Tim Cook today announced that the company is expanding Apple TV controller support to include “two of the best and most popular game controllers available, Xbox One S and PlayStation DualShock 4” with the next tvOS update. Unfortunately, as Ars Technica notes, this “does not include original Xbox One control pads that shipped with the 2013 version of the…
Apple’s MacOS Catalina Will Open Up To iPad Apps, Be Available In the Fall
An anonymous reader quotes a report from CNET: Apple on Monday announced the next version of MacOS. Called Catalina, the next major revision of the MacOS will replace the iTunes app with three dedicated media apps: Apple Music, Apple Podcasts and Apple TV. The update coming this fall will also let Mac users run iPad apps they can download through the…
Samsung and AMD Announce Multi-Year Strategic Graphics IP Licensing Deal For SLSI Mobile GPUs
Samsung and AMD announced today a new multi-year strategic partnership between the two companies, where Samsung SLSI will license graphics IP from AMD for use in mobile GPUs. From a report: The announcement is a major disruptive move for the mobile graphics landscape as it signifies that Samsung is going forward with the productization of their own in-house GPU architecture in…
The Invention of USB, ‘The Port That Changed Everything’
harrymcc shares a Fast Company article about “the generally gnarly process once required to hook up peripherals” in the late 1990s — and one Intel engineer who saw the need for “one plug to rule them all.” In the olden days, plugging something into your computer — a mouse, a printer, a hard drive — required a zoo of cables. Maybe…
Six Years After Ed Snowden Went Public, How Much Has Changed?
Slashdot reader Nicola Hahn argues that at first, Edward Snowden’s revelations six years ago “put mass surveillance and state sponsored hacking center stage,” leading to other revelations like the ANT Catalogue, the Equation Group tools, and the Vault 7 leaks: In the wake of these developments a number of high-ranking officials scrambled to justify clandestine programs. Executives likewise recalibrated their stance…
Apple Poised To Bring Mac and iPad Closer Than Ever
It’s pretty much a given that next week’s Apple Worldwide Developer Conference will bring new versions of MacOS and iOS. The real question is just how much convergence there will be between the 2 operating systems. From a report: The Mac remains popular even as the bulk of Apple’s business is now selling phones and tablets, both of which have been…