A word to the wise: Revelry is all fine and good, but if you’d like to keep your town on the Internet, shooting off a gun to celebrate the new year might not be such a good idea. Especially if you’re in the vicinity of a vital fiber-optic cable. “Whoops,” someone in Alaska is saying right now. [More]
internet
U.S. Consumers Paying More, Getting Less For Internet Than Europe & Asia
By 10.28.13
While numerous telecoms in Europe and Asia are acknowledging that it’s becoming cheaper and easier to provide TV and high-speed Internet service to consumers, many U.S. providers are continuing to charge high prices for a mediocre product, according to a new report from the New America Foundation’s Open Technology Institute. [More]
Raise Your Hand If You’re One Of The 15% In U.S. Who Don’t Use The Internet
By 9.25.13
If you’re reading this right now without using the Internet, raise your hand. I won’t see you or anything, but you will know that you’re part of the 15% of the U.S. population that doesn’t use the Internet. I’d also be super impressed at how you managed to visit this site without the Internet, but that’s another issue for another day. [More]
Fine, Grumpy Cat Will Be Friskies’ Spokeskitty, But That Doesn’t Mean She’s Happy About It
By 9.18.13
You can stop paying that overpriced pet agent to get your cat a commercial dream gig, folks. Grumpy Cat has waltzed in with her perfectly grumpy face and taken the Friskies spokeskitty crown for herself. So there [insert grumpy face]. [More]
Test Your Internet Knowledge With Consumerist’s History Of E-Commerce Quiz
By 9.10.13
We’ve mentioned it before and now Pizza Hut is proudly crowing over it again: The chain is laying claim to the honor of the first purchase ever made on the World Wide Web — a mushroom, pepperoni and extra cheese pizza back in 1994 — which brings up a good point: How much do any of us really know about the history of e-commerce? Take Consumerist’s quiz to find out. [More]
1-In-5 American Adults Have Neither Smartphones Nor Home Broadband
By 8.26.13
It may seem like an oddity to see anyone still carrying a phone that is just that — a phone, but a new report shows that 44% of adults in the U.S. are still making calls on phones with no ability to go online. Americans are more accepting of broadband, with 70% of them having the higher-speed Internet access set up in their homes, meaning that some of those people without smartphones are choosing to pay for broadband. This leaves 20% of Americans over the age of 18 without either a smartphone or home broadband. [More]
You’re (Technically) Breaking The Law If You’re Reading This In Florida
By 7.9.13
Are you in Florida? Are you reading these words? You are in trouble! Well, probably not, but technically you are breaking the law if you’re on the Internet on any device, claims one lawsuit. Lawmakers in that state recently voted to ban all Internet cafes in the wake of an Internet gambling front scandal, and accidentally worded the ban in a way that appears to outlaw all the devices used to access the Internet. [More]
U.S Homes Now Have More Than Half A Billion Devices Hooked Up To The Internet
By 3.19.13
We’ve barely dipped our toes into the tablet pool and already it seems like they could combine with smartphones to start that robot revolution everyone is secretly dreading. A new report from a research firm says there are now more than half a billion home-based devices connected to the Internet in the U.S. [More]
Surprise, Surprise: Expert Says Many Broadband Meters Are Inaccurate
By 2.8.13
While Internet providers look more toward capping data usage and penalizing customers for overages (even though it’s becoming less expensive to provide this service), one expert says many devices used to determine a customer’s usage are not sufficiently accurate. [More]
Verizon Needs To Sell Me Slower DSL So My Slow Connection Can Get Faster
By 10.12.12
Fred pays Verizon for DSL service, but his home Internet speeds are now slower than a crawl. This changed after technicians were in his neighborhood fixing the lines. When he called to complain about the slowdown, he was told that his connection was so slow because it was too fast, and they would have to downgrade his account to a slower speed so it would stop being so slow. No, this doesn’t make any sense. [More]
Internet Index Results Mean Maybe We Should Just Rename It The Sweden Wide Web
By 9.6.12
Slow your chants of “We’re No. 1! We’re No. 1!” and stop waving that foam finger, America. We aren’t number one, at least not so far as the World Wide Web is considered — Sweden is. I know, so disappointing and now it’s totally going to be renamed the Sweden Wide Web except not really because that would be silly. Anyway, a new index from the World Wide Web Foundation has bestowed the No. 1 crown on Sweden, where about 95% of citizen are online. [More]
2.5 Internet Connections For Every Person On Earth By 2016
By 5.30.12
According to an annual survey by Cisco, the number of Internet connections will reach 18.9 billion by 2016, driven by a proliferation of smartphones, tablets and other handheld devices. That’s 2.5 for for each person on Earth. [More]
NY Lawmakers Want To Do Away With Anonymous Online Comments
By 5.23.12
Anonymous hate-mongering,name-calling and venom-spitting has been around the Internet since before many of the people reading this post even had an e-mail address. While most of us have just come to accept that this is part of the cost of having an online community, state lawmakers in New York have drafted legislation that intends to do away with anonymous commenting. [More]
There Are More Than 100 Million People In Europe Who Have Never Used The Internet
By 12.14.11
You know how you just checked your email on your phone 39 times in seven minutes? You might be shocked to know that there are over 100 million people in the European Union who have never been on the Internet. Not at home, on a phone or even at a Web cafe. [More]
You Are Watching More TV And More Internet Video, Too
By 10.20.11
Americans spend 146 hours and 20 minutes parked in front of TVs, according to new data from Nielsen. And almost half of all consumers — 48% — now watch videos on the Internet. Typical Internet viewership is 4 hours and 26 minutes per month, up 15% from a year ago. [More]
With Neighb's 'Net Down, Super Holds TWC Node Hostage. Ransom: Free Cable
By 10.7.11
In the middle of reports of widespread Time Warner Cable outages in New York’s East Village late this week, one building supervisor has decided to hold a local cable node hostage. This node controls cable and internet not just for his building, but several others on the block. His price for access? Free cable. [More]
Verizon Internet To Share Your Location With Advertisers So You'll Get Ads "Of More Interest"
By 10.5.11
As a favor to you, Verizon internet says they’re going to start sharing your local geographical location to advertisers so you’ll get ads “of more interest.” For instance, “a pizza chain may want to deliver their ad to give a special offer to people living in a particular area.” Here’s how to opt out. [More]
Time Warner Calls Back With Sweet Deal After Man Cancels
By 8.11.11
Another reader has written in to say that after they canceled their Time Warner service, the cable company turned around and offered them much better rates if they would stay. In both this one and the one earlier this week, Time Warner Cable said that because of “special circumstances,” they were able to offer a sweet retention deal. In this case, $67/month for two years, down from $150. [More]
