Internet connections get faster but websites get more complex—and that means we often still have to wait an age for pages to load. Now, a new technique from MIT that helps browsers gather files more efficiently could change that. “As pages increase in complexity, they often require multiple trips that create delays that really add up,” explains Ravi Netravali, one of the researchers, in a press release. “Our approach minimizes the number of round trips so that we can substantially speed up a page’s load-time.” The new system, known as Polaris, was been developed by the University’s at Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory. READ MORE: New MIT Code Makes Web Pages Load 34 Percent Faster in Any Browser | Gizmodo
Tag Archives: broadband
@Google Just Created a Stupidly Simple #WiFi #Router | WIRED #tech
As a comparison, my Apple Airport Extreme is sleek, minimalistic, functional and costs CAD$249.
[T]he company is launching a new device called the OnHub, in partnership with router-maker TP-Link. For $199, it promises to make your Wi-Fi faster and more reliable, and to give you the ability to update and fix your connection. (You know, for the rare times unplugging it and plugging it back in just won’t do.) The most striking thing about the OnHub is the way it looks. It’s not your average router, with wires and antennas poking out from every side; it’s a large cylindrical device with a blinking light on the top…Its outer shell is removable, and comes in either blue or black (more colors are coming…). READ MORE: Rejoice: Google Just Created a Stupidly Simple Wi-Fi Router | WIRED.
60 Bookish Films #Streaming on #Netflix | BookRiot #books #film
Here’s a new list to watch on Netflix streaming that originated as a book, short story, or comic. READ: 60 Bookish Films Streaming on Netflix | BookRiot.
Appeals court strikes down FCCs Net neutrality rules | CNET News
Broadband providers aren’t “common carriers,” court says, and that makes all the difference in a decision certain to shake up the fixed broadband and wireless industries.
Read more: Appeals court strikes down FCCs Net neutrality rules | Politics and Law | CNET News
News: Education & Technology, Librarianship
Education & Technology
The LA Times Trolls Innocent Teachers | TechCrunch
The once-respectable LA Times is leveraging its dwindling platform to attack individual teachers under the guise of data transparency. The editorial board won a court case allowing them to use a highly contentious, self-designed algorithm to rank the best and worst teachers in the Los Angeles Unified School District. Neither the suicide of one of the shamed teachers, nor the widespread criticism of the statistical methods have aroused the editorial board’s better judgment.
Google Earth Tour Builder lets you tell stories through maps | Engadget
Google has used Earth and Maps to tell tales of unfolding tragedies and soldiers fighting for our country. Now its opening up those tools to the public, allowing users to build what they’re calling “Tours” through Google Earth. Tour Builder was released in honor of Veterans Day and it allows users to create narratives tied to points on a map. More Google news: Google Quick Actions Let Users Act on Emails Without Opening Them | Mashable, Your Face and Name Will Appear in Google Ads Starting Today | Gizmodo and Apple maps: how Google lost when everyone thought it had won | theguardian
- Teenagers say goodbye to Facebook and hello to messenger apps | theguardian
- Teach Kids how to Code, Make Apps and 3-D Models With These Tools | The Digital Shift
- Flipboard goes commercial with shopping catalogs curated by brands, celebrities and users | Engadget
- Report: Netflix + YouTube = Half Your Broadband Diet | AllThingsD
- Motorola Wants to Patent a Neck Tattoo That’s Also a Microphone | Gizmodo
- A Guy Found a Dozen Lost Carl Sagan Tapes in a New York Thrift Shop | Gizmodo
Librarianship
Pew Research
Twitter a news source? Not so much | CNET
A new Pew survey shows only 16 percent of US adults use Twitter and only 8 percent use the social network for news. But these users tend to be young, educated, and wealthy.
The State of Digital Divides
Lee Rainie, Director of the Pew Research Center’s Internet Project, presented the project’s latest findings about who has and doesn’t have access to the internet, broadband, and cell phones. He noted that some of the factors associated with non-use of technology are age, household income, educational attainment, community type, and disability. He also cited findings about why people say they do not use the internet.
We’re About to Lose Net Neutrality — And the Internet as We Know It | Wired Opinion | Wired.com
Net neutrality is a dead man walking. The execution date isn’t set, but it could be days, or months (at best). And since net neutrality is the principle forbidding huge telecommunications companies from treating users, websites, or apps differently — say, by letting some work better than others over their pipes — the dead man walking isn’t some abstract or far-removed principle just for wonks: It affects the internet as we all know it.
Once upon a time, companies like AT&T, Comcast, Verizon, and others declared a war on the internet’s foundational principle: that its networks should be “neutral” and users don’t need anyone’s permission to invent, create, communicate, broadcast, or share online. The neutral and level playing field provided by permissionless innovation has empowered all of us with the freedom to express ourselves and innovate online without having to seek the permission of a remote telecom executive.
But today, that freedom won’t survive much longer if a federal court — the second most powerful court in the nation behind the Supreme Court, the DC Circuit — is set to strike down the nation’s net neutrality law, a rule adopted by the Federal Communications Commission in 2010. Some will claim the new solution “splits the baby” in a way that somehow doesn’t kill net neutrality and so we should be grateful. But make no mistake: Despite eight years of public and political activism by multitudes fighting for freedom on the internet, a court decision may soon take it away.
Read the full story: We’re About to Lose Net Neutrality — And the Internet as We Know It | Wired Opinion | Wired.com.
Recent Pew Research Links
The New Library Patron from Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project
Lee Rainie, Director of the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project, will discuss the Project’s new research about library patrons and non-patrons: who they are, what their information needs are, what kind of technology they use, and how libraries can meet the varying needs of their patrons.
Photo and Video Sharing Grow Online | Pew Internet
A new study by the Pew Research Center’s Internet Project shows that 54% of internet users have posted original photos or videos to websites and 47% share photos or videos they found elsewhere online. Also: AFP: Smart phones boost photo, video sharing: study and from TIME: One Stat that Explains Why Instagram Is Adding Ads.
Tablet and E-reader Ownership Update | Pew Internet
The number of Americans ages 16 and older who own tablet computers has grown to 35%, and the share who have e-reading devices like Kindles and Nooks has grown to 24%. Overall, the number of people who have a tablet or an e-book reader among those 16 and older now stands at 43%.
1 in 7 Americans is offline. Why? It’s complicated | Kathryn Zickuhr, Pew Research | CNBC
Pew Data on News Consumption: Millennials Lead the Shift to Web Use | ContentBlogger
Mobile Health in Context: How Information is Woven Into Our Lives from Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project
Technology Adoption by Lower Income Populations | Pew Research Center
Aaron Smith, Senior Researcher at the Pew Research Center’s Internet Project, discusses the Project’s latest research about internet usage, broadband adoption, and the impact of mobile connectivity among lower-income populations.
Links for Recent Pew Research News
Pew: 30% Of U.S. Adults Don’t Have Broadband; 10% Use Smartphones As Sole Internet Access; 20% Have Zilch | TechCrunch – August 26, 2013
Pew Research…releas[ed] the results of a survey that shows how one of the more advanced countries in the world, the U.S., is still not quite there in leading by example: 20% of U.S. adults are still without broadband or smartphones for internet access. And 3% of people in the country still using dial-up connections.
The below link is related the same Pew research results as the article above but provides discussion on a different perspective – the digital divide in America. See the original Home Broadband 2013 Pew report – August 26, 2013.
Latest Pew Study Shows 70 Percent of U.S. Has Broadband. But Access Is Still Unequal | Wired.com – August 26, 2013
Pew’s results demonstrate that the digital divide is persistent, with close correlations between socioeconomic status and home Internet access. The report is also a reminder that policymakers use the words “high-speed broadband” to include everything other than dialup access, which is far too broad a definition.
Adult Trend Data | Pew Internet
Latest data about device ownership by American adults up to end-May 2013.
Pew Study: More millennials are living with their parents than ever before | Stephen’s Lighthouse | August 22, 2013
According to a Pew poll, 36 percent of young adults are afflicted with Failure to Launch syndrome.
Teens say they generally rely on themselves to figure out how to manage their privacy online | Stephen’s Lighthouse – August 22, 2013
Teens say they generally rely on themselves to figure out how to manage their privacy online; Still, 70% of teens have at one time sought advice about how to manage their privacy online. See the Pew Internet report from August 15, 2013.
Teens and Mobile Apps Privacy | Pew Internet – August 22, 2013
As teens gain access to mobile devices, they have embraced app downloading. But many teen apps users have taken steps to uninstall or avoid apps over concern about their privacy. Location information is considered especially sensitive to teen girls, as a majority of them have disabled location tracking features on cell phones and in apps because they are worried about others’ access to that information.
Teens Haven’t Abandoned Facebook (Yet) | Pew Internet – August 15, 2013
When we released our “Teens, Social Media and Privacy” report in May, one thread of news coverage focused on teens’ “waning enthusiasm” for Facebook. This theme surfaced during our focus group discussions with teens and stood in contrast to the excitement that was associated with newer platforms like Instagram and Twitter.
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