“We’re going to make it free,” said Delta Air Lines CEO Ed Bastian, when speaking about his long-term vision for in-flight Wi-Fi during Skift Global Forum in New York City on Friday.
Bastian said free and faster Wi-Fi are things that his customers want. “I don’t know of anywhere else besides in an airplane that you can’t get free Wi-Fi.” He did not, however, specify when that might happen at Delta.
Continue reading… “Delta CEO declares free in-flight Wi-Fi is coming”
With an ambitious decentralized platform, the father of the web hopes it’s game on for corporate tech giants like Facebook and Google.
Last week, Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of the World Wide Web, asked me to come and see a project he has been working on almost as long as the web itself. It’s a crisp autumn day in Boston, where Berners-Lee works out of an office above a boxing gym. After politely offering me a cup of coffee, he leads us into a sparse conference room. At one end of a long table is a battered laptop covered with stickers. Here, on this computer, he is working on a plan to radically alter how all of us live and work on the web.
“The intent is world domination,” Berners-Lee says with a wry smile. The British-born scientist is known for his dry sense of humor. But in this case, he is not joking.
Speaking at a private event hosted by Village Global VC yesterday night, tech luminary and former Google CEO Eric Schmidt predicted that the internet will bifurcate into Chinese-led and US-led versions within the next decade.
Under Sundar Pichai’s leadership, Google has explored the potential to launch a censored version of its search engine in China, stirring up controversy internally and outside the company.
Eric Schmidt, who has been the CEO of Google and executive chairman of its parent company, Alphabet, predicts that within the next decade there will be two distinct internets: one led by the U.S. and the other by China.
Spotify has announced a new beta feature that will allow independent artists to upload their music directly to the platform instead of through a label or digital aggregator. Normally, artists who aren’t signed to a major label (which can directly upload music to Spotify) have to pay a fee to a third-party service like Tunecore to upload their music to Spotify. The upload feature will be contained within the service’s existing Spotify for Artists platform, which, among other things, allows artists to view data about their listeners and directly submit their songs for editorial playlist consideration.
Continue reading… “Spotify will now let artists directly upload their music to the platform”
Seems like everybody is talking about the Internet of Things (IoT)—the good, the bad and the alarming along the lines of. “It’s the beginning of machines taking over the world.” The IoT is when everyday products such as refrigerators, watches, speakers and more connect to the internet and to one another. The Internet of Things is already transforming our homes and workplaces.
So, what are some of the world’s brightest minds, most notable figures or just everyday people saying about the Internet of Things (IoT)? Here’s a sampling of what’s been written or talked about when it comes to the Internet of Things.
Continue reading… “19 astonishing quotes about the Internet of Things everyone should read”
The dark web is a hidden portion of the internet that can only be accessed using special software.
TOR, or The Onion Router, is a popular anonymous browsing network used to connect to the dark web.
While the dark web offers anonymity and a way to bypass internet censorship, it is commonly associated with illegal activities such as the buying and selling of drugs and other contraband.
The so-called dark web, a portion of the hidden internet, is usually associated with a host of illegal activities including the buying and selling of drugs, firearms, stolen financial data and other types of valuable information. The selling point? Total anonymity.
China’s internet population has now grown beyond 800 million, according to the latest data from the Chinese government.
A new report [in Chinese] issued by the China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC) put the number of people in China with access to the internet at 802 million. The agency — which is a branch of the Ministry of Industry and Information and is responsible for controlling the .cn country code — estimates that 29.68 million people in China came online for the first time in the second half of 2018.
Continue reading… “China reaches 800 million internet users”
Google Glass made smart glasses a reality, but what are they, really?.
It wasn’t that long ago when a doctor’s prescription and one’s physical limitations were the only uses for eyewear. But now, eyeglasses have gone high tech with smart glasses: eye glasses with a mini computer inside that displays information right on the lens(es).
Eyeglass usefulness began with the need to simply read things more easily. It eventually extended to shield the eyes from the sun and, even more recently, as a simple fashion statement. But the 21st century has other plans for the wearable accessory — and they’re the most innovative yet.
Continue reading… “What are smart glasses?”
Verizon and other internet providers are going to start rolling out 5G internet this year.
It will change how we get TV and internet in our homes.
Instead of drilling holes for cable everywhere, you’ll get a modem and a subscription to a streaming TV service.
They both allow us to stay in touch, but while email often attracts ire, text messaging is more popular than ever. Is the way we choose to communicate saying more than we might think?
Around 15 years ago, I was working at my part-time job at an electronics store at the mall. One of my colleagues asked me if I “use text messages.”
“I’m addicted,” she said wide-eyed. “They’re so much fun.”
At that time, most people were still using old feature phones with LED screens and plastic keypads. I don’t remember what the character limits were, but it was certainly fewer than a tweet, and it took about 12 years to finally type out what you wanted to say. They were slow, very expensive, and long enough to write about a quarter of a haiku. I genuinely thought it was a dumb, flash-in-the-pan gimmick that wouldn’t last long.
How wrong I was.
Continue reading… “Why we hate using email but love sending texts”
The tech could be used to increase the representation of women scientists on Wikipedia.
Quicksilver discovers scientists who should have Wikipedia articles about them and writes a first draft.
Plenty of prominent scientists have Wikipedia pages. But while checking to see if someone specific has a Wikipedia page is a quick Google search away, figuring out who should be on Wikipedia but isn’t—and then writing an entry for him or her—is much trickier.
VOTING GOES MOBILE. The 2016 U.S. election was not exactly the most secure affair. Even though tech companies and lawmakers are still sorting out what happened, that’s not stopping West Virginia from thinking big and bold in 2018.
According to a CNN report published Monday, the state plans to let soldiers who are permanent residents of the state but are serving overseas vote via their smartphones using a blockchain voting app called Voatz. It will mark the first time U.S. citizens can vote via mobile app.
Continue reading… “Some Americans will get to vote via blockchain this November”
By delving into the futuring techniques of Futurist Thomas Frey, you’ll embark on an enlightening journey.
Learn More about this exciting program.