latest
Networking can be a notoriously confusing topic, but it's extremely useful once you've got you understand it. Having knowledge of networking can be very practical too, whether you're trying to set up a NAS and assign it a static IP, or trying to understand what the settings on your router mean. It's also essentially timeless — most of the modern internet is still relying on the same core technologies it was 30 years ago, and things are unlikely to change any time soon.
Why Hobbes OS/2 is shutting down, and what it means for the future of internet archives
New Mexico State University's Hobbes OS/2 archive is shutting down, and it'll be up to users to backup its contents before they are lost forever.
Before Microsoft's Windows became the default operating system for PC users, there was IBM's OS/2. It was designed for release alongside IBM's "Personal System," which it hoped would be a worthy follow-up to the Personal Computer. At the time, everyone was copying the PC, and Microsoft was licensing its software to anyone it could. With the OS/2 software and PS/2 computer, IBM wanted to create something that couldn't be copied.
New Wi-Fi standards could soon speed up all of your internet-connected devices
Wi-Fi 7 includes the ability to aggregate connections across multiple bands
You may have multiple devices using Wi-Fi at any given time, but the interoperability and reliability of their connections lie in the hands of the Wi-Fi Alliance. This group consists of companies around the globe that work to maintain Wi-Fi standards. The alliance does this through different technologies and test programs, and its standards are held in high regard. Now, the group has announced that it’s begun certifying devices that support its new standard, Wi-Fi 7.
How students can get a free hotspot through T-Mobile
T-Mobile lets you and other students get five years of free internet. Interested? Stick around, and we’ll show you how to use this fantastic service
Most people are skeptical about anything that comes for free, as it’s generally associated with cheap stuff and shady terms and conditions from unknown sources or brands. However, things change when you hear that a respectable and well-known company offers free stuff. I mean, there’s nothing better than getting free stuff, and it gets better when you find out that T-Mobile is the company responsible for offering students five years of free internet.
Starlink internet is going from rural savior to unreliable luxury
Starlink satellite internet has afforded me and others opportunities in a connected world. But recently has become an expensive liability.
When SpaceX's residential satellite internet company, Starlink, was first introduced, I had high hopes. Legitimate high-speed internet isn't widely available where I live in rural Kansas. Over the past 11 years, I've had to make do with an OG Verizon data-only plan for a hotspot, HughesNet satellite internet, US Cellular home internet, local fixed wireless, T-Mobile Home Internet, and more. But as of spring 2021, I have primarily relied on Starlink to provide internet to my home.
Starlink's $200 global roaming plan gains wider release
Starlink is rolling out its global roaming plan to more people. The service won't come cheap, costing $200 per month.
Just last month, Starlink customers started receiving invitations to a new global roaming plan. Today, the company is going wide with its release, sharing that new and current Starlink customers can now sign up for the global roaming plan that will cost $200 per month. In addition to the global plan, the company is rebranding its Starlink RV service to Starlink Roam, with the new regional roaming plan costing a $150 per month.
When it comes to photo editing, the one task everyone hates is removing a background from an image. It’s annoying, it can be difficult to do without the right tools, and most of us can't justify paying for professional tools like Photoshop when all we want is a simple background remover. Thankfully, there are tools like TinyWow out there that will do this for us.
Have you ever scanned a multi-page file, and the printer software just did not want to cooperate to create a single PDF? We have, and it was super annoying to receive 10 different PDFs instead of one. Thankfully, TinyWow makes it super easy to merge PDF files into a single document.
When you create a PDF, the file often ends up fairly large. More often than not, you can shrink the storage requirements without any visible quality loss. Unfortunately, it can be difficult to shrink a PDF's file size after you create it, so third-party tools are often required.
[Update: Coming back up] Large parts of the Internet are down due to a Cloudflare outage
Large parts of the internet are down, as Cloudflare has an outage. So if you are facing issues accessing your websites, this is the cause.
If you just started your day by logging into your daily routine websites and got greeted by a "500 Internal Server Error", then know that you are not alone. Large parts of the Internet are down, and the cause for it appears to be an outage at Cloudflare. Affected websites and services include Discord, Omegle, Feedly, Zerodha, Groww, Upstox, Buffer, Medium.com, and more.As Cloudflare's status website indicates, the service is investigating widespread issues with its network. Consequently, users are experiencing errors and timeouts when reaching Cloudflare's network or services.
Internet Explorer is dead - A look back at Microsoft's browser history
Today is the end of the line that Microsoft has detailed for its Internet Explorer browser, so we're taking a look back at its history.
After nearly 27 years, Microsoft is killing off Internet Explorer, its in-house web browser that's now the subject of memes and parody Twitter accounts about how slow it is. Indeed, it's been a long and bumpy road for the legacy browser, and it's a symbol of the company that Microsoft used to be.
The Need for Better Internet on Our Phones
Read about the consequences of the greed of american carriers, and how they bring down the service and technology of all americans.
Mobile internet is an essential part of smartphones nowadays… well, for 75% of us. Despite living in a place where my fastest network reaches 5 megabit download speeds, on very intermittent 3G, it certainly is an essential part for my usage, to the point where even with my third-world network, I simply cannot fathom how there’s still a fourth of users who aren’t on data plans. It’d be interesting to see if that subset of smartphone users shares a large chunk with the subset of budget or low-range smartphones, which admittedly see little gain from having data plans - particularly in third world countries with slow 2G and 3G networks. But with apps such as Whatsapp dominating the Latin American markets (my experience here closely reflects this statement), a lot of budget users still have data plans, even the 20 MB data capped package plans (yes, that’s a thing here) are widely adopted by the poorest of smartphone users.