Internet Articles

The European Union has announced plans for a two-tier internet that would give a fast lane to preferred corporate and governments users, after a late night “compromise” between European Commission, Council and Parliament.

It is a shocking case of double speak and shady dealings. In an announcement by reps for the EU, they spun it to sound as though they are protecting and enforcing net neutrality. Using terms like “open internet”, they say they have banned paid priority from companies and government agencies.

Microsoft have have made a few announcements at their Build conference. The company seems to be wanting to change and have integration of devices and apps as one of their main goals. And HoloLens, the first untethered holographic device.

Microsoft are aiming to grow and become bigger than any other company and have released parts of their plan to do so. One billion devices using Windows 10 is the aim, and to do so they are opening up to developers. And then there’s HoloLens, which will be something completely new and could change many areas and industries.

In what is his strongest move in favor of Net Neutrality since taking the position, FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler has announced a major plan that will hopefully take a serious strike against corporate control in the cable industry.

The basis for the proposal is what many have been pushing for all along: that the internet be officially labeled under Title II as a telecommunications service. This would put strict guidelines on what providers can and cannot do. In particular, three major changes will be made in the name of consumer interest:

The United Nations released a statement today with estimates on the coming six months internet user growth, globally. According to those numbers, there should be around 3 billion by the end of 2014.

Statistics have been gathered and presented by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), a group that works to coordinate private and public sector efforts for global telecommunications access.

The majority of growth seems to be mobile, with an increase of almost 32%. A great deal of this is in Africa, where mobile broadband penetration is at its highest rates. In the Americas, two-thirds of the population should have regular online access before 2015 begins.

Twenty-five years to the day since it was created, legendary World Wide Web inventor Tim Berners-Lee has spoken out about the current state of privacy and rights on the internet. On the heels of his congratulations to Edward Snowden on his whistleblowing at the SXSW event, Berners-Lee has called for a Bill of Rights for the net.

It was two and a half decades ago when the man who became the Father of the Internet wrote the first proposal for what would become the web today. But where it now stands is much different than what he envisioned.

Anyone who has ever been frustrated by the lack of compatibility between technology products can now rest easy knowing those same brands are on the case. AllSeen Alliance is a group of tech companies that are banding together to create an open source framework that makes their smart TVs, phones, computers and other devices inter-compatible.

The internet should make things more connected, not further apart. At least that is the idea behind AllSeen Alliance, headed largely by Qualcomm. Under the Linux banner, they are bringing together twenty four names in the gadget biz to start the work on a common online framework.

Today it was announced that Facebook will be leading a new group of technology companies dedicated to getting people connected on a mass scale.

It is a partnership dedicated to improving the reach of the internet. Which means bringing billions of people without access around the world online for the first time with steady access to the web. Right now only a third of the population has regular (or any) internet connectivity. There first goal will be bringing the web to the next five billion people.