Geek News

Two months from now, net neutrality will officially be dead. Today, the Federal Communication Commission's revocation order was published in the Federal Register . The effective date is April 23rd. That doesn't mean the next two months will be quiet ; the attorney general of New York is set to sue the FCC over the repeal of net neutrality, and more states and advocacy groups will follow. Democrats in the Senate have the votes to restore net neutrality (but not the two-thirds majority required to override the president's veto, which would surely follow any action on their part.) The FCC's recent action might be called "The Restoring Internet Freedom Order," but that is, of course, misleading. Net neutrality forced ISPs to treat all content equally; without these rules in place, providers can charge more for certain types of content and and throttle access to specific websites as they see fit. If April 23rd hits and this order is still in place, we probabl...

If you're interested in purchasing Apple's smart speaker, the HomePod, the company is now accepting pre-orders for customers in the US, UK and Australia. The speaker comes in two colors, White and Space Gray, and will set you back $349. Devices will begin shipping on February 9th . Apple's late to the game with a smart speaker, but the company is hoping that the quality of the HomePod will help it catch up to its rivals. It's not a great sign, though, that the speaker will ship without basic features : It won't have multi-room, or even stereo, audio at launch. While it's priced higher than its rivals (Sonos is currently offering two Sonos One speakers for the same price ), Apple's focus on privacy will certainly be attractive to some buyers. Source: Apple via Engadget RSS Feed "http://ift.tt/2ndSVhY"