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US Postal Service to axe Saturday service

, Feb 6th 2013 Discuss [2]

The US Postal Service already doesn't deliver on Sundays, and it's been that way for a very long time. However, the USPS is also axing Saturday delivery as well, completely eliminating all weekend delivery. The company has announced that they will be halting regular Saturday delivery starting August 1, but will still do special deliveries for packages. Read The Full Story

Amazon prepping $50m facility in Connecticut, will start collecting 6.35% sales tax

, Feb 4th 2013 Discuss [3]

One of the great things about Amazon is that shoppers don't have to pay sales tax on their items. However, the online retailer is slowly adding exceptions to various states around the US, Connecticut being the newest one added to the list. The state of 3.6 million people will begin to pay a 6.35% sales tax on Amazon starting in November. Meanwhile, however, the company is planning to build a $50 million fulfillment center that is said to create hundreds of jobs. Read The Full Story

Phone unlocking ban cooks up White House petition

, Jan 29th 2013 Discuss [12]

Just this past Saturday, it officially became illegal for anyone to unlock a smartphone without the carriers' consent. Obviously, this fired up a lot of people, who argue that if they buy an unsubsidized phone without a contract, they should be able to do what they want with it. And now, it looks like there's a White House petition going around that seeks for the unbanning of phone unlocking. Read The Full Story

EFF clarifies laws behind unlocking and jailbreaking phones

, Jan 29th 2013 Discuss [26]

Last Saturday, January 26, marked the first day that it became illegal to unlock your smartphone without permission from the carriers. Of course, many users got upset over the news and for good reason, but the Electronic Frontier Foundation has clarified some details about the new laws regarding unlocking and jailbreaking your phone. Read The Full Story

DARPA unveils 1.8-gigapixel drone camera, can target hostiles at 20,000 feet

, Jan 29th 2013 Discuss [4]

Watch out, kids, because surveillance drones are about to get an upgrade. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) have developed what's called the Autonomous Real-Time Ground Ubiquitous Surveillance Imaging System (ARGUS), and it's said to be the most advanced surveillance system in the sky with a price tag of $18.5 million for the program. Read The Full Story

Twitter releases Q3-Q4 2012 transparency report

, Jan 28th 2013 Discuss [0]

Twitter released its second transparency report, and this one focuses on the second half of 2012, while the first report focused on the first half. The report highlights the number of information requests, government removal requests, and copyright takedown notices that Twitter received throughout the year. In total, the social media service received 1,858 information requests, 46 removal requests by the government, and a whopping 6,646 copyright takedown notices. Read The Full Story

Google celebrates Data Privacy Day with Government data clarity

, Jan 28th 2013 Discuss [2]

Today is Data Privacy Day 2013 and Google has decided to make it official with a set of clarifications on how they deal with government requests for data. This is a topic that Google has made a point to be as clear as possible about in the past, just recently having released a new report on how many requests for data they’d received (and how many they’d filled) in 2012. Google is also letting the world know today that they’re continuing efforts to uphold such laws as the U.S. Electronic Communications Privacy Act in their deeds and through their membership in the Digital Due Process coalition as well.

investigatinggoogle

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Anonymous hacks U.S. Sentencing Commission site after Swartz death

, Jan 26th 2013 Discuss [6]

The death of Aaron Swartz, as many of you already know, is something that has Anonymous upset, and today the hacker collective is doing something about it. Two weeks after Swartz committed suicide, Anonymous has taken over the U.S. Sentencing Commission's website, leaving a message for visitors and threatening to release government documents it has uncovered. At the time of this writing, the U.S. Sentencing Commission hasn't made a statement about the attack. Read The Full Story

Google won’t give up Gmail information without a search warrant

, Jan 25th 2013 Discuss [3]

A couple of days back, Google released a report showing how many government requests for user data it received in the second half of 2012. Such a report will obviously have some users nervous, but Google's giving us less of a reason to worry today, as it says that it won't give access to Gmail accounts unless the government has a search warrant. We wouldn't expect anything less, of course, but it's good to hear Google say it nonetheless. Read The Full Story

Unlocking your phone becomes illegal starting tomorrow

, Jan 25th 2013 Discuss [19]

Thanks to edits made to DMCA exemptions back in October, it will be illegal for you to unlock your phone without the consent of the carrier starting tomorrow, January 26. From then on, you’ll have to ask your carrier to unlock your phone if you want to use it on another network, which seems a lot like pulling teeth. Even if your contract runs out and you're cut loose, no such luck will be granted. Read The Full Story

French government replaces Twitter hashtag with “mot-dièse”

, Jan 25th 2013 Discuss [4]

This isn't the first time that the French have gotten involved with shenanigans on Twitter, but today the French government has announced that they're getting rid of the hashtag and replacing it with what they're calling the "mot-dièse," or "sharp-word." However, citizens of France won't be required to adopt the new style, but the government will be using it for now on in official documentation. Read The Full Story

Vice President Biden to discuss gun violence in Google+ Hangout tomorrow

, Jan 23rd 2013 Discuss [0]

Due to the recent shootings in Aurora, Colorado and Newtown, Connecticut, the topic of gun violence and gun control has reached an all-time high. Many lawmakers are blaming violent video games as the culprit, while others think that we just need stricter gun control policies. Vice President Joe Biden will be addressing these kinds of concerns tomorrow during a Google+ Hangout at 1:45 PM ET. Read The Full Story
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