Internet

Elon Musk envisioned that SpaceX's Starlink satellite constellation would be able to deliver Internet to areas underserved by most carriers. The service, however, would have to cater to a broad range of users and locations located in a narrow band of areas where those satellites could actually reach. Starlink promised speeds faster than your average DSL or fiber Internet and Speedtest creator Ookla discovered that be true but only for certain areas. In others, it actually did worse than what consumers already had.

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Google plans to enable two-factor authentication by default, automatically pushing users to safer security settings given the risks of relying solely on a password to protect your account. Currently, the system - also known as 2FA, two-step verification, or 2SV - is optional for Google accounts, though recommended.

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Twitter is used for many things and despite not being as image-centric as Instagram, some artists and photographers still use the platform to show off their stuff. That's despite how Twitter's image processing has long been a gripe among artists, from its low-res requirements to its unpredictable cropping. In the past few weeks, Twitter has addressed both those and its latest gift is to no longer crop most images, though abusers won't be able to get away with gaming that new system.

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Plume has launched a new version of its SuperPod mesh system that supports WiFi 6, giving users the opportunity to blanket their home with gigabit speeds. As with the previous SuperPod version, which only supports WiFi 5, the latest iteration features a design that plugs directly into a power outlet, though you'll still need the HomePass subscription to use it.

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There's a new sort of calculator available for binge watching TV, created by developer Brian Yung. The calculator is called "Can I Binge?" and it's effectively a simple website. At said website, you can select a TV show, select a length of time, and hit the question mark.

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It seems that Clubhouse's time in the limelight is coming to a close. Although its name still has some weight in the social media space, its user base may have started to plateau. After raking in millions of downloads earlier this year, the Clubhouse app has reportedly been downloaded less than a million times last month, hinting that its growth spurt might finally be over, giving the social networking giants the chance to take over.

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The onslaught against Clubhouse's probably short-lived dominance continues as more and more social networks start rolling out their own take on social audio spaces. This time it's Twitter's turn to join the fray by making Spaces available for all. That, however, does come with a caveat that does still limit who can use the audio-only feature to those that have hundreds of followers that would supposedly justify having a Space in the first place.

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In February of this year, the FCC voted to create a new $50 broadband subsidy for low-income people or those who lost income during the coronavirus pandemic. Enrollment for the subsidy for US residents is set to begin on May 12, and the FCC has a website set up where people can register for the subsidy. Consumers do have to use an approved broadband provider to be eligible to participate in the program.

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Although there were many developers, publishers, and advertisers that raised disgruntled voices when Apple announced its new App Tracking Transparency policy for iOS, Facebook was the one that shouted the loudest. It used rhetoric and other strategies to besmirch Apple's privacy efforts, even going as far as ironically saying it will actually benefit the social networking giant in the long run. Now it's taking those efforts to a new level by warning users that Facebook and Instagram might become paid services if iOS users don't enable app tracking.

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ArtStation announced a collaboration today with Epic Games that could change the future of the art portfolio ecosystem. At first, things will be the same. Epic acquired ArtStation, but ArtStation will "continue to operate as an independently branded platform." They'll also be "collaborating closely with the Unreal Engine team."

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Clubhouse has become social media's newest darling and, naturally, everyone's out to copy and kill it. Those rivals actually have a lot of opportunities to do that, considering Clubhouse still has limited reach in terms of invites and platforms. That said, not everyone wants to copy it feature for feature and some are trying to put a different spin on the audio-only social platform. That includes Facebook-owned Instagram that just silently rolled out an audio-only option to its shiny new Live Rooms.

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Although video conferencing has become almost a fact of life these days and "Zoom fatigue" has started to become a real problem, there are still companies and services that are trying to compete or even unseat the leaders in that space. And it's not just the usual culprits of Google, Facebook, and Microsoft either but other more focused services are also jumping on board. The latest that will be joining the bandwagon is Telegram who will be putting a different twist to the idea next month.

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