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What Counts as Broadband Could be Changing
Jon Brodkin for ArsTechnica:
Federal Communications Commission Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel is aiming to increase the agency's broadband speed standard from 25Mbps to 100Mbps on the download side and from 3Mbps to 20Mbps for uploads.
And:
The 25/3Mbps metric was adopted in January 2015 under then-Chairman Tom Wheeler and was never updated
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A Gerenational Change
Pew has polling out showing a pretty remarkable difference in how young and old Republicans see climate policy in the U.S. Stealing just one chart as an example:
I can't find anything breaking down "leans Democratic" age groups, and I'm hesitant to extrapolate too much from young people
iphone
Portrait Modes Have Improved a Ton
Here's a side-by-side comparison of a photo taken with my iPhone 13 Pro Max and then with my Canon EOS RP, including a few detail close ups:
Don't mind the color differences, I tried to make them similar, but I'm not an expert in matching colors between
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The Glorious Decimation of Smoking
I enjoyed this thread on things what were normal in the '90s but are non-existent now, and the thing the immediately came to mind for me was smoking indoors. You would go to a restaurant and you'd be asked two things:
1. How many people are in your party?
2. Smoking
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Eventually You Need to Upgrade
Nintendo Life: XEL - Promising Zelda-Style Sci-Fi Adventuring That Falls Short On Switch
Sections of the map will slowly spawn into existences as you approach, breaking the immersion that the developers are working so hard to create. The worst technical issue, however, is the stuttering frame rate that shows up when groups of enemies
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Renewables Accounted for Nearly 1/3 of U.S. Energy Usage in April
Elizabeth Weise USA TODAY: 'A 'Wow' moment': US renewable energy hit record 28% in April. What's driving the change?
The percentage of U.S. electricity produced by renewable energy from wind, solar and hydroelectric dams has been steadily rising, from 8.6% in April 2001 to this April'
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Everything is a Subscription Because the Line Must Keep Going Up
Andrew J. Hawkins: The future of cars is a subscription nightmare
“For automakers to achieve their revenue aspirations by charging consumers extra for features and services, they have work to do,” Cox’s Michelle Krebs said.
I don't have the answer here, but I think there's something fundamentally wrong with how
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We're Still Talking About How Bad this Metal Gear Character was 7 Years Later
Ashley Bardhan: Metal Gear Turned 35, But Quiet’s Character Design Marks A Timeless Controversy
That’s what Quiet’s bullshit vocal cord parasites really are. Not a plot point created by a genius to make us feel ashamed of our words and deeds and counter the exceedingly tired confines we impose on women in
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Forget SaaS, let's talk about GaSaaS
Allen Pike: Giving a Shit as a Service (via Michael Tsai)
In some ways, that’s the fundamental value proposition of a small boutique, whether it be a furniture shop or a software studio. Giving a shit as a service. Sure, you can always get a commodity good from off the shelf – when you’re
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Political Emails Bypassing Spam Filters…as a Service!
Ashley Belanger: Gmail users “hard pass” on plan to let political emails bypass spam filters
Earlier this month, Google sent a request to the Federal Election Commission seeking an advisory opinion on the potential launch of a pilot program that would allow political committees to bypass spam filters and instead deliver political emails to the
Newsletter #114
Hello and welcome back to the suddenly-hard-to-come-by Birchtree Newsletter! I started writing a lot more on the website itself recently, which meant I didn't have as much material that was new for the newsletter, so it just kinda…stopped.
But in talking to a few of you fine folks,
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Apple Getting NFL Sunday Ticket Would Be Perfect
Dylan Byers: Is Apple's Eddy Cue About to Get NFL's Sunday Ticket? (via MacRumors)
The race for the Ticket has therefore come down to Apple and Amazon, and while nothing has been signed or agreed to, I have been given ample reason to believe that Apple is the most likely winner
video
I’m using Arc from now on (bye bye, Safari, Chrome, Edge…)
I've been using Arc for about 3 months, and I thought it was high time I talk about
Politics
Voting for…
A new poll out this week shows 64% of those who plan on voting in the Democratic primary in 2024 would prefer someone other than Joe Biden to be on the ticket. I find these polls utterly fascinating. Here's some data on a theoretical Biden/Trump rematch in 2024:
* The more education you
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Bored, Mad, and Posting Like Your Great-Uncle
Charlie Warzel: Elon Musk Is an Honorary Facebook Boomer
I’d like to talk about Elon Musk’s obsession with bots and how it actually illustrates the ways he is an extremely shallow thinker when it comes to online dynamics.
And:
Instead of facing the reality that many people dislike him as a result of
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Heardle Joins Spotify
Ariel Shapiro: Spotify acquires music trivia game Heardle
Spotify announced Tuesday that it has purchased Heardle, one of the many themed trivia games that cropped up in the wake of Wordle’s blockbuster success. Heardle is Spotify’s first game acquisition, and the company hopes it will play a dual role: in addition to keeping
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250 Hours of Extra Life
Yasmeen Serhan: How the Rest of the World Is Doing RTO
When I asked experts about the main reasons driving preferences for hybrid and remote work, the most common answer had to do with commuting. Although those who live within walking distance of their workplace may find it convenient to return to the office, many
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Good Guy Nintendo
Nintendo officially recognizes domestic gay partnerships for employees
In the employees section of Nintendo’s CSR, we learn that Nintendo is officially recognizing gay domestic partnerships. This might not seem like a big deal at first, but Japan currently doesn’t recognize same-sex marriages from a law standpoint. Nintendo obviously disagrees with this, hence
