Month: June 2023

Enlarge / FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel at the Paley International Council Summit at Paley Museum on November 8, 2022, in New York City. (credit: Getty Images | Steven Ferdman )

Federal Communications Commission Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel wants the FCC to open a formal inquiry into how data caps harm Internet users and why broadband providers still impose the caps. The inquiry could eventually lead to the FCC regulating how Internet service providers such as Comcast impose limits on data usage.

Rosenworcel yesterday announced that she asked fellow commissioners to support a Notice of Inquiry on the topic. Among other things, the Notice would seek comment from the public "to better understand why the use of data caps continues to persist despite increased broadband needs of consumers and providers' demonstrated technical ability to offer unlimited data plans."

The inquiry would also seek comment on "trends in consumer data usage... on the impact of data caps on consumers, consumers' experience with data caps, how consumers are informed about data caps on service offerings, and how data caps impact competition." Finally, Rosenworcel wants to seek comment about the FCC's "legal authority to take actions regarding data caps."

Enlarge / One of the medical clinics suspended by Mexican health authorities, in Matamoros, Tamaulipas, Mexico, on May 19, 2023. (credit: Getty | AFP)

Cases have nearly doubled in a deadly outbreak of fungal meningitis linked to tainted cosmetic surgeries in Matamoros, Mexico, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported this week.

To date, there have been 34 cases identified in the outbreak: 18 suspected, 10 probable, and six confirmed. That's up from just 18 cases—nine suspected, nine probable, zero confirmed—late last month. The death toll from the cases has risen from two to four since then. The CDC is investigating 172 other people who are thought to have been exposed.

Health officials in the US and Mexico suspect that the infections stem from cosmetic procedures, including liposuction, that involved epidural anesthesia, a component of which may have been contaminated with the fungus Fusarium solani. The US cases are linked to procedures performed from January 1, 2023, to May 13 at two specific clinics in Matamoros, which sits across the border from Brownsville, Texas. Both clinics—River Side Surgical Center and Clinica K-3—have since been shuttered by Mexican health officials, who have also closed other area clinics amid the investigation.

Enlarge / The BPClip in action. (credit: Yinan Xuan et al.)

Given that 47 percent of adults in the US alone have hypertension, keeping on top of your blood pressure readings is a smart thing to do. And doing so could become much more convenient, requiring nothing more than your phone and an $0.80 piece of plastic, thanks to new research from the University of California, San Diego.

The school's device, called BPClip, gives broadly comparable readings to those taken with a traditional cuff but functions as a simple cell phone attachment. It relies on the flashlight and the smartphone’s camera—along with some simple physics.

BPClip consists of a plastic clip with a spring mechanism that lets the user squeeze the device and two light channels: one to direct a flashlight to your finger and the other to direct the reflected light to the camera for image processing. A custom-made Android app handles the data processing and guides users through the measurement.

Enlarge (credit: Microsoft)

The new Insider Preview build of Windows 11 that was released this week introduces some handy and oft-requested new features, including the ability to write in any text field with Windows Ink and reintroducing the Windows 7-to-10-era "never combine labels" setting for app icons in the taskbar.

But Windows 11 giveth and Windows 11 taketh away. The new preview is also removing several power-user-oriented settings away from the File Explorer's Folder Options menu, most of which have been around for decades. These are the settings Microsoft has removed:

• Hide Folder Merge conflict
• Always show icons, never thumbnails
• Display file icon on thumbnails
• Display file type information on Folder tips
• Hide protected OS files
• Show drive letters
• Show popup description for Folder and Desktop items
• Show encrypted or compressed NTFS files in color
• Use sharing wizard

The Folder Options menu, one of several Windows 95-style menus lurking just below Windows 11's shiny surface. (credit: Andrew Cunningham)

Microsoft says all of the settings will continue to exist but that they'll only be accessible via registry keys. In a default Windows install, some of these options are on-by-default and others are off-by-default; Microsoft didn't say any of these defaults would be changing.

Enlarge / A still from a campaign video that North Carolina Senator Rachel Hunt (D) shared on Twitter. (credit: @HuntforNC via Twitter)

It seems likely that Twitter's policy restricting advertisers from promoting "abortion advocacy" campaigns could soon be changing.

North Carolina state senator Rachel Hunt (D) told the Huffington Post that Twitter blocked the promotion of a video ad in which she advocated for abortion rights as part of her bid to become the state's lieutenant governor. Hunt shared emails from Twitter with the Huffington Post that confirmed that her election campaign ad's reach was restricted because Twitter's ad policy currently "restricts promotion of health and pharmaceutical products and services," which includes ads for "abortion clinics" and "abortion advocacy."

“Ah yes, the mention of abortion advocacy is the issue here,” Twitter's employee reportedly told Hunt. However, the employee also noted that there may be “some good news to share on that front” in the next week or so.

Enlarge / These Corporate Memphis folks are going to have to look elsewhere soon to get their own domain, unless they're good with Squarespace. (credit: Google)

Eight years after Google Domains launched, and a little more than a year after it graduated out of beta, Google is "winding down following a transition period," as part of "efforts to sharpen our focus." That's corporate-ese for "We need to keep cost-cutting, so we're selling this business we just finished shaping up to Squarespace."

As we noted when it fully launched, Google Domains wasn't the cheapest registrar you could find, but it had a great interface, offered more than 300 different domain endings (now including, controversially, .mov and .zip), and its upkeep fees were a flat $12 per year, without add-on charges like WHOIS privacy or DNSSEC.

Google Domains tied into many other Google products, including Gmail, Workspace, Cloud, Ads, and more. But there wasn't really an engine for making a website, the thing you see when you visit the domain. Domains offered quick hook-ups to services like Shopify, Wix, and Squarespace. Now the last of those is set to take the whole business over, along with the roughly 10 million domains and the millions of customers behind them.

Enlarge (credit: Getty Images)

As part of a massive ongoing cyberattack that exploits flaws in MOVEit file transfer software, the personal data of millions of US citizens, including those residing in Louisiana and Oregon, have been exposed to criminal organizations, according to CNN. In the wider attack, hackers targeted government agencies as well as multiple global organizations, causing a breach that extends beyond US boundaries.

While the effects of the MOVEit hack have been ongoing throughout the month of June, the most recent intrusion has hit over 3.5 million residents of Oregon and potentially over 3 million residents of Louisiana, all possessing driver’s licenses or state ID cards. Information possibly compromised includes social security and driver’s license numbers. This breach has prompted the respective state authorities to educate residents on preventive measures against identity fraud.

While no specific perpetrator has been officially accused by the states, federal officials have linked the comprehensive MOVEit hacking campaign to a Russian ransomware group known as Clop, which has been exploiting the same software vulnerability and demanding multimillion-dollar ransoms, as previously reported on Ars.

Enlarge / Throwboy's new monochrome throw includes a Mac desktop screenshot knit into the blanket itself. (credit: Throwboy)

Vintage tech is part of our shared cultural heritage, but in the commercial world, it often gets overshadowed by pop culture mementos. Go to a retail clothing store and you'll find 1984 He-Man T-shirts, but where are the products that celebrate 1984 computers? Enter Throwboy, a Seattle-based company that produces throw pillows and blankets based on old tech.

Although Throwboy has been in business since 2007, it's still coming up with new designs. Targeting 68K Mac nostalgia, Throwboy just released a 50x60-inch knit throw blanket based on a modified Mac OS desktop screenshot in all of its 1-bit color glory. (It looks like System 7 to us, based on the presence of the Balloon Help icon.)

We haven't seen the $185 blanket in person—and this is not a review or an endorsement (although others seem to like their pillows)—but the cultural history woven into Throwboy's products over the years made us want to reach out to its founder and CEO, Roberto Hoyos, to ask him about the retro tech inspirations behind his business.