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Earlier this summer, Comcast began offering a new internet service in the greater Chicago area that offers fiberoptic-like speeds but over existing cable lines. Right away, there were questions about the price: In other markets where Comcast sold this service, the rate was only $70/month for people willing to sign a three-year contract, but Chicagoans weren’t initially being offered this discount. Then the company appeared to change its mind, offering that lower rate, though even then there was confusion. Now it looks like that discounted rate is off the table for the handful of Chicago-area cities where it had been an option.

This is according to Ars Technica, which reports that the Chicago-area cities where the $70 rate had been available — including Arlington Heights, Naperville, Plainfield, Waukegan, Tinley Park, Batavia, and Bloomington, plus South Bend across the border in Indiana — now only have the option of paying $140/month for the service.

Customers in these cities who were able to get the lower rate are still locked into it, but new subscribers are not.

Ars notes that the $70 rate is, at least for now, still currently available in certain Chicago neighborhoods.

We’ve asked Comcast to explain the change of heart but have yet to hear back. Comcast’s explanation to Ars Technica — that this was merely a test promotion that has come to an end — meshes with the company told us back in August, when we first why the full Chicago area was not getting the $70 option. At the time, a rep for Comcast would only say that this was a new technology and the company was testing different pricing models as it rolled the new service out to different markets.

We were not the only ones to point out that in Atlanta and Nashville, the two markets that received the upgrade before Chicago, there is (or soon will be) reasonably affordable competition for high-speed data from AT&T and Google Fiber, and that the going rate for that fiberoptic service in those markets is $70.

Chicago is still only listed as a “Potential” market for Google, and now that the internet giant has paused many of its Fiber expansion plans, it seems less likely that the Chicago area will join the Fiber family in the near future.

The new service being rolled out in Chicago and these other markets uses the DOCSIS 3.1 standard, which allows cable internet providers like Comcast to send data at speeds comparable — in some cases faster — than current fiberoptic networks, but without having to build out an entirely new network. For the consumer, the only change needed is usually a new modem that is compatible with DOCSIS 3.1.

This is why, even at $140/month, the Comcast gigabit cable internet is less expensive than the company’s relatively new Gigabit Pro fiberoptic offering. While that service can provide speeds that are up to twice as fast as the DOCSIS 3.1 connections, it comes at more than twice the cost: $300/month plus potentially $1,000 for installation and activation.

Since Donald Trump's victory last week, encryption apps have seen an increase in users — like Signal, which has experienced 400 percent growth. On today's show, we'll interview Moxie Marlinspike, co-founder of the company that created the app. In other privacy news, Chicago has started constructing a network of data sensors to monitor the city's traffic flow — but some are worried that it could be used as a spying tool. We'll dive into their concerns. Plus: We have a preview of the second season of our "Codebreaker" podcast, which launches today. This season's fundamental question about tech: Can it save us? 

Russia said Wednesday it is formally withdrawing its signature from the founding statute of the International Criminal Court, saying the tribunal has failed to live up to the hopes of the international community. Russia in 2000 signed the Rome Statute setting up the ICC, the world's first permanent war crimes court, but never ratified the treaty. "The court did not live up to the hopes associated with it and did not become truly independent," Russia's foreign ministry said, describing its work as "one-sided and inefficient".

MOSCOW (AP) — Russian investigators are pressing graft charges against a former deputy governor of St. Petersburg linked to the construction of a trouble-plagued stadium that is to host World Cup matches in 2018.

After over 13 years of paid subscriptions, EVE Online's recently revealed free-to-play experiment is now live. In a bid to boost its dwindling player base, CCP's latest expansion allows both new and existing players to explore the EVE universe for free.

This new pricing model is known as Clone States, and is the headline addition to the game's latest expansion, EVE Online: Ascension. New players will automatically start off as "Alpha Clones," with free access to all of EVE's world, though they'll be limited to to certain skills and spaceships. Pilots who want the complete EVE Online experience can opt to pay the $10 (£7) a month subscription, upgrading their player state to "Omega Clone," unlocking the game's full gamut of skills and spaceships.

One aspect of the expansion, called "Inception," offers a "revised new player experience," promising fully voiced mentor characters to ease players into the game, as well as a greater emphasis on story and large scale space battles. Thankfully for long-time players, the new pricing model and a few revisions to the existing gameplay aren't all that this expansion brings. Ascension also provides players with new sandbox features, buildings, management tools, ships and more immersive ship customization, and let's not forget the all important space explosions .

With EVE Online infamous for sparking wars that cost players hundreds of thousands of real-world dollars in damages, there's never been a more wallet-friendly way to dip your toes into EVE's all-consuming universe. After years of losing players, CCP will be hoping this new way to play does enough to change EVE Online's fortunes -- with the alternative being an Evolve-like fall from grace.

Source: CCP

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Just a quick post to let you guys know that Jim Henson’s Labyrinth: The Board Game is now once again available for purchase on Thinkgeek.com at a more reasonable price: $49.99! It was available on a few online stores in the past few months, but most of them were asking over $100 for the game!

[Jim Henson’s Labyrinth: The Board Game]

The post BACK IN STOCK: Jim Henson’s Labyrinth: The Board Game (At a Reasonable Price!) appeared first on Geeks are Sexy Technology News.

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Despite Facebook's arguments to the contrary, its social network helped Donald Trump win the US election... if not for the reasons you'd suspect. Wired has learned that the Trump campaign focused very heavily on its Facebook strategy, eclipsing a Clinton campaign that (while definitely digital-savvy) still devoted a lot of its attention to TV. Most of Trump's $250 million in fundraising came from supporters on Facebook, and it was extremely aggressive in running and refining ads. Trump's digital team ran between 40,000 to 50,000 variants of its promos per day, endlessly figuring out which strategies worked best. They knew if subtitles would help, or if a video was more effective than a still image.

Combine this with Trump's fondness for Twitter and it's clear that the campaign was constantly reaching out to the internet, making sure that anyone receptive to its ideas could interact. Contrast that with the relatively insular Clinton campaign. While her team certainly made an effort to influence undecided voters, its unofficial online support included massive private Facebook groups that served as echo chambers. Simply speaking, undecided voters more likely to hear from Trump while skimming their social feeds. This suggests that future American political candidates may have to emphasize Facebook if they want to win -- they can't just treat it as one part of a larger plan.

Source: Wired

Moscow (AFP) - Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday fired Economy Minister Alexei Ulyukayev, who had been charged with taking a massive bribe, news agencies quoted Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov as saying.

Facebook has been under fire this past week for supposedly influencing the election by not doing enough to stop the rise of fake news. In an interview at the Real Future Fair conference, NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden said that while this is certainly an issue, the real problem here is that Facebook is where most people get their news. "This gets into a bigger challenge, which is lack of competition," he said. "This is a danger of a single point of failure."

Snowden, who is currently exile in Russia and appeared at the conference via a telepresence robot, did say that he wasn't sure if Facebook really did influence the election. If it did, he said it was a "sad indictment of our democracy that our voters could be so easily misled." Still, this whole affair does point out how dangerous it is to rely on a single company or service for news. "If one company makes a bad decision, we all suffer," he said.

Instead, Snowden called for a more "federated system," which consists of something like 10,000 Facebooks connected together. So if one particular network has a point of failure, it doesn't destroy the whole system. He didn't specify how this would work, but he did say that Silicon Valley's desire to implement "world-eating services" is asking us to accept a status quo in which we set aside competition in favor of scale. "I think we should be cautious in embracing this," he said. "When we look at monopolies throughout the past, they've grown very quietly." And as soon as they achieve a platform of prominence, according to him, no one can stop them.

"They get less careful. They get more muscular. They end up trampling not only their customers but paradigms in ways that we need to be very cautious about," he said. "One company shouldn't have the power to reshape the way we think."

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The Russian said it has launched a large-scale operation to deliver strikes against terrorists in Syria.

The $175 million, six-story property officially opens today in Sonoma County. Staycation, anyone?

Want to call someone on Skype but don’t feel like downloading it or even signing up for a new account? Neither action is necessary now that Skype has opened up chats, voice, and video calls to guests.

Anyone who wants to can go to Skype.com to start a conversation, simply by entering your name. You’ll then receive a shareable link you can send to friends, either individually or as a group in an email or on social media, that will allow them to join your conversation immediately, the company says.

You can include up to 300 people at one time in a group chat, or up to 25 people on a voice or video call. But if you’re using it as a guest, you’ll only have 24 hours for the conversation.

The service is free, though if you want to call a landline, mobile phone, or translate a conversation with Skype Translator, you’ll have to sign up for a Skype account, which is also free.

This is a video of the cheese filled burger buns made by restaurant Raw Material NYC. The bun can explode with cheese when cut or bitten. That sounds fun to eat in a brand new shirt. But that sounds even more fun to order for an unsuspecting friend in a brand new shirt. That way when they bite in and ruin their outfit you can yell, "Haha, I knew that was going to happen!" and officially end your friendship before dessert. Keep going for the video.

Her Universe, in partnership with Thinkgeek, has just released an absolutely beautiful Star Trek-themed fashion collection that will are appropriate for all occasions and will fit ladies of all sizes, from sizes small to 5X.

I especially like the Star Trek Bardot party dress paired with the tribble faux fur coat (pictured above.) I think the two look fabulous together and will be perfect to wear during an upcoming holiday party.

Be sure to check out the whole collection right here! There are planty of amazing outfits which we haven’t featured in this post.

[Her Universe and Thinkgeek Star Trek Collection]

The post Set Phasers to STUNNING: Her Universe and Thinkgeek Release Star Trek Collection appeared first on Geeks are Sexy Technology News.

Are you comfortable having your computer’s microphone on constantly? Shazam, a program that identifies the sound in songs, commercials, and TV shows for you, is always listening through your computer’s microphone in the program’s version for Mac computers. Is that a good or bad thing? It doesn’t necessarily mean that the app is listening in on you 24/7, but the idea may make you kind of uneasy.

The same functionality is part of Shazam’s apps for iOS and for Android, but users need to take action to turn it on first. That isn’t the case for the desktop version, which is simply always listening. Should that be okay with you? It depends.

Patrick Wardle, a former NSA hacker, developed a Mac program that tells users when their webcam and microphone are in use, and it told him that Shazam was using his microphone. He confirmed this with the company, and learned that they think it’s no big deal.

Your microphone is always listening and always activated when this mode is on, the company explained in a statement, but doesn’t process or record that audio until it’s needed. That’s the same way that the Android app has worked for a ew months now, and the iOS app has worked for about three years. The key difference is that mobile users have to activate the always-listening mode, while desktop users’ microphones are always in use, even when the customer toggles the listening mode “off.”

While the company behind Shazam insists this isn’t a security risk or a big deal, it could be. “‘OFF’ should mean off,” he wrote in a blog post about the discovery (via Motherboard)” due to their actions, we could get creative [and] easily design a piece of malware that steals this [recording] without having to initiate a recording itself (which would likely generate an alert).” A common program like that would be a handy place to hide some malware, and you wouldn’t be able to turn it off.

Forget the NSA, it’s Shazam that’s always listening! [Objective See]

Smartphones are ubiquitous. Everyone has one, and they come with all kinds of features. Some Android phones, though, apparently have an unwanted extra: a secret backdoor that sends all of your text messages to China.

Security contractors recently discovered the malware on some Android phone models, the New York Times reports.

The software comes preinstalled on the phone — this isn’t something users are accidentally downloading through misleading ads or the Google Play store. It’s written by the Shanghai Adups Technology Company, based in China.

Shanghai Adups says it runs the code on more than 700 million connected devices; one U.S.-based phone company, BLU Products, said it had found the code on 120,000 of its phones.

Folks who buy high-end, premium phones aren’t the ones at risk here; your current-generation Samsung Galaxy or Google Pixel device is not the problem. Customers who buy lower-cost, lower-end Android smartphones — primarily lower-income consumers — are the ones being hit.

The Adups software sends the full contents of text messages, contact lists, call logs, location information, and other data to servers in China, the NYT reports, and the existence of the software is not disclosed to users.

This glaring security hole is also unusual because it’s not a bug: the Adups software is working as intended. It’s meant to spy on users and phone home — it’s just that it’s meant to do so in China, and not in the U.S. In theory.

The CEO of BLU Products told the NYT, “It was obviously something that we were not aware of. We moved very quickly to correct it,” and added that Adups told him all the data from BLU customers had been destroyed.

The analytics firm that discovered the Adups firmware on American phones has taken its findings to the federal government and plans to release a full report this week.

Secret Backdoor in Some U.S. Phones Sent Data to China, Analysts Say [New York Times]

President Barack Obama said on Tuesday the U.S. stood 'shoulder to shoulder' with Greece, acknowledging the crisis-hit country had made progress on economic adjustment, but had challenges ahead. It has been the policy of my administration to do everything we can to work with the Greek government and the Greek people to restore growth, optimism, to alleviate hardship," Obama told Greek President Prokopis Pavlopoulos in Athens. Obama arrived in the Greek capital earlier Tuesday.

WASHINGTON (AP) — American consumers ramped up their spending last month in a sign of robust health heading into the crucial holiday shopping season.

The elderly man "was charged at" by the ram which launched a frenzied attack on him on a farm in the town of Cestas, south of Bordeaux, on Monday, police said. The man was found dead, with a swollen and badly bruised face.

Syria's government and its ally Russia launched Tuesday a wide-ranging assault on rebel strongholds with renewed strikes on the besieged eastern neighbourhoods of battered second city Aleppo. The operation was the first of its kind since Donald Trump won the US presidential election last week. Moscow said it had begun a "major operation" which saw the first missions carried out by warplanes taking off from the Admiral Kuznetsov aircraft carrier that arrived off Syria last week.

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