internet

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Disney's new Netflix rival will be called Disney+ and launch late 2019
Disney's new streaming service, Disney+, will be a home for its past titles and original series, including new content from the Marvel and Star Wars franchises.
The company will pull its content from Netflix in 2019.

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Photo courtesy CNBC

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1,800 US newspapers have closed since 2004
Half of the 3,143 counties in the United States now have only one newspaper, usually a small weekly, and almost 200 counties in the country have no newspaper at all.
"The people with the least access to local news are often the most vulnerable -- the poorest, least educated and most isolated," the report said.
More than half of all newspapers have changed ownership in the past decade, and the largest 25 chains own a third of all newspapers.
"The consolidation in the industry places decisions about the future of individual papers, as well as the communities where they are located, into the hands of owners with no direct stake in the outcome."

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Photo courtesy AFP Photo / NATALIE BEHRING

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The most difficult Wi-Fi password ever! Chinese university makes students answer calculus question to unlock internet access
Students at the elite Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics are asked to solve a complex calculus question before they could access the protected network. 'Wi-Fi password is the first eight digits of the math problem below,' the sign indicated in Chinese.

Ji jun, deputy director of the university's food administration department, told Beijing News that it is a basic question in further maths. 'If a student can't solve it, he/she should really study harder,' she said. 'Don't use the Internet!' The school decided to come up with the question to let pupils have fun with mathematics and to remind first-year students to study hard, she added.

One student told reporters that if a a person has practiced enough, you should be able to solve the equation in 30 seconds. Some posted images of their answers online, completed with steps showing their work. The answer - which is a familiar number to many - is actually 31415926, or pi.

Thai restaurant in San Antonio, Texas, created a brilliant way to make sure that nobody camped out at their restaurant for free Wi-Fi, but still gave its customers the ability to log on to their network. If they're a super math nerd, that is.

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Photo courtesy Weibo / Nanhang Dining Hall

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There is only one Blockbuster still surviving in the entire United States. Employees mourn the closure by leaving candles outside the store: Alaska’s last two Blockbuster video rental stores are closing this weekend -- leaving only one Blockbuster store open in the United States. 7/13/2018 Alaska’s last two Blockbuster stores — community gathering spots and nostalgic tourist attractions that got a big plug from HBO’s John Oliver — are shuttering. That leaves just one of the once ubiquitous video rental hub open in the entire U.S. The franchises in Anchorage and Fairbanks will close for rentals after Sunday night and reopen Tuesday for video liquidation sales through the end of August, said Kevin Daymude, general manager of Blockbuster Alaska.

7/18/2018 "Making the trek to this "last standing" Blockbuster Video Store is a must do!" (Yelp review)
Oh my how the blue and yellow Blockbuster Video Storefront has changed since 2004 when there were 9,000 Blockbuster outlets. By 2013, all corporate-owned stores closed and fast forward to July 18, 2018 -- this family-owned Bend, Oregon store has earned the distinction as the last Blockbuster in operation since the two remaining Alaska stores closed their doors this week.  read more »

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Simon Cowell confessed he switched off for the sake of his mental health
In an astonishing confession, the television mogul revealed he had become so distracted and irritated by his phone that he made himself uncontactable for the sake of his mental health and happiness.

He told The Mail on Sunday: 'I literally have not been on my phone for ten months.

'The difference it made was that I became more aware of the people around me and way more focused.

'The thing I get irritated with is when you have a meeting everyone's on their phone - and I was probably in that place too. You can't concentrate.

'It has been so good for my mental health. It's a very strange experience but it really is good for you and it has absolutely made me happier.'

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Photo courtesy REX / Shutterstock

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#BreakingNews: Fed raises benchmark rate 0.25%. Fed funds rate range now 1.5% to 1.75%. Fed maintains three rate hikes for 2018.

More Than 11 Million Young People Have Fled Facebook Since 2011 According to iStrategy, Facebook has 4,292,080 fewer high-school aged users and 6,948,848 college-aged users than it did in 2011.

March 23, 2018 - Elon Musk joins delete-facebook boycott, deleted Tesla’s and SpaceX’s Facebook pages on Friday. “I didn’t realize there was one. Will do,” Musk tweeted back. He initially said, “What’s Facebook?” to a prior tweet from WhatsApp co-founder Brian Acton urging his followers to delete Facebook because, “It is time.”

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Image courtesy JOEL SAGET / AFP / Getty Images

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ATM dispensing $100 bills instead of $5 bills< /a>
A Kansas woman is facing a pricey lawsuit after a bank accused her of making dozens of withdrawals from a faulty ATM that was dispensing $100 bills instead of $5 bills, a local report said Tuesday.

Cybercrime costs the global economy $450 billion: CEO
In 2016 "cybercrime cost the global economy over $450 billion, over 2 billion personal records were stolen and in the U.S. alone over 100 million Americans had their medical records stolen," said Steve Langan, chief executive at Hiscox Insurance, told CNBC.
"This is an epidemic of cybercrime, and yet 53 percent of businesses in the U.S., U.K. and Germany were just ill-prepared."

Another mega database? Dr. Ron Paul on E-Verification
E-Verify is a (currently) voluntary program where businesses check job applicants’ Social Security numbers and other Information — potentially including “biometric” identifiers like fingerprints — against information stored in a federal database to determine if the job applicants are legally in the United States.

Imagine how much time would be diverted from serving consumers and growing the economy if every US business had to comply with E-Verify. Also, collecting the relevant information and operating the mandatory E-Verify system will prove costly to taxpayers.  read more »