84424921
submission
insitus writes:
Xbox users who purchased training videos through the Xbox Fitness app probably thought they were buying a workout program they'd be able to use regularly for the life of the Xbox One, at the very least. Instead, those videos will soon be completely unavailable to those who paid for them up front, according to a "sunset" plan announced by Microsoft yesterday evening.
82323595
submission
insitus writes:
Congresswoman Jackie Speier (D-San Francisco/San Mateo), introduced the Closing the Pre-Paid Mobile Device Security Gap Act of 2016, which would require people to present identification when purchasing “burner phones” and other pre-paid mobile devices, as well as requiring merchants to keep records of those purchases. “Burner phones” are pre-paid phones that terrorists, human traffickers, and narcotics dealers often use to avoid scrutiny by law enforcement because they can be purchased without identification and record-keeping requirements. This bill would close that legal gap.
82137925
submission
insitus writes:
The FCC is getting close to approving Charter's $79 billion acquisition of Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks. According to a (paywalled) report in the Wall Street Journal, FCC boss Tom Wheeler is expected to circulate an order among fellow commissioners as early as this week that would approve the deal with some conditions. Those conditions would include provisions requiring Charter deliver low-income broadband to select communities.
79304745
submission
insitus writes:
On 10 December, Germany’s new Wendelstein 7-X stellarator was fired up for the first time, rounding off a construction effort that took nearly 2 decades and cost €1 billion. Initially and for the first couple of months, the reactor will be filled with helium—an unreactive gas—so that operators can make sure that they can control and heat the gas effectively. At the end of January, experiments will begin with hydrogen in an effort to show that fusing hydrogen isotopes can be a viable source of clean and virtually limitless energy.
