Tech Industry

Back in 2015, I asked if you had any tech new year’s resolutions, and made a few suggestions:

• Make the transition to a paperless life
• Have a digital clear-out
• Commit to Inbox Zero
• Properly protect your digital life
• Treat yourself to a new toy

All of those are still relevant today, but I thought I would make some fresh suggestions this year…

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The US House of Representatives today nearly-unanimously passed a new bill that would punish robocallers and require that carriers make better tools available to consumers. The bill can now make its way to the Senate, where it also has bipartisan support.

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Problematic Smartphone Usage — or smartphone addiction — is now being viewed as a psychiatric disorder, with an average of 23% of kids and young adults found to suffer from it.

Researchers at King’s College London carried out a meta-analysis of more than 40 studies, which variously found that anything from 10% to 30% of children, teenagers and young adults aged up to 25 were afflicted…

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Tim Berners-Lee’s plan to ‘save the web’ has been formally launched today and is backed by more than 150 organizations, including Facebook, Google, and Microsoft.

The inventor of the World Wide Web explained back in March his reasons for wanting a ‘contract for the web’…

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The Federal Trade Commission has revealed the details of its settlement with AT&T. The FTC says that AT&T will pay out $60 million to current and former subscribers who were affected by the carrier’s misleading “unlimited data” promises.

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The fight among carriers and regulators over the robocalling problem continues this week. The Washington Post reports that 12 of the largest telephone companies, as well as 51 state attorneys general, have all pledged to implement new anti-robocalling technology.

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Update: Deal valued at less than $3 million.

Verizon announced today that it has sold blogging platform Tumblr to Automattic, the company behind WordPress. The Wall Street Journal says the transaction is valued at a “nominal amount,” despite Tumblr having once been acquired by Yahoo for $1.1 billion.

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Last month, we reported on a proposal from the FCC that would give it more power to crack down on international robocalls and number spoofing. Now, the FCC has officially voted to approve those new rules.

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The House of Representatives today approved a new act aimed at improving anti-robocalling technology. The Stopping Bad Robocalls Act was unanimously approved by the Energy and Commerce Committee last week, and was sent to the House floor today, where it was passed with a 429-3 vote.

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Robocalls have grown to become a major problem in the United States, and the FCC is working to create new legislation to hopefully help solve the issue for good. A new proposal from the FCC aims to crack down on robocalls that originate from overseas, or ones that evade spoofing laws.

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The Waverly Labs Ambassador, launching today on Indiegogo for an early bird price of $99, claims to be the world’s smartest wearable translator.

It’s an on-ear device that instantly translates 20 languages and 42 dialects, with a conversational mode pairing two devices to a single iPhone for free-flowing two-way conversation …

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A study has raised an interesting question: what should happen to our digital legacy: the data we leave behind after we die?

The question was prompted by the calculation that, before the end of the century, Facebook will have more dead users than living ones …

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It’s 30 years today since Tim Berners-Lee submitted a proposal for what would become the World Wide Web. The inventor has said that while he feels the web was a force for good for its first 15 years, he now thinks action is required to prevent a ‘downward plunge to a dysfunctional future.’

Berners-Lee said that the 30th anniversary was a time to reflect on both the positives and negatives …

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If you’ve ever worried about your iPhone, iPad or Mac being stolen, you may be worrying about the wrong thing. Data from device-protection company Prey shows that you are far more likely to misplace a device than to have it stolen.

The company also revealed some of the stranger stories behind the loss of devices …

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