Hasta La Gadget!

For all and intents and purposes, the holiday season is already here (we know, we know). And just in time to leverage the deluge of shoppers soon to hit the malls, Cisco has teamed up with Facebook to provide customers free WiFi access along with targeted promotions and ads. The just-announced Connected Mobile Experiences (CMX) for Facebook Wi-Fi service lets you hop online at participating retail locations by simply connecting to the local network and checking in on Facebook. From there, you’ll be able to view information about the retailer, including special promotions and other news. On the business side, the benefits are obvious: more check-ins means more brand recognition, and companies will get plenty of (anonymous) customer data to analyze. For shoppers, on the other hand, it’s free WiFi and a targeted ad experience, complete with potential perks.

Cisco and the social network ran a pilot of the program in Toronto last month, and the service is currently up and running at two Bloomin’ Brands Bonefish Grill restaurants in the US. Expect a much wider rollout soon, though; according to Cisco’s Sujai Hajela, CMX will be available “across some of the world’s top brands in retail, hospitality and other markets.” Hit up the source link for more info.

Filed under: Networking, Internet, Facebook

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Source: Cisco Blog

Gigabit internet access is all the rage these days, and C Spire is entirely willing to give in to peer pressure. It just announced an upcoming C Spire Fiber to the Home service that will supply 1Gbps internet access and IPTV to Mississippi residents sometime in 2014. Exactly where it arrives will depend on feedback, however. Much like Google, C Spire wants both municipal governments and residents to plead their case; the more vocal regions will get service first. Only local leaders can solicit C Spire at this stage, but everyone else will get their chance starting on September 30th.

Filed under: Networking, Internet, HD

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Source: C Spire

The rumors were on the mark — as part of a larger telecom plan, the European Commission’s Neelie Kroes has proposed regulation that would largely scrap roaming fees. The measure would ban all charges for incoming calls within the EU after July 1st next year, and give carriers incentives to drop many other roaming fees altogether. Companies would either have to let customers use “roam like at home” plans in EU countries or offer a choice of roaming providers with cheap rates. Outbound, mobile-to-mobile calls within member states would cost no more than €0.19 per minute.

The strategy also includes rules for enforcing net neutrality across the EU. The proposal bans internet providers from blocking and throttling content. Firms could offer priority services like IPTV only as long as these features don’t slow down other subscribers, who could walk away from contracts if they don’t get their advertised speeds. There’s no guarantee that the European Parliament will vote in favor of the new measures, but it’s already clear that the Commission is far from happy with the telecom status quo.

[Image credit: The Council of the European Union]

Filed under: Cellphones, Networking, Internet, Mobile

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Via: Dominic Laurie (Twitter)

Source: European Union

Raspberry Pi and the Raspbmc OS already make a solid combo as a media center, but if you encounter music-related limitations then it may be worth giving the RaspyFi distro (v1.0) a shot instead. In addition to supporting Apple AirPlay and a range of lossless file types, this audio-centric form of Linux also works with a long list of external USB DACs, including asynchronous playback, so you can avoid relying your Pi’s tiny stock DAC and amplifier. RaspyFi’s other big feature is that it comes with its own web-based UI (shown in the video after the break), which ought to make it easy to control playback of both local and streamed content (such as web radio or Spotify) from virtually any browser-equipped device on your network. A quick health warning, though: audiophilia is a slippery slope that may subsequently cause you to develop an unhealthy suspicion towards your Pi’s standard power supply.

Filed under: Home Entertainment, Networking

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Source: RaspbyFi

Once a site has your personal information, there’s no turning back. There’s always going to be a record of your information on the Internet. If you’re uncomfortable with that fact, then you can slowly delete your online accounts one by one and hope that your data will follow suit.

It might take months, or a few years even, for your data to slowly be erased. Even then, there’s no guarantee that all your stuff will be erased, but at least you won’t be giving these sites any additional information.

Helping everyone out on this end is Just Delete Me. It’s essentially a collection of links that direct you to the “delete my account” pages on various online communities, stores, and social networks. The site also provides information on the level of difficulty of deleting an account.

Some sites make it easy to delete your account, while others surprisingly don’t even offer that option readily. Whether you’re thinking of doing it now or later, this is one site that you should definitely bookmark. The site also offers a Chrome extension to make it easier to delete your accounts based the site you’re currently on.

[via Red Ferret]