How Did The Color Of A Dress Become A Bigger Story Than Net Neutrality?
Every Monday morning at 7:10 am, I am a guest contributor on CHOM 97.7 FM radio broadcasting out of Montreal (home base). It’s not a long segment – about 5 to 10 minutes every week – about everything that is happening in the world of technology and digital media. The good folks at CHOM 97.7 FM are posting these segments weekly to SoundCloud, if you’re interested in hearing more of me blathering away. I’m really excited about this opportunity, because this is the radio station that I grew up on listening to, and it really is a fun treat to be invited to the Mornings Rock with Terry and Heather B. morning show. The segment is called, CTRL ALT Delete with Mitch Joel.
This week we discussed:
Live Long And Prosper, everyone.
The Internet went insane last week. It goes insane quite often, but last week was a real exception. What color was that dress? Blue and black? White and gold? Many experts weighed in. It got a lot of mass media attention (like, right now). But, for me, it spoke to two interesting (and divergent) results of moments like this. One, when the intelligentsia steps in and we get these awesome, high brow, pieces about how nothing really has any color. Two, how wild our world is, when things like this become global and viral memes. We are a peculiar people.
Big news for people who use the Internet (that, would be all of us!). In the US, the net neutrality law (that had been talked about for years) has come to pass. The Internet will now be regulated as a public utility. The FCC (Federal Communications Commission) has adopted net neutrality regulations. What does it mean? The new rules prohibit broadband providers from blocking or slowing down traffic on wired and wireless networks. They also ban Internet service providers from offering paid priority services that could allow them to charge content companies, such as Netflix, fees to access Internet “fast lanes” to reach customers more quickly when networks are congested. It also means that may, in fact, start seeing the Internet as a human right (which is the law in certain European countries).
Francois wants a great translation app. We talked about this last week. Google Translate app.