The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) may not be everyone’s favorite government agency at the moment, but one of its missions is to ensure that high-speed internet access is available all across the country.
The latest FCC report addressing that subject offers a wealth of data, and now a new scrollable and zoomable map tool lets you easily see the level of coverage available, from the entire country all the way down to the neighborhood level.
In a blog post, Mapbox detailed how the interactive display was created, using the FCC dataset that encompasses 68 million records and 441 different broadband providers. Cable, satellite, and DSL providers are all included.
“With this tool, we can identify where service is and is not, where facilities are being built and where they are lacking,” said FCC commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel. “And how communities are connected and how they are at risk of falling behind. In other words, we have a blueprint for action that will provide everyone from consumers to policymakers with more information.”
The agency recently came under fire for trying to redefine “broadband” in its reports by lowering the standards to appease internet service providers (ISPs). Fortunately, that didn’t happen, as TechCrunch notes in its analysis of the FCC yearly broadband report.
The FCC maintained its definition of broadband as a connection that enables 25 megabits down and 3 megabits up. The agency also continued to separate out mobile coverage from fixed broadband when evaluating the quality of internet access.
As all the data that’s visualized comes directly from the ISPs themselves, so the map represents a best-case scenario rather than availability from a consumer viewpoint. An ISP may only service one customer on an entire block with the listed speeds. Still, it’s a marked improvement from the county-by-county information that used to be the norm.
What’s not included in the data is pricing, as some internet analysts have pointed out. Paying $300 a month for 1 gigabyte downloads is not really an option for most households. Not to mention that there are still large areas of the country with no high-speed internet at all, as Rosenworcel said in a statement. “But it defies logic to conclude that broadband is being reasonably and timely deployed across this country when over 24 million Americans still lack access.”
The absolutely absurd idea of putting a touchscreen display on a mouse isn't exactly new. Turtle Beach already did it with its Command Series MC7, which features a 2.25-inch control screen. But apparently, even that wasn't ridiculous enough for Arctic Fox Technologies. Its new Super Mouse looks like someone took the chunky old Atari ST mouse, slapped a touchscreen and scroll wheel on it, and called it an upgrade.
The result is a rather unusual-looking mouse that is now on Kickstarter, starting at $199. And as ridiculous as it looks, some of its features are genuinely intriguing.
Apple is less than a day away from launching its highly anticipated OLED MacBook Pro with a touch-sensitive screen. But it appears that the upgrade is going to cost a pretty penny. According to a report by Bloomberg, Apple is reportedly eyeing a starting price of $2,899 for the 14-inch MacBook Pro, while the 16-inch version could start at $3,399 in the US.
"At $2,899, the 14-inch model would mark the highest starting price for a new MacBook Pro model, surpassing the $2,799 Apple charged for a 17-inch version introduced in 2006," says the report. The report claims that Apple is targeting a minimum price hike of $400 for its upcoming redesigned 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models.
I've spent a good amount of time digging into the spec sheet of the new M6 MacBook Pro (14-inch), and for all intents and purposes, this is a classic Apple "chip and connectivity" refresh. It's not a full redesign. The chassis, Liquid Retina XDR panel, speakers, ports, and battery, all of them carry over unchanged.
However, the M6 brings more cores, stronger on-device AI, higher memory bandwidth on the larger configs, and modern wireless. Here’s the practical rundown of what actually improved, and whether those gains are worth your money.