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You can now legally unlock your phone in the United States

Aug01
by on August 1, 2014 at 6:56 pm
Posted In: Around the Web, Insider, Mobile

Our long national nightmare is over. We can finally legally unlock our smartphones in the United States. Today, President Obama will sign the Unlocking Consumer Choice and Wireless Competition Act (that’s a mouthful) into law. It’s not that big of a surprise, Obama indicated earlier that he would sign the bill. The bill reinstates an exemption in the Digital Millennium Copyright Act that would ban unlocking a phone because it disables copy protection. The bill began as digital petition on the We the People site. See, the system works. Of course there are limits. A post about the bill passing reminds you that…

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PlayStation Now Beta first impressions: Cloud gaming is very convenient and very expensive

Aug01
by on August 1, 2014 at 6:40 pm
Posted In: Around the Web, Insider

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After Sony’s PlayStation Now cloud gaming service launched in open beta on the PlayStation 4 this week, we wanted to see if it lives up to expectations. The service does make it extremely easy to jump right in and play older PlayStation games, but the pricing model will need to be adjusted to really take off. PS Now currently offers over 100 PS3 titles, with content from older systems expected to arrive down the road. Online multiplayer and co-op is supported, and you’ll be able to play against owners of the actual disc too. You won’t find all of your favorite last-gen games on…

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Sample images from Pelican’s mobile light field camera look mighty impressive

Aug01
by on August 1, 2014 at 5:31 pm
Posted In: Around the Web

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As the Lytro Illum light field camera hits the streets today, it’s no surprise that similar photographic technologies in the shoot-first-focus-later genre are also breaking out of the lab and into the public eye. Pelican Imaging has unveiled its own version of a variable focus camera, but unlike Lytro’s offering, it’s geared toward smartphones and other mobile devices. Pelican has posted some sample images to demonstrate the capabilities of its mobile light field camera, which has been under development for several years, and takes a much different approach than the Lytro. Built as an array of multiple cameras, each with its own sensor and lens, the Pelican captures…

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Facebook is currently down for many users around the world [Update: It’s back]

Aug01
by on August 1, 2014 at 4:17 pm
Posted In: Around the Web, Insider

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Facebook currently seems to be inaccessible for many people according to a barrage of tweets and posts to other social media sites. The problems first seemed to start just before 17:00 BST (midday Eastern Time), and naturally, people wasted no time in taking to Twitter. Uptime monitoring services like Downrightnow.com and downforeveryoneorjustme are also showing likely service trouble. How long will it last? Who knows, but we’ve asked the company for an update on the situation. An outage as widespread as this seems to rarely go on too long. Some users are also reporting that Instagram is inaccessible, but it seems to be…

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a couple of laughzillas on a blue diamond background

Facebook is currently down for many users around the world

Aug01
by on August 1, 2014 at 4:17 pm
Posted In: Around the Web, Insider

Facebook currently seems to be inaccessible for many people according to a barrage of tweets and posts to other social media sites. The problems first seemed to start just before 17:00 BST (midday Eastern Time), and naturally, people wasted no time in taking to Twitter. Uptime monitoring services like Downrightnow.com and downforeveryoneorjustme are also showing likely service trouble. How long will it last? Who knows, but we’ve asked the company for an update on the situation. An outage as widespread as this seems to rarely go on too long. Some users are also reporting that Instagram is inaccessible, but it seems to be…

This story continues at The Next Web

The post Facebook is currently down for many users around the world appeared first on The Next Web.

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