So if you’ve followed the debate over net neutrality for much of the last decade, you probably remember images like these, purporting to show what the internet might look like if we let broadband duopolies like AT&T or Comcast dictate internet access pricing structure:

And while these mock ups were tongue in cheek, large ISPs have given every indication that this idea of freedom costing extra isn’t too far from their ideal. And abusing a lack of broadband competition to force users to shell out additional funds to access to the content and services of their choice isn’t too far off of what has already happened, whether we’re talking about AT&T’s decision to block Facetime from working unless users shelled out for more expensive plans, or Verizon’s recent decision to charge users $10 more just to avoid arbitrary video throttling.

In Portugal however, there are no net neutrality rules. And ISPs there have already started taking advantage of it in a way that eerily echoes the warnings net neutrality advocates have been making for years. Lisbon-based mobile and fixed broadband provider MEO has been selling broadband service tiers for some time that cap your internet data usage, after which they’re happy to sell you additional buckets of data depending on which types of services you traditionally use:

It’s important to note that capping usage then doling out additional data based on types of content isn’t the same idea as blocking users from accessing parts of the internet unless they pay up, but it’s still detrimental to the health of the internet. As we saw with T-Mobile’s Binge On, these plans are designed to create the illusion of a bargain. But these types of plans not only raise questions about ISP power to dictate which companies and services are whitelisted, but they’re based on a fundamentally incorrect premise that these restrictions are necessary in the first place.

Usage caps and overage fees aren’t based on network or economic realities. They aren’t useful to manage congestion. Their entire function is to creatively drive up costs via arbitrary barriers to entry, after which ISPs convince consumers they’re somehow getting a deal by providing additional data "for free" or "at a discount." ISPs have often falsely tried to equate this as the same thing as 1-800 numbers or free shipping, which is bullshit. All that’s really happening is that internet access is being artificially limited, and users are being forced to pay more money to access the internet as intended.

While people often like to focus on the threat of ISPs blocking access to content, ISPs know that’s a surefire way to earn public scorn. That’s why ISPs have developed a myriad of more creative ways to (ab)use the lack of competition in the space to ill effect, whether that’s imposing arbitrary and unnecessary usage caps and overage fees, exempting an ISPs own services from said caps, or hamstringing competitors elsewhere in the network, as we saw when ISPs began intentionally clogging peering points to drive up costs for streaming competitors and transit operators (interconnection).

With the Trump administration rushing forward with its plan to kill net neutrality here in the States, and a rise in cable’s monopoly over fixed-line broadband, you can expect a whole lot more U.S. broadband pricing and package "creativity" in the not so distant future. That may not involve outright blocking your access to content, but it’s more than likely to involve entirely arbitrary, uncompetitive and harmful limits you’ll be told are somehow necessary and for your own good.

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via Techdirt
Portugal Shows The Internet Why Net Neutrality Is Important

Staff —

Dealmaster: Get a Dell laptop with a Core i5 chip for $550

Plus deals on 4K TVs, Wi-Fi routers, and more.

Ars Staff
– Oct 31, 2017 9:56 pm UTC

Greetings, Arsians! Courtesy of our friends at TechBargains, we have a new round of deals to share. Today’s list is particularly heavy on laptop and TV deals, including a Dell Inspiron 14 with a Core i5 (7th-gen) chip and Nvidia GeForce GPU slashed down to $550.

You can take a peek at the full selection below.

Note: Ars Technica may earn compensation for sales from links on this post through affiliate programs.

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Laptop and desktop computers

HDTVs and home entertainment

Electronics and components

Home and miscellaneous

via Ars Technica
Dealmaster: Get a Dell laptop with a Core i5 chip for $550

I’m going to admit it right now. I’m a Maj Toure fan. I love what he’s doing with his group Black Guns Matter, and not just because the name is a nice play on the name of another famous group that most reading here aren’t fans of. He’s doing some good stuff in America’s cities with regard to the Second Amendment, but he’s branched out from his roots of arming the good people in our inner cities.

That’s not all he’s doing, though. He’s also educating about gun safety.

Guns were allowed in a Philadelphia school this week.

Bright orange replicas used for making holsters were sprinkled throughout the classroom at YESPhilly Accelerated High School last week, with Black Guns Matter founder Maj Toure leading the way.

Toure is a leader in the gun safety movement, and YESPhilly is a nonprofit educational program where youth who’ve dropped out of school can finish their education and discover their talents and dreams.

“I think that they’re living in communities where there is a lot of gun access, without a lot of information, such as how to hold one,” said YESPhilly principal Taylor Frome. “A lot of students need to learn safety, and there would be less gun-related incidents.”

…

“I felt as though Black Guns Matter caught my attention and gave me something I wanted to learn about,” said Dymond King, 18. “I needed this information.”

From what started as a license-to-carry drive, Toure’s organization Black Guns Matter is growing like wildfire.

The Justice Week gun workshop took place in between stops on a 13-city, 50-state tour spreading his message.

Obviously, one of the core things taught was for people to keep their booger hooks off the bang switch, which is important. So few people actually understand how to handle a firearm that accidents happen. Far too often, those accidents can lead to tragedy. Toure’s efforts need to be just the beginning, however. This needs to be a part of the standard curriculum of American schools.

Think about it, many schools will teach students how to drive a car–something that kills far more people than guns but is not a constitutionally protected right–but shudder at the mere thought of educating students how to handle a firearm. Let’s ignore the fact that mishandling car keys won’t result in someone’s death, but mishandling a firearm might.

By teaching students what to do if they encounter a firearm, and not just the “tell an adult” thing but also what to do if you do have it in your hands for some reason, the odds of a negligent discharge become greatly reduced.  They know what to do and, more importantly, they know what not to do.

It’s not an immunization to gun accidents, but that can’t be laid at Toure’s feet. The human factor is still in play and people who have been professionally trained and supposedly know better still screw up, so there’s no reason to believe that the rest of humanity would be any different. However, there’s an important question that needs to be asked. How many lives did Maj Toure save this week?

The truth is, we’ll never know, but I suspect he saves a few.

That’s why we need formal firearms education in schools. To borrow a phrase from the gun control crowd, “If it saves just one child’s life, it’s worth it.”

In this case, it’s true.

The post Black Guns Matter Founder Goes Into Philly School To Teach Gun Safety appeared first on Bearing Arms.

via Bearing Arms
Black Guns Matter Founder Goes Into Philly School To Teach Gun Safety

via MakeUseOf.com
The 3 Best Free OCR Tools to Convert Your Files Back Into Editable Documents

via The Truth About Guns
Kennedy Assassination Document Dump Includes Photo of Oswald’s Mannlicher-Carcano Rifle

 

Tips

How to delete the apps left over after an iTunes 12.7 install to regain storage on macOS or Windows

By Malcolm Owen
Thursday, October 26, 2017, 12:01 pm PT (03:01 pm ET)

Apple’s decision to remove the iOS App Store from iTunes as part of the version 12.7 update controversially took away the ability to download apps to a Mac or PC, but all of the locally-stored apps were kept in place. We show you how to delete these files and free up some storage in the process.

On September 12, Apple issued an update to iTunes for desktop computers that incorporated a number of changes, focusing it more on content than apps. Removing the App Store from iTunes meant users had to manage their downloads and purchases through their iPads and iPhones, instead of through their macOS or Windows desktop.

Despite removing the ability to download apps, Apple chose to keep all downloaded apps intact instead of automatically deleting them, a decision likely to be welcomed by some users. For others, this means that there’s a pile of apps in their Mac or PC’s storage that are taking up valuable disk space, and may be worth deleting.

Apple did not include an option within the iTunes update to delete the apps, so users who want to remove the files will have to do so manually.

But, you may not want to purge just yet…

It is worth noting that users may not necessarily wish to get rid of the files stored in the directory. It is still possible to install signed .ipa files within iTunes 12.7 by dragging and dropping them, but as iTunes can no longer update the files, it is only really of use to those wanting to install older versions of apps.

Apple has also made the enterprise version of iTunes 12.6.3 available to download which retains app management and installation facilities, though this is an unsupported version. While this is meant for business users, Apple advises enterprise customers needing to deploy apps should do so via its Volume Purchase Programs and Apple Configurator on Mac.

If there’s no reason to keep them because loading from the cloud is fine, here’s how to do it.

How to delete the iOS apps stored on a Mac

Go into the Finder on the Mac and access the Music directory. If Music does not appear in the Favorites section to the left, it can be accessed in the majority of cases by selecting the Mac under Devices, then Macintosh HD, Users, and then the relevant user account.

Once inside the Music folder, access the iTunes directory, followed by iTunes Media, and lastly Mobile Applications. The Mobile Applications directory holds all of the apps downloaded to the Mac, listed as .ipa files, with users able to delete either the individual files or the entire directory.

The amount of space the contents of the directory takes up will depend entirely on the user’s downloading habits. One AppleInsider writer had a downloads directory weighing in at 87 gigabytes, while another’s was a smaller but still considerable 11 gigabytes.

How to delete the iOS apps stored on Windows 10

Windows 10 users have to go through a similar process of finding the iTunes directory through File Explorer. Again, though this will vary between installations, but it can usually be found in the user’s Documents directory, within the enclosed Music directory.

The file path within the iTunes directory is the same as for macOS, by accessing iTunes Media and then Mobile Applications. As with macOS, the .ipa files can be deleted individually or the entire directory can be removed.

via AppleInsider
How to delete the apps left over after an iTunes 12.7 install to regain storage on macOS or Windows

GIF

As soon as your car leaves the factory and is properly broken in, it’s probably cranking out the most power it will ever make in stock form. That’s because, over time, certain components wear down; here’s how that happens.

For an engine to run well, it needs the right supply of fuel, proper intake and exhaust flows, good compression, and a healthy spark to set off the combustion process at the right time. Those ingredients can get compromised over time, which can lead to power loss, as Engineering Explained’s Jason Fenkse describes in his video:

The video mentions 10 reasons why internal combustion motors gradually lose power, starting with a clogged air filter, which can increase the restriction in the intake system, and rob power by making the pistons work harder to suck in the charge.

On a similar note, restrictions in the exhaust system—like a carbon-clogged catalytic converter or muffler caused by a rich fuel mixture or an engine that burns oil—can increase pumping losses and sap power, too. Fenske also mentions a stretched throttle cable—which doesn’t allow the throttle plate to open entirely—as a potential culprit in an engine’s loss of grunt over time.

On the fuel side of things, he talks about clogged fuel injectors (dirty fuel can cause this) throwing off the air-fuel ratio, and a fuel pump that has worn down over time and can’t send enough fuel at high engine speeds and loads.

Often times, when someone talks about an engine “wearing out,” they really mean it has lost compression. This can happen a number of ways, but one of the obvious culprits is cylinder wall wear, caused by piston rings gliding up and down the bore. The photo above (ignore the corrosion) shows a distinct “ridge” that represents how much the bore diameter has increased as the piston rings slid along the thin film of oil on the surface.

The larger that bore diameter, the worse the seal between the rings and the cylinder wall, meaning more blow-by, less compression, more oil from the crankcase entering the combustion chamber, and ultimately, less horsepower.

Another way an engine can lose compression is via poor valve sealing. This can happen over time as carbon deposits—which, as Fenkse mentions, can stem from oil from the crankcase ventilation system—compromise the sealing surface between the valve and the valve seat, as I explain in the clip above.

The final reasons Fenske mentions for a loss of power have to do with fouled or otherwise degraded spark plugs and carbon deposits on the pistons, which can lead to hot-spots that cause knock, for which the engine compensates by retarding timing, ultimately reducing output.

Obviously, there are a few things he doesn’t mention. Especially on older cars, you have to worry about ignition component wear in things like the points, distributor cap and rotor, and you’ve got to worry about the timing getting out of whack. Then there’s degradation of rubber seals (like valve seals), which can cause the engine to burn oil and make less power. And there’s also the possibility of sludge buildup, which can lead to additional engine friction.

Really, your engine is constantly searching for ways to make less power, so keep up your maintenance—change your plugs, wires, fluids and filters—and make that motor work like it promised you it would.

via Gizmodo
Here’s How Engines Lose Power Over Time

Link

As much fun as carnival games look, they’re designed to steal your dollars, and not to award you that giant stuffed bear. Engineer Mark Rober is here to explore the math and physics behind carny scams, which are the biggest rip-offs, and a few ways to improve your chances.

via The Awesomer
Carnival Scam Science

via TechCrunch
Pair Eyewear, the Warby Parker for kids, launches today

via The Truth About Guns
Concealment Express: Quality Kydex IWB Holsters Delivered Fast