Today is Sunday, November 20th: time for the weekly roundup of the good, the bad and the ugly tech news of the week! For those in the US happy Thanksgiving week.
The Good
It is bad enough that in many parts of the US Broadband service is nearly a monopoly with one or two providers controlling the market. However, it gets worse when you try shop on their sites. The price you see is likely not even close to the price you will pay. New customer, introductory price, requires a longer commitment than a health club or cell phone contract, if you upgrade/downgrade your speed rate goes up, does not include equipment rental, regulatory fees, taxes and surcharges….Then what about the speed, is that all the time, during off peak hours (when only vampires are on), what about if there is a full moon?
The FCC wants to cut out this confusion. They will soon be Requiring ISPs to Display Labels for Speed and Pricing. This may not do away with some of the predatory practices of ISPs, but they will need to disclose everything so consumers won’t be surprised when they get their bills.
The Bad
Twitter has move down a ranking this week. Things are not looking good. The new Twitter Blue sign-ups are on hold until at least November 28th and only for those with a Twitter account at least 90-days old. Earlier in the week Musk sent an email out to Twitter employees giving them an ultimatum, stick around and expect hard core, high intensity work at the office or leave with 90-days severance. Unofficial reports show around 1200 employees chose not to stay with Twitter.
The Ugly
A little different this week. The honor goes to Microsoft, but not for what you would think. It has been Microsoft’s annual tradition to have a Windows themed ;’Ugly Sweater’ which they sell. This year’s features everybody’s beloved (okay may be not) ‘office assistant’ (from Office 97) Clippy! Sadly, even at $75 USD a piece they sold out very quickly. However, I expect as we get closer to Christmas, after all the holiday parties are over chances are you may be able to find these on eBay.
