
Mark Zuckerberg says the metaverse is ‘the next generation of the internet,’ but what is it?
The metaverse is in the air. Mark Zuckerberg won’t stop talking about turning Facebook into one. Zombie-strewn Fortnite says it’s on the way to becoming one. Microsoft is going to develop an enterprise one, which sounds fun. But what is it?
If you’ve been nodding along and hoping that eventually people will stop talking about it, we have good news and bad news. Metaverse news is only going to increase. This is obviously the bad news. In better news, we have…

Your antivirus protects you from more than just viruses. Here’s everything you need to know about the spyware, trojans, ransomware, scareware, and other threats your security software should detect and neutralize.
An antivirus utility that stuck strictly to defending against computer viruses would be nearly useless. Computer viruses are just one sort of threat and not a common sort at that. A proper antivirus program defends against all kinds of malicious software. When we encourage you to install antivirus protection, we’re talking about protection against all kinds of malware.

The FCC awarded millions in broadband grants last year under former Chairman Ajit Pai, but the commission now says ‘significant questions of waste’ prompted it to reevaluate winning bids.
The FCC has moved to “clean up” a fund intended to support the deployment of broadband internet access in underserved US communities. ISPs that were awarded money they might not actually need were asked to explain themselves or give up the funds, but the FCC says it’s now ready to authorize over $311 million in broadband funding across 36 states.
In total, 48 broadband providers will bring 1Gbps…

These desktop PCs simply consume too much power and break local regulations.
If you live in California, Colorado, Hawaii, Oregon, Vermont, or Washington and want to purchase a new gaming rig from Dell, your options are now more limited than if you lived in any other state.
As PC Gamer reports, some of Dell’s Alienware Aurora R12 and Aurora R10 gaming PCs can no longer be legally sold in those six states mentioned above. It’s because they consume too much power to meet local regulations.
For example, anyone living in those states and attempting to purchase…

The company is looking to hire a digital currency and blockchain product lead.
Amazon doesn’t allow you to pay for orders using cryptocurrency. There are ways around that, but they won’t be necessary for much longer, as the company has confirmed it is gearing up to start accepting cryptocurrency as a valid form of payment.
As Tom’s Hardware reports, the first sign this shift is happening was spotted via a new job listing. Amazon is looking to hire a Digital Currency and Blockchain Product Lead who will be tasked with using their “domain expertise in Blockchain, Distributed…

NASA chose SpaceX as the launch partner for the Europa Clipper mission to investigate the surface of one of Jupiter’s moons.
NASA has selected SpaceX as the launch services provider for its first mission to investigate one of Jupiter’s moons, Europa, to determine whether or not life could survive on it.
SpaceX will help NASA launch a Falcon Heavy rocket from Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Complex 39A in October 2024, per the announcement, in exchange for roughly $178 million. Then it’s up to the specially designed Europa Clipper spacecraft to investigate Europa’s surface.
NASA said that “Europa…

The loophole bypasses the need to go through the Newegg Shuffle lottery system to obtain a standalone RTX 3000 card. Instead, you get a normal, smooth checkout process.
By Michael Kan
UPDATE: It seems Newegg has patched the loophole. About an hour or so after we published the story, the retailer removed the PC Builder icon from the Newegg app. You can still find the custom PC builder service over the app via a search. However, all the “hot item” PC graphics cards have since been removed.
Original story:
An 11-year-old Florida boy has uncovered a loophole in Newegg’s mobile…

With no specs available, we’d put money on it being an overpriced OEM Android phone running a skin. Americans who really want freedom and privacy can do better.
Free speech is important. Privacy is important. Both are vital to a healthy society and a healthy internet. Ensuring our ability to do what we want with the technology we purchase, without having our data tracked or sold, is one of the biggest problems facing the tech world today. …

A sunburn, sleep deprivation, and bone-chilling temperatures: Was waiting all night outside a San Francisco Best Buy for an Nvidia RTX 3080 graphics card worth the trouble?
By Michael Kan
It’s 1 a.m., and I’ve been waiting outside a Best Buy in San Francisco for over 15 hours.
It’s a cold, 56-degree night, I’m exhausted, and I need to pee. But still, I wait, in my foldable chair right next to the store’s entrance. That’s because it’s 2021, and this is what I must do to buy a PC graphics card during the great chip shortage.
In about six hours…

The former owners stole over $2 million of electricity.
One of the biggest costs associated with mining Bitcoin is electricity, so some miners have decided to steal it instead of paying for it. In Malaysia, that’s resulted in a lot of mining rigs being seized and destroyed in a very public way.
As CNBC reports, local police received a tip that Bitcoin miners were stealing electricity from Sarawak Energy power lines on the island of Borneo. What followed was six raids between February and April where $1.26 million of equipment was seized.
Before being caught, the…
