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All Posts Author: Patrick Stevens
Internet Today

Namecheap Expired Domains Now Processed Through GoDaddy Auctions

GodaddyAuctions

In the past, domain name registrar auctioned off expired domains through Tucows. A spat with Tucows, which owns competitor NameJet,has lead to a change for Namecheap. One reader of Domain Name Wire recently found domains registered to Namecheap in the GoDaddy Auctions expiry stream. On subsequent searches, more Namecheap expired domains can be found in auction listings.

Business First

H&R Block Debuts Tax Reform Checkup

PaycheckCheckup

There have been many changes in the tax reforms. IRS is encouraging everyone to do a quick tax reform checkup. That's why H&R is in the forefront by offering a free tax reform "Checkup service." It's an excellent program that helps you to track whether your tax obligations are smaller or bigger than usual. This will help taxpayers to change their financial or family situations in the next tax season.

There is a lot to do much ground to cover by taxpayers. The current reforms drastically decreased their taxes while increasing their paychecks. It requires taxpayers to check and fix their W4 forms.

A single taxpayer with one withholding allowance, with no children and a salary of $35000 was entitled to a $600  in refunds in 2017 returns. Changes in withholding tables in February saw a paycheck increase of 32$ in March. However, by next year, April the refunds will be 600$.

Business FirstSoftware Sensations

Square Acquired Weebly: What Does It Mean For Other Website Builders?

WeeblySquare

Weebly has a substantial amount of subscribers at 625,000. Merchant payment processor Square acquired Weebly for $365 million. Square intends on global expansion via this acquisition. A great portion of Weebly users lie outside of the United States, allowing Square to address a bigger audience of entrepreneurs. Revenues are expected to rise from $744 MM to $764 MM. The team members are also included in the merger. Most of the team from Weebly will be joining forces with the Square team.

The merger occurred during late April 2018. The merger is slated to help businesses all over the world. The services of both companies will line up well together. The CFO of Square stated that she feels both companies are culturally aligned. Backers of the acquisition include Floodgate, Sequoia Capital, Tencent, Felicis Ventures, and Y Combinator.

EntertainmentInternet Today

AT&T And Time Warner Merger Is Approved

AttTimeWarner

So now Alphabet and Netflix will have to become ISPs, quickly.

The video industry was turned on its' head this week, and the ramifications of this will take many months to fully play out.

Firstly, the district court decided to allow AT&T and Time Warner to merge. This will produce one of the world's biggest content creation firms, once it goes through. Also, it is predicted to push Comcast to offer a similar proposal for Twenty-first Century Fox, to consolidate the market further. Chip Pickering, who is the CEO of INCOMPAS - an advocacy organisation that supports competition - said: "AT&T will get a merger that nobody supports, but will have to pay for".

However, the second big story is the last repeal of the FCC rules on Internet neutrality, which will enable telecom firms, such as AT&T, to promote their content instead of their competitors. Previously AT&T did not have a lot of content, but now they have acquired Time Warner, they have a huge library including Warner Bros, TNT, TBS, CNN and HBO. All of a sudden, that ruling about prioritization is looking extremely lucrative and potent.

Internet Today

The Top Seven Website Builders For Photography Sites

SmugMug

Not surprisingly, most people judge a photography company by the quality of the images on their site. If you are trying to break into the business or build upon an existing clientele, you need a website builder or CMS provider capable of supporting huge galleries without compromising the quality of your stunning photos. You should also look into platforms that make uploading new images easy, ensuring that you regularly update your content.

That's a lot to look for, especially if your search is up against a time crunch. We've curated the top seven photography website builders below to help you focus your search on only the providers that can meet your needs. Happy hunting!

1. SmugMug

SmugMug is the standard others are compared to for photography sites because it is focused on photography and nothing else. They recently acquired Flickr, the online photo giant, adding yet another tool to its impressive repertoire for photographers to consider.

2. Weebly

Weebly is an excellent choice for all of the technophobes out there. Its interface is incredibly intuitive, allowing you to design a beautiful site without ever working in code. This makes it accessible to nearly any photographer interested in showing off their work.

3. Duda

Duda's platform places a strong emphasis on mobile, widely considered the future of the internet. They also offer powerful collaboration options if your company consists of more than one photographer. Its drag and drop functionality is also helpful if you're uncomfortable with computers.

4. StudioPress Sites

If you've ever wanted to use the popular WordPress platform, this is the way to do it. StudioPress Sites is hosted by the highest-rated WordPress theme developer, giving you SEO-friendly themes through the popular Genesis framework for maximum visibility. It also offers a long list of additional features to help you customize your site to your liking.

Hardware Innovations

Introducing The HTC Blockchain Phone

HTCBlockChain

The HTC blockchain phone is a work in progress.

Several weeks before its' upcoming flagship statement, HTC recently disclosed another item of hardware. Although the Taiwanese firm has consolidated most of its' mobile products, it said at the 2018 New York Consensus Blockchain event that its' Exodus handset will embrace everyone's favorite technology buzzword.

What is a blockchain phone then? Primarily, these phones are characterized by cryptocurrency support and security. The landing page for HTC Exodus says: "Our aim is to grow the blockchain network by producing the first ever phone centered on security and decentralized applications. Once the HTC Exodus is released, this ambition will be realized".

Internet Today

FaceDate by Facebook Looks To Transform Online Dating





Facebook Introduces Dating Service to Meet non Friends

Tinder now has some competition, as Facebook has announced a new raft of dating services. It will allow people to create a profile for dating on their platform. Only non friends, who have also registered for dating, will be able to see this. Facebook matches people by a range of preferences. Because it holds more information about people than other websites, it should provide more suitable matches. This service will begin later in 2018.

Facebook says that "prospective matches will be advised depending on mutual friends, personal preferences and common interests. They will be able to find like minded people via their Events or Groups". Sites like TechCrunch recommended that Facebook set up a dating service in February.

Hardware InnovationsSoftware Sensations

Upcoming Plans For A Millennium Falcon Flight Simulator

Millennium Falcon Flight Simulator

The Millennium Falcon Flight Simulator From Disney Requires Eight GPUs to Operate

A high resolution, real time flight simulator is being built by Disney, based on the Millennium Falcon. This will be powered using eight high end, daisy chained GPUs.

The simulator should be installed at Walt Disney World locations and Disneyland in 2019. It was made as a joint venture with Epic Games, ILMxLAB and Nvidia. Once it is complete, Disney resort guests can step into the Millennium Falcon's cockpit, activate the vessel's blasters and prepare the ship to go warp speed.

The firm spoke about their project, which is still going on, at the Nvidia GTC event. They explained how they have had to make full use of cutting edge gaming technology, to produce the immersive, real time sci fi experience.

All implementations of the simulator will be powered with Boxx workstations, operating eight P6000 Nvidia Quadro GPUs linked through Quadro SLI. This certainly will not be available to customers. Disney needed to construct multiple GPU workflows. Then, they assisted Epic Games with the integration of these into the firm's Unreal Engine. This code will carry on being used in future.

The above screenshot is a preview of how the simulator will appear.

Internet Today

Why Everyone Should #deletefacebook

DeleteFacebook

We are being used by Facebook. It is giving out our personal information freely. It is establishing a dangerous precedent under the guise of helping us connect. It facilitates divisive attitudes and runs contrary to the true reason we started using social networks in the beginning -- human interaction.

It's a disease, so #deletefacebook today.

I have started the gradual process of using the platform less and less, by systemically operating a script which will remove my content. And there is much to remove. There are shares and likes. There are lengthy posts I posted to impress people. There are countless WordPress notifications which inform people what I am doing. Actually, I would bet that I use Facebook to stroke my ego more than engage with other people. I would hazard a guess that this also applies to many other users.

Internet Today

Ripple Takes Measures To Promote XRP

XMR

Ripple Aims to Make Investments in Startups That Will use XRP Cryptocurrency

Payments firm Ripple announced that it intends to invest in technology startups to broaden the scope of XRP - its' cryptocurrency which is presently the third biggest digital coin behind ethereum and bitcoin, relative to total market capitalization.

In January and December, XRP rose in value after a crypto market surge that involved bitcoin reaching almost $20k per coin. Collectively, the value of XRP was over $128 billion at its' highest, prior to a January market slump that diminished that value substantially. Now, the coin has a $30 billion market cap, however Ripple has been criticized for XRP's apparent lack of use. Originally, this was advertised as a banking tool, but it has only attracted overseas payment services as clients.

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