Molly Rants

The last straw broke last month, when, after a DSL outage, I could no longer connect to the TiVo service.

I got the dreaded N17 error message that says, "Failed while negotiating." The only support guidance TiVo offers is (I'm not joking) to unplug the TiVo and plug it back in. Nothing helped. I trolled forums, restarted my modem, changed my router DNS settings, rebooted over and over, even switched to another TiVo, and connected to a Sprint Overdrive, just to troubleshoot and get guide info. I just couldn't get it working. I tweeted TiVo for … Read more

In Daniel Suarez's book "Freedom," he describes a world in which members of a revolutionary "darknet" use glasses with heads-up displays to literally visualize the publicly available information about every person on earth.

It floats above them as a callout: Social Security numbers, bank balances, cell phone numbers, addresses, purchasing history, baby pictures, social network posts. That data is visible by anyone with the means to harvest it, and it can be manipulated at will by malicious hackers (like Loki, the Suarez character who "data curse" on someone who annoys him), by governments, … Read more

Lost in the hubbub of whether Google and Verizon are nearing a secret deal to tier the Internet is the truth that few will say out loud: Net neutrality is dead on wireless networks.

A war of words erupted this week after a New York Times article that flatly stated that Google and Verizon Communications would soon enact the very definition of Internet tiering: charging content providers more to prioritize delivery to consumers. Cue Internet freakout.

Google and Verizon rushed to deny the story, with Google saying, "we have not had any conversations with Verizon about paying for carriage … Read more

The mountain of damning evidence is incontrovertible: Apple's iPhone 4 antenna design is flawed. Consumer Reports is only the latest publication to complete a battery of testing and declare what other reviewers have discovered as well: holding the phone a certain way causes repeatable reception problems that, in weaker signal areas, can lead to dropped calls.

Those lucky folks who live in areas with rock-solid AT&T reception likely won't run into the problem. Those less fortunate can reproduce it virtually at will. Here at CNET, Kent German demonstrated in video how dramatically a hand over the … Read more

Several launches are planned for fall and winter 2010, but the iPad, on track to sell 16 million units, according to some, will be the iPod of tablets by then. If anything, iPad 2G will have been announced and everyone will be queuing up for the version with the camera … Read more

In Monday's WWDC keynote, Steve Jobs made an impassioned case to the home crowd of Apple developers, assuring them, just as he did in his recent All Things D interview, that "95 percent of all apps submitted are accepted within seven days." He tried to reassure them that there are really only three reasons apps are rejected (they don't do what the developer says they do, they use private APIs, or they crash).

He reiterated his commitment to two platforms--the "fully open" HTML5 … Read more

AT&T announced this week that it will phase out unlimited data plans and start a metered approach, with tethering available for an extra cost. And although some elements of the new data plans will work for some customers, AT&T is moving in the opposite direction it should be going. I'm tired of multiple data plans, artificial caps, and arbitrary monthly usage charges. And I'm tired of paying the same companies multiple times for what is, essentially, the exact same service. That service? Data.

Between multiple cell phones, high-speed Internet connections, and even digital TV … Read more

How badly do you want to see new movies in your home close to the date they're released in theaters? Badly enough to let the movie industry reach through your front door and break your TV? Well, good news for you.

The Federal Communications Commission decided on Friday that the movie industry can remotely disable analog video outputs on your home theater equipment to prevent you from recording certain programs--namely, first-run movies available on demand before DVDs are released or while they're still in theaters.

The FCC ruled that it's "in the public interest" (PDF) … Read more

This week, Michigan became the 23rd state to pass a law banning texting while driving. Oprah is urging people to observe a "No Phone Zone Day" Friday that would raise awareness about the distractions of using cell phones in cars. And Thursday, I appeared on CNBC's "Power Lunch" to talk about the potential dangers of distracted driving. Before my segment, "Power Lunch" ran a David Pogue segment based on this column that detailed apps that can help prevent you from texting or talking while driving. The whole flurry of activity, plus Pogue's … Read more