Latest news with #ADSL
Toronto Sun
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Toronto Sun
THE SHRILL IS GONE: AOL to shut down dial-up internet
The raucous sounds of modems establishing their connection to distant servers marked a generation of internet users Once upon a time: Logging on to AOL at a Sao Paulo cybercafe in 1999. Photo by MARIE HIPPENMEYER / AFP The ear-piercing beeps, squeals and buzzes of 90s-era dial-up internet will vanish from thousands of holdout homes in September as historic provider AOL shuts down the service. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors Don't have an account? Create Account The raucous sounds of modems establishing their connection to distant servers marked a generation of internet users and still pop up in memes to this day. It also made AOL one of the biggest tech firms of the era, but in the following decades the dial-up connections were steadily replaced with much faster ADSL and then fibre-optic lines. 'AOL routinely evaluates its products and services and has decided to discontinue dial-up internet,' the pioneering internet service provider (ISP) said in a blog post. AOL did not say how many users would be affected by the September 30 shutoff. CNBC reported that numbers using dial-up had fallen from around 2.1 million in 2015 to just a few thousand in 2021. AOL merged with Time Warner in a 2001 mega-deal worth $162 billion at the peak of the dotcom bubble. After splitting off again, it was sold to Verizon in 2015 for a far humbler $4.4 billion. AOL was merged with another early internet heavyweight, Yahoo, and sold to the investment fund Apollo Global Management for $5 billion in 2021. Its once widely used chat programme AIM, launched in 1997 and beloved of early-2000s teens, was shut down in 2017. Celebrity World Columnists Ontario Sunshine Girls
Yomiuri Shimbun
05-08-2025
- Science
- Yomiuri Shimbun
This Gene Tweak in Mice Offers Clues to What Sets Us Apart from Neanderthals
Scientists have a new clue in the long quest to decipher what makes us uniquely human: tiny changes in brain chemistry that set us apart from our closest hominin cousins. In a study published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, an international team of researchers scrutinized a version of a gene, ubiquitous in humans today, that is not present in Neanderthals or Denisovans – the hominins that lived alongside our ancestors. In a lab dish, the modern form of the gene in humans today made an enzyme less stable than the one found in hominin relatives. When researchers introduced that version into mice, they found that in females, it triggered a behavioral change – the mice were more adept at seeking water. It's an intriguing clue – not an answer – to the question of how subtle changes to brain biochemistry may have meant the difference between hominins that went extinct, and those that persisted and thrived. In humans today, rare mutations to this gene, called ADSL, can cause brain dysfunction including symptoms similar to autism and seizures. That led the research team to wonder whether a less severe change to ADSL, deep in our evolutionary history, may have conferred a cognitive or behavioral advantage. 'I am quite convinced that there is some fundamental difference between modern humans and other earlier forms of humans,' said Svante Paabo, a geneticist at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, and one of the leaders of the study. 'The fact that Neanderthals and Denisovans never became more than a few hundred thousand people at any one time, their technology over hundreds of thousands of years hardly changed – and that modern humans in just a hundred thousand years spread all over the planet, became millions of people and developed technology and culture that changed so rapidly.' Neanderthal cousins In 2022, Paabo won the Nobel Prize for his pioneering work on ancient DNA, deciphering the genetic blueprints of ancient hominins. While our extinct relatives are often caricatured as primitive cavemen, this work revealed that they were not very different from us at the genetic level. They interbred with our ancestors. Much of the human population still has a vestige of Neanderthal or Denisovan ancestry in them – two species of humans that vanished from the planet about 20,000 to 40,000 years ago. In many ways, this deepened the mystery of why we survived, and they didn't. Scientists began to look for clues in DNA. Out of 20,000 genes that code for proteins, there were only about 100 changes to the building blocks of proteins between extinct hominins and modern humans. In 2022, scientists intriguingly reported that a version of a gene called TKTL1 found in modern humans and not Neanderthals helps spur the generation of new brain cells and could be responsible for differences in cognitive capacities. In the new paper, scientists examined ADSL. One building block of the ADSL enzyme found in nearly every human today was different in chimpanzees, Neanderthals and Denisovans. The scientists set out to understand how the function of the gene compared. Deciphering the function of a gene in mice Since scientists can't study a living Neanderthal, they used the powerful gene-editing technique CRISPR to insert the modern human version of the gene into living mice. They were intrigued to find that the behavior of female mice distinctly changed. Mice were put in cages where they learned to drink water by poking their noses into devices in the corners of the cage. When the researchers started restricting water, they found the female mice with the human ADSL gene were much more efficient at accessing water. 'It is still too early to directly translate the behavioral findings in mice to humans, as the neural circuits underlying even similar behaviors may still differ between the two species. However, it is possible that this … change may have given us some evolutionary advantage in particular tasks relative to ancestral humans,' Xiang-Chun Ju, a study author and researcher in the Human Evolutionary Genomics Unit at Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology, wrote in an email. The researchers also found other genetic changes common among humans today that cause reduced ADSL activity, along with evidence that those changes had been favored by evolution, suggesting that it gave an advantage to the organism. Brigitte Malgrange, a neurobiologist at the University of Liège who was not involved in the work, said the behavioral change was 'modest' and suggested that additional genomic changes would be needed to see larger effects. 'I can also mention the inherent limitations of the mouse model, particularly the reduced cortical complexity relative to primates, which may constrain the detection of humanlike behavioral phenotypes,' Malgrange said in an email. Wendy Hanna-Rose, a professor of biochemistry and molecular biology at Pennsylvania State University who was not involved in the study, studies human ADSL deficiencies, in part by modeling them in microscopic roundworms. These simple model organisms allow researchers to probe how genetic changes can affect function; genetic mutations that cause autism-like features, compulsive biting or repetitive motions in human patients can cause profound changes in how worms learn. Hanna-Rose is not an evolutionary biologist, but said she found the paper fascinating, underscoring what her own research also shows – that the links between the metabolic pathway affected by the ADSL gene and behavior are evolutionarily deep. 'We see it in worms,' Hanna-Rose said. 'It's not surprising to see in humans some kind of tweak on that in our lineage.'
Local France
23-07-2025
- Business
- Local France
France offers aid to households for high-speed fibre internet
France's rollout of the high-speed fibre-optic internet network is almost complete, with the vast majority of homes now in an area with available fibre. But from September, financial assistance will be offered to households who are struggling to make the switchover from the older ADSL connection. A decree published in France's Journal Officiel on July 18th establishes financial assistance for fibre-optic connection work carried out between September 1st 2025 and May 31st 2027 in certain towns, villages and hamlets – including in areas where the existing copper network is due to be shut down by the end of January 2026. Further details here . Advertisement The ageing copper network is being slowly shut down, and – if targets are met – will be completely switched off by 2030. The Economy Ministry maintains an online interactive map , on which users can discover when shutdown is planned for their area, by entering their postcode. For households, assistance is available for primary residences only where 'a failure to connect to the fibre optic network must have been confirmed due to the need for work to be carried out on private property.' Assistance allocated is determined according to the nature of the work to be carried out, classified into three categories: 'small-scale,' 'medium-scale,' or 'major work.' By the end of December 2024, 91 percent of properties – 40.6 million – in France were connectable to the country's fibre-optic network, while four million premises still needed to be made connectable, according to figures published by administrative authority the Autorité de Régulation des Communications Electroniques, des Postes et de la Distribution de la Presse (Arcep) . It said that more than eight out of 10 internet subscriptions were to very high-speed networks at the end of last year, while three-quarters of internet subscriptions were to the fibre optic network. Households can check whether fibre optic networks are available in their area by entering their address on a dedicated page here .
See - Sada Elbalad
07-07-2025
- See - Sada Elbalad
Major Ramses Telecoms Building Fire Causes Communication Disruption in Cairo
Rana Atef A few hours ago, a huge blaze broke out inside the major telecommunications building in Ramses, Cairo. The fire caused major disruptions to telecommunications in several surrounding areas due to damage to some technical equipment inside the building. Moreover, some major news websites whose headquarters are near the spot of the fire widely distributed as the fire impacted the ADSL internet services in the region. حريق سنترال رمسيس ربنا يستر Sources at Telecom Egypt indicated that technical teams started to work on solving the widespread issue in Cairo. They asserted that the services will be restored as soon as possible They added that the impact is being addressed immediately, with priority given to vital sites and the most affected areas. read more Gold prices rise, 21 Karat at EGP 3685 NATO's Role in Israeli-Palestinian Conflict US Expresses 'Strong Opposition' to New Turkish Military Operation in Syria Shoukry Meets Director-General of FAO Lavrov: confrontation bet. nuclear powers must be avoided News Iran Summons French Ambassador over Foreign Minister Remarks News Aboul Gheit Condemns Israeli Escalation in West Bank News Greek PM: Athens Plays Key Role in Improving Energy Security in Region News One Person Injured in Explosion at Ukrainian Embassy in Madrid News Israeli-Linked Hadassah Clinic in Moscow Treats Wounded Iranian IRGC Fighters News China Launches Largest Ever Aircraft Carrier Sports Former Al Zamalek Player Ibrahim Shika Passes away after Long Battle with Cancer Videos & Features Tragedy Overshadows MC Alger Championship Celebration: One Fan Dead, 11 Injured After Stadium Fall Lifestyle Get to Know 2025 Eid Al Adha Prayer Times in Egypt Business Fear & Greed Index Plummets to Lowest Level Ever Recorded amid Global Trade War News Flights suspended at Port Sudan Airport after Drone Attacks News "Tensions Escalate: Iran Probes Allegations of Indian Tech Collaboration with Israeli Intelligence" Videos & Features Video: Trending Lifestyle TikToker Valeria Márquez Shot Dead during Live Stream Technology 50-Year Soviet Spacecraft 'Kosmos 482' Crashes into Indian Ocean
Local France
27-01-2025
- Business
- Local France
Calendar: France begins work to disconnect ADSL internet cables
Over the last decade France has been working to roll-out high-speed fibre internet connections to every town, village and hamlet in the country in what is know as the Plan France Très Haut Débit (very high speed France plan). This is largely complete and is on track to be rolled out everywhere - with the exception of a few 'dead zones' known as Zones blanches - by the end of 2025, according to Orange France. Now starts the next phase - the disconnection of the fixed lines that provided the old broadband connections, known as ADSL or sometimes SDSL and VDSL. Work has now started to disconnect the million of kilometres of copper cables, which will be recycled, and Orange France has published a detailed map and calendar of when the disconnections will happen. You can find the interactive map HERE, and enter your commune name or postcode to see if there is a start date for work in your area, or your commune is n'est pas programmé pour le moment (no start date yet). Work began this week in the first communes to be disconnected and Orange will then continue on a rolling programme which is due to be completed by 2030. They explain: "The historic network first brought the French fixed-line telephone, fax, the Minitel [a proto-internet project developed in France in the 1980s] then the internet and television throughout France. "The rollout of fibre optic connections across the country, a priority for the government through the France Très Haut Débit plan, and the acceleration in the adoption of fibre by the French since the Covid pandemic, have made the closure of Orange's historic network possible. "The disconnection of the copper cables network is a project undertaken by the operator of the copper network (which is Orange France). It concerns all commercial operators (including Orange) and should be completed by 2030." What does this mean for your commune? Work has begun on disconnection in just a handful of communes - of those places that do have a start date for disconnection work, most of them are after January 1st 2026. The work will then continue until 2030 (and that's if everything happens on time), so for most people there is no immediate change. If you are already connected to the internet via fibre then nothing changes, but if you are on an ADSL connection then eventually you will have to change to fibre. You can check your connection type via your bills or on your online account for your internet provider. Your internet provider should inform you well in advance of the change, and give you options on price to make the switch. Although Orange France is doing the disconnection works, the change applies to everyone - and any changes to your account will be done via your internet provider. Depending on the services that you already have (internet, TV, fixed phone line) you may be able to make the switch to fibre via a simple phone call to your provider, or via your online account. If you have an older connection, you may be sent out a new decoder box to allow you to access fibre services - although your account itself should stay the same. The changes do not affect fixed phone lines or mobile phone contracts, but it may affect how you get your TV, if you don't already have a decoder box to access TV channels. Will it be more expensive? The exact price difference - and if there is one - depends on your internet provider. If you're signing up for a new contract, most operators now only offer fibre, so there is no choice. When it comes to switching from ADSL to fibre, price comparison websites report that for most operators there is little to no difference in price, although several sites noted that the low-cost operators RED and Sosh offer the same prices only for the first six months of a new fibre contract, before reverting to a higher price.
