All posts tagged: connectivity

Indonesia seeks to diversify network routes, reduce 90% internet connectivity dependence on Singapore

Indonesia seeks to diversify network routes, reduce 90% internet connectivity dependence on Singapore

Published by Sam Flores

Yet observers warn that dependence on Singapore carries risks caused by natural disasters and accidents, which have encouraged Indonesia to diversify its international connectivity. Muhammad Arif Angga, chairman of the Indonesian Internet Service Providers Association (APJII), said that natural disasters could cause cable disruptions affecting Indonesia’s internet connectivity.  Subsea cable damage can also be caused by ships, anchors, and fishing activities, with around three cable failures weekly, which amounts to 150 to 200 cable failures globally every year, according to the International Cable Protection Committee. Indonesia inaugurated a new internet connectivity route in Papua in May 2026, giving Papua two independent digital routes that will create new opportunities and accelerate digital transformation, said Indonesia’s Vice Minister of Communication and Digital Affairs Angga Raka Prabowo. The first route connects through Sulawesi-Maluku-Papua while the second links Vanimo in Papua New Guinea to Jayapura then connects Manado to Los Angeles in the United States. CHALLENGES TO DIGITAL SOVEREIGNTY Analysts said that the government’s move to develop subsea cable infrastructure also includes maintaining domestic communications infrastructure, though this has challenges. This means that …

Wi-Fi Router vs. Mesh System: Which Is Best for You?

Wi-Fi Router vs. Mesh System: Which Is Best for You?

Published by skeptic

After testing more than 60 mesh systems and routers in my last home, a modern two-story, 1,600-square-foot house, I found that single routers generally outperformed mesh systems, providing a faster and more stable connection, transferring files from one device to another on the network more quickly, and working efficiently without smart home connectivity issues. But many of those routers struggled to provide a fast connection in my backyard. Mesh systems extend your coverage, and nodes can target dead spots. I used a node to extend Wi-Fi into my backyard and to plug in a TV in the back room via Ethernet for a more stable and reliable connection. But it wasn’t until I moved to an old Victorian house that I felt the full benefit of a mesh system. It’s slightly larger than my last home, but extremely thick stone walls can seriously dampen a Wi-Fi signal, especially on the fastest 6-GHz band. After testing several systems in this home, it is crystal clear: I need a mesh for this house. A single router struggled …

How network planning could provide a £2.58 billion boost – POLITICO

How network planning could provide a £2.58 billion boost – POLITICO

Published by Sam Flores

Though much of this early progress has been made possible without breaking new ground or installing significant new hardware, the next phase of the plan will challenge us more. This is predominantly due to the planning permission we require to get started. Despite 96% of our planned sites involve upgrading existing infrastructure rather than building new masts, more than half will require planning permission under current rules. The cost of planning processes can be significant. They can place added pressure on local council resources, slow businesses’ access to new technology and may delay improved connectivity for rural communities. Analysis by WPI Economics estimates that network planning delays could represent a £2.58bn missed opportunity for the UK economy by 2035. The only way to help deliver better connectivity is to work together to modernise a planning system for the era of 5G connectivity. After all, 5G is a very different technology to 4G and, despite physical hardware moving on vastly since the last generation making it more energy efficient, compact and less visually obtrusive, we are …

Inside the rise of digital embassies – POLITICO

Inside the rise of digital embassies – POLITICO

Published by Sam Flores

Sharing the AI load As Europe wakes up to its dependence on private tech from the U.S. and China, some countries are weighing whether building a digital embassy is better than relying on a private cloud service. Luxembourg’s Deputy Prime Minister Xavier Bettel, who says the principality has become a trusted digital partner, at a technolgoy summit in Lisbon in November 2024. | Horacio Villalobos/Corbis/Getty Images “When we speak about digital sovereignty, we don’t need to send them to the States or to Asia, we can do it in Europe,” said Bettel. “It’s not against someone, it’s just in favor of sovereign Europe.” The idea is also sparking the curiosity of countries that want to supercharge artificial intelligence development and data processing but don’t have the resources to do it in their own country. Earlier this month, the World Economic Forum launched a global framework for bilateral agreements to establish such digital embassies. The framework touches on things like access rights, data disclosures, jurisdiction, privacy laws, dispute resolution and the interoperability of infrastructure. As AI …

Higher body mass index in youth linked to altered brain connectivity

Higher body mass index in youth linked to altered brain connectivity

Published by José Betancourt

Children and adolescents with a higher body mass index show distinct differences in their brain activity and the ways different brain regions communicate with one another. These neurological patterns point to a reduction in the brain’s natural inhibitory systems, which might make it harder for to change deeply ingrained habits. The findings were recently published in Clinical Neurophysiology. The human brain continues to develop and rewire itself heavily throughout childhood and adolescence. The frontal cortex, a brain area responsible for impulse control and complex decision making, is among the last regions to fully mature. During this lengthy developmental window, the brain is highly sensitive to environmental factors. Such external influences include nutrition, physical activity, and overall body weight. Animal models have shown that diets high in fat and sugar can disrupt the delicate equilibrium of the brain. Brain cells communicate using a mix of excitatory signals that increase activity and inhibitory signals that quiet activity down. Proper brain function relies on maintaining a steady balance between these two forces. In rodents, researchers found that obesity …

Europe must make big changes to compete with US, space chief warns – POLITICO

Europe must make big changes to compete with US, space chief warns – POLITICO

Published by Sam Flores

The war between Russia and Ukraine has illustrated the dependencies. SpaceX — whose dominance in low-Earth orbit through systems such as Starlink has raised concerns over wartime connectivity for countries relying on it like Ukraine — should be “a wake-up call to really think about what Europe needs for its own autonomy,” he said. Aschbacher referred to Europe as a “sleeping beauty” with “excellent capacities,” citing Galileo and Copernicus — the EU’s satellite navigation and Earth observation programs — as successes, but said Europe needs more funding, faster decision-making and “defragmentation.” He pointed to the U.S. accounting for 60 percent of global public space funding, with Europe trailing behind at just 10 percent. “I would ask the decision-makers to multiply our investment by a factor of two, at least, if not three,” he said. “There is no alternative. We have to do it. This is not, for me, a plan B,” Aschbacher said. Source link

Brain connectivity predicts how well antidepressants work compared to placebos

Brain connectivity predicts how well antidepressants work compared to placebos

Published by José Betancourt

People seeking treatment for depression often experience symptom relief whether they receive an active medication or an inactive placebo. By pooling data from various symptom surveys, researchers discovered that while the pattern of mood improvement looks remarkably similar in both scenarios, the active medication triggers a more intense recovery that is uniquely linked to a patient’s baseline brain connectivity. These findings were published in the journal Psychological Medicine. Measuring mood improvement is notoriously difficult. Clinicians typically rely on standard questionnaires that condense a wide range of symptoms into a single score. This approach can blur the lines between different aspects of mental health, such as sadness, anxiety, and suicidal thoughts. It also makes it difficult to separate the effects of a pharmacological drug from the placebo effect. The placebo effect occurs when a patient’s condition improves simply because they expect the treatment to work. Past studies comparing antidepressants to placebos often show little statistical difference when using broad, conventional rating scales. When patients take a pill, the expectation of feeling better often drives real neurobiological …

Governance, not gatekeeping: How SAP brings enterprise‑grade safety to AI connectivity

Governance, not gatekeeping: How SAP brings enterprise‑grade safety to AI connectivity

Published by skeptic

Presented by SAP The enterprise software industry has undergone a fundamental shift, and vendors are adapting their approaches to better protect the customers who rely on them. For years, every global platform vendor running multi-tenant cloud infrastructure has maintained documented rate limits, usage controls, and restrictions on the use of undocumented internal interfaces. CRM platforms impose daily API call limits per organization, enforce platform-layer limits, and maintain a strict separation between bulk data APIs and transactional REST surfaces. Productivity and collaboration suites throttle their graph APIs and redirect bulk workloads to purpose-built data access channels designed for that load. HR and workforce management platforms enforce concurrent request limits and per-session data retrieval caps. IT service management platforms enforce per-user rate limits and instance-level throttling. Hyperscalers publish per-service quotas, enforce them at the infrastructure layer, and explicitly prohibit applications from calling non-SDK or non-published interfaces. These are not controversial measures. They are baseline hygiene for enterprise-grade software platforms operating shared infrastructure at scale. For more than a decade these measures have been in place without serious …

T-Mobile Customers Can Now Use Satellite Connectivity in Canada and New Zealand

T-Mobile Customers Can Now Use Satellite Connectivity in Canada and New Zealand

Published by skeptic

T-Mobile’s Starlink satellite connectivity is now available for T-Mobile users who are traveling in Canada and New Zealand. T-Mobile users have previously had access to cellular connectivity through roaming agreements in Canada and New Zealand, and now T-Satellite connectivity is included. Canada satellite coverage is enabled through Rogers Satellite, and in New Zealand, satellite coverage is provided by One NZ. Both Rogers and One NZ have agreements with Starlink provider SpaceX. T-Mobile updated its website to mention satellite roaming last week, and the company says that support for other locations will be coming in the future. T-Mobile is working with global roaming partners and SpaceX to expand T-Satellite. T-Satellite is available to T-Mobile subscribers in the continental U.S., Puerto Rico, Hawaii, and parts of southern Alaska. It is also now available in Canada and New Zealand, with a coverage map available on the T-Mobile website. Rogers and One NZ customers can also use T-Satellite when traveling in the United States as part of the new partnership. T-Mobile’s satellite connectivity launched in July 2025 after several …

Reduced gray matter and altered brain connectivity are linked to problematic smartphone use

Reduced gray matter and altered brain connectivity are linked to problematic smartphone use

Published by José Betancourt

A comprehensive review of neuroimaging research suggests that problematic smartphone use is associated with distinct structural and functional alterations in the brain. These changes primarily involve neural circuits responsible for reward processing, executive control, and emotional regulation. The analysis indicates that the intense motivational pull of smartphones may stem from how these devices tap into the brain’s social cognition networks, reinforcing habits through digital social feedback and the avoidance of social exclusion. These findings were published in the journal Progress in Neuro-Psychopharmacology and Biological Psychiatry. Smartphone usage has become ubiquitous globally, integrated into almost every aspect of modern daily life for billions of people. While these devices offer numerous benefits in communication and information access, excessive engagement has been linked to negative outcomes in some individuals, including sleep disturbances, heightened anxiety, and reduced cognitive performance. Scientists have increasingly viewed this phenomenon through the lens of behavioral addiction, prompting numerous studies into the underlying neurobiology. The researchers behind the current paper aimed to synthesize the growing body of neuroimaging data to better understand the brain mechanisms …