Internet

Today in Tech: Egypt kills web access, LinkedIn's IPO

A curated selection of the day's most newsworthy tech stories from all over the Web.

Multiple outlets are reporting that Egypt has shut off local web access, a first in Internet history. Tweeted CNN reporter Ben Wedeman: "No internet, no SMS, what is next? Mobile phones and land lines? So much for stability. #Jan25 #Egypt" The move comes as thousands of Egyptian protesters call for an end to the 30-year dictatorship of 82-year-old MORE

The world's fastest Internet access—who's got it?

New research ranks the countries with the fastest Internet connections, and all 50 U.S. states too.

The speed at which people around the world connect to the Internet is climbing at a 14% annual clip and now averages nearly 2 megabits per second, according Akamai's "State of the Internet" report that is due out tomorrow.

There remain huge variations around that average speed. South Koreans hook into the Internet at 14 MORE

Videogaming's online explosion

Online games such as Age of Conan and Farmville are hot. Now industry leader Activision Blizzard is jumping into the fray with a new Internet strategy.

When videogame publisher Activision announced its merger with Vivendi Games in late 2007, analysts predicted that Vivendi's Blizzard unit, maker of the hugely popular Internet-based fantasy game World of Warcraft, would help Activision migrate to the online world.

Three years later the combined company, Activision Blizzard, MORE

New York (Yes, New York!) is tech city

Watch out, Silicon Valley. Thanks to Google, Foursquare, and others, the Big Apple is fast becoming home to some top Internet talent.

New York's tech cred is on the rise: Manhattan-based Foursquare's geolocation service is the envy of Silicon Valley. Facebook bought out two New York startups, and Google just purchased the huge Chelsea building where it employs nearly a tenth of its global workforce. Now incubators are sprouting downtown, venture MORE

The CIA underestimates how big the Internet is in China by 127 million users

The numbers in the Central Intelligence Agency's Factbook are nearly three years out of date

The U.S. Central Intelligence Agency has its priorities, but keeping track of who's using the Internet doesn't seem to be one of them.

Take, for example, China.

According to the current edition of the CIA's World Factbook -- updated within the last two weeks -- there are 298 million Internet users in the world's most populous nation.

According to MORE

Stream this! How Netflix chooses for you

The company uses a mix of subscriber information, user ratings, rentals, and cool computer algorithms to predict what kinds of entertainment you might enjoy streaming.

Back to Reed Hastings: Leader of the pack

Reed Hastings: Leader of the pack

Executives from Silicon Valley to Hollywood to Wall Street admires his savvy persistence - and his company's cool culture. The secret to the Netflix CEO's success? He never stops looking over his shoulder.

Reed Hastings isn't supposed to be here -- not on a list of the year's top businesspeople, and certainly not on the cover of Fortune. His DVD-by-mail company, Netflix, was supposed to have flamed out by now, a MORE

Marissa Mayer gets new gig (at Google)

The former vice president of search product and user experience at Google has shifted focus to Location based services.

At Disrupt last month, Marisa Mayer took an interesting question from the audience:

Audience Q: I know you're happy at Google but let's assume you quit tonight and you leave what would you be interested in building, like, what industry, what would you do?

Marisa: I really love building consumer web products. And so, I MORE

Today in Tech: News around the Web

A round-up of the companies, deals, and trends that made headlines.

Every day, the Fortune staff spends hours poring over tech stories, posts, and reviews from all over the Web to keep tabs on the companies that matter. We've assembled the weekend's most newsworthy bits below.

"The world doesn't need another platform." -- Google VP of Engineering Andy Rubin on Windows MORE

Net neutrality for wireless? Don't count on it.

Unrestricted access rules for wireless networks would hurt users more than help them. They just don't realize it.

Earlier this week, Google and Verizon brokered a compromise on the definition -- or at least, their definition -- of net neutrality, a set of rules that ideally, would ensure that no company could place data-access restrictions on Web content, sites, platforms, and associated equipment. The deal itself sparked controversy over whose interests MORE