The company published a statement on AOL's website Friday declaring that "AOL routinely evaluates its products and services and has decided to discontinue Dial-up internet." Yahoo, AOL's parent company, declined to disclose statistics regarding current dial-up subscription numbers.

The service launched in 1991, coinciding with the growing popularity of home computers across American households. AOL's distinctive dial-up connection tone, often accompanied by the famous "You've got mail!" notification, became the auditory signature of internet exploration for countless Americans discovering online navigation.

US Census data from 2019 indicated that approximately 265,000 Americans relied exclusively on dial-up internet connections. This figure represented roughly 2% of households surveyed regarding their internet subscription preferences.

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The achieved speeds remain in laboratory testing phases and have not been implemented in consumer internet services. Researchers express optimism that the technology will eventually meet growing global demand for high-speed internet, particularly as more people use data-intensive applications such as streaming, cloud storage, and artificial intelligence.

The breakthrough was made possible through a 19-core optical fiber system, described as a "19-lane highway" for data transmission. The cable enables multiple parallel data streams, increasing transmission capacity without requiring thicker cables.

Such speeds could connect data centers across continents as if they were on the same local network, providing the necessary infrastructure for cloud computing, artificial intelligence, streaming, and next-generation applications. The technology could also serve future networks such as 6G, massive data centers, automated industrial environments, and demanding artificial intelligence services.

While consumers are unlikely to experience these speeds in their homes soon, the achievement could serve as a model for next-generation national infrastructures and submarine cables.

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Meta is preparing to undertake its most ambitious infrastructure project to date – a privately owned subsea fiber-optic cable that will span over 25,000 miles around the globe, according to sources familiar with the matter who spoke to TechCrunch. The project, which could cost upwards of $10 billion, would mark the first time Meta has fully owned a subsea cable system, representing a significant shift in the company's infrastructure strategy, TechCrunch has learned.

While the project remains in early planning stages, sources close to Meta told TechCrunch that the company intends to officially announce details of the cable's route, capacity, and strategic importance in early 2025. The planned route would create a "W" shape around the globe, connecting the US east coast to India via South Africa, then linking to the US west coast through Australia.

"There's a real tight supply on cable ships," Ranulf Scarborough, a submarine cable industry analyst, told TechCrunch. "They're expensive at the minute and booked out several years ahead. Finding the available resources to do it soon is a challenge." Scarborough noted that a segmented construction approach might be necessary. The initiative emerges as Meta's platforms – Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp – drive approximately 10% of global fixed internet traffic and 22% of mobile traffic. The company's infrastructure work falls under the oversight of Santosh Janardhan, Meta's head of global infrastructure and co-head of engineering, with the project being developed primarily through its South Africa operation, according to sources who spoke to TechCrunch.

Sunil Tagare, founder of Flag Telecom and a pioneer in subsea cable development, first reported Meta's plans in October. He told TechCrunch that while the initial budget is set at $2 billion, the total investment could exceed $10 billion as the project extends over multiple years. The cable's planned route deliberately avoids politically sensitive areas, including the Red Sea, South China Sea, Egypt, Marseilles, the Straits of Malacca, and Singapore – regions that sources close to Meta described to TechCrunch as "major single points of failure."

According to Telegeography data, Meta currently holds partial ownership in 16 subsea networks, including the recent 2Africa cable circling the African continent. This new venture would put Meta in league with Google, which maintains involvement in 33 different routes and solely owns several regional cables. The timing of the project coincides with increased global focus on subsea cable security. Recent incidents have highlighted the vulnerability of these critical infrastructure assets, with cables being damaged in the Red Sea amid ongoing conflicts and suspicious cable breaks occurring in European waters.

Tagare suggested to TechCrunch that Meta's choice of India as a key terminal point could be strategically significant, pointing to the country's lower compute costs and recent discussions about AI infrastructure development following Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang's meeting with Reliance Chairman Mukesh Ambani.

India represents Meta's largest user base, with Facebook counting over 375 million users, Instagram 363 million, and WhatsApp 536 million. Sources close to the project told TechCrunch that while AI capabilities remain a "long tail" consideration, along with potential third-party access to the cable's capacity, these details are still under discussion.

Meta declined to comment for the TechCrunch article.

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Digital rights activists, and opposition parties accuse the Pakistani government of intentionally slowing down internet speeds by up to 40% and implementing a national firewall for increased surveillance, content regulation, and censorship, potentially targeting encrypted platforms like WhatsApp.

The Pakistani government denies involvement in internet disruptions, attributing the disruptions to excessive VPN usage and measures to prevent harmful content.

Experts believe the internet slowdown is a result of the state installing A firewall for political censorship and control over online spaces, risking compromising citizens' fundamental rights and creating distrust among IT investors.

According to Pakistani news site The Current students are pushing journalist Hamid Mir to file a petition against the internet disruption.

Sources: South China Morning Post, Hürriyet Daily News, Economic Times, Bobr Times, Head Topics, Minute Mirror, ARY News, Malay Mail, OpIndia, Saudi Gazette, Aaj News, MM News, Free Press Journal, Midi Libre, The Current, Khaleej Times, Business Recorder, Adnkronos, The Business Times, L'Opinion.

This article was written in collaboration with Generative AI news company Alchemiq.

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Like many companies in trouble before it, Facebook is changing its name and logo.

Facebook Inc. is now called Meta Platforms Inc., or Meta for short, to reflect what CEO Mark Zuckerberg said Thursday is its commitment to developing the new surround-yourself technology known as the "metaverse." But the social network itself will still be called Facebook.

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Also unchanged, at least for now, are its chief executive and senior leadership, its corporate structure and the crisis that has enveloped the company.

Skeptics immediately accused the company of trying to change the subject from the Facebook Papers, the trove of leaked documents that have plunged it into the biggest crisis since it was founded in Zuckerberg's Harvard dorm room 17 years ago. The documents portray Facebook as putting profits ahead of ridding its platform of hate, political strife and misinformation around the world.

The move reminded marketing consultant Laura Ries of when energy company BP rebranded itself to "Beyond Petroleum" to escape criticism that the oil giant harmed the environment.

"Facebook is the world's social media platform, and they are being accused of creating something that is harmful to people and society," she said. "They can't walk away from the social network with a new corporate name and talk of a future metaverse."

Facebook the app is not changing its name. Nor are Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger. The company's corporate structure also won't change. But on Dec. 1, its stock will start trading under a new ticker symbol, MVRS.

The metaverse is sort of the internet brought to life, or at least rendered in 3D. Zuckerberg has described it as a "virtual environment" you can go inside of, instead of just looking at on a screen. People can meet, work and play, using virtual reality headsets, augmented reality glasses, smartphone apps or other devices.

It also will incorporate other aspects of online life such as shopping and social media, according to Victoria Petrock, an analyst who follows emerging technologies.

Zuckerberg's foray into virtual reality has drawn some comparisons to fellow tech billionaires' outer space adventures and jokes that perhaps it's understandable he would want to escape his current reality amid calls for his resignation and increasing scrutiny of the company.

On Monday, Zuckerberg announced a new segment for Facebook that will begin reporting its financial results separately from the company's Family of Apps segment starting in the final quarter of this year. The entity, Reality Labs, will reduce Facebook's overall operating profit by about $10 billion this year, the company said.

Other tech companies such as Microsoft, chipmaker Nvidia and Fortnite maker Epic Games have all been outlining their own visions of how the metaverse will work.

Zuckerberg said that he expects the metaverse to reach a billion people within the next decade and that he hopes the new technology will creates millions of jobs for creators.

The announcement comes amid heightened legislative and regulatory scrutiny of Facebook in many parts of the world because of the Facebook Papers. A corporate rebranding isn't likely to solve the myriad problems revealed by the internal documents or quiet the alarms that critics have been raising for years about the harm the company's products are causing to society.

Zuckerberg, for his part, has largely dismissed the furor triggered by the Facebook Papers as unfair.

In an interesting twist, the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, the philanthropic organization run by Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, bought a Canadian scientific literature analysis company called Meta in 2017.

By Thursday afternoon, though, its website Meta.org announced that it will "sunset" at the end of March. The Meta.com domain, meanwhile, redirected to the former Facebook's rebranded corporate site.

At headquarters in Menlo Park, California, the iconic thumbs-up sign that has long been outside was repainted to a blue, pretzel-shape logo resembling an infinity symbol.

Some of Facebook's biggest critics seemed unimpressed by the name change. The Real Facebook Oversight Board, a watchdog group focused on the company, announced that it will keep its name.

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"Changing their name doesn't change reality: Facebook is destroying our democracy and is the world's leading peddler of disinformation and hate," the group said in a statement. "Their meaningless name change should not distract from the investigation, regulation and real, independent oversight needed to hold Facebook accountable."

In explaining the rebrand, Zuckerberg said the name Facebook no longer encompasses everything the company does. In addition to the social network, that now includes Instagram, Messenger, its Quest VR headset, its Horizon VR platform and more.

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The idea of hidden biblical codes and encryptions is nothing new, but a massive NFT (non-fungible token) project underway in Israel is taking the idea to a new level, seeking to encrypt the Bible itself on the blockchain.

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NFTs have become a hot commodity in the crypto realm, with 2021 sales exceeding $2.5 billion. While currently a niche item, the CryptoVerses project could make the format relevant to an entirely new audience.

CryptoVerses, run by Yuval Meyraz and Yonatan Bendahan, has already encrypted a total of 5844 verses from Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers & Deuteronomy. All verses are categorized into special collections based on 45 stories and 536 biblical scenes.

The project uses the ethereum blockchain, with two goals in mind. The first is to allow anyone to own an encrypted piece of the Bible and even dedicate the piece to a loved one.

The second goal is to preserve the Bible on the blockchain, as digital copies that cannot be altered or destroyed.

Each verse of the project is encrypted only once, in Hebrew.

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Facebook already asks for your thoughts. Now it wants your prayers.

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The social media giant has rolled out a new prayer request feature, a tool embraced by some religious leaders as a cutting-edge way to engage the faithful online. Others are eyeing it warily as they weigh its usefulness against the privacy and security concerns they have with Facebook.

In Facebook groups employing the feature, members can use the feature to rally prayer power for upcoming job interviews, illnesses, and other personal challenges big and small. After they create a post, other users can tap an "I prayed" button, respond with a "like" or other reaction, leave a comment or send a direct message.

Facebook began testing it in the US in December as part of an ongoing effort to support faith communities, according to a statement attributed to a company spokesperson.

"During the COVID-19 pandemic we've seen many faith and spirituality communities using our services to connect, so we're starting to explore new tools to support them," it said.

The Rev. Robert Jeffress of First Baptist Church in Dallas, a Southern Baptist megachurch, was among the pastors enthusiastically welcoming of the prayer feature.

"Facebook and other social media platforms continue to be tremendous tools to spread the Gospel of Christ and connect believers with one another – especially during this pandemic," he said. "While any tool can be misused, I support any effort like this that encourages people to turn to the one true God in our time of need."

Rabbi Rick Jacobs, president of the Union of Reform Judaism, said he understood why some people would view the initiative skeptically.

"But in the moment we're in, I don't know many people who don't have a big part of their prayer life online," he said. "We've all been using the chat function for something like this — sharing who we are praying for."

Adeel Zeb, a Muslim chaplain at The Claremont Colleges in California, also was upbeat.

"As long as these companies initiate proper precautions and protocols to ensure the safety of religiously marginalized communities, people of faith should jump on board supporting this vital initiative," he said.

Under its data policy, Facebook uses the information it gathers in a variety of ways, including personalizing advertisements. But the company says advertisers are not able to use a person's prayer posts to target ads.

The Rev. Bob Stec, the pastor of St. Ambrose Catholic Parish in Brunswick, Ohio, said via email that on one hand, he sees the new feature as a positive affirmation of people's need for an "authentic community" of prayer, support, and worship.

But "even while this is a 'good thing,' it is not necessary the deeply authentic community that we need," he said. "We need to join our voices and hands in prayer. We need to stand shoulder to shoulder with each other and walk through great moments and challenges together."

Stec also worried about privacy concerns surrounding the sharing of deeply personal traumas.

"Is it wise to post everything about everyone for the whole world to see?" he said. "On a good day, we would all be reflective and make wise choices. When we are under stress or distress or in a difficult moment, it's almost too easy to reach out on Facebook to everyone."

The Rev. Thomas McKenzie, who leads Church of the Redeemer, an Anglican congregation in Nashville, Tennessee, said he wanted to hate the feature – he views Facebook as willing to exploit anything for money, even people's faith.

But he thinks it could be encouraging to those willing to use it: "Facebook's evil motivations might have actually provided a tool that can be for good."

His chief concern with any internet technology, he added, is that it can encourage people to stay physically apart even when it is unnecessary.

"You cannot participate fully in the body of Christ online. It's not possible," McKenzie said. "But these tools may give people the impression that it's possible."

Crossroads Community Church, a nondenominational congregation in Vancouver, Washington, saw the function go live about 10 weeks ago in its Facebook Group, which has roughly 2,500 members.

About 20 to 30 prayer requests are posted each day, eliciting 30 to 40 responses apiece, according to Gabe Moreno, executive pastor of ministries. Each time someone responds, the initial poster gets a notification.

Deniece Flippen, a moderator for the group, turns off the alerts for her posts, knowing that when she checks back she will be greeted with a flood of support.

Flippen said that unlike with in-person group prayer, she doesn't feel the Holy Spirit or the physical manifestations she calls the "holy goosebumps," but the virtual experience is fulfilling nonetheless.

"It's comforting to see that they're always there for me, and we're always there for each other," Flippen said.

Members are asked on Fridays to share which requests got answered, and some get shoutouts in the Sunday morning live-streamed services.

Moreno said he knows Facebook is not acting out of purely selfless motivation – it wants more user engagement with the platform. But his church's approach to it is theologically based, and they are trying to follow Jesus' example.

"We should go where the people are," Moreno said. "The people are on Facebook. So we're going to go there."

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For Ali Hedieloo, a 40-year-old making wooden furniture in Iran's capital, Instagram is more than just a surfeit of glossy images. Like an estimated 1 million other Iranians, it's how he finds customers, as the app has exploded into a massive e-commerce service in the sanctions-hit country.

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But now, the social media platform has come under threat. Iran moved last week toward further government restrictions on Instagram and other apps, as hardline lawmakers agreed to discuss a bill that many fear will undermine communication, wipe out livelihoods and open the door to the banning of key social media tools.

"I and the people working here are likely to lose our jobs if this bill becomes effective," Hedieloo said from his dimly lit workshop in the southern suburbs of Tehran.

The bill has yet to be approved by Iran's hardliner-dominated parliament, but it is already stirring anxiety among young Iranians, avid social media users, online business owners and entrepreneurs. Iran is a country with some 94 million internet devices in use among its over 80 million people. Nearly 70% of Iran's population uses smartphones.

Over 900,000 Iranians have signed a petition opposing the bill. The protest comes at a tense time for Iran, with Ebrahim Raisi, the former judiciary chief and hardline protege of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, assuming the country's highest civilian position this week. Journalists, civil society advocates and government critics have raised the alarm about the possible increase of social repression once he takes office.

The draft legislation, first proposed this spring by conservative lawmakers, requires major foreign tech giants such as Facebook to register with the Iranian government and be subject to its oversight and data ownership rules.

Companies that host unregistered social media apps in Iran would risk penalties, with authorities empowered to slow down access to the companies' services as a way to force them to comply. Lawmakers have noted that the crippling US sanctions on Iran make registrering of American tech companies in the country impossible, effectively ensuring their ban.

The law would also criminalize the sale and distribution of virtual private networks and proxies – a critical way Iranians access long-blocked social media platforms like Facebook, Telegram, Twitter and YouTube. It also would bar government officials from running accounts on banned social media platforms, which they now use to communicate with citizens and the press. Even the office of the supreme leader has a Twitter account with over 890,000 followers.

And finally, the bill takes control of the internet away from the civilian government and places it under the armed forces.

The bill's goal, according to its authors, is to "protect users and their rights." Hard-liners in the government have long viewed social messaging and media services as part of a "soft war" by the West against the Islamic Republic. Over time, Iran has created what some have called the "halal" internet – the Islamic Republic's own locally controlled version of the internet aimed at restricting what the public can see.

Supporters of the bill, such as hardline lawmaker Ali Yazdikhah, have hailed it as a step toward an independent Iranian internet, where "people will start to prefer locally developed services" over foreign companies.

"There is no reason to worry, online businesses will stay, and even we promise that they will expand too," he said.

Internet advocates, however, fear the measures will tip the country toward an even more tightly controlled model like China, whose "Great Firewall" blocks access to thousands of foreign websites and slows others.

Iran's outgoing Information Technology Minister Mohammad Javad Azari Jahromi, whom the hardline judiciary summoned for prosecution earlier this year over his refusal to block Instagram, warned that the bill would curtail access to information and lead to full-blown bans of popular messaging apps. In a letter to Raisi last month, he urged the president-elect to reconsider the bill.

Facebook, which owns Instagram, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Social media is a highly contested space in Iran, where the government retains tight control over newspapers and remains the only entity allowed to broadcast on television and radio. Over recent years, anti-government protesters have used social media as a communication tool to mobilize and spread their message, prompting authorities to cripple internet services.

During the turmoil in the fall of 2019, for instance, the government imposed a near-complete internet blackout. Even scattered demonstrations, such as the recent protests over water shortages in Iran's southwest, have seen disruptions of mobile internet service.

But many ordinary Iranians, reeling from harsh American sanctions that have severed access to international banking systems and triggered runaway inflation, remain more preoccupied with the bill's potential financial fallout.

As the coronavirus ravages Iran, a growing number of people like Hedieloo have turned to Instagram to make a living – tutoring and selling homemade goods and art. Over 190,000 businesses moved online over the past year.

Although much about the bill's fate remains uncertain, experts say it already has sent a chill through commerce on Instagram, where once-hopeful users now doubt they have a future on the app.

"I and everyone else who is working online is worried," said Milad Nouri, a software developer and technology analyst. "This includes teenagers playing online games, YouTubers making money from their channel, influencers, and online shops in Instagram."

"Everyone is stressed," he added.

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Sixteen suspected pedophiles were arrested by law enforcement this week following an undercover operation, the Israel Police announced Monday, adding that sexual assault charges have already been filed against two of them.

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Agent R. had been working undercover for several months, gathering evidence on the suspects, ranging in age from 20 to 60. The suspects were arrested by officers from the Jerusalem District and are being held in custody.

R. worked to lure the pedophiles online by pretending to be a 13-year-old girl. Within a short time, she was contacted by several suspects, who later began committing sexual offenses.

During the arrest of one of the suspects in Jerusalem, police officers were stoned by a crowd that gathered outside the suspect's house. In addition, it found that a kindergarten was being illegally operated from his home.

After the suspects were in custody, the police held a special ceremony in which agent R. was presented with a special citation by Police Commissioner Yaakov Shabtai and Jerusalem District Commander Doron Turgeman.

Shabtai praised the agent's work, which is "of paramount importance," and said the police would "arrest and prosecute anyone who exploits the innocence of a child… We will continue to invest our resources and smarts into eradicating the phenomenon that has, unfortunately, been on the rise."

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Antisemitic incidents in the Czech Republic continued their rise last year amid the coronavirus pandemic, with the bulk of the anti-Jewish hatred being expressed online, the country's Jewish community said Wednesday.

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In its annual report, the Federation of the Jewish Communities said it registered 874 antisemitic incidents in 2020, 180 more than during the previous year.

The report, however, concluded the Czech Republic remains a safe country for Jews and that antisemitism is at a relatively low level compared with other European countries. It said there was one physical attack registered in 2020, another attack on Jewish property and six other incidents that involved antisemitic threats, harassment and verbal insults.

As the online space became even more prominent amid the coronavirus pandemic, a vast majority of the incidents – 98% -- took place on the internet. Those included conspiracy theories spread by disinformation websites, individuals and antisemitic groups blaming Jews for the pandemic and claiming that vaccination serves their financial interests.

The community's report warned that antisemitism on the internet cannot be underestimated.

"The analysis of violent antisemitic attacks and the profiles of their perpetrators confirms that a violent act is almost always preceded by the radicalization and expressions of hatred vented on the internet, especially on social media," it said.

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