Going down the Tubes: London Underground rides from hell include naked man terrorising passengers, brazen drug use, sex assaults, poor hygiene and protesters taking over carriages
The London Underground has been famed for connecting one of the world's iconic cities with speed and precision since 1863. But the growing number of offences on the Tube has sparked fears.
Catherine Zeta-Jones, 55, admits nobody thought her marriage to Michael Douglas, 80, 'would ever last' as the couple prepare to celebrate their 25th anniversary
The Welsh actress, 55, and Hollywood icon, 80, appeared an unlikely pairing due to their 25-year age gap when they tied the knot in a lavish ceremony at the five-star New York Hotel in 2000.
Used car market booms on driver reluctance to cough-up for expensive new models and EVs
Britons are buying more second-hand cars than they have done for five years as drivers' reluctance to cough-up for expensive new models - and EVs - sees appetite for used motors surge.
Top Tory's fears for daughters over boat migrants... After a spate of asylum-seeker sex crimes Jenrick blames 'medieval' attitudes to women
Robert Jenrick's comments follow a nationwide series of protests by angry parents outside hotels being used to house asylum seekers.
REVEALED: Students getting into university with three Es at A-level in order to hit Government diversity targets
Figures from admissions body UCAS show many top universities are accepting severely underperforming students in a bid to fulfil equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) targets.
From Seann Walsh's Strictly smooch snaps to Kristen Stewart's steamy betrayal in Ultra HD... which stars' extracurricular kisses were caught on camera
Last month, an ill-advised kiss at a Coldplay concert caused a viral outbreak and the apparent demise of the perpetrators' relationships.
Landlord database: How controversial scheme will work - and what buy-to-let owners and tenants need to know
Landlords may soon need to sign up to a national database that will be visible to councils and tenants, if a controversial piece of legislation goes through.
The baby name bust-up between the aristocratic Mountbatten clan and Nicholas Parsons' granddaughter
For most families, it is naturally a new baby's first name - rather than its surname - which inspires fevered debate.
The Essex adventure park with a hidden beach and secret caves
The venue even has its own "beautiful" beach with one visitor adding that you "wouldn't believe it's in England"
Police looking to speak to man after reports of 'threatening behaviour' in Essex park
Police have urged the public to get in contact if they have seen him, or have any information
Getting shirty, lads! Mason Greenwood has his jersey RIPPED by Tyrone Mings as pair clash in tetchy pre-season showdown between Marseille and Aston Villa
Former Manchester United forward Mason Greenwood had his shirt ripped by an irate Tyrone Mings as tempers flared in a pre-season friendly between Aston Villa and Marseille on Saturday.
AOL Finally Discontinues Its Dial-Up Internet Access - After 34 Years
AOL (now a Yahoo subsidiary) just announced its dial-up internet service will be discontinued at the end of September.
"The change also means the retirement of the AOL Dialer software and the AOL Shield browser, both designed for older operating systems and slow connections that relied on the familiar screech of a modem handshake," remembers Slashdot reader BrianFagioli (noting that dial-up Internet "was once the gateway to the web for millions of households, back when speeds were measured in kilobits and waiting for a picture to load could feel like an eternity.")
AOL's dial-up service "has been publicly available for 34 years," writes Tom's Hardware. But AppleInsider notes the move comes more than 40 years after AOL started "as a very early Apple service."
AOL itself started back in 1983 under the name Control Video Corporation, offering online services for the Atari 2600 console. After failing, it became Quantum Computer Services in 1985, eventually launching AppleLink in 1988 to connect Macintosh computers together... With the launch of PC Link for IBM-compatible PCs in 1988 and parting from Apple in October 1989, the company rebranded itself as America Online, or AOL... Even at its height, dial-up connections could get up to 56 kilobits per second under ideal conditions, while modern connections are measured in megabits and gigabits. Most of the service was also what's considered a "walled garden," with features that were only available through AOL itself and that it wasn't the actual, untamed Internet.
In the 1990s AOL "was how millions of people were introduced to the Internet," the article remembers, adding that "Even after the AOL Time Warner acquisition and the 2015 acquisition by Verizon, AOL was still a popular service. Astoundingly, it counted about two million dial-up subscribers at the time."
In the 2021 acquisition of assets from Verizon by Apollo Global Management, AOL was said to have 1.5 million people paying for services. However, this was more for technical support and software, rather than for actual Internet access. A CNBC report at the time reports that the dial-up user count was "in the low thousands".... While it dies off, not with a bang but a whimper, AOL's dial-up is still remembered as one of the most transformative services in the Internet age.
"This change does not impact the numerous other valued products and services that these subscribers are able to access and enjoy as part of their plans," a Yahoo spokesperson told PC Magazine this week. "There is also no impact to our users' free AOL email accounts."
AOL's disastrous 2001 merger with Time Warner and ongoing inability to deliver broadband to its customers... left it on a path to decline that acquiring such widely read sites as Engadget [2005] and TechCrunch [2010] did not stem. By 2014, the number of dial-up AOL customers had collapsed to 2.34 million. A year later, Verizon bought the company for $4.4 billion in an internet-content play that turned out to be as doomed as the Time Warner transaction. In 2021, Verizon unloaded both AOL and Yahoo, which it had separately purchased in 2017, to the private-equity firm Apollo Global Management....
The demise of AOL's dial-up service does not mean the extinction of the oldest form of consumer online access. Estimates from the Census Bureau's 2023 American Community Survey show 163,401 Americans connected to the internet via dial-up that year.
That was by far the smallest segment of the internet-using population, dwarfed by 100,166,949 subscribing to such forms of broadband as "cable, fiber optic, or DSL"; 8,628,648 using satellite; 3,318,901 using "Internet access without a subscription" (which suggests Wi-Fi from coffee shops or public libraries); and 1,445,135 via "other service."
The remaining AOL dial-up subscribers will need to find some sort of replacement, which in rural areas may be limited to fixed wireless or SpaceX's considerably more expensive Starlink. Or they may wind up joining the ranks of Americans with no internet access: 6,866,059, in those 2023 estimates.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
NASA won't name the Shuttle picked to move to Texas
Acting Administrator has selected a lucky orbiter, but won't say which one
The NASA acting Administrator has picked a Space Shuttle to move to Houston, and the lucky vehicle is... NASA's not telling.…
Emmerdale fans only just realising that chart-topping singer starred on soap before rising to global fame
The rock star appeared in the Yorkshire Dales 10 years ago but their short-lived stint is only now going viral.
The predator that's set to clip the wings of Britain's growing green parakeet population
There are tens of thousands of parakeets in the UK, according to estimates, but experts claim that they will soon come under threat from goshawks.
The Essex areas where Tom Hiddleston movie The Essex Serpent that was filmed - and the real story behind it
The film showcased many amazing places in our county
I'm a psychotherapist, this is the scientific reason why pampered celebrities like glamorous millionaire Molly-Mae Hague are NEVER happy... they're addicted to moaning
From the outside, celebrities often seem to have it all: Stunning looks, wealth, a gorgeous partner, beautiful homes-so why do so many also have a penchant for complaining?
The ludicrous health claims celebrities WISH they could RETRACT
Experts have long warned that celeb health endorsements can pose a risk to wellbeing. Surveys also suggest just 2 per cent of health content online is correct.
Inside Disneyland when it first opened 70 years ago - and tickets only cost £9
Disneyland California celebrates its 70th birthday in 2025, after first opening its doors in July 1955...kick-starting a theme park love affair that's still going strong today.
Body of man missing for 28 years is found buried inside melting glacier
Family sources confirmed that Nasseruddin, a local man, had disappeared in June 1997 while he was travelling through the region with his brother.