Internet

The voice of America Online’s “You’ve got mail” has died at age 74

1989, 1990s, AOL, Elwood Edwards, email, Harry McCracken, Internet, internet history, Jimmy Fallon, modem, Obituaries, obituary, online history, online services, Quantum Link, retrotech, Steve Case, Tech, Technologizer, The Simpsons, Tom Hanks, You've Got Mail / Rejus Almole / November 8, 2024

In 1995, Wired Magazine’s AOL forum asked Edwards to record 10 humorous sound files using his iconic voice. The results, which include classics such as “You want fries with that,” “You’ve got credit card debt,” and “Stop touching me!” still live on in the depths of The Internet Archive. He also ran a side business recording custom sound files for AOL users.

A screenshot of America Online's version 2.5 client in 1995. — A screenshot of America Online’s version 2.5 client in 1995.

Over time, the “You’ve got mail” line became something of a cultural reference point, as tech journalist Harry McCracken pointed out in 2011 on his Technologizer blog, with various news headlines often borrowing the “You’ve got [something]” structure for humorous effect.

Edwards’ voice greeting became so embedded in American popular culture that it inspired the 1998 romantic comedy You’ve Got Mail. The film stars Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan as rival bookstore owners who unknowingly fall in love through anonymous email exchanges. Director Nora Ephron built the movie’s narrative around the anticipation that AOL users felt when hearing Edwards’ voice announce new messages, with the film grossing $250 million worldwide.

Elwood Edwards’ 2015 appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.

At WKYC, Edwards worked behind the scenes as a graphics specialist, camera operator, and general production staff member since 2002. His voice work brought him occasional moments in the spotlight, including an appearance in a 2000 episode of The Simpsons, where he played a virtual doctor announcing, “You’ve got leprosy.” He appeared on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon in 2015, performing his classic greeting along with phrases suggested by the audience.

Before his death, Edwards worked as an Uber driver. His voice continues to greet users of AOL’s current email service, maintaining an enduring connection to the early days of consumer Internet access.

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Finally, a sign of life for Europe’s sovereign satellite Internet constellation

broadband, Commercial space, European Union, Internet, iris2, Science, Space / Paul Patrick / November 2, 2024

The estimated 10 billion-plus euro cost of the IRIS² program is nearly double initial projections. European officials also confirmed the sovereign satellite network won’t begin providing services to European government customers until 2030, three years later than the commission’s previous schedule.

Rising costs and negotiations over how much governments and industry will pay for IRIS² have delayed the contract award for months. Earlier this year, press reports indicated the SpaceRISE consortium’s proposal for IRIS² carried a total cost of 12 billion euros. It seems the price has been negotiated down, at least by a small percentage, to around 10 billion.

It’s also worth noting that the EU will this year only commit to funding the IRIS² initiative through the end 0f 2027, when the commission’s seven-year budget framework expires. It’s almost certain the IRIS² program will require more government funding beyond 2027, but the European Commission said it will decide later on additional money, subject to the “availability of the corresponding appropriations.”

In April, a senior official in the German government, the EU’s top contributor, called for the IRIS² program to be restarted. Robert Habeck, Germany’s economy minister, called the proposed 12 billion euro price “exorbitant” and said the entire project was “ill-conceived” in a letter to Thierry Breton, then the EU’s internal market commissioner, according to a report in the Germany newspaper Handelsblatt.

Habeck’s protest obviously did not stop the European Commission from awarding the contract to the SpaceRISE consortium. The 12-year agreement will cover the development, deployment, and operation of at least 290 satellites placed at different orbital altitudes, from low-Earth orbit up to medium-Earth orbit several thousand miles above the planet.

At these higher altitudes, IRIS² can cover the globe with fewer satellites than Starlink, OneWeb, or Amazon Kuiper.

The commission’s press release said the agreement, the largest space contract in EU history, should be signed in December. At that time, “legal and financial commitment from both parties will be taken,” the commission said.

The SpaceRISE consortium includes numerous European satellite and telecom companies, including spacecraft manufacturers Airbus Defence and Space, Thales Alenia Space, and OHB. Telespazio, Deutsche Telekom, Orange, Hisdesat, and Thales SIX are also part of the industry group.

These companies are typically competitors in the satellite and telecom markets, as are SES, Eutelsat, and Hispasat, which head up the consortium. Getting all the contractors and subcontractors to play nice with one another will be no small feat.

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Internet picks “werewolf clawing off its own shirt” as new Michigan “I Voted” sticker

culture, Internet, Michigan, voting / Kris Guyer / September 6, 2024

RAWR —

“It was just so hot in that voting booth!”

Nate Anderson – Sep 6, 2024 5: 27 pm UTC

A picture of the winning sticker. — Voting really feels good to this werewolf.

State of Michigan

You can’t just ask the Internet to vote on something and assume you’ll get a “normal” result.

The town of Fort Wayne, Indiana, learned this the hard way in 2011, when an online vote to name a new government center in town went with “Harry Baals.” Though Mr. Baals was in fact a respected former mayor of the town back in the 1930s, contemporary officials weren’t convinced that his name was chosen out of merely historical interest.

Or there was the time in 2015 when the British Columbia Ferry Service asked Internet users to name its newest ships and perhaps win a $500 prize. Contest entries included:

Spirit of The WalletSucker
The Floating Crapsickle
Royal Docksitter
The Coastal Corruption
HMS Cantafford
Queen of the Damned

Or again—and perhaps most famously—there was the UK government’s gloriously naive decision in 2016 to let the Internet pick a new name for a £200 million polar research vessel. And 124,109 members of the general public chose… Boaty McBoatface. (This was later overridden by the government, which named the ship the RRS Sir David Attenborough instead, but one of the boat’s remotely operated underwater vehicles was named Boaty McBoatface as a consolation prize.)

Even the not-quite-bleeding-edge-of-tech New York Times recognized in its headline on the story that this is “What You Get When You Let the Internet Decide.”

So, despite many years of cautionary tales, the state of Michigan this year launched a contest to design some new “I Voted” sticker designs. (NB: For our non-American readers, these stickers are often given out when you vote in elections so that you can shame any nonvoting friends, family, and colleagues with your civic virtue.)

The state commissioned designs from local school kids, no doubt anticipating that said designs would feature things like heartwarming drawings of the Michigan mitten. And they let the Internet weigh in on the results.

More than 57,000 people did so—and that’s why voters across the state, once they cast a ballot in this year’s presidential election, might be handed a round sticker featuring a werewolf ripping its own shirt to shreds as it throws its head back and howls like a maniac in front of an American flag. And it is glorious.

Why not?

This piece of inspired artwork came from the mind and pen of 12-year-old Jane Hynous of Grosse Pointe Farms. Though the contest selected nine winners, Hynous’ design beat every other entry by a wide margin. (See all winners here.)

The New York Times called Hynous to talk about the sticker and received this terrific quote:

“I didn’t want to do something that usually you think of when you think of Michigan,” she said. “I was like, ‘Why not make a wolf pulling his shirt off?'”

Why not, indeed? Clearly, the Internet has delivered on this one.

Enlarge / Election clerks can also order the traditional design. But why?

Michigan plans to print a million stickers, which will feature all nine winning designs, and local election clerks will need to order specific designs from the state. (They can also order the original, boring American flag “I Voted” stickers. But why would they?)

So if you live in Michigan, and if this November you want your shirt adorned with an insane werewolf celebrating the vote you just cast, now is the time to let your local clerk know.

Still, despite these great designs, I can’t help but feel that an opportunity was lost. No “Votey McVoteface”? Perhaps in 2028.

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Ukrainian cells and Internet still out, 1 day after suspected Russian cyberattack

Biz & IT, cellular, cyberattack, Internet, russia, Security, Ukraine / Rejus Almole / December 13, 2023

PLEASE STAND BY —

Hackers tied to Russian military take responsibility for hack on Ukraine’s biggest provider.

Dan Goodin – Dec 14, 2023 1: 33 am UTC

Enlarge / A service center for “Kyivstar”, a Ukrainian telecommunications company, that provides communication services and data transmission based on a broad range of fixed and mobile technologies.

Getty Images

Ukrainian civilians on Wednesday grappled for a second day of widespread cellular phone and Internet outages after a cyberattack, purportedly carried out by Kremlin-supported hackers, hit the country’s biggest mobile phone and Internet provider a day earlier.

Two separate hacking groups with ties to the Russian government took responsibility for Tuesday’s attack striking Kyivstar, which has said it serves 24.3 million mobile subscribers and more than 1.1 million home Internet users. One group, calling itself Killnet, said on Telegram that “an attack was carried out on Ukrainian mobile operators, as well as on some banks,” but didn’t elaborate or provide any evidence. A separate group known as Solntsepek said on the same site that it took “full responsibility for the cyberattack on Kyivstar” and had “destroyed 10,000 computers, more than 4,000 servers, and all cloud storage and backup systems.” The post was accompanied by screenshots purporting to show someone with control over the Kyivstar systems.

In the city of Lviv, street lights remained on after sunrise and had to be disconnected manually, because Internet-dependent automated power switches didn’t work, according to NBC News. Additionally, the outage prevented shops throughout the country from processing credit payments and many ATMs from functioning, the Kyiv Post said.

The outage also disrupted air alert systems that warn residents in multiple cities of incoming missile attacks, a Ukrainian official said on Telegram. The outage forced authorities to rely on backup alarms.

“Cyber specialists of the Security Service of Ukraine and ‘Kyivstar’ specialists, in cooperation with other state bodies, continue to restore the network after yesterday’s hacker attack,” officials with the Security Service of Ukraine said. “According to preliminary calculations, it is planned to restore fixed Internet for households on December 13, as well as start the launch of mobile communication and Internet. The digital infrastructure of ‘Kyivstar’ was critically damaged, so the restoration of all services in compliance with the necessary security protocols takes time.”

Kyivstar suspended mobile and Internet service on Tuesday after experiencing what company CEO Oleksandr Komarov said was an “unprecedented cyberattack” by Russian hackers. The attack represents one of the biggest compromises on a civilian telecommunications provider ever and one of the most disruptive so far in the 21-month Russia-Ukraine war. Kyivstar’s website remained unavailable at the time this post went live on Ars.

According to a report by the New Voice of Ukraine, hackers infiltrated Kyivstar’s infrastructure after first hacking into an internal employee account.

Solntsepek, one of two groups taking responsibility for the attack, has links to “Sandworm,” the name researchers use to track a hacking group that works on behalf of a unit within the Russian military known as the GRU. Sandworm has been tied to some of the most destructive cyberattacks in history, most notably the NotPetya worm, which caused an estimated $10 billion in damage worldwide. Researchers have also attributed Ukrainian power outages in 2015 and 2016 to the group.

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The 9 Best Ways to Check if a Website Is Offline

Highlights, Internet, Online Tools, Website Lists / Rejus Almole / December 17, 2022

internal/modules/cjs/loader.js: 905 throw err; ^ Error: Cannot find module ‘puppeteer’ Require stack: – /home/760439.cloudwaysapps.com/jxzdkzvxkw/public_html/wp-content/plugins/rss-feed-post-generator-echo/res/puppeteer/puppeteer.js at Function.Module._resolveFilename (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js: 902: 15) at Function.Module._load (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js: 746: 27) at Module.require (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js: 974: 19) at require (internal/modules/cjs/helpers.js: 101: 18) at Object. (/home/760439.cloudwaysapps.com/jxzdkzvxkw/public_html/wp-content/plugins/rss-feed-post-generator-echo/res/puppeteer/puppeteer.js:2: 19) at Module._compile (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js: 1085: 14) at Object.Module._extensions..js (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js: 1114: 10) at Module.load (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js: 950: 32) at Function.Module._load (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js: 790: 12) at Function.executeUserEntryPoint [as runMain] (internal/modules/run_main.js: 75: 12) code: ‘MODULE_NOT_FOUND’, requireStack: [ ‘/home/760439.cloudwaysapps.com/jxzdkzvxkw/public_html/wp-content/plugins/rss-feed-post-generator-echo/res/puppeteer/puppeteer.js’ ]

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