(Screencap: YouTube)

Yesterday a video of a 56-year-old woman being brutally mugged in the F train station in Brooklyn's Borough Park neighborhood went viral. The video shows a woman descending the stairs into the station before she is pushed up against a door and hit and kicked. The assailant then empties her purse, grabs some items and chases after her through the station. Though the crime occurred on March 9th, the NYPD released the video with the hopes that viewers would be able to help them ID the perp.

Internet sleuths immediately hopped on the case. Commenters at Daily Intel and Gawker used the police's description--a 20-something, 150 pound man in a hoodie with "'Alpha Phi Delta,' on the front and 'Stugotz' with the number 27 on the back"--to track down the man's Facebook page. His publicly available photos showed that his fraternity pledge name appeared to be "Stugotz" and that he wore a purple bracelet similar to the one seen in the video. Soon, commenters took to his Facebook page to accuse him of the crime.

Now, Gawker reports that the man commenters had identified, 21-year-old Aidan Folan, has been arrested and charged with robbery and assault. Score one for Kinja?

(Photo: Help for Depression)

Before the dawn of the Internet, when libraries were places where people read and not just a bathroom for the homeless, young people used to seek out their elders for advice on life's important questions. "How is babby formed?" they wondered. "What's it like being an old person?"

Now, with the advent of the Internet, grandparents are slowly becoming obsolete, at least according to a morbid new survey. Almost two thirds of grandparents feel that their role is being eclipsed by Google, Wikipedia and YouTube, where kids go for advice on traditionally grandparent-y stuff like dinner recipes, household chores and historical insights.

"Grandparents believe they are being sidelined by Google, YouTube, Wikipedia and the huge resource of advice available on the internet," one researcher told The Telegraph. "They are aware that their grandchildren – already with their noses buried in a laptop, tablet computer or smartphone – find it much easier to search the internet for instant advice."

What the survey did not point out is that grandparents are still the number one source for warm hugs that smell of cough drops, uncomfortable comments about your appearance and offensive sentiments about other races.

Some things the Internet can never replace.

Note the utter absence of Internet cafes.(Photo: flickr.com/jodastephen)

Cuba certainly isn't as isolated as North Korea, but Internet access has long been available only via satellite--meaning it's expensive and slow as molasses  Email barely works; forget about a GIF-heavy Tumblr dashboard. It's also largely limited to public spaces, like hotels targeting foreign tourists.

However, researchers say they're seeing sparks of increased Internet connectivity in Cuba. It could mean more openness for the country--although it's probably not time to pour yourself a Cuba Libre just yet.

Thanks to the U.S. embargo, Cuba can't exactly just run a cable to nearby Florida. In 2011, the country completed a submarine cable to Venezuela, but it's been mostly quiet since... until now, maybe. Researchers at the traffic monitoring firm Renesys say they're seeing limited activity from the connection, though it's limited to inward-bound information. Outbound traffic still has to travel via slow-ass satellite.

In a blog post, the team was cautious in just how big of a break this is for Internet access on the island:

While the activation of the ALBA-1 cable may be a good first step to providing ETECSA a better link to the Internet, the lack of widespread public access to Internet service throughout the island will likely continue.

As the Global Post adds, access is likely to go to public places like schools and hospitals, though locals are hoping they might finally be able to get data service on their smartphones. And there is reason to think, on the heels of loosened travel restrictions, that more connectivity might be coming.

Whether that'll come with more freedom is another question entirely. Witness, for example, the recent arrest of blogger and activist Yoani Sanchez.

Meanwhile, China seems to have totally blocked Github.

(h/t Daily Dot)

Do a little celebratory dance.

Give it up for GOOG, boys and girls: Later this morning, the search behemoth is expected to announce an initiative to blanket southwest Chelsea with free Wifi. That'll mean easier access to the Internet for not just Chelsea Market shoppers and Google employees, but also residents of the NYCHA-run Fulton Houses and several local public schools.

Nice to see someone getting after that digital divide.

The program will be announced in a press conference scheduled for 10:30, and it looks to be a splashy one. We know Mayor Bloomberg will be attending, and TechCrunch reports that Google CTO Ben Fried and Senator Charles Schumer will both be there, as well.

This will be the largest Wifi network in the city, and TechCrunch says it'll stretch from Gansevoort to 19th Streets and from 8th Avenue to the West Side Highway. Okay, so maybe not quite the have-nots.

Google's New York outpost is, of course, located in the neighborhood, and we can think of few better ways to make nice with the neighbors than opening up your Wifi network. It's also worth mentioning that Google's Alex Abelin sits on the Board of Directors of the Chelsea Improvement Company, the company's partner in the program.

Despite the universal fondness for such an amenity, we can't help but be a bit disappointed--because there was some talk that this might be an announcement about Google Fiber. The theory wasn't totally out of left field: Business Insider reports that the company recently posted a job listing for a Google Fiber sales rep based in New York City.

Dare to dream!

Updated: It's quite clear that everyone involved in this initiative wants the populist story front-and-center. We arrived at the presser to discover that it was not at Google's Chelsea outpost, as we had expected, but rather in the back garden of the Fulton Houses' senior center, NYCHA-style towers looming on either side. The facility will be the only part of the network specifically meant to reach indoors.

Google CIO Brian Fried stepped up to the mic and boiled it down: "The bottom line is all you need is a laptop or smartphone or other wireless-enabled device and a web browser to get online."

"I think we all know that the Internet has the power to connect not just the people around the world but also bring together diverse communities like this one in Chelsea," he added, before ceding the floor to the politicians.

We heard Senator Charles Schumer before we saw him: "Nice to see you folks; looks like all of Chelsea is here," he chattered with that trademark grin. Mayor Bloomberg follows silently behind, with his typical all-business aura. At the sight of his stern face, an elderly woman saucily called out from the back, "Good morning, Mr. Mayor!"

On the scene.

"I just want to say, these are my talking points," said Senator Schumer, adding, "Guess what? I got them courtesy of the new Internet Wifi." He proceeded to kvetch for a couple of moments about the price of Wifi in places like planes, before noting that the total cost of installation was so low that "the mayor and I are talking maybe we can do this for the whole city."

Before you get too excited, Mayor Bloomberg didn't seem to bite. He followed the senator and, after informing Mr. Fried that having merely the second-largest Google office didn't sit too well with him, he added regarding the idea of citywide free Wifi "The Senator is going to provide the federal monies, I'm sure, so that the Wifi is free. Keep in mind somebody's got to pay for the Wifi."

It was a little like watching two roosters warily circle each other in a barnyard, ya'll.

After that the politicos ditched, but Mr. Fried stuck around long enough for a brief Q&A. He explained a bit about Google's motives in partnering with the Chelsea Improvement Company for such a big network: "We're citizens of this community and this district, and it's important to us as citizens to contribute back to the district, and I think this is a way we can do it that resonates with us."

We're sure the fact that Google's business benefits from having literally everyone on the Internet doesn't influence their thinking at all, no way.

(Photo: India Current Affairs)

Back in the early aughts, when this reporter's parents were fast asleep, we'd take one of those 500 Free Hours of AOL CDs received in the mail every other day, unplug the phone line in our bedroom, and hook it up to our laptop so we could log on to saucy chat rooms and browse AOL Teen. Our parents, competent as they were, had no idea we spent half the night surfing a sluggish, largely harmless web.

We assumed teens these days–born with a smartphone glued to their mutant flesh–have it much easier, especially without having to muffle the sounds of dial-up. We were wrong.

CBS News reports that when the parents of a teenage girl in Sacramento told her she couldn't go on the Internet after 10 p.m., she crushed up sleeping pills and put them in milkshakes she bought them. Her parents were initially skeptical as to why the teen would buy something for them when usually all teens do is take, take, take and I never hear a thank you.

They also noted that the milkshakes tasted weird and only drank a quarter of them. But that was enough to get the teen what she wanted: her precious Internet time. Her parents conked out within the hour and she was free to Tumbl her little heart out.

“Drugging your parents so you can use the internet, never heard of that,” a neighbor told CBS. “That’s crazy.”

This isn't the first time the girl has resorted to the drugging tactic; her mother says she's in fact done it before, though perhaps not just to get online. Maybe the girl has been watching too much Twin Peaks on Netflix?

2013 is off to a great start!

(Screencap: YouTube)

The Los Angeles Times published an excellent piece today surveying the landcape of YouTube-famous cats, including the moody Henri, the box-loving Maru and Lil' Bub, who just cannot keep his little tongue in his mouth. Buried in the middle of the article, however, is an interesting tidbit about the history of cat videos. Though the first was probably uploaded to the Internet during the latter half of the 20th century, the LA Times reports that the first-ever cat video was recorded by Thomas Edison, he of lightbulb fame.

Created in 1894 to be viewed on a kinetoscope, an early motion picture exhibition device that Mr. Edison invented, the video showcased a 20-second moving picture of cats fighting in boxing gloves. It looks a lot like something you'd see on YouTube these days, minus the black and white grainy quality. Kitties wearing boxing gloves are positioned in a mini boxing ring and they begin the familiar cat game of paw punching.

The Library of Congress digitized the video and uploaded it to YouTube back in 2009. This is a piece of cat history, guys. Show some respect.

(Photo: Maximum PC)

When not pissing off the cast of Star Trek: The Next Generation, Time Warner Cable execs apparently take to their evil lair to devise new schemes to wring every last penny out of their hapless customers. The latest pocket gouger? A monthly modem fee.

The New York Times reports that Time Warner is planning to charge a monthly fee of $3.95 to rent a modem from them. If you want to avoid paying the monthly fee, you can purchase a Time Warner-approved modem for $50-$137. Time Warner will then promise to set the modem up during the Harvest Moon but then not show up until the spring thaw.

The Times predicts that many users won't want to opt to change their plan and purchase their own modem, so the move could be a major cash cow for a company that has fewer Yelp stars than cannibal murderer Jeffrey Dahmer.

To be fair, many Internet companies (like Comcast) charge a modem rental fee, but other Internet companies did not have the gall to offend Sir Patrick Stewart. Might we suggest seeing if your building is eligible for Verizon Fios?

(Photo: Digimegirl)

Look, we are among the worst offenders of 24/7 digital connection. We rudely pull out our phone during dinner and we check our email when we wake up in the middle of the night and sometimes we think our Netflix queue *gets* us in a way no person ever has or will. But when it comes to disconnecting for 24 hours, putting that device in a drawer and going out and enjoying the sunshine? It's not something we really fret over.

But perhaps we are in the minority. The Reconnect Project, which is planned for this Sunday, September 2, urges the 84 percent of people who said they couldn't go 24 hours without their mobile device to disconnect for the day and reclaim their lives IRL.

According to Mashable:

This mission is to see what people can do creatively when they disconnect from the world wide web, and create original content. Whether alone or with friends, the project encourages you to go outside, take photographs (without instinctively uploading them to Instagram), paint, or create a flash mob, among other activities.

Do not create a flash mob. We repeat: do not create a flash mob. They are terrifying.

Of course, you'll have to be using at least one device in order to record your day offline, which the project encourages you to do. All you have to do is snap a few photos and upload them to Instagram the next day, self-serving gratification only slightly delayed. Because unplugging doesn't have to mean not sharing. That would be blasphemy.

(Photo: Fan Pop)

Just because you want to simulate living in ancient Galilee times doesn't mean you won't want to check your email while doing so. Kfar Kedem park in Israel has outfitted donkeys with wireless routers so that users can check into "My Ass" on Foursquare. Ah, ain't the future grand?

In the 21 years since the web's first public introduction, we have learned a lot about GIFs (hard G, IDGAF), site design (RIP blink tag) and predators. It's been a whirlwind couple of decades!

Now, come: Venture with Betabeat into a gallery of some of the things we would like to thank the Internet for spearheading. Clickity click.