In your daily Netflix news, the latest report on Global Internet Phenomena for spring 2011 from Sandvine has called out the movie service as the largest single consumer of bandwidth on the internet in North America. The last report in October suggested it made up around twenty percent of internet traffic during prime time, but this time around the stats say it accounts for 30% of traffic during prime time, and 22.2% of daily internet traffic. Sandvine gets the data from ISPs using its broadband technology and now foresees “Real-Time Entertainment” (which includes Netflix) shooting up over 55% of peak internet traffic by the end of this year. It also reports on net traffic from other regions, noting social networking outpaces YouTube traffic in Latin America, while European subscribers use twice as much data as North Americans. We’ll have to wait and see if these stats are waved in our faces to justify the next round of bandwidth caps or throttling, in the meantime you can click through for more stats or hear about it from Sandvine CEO Dave Caputo discuss them in a video embedded after the break.

Continue reading Study finds Netflix is the largest source of internet traffic in North America

Study finds Netflix is the largest source of internet traffic in North America originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 17 May 2011 14:43:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink

The general rule of thumb for what counts as a full night’s sleep has been eight hours for as long as anyone can remember, but it’s not an arbitrary number at all. Two studies, one at the University of Pennsylvania and the other at the Walter Reed Research Institute, tested dozens of sleepers and found that sleeping even seven hours a night will slowly add up to a costly sleep debt. More

Yale is making high-resolution images from its cultural collections available on a free, open access basis. They’ve started by uploading 250,000 images, with lots more to follow. The collection includes “a small limestone stela with hieroglyphic inscription from the Peabody Museum of Natural History, a Mozart sonata in the composer’s own hand from the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, a 15th-century Javanese gold kris handle from the Indo-Pacific collection of Yale University Art Gallery and a watercolor by William Blake.”

As works in these collections become digitized, the museums and libraries will make those images that are in the public domain freely accessible. In a departure from established convention, no license will be required for the transmission of the images and no limitations will be imposed on their use. The result is that scholars, artists, students, and citizens the world over will be able to use these collections for study, publication, teaching and inspiration.

Digital Images of Yale’s Vast Cultural Collections Now Available for Free

(via MeFi)

Read More:
Yale opens up image library, starts with 250,000 free images

Photovoltaics suffer from gross inefficiency, despite incremental improvements in their power producing capabilities. According to research by a team led by a University of Missouri professor, however, newly developed nantenna-equipped solar sheets can reap more than 90 percent of the sun’s bounty — which is more than double the efficiency of existing solar technologies. Apparently, some “special high-speed electrical circuitry” is the secret sauce behind the solar breakthrough. Of course, the flexible film is currently a flight of fancy and won’t be generating juice for the public anytime soon. The professor and his pals still need capital for commercialization, but they believe a product will be ready within five years. Take your time, guys, it’s not like global warming’s getting worse.

[Image source: Idaho National Laboratory (PDF)]

Mizzou Professor says nantenna solar sheet soaks up 90 percent of the sun’s rays, puts sunscreen to shame originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 17 May 2011 07:48:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink

Steve Easterbrook, President of McDonald’s European operations, announced today that the giant food service provider is installing touchscreen ordering technology in 7,000 of its European locations, effectively eliminated thousands of cashier employees.

In this digital age, isn’t the phone book a paperweight that nobody uses? San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors must agree as they are passing legislation that stops the phone company from spamming your doorstep with the Yellow Pages. More

We have just received some information from a solid Apple source, and if they’re right, Apple may be planning something big for its 10th retail anniversary this Thursday the 19th. Here’s what we’ve been told:

• There’s an overnight shift planned for around 10-15 individuals at each Apple Store to work from late Saturday all the way through mid-Sunday.
• During the overnight shift, it’s going to be required that employees lock cell phones in the main office. They will also have to sign an NDA with Apple.
• There are a wide variety of roles, we’re told, for the overnight shift. This includes all visuals staff, a manager, a business team member, a few Genius team members, one back-of-house employee, and a few generic Apple specialists.
• Apple stores have apparently already received hardware to install, and are expecting more hardware to come on Friday or Saturday. All materials that Apple stores have received have been instructed to be under lock and key until after close on Saturday night.
• Apple employees will be putting up black curtains at all stores so that people walking outside cannot see inside.
• Employees have had to download gigabytes of data from Apple corporate labeled, “training” in a password-protected zipped folder that won’t accessible to managers or anyone else until Saturday afternoon.
• Lastly, all Apple retail stores have mandatory meetings on Sunday, May 22nd. Most meeting are scheduled for the morning, but there are evening meetings as well.

The question is, what is Apple planning?

Thanks, Lindsey S.!

Originally posted here:
Apple planning major product launch for 10th retail anniversary?

It’s pretty obvious that this year’s SID Display Week is shaping up to be a stage for the 300ppi extravaganza — Samsung and LG were first to announce their latest high pixel density LCDs, and then Toshiba chimed in with its 367ppi LCD for cellphones. Fortunately, fans of ePaper will also have something to look forward to here, as E Ink Holdings and Epson have just announced the co-development of a 300ppi ePaper display. To be exact, E Ink will be in charge of producing the sharp-looking 9.68-inch 2,400 x 1,650 display panel, whereas Epson will take care of the high-speed display controller platform to go with E Ink’s part. No availability has been announced just yet, but stay tuned for our eyes-on impression at the show.

Continue reading E Ink and Epson to co-develop 9.7-inch high-res 300ppi electronic paper display

E Ink and Epson to co-develop 9.7-inch high-res 300ppi electronic paper display originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 17 May 2011 01:47:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink

Solid-state storage aficionados are well-versed in the virtues of SandForce controllers, and Corsair’s new Force Series 3 drives pack a fresh version of the technology. Like the firm’s Force GT, Series 3 delivers data using SATA III 6Gbps connections, but uses a newfangled SandForce SF-2281 controller to shoot your info to and fro at up to 550 MBps read and 520 MBps write speeds. The SSDs also perform 85,000 IOPS, which makes the 60,000 IOPS from similarly-priced offerings from OCZ look downright dilatory in comparison. Prices are $139 for 60GB, $219 for 120GB, and $499 for the 240GB version, so they still aren’t cheap, but it’s a small price to pay to dodge the dangers of disk-based storage.

Continue reading Corsair Force Series 3 SSDs: SandForce speed for modest money

Corsair Force Series 3 SSDs: SandForce speed for modest money originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 16 May 2011 20:40:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink