Month: January 2013

Netflix launches ‘Super HD’ and 3D streaming — but only through certain ISPs

Rumors that Netflix was offering ISPs access to higher quality streams in return for partnering on distribution surfaced early last year , and were followed by the announcement of its Open Connect CDN network in June. Now the full picture has been revealed with the company’s announcement of “Super HD” 1080p and (in the US only, for now) 3D streaming, which comes to its customers at no extra cost, but only on certain devices plugged in to to Open Connect partner ISPs. The hardware list includes PS3, WiiU, Windows 8, Roku, Apple TVs as well as Blu-ray players and smart TVs with 1080p support. According to Netflix, most of its international streams are already going through compatible ISPs, however the only major participants announced in the US currently are Cablevision and Google Fiber. Watch Instantly customers can see if their ISP on the list by visiting the Super HD page and, if it isn’t, they’re encouraged to call and ask for it. Netflix’s ability to manage bandwidth will be increasingly important and the ISPs customers access its with and along with those rankings , “Super HD” is an important lure to get them to play ball. We’ve been seeing some 3D ready titles pop up on the service in the last few weeks and now viewers can access titles like Art of Flight , Immortals and several titles from 3net. According to Dan Rayburn of Streaming Media Blog , the higher-quality encodes are targeted for 7 Mbps, while 3D streams top out at 12 Mbps. One question that lingers is how this quality bump aligns with recent changes some customers have noticed (if X-High suddenly reappears…), but until we get our eyes on the higher quality streams it’s hard to tell. Reed Hastings says he wants all Netflix customers served by Open Connect (whether via colocated appliances or peered at common internet exchanges) as soon as possible — we’ll see if Comcast, Time Warner, Verizon, AT&T and the rest have a similar dream. Continue reading Netflix launches ‘Super HD’ and 3D streaming — but only through certain ISPs Filed under: Announcements , HD Comments Source: Netflix Super HD

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Netflix launches ‘Super HD’ and 3D streaming — but only through certain ISPs

Fences as primitive phone networks

Somewhere between two-cans-and-a-string and Ma Bell lies the barbed wire fence telephone networks used by ranchers in the early 20th century. From CF Eckhardt’s short history of these “rural telephone systems” at TexasHillCountry.com : Across much of the west, to the west of old US 81 (present I-35) in Texas–and not a small part of it east of that demarcation–there was already a network of wire covering most of the country, in the form of barbed-wire fences. Some unknown genius discovered that if you hooked two Sears or Monkey Ward telephone sets to the top wire on a barbed-wire fence, you could talk between the telephones as easily as between two “town” telephones connected by slick wire through an operator’s switchboard. A rural telephone system that had no operators, no bills–and no long-distance charges–was born. Most ranch perimeter fences joined at corners, and in most cases the top wires touched each other or were even interwoven for strength. Where it became necessary for a telephone system to cross a road, all that was required was two posts about 15 feet long, buried about 3 feet into the ground for stability, and enough wire to go from one top fence wire up to the top of the post, across the road, and down the other post to the top fence wire on the other side. ” Before Maw Bell – Rural Telephone Systems In The West ” More at BLDGBLOG: ” Fence Phone ”

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Fences as primitive phone networks

Firefox 18 launched with Retina support, Android browser also updated

We took a look at Mozilla’s mobile OS at the final pre-proper CES event yesterday, and little did we know the official release of its Firefox 18 browser was dropping today. The update adds the new Javascript compiler IonMonkey, which is said to make wep apps “perform up to 25 percent faster.” Mac users who will settle for nothing less than high-res browsing will be happy to know Retina display support has been implemented, as long as you’re on OS X 10.7 or above. Preliminary support for WebRTC has also been added. The upgrade is available now, but if you’re reading this on FF, you’ve probably got it already. The Android version of the Firefox browser has received a little TLC alongside its computer-based counterpart. The IonMonkey compiler is also new to this version, the Google Now search widget has been integrated, and Mozilla suggests mobile browsing has never been safer. Head to the source link for the release notes for both versions. Filed under: Internet , Software , Mobile Comments Source: Mozilla (1) , (2)

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Firefox 18 launched with Retina support, Android browser also updated

Website lists all the free ebooks available on Amazon

By the same folks who brought you Last Minute Auction (“an hour or less, a buck or less on eBay”), here’s another great site for discriminating cheapskates: FreebookSifter.com . If you’re a digital book fanatic, you probably know that Amazon offers a ton of free books, but it’s hard to get a good overview of them. Well, not anymore, thanks to our new site! Organized by category, and with options to search, order by average ranking, or filter by language, FreebookSifter makes it easy to peruse all the free books available for your Kindle or eReader. Please pay special attention to the Added Today category. That’s where you can find the real treasures, which are only free for a limited time. FreebookSifter also offers a daily newsletter and RSS Feed with the newly added free books. FreebookSifter.com

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Website lists all the free ebooks available on Amazon

MakerBot showing off Replicator 2X 3D printer later today

The year of 3D printers? It’s sure looking like it from where we’re sitting. There are more companies at CES 2013 promoting consumer versions of the technology than ever before. Of course, MakerBot’s not going to sit idly by and watch this all go down. The Brooklyn-based company is set to show off its Replicator 2X Experimental 3D Printer — the dual-extruding “big brother” to its recently released second-gen printer — at a press conference tomorrow. Hopefully pricing and available will be arriving on with it. Filed under: Misc Comments

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MakerBot showing off Replicator 2X 3D printer later today

Postal Service Pilots ‘Federal Cloud Credential Exchange’

CowboyRobot writes with news about a federal initiative to support federated authentication for government services. From the article: “The U.S. Postal Service will be the guinea pig for a White House-led effort to accelerate government adoption of technologies that allow federal agencies to accept third-party identity credentials for online services. The program involves using services … through standards like OpenID rather than requiring users to create government usernames and passwords. … The federated identity effort, known as the Federal Cloud Credential Exchange, is just one piece of a broader Obama administration online identity initiative: the National Strategy for Trusted Identities in Cyberspace (NSTIC), which aims to catalyze private sector-led development of a secure, digital ‘identity ecosystem’ to better protect identities online. … The Postal Service pilot is but one of several different pilots that are part of NSTIC. There are also three cryptography pilots and two non-cryptographic privacy pilots in the works. Each of those pilots is being carried out by multiple private sector organizations ranging from the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles to AOL to AARP to Aetna.” Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Postal Service Pilots ‘Federal Cloud Credential Exchange’

Hands-on with Xi3’s ‘Piston’ modular PC at CES

Remember when Xi3 announced a Kickstarter project for its modular computers late last year? Well, those machines are here today at CES, thanks in no small part to some lofty backing from Valve . We got a first look at its latest mini-PC, code-named Piston, tonight — and though a more comprehensive demo is to come, we walked away with some impressions nonetheless. Of course, Valve wouldn’t back this system if it didn’t have some serious graphics chops. It’s optimized to run Valve’s Steam platform — and specifically big-picture mode — and to that end it packs a quad-core chip. Most specs remain vague, though the Piston apparently offers up to 1TB of storage. The package is tiny yet rugged, with an aluminum chassis that’s made to resist heat (and that will certainly come in handy during gaming sessions). Xi3 is also touting the system’s low energy consumption; it runs on just 40W. And it’s somewhat future-proof, too, with a modular motherboard that lets you swap out components when newer tech becomes available. Our hands-on gallery will have to tide you over till we get a full walkthrough at Xi3’s booth tomorrow. Gallery: Xi3 Piston Modular Computer hands-on Joseph Volpe contributed to this report. Filed under: Desktops , Gaming Comments

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Hands-on with Xi3’s ‘Piston’ modular PC at CES

Loss of a Single Laptop Leads to $50k Fine Against Idaho Hospice

netbuzz writes “Losing a single laptop containing sensitive personal information about 441 patients will cost a non-profit Idaho hospice center $50,000, marking the first such HIPAA-related penalty involving fewer than 500 data-breach victims. Yes, the data was not encrypted. ‘This action sends a strong message to the health care industry that, regardless of size, covered entities must take action and will be held accountable for safeguarding their patients’ health information,’ says the Department of Health and Human Services.” Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Loss of a Single Laptop Leads to $50k Fine Against Idaho Hospice