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‘World’s fastest’ home internet service hits Japan with Sony’s help, 2Gbps down

Google Fiber might be making waves with its 1Gbps speeds , but it’s no match for what’s being hailed as the world’s fastest commercially-provided home internet service: Nuro. Launched in Japan yesterday by Sony-supported ISP So-net, the fiber connection pulls down data at 2Gbps, and sends it up at 1Gbps. An optical network unit (ONU) given to Nuro customers comes outfitted with three Gigabit ethernet ports and supports 450Mbps over 802.11 a/b/g/n. When hitched to a two-year contract, web surfers will be set back 4,980 yen ($51) per month and pony up a required 52,500 yen (roughly $ 540 ) installation fee, which is currently being waived for folks who apply online. Those lucky enough to call the Land of the Rising Sun home can register their house, apartment or small business to receive the blazing hookup, so long as they’re located within Chiba, Gunma, Ibaraki, Tochigi, Tokyo, Kanagawa or Saitama. Click the bordering source link for more details on signing up. Filed under: Internet , Sony Comments Via: Engadget Japanese Source: Nuro (translated)

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‘World’s fastest’ home internet service hits Japan with Sony’s help, 2Gbps down

‘World’s fastest’ home internet service hits Japan with Sony’s help, 2 Gbps down

Google Fiber might be making waves with its 1Gbps speeds , but it’s no match for what’s being hailed as the world’s fastest commercially-provided home internet service: Nuro. Launched in Japan yesterday by Sony-supported ISP So-net, the fiber connection pulls down data at 2 Gbps, and sends it up at 1 Gbps. An optical network unit (ONU) given to Nuro customers comes outfitted with three Gigabit ethernet ports and supports 450 Mbps over 802.11 a/b/g/n. When hitched to a two-year contract, web surfers will be set back 4,980 yen ($51) per month and pony up a required 52,500 yen (roughly $ 540 ) installation fee, which is currently being waived for folks who apply online. Those lucky enough to call the Land of the Rising Sun home can register their house, apartment or small business to receive the blazing hookup, so long as they’re located within Chiba, Gunma, Ibaraki, Tochigi, Tokyo, Kanagawa or Saitama. Click the bordering source link for more details on signing up. Filed under: Internet , Sony Comments Via: Engadget Japanese Source: Nuro (translated)

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‘World’s fastest’ home internet service hits Japan with Sony’s help, 2 Gbps down

Netflix will switch from Silverlight to HTML5, explains what it’s waiting for first

Due to Microsoft’s confirmation that support for its Silverlight plugin will end and the rise of plugin-free browsers, Netflix will eventually need to stream to PCs using something other than the tech it’s had in place since 2008 .The company has already implemented one example of the technology for Samsung’s ARM Chromebooks , and plans to bring it to Chrome on PCs and Macs eventually. Right now, it’s waiting for several W3C initiatives it’s been working on called the HTML5 Premium Video extensions that handle things like video quality and DRM support to be fully implemented. Once the last one (Web Cryptography API) is available, it can ditch the custom API plugin it’s currently using and begin testing on PCs and Macs. Not mentioned, is any support for other platforms like Linux , although Netflix says it can’t wait until the features are ” implemented in all browsers!” Filed under: Home Entertainment , Internet , HD , Microsoft Comments Source: Netflix Tech Blog

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Netflix will switch from Silverlight to HTML5, explains what it’s waiting for first

Dish Network bids $25.5 billion for Sprint, goes head-to-head with Softbank

In the battle for Sprint’s heart, Dish Network always seemed to be stuck in the “friend zone”. That’s not the case anymore, however, now that Dish has quietly lobbed an informal $25.5 billion offer to purchase the carrier. The Wall Street Journal is reporting that after Dish was knocked-back in its attempts to buy Clearwire , the satellite TV company scrounged together the cash to beat Softbank’s multi billion dollar deal . If the bid is made formal, then Sprint’s board will have to decide if Softbank’s massive size and buckets of cash can be trumped by Dish’s spectrum reserves , pay-TV business and ability to skip commercials in a breeze. Update: Dish clarified on a conference call that its bid for Clearwire is still on the table for the company to consider even if it was turned down, and that the Sprint offer is not contingent on the carrier closing out its Clearwire purchase . Should the deal go through, the plan is target underserved and rural customers, rather than competing with inner-city fiber-based services. Softbank may find itself beaten by the higher offer, but if Dish succeeds, the Japanese company would still hold around 5% of Sprint’s shares. Filed under: Cellphones , Home Entertainment , Wireless , HD , Mobile , Sprint Comments Via: The Wall Street Journal Source: Dish

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Dish Network bids $25.5 billion for Sprint, goes head-to-head with Softbank

AAP reports e-books now account for over 22 percent of US publishers’ revenue

It’s well off the triple year-over-year growth that e-books saw a few years ago , but the latest report from the Association of American Publishers shows that e-books did inch up even further in 2012 to account for a sizeable chunk of overall book sales. According to its figures, e-books now represent 22.55 percent of US publishers’ total revenue — up from just under 17 percent in 2011 — an increase that helped push net revenue from all book sales up 6.2 percent to $7.1 billion for the year. As the AAP notes, this report also happens to mark the tenth anniversary of its annual tracking of e-book sales; back at the beginning in 2002, their share of publishers’ net revenue clocked in at a mere 0.05 percent. The group does caution that the year-to-year comparison back that far is somewhat anecdotal, however, given changing methodologies and definitions of e-books. Comments Via: The Next Web Source: AAP

Apple said to be ditching Samsung in favor of TSMC for A7 CPU

The fact that Apple relies upon Samsung, its arch-rival , for a healthy amount of its components, is one of the biggest paradoxes in the tech industry. Still, if The Korea Times is to be believed, the unhappy marriage between the two could rapidly be heading towards a divorce. While Apple has previously splashed out several billion per year on Samsung components, the newspaper is suggesting that Cupertino will turn to TSMC to produce its next generation of mobile CPUs — a rumor that’s been making the rounds recently. It’s source, and executive at one of Samsung’s partners, claims the manufacturer has been cut out of development of the A7 CPU, adding a little bit more credence to those claims. What’s more, the same source reports that TSMC is gearing up its 20-nanometer production line to crank out the hardware ready for 2014. Comments Via: The Next Web Source: Korea Times

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Apple said to be ditching Samsung in favor of TSMC for A7 CPU

Is this the front of Apple’s next-generation iPad?

There’s been plenty of murmuring that Apple is working on a retooled fifth-generation iPad that’s sporting the same design language as the iPad Mini and iPhone 5 . The folks over at nowhereelse think that they’ve snagged a picture of the white facia for the latest iteration of the slate — and the site does have prior form in this department . The biggest difference compared to the third and fourth generation devices is the narrower bezel that runs down the sides and those chamfered shiny edges, Word of the Day fans. Filed under: Tablets , Apple Comments Source: Nowhereelse.fr (Translated)

Vudu offices burglarized and customer info stolen

Usually when customer info is snatched up by a ne’er-do-well, it’s done digitally . Video streaming service Vudu, however, was the victim of an old fashioned burglary on March 24th of this year when someone broke into its offices and stole hard drives with customer data on them. According to an e-mail sent out to users today, those HDDs ” contained customer information, including names, email addresses, postal addresses, phone numbers, account activity, dates of birth and the last four digits of some credit card numbers.” Thankfully, the full CC numbers aren’t kept by Vudu, but all the same, the service is giving affected accounts AllClear ID protection for free for one year. Vudu’s also requiring users to reset their passwords today — despite the fact that the passwords on the stolen drives are encrypted — to ensure that everything will be safe and sound moving forward. [Thanks, @steveymacjr and everyone who sent this in] Filed under: Internet , HD Comments Source: Vudu forum , Vudu

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Vudu offices burglarized and customer info stolen

Intel looking to turbocharge its NUC with Core i5 and i7 CPUs, according to leak

It looks like Intel’s planning on bringing its Next Unit of Computing (NUC) mini-computer upmarket, if a leaked roadmap from ComputerBase.de is to be believed. The documents look highly tentative, but if they come to fruition then Intel will start offering new NUCs (code-named “Skull Canyon” and “Horse Canyon”) with Intel Core i7-3537U and Core i5-3427U processors along with its current Core i3 model during the first half of the year. New motherboards would be used that alter the slot configurations substantially: the Thunderbolt connector would be dropped in favor of USB 3.0 — three on the i7 model, one on the i5 — with DisplayPort 1.1a added to each along with HDMI 1.4a connectors. There’s no pricing yet, but we found that you’d need to nearly double the price of the original NUC to create a working computer, so bear that in mind when you’re looking at the leaked slides after the break. [Image credit: ComputerBase.de] Filed under: Desktops , Intel Comments Via: FanlessTech Source: ComputerBase.de

Intel announces next-gen Thunderbolt with 20 Gbps throughput, 4K support

Here at NAB, Intel just introduced the next generation of its Thunderbolt interface, which promises a data rate of 20 Gbps in both directions (on each of the two channels) as opposed to 10 Gbps for the previous version. Of course, the company stepped back for a moment first, boasting that Thunderbolt currently has about 200 licensees, and more compatible devices — along with new, thinner cables — should be coming out in the following months. Building up to the big reveal, Intel also shared some info about its new Thunderbolt host controller, (code-named Redwood Ridge), which will be built into some of Intel’s upcoming fourth-gen Core processors. But let’s talk about the real news: the next-gen Thunderbolt tech (code-named Falcon Ridge) enables 4K video file transfer and display simultaneously in addition to running at 20 Gbps. It will be backward-compatible with previous-gen Thunderbolt cables and connectors, and production is set to ramp up in 2014. An on-stage demo with fresh-off-the-press silicon showed the new Thunderbolt running 1,200 MBps, which is certainly a step up from what’s currently on the market. Update: We’ve added a video of the Thunderbolt demo from Intel’s stage. Hop on past the break to check it out. Filed under: Intel Comments

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Intel announces next-gen Thunderbolt with 20 Gbps throughput, 4K support

Ken May

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