Beautiful day, what do, what to do? Oh, I know…… via Facebook
RSS Subscription Extension Makes Adding New RSS Feeds to Your New Reader a Breeze
Chrome: With the death of Google Reader, a number of people are jumping ship to popular alternatives like Feedly, NewsBlur, and OldReader. RSS Subscription Extension is an extension that makes adding RSS feeds to those readers a breeze. More » 
via Lifehacker http://lifehacker.com/5991264/rss-subscription-extension-makes-adding-new-rss-feeds-to-your-new-reader-a-breeze
AT&T att LTE hotspot dilemma situation
hi there,
i have a question about the ATT LTE hotspot， currently, from ATT, there are only two kind of hotspot choices,
AT&T Unite and sierra 754s
but, i am looking for a small form hotspot in my pocket, the above two seems still bigger than my expectation, so i did my research , i found one(sierra 763s) may work compatible with ATT LTE/4G network,
it is the same manufacture, but different model, this one is smaller, and battery last longer.
but, i found it is only sold in CANADA, so i plan to buy one and unlock it for ATT LTE/4G network, my question is , will it works with ATT LTE NETWORK in best result? wherever there is no LTE coverage, will it work well with HSPA+ (4G)network?
via HowardForums: Your Mobile Phone Community & Resource – AT&T http://www.howardforums.com/showthread.php/1793561-att-LTE-hotspot-dilemma-situation
AT&T Has The Fastest LTE Network – Average Downstream Speeds of 18.6 Mbps
A new report from RootMetrics notes that AT&T’s LTE network consistently offers the fastest speeds of all current deployments, but Verizon’s network continues to dwarf all other LTE deployments in size and scope. AT&T’s LTE network provided an average of 18.6 Mbps downstream and 9 Mbps upstream with a maximum speed of 57.7 Mbps across 149 live LTE markets.
In contrast, Verizon’s LTE network delivered average speeds of 14.3 Mbps downstream and 8.5 Mbps upstream with top speeds of 49.3 Mbps across 470 active LTE markets. However, Rootmetrics says they found Verizon’s network connectivity more consistent.
“Within AT&T s LTE-enabled markets, we connected to LTE 81.7% of the time during our download tests. This rate of connection, while impressive, still trails what we found with Verizon.”
The findings match previous studies that show that while AT&T may have had some hiccups along the way the last few years, they’re doing LTE correctly, seeing spikes in both speed and customer satisfaction over their LTE network.
Meanwhile Sprint, which has only deployed LTE in 77 markets, saw average downstream speeds of 10.3 Mbps, average upstream speeds of 4.4 Mbps, and maximum speeds of 32.7 Mbps. Given the early portion of Sprint’s LTE deployment (and the fact that even “launched” markets have significant gaps currently), RootMetrics states they could only connect to Sprint’s network in 50.2% of download tests.
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via DSLreports – front page http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/ATT-Has-The-Fastest-LTE-Network-123466
My Facebook status update on March 11, 2013 at 01:38PM
Happy Birthday! Alex Beltrán via Facebook
Iran Clamps Down On ‘Illegal’ VPNs – Ahead of June’s Presidential Election
Iran, like Pakistan, in 2011 decided to make use of VPNs illegal, claiming the move was necessary for “security reasons” and to “stop militants” (easier spying is of course just coincidence). Reuters notes that the Iranian government have lately been clamping down harder on VPNs, hunting down and shuttering “illegal” VPNs. The country allows only official, surveillance-ready VPNs to operate. The clamp down comes as Iran prepares for its presidential election in June. Iran also filters or bans Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube significantly.
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via DSLreports – front page http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/Iran-Clamps-Down-On-Illegal-VPNs-123448
Netflix changes its public API program by ending it, will no longer issue new dev keys
Once upon a time, Netflix was proud enough of its public API which enabled third-party services and apps to serve up its data and content in different ways that it opened a gallery to display them. Unfortunately, times have changed since 2009 — the old App Gallery is gone and now, so is public API access for new developers. A blog post indicates the API is now focused on supporting Netflix’s official clients on the many devices its customers use to stream movies, not hobbyist projects for managing ones queue or finding new movies to watch. While those already in place should still work since existing keys will remain active, the developer forums are being set to read-only, no new keys are being issued and new partners are no longer being accepted.
The move is reminiscent of recent changes by Twitter, where as each company has grown it’s decided having control over the user experience through its own official apps outweighs allowing the community to build and extend access as it sees fit. We’re sad to see the program go, as many of these tools assisted Netflix members in ways the official website and apps either never did, or no longer do after the features were removed. Even though Netflix relies on its own secret sauce for recommendations, we’ve always found it hard to beat InstantWatcher’s curated lists (by year, Rotten Tomatoes rating, critic’s picks, titles most recently added by other users and more) to find a video, and FeedFliks was indispensable for monitoring exactly how valuable the service is until its features were cut down by API changes. They provided an edge the competition like Amazon Prime and Redbox couldn’t match, but we’ll have to wait and see if this change is noticed by enough subscribers to matter — we’ve seen how that can go.
Filed under: Home Entertainment, HD
Via: TechCrunch
Source: Netflix Developer Blog
via Engadget RSS Feed http://www.engadget.com/2013/03/08/netflix-changes-its-current-api-program-by-ending-it-will-no/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+weblogsinc%2Fengadget+%28Engadget%29
Free Press: AT&T’s About to Make Broadband Market Much Worse – Severing DSL, POTS Lines Creates Major Issues
As I’ve been noting, both AT&T and Verizon have been busy trying to gut absolutely all regulatory oversight of those companies, in the process severing the DSL and landlines of tens of millions of users, who’ll have to flee to an even less-competitive cable monopoly, more-expensive and capped LTE service, or even pricier and more-heavily capped satellite broadband.
The gadget-obsessed press and incumbent-beholden regulators so far have napped through the implications of this, AT&T’s claim that regulations simply need to be “modernized” as we go all IP appears to have lulled most of them into a compliant slumber. This is however the biggest shift in telecom in the last thirty years, and it deserves more than the usual fringe attention broadband telecom policy receives.
Free Press Research Director Derek S. Turner has posted a good read over at Wired clearly illustrating what’s at state if the country dumbly plays along with AT&T’s efforts to sever the PSTN while killing off nearly all serious regulatory oversight of the industry giant. Namely, higher rates, seniors suddenly without landlines, and worse service:
Seniors, low-income families, and rural residents all of whom are more likely to rely on fixed-line voice services or dial-up internet access would especially feel the pinch. Carriers that are now required to offer universal service will be free to redline poor neighborhoods and disconnect consumers at will. Elderly grandmothers living on fixed incomes rely on rate-regulated landlines to stay connected, but they need not worry: AT&T has an expensive wireless plan they can purchase instead.
That sounds dramatic, but it’s a very real outcome. Turner doesn’t even get into the fact that AT&T and Verizon’s exit from the fixed-line broadband market creates a much stronger cable broadband monopoly, driving up costs for those users as well. All of this will be swatted down by paid industry pundits despite the fact that historically, you’d be hard pressed to find a time when deregulating AT&T didn’t make service considerably worse and more expensive for the end user.
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via DSLreports – front page http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/Free-Press-ATTs-About-to-Make-Broadband-Market-Much-Worse-123344
iPad mini vs. Galaxy Note 8.0 hands on!
Phil Nickinson and Alex Dobie of are on the ground at Mobile World Congress, and they’ve just gone hands-on with the all new Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0, a tablet that sits roughly between the iPad 4 and iPad mini in size, but boasts the Wacom-style digitizer-gone-mobile that Samsung’s Note line is famous four. Since we’re all one big happy Mobile Nations family, Phil and Alex also brought along their iPad mini so they could put the two competitors head-to-head.
As we’ve been saying for a while, we’re slowly becoming convinced that the 7-to-8-inch form factor represents the sweet spot for tablets. We’ve only spent a short time with it, but the Note 8.0 seems to be a promising entry from Samsung in this category — though we’ve still yet to learn how much it’ll cost. The device is due to launch internationally in Q2 in 3G, Wifi-only and 4G flavors.
So sit back, relax, grab a tasty beverage, and hit play. Then go check out all the rest of the Galaxy Note 8.0 coverage at Android Central, and tell me what you think. How does the Note 8.0 stack up to the iPad mini for you?
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via iMore – The #1 iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch blog http://www.imore.com/ipad-mini-vs-galaxy-note-8-hands
Why Android first?
A few people were bemused by our decision to release Pocket Casts 4 first on Android. I suspect a few of them even think we may have lost our marbles. I thought I’d take a few minutes to outline exactly why we did what we did.
Team Size
We’re a small team of only 2 developers and a designer. We realised late last year as we were working on a simultaneous release of Android and iOS that if we were going to have any hope of shipping either of them, we’d really have to choose one to do first. The take-away from this is simple: if we were bigger (say double our current size) we would have just done both.
Historic Sales
Pocket Casts on Android has outsold the iOS version historically at about 5:1. That means for every 1 iOS version we’ve sold, 5 were sold on Android. The Android version also costs $1 more, so we’re making more per transaction as well. The reasons for this are a blog post on their own, but it’s a fact.
Future Sales
On Android there is no native podcasting solution, and we see a massive potential to fill that space. There are other apps out there, but we feel we have what it takes to become the dominant podcasting app on that platform.
Why Not?
Team rivalries should be left on a sports field. There’s no reason not to launch on Android first or iOS first in 2013. Both are massively viable platforms full of users who want to pay for great apps. Anyone who tells you otherwise is wrong. The choice of platform all comes down to where your users are, and which one makes more sense for the kind of app you’re launching. It’s no longer a clear-cut ‘always iOS first’ world.
App Quality
Let’s be honest, 2 years ago Android really sucked. The OS was a mess, the store was a mess, the SDK was a mess and the hardware was a mess. Today all that has changed, and it’s an amazing platform. That said overall the app quality on iOS is still far higher than Android, as developers catch up with all these new changes. There’s a point coming soon when Android will be full of high-quality apps, but there’s a gap in the market right now for small developers like us who are passionate about design to create something a cut above the rest. In short it’s currently easier for a good app to stand out on Android than it is on iOS.
So there you go, a short and sweet explanation of why we did what we did. Once version 4.0 is out on Android (countdown available here), we’ll be working on the iOS one next. We won’t be starting from scratch since a few months of development has already gone into that version, but there’s still a lot to be done. If you’re fascinated by the Android vs iOS development process, there’s a great interview with me available here.
via Shifty Jelly's blog of mystery http://blog.shiftyjelly.com/2013/02/20/why-android-first/
