“The latest version of the Google Chrome browser, v87, released earlier this month, contains a new redesigned PDF reader.”
How Google Fiber Could Do Some National Good, Or At Least Scare the Carriers
Nerval’s Lobster writes “Within hours of Google announcing that Austin, Texas would be the next lucky recipient of its Google Fiber initiative, AT&T released a statement indicating that it was willing to build a high-speed broadband network in the city, too. ‘AT&T announced that in conjunction with its previously announced Project VIP expansion of broadband access, it is prepared to build an advanced fiber optic infrastructure in Austin, Texas, capable of delivering speeds up to 1 gigabit per second,’ read the statement. But there’s a not-so-slight catch: AT&T wants whatever conditions Google received from the city of Austin. Google itself has provided precious little guidance about its future plans. ‘We are still in the very early stages of it,’ Google CEO Larry Page told media and analysts during the company’s Jan. 22 earnings call, according to a transcript. ‘Obviously, we are going to a small number of people and so, but we are excited about the possibilities.’ But if Google Fiber keeps expanding, it could compel AT&T and other infrastructure providers to boost their broadband service and offer it on more reasonable terms — nothing like some competition to make things a little better for the collective customer base. In that sense, even if Google Fiber doesn’t expand into a national program (and imagine the costs of that), its existence will still do some larger good.”
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
via Slashdot http://tech.slashdot.org/story/13/04/10/2130254/how-google-fiber-could-do-some-national-good-or-at-least-scare-the-carriers?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon&utm_medium=feed
Report: Facebook’s Secret Android Project Isn’t a Facebook Phone But a Home Screen Dedicated to Facebook
The WSJ is reporting that Facebook’s upcoming Android event will be a home screen—as in the first screen you see when you flip on your phone—dedicated to Facebook. It will “display content from users’ Facebook accounts on a smartphone’s home screen.” More » 
via Gizmodo http://gizmodo.com/5992996/report-facebooks-secret-android-project-isnt-a-facebook-phone-but-a-home-screen-dedicated-to-facebook
Samsung Galaxy S 4 for Verizon swings through the FCC
We weren’t kidding about that influx of FCC filings: the Verizon edition of Samsung’s Galaxy S 4, the SCH-i545, has passed through the US regulator’s approval right on cue. The device on display ticks all the checkboxes we’d expect, including LTE on both Verizon’s main 700MHz band and the carrier’s recently acquired AWS frequencies. We also notice HSPA-based 3G, which suggests Big Red’s GS4 won’t be a paperweight when abroad. The filing just leaves AT&T and T-Mobile as the major stragglers in the US; at the current rate, though, they’ll have little trouble getting clearance before they have to fulfill any future orders.
Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Samsung, Verizon
Source: FCC
via Engadget RSS Feed http://www.engadget.com/2013/03/29/samsung-galaxy-s-4-for-verizon-swings-through-the-fcc/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+weblogsinc%2Fengadget+%28Engadget%29
T-Mobile Debuts New No-Contract Plans
T-Mobile today made available new service plans that can be picked up without a contract. The entry-level plan costs $50 per month and includes unlimited domestic voice, unlimited domestic messaging, and 500MB of data with mobile hotspot included. Those who surpass their 500MB monthly data allotment are not charged overage fees; rather, their data speeds are slowed for the remainder of the billing period. Customers who want or need more data (with mobile hotspot) can purchase more data in 2GB increments. For example, $60 per month includes all the same benefits of the $50 plan, but offers 2GB of data in addition to the original 500MB (4GB costs $70, 6GB costs $80, etc., up to 12GB for $110 per month). Alternately, customers can choose unlimited voice, unlimited messaging, and unlimited data for just $70 per month, but this option only allows for 500MB of mobile hotspot. Family plans (two line or more) are structured in the same way as the single lines. Customers can then choose to pay full price for the handset associated with the plan, or an installment option. For example, adding the Samsung Galaxy S III to any of the plan options mentioned above adds $16 to the monthly cost.
via Phone Scoop – Latest News http://www.phonescoop.com/articles/article.php?a=12126
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
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
