Apple TV Just Ripped Off The Roku Player–Brilliantly
Apple just ripped off Roku as blatantly as Android ripped off iOS. But Apple has built by far the best Roku Player ever. Despite—or perhaps because of—being a copycat, Apple has a very good chance of winning the Internet-streaming box war.
Read the rest on Fast CompanyWhat Is Adobe Flash, and How Can You Get Rid of It?
[Yahoo Tech]
Even if you don’t exactly know what Adobe Flash is, this is important news. Whether you know it or not, odds are pretty high that Adobe Flash is on your computer right now, possibly putting your system and your personal information at risk.
Read the full Adobe Flash article.Nothing Is Untraceable: How The Hacking Team Got Busted
[Fast Company]How did things go so wrong for a company that had the trust, and money, of some of the most powerful players in the world? The answer, in part, is that nothing is really untraceable on the web, if you look hard enough for it. That’s what the Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto’s Munk School of Global Affairs did.
Read the full Hacking Team article.Verizon-AOL Deal Designed to Raise Your Wireless Bill
[Tom’s Guide]
The video streaming-happy data binging we do at home is on a crash course with our budgets once we take it mobile. Verizon’s data plans start at 1GB per month for $60. According to a calculator on rival carrier AT&T’s website, that’s enough for just under 5 hours of streaming video in standard definition or one hour in HD (each consuming 1.08GB).
[Read the rest of Verizon-AOL Deal Designed to Raise Your Wireless Bill]Decoded: Net Neutrality and the ‘New’ Broadband
[Tom’s Guide]
Despite comedian John Oliver calling a Federal Communications Committee meeting on Net neutrality “the most boring thing I have ever seen,” the notion that the government should prevent ISPs from favoring some Internet traffic over others has hit pop-culture consciousness — thanks to Oliver’s own comic tirade last June, a speech by President Obama in November and general anxiety over Netflix buffering. The drama — such as it is for bureaucratic deliberations — peaked on Feb 4 with an article in Wired by FCC chairman Tom Wheeler announcing his intention to regulate ISPs as public utilities, using a legal provision called Title II of the Communications Act of 1934.
[Read the rest of Net Neutrality and the ‘New’ Broadband]What Is Net Neutrality? An FAQ
[Tom’s Guide]
Once an esoteric concept for technologists and online-rights activists, net neutrality is now among the top headline memes in the United States. The rise of data-intensive streaming media services such as Netflix, and the concentration of power in large Internet service providers such as Comcast and Verizon, have raised the questions of how Internet access will be parceled out and paid for among content providers and consumers.
[Read the rest of What Is Net Neutrality? An FAQ]Amazon Packs Every Star It Can Find Into New TV Pilots
[Tom’s Guide]
Hot off two Golden Globe wins for its dramedy Transparent, Amazon today (Jan. 15) is carpet-bombing the online TV world with 13 new pilot shows for members of Amazon Prime ($99 per year) to watch and vote on. And if big names are a factor in success, these pilots are will go big-time.
[Read the rest of Amazon Packs Every Star It Can Find Into New TV Pilots]Exclusive Tests: Panasonic CM1 Is Real Camera, and Phone
[Tom’s Guide]
Having released the Lumix CM1 in Europe last month, Panasonic announced its plans to bring the camera/phone to the U.S. this year at CES 2015. Panasonic hopes to sign deals with carriers to offer the phone subsidized on contract. Unlocked without a subsidy, it will run about $1,000, the company reckons. Panasonic handed me the CM1 for a few hours to put it through its paces. I didn’t have enough time to call this a full review; but it’s a lot more detailed than a quick hands-on.
[Read the rest of Exclusive Tests: Panasonic CM1 Is Real Camera, and Phone]CESLive Panel Talks 4K
Obama’s Net Neutrality Statement: What it Really Means
[Tom’s Guide]
After years of general statements encouraging net neutrality — the idea that Internet service providers (ISPs) should treat all Internet traffic equally — President Barack Obama today (Nov. 10) came out definitively in favor of the cause, in both written and video statements. Is this a toothless pronunciation by a second-term president whose party just lost control of the Senate? Or does he have solid legal rationale and authority to back up what he said? It may be a little of both.
[Read the rest of Obama’s Net Neutrality Statement: What it Really Means]
