Aereo, the company that wants to deliver broadcast TV online and to any device, has a new pricing plan that puts it on par with a Hulu subscription. The plan aims to get folks to try it out and to challenge the broadcasters’ current revenue models. Read more »
Good news for anyone shipping a bunch of bits around the world. IP transit costs are down and are dropping more rapidly. But this doesn’t mean cheaper broadband for most consumers given the lack of competition in the middle and last mile access businesses. Read more »
MIT released Halide, a programming language that makes it easier to process photos without resorting to slow, custom algorithms. Halide might be the software equivalent of a sewing machine for sites such as Instagram that previously had to stitch their imaging processing code by hand. Read more »
The FCC has come to a settlement with Verizon Wireless that will allow customers of the nation’s largest wireless network to use tethering apps from the Android market, and thus circumvent the $20 monthly fee Verizon charges for using a phone as a mobile hot spot. Read more »
The Defcon security and hacker conference in Las Vegas is home to a unique cell network built using GSM and Wi-Fi. The private network was built for fun, but it could have a serious purpose when governments try to lock down cellular communications. Read more »
Frustration with a lack of access, editing and the overall confusion about who can see what of the Olympics shows how frustrated consumers are about our outdated TV, but NBC has paid $1.18 billion to broadcast the games. Who is the consumer here? Read more »
Google’s launch of its gigabit fiber to the home network on Thursday had many positive elements, including free broadband at lower speeds for residents. But there were some things about the proposed network that will disappoint people in the industry and may worry privacy groups. Read more »
Google’s fiber-to-the-home network may look like a loss leader for the search engine company, but its executive teams says it’s profitable. Here are the three ways Google has managed to cut the costs of building out a network and beat ISPs at their own game. Read more »
Google Fiber just launched today to offer faster access to consumers with a TV product, a terabyte of free storage in G Drive and more. The search giant will even offer free access at what it deems “average” Internet speeds of 5Mbps down. Read more »
The Internet has made it easier to market unique or small-batch products made by individuals and small businesses, but Ordoro, which just raised $1.2 million, wants to make it easier for those merchants to track and ship their product as well as manage inventory. Read more »
Apple spends a whopping $28 billion a year buying semiconductors for the millions of tablets, phones and computers it produces according to estimates released from IHS iSuppli, a research firm. That puts Apple far and away the largest buyer of silicon. Read more »
Google plans to launch a fiber network in Kansas City with the goal of seeing what people there can do with a gigabit connection. But as one city that already has a gigabit network can tell you, the answer so far may be, “Not much.” Read more »
VMware’s planned acquisition of Nicra for $1.25 billion represents the evolution of networking beyond the hardware-dominated point of view that has sustained the industry for decades. Here’s what that means for startups in the networking realm as well as for the industry giants. Read more »
For $300, people in the Northeast, presumably in areas where Comcast competes with Verizon’s fiber to-the-home offering, can soon get 305 Mbps service from Comcast. The fastest tier is expensive, but its the doubling off other Comcast speed tiers at no cost that will hurt Verizon. Read more »
Apigee, a company that helps manage and monitor APIs, snagged a $20 million round of funding led by new investor Focus Ventures, with participation from current investors Bay Partners, Norwest Venture Partners, SAP Ventures and Third Point Ventures. Read more »
VMware will spend $1.26 billion to buy software defined networking startup Nicira in a deal that shows how much VMware is counting on its vision of the software defined data center. This is a strategic acquisition of a young technology and startup for the hypervisor giant. Read more »
In the coming months you will soon start receiving unsolicited text messages when storms hit or other natural disasters are anticipated thanks to a new wireless emergency alert system signed into law this spring. Here’s what you need to know when the alerts roll in. Read more »
Comcast isn’t going to let Verizon’s recent launch of a 300 Mbps speed tier go unchallenged. The nation’s largest broadband provider is apparently prepping its own 305 Mbps speed tier according to BroadbandReports. Yay for competition. Read more »
In a surprise move, the National Cable and Telecommunication Association used the results of today’s FCC report on broadband quality to congratulate cable … and to acuse Google and Netflix of slowing down the user experience. Here’s what’s behind its crazy claims. Read more »
I demand a lot from my broadband connection. But I was surprised to see my family uses 125 gigabytes of data a month. And that got me wondering. How much do my parents use? My friends? The little old lady down the street? Read more »
When it comes to speeds Cablevision and Verizon FiOS are the most likely to deliver better than advertised download speeds while any provider offering DSL — AT&T, Frontier, Windstream and CenturyLink– struggle to deliver on their promises. A new FCC report looks at how well ISPs perform. Read more »
Google today sent out invitations to a “special event” on July 26 which is undoubtedly the launch of its much anticipated fiber-to-the-home network. The invite reads, “We would like to invite you to a special announcement about Google Fiber and the next chapter of the Internet.” Read more »
Broadband use in Africa, the Middle East and Latin America are growing incredibly quickly, but developed nations are still the heaviest broadband users. This research shouldn’t come as any big surprise but the fact that Norway has access to more bandwidth than Africa does. Read more »
Aryaka, a startup offering cloud-based wide area network optimization raised $25 million in Series C funding. The round was led by InterWest Partners and brings Aryaka’s funding to $54 million. As the reliance on clouds and remote working grows, Aryaka is poised to succeed. Read more »
A tech trade publication is reporting that VMware CEO Paul Maritz is being pushed out and will be replaced by Pat Gelsinger, the current COO of EMC. EMC owns roughly 80 percent of VMware, the market leader in server virtualization. Read more »
VMware is planning a corporate shake up and hopes to spin out its platform as a service division and its Greenplum assets into a separate company. The move would help VMware and EMC compete in the PaaS space against Google, Amazon and Microsoft. Read more »
Rural America has a surprising mix of broadband options from fiber to the home to satelite broadband. But the most common speeds aren’t much to write home about at between 1.5 Mbps to 3 Mbps, according to a report published by Calix. Read more »
The DoJ seems to be the only thing standing between the $4 billion sale of spectrum from the cable companies’ Spectrum Co. to Verizon Wireless, according to multiple news reports. Read more »
Time Warner Cable and I have something in common — we both want to figure out details on Google’s fiber-to-the-home deployment in Kansas City. TWC, which provides broadband access in Kansas City, is fishing for details on the Google deployment and is willing to pay for tips. Read more »
For the last five years we’ve become accustomed to seeing the hottest tech hit our mobile phones, but that may be about to change. The chip industry is betting on our vehicles as the new platform for innovation and are building more speciality silicon for cars. Read more »
Boundary, a startup created by a former Amazon Web Services creator that provides real-time network monitoring has raised $15 million to help continue its growth. The second-round funding comes from new investor Scale Venture Partners and existing investor Lightspeed Venture Partners. Read more »
Thin Film Electronics, a company that makes printed circuits that can be built into packaging materials and Bemis, a manufacturer of both consumer products and wholesale packaging have signed an agreement that will add circuits to your cereal box. Or maybe sensors to your salad bags. Read more »
Only five countries use more than 10 terabytes of capacity to feed their web surfing needs. But the rest of the world is catching up, and undersea cables worth $5.5 billion are coming online in 2012 and 2013 to feed those needs. Read more »
AT&T implemented a broadband cap a little over a year ago, so why is Ma Bell still unable to tell people how much data they’re consuming? For an undetermined number of subscribers AT&T doesn’t yet have a meter, but it will still charge customers overage fees. Read more »
Few people will likely take Time Warner Cable up on its new plan that offers customers a $5 discount in exchange for staying below 5 GB of data consumption each month. But the real benefit to the plan are the meters TWC is rolling out. Read more »
If we want to big data revolution to scale, then we need to make it as easy as Netscape made the web surfing experience. Here are 7 startups making that happen. Read more »
Somewhere in the mountains of Chile scientists want to build a telescope capable of taking roughly 1,400 photos daily of the night sky consisting of 6 gigabytes of information each. But getting all that data off the mountain will require better broadband and smarter algorithms. Read more »
Facebook has made waves by detailing its plans to use what an executive calls chips that have a cell-phone architecture in its future data centers. The social network plans to test such chips now and next year and will likely have them in production in 2014. Read more »
Verizon filed its 116-page suit to appeal the network neutrality regulations enacted by the FCC. The suit has a glossary, 53 pages of legal argument, inflammatory prose on regulating the Internet and even the FCC trampling ISPs’ first amendment rights, but Verizon may prevail. Read more »
Plexxi Systems, a stealthy networking startup that wants to bring fiber into the data center at a cost the comprable to existing Ethernet technologies, has scored a $20.1 million third round of financing from Lightspeed Venture Partners, Matrix Partners and Northbridge Venture Partners. Read more »
