Virgin Media pushes its fiber broadband top speed to 152Mbps
If, like Aaron Paul, you’ve got a Need for Speed, then Virgin Media’s latest news is probably up your alley. The company has announced that it’s pushing its top fiber broadband speed up from a 120Mbps all the way up to 152Mbps over the next 12 months. At the same time, Virgin has also announced that it’ll be reducing the amount of traffic management during peak times. That way, you’ll be able to enjoy the benefits of that supercharged connection, even when everyone else is on their PS4 or bingeing on Netflix.
Popular Bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox files for bankruptcy protection
When the lights went out on Mt.Gox earlier this week, it wasn’t entirely clear what was going on. Was the exchange about to be straightened out by another backer? What would happen to customers’ coins? There were some big questions that needed answering. Today, according to the Wall Street Journal, we’re at least enlightened to one of them, as it’s reporting Mt.Gox is filing for bankruptcy protection. The news came from one of the firm’s lawyers, speaking at a news conference in Tokyo. It was also revealed that Mt.Gox has debts currently to the tune of debt of about ¥6.5 billion ($63.6 million). The exchange had been pulled offline earlier this month amidst fears that is was possible to carry out fraudulent transactions. Understandably, this caused a great deal of frustration and anxiety for those with money and currency invested in the system. What this new development means for those customers still remains unclear, but for now at least, it’s in the hands of official process.
Filed under: Internet
Source: Twitter (WSJ), WSJ
[LEAK] The all new HTC One seemingly confirmed as official name for the HTC M8
With the biggest of the press conferences at MWC 2014 over, our eyes are now fixed on the March 25th event where it’s expected that HTC will be announcing their new flagship smartphone, allegedly called “the all new HTC One“. Codenamed the HTC M8, the device has been spotted in various leaked photos, most recently earlier today, and as far as we can tell, it indeed looks like a slightly newer HTC One. It looks like that name has been confirmed by evleaks who tweeted what looks like some marketing material for the new device, as seen above.
It’s definitely not the catchiest name, but it serves its purpose. The all new HTC One is expected to be released with some very interesting hardware including a dual-sensor rear camera which could change mobile photography as we know it. HTC doesn’t appear to be too fussed about the specifics of its upcoming device though, instead spending time having a go at Samsung following the release of its Samsung Galaxy S5 flagship, with tweets like these:
What do you think of the all new HTC One’s name? Think it’s a good name, or think it’s a bit of a dud? Let us know your opinion in the comments below.
Source: Twitter (1), (2)
Oppo thinks the Oppo Find 7 is “greater than” the Samsung Galaxy S5, teases March 19th Announcement
It seems like everyone is taking aim at Goliath after Samsung announced its highly anticipated flagship smartphone, the Samsung Galaxy S5. HTC has taken a jab at Samsung and now Oppo has as well has taking a shot of their own with the picture seen above, which teases the profile of its expected Oppo Find 7 smartphone which infers that the yet-to-be announced device is “greater than” the Samsung Galaxy devices. The teaser also gives a date of March 19th to expect the announcement of the device which gives it a nice week headstart on the all new HTC One’s announcement on March 25th.
The Oppo Find 7 is expected to possess the new Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 that all the new cool kids are wearing as well as a 5.5-inch, 2K display and a 13MP camera. Whether it can actually measure up to the Galaxy S5 remains to be seen, but after a rather uninspiring showing by Samsung at MWC 2014, the king of the Android world looks very vulnerable.
What do you think about the Oppo Find 7? Would you consider getting the new flagship from Oppo? Let us know what you think in the comments.
Xbox One update preview adds new audio, Kinect options and a fix for UK TV
Xbox One owners who received a special ticket in their inbox are already testing out next month’s update, and they’ve already uncovered a slew of tweaks. Beyond the multiplayer / party system changes and Twitch streaming we’d heard about, fans with surround sound headphones have been pleasantly surprised by the arrival of Dolby Digital Audio. Another new audio choice is bitstream output, and our friends at The Digital Media Zone have already checked it out to confirm the expected lights are popping up on their surround sound receivers.
Forum posters on NeoGAF has put together a list of changes they’ve as well, and several media related ones stick out. First, the 50Hz compatibility problem that plagued some European TV viewers using the HDMI passthrough has been fixed. Other tweaks include a check box to disable Kinect hand gestures while watching a video (which would often accidentally recognize casual movements and put an icon on the screen), and the ability to change how much the volume changes when commanded by Kinect. Hit the thread for the full list, while everyone else waits until March 11th for the update to arrive.
Filed under: Gaming, Home Entertainment, HD, Microsoft
Source: The Digital Media Zone, NeoGAF
Report: Less than one percent of mobile gamers responsible for half of all in-app purchases
With the runaway success of Candy Crush Saga, it’s perfectly natural to wonder just how many people are dropping coin in freemium mobile games. One firm’s answer, however, might surprise you. A very small number — 0.15 percent, to be exact — of total mobile payers contribute half of monthly in-game revenue, according to in-app marketing company Swrve. The outfit also says that over 60 percent of the money made within the first two weeks of a player’s life is made on the first day. Meaning, if most people install a game and don’t make any purchases almost immediately, they likely won’t at all. The report comes from a limited sample, but designers hoping to build the next fragile confection-like phenomenon are probably studying it for secrets right now. We’ve embedded the provided infographic after the break should you want a peek at a whole lot of graphs for yourself.
Filed under: Cellphones, Gaming, Tablets, Mobile
Source: Swrve
Pieces might be falling into place for a Minecraft movie from Warner Bros.
Prepare thyselves, Minecrafters. Earlier today, Deadline reported that Warner Bros. had acquired the rights to turn the indie phenomenon Minecraft “into a major motion picture.” The popular franchise has apparently already drawn “huge interest” from writers and filmmakers, making it a hot property for Warner Bros. to add to its mighty portfolio. The studio giant is rumored to have chosen Roy Lee to take production charge of said Minecraft project; he recently produced The Lego Movie, which has been a complete hit at the box office.
Minecraft creator, Markus “Notch” Persson, isn’t keeping quiet and recently tweeted about how he “wanted to be the leak,” hinting that, perhaps, there is a movie in the works. Still, nothing’s actually been confirmed yet — but, as they say, where there’s smoke, there’s fire. Until then, maybe this documentary can control your high level of excitement.
Someone is trying leak the fact that we’re working with Warner Brothers on a potential Minecraft Movie. I wanted to be the leak!
– Markus Persson (@notch) February 27, 2014
Filed under: Gaming, Home Entertainment, Internet, HD
Source: Twitter (@notch)
Hulu sells its Japan operations to a local broadcaster, licenses brand name and tech
Hulu jumped into overseas expansion of subscription video streaming services around the same time as its competitors Netflix and Amazon, but now it’s taking a step back. New CEO Mike Hopkins announced one of his first big moves in a blog post, revealing that Hulu Japan has been sold to Nippon TV, one of the top TV networks in the country. In Japan the Hulu Plus-style approach has been the only one offered, with a pay subscription opening up access to a mix of local and imported-from-the-US programming, including HBO. According to Hopkins, not a lot should change for subscribers. While Nippon TV will take over day-to-day operations and expand the content available with some of its own stuff, Hulu is licensing its brand and technology to the company.
Filed under: Home Entertainment, HD
Netflix engineers experiment with bump-based video sharing and sleep tracking
Netflix uses its internal Hack Day competitions to encourage new thinking around its streaming video service, and its latest event has produced a few clever experiments that we wouldn’t mind seeing in finished apps. One of them, Netflix Beam, uses Apple’s Bluetooth-based iBeacon technology to share Netflix videos between iOS devices just by bumping them together. Another effort uses a Fitbit to check if you fall asleep mid-movie; if you do, you can resume from the point where you nodded off. Other handy Hack Day inventions include gamepad-friendly text entry, custom playlists and PIN-protected profiles. Netflix warns that these projects may never reach its public-facing software, but they’re still worth checking out to see what the company’s engineers are thinking. We’ve posted two of the pitch videos (Beam and the sleep tracker) below, and you can see a few more at the source link.
Filed under: Home Entertainment, Wearables, Internet, HD
Source: Netflix Tech Blog
Google Barge bids farewell to San Francisco, to make Stockton its new California home
Still think of the Google Barge as a wacky idea from a company that makes more money than it knows what to do with? Well, Mountain View will soon prove that a floating building has its merits: for one, when the company gets in trouble with authorities, it can get the hell out of dodge… literally. According to CNET, the vessel is slated to set sail to Stockton, California, after it was discovered in early February that it didn’t have a construction permit in San Francisco. The barge is still a work in progress (hence the need for the proper paperwork), but once it’s done, it will showcase the company’s more avant-garde creations like Glass, autonomous cars and other projects from Google X’s lab.
Google’s moving because the 35-day window it got from the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission to secure a permit is almost up. Without the permit, Google’s liable to be fined up to $30,000. Clearly, even though 30 grand is pocket change for the tech giant, it chose to pack its bags and finish construction in friendlier waters (read: outside BCDC’s jurisdiction). A rep from the Treasure Island neighborhood (where the barge is currently moored) said the vessel could leave as soon as next week, and since Stockton’s just on the other side of the bay from SF, it’ll be there in no time. Fingers crossed that Google can now focus on finishing construction, because we can’t wait to confirm if the barge’s party deck exists.
Source: CNET
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