Your internet is probably slower than advertised
When it comes to internet speeds, “you get what you pay for” is pretty far from the truth a majority of the time. The Wall Street Journal used Ookla’s speed-testing data to survey some 800 US cities and 27 ISPs in terms of advertised transfer rates and what customers are actually getting, and the results are pretty surprising. A vast majority of providers give their customers the short shrift on speed (Verizon Internet Services and AT&T Uverse are among the most prominent offenders), while a handful of ISPs including Charter, Earthlink and Midcontinent Communications actually exceed promised speeds by eight percent or more. A probable reason for the latter is because those listed are smaller providers, with likely lighter user-loads than, say, Comcast or CenturyLink.
If you’re curious where delivered rates jive most consistently with what’s advertised, Trenton, New Jersey, leads the country with download speeds exceeding advertised numbers by over nine percent. Yes, we’re surprised too. On the other side of that coin, however, Idaho has three cities where customers are only getting between between 50 percent and 59 percent of the transfer-rates they’re paying for. The slowest cities have a few factors in common, though: they’re in the middle of nowhere, have low populations and are typically smaller geographically. If you’re curious where your town ranks for delivered speeds, be sure to hit WSJ – its list isn’t comprehensive, but should give a decent idea of how a nearby city ranks if yours wasn’t measured.
[Image credit: emptyage/Flickr]
Filed under: Internet, Verizon, AT&T
Source: Wall Street Journal
London Tube and buses begin trialling smartphone payments (again)
Despite suggestions that NFC payments were too slow, London’s Tube and bus networks appear ready once again for some contactless disruption. According to the Financial Times, both EE and Vodafone have engaged in talks with Transport for London (TfL) to provide mobile wallets that will let travellers pay for their ticket using only their smartphone. It’s part of an effort to expand beyond the successful but costly Oyster card and follows TfL’s recent upgrades enabling Tube barriers to accept contactless cards. Those changes opened support for NFC payments, which simply need to be activated. Should trials be successful, commuters may soon be able preload their Tube fare from a platform, ticket office or escalator in one of a hundred WiFi-connected London Underground stations.
[Image credit: Chris Brown, Flickr]
Filed under: Mobile
Source: Financial Times
Apple Now Accepting All Products for Recycling at Retail Stores
Apple will now begin accepting old products for recycling at all of its retail stores worldwide, reports The Associated Press. While the company has had a recycling program for quite some time, the terms for trading in a product would vary by device category.
For instance, those looking to trade in a Mac or iPad for recycling were limited to filling out an online form and shipping it with a prepaid label, while those looking to drop off an iPhone or iPod could bring it into an Apple Retail Store or ship it to a recycling center.
Now, customers are welcome to bring in all products to any of its retail locations, where the company will recycle them for free. While all devices will be accepted for recycling at no charge, those who bring in products that are in fair condition will also receive a store gift card.
Apple made changes to its recycling program in 2011, expanding the program to include more devices and older computers. Last year, Apple also introduced an iPhone trade-in program that allowed customers to trade in a device for a gift card that could be used toward the purchase of a new iPhone, which has since expanded to multiple countries.
The move comes as Apple launched its “Better” environmental campaign yesterday ahead of Earth Day, which included a video detailing the environmental efforts of its Apple Campus 2 project. Apple will celebrate Earth Day at its retail locations around the world by giving its logos green leaves and having its employees wear special green shirts. The company will also reportedly hold an event at its main campus in Cupertino, California. 
LG’s upcoming G Watch detailed with new specs and images
LG’s official site has just spilled a few extra tidbits about the G Watch, which is due out in the summer and will be based on Google’s Android Wear platform. For a start, there’ll be two color options: “stealth black” or “champagne gold,” both with plain rubbery straps and slab-like faces that are meant to look “timeless.” Fortunately, though, the G Watch will have the time written all over it during actual use, because LG is promising that the screen will never go to sleep — unlike Samsung’s Gear 2, where you have to wake up the display with a movement of your arm. One last important detail is a confirmation that the device will be waterproof and dustproof — something that, strangely, still can’t be taken for granted in the smartwatch market.
Filed under: Wearables, Mobile, LG
Source: LG
Android 4.4.2 for the G2 and G-Flex! – Device Updates
Monday funday? Of course not. But hey, Device Updates is here, and hopefully your device is getting an update, or already got one. Android 4.4.2 shows its face to the LG G2 and the G-Flex. You guys out there with an Xperia Z device will be getting your update next month hopefully. Sony is pretty good at keeping their promises.
Device Updates
Verizon LG G2 gets Android 4.4.2
AT&T LG G-Flex gets Android 4.4.2
Samsung Galaxy S4 Active gets KitKat
Xperia Z line getting Android 4.4 next month
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Apple extends free recycling to all used products – and you might get a gift card
Reiterating what the Apple CEO said at last month’s shareholder meeting, Tim Cook still wants to “leave the world better than we found it”, and nows he’s trying harder to deliver on that. Starting today, all of the company’s stores will accept any Apple product for recycling at no charge. Better still, if it looks resalable, the company will offer some store credit (read Apple gift card) to sweeten the deal. Talking to the AP, Lisa Jackson, VP of environmental initiatives (and former EPA administrator) said that Apple wants to “use all our innovation and all of our expertise to make the planet more secure and make the environment better.” Now, it might be hard to care less about both the accompanying glossy video from Apple (narrated by Cook and embedded after the break) and the portal site touching on the company’s multi-pronged green initiatives, but even our cynicism can’t defend against some of the impressive environmental progress made by Cook’s team in recent years.
Apple’s four data centers, based in the US, now use only renewable energy, encompassing biogas, wind, solar and hydroelectric power. Up from 35 percent in 2010, roughly 94 percent of the power used by Apple offices across the world is now from renewable sources, while 120 of its US retail outlets also boast the same environmentally-friendly credentials. Greenpeace recently described Apple as the most innovative and aggressive company pursuing the aim of being 100 percent renewably-powered, and if Greenpeace likes what you’re doing, that’s normally a good sign.
We want to leave the world better than we found it. We’re proud of our progress but we know we have much more to do. http://t.co/iHzF9rUnx1
– Tim Cook (@tim_cook) April 22, 2014
Filed under: Cellphones, Laptops, Tablets, Apple
Source: Apple
The ‘Elephant Listening Project’ captures the animal’s secret language on film
Elephants might have their own language, one that’s communicated through a series of ultra low-frequency rumbles. A new study called the Elephant Listening Project (ELP) is attempting to decode Dumbo by analyzing over 300,000 hours of audio captured from infrasonic (super sensitive) microphones hidden in trees in the forests of Africa.
The rumbles are one of the team’s most interesting discoveries. While they happen at a frequency almost too low for humans to hear, the noises can be heard for several miles. Mothers will sometimes use a rumble to tell their children to stop playing (pshh, typical mom), or to greet old friends they haven’t seen in a while. When it comes to elephants, females are traditionally the chatty ones, while male elephants often just standby and watch.
There are currently only around 100,000 forest elephants in existence, down from five times that in 1993. The animals are decreasing rapidly in number due primarily to poaching. Ivory can go for close to $1,300 a pound on the black market, which means lots of people are after it — and the elephants are understandably wary of humans. ELP recordings are created six months at a time, and are done in the rainforest without any human presence. While primarily audio, researchers have also placed a number of infrared cameras around to record behavior. One set caught a “celebration” of sorts between all the females after two elephants mated, the first time anything like it had been captured on film. The hope is that ultimately the entire system can be used as an alarm system of sorts for poachers, and help give the species a chance for a few more post-coital celebrations.
Image source: AFP/Getty Images
Filed under: Science
Via: The DoDo
Source: The Elephant Listening Project
Reddit’s tech community just got scolded, is no longer front page news
Thousands of self-managed forums make up Reddit’s sizable corner of the internet, but only a few dozen bear the coveted “default” status that places them on every new user’s list of subscribed communities. Now, there’s one fewer. A dramatic saga of censorship, poor moderation and keyword-based deletion scripts have ousted the technology subreddit (/r/technology) from the default list.
The change came shortly after users sleuthed out a number of keywords that, if present in a post’s headline, would cause it to be automatically deleted. The community’s moderators eventually confirmed that a bot called AutoModerator was used to cull content — specifically targeting politicized or controversial terms. Unfortunately, the banned words included terms like anti-piracy, SOPA, NSA, Snowden, Bitcoin and even CEO, ensuring that dozens of hot-topic stories would never make it to Reddit’s front page.
The community’s moderators have since made the tool’s configuration page publicly viewable, nixing most of the auto-ban subjects in the process. “We messed up, and we are sorry,” community moderator Pharnaces_II explained. “The mods directly responsible for this system are no longer part of the team and the new team is committed to maintaining a transparent style of moderation.” Fixing the AutoModerator tool is only the first step, though: former moderators have outlined the hot mess of power struggles, policy disagreements and staffing issues that caused /r/technology to lose its status.
Reddit’s message the community’s moderators (presented to the public in a imgur link) outlines the road to recovery pretty clearly, at least. “If you can manage to look past your petty squabbles, add new moderators (there needs to be a significant increase in active mods), and function as a team we might consider adding you back.” Sounds like a solid gameplan to us. Check out the links below to peek at the moderator’s own comments on the issue and a deeper look at the drama surrounding it.
Filed under: Internet
Via: Mashable
Source: Reddit (1), (2), BBC
Aaron Sorkin on Steve Jobs Movie Portrayal: He’s ‘Part Hero, Part Anti-Hero’ [Mac Blog]
Screenwriter Aaron Sorkin has revealed more information about his script for the Steve Jobs movie while speaking at the Tribeca Film Festival on Monday night to Mashable, telling the site his movie isn’t a traditional biopic or the story of Steve Jobs.
“It’s not a biopic; it’s not the story of Steve Jobs — it’s something much different than that,” Sorkin said. “He’s a fascinating guy — part hero, part antihero.”
Sorkin declined to comment on today’s report from The Hollywood Reporter saying that Slumdog Millionaire director Danny Boyle was in talks to direct the Steve Jobs movie with Leonardo DiCaprio potentially starring as the Apple co-founder. Instead, he said that he wanted the movie to speak for itself and that Jobs was a “fascinating guy” surrounded by “fascinating people” and had “very interesting relationships in his life”.
Additionally, Sorkin revealed that the film, which he referred to as Steve Jobs, was one of the few times in his career he set out to write what he wanted to write and that it was an “incredibly satisfying” feeling.
The script, which Sorkin completed in January, uses material from Walter Isaacson’s Steve Jobs biography and will focus on three 30-minute scenes ahead of three product launches. No potential release date has been announced.
Airbnb pulls over 2,000 sketchy New York City rental listings
Airbnb is clearly tired of getting grief from cities that say its customers’ short-term rentals are frequently illegal or otherwise a drain on the community. The company has revealed that it’s in the midst of removing more than 2,000 New York City listings that aren’t “providing a quality, local experience to guests.” While Airbnb hasn’t said exactly what that means, the move comes as the state Attorney General filed an affidavit in support of a subpoena for Airbnb customer info. The filing claims that two thirds of NYC rentals break the law by subletting an entire apartment without the official tenants being present, and it named and shamed 17 hosts that are allegedly the biggest abusers.
Just what’s driving the delistings depends on who you ask. Airbnb tells Business Insider that it had been planning the action for “months.” On its blog, the company added that all of the hosts on the affidavit list have been banned; it accuses the Attorney General’s office of trying to “distract” from the invasiveness of the subpoena. The Attorney General, meanwhile, rejects the claims. He argues that Airbnb is trying to “confuse the issue” by waging a public relations war instead of cooperating with authorities.
Whether or not you believe the spin from either side, the delisting may discourage crimes beyond just property violations. As the New York Post notes, some Airbnb renters in NYC have been setting up temporary brothels and illegal hotels. It’s doubtful that the crackdown will completely eliminate these kinds of rentals, but they might be harder to arrange in the future.
Filed under: Internet
Via: Business Insider
Source: Airbnb, New York Post (1), (2)
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