Engadget HD Podcast 398 – 5.15.14

Yep, there’s more net neutrality talk this week, but look on the bright side: at least Eastbound & Down has arrived on Blu-ray. But it doesn’t take a major leaguer to throw a curveball, as exemplified by Netflix’s one dollar price hike for all its subscribers. The upside? If you’re an existing customer, you get a two-year grace period on that increase. NBC is also upping the ante, but its all about locking in Olympics broadcast coverage until 2032 to the tune of $7.65 billion. While some things are looking to the future, this week also brought about a slew of TV finales, including the less-than-triumphant return of Cleveland Brown to Family Guy after his own show got canned. All this and more can be found amongst the informed chatter on this week’s Engadget HD Podcast, conveniently served up at the streaming links below.

Hosts: Richard Lawler, Ben Drawbaugh

Producer: Jon Turi

Hear the podcast:

13:20 – Microsoft lowers Xbox One price to $400 without Kinect
18:53 – Netflix, Hulu, YouTube and other services will be open to all on Xbox One, Xbox 360
26:46 – The hidden value of Amazon’s Fire TV
36:39 – Netflix begins raising prices, but current users get a two-year freeze
39:08 – FCC’s new net neutrality rules opposed by 100+ internet companies
42:12 – FCC may revise the new net neutrality rules, but it’s unlikely to satisfy critics
50:52 – NBC’s $7 billion Olympics deal will keep the games tied to cable TV until you’re old
52:54 – Major League Soccer to stream out-of-market games on ESPN3
56:13 – Rumors say AT&T is close to a $50 billion deal for DirecTV, unless it isn’t
58:28 – Sony reportedly puts its OLED TV efforts on hold
01:00:56 – PBS gives parents a way to monitor what kids are watching on its site
01:06:22 – Breaking Bad in 4K coming to Netflix in June
01:09:46 – Vudu’s ‘Share My Movies’ lets up to five friends peek into your library
01:11:54 – Must See HDTV for the week of May 12th: Her, Crocodile Dundee and so many finales

Get the podcast:

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Contact the podcast:

Connect with the hosts on Twitter: @rjcc, @bjdraw

Filed under: Podcasts, HD

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Shocker: The telcos are not pleased about today’s net neutrality vote

Earlier today, the FCC voted in a 3-2 split to move ahead with plans for fresh net neutrality rules. All told, this new set of proposed regulations differs somewhat from the commission’s first proposal, which was shot down by a federal court earlier this year. In brief, the FCC wants to impose a “no blocking” rule, and is calling for a “fast and robust” performance baseline. Meaning, even if a company like Comcast wanted to charge Netflix for faster service, it would still have to deliver adequate speeds even for websites that weren’t in the fast lane. Speaking of, these new rules do indeed allow for so-called fast lanes, though again, it’s unclear how slow the “slow lane” will be. Finally, FCC chairman Tom Wheeler is also calling for an ombudsman to investigate complaints of abuse on the part of ISPs. As you can imagine, internet service providers aren’t happy about that last one. Or any of it, really.

In a statement, AT&T said:

Going backwards 80 years to the world of utility regulation would represent a tragic step in the wrong direction. Utility regulation would strangle investment, hobble innovation, and put government regulators in charge of nearly every aspect of Internet-based services. It would deprive America of the world’s most robust broadband infrastructure, and place a cloud over every application or website that delivers products and content to consumers. In short, it would place government in control of the Internet at the expense of private companies, inventors and entrepreneurs, and ultimately at the expense of the American people.

“Such an approach would also send an alarming message to the rest of the world-a message that says the United States believes it is appropriate for governments to place onerous regulations on the Internet. This could encourage other countries to pursue their own goals, whether to suppress ‘dangerous’ speech or extract economic value from American Internet and content companies.

Tragic. Strangle. Hobble. Deprive. Alarming. Onerous. Got it: Ma Bell ain’t pleased.

Verizon’s reaction, meanwhile, was a little more tempered. In a much briefer statement, the company said it “looks to reviewing the FCC’s proposal, and we will be constructively engaged in the months to come” but that it, too, is generally opposed to regulation:

But one thing is clear: For the FCC to impose 1930s utility regulation on the Internet would lead to years of legal and regulatory uncertainty and would jeopardize investment and innovation in broadband.

Ditto for Comcast, which even went with a kinda-approving blog post headline:

As strongly as we believe in the propriety of legally enforceable open Internet rules, however, we have an equally strong belief that any proposal to reclassify broadband Internet access as a telecommunications service subject to Title II of the Communications Act would spark massive instability, create investor and marketplace uncertainty, derail planned investments, slow broadband adoption, and kill jobs in America.

We, too, look forward to seeing what the FCC comes up with, though as a warning, it’s not likely to deliver a final net neutrality proposal until later this year. In the meantime, we expect the ISPs are suiting up (with lobbyists, that is). We’re reaching out to some of the other major providers, and will update this post as they weigh in.

Filed under: Internet

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Source: AT&T, Verizon, Comcast

Tires with built-in sensors keep a watchful eye on tread wear

Continental is bolstering its Tire Pressure Monitoring System (TPMS ) to not only monitor your tire pressure but its tread depth, too. As your tires age and change shape, so does the way they roll and interact with the road surface. Continental’s clever system keeps track of these differences and compares them over time with model-specific stored data. When your tires eventually hit some pre-determined threshold, the car will notify you that your boots have reached their end of life. Continental expects this to roll into retail for the 2017 season in cars equipped with its TPMS systems. But fret not, you can always use that old standby — your eyes — to actually look and see if the tread wear indicators are flush with the tire surface. If they are, remember it’s safety first, so go get yourself a new set.

[Image credit: Continental]

Filed under: Transportation

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Via: Autoblog

Source: Continental

AT&T’s high-quality LTE calls arrive on May 23rd, but only on one phone

Right in sync with rumors, AT&T has launched its high-quality LTE voice calling in a handful of places across the US. If you live in the right parts of Illinois, Indiana, Minneapolis and Wisconsin, you’ll get pristine-sounding phone conversations starting on May 23rd. There’s no public roadmap for other regions, but AT&T is promising news on a “market-to-market” basis. Just don’t expect a wide selection of phones at first. The only phone that will support voice over LTE from day one is the fairly ho-hum Galaxy S4 Mini — if you just bought a Galaxy S5 or some other hot new device, you’ll still have to wait patiently for word of an update. Many smartphones are capable of handling the technology, however, so don’t be surprised if your next heart-to-heart chat sounds much clearer than usual.

[Image credit: Getty Images]

Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless, Mobile, AT&T

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Source: AT&T (1), (2)

Samsung Galaxy S5 Prime leaks appear…again

So, the leaks just keep on coming and today @evleaks, probably the most reliable source ever, posted to their twitter account:

Samsung SM-G906, the “Galaxy S5 Prime” for Korea, to come in five colors: black, white, gold, blue, and sweet pink.

Now you might not know @evleaks, but normally when they tweet about an upcoming device, they are spot on.  Ok, so we know the colors, check! How about build quality? Metal, hopefully! Global launch? Korea then U.S., please!  Specs? It’s already decked out!

There are still alot of questions up in the air, but one thing is for sure, a Galaxy S5 Prime will release sometime in the near future.  Keep on watching and we’ll keep on updating!

Source: Evleaks

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Time to get motivated with Lift- Daily Motivation [App of the Day]

Everybody needs that push to do things they don’t always want to do. Pullups, pushups, drinking a gallon of water, no carbs in the evening, and meditating are things that can be extremely beneficial to you, and Lift would like to help you do them every day or on a consistent basis.

Lift- Daily Motivation is a simple app that contains many goals you can choose from to get started with, and put a check mark next to the ones you complete each day. Each goal is designed to start slow and progress as you do, creating a very fulfilling experience. The main goal in this app is to complete tasks in as many consecutive days as possible.

Lift also allows you to find and follow friends to see what their goals are and get some ideas. The notifications on Lift are nice in the fact that they remind you to do certain things throughout the day. For example, I was sitting around doing nothing in the afternoon when I hear my phone’s notification chime to tell me “This is an easy one if you have some time to spare, let’s Meditate for 5 Minutes.” because I had not completed that task today. Very nifty, in my opinion, and it never was annoying or intrusive.

There’ something for everyone within this app, even if you aren’t a fitness junky or spiritual person. After trying Lift, however, you might just become one!

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