Verizon tests new fiber system that hits 10Gbps speeds

Verizon has announced that it has successfully completed field tests of its new super-fast fiber optic technology, dubbed the next-generation passive optical network (NG-PON2). It could offer users connectivity speeds anywhere from 10Gbps to 80Gbps some point “in the future”, according to a Verizon press release. The new system utilizes an optical line terminal (OLT) capable of generating four wavelengths of light, each of which is able to transmit at an eye-watering 10Gbps down and 2.5Gbps up.

Interestingly, the network can actually transmit both the current GPON (Gigabit-capable Passive Optical Network) signal as well as this new NG-PON2 simultaneously. What’s more, should one of the wavelengths fail (due to, say, equipment failure), the system can reportedly switch over to one of the other three wavelengths to quickly restore the 10Gbps connection, a redundancy that should help improve the FIOS network’s reliability.

The company sees its implementation as a necessary step for the upcoming shift to 4K video streaming. As such, Verizon will begin issuing “requests for proposals” for the hardware and software needed to upgrade its FIOS service later this year. There’s no word yet on when the service will actually come online but it will likely only be available to businesses at first. And even then, potentially only on the East Coast. By comparison, Comcast offers 2Gbps for $300 a month, and Google offers 1Gbps service for $70, both of which are already deployed throughout the country and available to personal and commercial users alike.

[Image Credit: Associated Press]

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Tags: 10gb, fios, NG-PON2, opticallineterminal, verizon

Engadget Live hits Los Angeles next week!

Last year, we had a lot of fun at Engadget Live Los Angeles and now we’re gearing up to do it all over again. Next Friday, August 21st, we’ll take over Exchange LA from 7PM to 10PM and give readers like you a chance to experience the future of technology.

For your refreshment, our friends from Drizly will be on hand to offer drinks, including a signature Whiskey cocktail that’ll be complimentary for the first 250 people who ask for it. And we’ll announce many more sponsors in the weeks to come.

If this all sounds like an amazing night in the City of Angels (and it should), grab your free tickets here and we’ll see you on the 21st. Then, we’ll wrap up our Engadget Live series in Austin on October 16th.

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Tags: boston, drizly, engadget live, engadgetlive, escape 2016, events, ford, fordsync3, lax, los angeles, losangeles, sync 3

VR pop-up studio will help journalists track online shaming

It doesn’t take long for social media to become antisocial. A tactless tweet, an inappropriate picture or even a mundane status update can create the perfect storm for online shaming. In an attempt to convert those rabid online tendencies into opportunities for empathy, the Center for Investigative Reporting (CIR) has teamed up with Google News Lab to create a VR pop-up studio. It invites newsrooms to collaborate and explore the visual medium as a tool for creating compelling stories. Journalists will be able to use practical tools like data visualization in a virtual setting and eventually progress to realistic experiences that will place viewers in situations that might otherwise seem far removed from everyday life.

From high school bullies to fallen PR exec Justine Sacco and most recently, lion hunter Walter Palmer, the discussion around cyber-ridiculing tends to reach hyperbolic heights. The first tool under the studio’s collaborative umbrella, called Fader, will allow journalists to pull relevant activities from social media in real time. It’s essentially a dashboard, powered by the Unity gaming engine, where they can use keywords and filters to search for shaming snippets and aggregate them. The “virtual room” is expected to help them analyze those instances better, so they can identify key influencers.

While identification will help clear through the online clutter that often misguides opinions, the pop-up studio could eventually encourage empathy with immersive experiences. Journalists like Nonny de la Peña have already employed the technology to demonstrate the power of emotions within the context of news. Her pioneering work with “Project Syria” and “Hunger in Los Angeles,” for instance, places the viewers in simulated situations so they can witness the scene for themselves.

“VR can help in understanding bigger, very difficult subjects,” Linda Rath-Wiggins of VRagments, a Berlin-based organization that has partnered with CIR, told Engadget. “When people are in front of a specific event, you can make it more understandable.” It’s the virtual equivalent of walking in someone else’s shoes.

In addition to providing a network to create those experiences, Joaquin Alvarado, CEO of CIR, believes the studio will also encourage a unique a peer-to-peer relationship in the virtual space. He likens the platform to massive multiplayer games where the community network is just as integral to the experience as the environment and the action.

CIR isn’t new to progressive experimentation. The organization has toyed with various forms of storytelling over the years including podcasts, animations, data apps and video games. As such, they’re aware of the challenges that come with a new medium. “To me the problem is not technical; it’s always creative and it’s about the practice,” says Alvarado. “What can and should journalists be doing in VR that significantly advances the story, that engages the communities and stakeholders and exposes the truth? Those challenges don’t change in VR; they are not heightened or lessened; they’re just tools that we can apply to journalistic practice.”

The practice of journalism evolves with every cycle of technological advancement. Could newsrooms someday be powered by virtual reality? “Every time we get the new fever for a technology, we all feel like we’ve finally found the Rosetta Stone,” says Alvarado. “Is this going to be a boutique with some superfans who like to geek out in VR or is it going to be a mass medium that will finally activate your game console around journalism?” In the absence of a mature VR market, it’s hard to predict that just yet. For now, the studio hopes to bring the community closer in an effort to put a human face to a passing tweet.

[Images credit: Fred Hayes/Getty Images]

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Tags: CIR, ImmersiveJournalism, TechRaking, VirtualReality, vr, VRagments, VRPopupStudio

Pushbullet gets new update with end-to-end encryption

Pushbullet has received a new update in the Play Store. Users will be glad to know, the update brings a major enhancement to privacy. Notification mirroring, universal copy and paste and SMS will now be encrypted on both ends. Information sent through Pushbullet is now kept private and your data is only visible to you. The update won’t bring any changes to features in the app and everything will remain untouched.

Here’s how to enable it:

1. Download the update on all of your devices. Note: the update is currently only available to Android, Chrome and PC users. iOS and Mac availability will be rolled out in the coming weeks alongside support for other browsers.
2. Open up the app and setup a password on each device. This can be done in settings under end-to-end encryption. The password is used in order to derive a key that’s used to encrypt all the data. The password won’t be viewed by anyone except for yourself.

It’s as easy as that! Your data will now be encrypted on both ends meaning your information will be encrypted before it ever leaves your device, and isn’t decrypted until after it’s received on your other device.

Source: Pushbullet

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Rite Aid to begin accepting mobile payments on August 15th

Rite Aid has announced that they’ll be joining tons of other companies and being accepting mobile payments on August 15th. All of the company’s nearly 4600 stores will be able to take Apple Pay and Google Wallet payments.

It’s not a major deal, and it’s something that’s becoming increasingly common with most bigger stores and restaurants. But hey, if you shop at Rite Aid often, at least you won’t need to worry about bringing your credit card with you anymore.

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