Netflix admits it throttles video streams for Verizon and AT&T customers

Following accusations from T-Mobile CEO John Legere that AT&T and Verizon were throttling Netflix streams, Netflix has now admitted that it is responsible for capping the speed of the streams. Speaking to The Wall Street Journal, Netflix confirmed that it has been throttling video streams for Verizon and AT&T customers for years:

The popular video service said Thursday that for more than five years it has limited its video speeds to most wireless carriers across the globe, including AT&T and Verizon, to “protect consumers from exceeding mobile data caps,” which may discourage future viewing.

Specifically, Netflix says that it caps streams at 600 kilobits-per-second (Kbps) out of concerns that customers may stop using the service if its streams eat through too much monthly data. As for Sprint and T-Mobile, Netflix says that it doesn’t throttle streams going to customers on their networks because “historically those two companies have had more consumer-friendly policies.”

In response to the revelation, AT&T expressed its disappointment to The Wall Street Journal in no uncertain terms:

“We’re outraged to learn that Netflix is apparently throttling video for their AT&T customers without their knowledge or consent,” said Jim Cicconi, AT&T’s senior executive vice president of external and legislative affairs.

For its part, Netflix, which has been a staunch support of net neutrality and an open internet, says that it is looking at new ways to give its users more control over video quality. Part of those plans include a new “mobile data saver” feature that will land later this year, the report notes.

Netflix is the one limiting its video quality on AT&T and Verizon

Last week as T-Mobile CEO John Legere announced that his company’s Binge On program would expand to cover YouTube, he mentioned a strange point: that even the “mobile optimized” 480p Netflix streams T-Mobile offers were higher-res than what you get streaming via AT&T or Verizon. Executives from those companies said they don’t reduce the resolution of videos on their networks, although tests revealed that Legere was right — Netflix does only stream at 360p on AT&T and Verizon. Now the Wall Street Journal has reported that the culprit behind this restriction was actually Netflix itself.

7/ @TMobile has been listening to customers and thanks to a little partnership, @YouTube is now a #BingeOn partner!https://t.co/VQVZoM86Jh

— John Legere (@JohnLegere) March 17, 2016

In an odd wrinkle on net neutrality discussions over whether or not broadband providers might restrict video quality of streaming companies they compete with, Netflix chose to limit its own quality on those two networks. Through a blog post and statements to WSJ, Netflix explains that it set a cap at 600kbps to avoid using up too much data under the caps set by those providers for their customers. Sprint and T-Mobile were apparently exempt because of a history of “more consumer friendly policies.”

It all makes sense considering how quickly users can chew through bandwidth caps with HD video on mobile, although it seems odd that it wasn’t made clear until now. According to Netflix, this hasn’t been an issue for its users, who are more concerned about saving bandwidth than quality. However, it will soon introduce a “data saver” feature on its mobile apps to let users choose what bandwidth they want to stream over cellular networks — just in case you’re willing to burn a few GB so you can actually see what’s going on in Daredevil.

Source: Netflix Blog, Wall Street Journal

Solar storms trigger X-ray auroras on Jupiter

It’s no secret that auroras are a common presence on other planets… however, you might be surprised by the ones you can’t usually see. A new study using NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory has caught solar storms creating X-ray auroras on Jupiter as they interacted with the gas giant’s magnetosphere (that is, the space controlled by its magnetic field). They make Earth’s northern lights seem downright quaint by comparison — they cover areas larger than our entire home planet, and they’re “hundreds of times” more energetic than what you see in the night sky.

The observations weren’t made solely to get some pretty pictures. NASA hopes to use the data to understand how the X-rays form, which should shed light on both Jupiter and the solar winds themselves. One thing’s for sure: these findings are a reminder that even the most impressive natural phenomena on Earth can frequently be eclipsed by what you find elsewhere in space.

Source: NASA

Hacker sells data stolen from Verizon’s enterprise customers

Verizon suffered a data breach, according to KrebsOnSecurity, but you can breathe easy if you’re just one of the carrier’s subscribers. What the hacker infiltrated was Verizon Enterprise Solutions, a division that provides services to clients from the business and government sectors. Coincidentally, it’s also the task force of sorts Fortune 500 companies call in when their systems get infiltrated. Brian Krebs says a well-known member of a cybercrime forum recently posted a thread selling info on 1.5 million enterprise customers for $100,000. He also offered to share the vulnerabilities he found on Verizon’s website for a price.

The company confirmed to Krebs that it discovered and fixed a vulnerability on its enterprise portal, but not before an attacker got through and stole basic contact information. Verizon didn’t elaborate on how the hacker got in, but the spokesperson said that “no customer proprietary network information (CPNI) or other data was accessed or accessible.”

If only basic contact info was stolen, those customers won’t have to worry about identity theft or credit card fraud. However, the real worry here is that this could be a source for targeted attacks/phishing that turn into the next cryptolocker or leaked W-2 mess.

Source: KrebsOnSecurity

Google’s Nik Collection of desktop photo editing plug-ins is now free

Google has announced that its Nik Collection of photo editing plug-ins are now available for free. Google says that the decision to make the collection free came about as a result of the company shifting focus to its set of mobile photo editing tools:

Photo enthusiasts all over the world use the Nik Collection to get the best out of their images every day. As we continue to focus our long-term investments in building incredible photo editing tools for mobile, including Google Photos and Snapseed, we’ve decided to make the Nik Collection desktop suite available for free, so that now anyone can use it.

You may recall, the collection of desktop photo editing plug-ins came under Google’s purview when the search giant acquired Snapseed developer Nik Software in 2012. In all, it includes seven plug-ins for desktop programs like Photoshop, Lightroom and Aperture.

For those who purchased the plug-ins prior to today, Google says that it will automatically start issuing refunds in the coming days. In the meantime, you can check out and download the full collection for free now.

Apple Music beta for Android now has a widget

The Apple Music beta app has been updated with a very Android feature: its own widget. After the latest update, you can now control pause, play and skip tracks right from your home screen via the new widget. Apple has also included a heart icon, allowing you to quickly like any track that pops up.

Of course, there are a few other notable tweaks in the latest update, including the ability to redeem gift cards and more. Here’s the full breakdown:

• Now you can add songs from the Apple Music catalog to playlists without having to add it to your library. You can also:
• Control playback with a widget you can add to your home screen
• Redeem gift cards in Settings to renew your membership using iTunes credit
• See what’s playing on Beats 1 directly from the Radio tab — without having to tune in
• Tap the name of the currently playing song in Now Playing to go to the album
• See which songs are most popular on albums in the Apple Music catalog

If you want to give Apple Music on Android a spin, you can grab the app from the Google Play badge above. New users can also give the service a shot with a 3-month free trial.

Snapchat reportedly acquires Bitstrips for around $100 million

Snapchat has reportedly agreed to acquire Bitstrips, the company behind the popular Bitmoji mobile app. The news, which has yet to be confirmed by either company, comes from Fortune:

Snapchat has agreed to acquire Bitstrips, the Toronto-based maker of personalized emojis known as bitmojis, Fortune has learned from multiple sources.

The report goes on to note the deal is valued at around $100 million.

If true, Snapchat’s motivations behind the reported acquisition remain unclear. However, the company has made a number of moves over the past year towards giving users more ways to customize their snaps with custom filters and the like. It’s not hard to imagine a scenario wherein Bitstrips’ expertise with helping users craft custom cartoon avatars would come in handy for Snapchat.

Oculus starts shipping the finished Rift headset

It finally happened. After nearly four years of crowdfunding, developer kits, an acquisition by Facebook and seemingly endless hype, the finished Oculus Rift headset is shipping to its first customers. Oculus chief Brendan Iribe has confirmed that his company’s initial batch of VR wearables should reach customers as early as March 28th, or just in time to make the promised March timeframe. It’s still not certain who will get the early bragging rights, but Oculus did say that Kickstarter backers will get the completed Rift for free instead of paying the usual $599 — they’re the ones who’ll laugh last.

If you got into the first wave, you’re lucky. Oculus ran out of March inventory almost as soon as pre-orders began, and purchasing one now won’t put anything on your head until July. That’s assuming you even have a PC that can handle it. Still, this is an important moment in VR history: you’re looking at the first major, home-oriented VR headset for PCs to reach the public, arriving mere days before the HTC Vive. Whether or not the Rift succeeds, computing won’t be quite the same again.

The first Oculus Rift has shipped, deliveries begin Monday 3.28.2016. pic.twitter.com/C0MMKmezun

— Brendan Iribe (@brendaniribe) March 24, 2016

Source: Brendan Iribe (Twitter)

Make your own accessories for the Steam controller

Valve wants to know what you’d do with its Steam controller if you had a chance to customize it. The gaming behemoth has released the CAD plans for it in an effort to spurn the community to put its own spin on the gamepad be it with accessories or other design ideas. All the external geometry files are available to download from the Steam Community page. “This allows you to create and share to your heart’s content,” Valve writes. “But you’ll need to get in touch with Valve is you want to sell your creations.”

From the looks of it, this should make 3D printing your own mockup pretty easy, too. As a springboard, Valve has dropped a few variations for the controller’s battery door (below) that have a cavity for holding the wireless USB receiver.

When we last wrote about the Steam controller at length, we mentioned its low-hanging face buttons and sharp plastic seams as design quirks — maybe what you come up with will feel a little better in that respect. Given Valve’s generally good graces regarding profit splitting with its community creations, it doesn’t seem like Gabe Newell and Co. would have much of an issue with you selling any accessories for the gamepad.

Source: Steam Community

Redbox is reportedly giving internet video another shot

Remember Redbox’s first stab at online video? You’d be forgiven if you didn’t. The whole affair lasted about a year and a half before low adoption and payment snafus led Redbox to call it quits. However, the company appears ready to give it another try. Variety’s tipsters have leaked details about Redbox Digital, a service that would let you buy and rent movies across PCs, mobile devices and TV add-ons like Roku boxes. It’d tie closely with both the company’s website and its existing mobile apps, and every movie you grab would count towards Redbox’s loyalty program.

The company isn’t denying that the service is in development, but it’s also stopping short of committing to a launch. In a statement, it told Variety that it will “regularly conduct tests” of new services that “may or may not” reach the public. It might be closer than that sounds, though, as the sources hear that a closed beta test might begin “soon.” The raft of screenshots and concept images certainly suggests that this isn’t just a passing fantasy.

Going digital might be necessary. Redbox’s parent, Outerwall, has been hurting as business from its signature movie kiosks falls off a cliff — it expects disc rental revenues to drop 15 to 20 percent this year. An internet service would help Outerwall reduce its dependency on physical movies. With that said, it’s not clear that Redbox Digital would stand out. After all, you can already buy or rent movies from Google Play Movies, iTunes and countless other services. Redbox would mostly be leaning on its name and loyalty program to get an edge over rivals, and those might not be enough.

Source: Variety