Hurricane Sandy takes down 25% of cell towers in 10 states

Telecom companies have reported that 25% of cell towers have been knocked out in 10 states in the wake of Hurricane Sandy. In addition, 25% of cable services have also been lost in those states, although landline outages are reported to be “far fewer.” Emergency calls are currently being rerouted to different call centers, according to the FCC.

According to FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski, only a very small number of 911 call centers have been impacted by the storm. Thus far, no numbers have been given on how many customers have been affected by the various outages. Sadly, the situation is expected to worsen in the coming days. The National Hurricane Center is reporting storm surge advisories until 4AM November 2.

Said Genachowski, “The storm is not over. And our assumption is that communications outages could get worse before they get better, particularly for mobile networks because of the flooding and loss of power.” It is estimated that 7 to 8 million people are without power. Some systems are currently running on generators, and could also go out if not catered to before the backup power goes down.

Several wireless carriers and cable providers have reported outages and various other problems, including the big names like Verizon and Time Warner. Several websites have also experienced outages, including Buzzfeed and The Huffington Post. Consumers are being urged to avoid non-essential mobile use, reserving calls and text messages for emergency communication only.

[via USA Today]


Hurricane Sandy takes down 25% of cell towers in 10 states is written by Brittany Hillen & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.


Clean up Your Cable Squid with Unlaces

OK, so the tangle of wires behind my desk is getting pretty ridiculous. Luckily, I’ve got it confined in a corner, so it’s not going to take over my place any time soon, but something like Unlace might just banish the cable squid to Davy Jones’ Locker forever.

unlace cable management

Unlaces are designed to manage your excess cable with ease. The colorful, rubbery, and twistable lace will allow you to neatly bundle  cords, cables, and any other loose ends. They are made out of reusable silicone material, and look like colorful shoelaces. Unlaces will be available in 5″ and 10″ varieties.

unlace cable management earphone

You’ll have to pledge $20(USD) on Kickstarter to get a set of four 5″ Unlaces. $33 buys you eight of the 5″, while $40 or more gets you as set of eight 10″ Unlaces. With $9,860 pledged of a $10,000-goal, and 25 days of funding left, the project will surely be fully funded.

unlace cable management power

[via Ubergizmo]


Dish Subscribers Are Getting AMC and The Walking Dead Back

Great news for Dish subscribers—you’re getting The Walking Dead, Breaking Bad, and Mad Men back. Dish Networks and AMC have finally settled their legal battle, so consider your Sunday nights salvaged. More »

FCC cuts Boxee a little encryption slack (but not forever)

Boxee is declaring victory in recent FCC decisions on cable encryption, though the loophole for third-party devices wanting to tune into free channels could involve some messy cabling. The set-top box company had joined with Comcast to protest against cable encryption proposals that could have blocked devices like the Boxee Box from getting a signal without owners paying a subscription, and while the FCC isn’t entirely convinced by their collective arguments, it has thrown a temporary solution their way.

Boxee itself plays coy with the details, but the FCC’s own summary spills some technical details. Cable companies will be obliged to notify users that their basic tier service will be encrypted and offer them a free adapter box: those with only basic service will get up to two of the boxes for two years (five years if they’re on Medicaid), while those with an existing cable company supplied STB or DVR will get one of the boxes for a spare TV.

Those adapters will decrypt the basic service and allow the Boxee Box and other third-party systems to chew through the channels as they do now. However, it’s not all gone Boxee’s way. Subscribers will have to pay a monthly service fee outside of that two year period for the use of the adapters.

Meanwhile, there were calls to mandate the sort of FRAND-style (fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory) licensing obligations that 3G patent holders must follow to cable companies, but the FCC decided only to insist on “good faith” licensing and the requirement for clear DLNA (or other standard) labeling so that users and third-party manufacturers know what will work with which box.

Meanwhile, there’s no end in sight for CableCARD either, with the FCC opting to stick with the technology despite some requests to replace it. The Commission points out that no company should have been branding its devices as “digital cable ready” unless they had CableCARD support, and argues that the proviso means there should be no confusion.


FCC cuts Boxee a little encryption slack (but not forever) is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.


FCC to allow encryption of basic cable, with a few strings that Boxee approves of

Boxee box

As you might expect, the cable industry has been taking measures to protect its business by asking the FCC to allow encryption of basic cable — something that has never been done and that many have rightly opposed. The FCC responded by releasing new rules on Friday and while cable operators will be able allowed to encrypt all their channels, it isn’t without a few strings. The Boxee blog voiced its approval of those strings, which basically amounts to a requirement that when an operator encrypts, it also needs to make basic channels accessible via IP — with or without some hardware in your home — so that Boxee and others can still tune in. The other, less interesting stipulation, is that you might be entitled to at least one free set-top box or CableCARD for up to five years, depending on what package you subscribe to or if you are on Medicaid. The free hardware will only be for existing customers who apply within four months of when your provider rolls out the basic cable encryption. The real loser here are those few who actually use the Clear-QAM tuner in their TV, or perhaps those that use HTPC software that’ll never get an update.

Filed under: ,

FCC to allow encryption of basic cable, with a few strings that Boxee approves of originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 14 Oct 2012 18:14:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Boxee  |  sourceFCC Report and Order (PDF)  | Email this | Comments

Smart Guide Cable Management Works Even Inside a Computer

I have to admit that my cable management system is basically non-existent, and the cable squid is set to take over the rest of my apartment if I don’t manage to do something about it soon. Maybe the Smart Guide cable management system could help me out.

smart guide cable management

Smart Guide was created by Albanian designer Marin Myftiu. His solution addresses many concerns that people have with their bowl of cable spaghetti, and should eradicate at least part of yours. Its modular structure and rainbow color-coding make it pop, and help you keep track of what wire is running where. It will work with cables of virtually any size, shape, or length.

smart guide cable management side

The system can be used for power cable management, PC cables and rack servers, as well as the wiring of a PC. For now, this is a concept, but someone needs to put these into production ASAP.

smart guide cable management close

[via designboom]


Virgin Media begins pushing its UK broadband to 120Mbps, much to Usain’s delight

Virgin Media begins pushing its broadband to 120Mb

If you’re one of Virgin Media’s top-tier internet customers, you may soon see your service getting a little speedier. The Branson-backed company is boosting its top speed from 100Mbps to 120Mbps, thanks to a £110 million ($169 million) infrastructure investment. The majority of the network — around 60 percent — has yet to be supercharged, but you can use the coverage checker linked below to see if you’re in-line for an early Christmas present from Sir Richard.

Continue reading Virgin Media begins pushing its UK broadband to 120Mbps, much to Usain’s delight

Filed under: , , ,

Virgin Media begins pushing its UK broadband to 120Mbps, much to Usain’s delight originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 09 Oct 2012 07:38:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourceVirgin Coverage Checker  | Email this | Comments

Have Cable Modem Rental Fees Actually Gotten You To Do Anything? [Chatroom]

Time Warner Cable just added a snazzy little rental fee to all its customers’ bills, which hasn’t made anyone (outside of maybe the Time Warner offices) very happy. A lot of other cable companies do this too. You can get around it by buying your own modem or maybe get a better plan with more bandwidth a free modem so you’ll be paying more, but not wasting money on a rental. But have you? More »

Nintendo Controllers & Cords Turned into Art

Those cords on vintage video game consoles sure got in the way whenever you weren’t playing. They were long enough that they always got twisted up and tangled everywhere. So if you have a bunch of old Nintendo controllers, you might as well use all of that cord length to make some art.
nes controller art
That’s what artist Erika Iris Simmons (aka iRI5) did in a series titled ‘Ghost In The Machine’. Extending the series of cassette tape art we saw a couple of years back, she now uses the cords from old game controllers to create characters including Mario, and Link as well as Pac-Man. Some were recently for sale in a gallery exhibition for $2,000(USD) each. Not a bad profit margin for controller cable doodles.

mario cord art

Check out the rest in her gallery. She makes some pretty awesome stuff.

[via Geekologie]


Ask Engadget: should companies include a cable with a new product?

Ask Engadget

We know you’ve got questions, and if you’re brave enough to ask the world for answers, here’s the outlet to do so. This week’s Ask Engadget inquiry is from David, who wants to know if you’d prefer a free cable or a cheaper device when you buy pro audio gear. If you’re looking to send in an inquiry of your own, drop us a line at ask [at] engadget [dawt] com.

Many thanks!”

a) Include a cheap cable and let people who care buy a high quality one?
b) Include a reasonable quality cable but increase the price?
c) Include no cable and make it clear they need to buy one?

“I work for a small audio-tech company and we’re currently getting close to releasing our first retail product, which does surround sound from stereo inputs — kinda like Dolby Pro Logic, except good. Internally, we’re agonizing over if we should include a stereo RCA cable. Of course, users will need to integrate an additional cable into their setup, but plenty of people will have spares lying around at home. Do you think it’s better to:

What a question! We’re decidedly of two minds, since given a bit of haggling, most retailers will chuck in a branded lead, but we’d hate to get our shiny new gear home to find it’s missing a key component the one time they don’t. Our dithering aside, it’s time to turn the question over to our faithful Engadgeteers with this chance to shape the future of the high-end audio business for the better… we’d better not disappoint the man!

Filed under: ,

Ask Engadget: should companies include a cable with a new product? originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 29 Sep 2012 22:46:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments