Hasta La Gadget!

Feeling left out because your internet provider isn’t on board with Netflix’s Open Connect program that provides access to its Super HD high-bitrate 1080p streams? Let that feeling of abandonment go, as the company has announced all of its customers (with compatible players) now have access to the higher quality video (and, in the US, 3D). According to Netflix the move is based on a combination of performance data and member requests, although we’ll consider ourselves unofficial beta testers after a glitch temporarily switched it on for all providers back in August. Netflix is going to keep pushing its Open Connect platform, and reminds users that actually getting the video streams with less compression depends on the network connection available. Let us know if you’re seeing a few new shades and sharper edges in OITNB, or if things have stayed pretty much the same.

Filed under: Home Entertainment, Internet, HD

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Source: Netflix Blog, Netflix Support

Google’s feeling a bit nostalgic lately: in fact, today is the company’s 15th anniversary. However, its look at the past is a fleeting thing, and Big G is very much focused on the future. To that end, Senior VP of Search, Amit Singhal just revealed a host of new features for search. First up, tablet and mobile users will be seeing a new card-based UI that’s been making its way across all of Google’s services, and has defined the look of Google Now since its inception. In addition to providing a consistent brand appearance, the new look arrives in tandem with an improvement to the Knowledge Graph that delivers an easier way for folks to drill down on answers to their queries. For example, when searching for a particular band, a card will pop up at the top with a list of songs that you can scroll from side to side. In another example, search answered a comparison query with an expandable, columned chart card that displayed pertinent info about the two things asked to be compared. Plus, you’ll be able to see other cards with web and other results at the same time, instead of needing to navigate between pages to see all the results.

In keeping with the updated aesthetics on Android, Google’s also rolling out a new-look version of its iOS search app. The new app version will put users directly in a Google Now interface that’ll feel familiar to Android users, and brings notifications, reminders and hotwording to Apple-philes. Furthermore, the search app is now cross-platform, so if you add a reminder in iOS, it’ll show up on Android and vice-versa. %Gallery-slideshow98635%

Filed under: Cellphones, Internet, Google

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Source: Inside Search blog, Google+

A few days ago, the South China Morning Post claimed that blocks put on websites like Twitter, Facebook and The New York Times were to be lifted in Shanghai’s new free-trade zone. And the justification made sense, too: relax restrictions to make visitors happy, and potentially cash in on accelerated foreign investment as a result. Plausible, sure, but according to state-run news outlet the People’s Daily, completely untrue. As it turns out, the Chinese powers that be allegedly have no intention of allowing web traffic in the free-trade zone to circumvent the Great Firewall, which means visiting Twitter addicts will still have to turn to Weibo for their social network / microblogging fix.

[Image credit: Wikimedia Commons]

Update: People.com.cn (not the People’s Daily, as reported earlier) has since pulled its post. There’s no explanation as to why.

Filed under: Internet

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Via: The Register

Source: TechWeb (Chinese)

We’re hearing from tipsters and a number of other sources, including Google’s own Product Forums, that a bug is causing some Google Hangouts and Google Talk messages to be sent to the wrong recipients. A few awkward situations have already ensued, according to TechCrunch, such as internal company communications being sent to ex-employees. The privacy bug seems to crop up when users of the old Google Talk platform try to connect with those who have migrated to the newer Hangouts service, so it sounds like it could be a transitional thing — it’s also reminiscent of a similar bug that hit Skype last year. Meanwhile, some of us here at Engadget are currently experiencing the more fundamental (though thankfully less embarrassing) problem of not being able to log onto Hangouts in the first place.

Update: Google’ status page reports that the issue has been resolved and that services are “gradually returning to normal.” It says it will update users again when the full service is restored.

[Thanks, Boris]

Filed under: Internet, Mobile, Google

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Source: Google Product Forums, TechCrunch

Following a similar deal in May with the NBA, Twitter’s Amplify program has landed an envy-inducing arrangement with the National Football League. As part of the new advertising partnership, the NFL will leverage Twitter to “package in-game highlights and other video content” inside sponsored tweets, which can be distributed via a marketer during games. Both Twitter and the NFL will take a slice of the profits, though neither side is talking specific terms. As of now, it sounds as if Verizon will be the “premiere sponsor,” which grants it “exclusive sponsorship rights for Amplify ads during the Super Bowl next February.” The upside? Easily tweetable instant replays. The downside? It might make you a shill. Them’s the breaks!

Filed under: Internet, HD

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Source: Reuters, The Wall Street Journal