Whether you’re a huge geek or a total luddite, you’ve got to be excited when scientists invent a new kind of laser, especially one that stands to replace the one we’ve been using for fiber optic communications for the last 40 years. A team of CalTech researchers did just that. Be excited.
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In its attempt to fight for its users to experience episodes of Pawn Stars in as high definition as possible, Netflix started ranking ISPs dubbing Google Fiber as the best service to watch its video streaming service on. Since then, it’s been regularly ranking US ISPs, but today, the company is announcing it will now be ranking all ISPs around the world.
In last month’s ranks that include not only the US but the UK, Mexico, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Ireland and Norway. In Netflix’s ISP Speed Index, Google Fiber is the clear global winner in the countries included as they come in at the fastest speed of 3.35Mbps. On the other side of the spectrum, Clearwire’s WiMAX came in last place with a download speed of 1.25Mbps.
Netflix’s ISP Speed Index will be updated monthly and be based off of its user’s steaming experience, which is comprised of 33 million members which Netflix says watches one billion hours of video every month. We’re sure until other ISPs decide their customers would actually want gigabit Internet, Google Fiber will continue to lead Netflix’s ISP Speed Index.
By Ubergizmo. Related articles: BitTorrent Intros Live Streaming Service That Makes Buffering A Thing Of The Past, YouTube Co-Founder Teases Launch Of New Video Service,
For several years, the U.S. has done terribly when compared to the rest of the world in its broadband speed. The FCC Chairman issued a challenge to all 50 states in the U.S. that will hopefully bring broadband Internet to at least one community by 2015, meanwhile in China, they’re demanding new residences have fiber optic connections starting this April. A new report was released overnight that, once again, has the U.S. tailing close to last place in its broadband performance.
By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Google Image Search Gets A Major Update, Pirate Bay Documentary Becomes First Film To Premier Online At Berlinale Festival, 
With 99 percent of the nation’s K-12 schools hooked-up to the internet, you’d think online learning was an educational staple. Sadly, it’s also estimated that some 80 percent of those connections can’t provide the 100Mbps per 1,000 students bandwidth the State Education Technology Directors Association recommends. That’s why NPO EducationSuperHigway has announced the National School Speed Test initiative, with the goal to take actual stock of the state of internet connections in our schools. The NSST hopes to measure the internet capabilities of every K-12 school, and identify those that are lagging behind. Educational staff and students can also help out by checking their own school’s speeds on a dedicated website (linked below). The results of the NSST will be open to the institutions themselves, districts and state departments of education, enabling them to better plan upgrade strategies for the future.
Filed under: Internet
New National School Speed Test hopes to help all K-12 students get effective digital learning originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 13 Sep 2012 09:36:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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