Hasta La Gadget!

As long as there’s been the Internet, cable companies have always teased its customers with data caps, which we’re sure you recall is exactly how Internet access was given back in the 90s. Nowadays, the only industry that has issued data caps on Internet-related data is the mobile industry as the majority of wireless carriers have implemented data caps.

For years, we’ve been told the purpose of data caps has been to help deal with congestion as cable companies apparently are always suffering from all of their customers watching Netflix at the same time. It turns out there really is no congestion that require cable companies to charge you more for going over a limit they attempt to enforce, instead, it’s all about increasing revenue for broadband providers.

Former FCC Chairman Michael Powell was speaking with a Minority Media and Telecommunications Association audience recently, saying, “cable’s interest in usage-based pricing was not principally about network congestion, but instead about pricing fairness.” When asked to weigh in on data caps, Powell said labeling the cable industry’s interest as an issue about congestion management to be “wrong.” “Our principal purpose is how to fairly monetize a high fixed cost.”

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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.

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Yahoo has acquired social platform Snip.it, the Internet giant made the official announcement on Tuesday. In case you didn’t know, Snip.it is a social tool that lets users collect images, videos, and articles on the web. If that sounds familiar to you, think of Pinterest on steroids. Yahoo reportedly acquired Snip.it at an estimated amount of $10 million in total. (more…)

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It looks like the proud owners of Ouya, the extremely successful Kickstarter-funded gaming console, will be able to browse the web through Mozilla’s Firefox browser. According to a certain Ed Krassenstein who happens to be an adminisrator at OUYAForum, an unofficial forum for Ouya users, he was able to confirm with a Mozilla developer that Firefox is being tested on the Ouya gaming console. Krassenstein went further and posted an image of the browser running on the console. (more…)

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While China demands their new residences have fiber optic connections starting April 1st and the FCC chairman issuing his “Gigabit City Challenge“, poor little ole Cuba is using satellite links throughout the country in order to get its Internet access. Ask anyone who has done a small amount of research in Internet data speeds and they’ll tell you one of the slowest methods has got to be satellite links, but it looks like Cuba is finally getting up to speed with its Internet connections.

A report released by Internet analasys firm Renesys yesterday highlights Cuba’s use of fiber-optic cables and running them undersea has boosted Internet traffic to the country about a week ago. The fiber-optic cables, which were put in place nearly two years ago, don’t seem to be used for outgoing traffic as that data seems to still be handled by satellite.

Even though Cuba has limits on its Internet that resemble a tightly controlled intranet, this is still a step in the right direction for the country as the cost of communicating with Cuba by telephone or mail is costly to family and friends who live outside of the country. Being able to communicate with them may be a bit easier now that the country is somewhat expected to experience a true broadband connection.

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