Hasta La Gadget!

As anyone attempting to stream high-quality video on any major metropolitan subway has likely found, doing so often requires the patience of Job and a willingness to spend more time ‘buffering’ and less time ‘enjoying.’ It’s a problem that’s particularly evident at crowded events like the never-ending South by Southwest, and it’s probably no coincidence that a team from The University of Texas at Austin are now spending their waking hours attempting to solve the looming wireless bandwidth crisis. Five faculty in the school’s Electrical and Computer Engineering Department have been selected to receive a $900,000 gift from Intel and Cisco to “develop innovative and novel algorithms that could improve the wireless networks ability to store, stream and share mobile videos more efficiently.” Their work is part of a five university tie-up, seeking to solve quandaries such as tower interference, selective compression (read: pixelating the areas you don’t pay attention to in order to squeeze more out of the existing infrastructure), cell tower intelligence and data output redundancy. Hard to say if any of the major carriers will be implementing proposed solutions in the near future, but we can think of at least one company that’s crossing its fingers in hopes of that very outcome.

Texas researchers aim to solve wireless bandwidth bottleneck, hopefully before SXSW 2012 originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 21 Mar 2011 16:09:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  The University of Texas at Austin  | Email this | Comments

We knew it was coming, and now The New York Times has followed through on its promise to erect a paywall for online content, which means no more free news — kind of. Starting today in Canada and March 28th in the US, NYTimes.com will ask visitors reading more than 20 articles per month to pay for their info fix. The new plan offers monthly subscriptions of $15 with a smartphone app, $20 with tablet app, or $35 for complete digital access — subscribers with a physical subscription will be granted a full pass, except on e-readers. Further convoluting the pay structure, entry from sites like Twitter and Facebook won’t face the same restrictions, and access via Google is set at five free visits per day. Other news sources, including The Wall Street Journal, have already started charging for online content in the face of declining ad revenue, but this is certainly one of the most elaborate systems we’ve seen so far. The subscription plan was unleashed in Canada today, allowing the paper to iron out any kinks before hitting the US, which means you’ve got just under two weeks to hit NYTimes.com completely free — after that, prepare to be confused.

New York Times reveals labyrinthine subscription plans, Canadian readers already hitting paywall originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 17 Mar 2011 17:11:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  New York Times (1), (2)  | Email this | Comments

So, an update. Er, a refresher if you will. Back in September of last year, TiVo announced that ingrained Hulu Plus access would be coming to its DVRs “in the coming months,” but we’ve heard precisely nothing on the matter ever since. Enter the present. We’ve got a tipster who owns a TiVo Premiere and was just invited to join a Field Trial to “test Hulu Plus on TiVo,” and he’s also receiving codes to receive a free month of service. It’s hard to say what kind of gap we’re looking at between the testing period and the go-live period, but at least we’ve got a little assurance that no one simply forgot about their promise. In related news, other tipsters are starting to receive some fairly interesting surveys from TiVo itself, with a few questions in particular asking consumers how they’d feel about the option to “stream live TV, DVR recordings and TV shows from a cable company’s On Demand library to one’s iPad.” This seemingly includes in-home and remote streaming, and we have to say — streaming to the tablet just might be the magic feature that finally gets TiVo out of the hurt locker. Probably not, but are you really going to judge us for being blindly optimistic?

Hulu Plus on TiVo apparently being tested, live streaming to iPad apparently being considered originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 09 Mar 2011 08:51:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  TiVo Field Trial Login  | Email this | Comments

As you know, the BBC’s iPlayer online video catchup portal is about to strap its boots on and go international via the iPad some time this year, a subscription service which has now been priced at “fewer than $10” per month. That’s the word direct from Mark Thompson, director general of the grand old corporation, who also assures us that the global launch is definitely coming in 2011. iPad and Android apps for the iPlayer were recently launched in the BBC’s homeland, so the technical requirements have already been fulfilled — now it’s probably just a matter of dotting some Is, crossing some Ts, and making sure Jeremy Clarkson doesn’t score you a lawsuit with his outspoken bravado.

[Thanks, Nathan]

BBC iPlayer will cost ‘fewer than $10’ a month for international subscribers originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 03 Mar 2011 08:31:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  Guardian  | Email this | Comments

Continue reading Google announces One Pass payment system for online content (video)

Google announces One Pass payment system for online content (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 16 Feb 2011 11:39:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Wall Street Journal  |  Google  | Email this | Comments