Hasta La Gadget!

By Nate Anderson, Ars Technica

Netflix announced last night that Canadian users will, by default, receive lower-quality—and lower-bandwidth—streaming video. The change was made to protect users, “because many Canadian Internet service providers unfortunately enforce monthly caps on the total amount of data consumed.”

Fast Internet connections could previously chew through 30-70GB of data while streaming 30 hours of Netflix video in a month. Data caps for the Rogers cable operator and for Bell Canada start at 2GB per month; cable operator Shaw starts at 15GB.

Faced with the prospect of users thinking twice before streaming anything on Netflix, the company has decided to put Canadians into a default “Good” streaming tier that will transfer only 625Kbps (which works out to 0.3GB per hour), using up 9GB a month if someone watches 30 hours of Netflix. The move is designed to keep users from exceeding their caps by accident.

The company admits that “there is some lessening of picture quality with these new settings” but insists that “the experience continues to be great.” Customers can manually switch their accounts to two higher levels of service, “Better” (0.7GB per hour) and “Best” (1GB per hour with standard definition content, 2.3GB per hour for HD content).

Netflix will continue to use adaptive streaming, which reduces the stream bit-rate in cases of congestion or low-speed connections, but this is the first time Netflix is purposely dialing back video quality and size for connections perfectly capable of handling the larger streams.

The major Canadian ISPs—Shaw, Rogers, and Bell Canada—all offer separate pay-TV services of their own. Netflix has offered its own streaming service in Canada for only eight months, and ISPs like Rogers welcomed Netflix to the country by lowering the data caps on some tiers. (One lower-priced tier dropped from 25GB to 15GB.)

Perhaps Canadians really do need a “Not Safe For Canada” badge on large files after all?

Released in 2009, Microsoft's Zune HD packs an OLED screen, HD radio and HD video-out. Photo: Jon Snyder/Wired.com

By Peter Bright, Ars Technica

Bloomberg is reporting that Microsoft will cease development of its family of Zune-branded music players due to weak demand and a desire to focus on its smartphone platform.

Zune will live on as a software-and-services platform, according to Bloomberg’s source. Windows Phone 7 embeds the Zune player for media playback on the phone, uses the Zune Marketplace for online music sales, and the Zune PC software for media syncing and firmware updates. These uses will be unhindered by the cancellation of the standalone Zune hardware.

Since their introduction in 2006, the Zune players always played second fiddle — with that — to Apple’s iPod line. The 2009 Zune HD model was a well-received, well-designed, and supremely elegant device, but was a case of too little, too late. It was competing against Apple’s iPod touch, with its enormous App Store advantage.

Microsoft also did little to promote the Zune brand beyond US borders. The original models were also available in Canada, but until recently, the Zune HD was U.S.-only. As a result, Microsoft failed to threaten Apple’s dominance, leaving Cupertino to take 77 percent of the digital music player market last year.

Over the past couple of months rumors have been swirling around that Zune would either be killed off or rebranded, and Microsoft has yet to officially confirm the hardware’s demise. The apparent decision to cancel the standalone hardware may be the fact behind the rumors, or this could be the first step in a complete overhaul and rebranding of the platform, possibly codenamed “Ventura.” The decision to end Zune hardware production also means that it’s unlikely that Microsoft will ever mimic Apple and produce an iPod touch equivalent for Windows Phone 7 — the phone platform without the phone part.

See Also:

• Zune HD Gives iPod a Real Run For Its Money
• Video: Zune HD vs. iPod Nano Smackdown
• Microsoft Sets Up Zune HD for Failure — Again
• Hands-On With the Zune HD

Nano Vs. Shuffle. Photo: Luca Viscardi

Like a recovering alcoholic who wavers between drunkenness and sobriety, Apple just can’t seem to kick the iPod button habit completely. Today, a software update brings new functions to the sleep button on the square, touch-screen iPod Nano.

Remember how the tiny Shuffle lost all of its control buttons in one generation, and then had them restored the next year due to popular demand (or, more likely, flagging sales)? Well, the almost buttonless Nano didn’t even have to wait a full year for things to get fixed.

With today’s new 1.1 software update (around 100MB), You can double-tap the sleep button to play and pause music or radio. You can also choose to have the double-tap skip a track (this is the default — change it in the settings). This, along with the already present hardware volume buttons, means you can ditch those in-line controllers needed to use third-party headphones without going crazy. I have bought and lost a pocketful of these things already.

There’s more. Execute a long press on the same button and the Nano will switch off. Previously you could only sleep the little thing.

It’s a small thing, but great news. Now, Apple, about that iPhone. That has a sleep button too, right?

iPod nano (6th generation): Software update version 1.1 changes [Apple]

Photo: Luca Viscardi / Flickr

See Also:

• Inevitable Strap Turns iPod Nano into a Watch
• Apple's Newest Watch Is … Wait, What? It's an iPod Nano?
• Is Apple Finally Releasing an iPhone Nano?
• Sporty New iPods Tout Tiny Touchscreens, Retina Display

If you spill water on your iPod or drop it in the toilet, you’re out of luck: Apple’s warranty doesn’t cover water damage. The rules about what counts as water damage may have gotten more lenient recently, however.

Apple’s iPods have a Liquid Contact Indicator inside the headphone port, and if water comes in contact with it, it turns red. Originally, Apple has refused to service a product if that indicator is red, but a support document (below) suggests there’s some leeway.

Leaked by an Apple-authorized service provider, the document suggests an iPod may be serviced even if that indicator has been activated, so long as there’s no corrosion present, meaning a technician must inspect it carefully and use his or her own judgment.

This is a welcome change, because that indicator could be set off by circumstances beyond your control like high humidity or other extreme temperatures. This policy wouldn’t have helped my poor drowned iPhone though.

It’s unclear whether the policy would apply to iPhones and iPads as well. Apple didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

See Also:

• Raising the Genius Bar: 7 Years of iPod Evolution
• IPods Can Damage Your Hearing, But Not the Way You Think
• iPhone Includes Water Damage Indicator
• IPhone Water Sensor Revealed

Photo: katharina/Flickr

Your Apple TV just got a lot less boring with the help of nifty new tools that override its restrictions and add powerful capabilities.

Launched Friday morning, the XBMC app for Apple TV 2 — which requires jailbreaking — expands the set-top box’s multimedia playback to support almost every type of audio or video format, including 1080p HD content. By default, the Apple TV can only play a few formats compatible with iTunes, and only supports 720p video.

Most interestingly, you’ll be able to install plug-ins to add new features to the XBMC media player that have yet to be released (similar to the add-ons or extensions found in modern browsers like Firefox and Chrome). That could open the door to additional tools, such as support for Bluetooth keyboards and mice, widgets to display additional web information, new codecs and the like.

The XBMC player also launched today for the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch, giving these devices similar capabilities to play different kinds of media formats. Installation requires jailbreaking the devices.

“With what we’ve done under XBMC and iOS, we’re going to see very shortly a huge jump from what people start offering under the Apple TV,” said Scott Davilla, maker of XBMC.

The XBMC app is part of a renewed communal effort to hack the Apple TV, as Wired.com reported late last year. Shortly after Apple released the Apple TV 2, coders realized it ran iOS, the same operating system as the iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch. Some key programmers in the iOS community and a few hackers of the original Apple TV have turned their attention to tinkering with the new $100 set-top box.

“Now you have all the people who have done amazing stuff on the iPhone working with us, and it’s made our jobs for the Apple TV a thousand times easier,” said Kevin Bradley, an Apple TV programmer who works under the handle [bile], in a previous interview with Wired.com. “I think some really amazing things could come out of this.”

The first new Apple TV hacks have been promising. Prior to the release of XBMC, programmer Erica Sadun released a utility called AirFlick to stream non-iTunes-supported video from a Mac to the Apple TV. She also released an app called AirPlayer to stream video from the Apple TV to the Mac, which you can’t normally do with the Apple TV alone.

So far, Apple TV has been jailbroken and a few apps, like XBMC, are available for the jailbroken platform. But there is no equivalent to Cydia, the underground marketplace for apps available for jailbroken iPhones, iPads and iPod Touches.

Apple TV hackers are working on that, as adding Cydia support would allow people to add a wide variety of apps to the device’s main menu. For now, you’re limited to adding plug-ins to the XBMC media player, or manually installing a handful of other apps.

XBMC has not yet announced what plug-ins will be available, but stay tuned on the XBMC plug-ins page for any new releases.

To install the XBMC software on your Apple TV 2, you must connect it by USB to a computer and jailbreak it with Season Pass, which will automatically install XBMC.

Photo: _zand/Flickr