The FCC Broadband Report You Didn't Hear About
If you follow broadband policy, you probably know that last week the FCC released its annual Broadband Progress Report (often referred to as the Section 706 Report) in which it concludes (erroneously) that broadband is not being deployed in a reasonable and timely manner. But did you hear about the other broadband report issued by the FCC last week, the one demonstrating how deployment and performance of broadband in the United States is far outpacing European broadband? Didn’t think so. In conjunction with the well-known Section 706 Report that reviews the progress of broadband deployment in
Boy, We Really Love Streaming Media
The East Coast is about to get pummeled by a monster snowstorm. After the messiness of digging out cars and clearing walkways, I’ll be getting down to the real business of surviving a blizzard – binging on TV. First Mr. Robot, then Orphan Black, and after that a little Game of Thrones season 5 refresher to prepare for season 6 in April. Take a look at the latest streaming statistics and stand back in awe. Not only do Americans stream a ton of media, but we do it thanks to remarkable speeds. Snowstorm or not, Americans love streaming media. Sources: http://www.emarketer.com/Article/US-Adults
New Technology Has Family at the Heart of It
My first experience on the CES show floor has had me fazed, what with the myriad of toys and gadgets that the Internet of Things has to offer, but amid the chaos one curious theme stood out to me. In our world of new media and television that’s often geared toward customizing experiences for the individual, and toward creating the on-the-go connectivity and entertainment most of us demand, the sense of family and community still remains strong, and innovators are managing to embed this key element into the devices and home appliances of the future. Take Alcatel‘s new OneTouch tablet, Xess
The IoT: Turning Things On. And Off. And Then On Again.
With more than 170,000 attendees streaming through 3,631 exhibiting company booths that cover over 2.2 million net square feet of exhibit space at CES, you’ll have to forgive me if my brain (not to mention my feet) turn to mush within a few hours of wandering the show floor. Booths, devices, ideas all seem to blend together. Endless buzzwords and tech specs meld into indecipherable globs of marketing speech that flow in one ear and out the other. One way I keep everything straight is to play little games with myself. Today I was playing, “Can I find a booth that doesn’t feature something that
CES 2016: What We’re Looking Forward To
Buckle up. We’re about to hit four straight days of serious tech. Tomorrow morning, CES, the Consumer Electronics Show, kicks off in a strangely drizzly Las Vegas, Nevada. For those who don’t live and breathe in the digital biome, CES is an enormous technology convention delivering previews and deep dives into the gadgets and ideas that will define 2016. Now in it’s 49th year, CES has come to be an annual pilgrimage. Nearly 200,000 visitors descend on Vegas, ready to buy, sell, and generally geek out over everything from TVs to drones, routers to VR goggles. At that size, CES is big enough to
Hitting the Accelerator: FCC Report Shows American Broadband Speeds Continue To Rise
At this very moment, millions of consumers across the U.S. are using the Internet to keep up with the news, connect with others, stream live video, shop online and live life as we know it in our global connected society. But the Internet wouldn’t be so prevalent in our lives if our connections stuttered, delayed or didn’t deliver the performance that consumers paid for. That’s why the FCC five years ago began collecting data about network performance by monitoring the experience of thousands of Internet users throughout America. Last week, the FCC released the results of its fifth annual
What Happened in Streaming Media in 2015?
Sources: http://www.emarketer.com/Article/US-Adults-Spend-55-Hours-with-Video-Co… http://www.statista.com/chart/3852/us-music-industry-revenues/ http://www.statista.com/chartoftheday/Streaming/ https://www.sandvine.com/trends/global-internet-phenomena/ http://www.leichtmanresearch.com/press/120315release.html http://www.statista.com/chartoftheday/Streaming/ https://www.ncta.com/positions/future-of-TV https://www.stateoftheinternet.com/downloads/pdfs/2015-q3-state-of-the-…
What Makes for a Good Gaming Experience?
Not into the gaming scene? Seems like there’s never been a better time to find out what all the hype is about. Gaming isn’t what it used to be. Thinking back to 15, 20 years ago, gamers were usually stereotyped as kids who were glued to their Sega or Nintendo boxes. Fast forward time, and the shift from console-based gaming to online gaming, largely due to developments in broadband capabilities, has opened up a myriad of opportunities in the multiplayer gaming world and led to some serious changes in the audience demographic. But what can these advancements in the market be attributed to? Avid
Is Virtual Reality Here to Stay?
Earlier this month, the New York Times released its first Virtual Reality Sunday subscription. Readers received Google cardboard virtual reality viewers in the Sunday edition and used them to immerse themselves into the NYTVR app, which hosts short non-fiction films that tell important stories. And early next quarter, Oculus Rift is set to release the first consumer version of its headset. YouTube and Facebook just enabled 360 degree videos for their platforms, perfect for virtual reality early adopters and web users alike. The groundwork is clearly being laid for virtual reality in the
Multi-Gig Broadband Over Existing Networks? Absolutely!
In demonstrations this past September, CableLabs, the cable industry’s non-profit research and development organization, showed how existing networks are capable of downstream speeds of 4.6 Gbps and upstream speeds of 800 Mbps. So to the question, “Can cable networks scale and compete with next-gen fiber networks?” the answer is a resounding YES. And it’s being done through the use of the DOCSIS 3.1 technology platform (also known under its friendlier name, Gigasphere). The DOCSIS 3.1 technology can deliver multi-gig speeds over existing broadband networks. The CableLabs demonstration wasn’t