Category: News

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Youtube Offline Viewing will allow viewers to store video on device for up to 48 hours

somegadgetguy youtube htc one app softwareWe finally have more details!

Announced last month, Youtube will be rolling out an offline mode for Youtube, allowing users to buffer videos on devices to watch later if they don’t have an internet connection, or if you’re trying to be frugal with your data plan. What we didn’t know was how and when this was going to implemented, but now Google’s explaining a bit more.

Through the Youtube app, there will now be an option to allow offline viewing. The videos stored through this setting will stay on the device for up to 48 hours. If the phone or tablet doesn’t connect back to the internet within that time frame, then the videos will no longer be available. For people who operate a Youtube channel, viewing stats will be updated once the device connects to the internet. This service will also work for certain types of Google ads, helping to keep monetized channels paying out.

This is pretty great. There have been a number of times I wished I could buffer videos before taking a flight, or where I might not watch a video because I don’t want to use a ton of data, but I could’ve pre-loaded the video while on WiFi. Google expects the offline mode should be available in November.

And if you aren’t already, you should subscribe to my channel on Youtube, so you can watch all my awesome gadget reviews offline. I’m shameless like that.

(via Youtube FAQ)

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Boston Judge Rules Aereo can continue streaming TV over the Internet while awaiting Copyright trial

Scale_of_justice_goldScore one for the little guy.

Currently available in only seven states, Aereo streams TV over the internet for $8 a month. Unlike Hulu or Netflix which have to enter into costly negotiations and pay huge licensing fees for content, Aereo streams basic HD TV, much like you can get on an Over the Air Antenna. The company is able to skirt that expense by pulling a little old school trickery. For every customer who signs up, Aereo operates a separate HD antenna just for them. You’re essentially paying for mobility and cloud storage, the ability to watch TV on any gadget you want, anywhere you have data.

Unsurprisingly, TV networks aren’t thrilled with this business model, and you can imagine the courtroom battles taking place over who owns what, and how content can be distributed. The most recent salvo is a copyright dispute, and leading up to the trial broadcasters filed an injunction to pull the plug on Aereo.

aereo_logoThis morning Boston Judge Nathaniel Gorton refused to grant the injunction, saying in his ruling that Aereo better resembled a DVR, and that Aereo did not resemble other services which illegally rebroadcast content. When elaborating on claims that this service was financially harming broadcasters, Judge Gorton acknowledged that Aereo could pose a long term threat to traditional distribution, but that it didn’t appear to be causing any such harm currently.

Aereo is free to continue operating leading up to the trial, and then there will be another fight to help define the boundaries of digital media and distribution. It’s clear that consumers are increasingly looking for alternatives to their current relationships with carriers and broadcasters.

Read the full court transcript after the jump.

Continue reading “Boston Judge Rules Aereo can continue streaming TV over the Internet while awaiting Copyright trial”

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T-Mobile takes “UnCarrier” Smartphone Data worldwide for free

t-mobile worldwide dataI love watching companies actually compete.

T-Mobile is our little-engine-that-could fourth place carrier, and over the last year they almost got bought by AT&T. When that fell through we’ve seen a plucky little organization work to really shake up how we buy smartphones and service plans. It’s been fun, and their attempts at market disruption have actually forced the bigger players to adapt.

Now T-Mobile is unleashing an incredible upgrade to their data plans: free data in over 100 countries.

If you travel a lot, this has probably affected you. I’ve had several friends return from trips abroad with either huge cellphone bills or recounting frustrating stories of trying to use local carriers short term. T-Mo’s new offerings aim to end-run around that problem.

Without doing anything, without signing a new agreement or getting a new fee tacked on to your bill, T-Mo customers on a Simple Choice plan now have free unlimited data around the world. There’s a list of participating countries on the T-Mo site, so I’m not going to write it out here. If you were planning on backpacking across Europe though, chances are pretty good you’ll be covered.

Now what KIND of data you can expect is still somewhat up for grabs. I’d be surprised if T-Mo has worked out licensing agreements in each of these countries to provide super-fast 3G and 4G unlimited connections. In many areas you’ll probably be rocking EDGE, but that’s still plenty of bandwidth to get your email, look up map info, and check your socials.

Along side free data, free texting is included, and calls are 20 cents a minute, which isn’t too shabby. All in all, it’s a pretty nice value add.

Check out their bold announcement video below:

(via T-Mobile)

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UPDATED! Nine previously lost episodes of Doctor Who will be available to purchase Oct 11

patrick troughton second doctor who

And there you have it, after yesterday’s speculation (below after the “read more” link), we now have the full scoop on what was found.

Nine episodes from the Second Doctor’s run were found in a relay station in Nigeria. The Patrick Troughton story line The Enemy of The World is now complete with all six episodes accounted for, and The Web of Fear is missing one episode which has been recreated using stills and storyboards, enough to release the series to the public.

Starting October 11th at midnight, the episodes will be available on iTunes for download. For those who want something more tactile, BBC Worldwide will also start pre-orders for both series on DVD (though the BBC store was down at the time this article was being written), to be shipped later this year.

This is very exciting for us Who fans, though we always wish we could have more. This drops the number of Doctor Who episodes MIA to 97, and now I have to wrestle with the geek fanboi in my head who is desperately trying to convince me to update my long since lapsed credit card information on iTunes…

Read our original rumor post for this story after the jump.

Continue reading “UPDATED! Nine previously lost episodes of Doctor Who will be available to purchase Oct 11”

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Your USB 3 flash drive is about to get a lot faster thanks to Silicon Motion

silicon motion usb 3 controllerUSB 3 products are gaining a little momentum. It’s becoming more and more common to see them on new computers, and prices on USB 3 hard drives and flash drives are starting to settle closer to older USB 2 gear. For example, a USB 3 Kingston Data Traveler Ultimate is already less than a dollar per GB, which is less than what I paid for a “nice” USB 2 flash drive last year.

Performance is already much better than older USB 2 drives, but now it looks like it could be getting even better. Silicon Motion is announcing a new USB 3 controller, the chip which live in your computer to control USB devices plugged into your computer, which could significantly improve I/O.

Right now, on my older workstation I can get read speeds of around 80MBps on my USB3 port. Silicon Motion claims their new controller can boost single channel performance of USB 3 flash drives to 160MBps. Write speeds could almost double as well. This means that those of you who have to move tons of files around manually (photos, videos, audio), these transfers should get a lot faster. Silicon Motion also details the idea that you could now install an operating system and software to USB stick, and use that as a boot drive. Walk up to a computer, plug in your drive, and boot up your own operating system and programs.

Best of all, improvements to the manufacturing should reduce power consumption and make the controller less expensive to produce.

Check out the full write up for all the technical details.

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Android 4.3 FINALLY rolling out to AT&T HTC One’s

WP_20130503_003Better late than never? It would seem HTC wasn’t able to move through the verification process to meet their September deadline on updating all of their One phones to Google’s current version of Android Jellybean, but those of you on AT&T will finally start seeing update notifications soon!

Among the various improvements, users will see improved camera performance (hopefully a fix for some of the low light problems some users face) and new focus options for video. We’ll also see improved quick access to controls in the notification tray, so no more going to your settings menu to turn WiFi on and off.

The update should roll out auto-magically, but if you’re really impatient, you can start spamming the software update setting throughout the day. Maybe it’ll work for you?

Now HTC… When can we start talking about KitKat updates?

I kid… I kid… But no really when? [Said while doing ‘grabby hands’]

(via AT&T Blog)

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Deal Alert: Verizon Wireless LG G2 and Moto X for $99 on contract

verizon moto x amazon on saleJust a quick heads up. If you were shopping the LG G2 or the Moto X, and are currently on Big Red, they’re both currently on sale!

You can score either on Amazon right now for $99 when signing a new two year contract.

Moto’s phone represents a substantial step in design and efficiency, beautifully tailoring the software to the hardware for a premier experience. LG’s offering is a monster step forward in bleeding edge internals, besting even recent high-end phones like the Galaxy S4 and HTC One in delivering powerful hardware. You kinda can’t go wrong with either if you’re looking to drop mid-range money on a high-end handset.

VZW Moto X on Amazon

VZW LG G2 on Amazon

(via Android Police)

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