connectivity
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Project Loon delivers internet to 100,000 people in Puerto Rico
The FCC granted Alphabet's Project Loon, which delivers internet via balloons, an experimental license last month to help get Puerto Ricans online after Hurricane Maria decimated the island's infrastructure. While the team cautiously tweeted that it would 'explore of it was possible to help,' Project Loon announced today that it has worked with AT&T and T-Mobile to successfully deliver basic internet to over 100,000 Puerto Ricans to the internet.
Microsoft's Surface Pro gets LTE Advanced option this December
Microsoft's business customers will be able to get their hands on the Surface Pro with LTE Advanced from December, as rumored earlier this year. In a blog post outlining the company's vision for workplace technology, the company says the release is designed to bring even greater mobility to its Surface Pro line, supporting half of the global workforce which will be mobile by 2020. Boasting a Cat 9 modem, it's the fastest LTE-enabled laptop in its class, supporting 20 cellular bands for global connectivity. There's no specifics on battery life yet, but this year's earlier Surface release promised 13.5 hours while watching video. It's not clear how LTE support will affect that, but if Microsoft's dream of a totally-mobile workplace is anything to go by, it'll have enough juice to let you work comfortably away from the office. The Surface Pro with LTE will ship on December 1 to business customers, with a base model price tag of $1,149.
North Korea now has a second internet link through Russia
North Korea had previously gotten its internet through a hardwire to China, but that's no longer the case: Now, it has a second link to the world wide web through Russia cybersecurity firm FireEye told Bloomberg. This confirms an initial report by site 38 North that claimed the secondary connection went active on Sunday.
Google improves Photos and Duo for lousy connections
Google's been pretty busy this week. It added a location-sharing feature to the Maps app, started allowing sports teams and artists to post directly to its search results, teased us with a preview of Android O and vowed to make sure all Android phones are updated quickly. But it's not done. The company also introduced ways to improve the speed of its Photos and Duo apps, even when network signals are weak.
Google India debuts offline YouTube app, public WiFi expansion
At an event in New Delhi, India, Google laid out plans to better serve users in the country. These efforts broadly focus on two areas: data usage and language support.
LandCruisers create communication network in the outback
Companies are using balloons, planes and other high-tech apparatuses to provide WiFi in underserved areas. In the Australian outback, Saatchi teamed up with Flinders University to find a way to turn the massive fleet of Toyota LandCruisers into mobile communication hotspots using Wi-Fi, UHF and Delay Tolerant Networking (DTN). The solution is a small capsule-like device that attaches to the vehicle's window with suction cups, providing a signal range of up to 25 km (15.5 miles).
Facebook unveils two new wireless systems for underserved areas
At its annual F8 developer conference, Facebook announced two new wireless systems meant to help bring internet access to underserved areas. One system will tackle pushing broadband through the buildings found in dense cities while the other is meant to increase the bandwidth of towers.
Your Facebook News Feed speed now depends on your connection
To better accommodate its users in emerging markets, many of whom only have access to 2G signal, Facebook announced a number of improvements to News Feed on Tuesday. In short, the news services has been revamped to ensure that it loads efficiently, regardless of network speed or the model of device being used. So if you're trying to load News Feed from a flip phone on a shaky connection, the service will push fewer video posts (which wouldn't load anyway) in favor of more status updates and link posts.
White House says broadband is a 'Core Utility' just like power and water
Think you could survive in this day and age without access to a broadband connection? The White House has its doubts. A recent report from the Broadband Opportunity Council (under the auspices of the Oval Office) described broadband connectivity as an "essential infrastructure for communities" that "has steadily shifted from an optional amenity to a core utility" on par with water, electricity and sewers. According to the report, which was headed by the chairs of the US departments of Agriculture and Commerce, 51 million Americans lack access to download speeds beyond 25 Mbps. That's roughly a sixth of the national population.
Ford's foldable e-bike pedals itself when your heart rate goes up
At CES in January, Ford outed its "Smart Mobility Plan" to make transport easier using a combination of cars and electric bikes. Today at MWC, it just revealed the bike part of that with its "Handle on Mobility" experiment consisting of two employee-designed e-bike prototypes and an app. The foldable MoDe:Me for commuters was made in conjunction with specialist Dahon, while the bigger MoDe:Pro -- aimed at bike couriers and delivery services -- was built in-house. Both come with 200-watt motors and 9-amp-hour batteries that deliver pedal-aided speeds of up to 25 km/h (16MPH). Ford also revealed its iPhone 6-compatible MoDe:Link app that lets you use a combination of cars, trains and e-bikes to commute.
High speed internet access in the US reaches farther, goes faster
Thought Google Fiber's gigabit connections sounded fast? Forget about that -- it's going to be like dialing-in to 56k for folks in Minneapolis. US Internet has just announced that it's bring 10 gigabit-per-second connections to the city next summer. The service costs a steep $400 a month, but "regular" gigabit internet will be available for a more palatable $65. The firm's high-end connections will only be available to 30,000 households west of the interstate, but it's a step in the right direction.
Lost Continent: It's getting harder to like ArcheAge
ArcheAge fandom is hard. It was initially hard because of the waiting. Consider that we've known of the game's existence since 2010 and that some of us have been playing it in various incarnations since 2011, which is a full three years -- and dozens of gameplay changes -- prior to its official North American launch. Now that we're past said launch, the difficulty has shifted to watching Trion (or is it XLGAMES?) do its best to destroy a promising title via a series of clownshoes decisions.
Rejoice! Visceral says Battlefield Hardline 'will work' at launch
Battlefield Hardline will operate as expected at launch, according to Ian Milham, creative director at Visceral Games. "What you're basically asking is, 'Is your game going to work?' And the answer is yes, it's gonna work," Milham told Game Revolution. The statement follows a rough launch for the last game game in the series, DICE's Battlefield 4, which suffered months of connectivity issues after its October 2013 arrival. That led to multiple law firms alleging that publisher EA issued "materially false and misleading statements" regarding Battlefield 4's playability. When a CEO like EA's Andrew Wilson publicly deems a game's launch as "unacceptable," questions about the next game's stability will certainly come up.
Capcom working to counter Street Fighter's Steam woes
Street Fighter fans are supposed to smash bumbling opponents and conquer long-standing rivalries, not grapple with shoddy netcode and general technical issues. Unfortunately, anyone running Steam copies of Ultra Street Fighter 4 (or its predecessor, Super Street Fighter 4: Arcade Edition) is likely tangled up with the latter categories. Many issues are attributed to Capcom's switchover from the not-quite-dead Games For Windows Live, a change that already affects Ultra and Super, but the good news is that Capcom is aware of the issues and is working to fix them. On Ultra's Steam forums, Capcom's "wbacon" stated that Capcom is "aware of the online activity and [performance] issues with the game and are working to get them solved as quickly as possible." Wbacon added the developer will continue monitoring forums for reports of any other issues, so if there's something in the way of your frame-perfect 20-hit combo, head over to the forums and let them know about it. [Image: Capcom]
Bringing internet to the Amazon takes more than cables and laptops
Internet access is something most of us likely take for granted, but for portions of the developing world, reliable connectivity isn't available. The New York Times recently cast its lens on an ultra-tiny Peruvian village and the struggle to install and maintain a solid communications system, chronicling the journey and hardships of maintaining telecommunications in the middle of the jungle. There, a a busted internet connection takes as much as a year-and-a-half to repair and One Laptop Per Child computers are charged via a series of car batteries. Despite the village being a world away, however, there are familiar arguments. The issue of not having enough laptops for everyone in the village (some 65 people) is countered by the argument that they serve as little more than entertainment or an anesthetic; if the village had a road, the kids could travel to bigger cities nearby and be inspired by the real world instead of cyberspace. It seems that some things don't change regardless of where you live. [Image credit: markg6/Flickr]
Battlefield 4 connectivity issues continue across 'various platforms'
DICE posted an alert on its support forums for Battlefield 4 to warn players of ongoing connectivity issues across multiple platforms. This is the latest update in a string of problems the game has faced since its launch in late October, which has seen multiple patches go live in the past few weeks. The game's support forums note that the developer is "continuing to monitor some intermittent connectivity issues affecting some players across various platforms." Though no other information is provided in the alert, DICE's Battlefield 4 issues tracker mentioned that it is investigating a bug that is "accounting for a large amount of crashes" on Xbox 360. Among the other problems encountered by Battlefield players are reports that the game's China Rising DLC failed to carry over from PS3 to PS4, for players that made the switch to the next-gen system. As a result of its constant problems, multiple law firms have launched investigations into EA to determine whether the publisher intentionally mislead investors on the game's state leading up to its release.
AT&T signs deal with EE to offer 4G data roaming in the UK
AT&T's mission to provide superfast data outside of the US has been given another big boost, courtesy of EE. The UK carrier announced today that it has become the first domestic provider to offer 4G roaming to international travellers, with AT&T coming on board as its first partner. AT&T has been moving fast: just last week it signed a deal with Rogers to provide quick LTE data anywhere the Canadian provider has compatible coverage. EE doesn't intend to limit itself either -- the carrier says today's agreement is the first of many deals it expects to announce over the coming months, suggesting other US operators could soon follow AT&T's lead.
Internet.org targets efficiency and cost reduction to connect the next 5 billion
If Internet.org ever hopes to be successful with its goal of bringing affordable internet to the next 5 billion people, the cost of delivery will need to be much cheaper than it is today. Today, members of the coalition -- which includes Facebook, Qualcomm, Ericsson and others -- released a substantial 70-page white paper that outlines some of the initial steps that are on the drawing board. According to the group's estimates, data delivery is currently 100 times too expensive to execute the vision of Internet.org, but all of that could change within the next decade. To accomplish this, Internet.org is seeking ways to bring a tenfold improvement to the cost of delivering data, along with apps that are 10 times more efficient. For Facebook's part, it highlights technologies such as HipHop for PHP and the HipHop virtual machine, which allows its existing servers to accommodate 500 percent more traffic than before, and its Air Traffic Control system, which allows it to simulate different mobile networks and congestion systems around the world. Similarly, Facebook is looking to compression technologies such as WebP -- currently in use on its Android app -- to replace image formats such as PNG and JPEG, which alone could reduce network traffic by 20%. Another challenge is looming, however, as Qualcomm estimates that the demand for data will double each year over the next 10 years, ultimately increasing 1000 fold over where it is today. To meet that demand, it's lobbying for a substantial spectrum reallocation, along with technologies such as carrier aggregation, LTE-Broadcast and LTE Direct. Combine this with more unconventional approaches that it'll reveal at a later date, and you begin to appreciate the massive undertaking that lies ahead for the partners of Internet.org.
Activision CEO Eric Hirshberg on how Destiny was 'born modern' and why social connectivity will define the next-gen
Successive generations of console gaming have been, historically, defined by improvements in graphics. But Activision CEO Eric Hirshberg envisions a different future for the coming next-gen of gaming and it's all about connectivity. As he told our own Ben Gilbert at Gamescom 2013 this week, "The same way that Xbox Live and PlayStation Network led to the big trend in this generation being multiplayer games, I think that some sort of connectivity and social amplification of games is probably something you'll see a lot of creative activity around [in the next-gen]." Hirshberg offered up Destiny, Bungie's upcoming hybrid FPS / persistent world game as a prime example of this trend, and referred to the title as being "born modern" -- a video game and social network rolled into one. Hirshberg's aware that not all gamers are ready to jump ship from the current console generation. Which is why his company decided to invest in a new engine for Call of Duty: Ghosts to maximize the beauty of its visuals and audio, but still make it a multiplatform, cross-generational title. Activision's even partnering up with retailers to offer gamers incentives (in the form of a minimal upgrade fee) to make the next-gen leap should they initially purchase the PS3 or Xbox 360 version. As for where forward-facing virtual reality hardware like the Oculus Rift fits in, Hirshberg wasn't as optimistic. He's used the VR headset before, but primarily views it as a non-additive layer for gaming that's better enjoyed in "small doses" due to its intensity. For our full interview with Hirshberg and all his thoughts on the next-gen of gaming, click on past the break.
Facebook and others form Internet.org to foster global internet adoption (video)
Google's strategy for bringing internet access to underserved areas involves giant balloons, but Facebook's leans more on collaboration. The social network has founded Internet.org along with Ericsson, MediaTek, Nokia, Opera, Samsung and Qualcomm, and is setting the partnership's sights on making sure the two-thirds of the world that doesn't have internet access gets the proper hookup. Zuckerberg and friends aren't ready for a complete show-and-tell of their plans just yet, but they've outlined some of their goals: making access affordable, using data more efficiently and lending businesses a hand so they can increase access. When it comes to cost cutting, the group aims to develop and use tech that allows for cheaper connectivity, such as affordable high-quality smartphones. As for data efficiency, the team may investigate compression tools and caching systems to help ease the load on fledgling networks. In fact, Facebook is already working on reducing its Android app's daily data usage from 12MB a day to just 1MB. Lastly, the organization intends to look into sustainable business models that sweeten the pot for everyone from developers to mobile operators to pitch in for the cause. Connecting roughly 5 billion people to the web is a tall order by any standard, but Facebook and Co. are drawing inspiration from their successful Open Compute Project to give themselves a fighting chance. Zuck's scheduled to talk up the alliance on CNN tomorrow morning, but you can head past the break for a video from Internet.org that tugs at the heart strings.
