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Apple's Gatekeeper issues might have slowed down your Mac earlier
Apple server issues might have slowed down apps on your Mac at about 4PM ET.
Apple's CDN is live, should speed iOS and OS X upgrades
Since Apple began relying on downloaded upgrades of its operating system and software products, the need for a fast content delivery network (CDN) has been apparent whenever millions of users have tried to reach out for upgrades, and were suddenly silenced. Well, the next upgrades should be a bit smoother, as an industry analyst reports that Apple's fast CDN has gone live in the US and Europe. The CDN can handle "multiple terabits per second of capacity," and according to Frost & Sullivan analyst Dan Rayburn, Apple has invested "well more than $100M in their CDN build out." That's not all -- Apple has reportedly paid Comcast and other internet service providers for direct access to their networks. Rayburn did a trace route on OS X downloads from a number of ISPs showing that the downloads were coming directly from Apple's CDN. Rayburn talked to ISPs who say that "Apple has put a massive amount of capacity in place, with many saying that Apple has more than 10x the capacity they are using today." That will come in handy when OS X 10.10 Yosemite is released later this year and should speed up other downloads as well. To quote Rayburn, Apple already controls the hardware, the OS (iOS/OS X) as well as the iTunes/App store platforms. Right now they control the entire customer experience, except for the way content is delivered to their devices, and they are quickly working to change that. While Apple doesn't own the last mile, paying to connect directly to it (in some places) and delivering content from their own servers allows them much more control over the user experience, especially for cloud based services. Over time, this is something that will make the experience and performance for consumers even better – and Apple's only just getting started.
Apple's new online content network should deliver your files faster
If you're an iOS or Mac user, your downloads and streams are going to improve in the near future -- if they haven't already. Apple has quietly switched on its own content delivery network (CDN), letting it deliver files directly instead of leaning on services from Akamai and Level 3. The change gives the folks in Cupertino a ton of headroom, according to Frost & Sullivan analyst Dan Rayburn. In addition to offering "multiple terabits per second" of bandwidth, Apple has clearly struck Netflix-like connection deals that link it directly to internet providers. If all goes well, you should get speedy app updates and media streams even when the internet is extra-busy.
Netflix launches 'Super HD' and 3D streaming -- but only through certain ISPs
Rumors that Netflix was offering ISPs access to higher quality streams in return for partnering on distribution surfaced early last year, and were followed by the announcement of its Open Connect CDN network in June. Now the full picture has been revealed with the company's announcement of "Super HD" 1080p and (in the US only, for now) 3D streaming, which comes to its customers at no extra cost, but only on certain devices plugged in to to Open Connect partner ISPs. The hardware list includes PS3, WiiU, Windows 8, Roku, Apple TVs as well as Blu-ray players and smart TVs with 1080p support. According to Netflix, most of its international streams are already going through compatible ISPs, however the only major participants announced in the US currently are Cablevision and Google Fiber. Watch Instantly customers can see if their ISP on the list by visiting the Super HD page and, if it isn't, they're encouraged to call and ask for it. Netflix's ability to manage bandwidth will be increasingly important and the ISPs customers access its with and along with those rankings, "Super HD" is an important lure to get them to play ball. We've been seeing some 3D ready titles pop up on the service in the last few weeks and now viewers can access titles like Art of Flight, Immortals and several titles from 3net. According to Dan Rayburn of Streaming Media Blog, the higher-quality encodes are targeted for 7 Mbps, while 3D streams top out at 12 Mbps. One question that lingers is how this quality bump aligns with recent changes some customers have noticed (if X-High suddenly reappears...), but until we get our eyes on the higher quality streams it's hard to tell. Reed Hastings says he wants all Netflix customers served by Open Connect (whether via colocated appliances or peered at common internet exchanges) as soon as possible -- we'll see if Comcast, Time Warner, Verizon, AT&T and the rest have a similar dream.
Facebook starts really, truly deleting removed photos
For those who haven't kept track, Facebook has had a years-long history of only maybe-sort-of-more-or-less purging our photos: they could be removed from a profile, but they would sometimes float around the site's content delivery networks for months or years, just waiting for a prospective employer to spot those embarrassing frosh week snapshots by accident. As Ars Technica discovered through experiments and official remarks, that problem should now be solved. In the wake of a months-long photo storage system migration and an updated deletion policy, Facebook now won't let removed photos sit for more than 30 days in the content network stream before they're scrubbed once and for all. The improved reaction time isn't as rapid as for a service like Instagram, where photos vanish almost immediately, but it might be a lifesaver for privacy advocates -- or just anyone who's ever worn a lampshade on their head in a moment of insobriety.
Netflix introduces its own CDN, Open Connect Network, to give ISPs more control
It's not often that we touch on subjects surrounding content infrastructure -- lectures revolving around AWS, Level 3 and Limelight give most of us the creeps -- but that stuff is absolutely vital to keep petabytes of content flowing to our retinas. As the company's business shifts from by-mail to instant gratification, there are also decisions that need to be made about delivery. Despite signing a three-year deal with Limelight and Level 3 right around eighteen months ago, Netflix is clearly keeping an eye on the future with the introduction of the Open Connect content delivery network (CDN). Netflix is informing ISPs that they can choose to have Open Connect Appliances within their datacenters, or to peer with the Open Connect network at common Internet Exchanges; Netflix will provide either form of access at no cost to the ISP. We've heard about Netflix's efforts to team up with ISPs on bandwidth management before, it will be interesting to see if higher quality streaming or bundled packages become part of the deal. The official announcement is pretty light on details, but a piece at Streaming Media (linked below) highlights some of the more important strategic changes. No doubt, the outfit is expected to save small amounts per megabyte delivered, but when you're serving video on a massive scale, even pennies count.
Comcast, Level 3 Communications square off over video streaming, network neutrality principles
According to networking company Level 3 Communications, Comcast just couldn't wait for its NBC deal to go through before getting all jerky with the access to online video, telling Level 3 on November 19th that it would need to pay a fee to deliver video to Comcast customers. Level 3 delivers videos from many companies over its networks, but the timing is particularly notable since on November 11th it signed up bandwidth-chewing Netflix as a major customer. While this sounds like exactly the kind of anti-net neutrality nonsense that makes us want to crank some OK Go, Comcast has responded saying it's doing no such thing, and it's actually Level 3 seeking a competitive advantage by suddenly sending far more information onto Comcast's network than it accepts. The cable company goes on to claim this situation is no different than its existing deals with Level 3's competitors, and that as long as traffic remains in balance it is willing to allow access settlement free, but if they want to push their growth (read: Netflix) onto Comcast's pipes, they'll have to pay up. We'll wait and see if this is all just a simple negotiating ploy or a true strike in the battle over net neutrality, but you may still want to get a refresher course on exactly what net neutrality is all about from our friend Tim Wu just in case.
