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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.
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.
