fast
Latest
PBS Retro is a new FAST channel playing just the classics
PBS just launched a new FAST channel called PBS Retro. It’s available on Roku and shows stuff like Reading Rainbow and Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood.
Disney+ may add cable-style streaming channels focused on Marvel and Star Wars
Disney+ may soon have cable-style channels that stream the likes of Marvel and Star Wars shows and movies 24/7. Disney reportedly sees the channels as a way to help it increase engagement and revenue.
Amazon's Freevee is adding free MGM and Warner Bros. Discovery channels
Amazon's Freevee will soon include free cable-style channels dedicated to streaming the likes of 'The Pink Panther,' 'Stargate,' 'The Outer Limits' and 'Cake Boss.'
Facebook's Movie Mate chatbot is a second-screen experience for the 'Fast' movies
With Fast & Furious 9 coming out on June 25th, Facebook and Universal Pictures are releasing a new second-screen experience called Movie Mate to give both longtime fans and newcomers a new way to experience the series.
China's huge FAST telescope will open to scientists globally in April
China will open its 500-meter (1,600 foot) "Sky Eye" FAST telescope to the global scientific community starting on April 1st.
Acer unveils a 360Hz NVIDIA-powered gaming monitor
Acer's NVIDIA-powered Predator X25 gaming monitor will have a 360Hz refresh rate.
China's giant radio telescope will start searching for aliens in September
China's FAST radio telescope will join the search for signs of extraterrestrial life in September.
Samsung’s T7 Touch SSD can be locked with a fingerprint
Security is especially important for portable SSDs, which might carry tons of sensitive information yet end up tossed in a bag. Samsung recognizes this. To make its latest portable SSD more secure, it has added a fingerprint sensor to the new T7 Touch, which was named a CES 2020 Innovation Awards honoree.
Firefox is about to get much, much faster
Firefox got speedy last year when its Quantum browser rolled out -- now it's set to get even faster. The latest release rolling out today prioritizes its performance management "to-do" list with a set of features that'll load pages up to 40-80 percent quicker. The browser will now suspend idle tabs, delay lesser-used scripts and skip unnecessary work during start-ups.
T-Mobile pulls advertisement claiming it has the fastest network (updated)
It looks like T-Mobile will no longer be able to claim that its network is faster, newer or better than Verizon's. The National Advertising Division (NAD), part of the Better Business Bureau that reviews advertising for truthfulness, recommended that T-Mobile discontinue advertisements that claim as such. Verizon brought the challenge to the Advertising Self-Regulatory Council in lieu of a court case. NAD says that during the course of its review, T-Mobile discontinued the commercial that featured the claims. (See update below for T-Mobile's explanation below on why the ads were pulled)
China finished the world's largest single-aperture telescope
For the past 53 years, Puerto Rico's Arecibo Observatory has been the king of radio telescopes. No more. China has just finished construction of its Five hundred meter Aperture Spherical Telescope (FAST), which is 64-percent larger. That makes it the worlds largest single-aperture telescope -- the world's largest radio telescope is Russia's RATAN-600, which has a sparsely filled aperture.
An otherworldly visitor nests in rural China
Guizhou province in the southwest of China is famous for its scenic landscape, unspoilt nature and ancient villages. But that's changing. Right now, engineers are constructing the Five hundred meter Aperture Spherical Telescope (FAST) in the province's Pingtang county. Guizhou was chosen to host the radio telescope precisely because of its landscape. The valley FAST is being built in is exceptionally well shielded from magnetic disruptions, while the ground underneath is both stable enough to hold the structure, and porous enough to drain away water and protect the telescope.
Rimac e-M3 breaks EV acceleration records, soon to be dethroned by its own creator (video)
The last time we saw an EV pit itself against a BMW, it wasn't a good day for the German car. On this occasion, the beemer is the EV, and it's one that all the others will officially have to enjoy viewing from behind. The car in question is the Rimac e-M3, the fledgling EV-firm owner's personal custom ride, and it's just been officially acknowledged as the fastest accelerating electric vehicle (with some category caveats). The record-breaking run actually happened April 2011, but it seems the FIA isn't quite so fast when it comes to making things official. The Croatian driver covered the first eighth of a mile in 7.549 seconds, needing less than five more for the same distance again (1/4 mile in 11.808 seconds). This is where the official-dom ends, but the total mile was completed in 35.347, which is still pending the FIA nod. Happy as driver Mate Rimac is, he already thinks there's something faster. What might that be? His new pre-production Concept_One of course. Catch the car in action after the break.
Microsoft's 'HTTP Speed + Mobility' aims to make the web faster, could be the next big ping
We're generally satisfied with our internet performance, but we wouldn't say no to a speed boost. A Microsoft blog post reveals plans to enable just that, with the company's proposed "HTTP Speed + Mobility" approach to HTTP 2.0. Have you thought about what life would be like with a faster internet? MS says Y-E-S! "There is already broad consensus about the need to make web browsing much faster," the company proclaimed. Juicy. The suggested protocol will, well, focus on achieving greater speed, but Microsoft hasn't detailed exactly how it will accomplish that, beyond mentioning that it's based on the Google SPDY protocol, which on its own aims to reduce latency and congestion by prioritizing requests and removing the limit on simultaneous streams over a single TCP connection. For its part, MS says it will be expanding on SPDY to "address the needs of mobile devices and applications," which we presume would be in Google's best interests as well. It's safe to say that Microsoft's being a bit more forthcoming during its meetings with the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) this week -- the organization responsible for creating HTTP 2.0 -- so perhaps we'll be hearing more about this fabled faster internet before we turn anew to Q2.
AT&T and Verizon officially announce the March 16 availability of the WiFi + 4G iPad
As expected, AT&T and Verizon both announced today that they will sell the new WiFi+4G iPad starting Friday, March 16. AT&T will sell the iPad through all AT&T sales channels, while Verizon will offer the new iPad at all Verizon Wireless Communications Stores and online. The iPad WiFi+4G will cost US$629 for the 16 GB version, $729 for 32 GB and $829 for 64 GB. You can find information about data plans and support for personal hotspot on either Verizon's or AT&T's website. At the present time, Verizon has announced support for tethering/personal hotspot service, while AT&T has not.
New iPad models include high-speed LTE networking
As widely rumored, the new iPad models (one for Verizon and one for AT&T) announced today will offer several varieties of high-speed cellular wireless networking. iPads sold for use with those two carriers, plus Rogers, Bell and Telus in Canada, will work with an alphabet soup of fast connections: the 3G EVDO and HSPA standards (also on the iPad 2) plus the newer HSPA+, DC-HSDPA and LTE standards. All three of the newer standards are speed demons when compared to the 3G technologies. HSPA+ tops out at a theoretical maximum of 21 Mbps download speeds, and DC-HSDPA can hit a screaming 42 Mbps. Neither of them can stand up to LTE, however, which (in theory) can hit a scary-fast 73 Mbps of downlink speed. If you think the carrier networks are congested now, here's some crystal ball forecasting: wait six months. Another interesting tidbit about these hyperspeed iPad models is that they will support personal hotspot networking (with carrier approval). You could run a small network of five devices off your iPad's fast connection; that's great news for mobile professionals. iPad pre-orders start today.
Broadcom: 802.11ac chipsets already in preproduction, preparing router invasion in summer
Broadcom might have unveiled a bevy of 802.11ac chipsets back at CES, however when it came to availability the chipmaker played more than coy as to when they'd sashay their way out of developmental labs and into the hands of actual consumers. Fast-forward to MWC and the chipmaker's isn't nearly as shy, proclaiming its future WiFi solutions were "beyond the sampling phase" and now in preproduction. Also of note, was the estimate that finished products (read: the ones you can buy) containing this tech would go on sale by mid-2012. With competitor, Qualcomm, also previewing its 802.11ac concoction, could this year possibly shape up to golden era of speedy wireless transfers? Bring it on, we say.
SanDisk Extreme SSD has 'mighty' mix of performance and support
SanDisk's new Extreme SSD sounded nice enough when it launched recently, but we weren't expecting anything too crazy -- just another 6Gbps SandForce-based drive that would compete on $-per-GB more than performance. As it turns out, that doesn't do it justice. StorageReview has shown that the unit actually beats the Intel 520 in some key real-world tests and delivers a "chart-topping" 4K random write speed of 88,324 IOPS. With the bonus of the low price-point -- starting at $190 for 120GB -- and the level of support from SanDisk, the Extreme SSD can now boast an Editor's Choice trophy. Click the source link for the full report.
NHK's new Super Hi-Vision sensor captures 8K at 120fps, fast enough for Usain Bolt?
As amazing as Super Hi-Vision televisions are, most of the footage we've seen is of slow-moving cityscapes, nature and portraits. We may get more action sequences soon, thanks to a new CMOS sensor capable of picking up 8K (33MP) footage at 120 frames per second. The joint project between NHK, Shizuoka University and the Research Institute of Electronics is being shown off on the 27th at the International Solid-State Circuits Conference The chip is developed on a .18 micrometer process, with an enhanced analog to digital converter that enables the faster frame rates. That cut down data processing time and power consumption, all key to getting some sweet super high res televisions (16x more pixels than your current HDTV) in our living room sooner rather than later. Our only question? If they can build a new camera around it in time to catch the world's fastest human being do his thing at the 2012 London Olympics.
Shaw plants 100Gbps fibers in Canada, watches them grow
Consumers can dream of 1Gbps, businesses might ask for 10Gbps, but here's the next step along that logarithmic curve: Shaw and Alcatel-Lucent just launched a new 100Gbps inter-city fiber optic network in Canada, following a successful trial between Calgary and Edmonton. The network can purportedly handle 133 million simultaneous voice calls, 440,000 HDTV channels, or transmit the equivalent of 44 Blu-ray discs in a single second. More redweed details in the PR after the break.
