The Comcast Netflix Deal

Over the weekend, Comcast and Netflix cut a deal which basically does an end run around net neutrality. Netflix will essentially get its own pipe to Comcast, instead of going through a secondary backbone provider…in Netflix’ case that’s been Cogent. Comcast points to the fact that Netflix streaming now accounts for 30% of all internet traffic, but the deal means Comcast will be collecting on both ends…from Netflix and from you. Washingtonpost.com reports that Cogent has also been negotiating with Verizon, so expect what you’d think..higher prices for you.

Some good…and even surprising news…Mozilla says they’ve cut a chip deal with Spreadtrum that will allow them to make Firefox OS smartphones for as little as $25. Recode.net says they are in 15 markets already, and in China, expect to ship a million phones by the end of the year.

You’ve no doubt seen them in your Facebook feed…which character in such and such show are you? AP.org says these quizzes are blowing up traffic on Buzzfeed.com, generating more traffic there…and more Facebook comment threads…than anything they’ve ever done. Which state do you actually belong in has generated 41 million page views!

Take One Charger With You—Anker 40w Travel Charger Review

If you end up taking a bagful of chargers for your mobile devices and accessories when you travel, like I do, you know what a nuisance it is. That’s especially true when you find you’ve left one crucial one at home, and have to fork over real money (particularly in the case of Apple device chargers) to buy another!

Anker has several chargers that charge multiple devices, but this one caught my interest because it has separate chips for each USB port…this means you can plug ANY device into ANY of the 5 ports, and it will automatically charge that device at the maximum speed without overheating or causing other damage.

They bill it as the Anker® 40W 5V / 8A 5-Port Family-Sized Desktop / Travel USB Charger with 5-Foot Power Cord for iPad, iPhone, Samsung Tab, Android Devices and Virtually all USB charged devices. That’s a mouthful, but it does matchAp ple’s esthetic with the white case, but works fine with Android and other devices.

I have tested it out for a couple nights, and can say it does what they say it does. Better yet, it was billed as being the size of a pack of cigarettes, but it’s actually somewhat smaller…about the size of a MacBook charger. It will not charge those, or other laptops, but if you travel with a tablet, phone, Bluetooth headset, and clip on camera as I do, you will fill up those 5 ports quickly.

A huge plus is the included 5 foot power cord…you only need to find one available outlet to charge your gadgets, and no getting up in the night to swap them out…just remember to grab the USB chord for each. It’s $25.99 on Amazon, and recommended.

Finally…Wearables That Look Like Jewelry

There’s a new company named Cuff that’s taking preorders for metal and leather bracelets that hold a small messaging device. According to recode.net, they’ll sell for $35 for leather to $125 for metal ones, and all hold the dubiously named Blootooth ‘Cuff Linc.’ The device is really only capable of notifications, but aesthetically, it’s a step in the right direction.

More has filtered out about Samsung’s imminent Galaxy S-5 smartphone. Bloomberg.com says it will have a bigger 5.2 inch screen with higher resolution than Apple’s Retina display, plus improved battery and camera. It rolls out on the 24th.

Over at Apple, macrumors.com reports that iOS 7.1 will be out around the middle of March. One big add…better Mobile Device Management for companies and educational organizations to manage large numbers of i-devices.

Comcast Swallows Time Warner…You Get Indigestion

With the announcement that Comcast is grabbing Time Warner Cable for 45 billion…with a b….dollars, a lot has been said already about how little choice that will leave for cable TV. To the companies, that’s probably not the big picture, and it shouldn’t be for you, either. Together, the combined company will control half the video-voice-internet service in the US…and will be the biggest provider outside of China.

The spin is, Comcast says you have many other choices for content…and while there’s truth to that, the real issue…and where they make real money…is broadband. Only the cable company and the phone company have pipes into your home or office. You can’t get broadband over satellite! It may not be a monopoly, but it’s the biggest duopoly in the country, and guess who will be paying higher fees for it? That’s right, you will. Right now, the US is not even in the top 30 worldwide in download speeds, either. Think that will improve? Think again.

Blazingly Fast Internet

IBM scientists in Switzerland have come up with a technology that will allow internet speeds of between 200 and 400 Gigabits per second, according to zdnet.com. What does that mean in English? We’re talking about downloading a 2 hour high def movie or 40,000 songs in a few seconds! They plan to have a system in place outside the lab this year.

This sounds pretty gimmicky, but think about it…what a way to demonstrate what your product can do! Thenextweb.com says that Sony has started selling a waterproof Walkman mp3 player in a bottle of water! They have the Bottled Walkman on sale in vending machines in New Zealand.

In what could be a boon to fighting cancer, a Redwood City startup called Guardant Health has announced a genetic screening tool that uses blood samples instead of biopsies. Recode.net reports that one big benefit is the cost…it’s cheap enough that retesting can be done more often, and therapies changed as the cancer mutates, giving more effective protection against cancers.

Your Next Fridge May Be Magnet Powered

Instead of 100 year old compressor technology, in a few years, your refrigerator may be cooled by magnetocaloric effect…by magnets. Cnet.com reports that engineers at GE labs have a prototype running now…cooling beer! The magnet fridge is 20-30% more efficient than yours.

As privacy slips off into the night, Samsung is considering letting app developers see a lot more detail about you gleaned from your phone’s apps and sensors. Theverge.com says the samsung service is called Context…and it would also allow targeted ads tailored to you.

It was probably inevitable, but securemac.com has found a new trojan horse that hits Mac OS X, and spies on web traffic to steal Bitcoins. They say not to download an app called StealthBit.

TWO Galaxy S5’s May Be Coming

Benchmarks leaked point to two different Galaxy S5 flagship phones from Samsung. Bgr.com notes that there were two versions of the S4, but in those, only the processor was different. The two S5’s will be very different, and are being called the ‘Prime’ and ‘Standard’ models. The Prime one has a better display, faster processor, more RAM, and 32 Gigs of memory, while the Standard one has 16Gb. Look for the rollout the 24th of this month at Mobile World Congress.

Forbes.com reports that a startup claims to have cracked the code for porting iOS apps over to Android. Apportable says their software can cleanly convert the Objective C code from iOS apps to the Java based code used by Android apps. It basically builds a system within the app to fool the iOS app into thinking it’s still running under iOS. This could greatly increase the number of popular apps on both systems.

As the smart home movement continues to roll, a startup called bRight Switch has just hit its Indiegogo crowd funding goal of $115,000 to start producing small Android tablets to replace your light switches. According to techcrunch.com, it would offer features like people detection to automatically turn on lights on when someone walks into a room, and the ability to remotely switch your lights on and off via the Internet. Out by summer, they’ll be $75 each, or a 5 pack for $325.

Thoughts on Facebook’s Paper App

Click the link and hit the audio button for my take on the new Paper app Facebook introduced this week.