Today marks the end of the month and the unofficial start to the summer. This means new summer films and also new TV and film titles will stream on Netflix.
In the wake of news that the Federal Communications Commission had decided to look into the issue of paid peering on the internet, Comcast CEO Brian Roberts took the stage at Re/code's Code Conference Wednesday. Doing his best to talk about anything but broadband, Roberts was forced to give his opinion about the issue.
What's been a side show to the general battle over net neutrality, the possible Comcast/Time Warner Cable merger, and the FCC is the more technical issue of network interconnects and "paid peering." Google Fiber -- which has been seen as the only hope for a fair, open internet if the FCC allows "fast lanes" and the largest cable merger in history -- just announced it doesn't and won't charge for peering.
Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak published an open letter on Tuesday calling the current action on Net Neutrality one of the "most important times ever" for the FCC. At the same time, reports that Apple has made interconnection deals with ISPs might indicate that the company he helped found doesn't have a problem with the proposed "fast lanes" of the internet.
The traffic that Netflix generates has grown substantially over the years as it now accounts for more than 34 percent of the wired downloads on the Internet in North America.
Netflix now takes up about a third of North America's peak downstream traffic, according to a new report by network analysis company Sandvine. The company's report also purportedly shines a light on "cord cutters," a segment of internet users which it says is using more than seven times the data of typical internet users.
Do you remember the day the internet went on strike against a bad piece of legislation? It may happen again. The internet dream team behind 2011's SOPA protests has sent what may be the opening salvo in another pressure campaign, this time to stop the Federal Communications Commission's reportedly proposed "Open Internet" rules.
In the wake of leaks about new, weaker, Open Internet rules proposed by the Federal Communications Commission, and soon after Netflix had to pay two internet service providers for better access to their customers, Netflix has taken its concerns directly to the FCC. Meanwhile, Google, Yahoo, and other internet heavies may be planning a SOPA-like grassroots protest for net neutrality.
The proposed takeover of Time Warner Cable (the nation's second largest cable provider) by Comcast (the first) has attracted criticism and consternation from media advocates, as well as some companies like Netflix and Charter. As of this week, you can Latino television giant Univision to the list of companies that are concerned about the merger.
Netflix has made it very clear that it doesn't think it should have to pay Internet service providers to get quality streaming service to an ISP's subscribers, going so far as to make a case for a new "strong net neutrality" that protects them (and presumably others) from such fees. Nevertheless, the company has made a deal with Verizon for better access.
This week, popular training app RunKeeper has released an iOS app for the less motivated users called Breeze. We're also recommending "doubleTwist", the closest thing to "iTunes for Android" and a web app called Netflix Roulette that will solve that common problem of Netflix paralysis.
On Monday, Xbox Entertainment Studios announced that it would begin developing a variety of Xbox original series similar to the business strategy Netflix and Amazon have capitalized on.
