The Google Drive is coming next week believe it or not. A while back I did talk about the Google Drive coming possibly in April. Well the reports are it is coming next week. Well we have some details on what the Google Drive will bring. First of all we are looking at 5GB of space and it is all free. Now that is a big step up since Dropbox has only 2GB of free space. We should be seeing the Google Drive by Tuesday or Wednesday of next week but one has to wonder how many people will take the time to move from Dropbox to Google Drive?
The Galaxy Nexus has been officially announced to come a Sprint near you on April 22nd. Along with that comes a pretty nice price tag of $199.99 but what is interesting outside of that is you get a $40 Google Wallet credit with purchase, of course with a two year contract. You will need to activate the Google Wallet before May 22nd to get the credit so make sure to set that up as soon as you get the phone. The release of this phone comes with some competition as the LG Viper will also be launching on that date. There will be no major changes to the Sprint model of this phone. The specs are as follows a 1.2Ghz dual core processor and 32 GB of storage space on board. It is going to be interesting to see how this phone stacks up in the coverage areas as it supports LTE and is sure to challenge Sprints biggest LTE seller the HTC EVO 4G LTE. Although for now Sprint has very limited 4G LTE coverage so if you get this phone you will most likely be stuck with a 3G signal.
Comcast has made a new enemy it would seem and that enemy would be named Netflix. It looks the CEO of Netfilx Reed Hastings need to vent to all of his Facebook. Saying that Comcast is breaking net neutrality and caps and he is sounding off to the people. This comes directly from his facebook post. ?omcast no longer following net neutrality principles.
“Comcast should apply caps equally, or not at all.
I spent the weekend enjoying four good internet video apps on my Xbox: Netflix, HBO GO, Xfinity, and Hulu.
When I watch video on my Xbox from three of these four apps, it counts against my Comcast internet cap. When I watch through Comcast?s Xfinity app, however, it does not count against my Comcast internet cap.
For example, if I watch last night?s SNL episode on my Xbox through the Hulu app, it eats up about one gigabyte of my cap, but if I watch that same episode through the Xfinity Xbox app, it doesn?t use up my cap at all.
The same device, the same IP address, the same wifi, the same internet connection, but totally different cap treatment.
In what way is this neutral??
So the idea here is if you watch Netflix, HBO Go, or even Hulu on your Xbox 360 it will count against the Comcast broadband cap for its customers. The interesting thing to note here is that if you use the Comcast Xfinity app it will not use the cap. Which means if you are worried about your broadband limits you would just need to use the streaming service of the Xfinity app which gives it a major advantage over the services such as Hulu and Netflix. This is interesting because if you watch let?s say Game of Thrones thru HBO Go, it will count against your cap if you watch Game of Thrones thru the Xfinity service then we have no cap usage. What are your thoughts? Do you think this is fair? Should this be regulated?
Amazon states that the prime services has more than 17,000 movie and tv shows streaming. However that number is well inflated. People pay $79 a year for this service but upon closer look we see that only 1,745 movies and around 150 TV series. So that 17,000 is not only extremely misleading and is really a false indication of the actually streaming library?s strength vs. Netflix and Hulu. From the looks of it what Amazon is actually doing is counting each episode of a TV series as an Individual TV show. So for example a show like 24, has 24 episodes per season and it had 8 seasons so the math of 24 x 8 is 192. So you can watch all 192 episodes of this series but Amazon sees all 192 as individual shows and not just one show with 192 episodes under it. A bit misleading if you are just an average Joe looking to expand your viewing pleasures. So do you think Amazon should just count each show as one or do you think it is right for them to count individual episodes in one series?
Yesterday I wrote a blog about the DOJ going after Apple for price fixing. Well Apple has responded, as a matter of fact an Apple spokesman Tom Neumayr had this to say about the DOJ?s accusations: ?The DOJ?s accusation of collusion against Apple is simply not true. The launch of the iBookstore in 2010 fostered innovation and competition, breaking Amazon?s monopolistic grip on the publishing industry. Since then customers have benefited from eBooks that are more interactive and engaging. Just as we?ve allowed developers to set prices on the App Store, publishers set prices on the iBookstore.?
This is actually a similar response that was given by Penguin Group and MacMillian, however this is only two of the five publishers named in the lawsuit. The other publishers in this case are as follows, HarperCollins, Hachette and Simon & Schuster, signed settlements with the DOJ after the suites were actually filled, which must tell you something about the legitimacy of this actual suit. Could the DOJ win this case or will Apple reign supreme.
Sony launched its SmartWatch. This is a timepiece that will go around your wrist that allows the person who owned it to be able to read text messages, emails, social updates, manage calls, and even control music. The watch actually connects to an Android phone via the Bluetooth option and it delivers what Sony is actually calling Android power. This watch can help in the fact that now you wouldn?t have to pull your phone out for what I have stated above. The devices functionality seems pretty cool but it isn?t very good looking as the fashion side goes. The strap is rubber and it will be coming in a variety of colors including white, blue, pink, and mint. The black strap actually comes standard and you have to buy the other colors separately. The piece itself is a touch screen OLED display measuring around 1.3 inches. The piece will even alert you when there is an incoming call and the timepiece will even vibrate. This timepiece is available now for a wonderful $149.99 on Sony?s online marketplace and even its stores. Sony will be announcing availability from other retailers soon.
