The Nostalgia Machine delivers the hit songs from any year you select

I'm a sucker for nostalgia. There's something special about stepping back in time (metaphorically speaking, of course) whenever I hear a certain song, look at an old photo, etc. It's a reaction that was triggered when I recently came across the aptly named Nostalgia Machine.

It's a simple concept really. Select a year from the drop-down menu and you'll be presented with a lengthy list of hit songs from that year pulled directly from YouTube.

Sit back and enjoy!

Found is a TechSpot feature where we share clever, funny or otherwise interesting stuff from around the web.

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Verizon is preparing to throttle 4G LTE unlimited data users

Starting October 1, Verizon customers on unlimited data plans that meet certain criteria will see their 4G LTE wireless connection throttled as part of what the carrier calls "Network Optimization," a practice that previously only affected 3G connections.

The good news is that the list of criteria that must be met for speed reduction to occur is pretty lengthy. Here's the full rundown according to Verizon:

Top 5% of data users (you use 4.7GB of data per month or more)Enrolled on an unlimited data plan or featureHave fulfilled their minimum contract termAre attempting to use data on a cell site that is experiencing high demand

Keep in mind that a customer must meet all of the above criteria before reduced speeds kick in. Also, once a user has been throttled, they may continue to be impacted for the rest of the current billing cycle and through the next billing cycle.

The key here seems to be whether or not you're on a high demand network or not. Verizon doesn't consider this to be true throttling as speeds aren't reduced for the entire billing cycle, 100 percent of the time. For example, if you are a heavy data user and there's plenty of available bandwidth, your speeds won't be impacted.

Unlimited data plans were once an effective marketing method but as we slowly transitioned to a data-heavy society, carriers realized they could make more money by eliminating unlimited data plans and moving customers to tiered plans where they can charge a lot for overages.

According to DroidLife, more than 20 percent of Verizon data customers are still on unlimited plans. Verizon, however, claims this figure isn't accurate and the actual percentage is lower.

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Twitter diversity report looks no different than other Silicon Valley tech giants

Diversity reports are the new hot topic in Silicon Valley as Twitter is next in line for everyone to comb over. Unsurprisingly, the microblogging platform on Wednesday joined a growing list of tech companies dominated by white males, just as we've seen from Facebook, Google, LinkedIn and Yahoo in recent months.

The report indicates that 70 percent of Twitter's overall workforce are male and 90 percent of its tech-oriented employees are also men. Non-tech roles - things like marketing, public relations, human resources, etc. - are gender split 50/50 while 79 percent of leadership roles are held by, you guessed it, men.

The ethnic breakdown, meanwhile, reveals Twitter employs mostly whites and Asians at 59 and 29 percent of the overall workforce, respectively. That same ratio is pretty much mirrored across both tech and non-tech jobs. Leadership roles are held primarily by whites at 72 percent followed by Asians at 24 percent. Other races make up just four percent of all leadership positions.

Janet Van Huysse, Twitter's vice president of diversity and inclusion, said they are keenly aware that Twitter is part of an industry that is marked by dramatic imbalances in diversity and they are no exception.

By becoming more transparent with employee data, open in dialog throughout the company and rigorous in recruiting, hiring and promotion practices, Van Huysse added, they are making diversity an important business issue for themselves.

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China Telecom to carry Xbox One starting this September

Microsoft's Xbox One is heading to China. The next generation console will soon be sold through China Telecom, one of the nation's leading telecommunications companies according to a report from Reuters.

The Xbox One will go on sale in September and will be the first gaming console sold in mainland China since the country's government issued a ban on such devices in 2000. The ban, put in place over concerns about how violence and mature content may affect Chinese youth, was recently lifted.

A China Telecom spokesperson told the publication that pricing for the console hasn't been decided yet. Further details regarding the launch will be revealed next week according to Microsoft China spokesperson Joanna Li.

The announcement came yesterday during a China Telecom media event focused on the Internet of Things. A set-top box and a smart television were shown as part of a smart home series called Yue Me. The Xbox One, with its heavy entertainment slant, should fit right into what China Telecom is trying to do.

It's a significant move for Microsoft as its Xbox One hasn't sold as well as Sony's PlayStation 4. Much of that had to do with Microsoft pricing their system $100 higher. Last month, however, Microsoft finally unbundled the Kinect and priced the barebones Xbox One at $399 to match the PS4.

Sales have doubled since the move and with more than 104 million China Telecom broadband subscribers in sight, the Xbox One may finally start catching up to the PS4.

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The new Oculus Rift kits have begun shipping out to developers

Oculus VR is now shipping the latest developer version of the Rift headset to early buyers, according to emails sent out last night. Developers and hobbyist that pre-ordered version 2 of the headset (DK2) have begun receiving notifications that it's coming soon. In a post on Reddit regarding the notifications, Oculus VR community manager Andres Hernandez said “We’ve started (shipping), and it’s the real deal."

The original dev kit has been out in the wild for a while now, but DK2 comes with a number of enhanced features as the closest version developers have seen to what consumers will see come available. It boasts a much higher resolution with 1,080 horizontal lines as well as an external camera to better translate player motion. 

The company will be shipping 10,000 units out this month. Previously, Oculus said it had surpassed 45,000 preorders on DK2 bringing the total sales on Rift to over 100,000. The shipping of DK2 brings the company one step closer to an expected late 2014/early 2015 consumer release.

As we last reported, while Oculus is saying 10,000 units are shipping this month, some developers with July delivery dates may get shipping times pushed back to August. Remember, if Oculus catches you selling your DK2 preorder on eBay for a higher price they will cancel the order like they did to this person.

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Amazon reports steep loss after launching bevy of new products, services

Amazon on Thursday reported poorer-than-anticipated second quarter results. The online retail giant posted a loss of $126 million, or 27 cents per share - far greater than the 15 cents per share loss that analysts had forecasted.

In the year-ago period, Amazon posted a loss of just $7 million, or 2 cents per share. Revenue, however, rose 23 percent to $19.34 billion and was spot-on with expectations of $19.33 billion. That's up from $15.7 billion during the same period in 2013.

Amazon launched a number of new products and services this quarter which is the primary reason why losses were so steep.

As Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos outlined in the earnings report, his company recently introduced Sunday delivery to a quarter of the US population. They also launched European cross-border two-day delivery for Prime, launched Prime Music, created three original kids TV series, launched the Fire TV set-top box, launched the Fire smartphone and launched Kindle Unlimited.

He said they are continuing to work hard to make the Amazon customer experience better and better.

Despite all of that, however, investors weren't pleased with Amazon's results. Share value plummeted more than 10 percent on the news, losing more than $36 of its value.

Looking ahead, Amazon expects third quarter revenue between $19.7 billion and $21.5 billion while analysts anticipate revenue around $20.81 billion.

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Sony to settle PlayStation Network class action suit for $15 million in goods and services

Sony has agreed to settle a class action lawsuit brought about by the 2011 PlayStation Network data breach, an event that resulted in the theft of names, addresses and potentially even credit card information belonging to 77 million members.

According to a report from Polygon, Sony has signed a preliminary agreement valued at $15 million. Instead of cash, however, plaintiffs would receive goods and services from Sony such as free PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Portable games, free themes, free subscriptions to PlayStation Plus, free subscriptions to the Music Unlimited service and free SOE Station cash (Sony's virtual currency to buy in-game items).

Those that didn't participate in Sony's "Welcome Back" package following the security breach will get to choose two separate benefit options or two instances of one PSN benefit option. Individuals that did accept Sony's package can receive a game benefit, a theme benefit or a PlayStation Plus subscription benefit.

Lawsuit participants will receive benefits on a first-come, first-serve basis. All of this, of course, is dependent on the judge signing the settlement.

Sony was hit with a couple of massive data breaches back in 2011 and has been working to clean up the mess ever since. The first breach in April forced Sony to shut down the PlayStation Network for several weeks.

The company hired a former Homeland Security officer to help get things in order after the breach but of course, the damage had already been done. At the time, Sony estimated it would cost $171 million to clean up the mess associated with the breach.

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Google offers three months of free streaming music to celebrate Chromecast anniversary

Today marks the one year anniversary of Chromecast, Google's uber affordable streaming dongle that allows you to push content from your phone, tablet or notebook to your television. It was unveiled during a media event alongside the second generation Nexus 7 tablet and Android 4.3 Jelly Bean with a jaw-dropping $35 price tag.

To celebrate the occasion, Google has released some updated usage stats as well as a sweet offer for existing Chromecast owners.

Since its launch, Chromecast users have cast media more than 400 million times. Google has also added hundreds of apps and a mirroring feature for Android devices over the year. We still don't know exactly how many dongles Google has sold but given its low price, the fact that initial batches sold out quickly and its availability in more than 30,000 stores across 20 countries, it's probably a pretty big number.

What's more, Google is offering all Chromecast owners a 90-day free trial of its premium music screaming service, Google Play Music All Access. The service launched at last year's I/O conference and is one of several offerings consumers can choose from in the crowded streaming music space.

Chromecast has spawned a couple of copycats like the Roku Streaming Stick although none have been able to match Google's $35 price point.

Have you tried Chromecast yet? If so, what are your thoughts on it? Let us know in the comments below!

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Get The Sims 2 for free on Origin this week

From now until July 31st, EA is giving away copies of The Sims 2 Ultimate Collection on Origin for free. To redeem your copy, open up Origin on your PC and log in, head to the Games tab, click on Redeem Product Code and enter the code "I-LOVE-THE-SIMS".

The Ultimate Collection bundles in every expansion pack and stuff pack alongside the original game, giving you access to 18 extra content packs for the game. Unlike Steam's free play weekends, after you've redeemed your copy of The Sims 2, it'll stay in your Origin library forever.

The Sims 2 launched in 2004 to critical acclaim, and continued to see content pack releases until late 2008. In 2009 EA released a sequel to the popular life simulator, The Sims 3, which as of today has a whopping 20 content packs available for it.

The next game in the series, The Sims 4, will launch on September 2, 2014. Despite the game containing new features, such as an improved Create-a-Sim tool and better representations of personalities, other features available in past games have been controversially removed, including swimming pools and the toddler life stage.

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Google X is working on a project to map perfect human health

Google X, the search giant's research and development arm, has set off on a new endeavor called the Baseline Study project. The goal of the project is to one day be able to detect health risks such as heart disease earlier in a patient's life such that preventative measures can be taken before it's too late.

The project is being led by Dr. Andrew Conrad, a molecular biologist credited with creating a cheap way to scan donated blood for HIV. He joined Google in March of last year and has put together a team of roughly 70 to 80 experts in the fields of biochemistry, imaging, molecular biology, optics and physiology.

The Baseline Study got under way earlier this summer through an unnamed clinical testing firm where doctors began collecting bodily fluids like urine, blood, saliva and tears from 175 anonymous volunteers. From there, Google will use its massive computing power to try and find patterns called biomarkers.

The hope is that these biomarkers will help researchers be able to detect health issues before a person even shows signs of them.

For example, a specific biomarker could reveal whether or not someone is able to break down fatty foods efficiently. Those that lack the biomarker could be at risk for early heart attacks in the future. By noticing this trait early and modifying their behavior now, they may be able to avoid the risk altogether.

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Google's colorful new Play Store update is rolling out as we speak

Waiting around to check out the new look of the Play Store ever since Google announced it was due for a facelift? Well, you can head over to the storefront to check out if you've made it to an early batch, as Google's aesthetically-pleasing Play Store update is rolling out gradually right now. 

The visual update includes larger icons and artwork, new animations, and an overall cleaner look with information laid out in a way that's easier to understand at a glance -- with significantly more scrolling, though. It may be a little different than what you're used to, but it's certainly worth taking a look at. 

Google announced the update via Twitter, with colorful headers denoting the changes with vivid imagery featuring some of the content you can pick up from the Play Store, including Rio 2 and Lana Del Rey's Ultraviolence album.

The update should be hitting all individual devices within the next few days, but Engadget reports Android Police has an installer if you just can't wait to check out the fresh coat of paint for the Play Store.  

Let us know if you're already running the redesigned Play Store and how it measures up to your expectations. Anything that streamlines browsing and finding apps, information, and content is going to make life easier, especially if you often find yourself browsing for something new to play or listen. 

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Canvas Fingerprinting: a web-tracking technique that's nearly impossible to block

Researchers at Princeton and Belgium's KU Leuven have found a new, extremely persistent type of web-tracking technique that's being used on around 5% of the top 1000 sites on the Internet, including Whitehouse.gov, YouPorn, and more. Dubbed Canvas Fingerprinting, the technique is nearly impossible to block, which means you cannot prevent it by blocking cookies, invoking Do Not Track, and using anti-tracking tools such as AdBlock Plus.

The technique works by instructing the visitor’s web browser to draw a hidden image. Since each computer renders the image in a different way (see Device fingerprint), that drawing is used to assign the device a uniquely identifying number that allows trackers keep an eye on your browsing activity.

Researchers claim that the most widely used fingerprinting software belongs to a company called AddThis, which started testing the web-tracking technique earlier this year, rolling out the feature to a small portion of the 13 million websites on which its technology appears.

“We’re looking for a cookie alternative”, said Rich Harris, chief executive of AddThis, adding that the company uses the collected data for internal research and development.

A company spokeswoman said that they do not use any of the data collected from government websites, but gave no such assurances about other websites. The company, however, claims that the collected data will not be used for ad targeting if users install the AddThis opt-out cookie.

It is still unclear just how capable or effective the technology is, but AddThis says that the company may wind things down soon as the results are "not uniquely identifying enough".

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Intel unveils business-class SSD Pro 2500 Series with self-encryption

Intel recently announced a new edition to its Professional Family of solid state drives, the Intel SSD Pro 2500 Series. These new business-class drives offer a wealth of security and manageability features, fast performance and a lower total cost of ownership according to a press release on the matter.

All of the drives in the Pro 2500 Series are self-encrypting drives (SED) that utilize hardware-based 256-bit encryption. They also feature the Trusted Computing Group's OPAL 2.0 standard and are Microsoft eDrive capable, policy-based controls designed to help prevent data breaches.

Rob Crooke, Intel corporate vice president and general manager of the Non-Volatile Memory Solutions Group, said the need to protect assets, keep an eye on the bottom line and ensure employees have the best tools is a challenge for IT departments.

The Intel SSD Pro 2500 Series is a well-rounded solution to help balance those often competing needs, he added.

Pro 2500 drives will be available in both 2.5-inch and M.2 form factors with capacities ranging from 120GB up to 480GB. Sequential read/write speeds check in at 540MB/sec and 490MB/sec, respectively, across the board while random 4KB read/write speeds vary depending on capacity.

A total of 10 drives have been added to the Pro 2500 family as of writing, all carrying a standard five year warrant. Unfortunately, Intel didn't provide a release date or pricing for any of the new models.

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Microsoft all but confirms it shelved the Surface Mini

Even before the Surface Pro 2 was released, rumors suggested Microsoft was working on a Mini version of its Windows tablet. Such talk spilled over into 2014 and by mid-year, we were certain we'd see the smaller slate show up on stage during Microsoft's "small gathering" on May 20.

Instead, Microsoft unveiled the Surface Pro 3 in what's been described as a last-minute decision to hold back the Mini.

Was the Mini ever even a real tablet to begin with or was it simply the creation of rumor?

All signs suggest it was indeed real and was to be unveiled at the May 20 event. For example, the Surface Pro 3 user guide is littered with references to the Mini - clearly not a typo or an overlook.

So, where does that leave the Mini now?

Microsoft's recent earnings report sheds a bit of light on the matter. In the hardware section, the company notes that its current year cost of revenue included Surface inventory adjustments resulting from their transition to newer generation devices and a decision to not ship a new form factor.

That new form factor likely refers to the Surface Mini. And if that's the case, it sounds a lot like Microsoft has officially killed off the device for good. The only question that reminds is, why exactly did Microsoft decide to pull the Mini from the May 20 event and shelf it permanently?

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Motorola wants you to unlock your Moto X with this digital tattoo

Unlocking a smartphone can be a drag, especially if you're the type that checks your handset dozens of times a day. It's a first world problem that has led many to simply leave their phones unprotected (obviously not a wise decision) but now, Motorola thinks they've come up with yet another solution.

Motorola has announced a new wearable accessory based on VivaLnk's eSkin technology. It's basically a nickel-sized "digital tattoo" that users can affix to their arm. By using NFC technology, the wearer can simply tap their phone to the tattoo to unlock it without having to enter a passcode.

A post on Motorola's official blog says each tattoo is made of super thin, flexible materials with an adhesive backside. Each tattoo can stay in place for up to five days and is designed to withstand showering, swimming and other vigorous activities like jogging.

The digital tattoo currently only works with the Moto X although I suspect it could migrate to other handsets if the concept catches on with consumers.

VivaLnk is charging $9.99 for a pack of 10 tattoos. Do the math and you're looking at around $80 for a year's supply of tattoos (assuming you wear them every day). That's a decent chunk of change to spend on something that only shaves off a few seconds each time you use it but then again, that level of convenience might be worth it so long as you don't feel silly wearing a digital tattoo in public.

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Asus lays claim to the world's fastest Wi-Fi 802.11ac router

If you want the best of the best in terms of wireless network performance, even if the devices you own can't handle the blazing fast speeds, look no further than Asus' new RT-AC87 router.

The RT-AC87 is the first "Wave 2" Wi-Fi 802.11ac consumer router, supporting 4x4 multi-user MIMO (MU-MIMO) over 5 GHz with throughput up to 1.73 Gbps, thanks to Quantenna's QSR1000 chipset. Like all modern routers, the RT-AC87 is also backwards compatible with 802.11a/b/g/n devices.

According to Asus' press release, the RT-AC87 also has fantastic range, but doesn't go into any specifics. The router is designed for streaming multiple 1080p videos to devices around your home, or even streaming 4K Ultra HD content, as well as low-latency gaming and file sharing.

Interestingly, towards the end of the year we should be seeing Asus' even faster 802.11ac router which we previewed at Computex, called the RT-AC3200. With a whopping six antennas, it should support speeds up to 3.2 Gbps when it launches.

Until the RT-AC3200 launches, you'll be able to pick up Asus' fastest router for $270 when it launches shortly in North America.

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Can this magician guess the card you're thinking about?

Magicians have been entertaining audiences for centuries but as we all know, there's no such thing as magic. Instead, magic tricks are simply illusions that play tricks on our brains which is exactly what takes place in the clip below.

As part of a promo for a National Geographic Channel show called Brain Games, illusionist Eric Leclerc claims to be able to read your mind. He flashes a deck of cards and asks you to pick a single card from the deck at random. Leclerc is then able to magically select the card you chose.

It's a pretty neat trick but not one of those that's uber hard to figure out. Let us know if you figured it out in the comments below!

Found is a TechSpot feature where we share clever, funny or otherwise interesting stuff from around the web.

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Apple reports quarterly earnings led by solid iPhone sales

Apple on Tuesday posted fiscal third quarter results led by solid iPhone sales. The Cupertino-based company brought in $37.4 billion in revenues, up six percent compared to the year-ago quarter. Profit checked in at $7.75 billion, up from the $6.9 billion during the same period in 2013.

Tim Cook and company sold 35.2 million iPhones during the quarter, a jump of 12.7 percent year-over-year although just shy of analysts' estimates. It's an impressive figure considering we're just a few months away from one of the most anticipated iPhone launches ever but it's worth pointing out that strong overseas iPhone sales certainly played a part in the quarterly figure.

While iPhone sales were solid, Apple once again turned in disappointing results as it relates to the iPad. Sales were down 9.2 percent at just 13.3 million versus the 14.6 million units moved last year. iPad sales were down 16 percent during the previous quarter.

Apple is clearly having a hard time moving its tablet in the wake of cheaper competition and large-screen smartphones.

Apple shares are up 0.83 percent in after hours trading as of writing, currently priced at $94.72. That may seem low if you kept up with Apple's ridiculously high stock prices not all that long ago but you have to remember, the company did a seven-for-one stock split back in June.

Looking ahead, Apple anticipates revenues of $37 billion to $40 billion during the next quarter.

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Social networks rank among the worst companies in terms of customer satisfaction

Airlines and Internet service providers are often associated with poor customer satisfaction and according to a recent survey from the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI), social media companies can now be added to that list.

The annual survey found that social media ranks fourth in customer satisfaction behind airlines, subscription TV and Internet service providers (in that order).

Looking at individual results, LinkedIn and Facebook tied for dead last with a score of 67 based on a 100-piont scale. Twitter finished two points higher at 69 followed by Google+ (71), YouTube (73) and Wikipedia (74). Pinterest had the best overall customer satisfaction score at 76 according to the survey while former social network starlet MySpace wasn't measured for the fourth year in a row.

ACSI Director David VanAmburg said advertising continues to be a drag on the social media customer experience but it is hard to tell if consumers are getting used to the advertising or if these companies have been able to offset disruption with tweaks to the rest of the experience.

It's worth pointing out that survey results came in before news broke of Facebook's massive news feed experiment in which they toyed with users' emotions as part of a psychological experiment.

It's a bit ironic that social media ranks so poorly yet so many people are obsessed with it, but I digress.

Do you agree with the order of satisfaction? If not, which social network do you believe is the worst of the worst?

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GPU-Accelerated Virtual Desktops: The Future of Computing?

key difference between the two lines is the driver support for each pair of cards. The K340 and K520 use drivers that have been optimized for games while the K1 and K2 use drivers optimized for workstation applications like AutoCAD, Premiere, Maya, etc.

In addition to the 2x or 4x GPUs on each card, these cards also support vGPU which is the virtualization of a GPU. Basically, it allows for a single GPU to be used by multiple virtual machines at the same time. For example: the GRID K340 has four GK107 GPUs which you could either have assigned individually to four virtual machines if you want maximum performance or you could make it a vGPU and allow up to 24 different virtual machines to use the GRID K340 at the same time. Performance would obviously be much lower per machine, but if you only need basic GPU acceleration it is a great option.

Finally, it's worth pointing out the fact that right now all GRID cards are passively cooled. This does?not?mean that they run so cool that they do not need airflow, but rather that they are designed to be used in a rackmount with high front to back airflow.

Currently, the main advantages of desktop virtualization come into play when you have medium to large number of users. If it catches on and becomes possible for everyday consumers to "rent" a desktop that resides in the cloud for their personal use this may change, but at the moment virtual desktops are primarily being used by larger businesses.

The advantages for these businesses can mostly be boiled down to:

With enough users, virtual desktops become cheaper than individual PCsSharing of resources allows each user to have access to more computing power than they would with individual PCsThin clients and servers are more reliable than individual PCs and are much easier to manageSince there is no data stored on the client system, data is more secure than it would be on individual PCs

One of the biggest advantages for a business is the simple monetary cost. Instead of needing a standard PC for every user, you can instead use a very affordable thin client or simply a cheaper or recycled PC for each user that connects to a virtual desktop. This does require more infrastructure including multiple servers, but at a certain number of users (which will vary depending on what level of performance each user needs) it becomes cheaper to use thin clients, servers and virtual desktops than individual PCs. In fact, Citrix even has a tool to calculate how much savings you would see by moving to virtual desktops.

On top of the straight-up cost savings for medium to large numbers of users, virtual desktops allow you to over-allocate resources like CPU and RAM. For example: if you have five users connecting to a server with ten CPU cores, you can actually assign each user three or more CPU cores rather than just two. This works out to a total of 15 CPU cores being allocated (5 more than there are physical cores), but virtualization is currently very good at balancing loads. So if one user is doing something intensive, the server can shift around the processing loads on the fly so that user can get extra processing power when they need it. Since it is very rare that every user will be heavily loading their desktop at the same time, this load balancing allows you to either provide more computing power to each user with the same amount of hardware or allows you to use less hardware in the first place to achieve the same amount of computing power.

Virtual desktops can share resources like CPU cores to provide additional computing power to users when they need it.

The third major advantage to a VDI is their reliability and maintainability. In general, PC's are overall more prone to failure and problems than servers and thin clients. Server hardware is designed for 100% uptime by using technologies like ECC memory to achieve maximum reliability which most desktops do not support. Thin clients do not have anything like ECC memory, but they are simply so basic that there is very little to break. And even if they do have a problem, it is much easier to swap out a thin client that to replace an entire user's PC. In addition, if you have a large number of users you really don't want to have to maintain the OS on each individual PC. Instead, VDIs allow you to use a master image for each virtual desktop. Rather than pushing updates to hundreds of computers, you can simply update a single master image and each virtual desktop will automatically use the updated version the next time the virtual desktop is booted.

Finally, virtual desktops also provide increased data security. Since there is no actual data on the client device - just the software to connect to a virtual desktop - there is no risk of sensitive data being compromised if the client device is physically stolen or compromised. This can be especially useful in places like hospitals where it is extremely important for patient data to remain confidential, but doctors and nurses need access to that data regularly. You still have to worry about key loggers, viruses, and compromised user accounts, but VDI introduces an additional layer of data security not found on physical PCs.

While virtual desktops have a lot of things going for them, they are certainly not perfect. Even if you have enough users and the infrastructure to justify a VDI, there are currently a number of disadvantages:

VDI requires a robust network for optimal performanceStreaming can be very CPU intensive on the virtual desktopStreaming is limited in FPS and has varying degrees of input lagRequires additional servers and licensing for commercial-grade desktop streaming

First, since you are essentially steaming a video of the virtual desktop to the client device there is quite a bit of network activity depending on how much of the screen is changing each frame. We found that when using XenDesktop to stream a virtual desktop at 30 FPS, basic tasks like word processing or browsing the web took 1-3 Mbps to stream, watching a 1080p video took about 8-10 Mbps, and even more intensive tasks took as much as 15 Mbps to stream. This isn't too much for a handful of virtual desktops, but if you have hundreds of users all streaming at the same time you could easily overload even a gigabit network.

Streaming video uses about 10 Mbps of our network. More intensive tasks can take as much as 15 Mbps

Second, it takes quite a bit of CPU power on the virtual desktop to capture the desktop's video, encode it, and send it over the network. With 8 cores of a Xeon E5-2680 V2?2.8GHz CPU assigned to a virtual desktop (and again streaming using XenDesktop at 30 FPS) streaming basic word processing used between 1-3% of the total CPU power. Streaming a 1080p video only added a few percentage points, but more intensive things that ran above 30 FPS on the virtual desktop (even simply dragging a window around quickly) could use as much as 30% of the total CPU power. 30% of eight?Xeon?E5-2680 v2 cores is quite a large amount of processing power so if you will be doing things that have a lot of rapid movement (like gaming) then you need to make sure you have plenty of additional CPU power availble to the virtual desktop.

It is possible for streaming can take a large amount of processing power on the virtual desktop

Even if you have plenty of network bandwidth and enough CPU power to stream the virtual desktop with no problems, the user experience is likely never going to be as good as using a local PC. Most desktop monitors display at 60 Hz, which is equivalent to 60 FPS. Streaming software, on the other hand, generally runs at between 15 and 30 FPS. So just from a display perspective streaming a virtual desktop will normally result in the display updating only about half as often as it would on a traditional PC. And since every input from a mouse or keyboard has to go across the network to the virtual desktop, there is also an additional amount of input lag that occurs. We will get more into this topic and how it affects usability on page two of this article.

Lastly, desktop virtualization is nowhere near as straight-forward to setup as traditional PCs and requires additional licensing for much of the required infrastructure. With enough users this can be offset by how much easier it is to maintain the virtual machines, but for small numbers of users setting and configuring a VDI will rarely be worth it. If you go the route of using a master image for the virtual desktops, you need to have multiple Windows servers on your network to run things like Active Directory and the Desktop Delivery Controller. In addition, since you are using a single master image which already has product keys integrated, you need to make sure you are using software and OS licenses that are intended for businesses because you will be using the same product key on multiple desktops at the same time.

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Battlefield: Hardline, Dragon Age: Inquisition both delayed

Two games from EA originally slated to launch right in the heart of this year's holiday gaming season have been delayed, so that the game's developers have more time to polish their work.

Dragon Age: Inquisition was originally given a launch date of October 7, 2014, which has now been pushed back to November 18, 2014 in North America and November 21 in Europe. The delay of just over a month comes after the development team requested more time to make the highly anticipated game as polished as possible.

Specifically, the team will be working on ensuring the "open spaces are as engaging as possible", "strengthening the emotional impact of the Hero's choices", and "ensuring the experience you get is the best it can be in the platform you choose to play on".

Battlefield: Hardline was expected to launch on October 21, 2014 but has now been pushed back to a date in "early 2015" which is yet to be determined. EA states the delay is due to the recent beta failing to meet the expectations of gamers, many of which have been enjoying Battlefield 4 since its launch just last year.

DICE VP and Group GM Karl Magnus Troedsson says the feedback surrounding Hardline has "spurred us to start thinking about other possibilities and ways we could push Hardline innovation further and make the game even better." The delay will help the team introduce new multiplayer features and polish the single-player campaign, while ensuring the launch is more stable than that of Battlefield 4.

Despite two games vacating the packed October launch month, there's still plenty of titles to look forward to. Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel launches October 14, Assassin's Creed Unity hits consoles and PC on October 28, and Civilization: Beyond Earth will be available from October 24, just to name a few.

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Neowin: Rise of the machine: Microsoft's Azure platform will change the world

How many times have you tried to figure out what you are having for dinner only to become disgruntled and order a pizza? It happens to all of us from time to time, but that's often because we run out of time to prepare for dinner or, frankly, we forget what's in the fridge.

But what if we didn't have to remember what's in the fridge or even what type of meal to cook. What if our food could tell us what to make? 

We often hear about Azure and how it is Microsoft's new show pony but what is it? In the simplest terms, it's a massive computer network that is made up of many smaller computers that are all linked together and have more storage than you can possibly imagine.

The cool thing here is that getting access to this massive system is quite easy and cheap, and you can use it on-demand too. The power of the Azure platform is immense and is magnitudes more powerful than the device you are using to read this post. Microsoft also makes it clear that they have the largest cloud infrastructure in the world, topping both Google and Amazon.

Read the rest of the artice.

This article is brought to you in partnership with Neowin.

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Amazon updates Prime Music library with a massive number of new songs and more

Last month Amazon officially launched its Prime music service, offering its Prime subscribers unlimited, ad-free streaming. Today, the company has announced the library of songs users have to choose from is expanding dramatically along with some additional enhancements to the service.

Prime members already had access to over a million tracks when the service launched on June 12, and today Amazon has added "hundreds of thousands" of new songs to the mix. The additional tracks are from artists that are already in the catologue as well some new talent including Miles Davis, Kendrick Lamar, Linkin Park, Shakira, Deadmau5, Ella Fitzgerald, Young the Giant, A$AP Rocky, Oasis, Ray Charles, Skrillex, John Coltrane and many others.

Amazon said users are really pleased with its curated Prime Playlists and have decided to add hundreds of new ones. A few examples the company gives are “Upbeat Indie Vibes,” “Electronic Beats for Work,” “Rainy Day Jazz,” “Jack White and More,” “Bass Drops and Fist-Pumps,” and “Justin Timberlake’s Top Songs.”

Prime Music is available to all Prime members in the US and will run on Kindle Fire HD/HDX, iOS, Android, PC, and Mac. Those who are interested in giving it a test drive can check out Amazon's 30-day free trial.

The boost to its Prime Music catalogue joins its Instant Video service, Free Two-Day Shipping, and the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library as benefits of being an Amazon Prime member.

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YouTube music chief departs ahead of long-delayed Music Pass launch

YouTube's upcoming music subscription service has been hit with yet another setback. Chris LaRosa, YouTube's product manager in charge of music, is parting ways with Google at the end of the week to join an undisclosed startup according to a report from The Wall Street Journal.

The write-up claims LaRosa decided to leave in part because he was frustrated that YouTube hasn't yet been able to launch its long-delayed music subscription service, tentatively known as YouTube Music Pass. Sources say the first internal version of the service was developed more than a year ago.

Last year, former music boss Nikhil Chandhok departed from a similar position according to his LinkedIn profile.

Those familiar with the matter say the delays stem from disputes over how the service should be designed, what features YouTube should charge users for and how it should fit into YouTube as a whole. All of this is in addition to recent disputes with major and independent record labels over licensing.

The Music Pass app will be ad-free and allow subscribers to keep listening to music even if they switch to another app. What's more, YouTube is said to be working on the ability to store tunes for offline listening - or in other words, it'll pretty much function like other paid music streaming services.

Google is expected to introduce the service sometime in the next few months although no solid date has been announced.

No word yet on who will be replacing LaRosa.

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Amazon's new mobile games showcase Fire phone's head tracking tech

Amazon's new Fire phone features much of the same functionality as its competition, so the company is doing everything it can to showcase the device's head tracking technology.

A while back Amazon began acquiring game development talent to add to its in house studio. We have seen a few titles from Amazon Game Studio, but its clear some of its resources have been in part dedicated to new mobile game's that specifically take advantage of the tracking tech. Basically speaking, you can use "Dynamic Perspective" technology to see hidden areas and secrets as well as for basic navigation in-games, among other things.

The first two out of the gate are Saber's Edge and To-Fu Fury. The latter is a puzzle platformer in the vein of other mobile and indie titles and features a Tofu ninja as its main character. Along with "frenetic" melee combat, the game makes use of a variety of environmental gameplay and puzzles giving players the ability to interact differently to various surfaces."Stick to wooden surfaces, slide down slippery jade, and use metal to ricochet towards your goal… but beware the deadly traps and devious Hoshi bandits!," the game's description reads.

Saber's Edge is a strategic puzzler with a sky pirate theme. It is essentially your typical match 3 game with some RPG elements weaved through it, along with the tracking implementation. The game allows you "to chain attacks, plan your defenses, and defeat your enemies like never before!…become the most renowned Raiders across the entire Seven Skies!" 

Both games are $1.99 and are exclusive to Amazon's Fire phone. To-Fu Fury is available now and Saber's Edge is coming soon.

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Apple to launch public OS X Yosemite beta program tomorrow

Apple announced OS X Yosemite during its annual Worldwide Developers Conference last month. Since then, developers have had access to the operating system via closed beta but that's all set to change real soon.

Starting tomorrow (July 24), Apple is opening the beta up to the public. Those that pre-registered for the public beta will receive an e-mail on Thursday with a link to download the Yosemite build from the Mac App Store as well as an activation key.

Unlike developers, public beta users won't receive bi-weekly software updates. Instead, these users should only expect a handful of updates between now and when the OS officially launches this fall. When the official build is released, however, those using the public beta will also be updated to the final build meaning a wipe and reinstall won't be necessary.

As with any beta program, it's always a good idea to back up any mission-critical data beforehand. Apple also recommends installing OS X Yosemite on a secondary Mac if possible since it may contain errors or inaccuracies.

Additionally, the Cupertino-based company points out that some features require iOS 8 which is not being offered as part of the beta program.

Do note, however, that while this is a public beta, spots are limited and only the first million signups will get access. As of writing, it appears there are still some spots available but if you want in, you'd better act fast.

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Comcast does a U-turn, admits rep from retention call was doing "what we trained him to do"

After that excruciating recorded call between AOL product manager Ryan Block and a Comcast customer rep went viral last week, the cable company quickly apologized noting that's not "how our customer service representatives are trained to operate". But as many already suspected, turns out that's not true.

Taking a complete U-turn, the company has now admitted that the rep was doing what he was trained him to do. The statement came as part of a memo issued by Comcast's Chief Operating Officer Dave Watson to employees.

"It was painful to listen to this call, and I am not surprised that we have been criticized for it", Watson said, adding that the agent "did a lot of what we trained him and paid him — and thousands of other Retention agents — to do". He recognized the lack of sensitivity to the customer’s desire to discontinue service.

A Comcast spokesperson confirmed that the memo, which was leaked to Consumerist, was authentic.

The bitter reality behind the way these employees act is that their pay relies on how many customers they lose and how many they keep from leaving. "These guys fight tooth and nail to keep every customer because if they don't meet their numbers they don't get paid", said an anonymous reddit user who claimed to be a Comcast employee.

Although those incentives (or penalties) aren't likely to go away, Watson said that the company will re-examine the way these retention calls are made and ensure that they are rewarding employees for the right behaviors.

He also accepted that Retention Representative jobs are tough, and said that he has tremendous admiration for Comcast's Retention professionals, who make it easy for customers to choose to stay with the company.

A Message From Dave Watson,
July 21, 2014

You probably know that there has been a fair amount of media attention about a recording of a phone call between one of our Customer Account Executives (CAEs) and a Comcast customer. The call went viral on social media and generated news headlines. We have apologized to the customer privately and publicly on Comcast Voices, making it clear that we are embarrassed by the tone of the call and the lack of sensitivity to the customer’s desire to discontinue service.

I’d like to give you my thoughts on the situation.

First, let me say that while I regret that this incident occurred, the experience that this customer had is not representative of the good work that our employees are doing. We have tens of thousands of incredibly talented and passionate people interacting with our customers every day, who are respectful, courteous and resourceful.

That said, it was painful to listen to this call, and I am not surprised that we have been criticized for it. Respecting our customers is fundamental, and we fell short in this instance. I know these Retention calls are tough, and I have tremendous admiration for our Retention professionals, who make it easy for customers to choose to stay with Comcast. We have a Retention queue because we believe in our products, and because we offer a great value when customers have the right facts to choose the package that works best for them. If a customer is not fully aware of what the product offers, we ask the Retention agent to educate the customer and work with them to find the right solution.

The agent on this call did a lot of what we trained him and paid him — and thousands of other Retention agents — to do. He tried to save a customer, and that’s important, but the act of saving a customer must always be handled with the utmost respect. This situation has caused us to reexamine how we do some things to make sure that each and every one of us — from leadership to the front line — understands the balance between selling and listening. And that a great sales organization always listens to the customer, first and foremost.

When the company has moments like these, we use them as an opportunity to get better, and that’s what we’re going to do. We will review our training programs, we will refresh our manager on coaching for quality, and we will take a look at our incentives to ensure we are rewarding employees for the right behaviors. We can, and will, do better.

Thank you for your support, and many thanks to the thousands of exceptional employees all around the country who work so hard to deliver a great customer experience every day. I am confident that together we will continue to improve the experience, one customer at a time.

Dave Watson
Chief Operating Officer, Comcast Cable

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Microsoft confirms Windows will merge into one operating system

Speaking in an earnings call today, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has confirmed that in the next version of Windows, the company will amalgamate the current three versions of Windows into the one operating system.

Nadella said that the one operating system will cover all screen sizes, ranging from desktops and laptops, to tablets and smartphones. While he didn't specify what this version of Windows is called, previous rumors have indicated it goes by the codename 'Threshold', effectively making it Windows 9.

It was also revealed that Microsoft has internally restructured the company since the departure of Steve Ballmer, with Nadella saying the company now has "one team with a common architecture".

While the next version of Windows will be a singular operating system, it'll still be sold in different versions, some with a subset of the features to suit the particular device. For example, it's expected that the Windows Phone and Windows RT versions of Threshold will not include the desktop, but will run universal Windows apps also available for desktop systems.

The latest rumors claim Windows 9 will launch in early 2015. One of the features that will make a comeback for desktop users is the Start menu, recently pictured in leaked screenshots. Nadella said there will be more announcements surrounding future versions of Windows in the coming months, but didn't go into detail.

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Western Digital 'Green' hard drives now available in capacities up to 6TB

Look no further than a solid state drive for breakneck speed. If a large-capacity drive for storage is what you're after, however, traditional spinning hard drives are still the best bet in terms of price per GB. And if you need a whole heck of a lot of storage, Western Digital's two new budget-minded drives might be right up your alley.

The Western Digital Green line of cool and quiet hard drives now has a couple of new additions, a 5TB drive and a 6TB drive. These consumer-oriented 3.5-inch drives both offer 64MB of cache and use WD's IntelliPower technology to reduce rotational speed when the drive isn't being heavily used to conserve energy.

According to documentation from WD, the 6TB and the 5TB are the two fastest models in the entire Green line with sustained data write speeds of up to 175MB/sec and 170MB/sec, respectively. The next fastest drive in the line is the 4TB model at 150MB/sec.

Of course, the increased speed also comes at a cost: higher energy consumption. We're nitpicking here but the two new drives consume 5.3 watts under read / write scenarios and 0.4 watts in standby / sleep mode compared to just 4.1 watts under load on the 3TB model.

Unfortunately, Western Digital hasn't revealed pricing or availability on either of the new Green drives. I've reached out to marketing for clarification and will update this post when I hear something back.

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GameStop will give you store credit for unused gift cards from other retailers

Gift cards are a close second to cash in terms of a universally acceptable gift. The only problem is that if you don't shop at the store or dine at the restaurant where the gift card is accepted, it's about as useless as the plastic it's printed on.

If you happen to be a gamer, however, there's now a solution that'll let you get some value out of those unused cards after all.

Through a new partnership between GameStop and gift card exchange program Cardpool, you can now transform unused cards into an e-gift card for use at GameStop. Here's how it works.

Head over to the Gift Card Exchange website, select which store your card is from and fill out the card number and PIN. Once the card details have been verified and you complete the transaction, a GameStop e-gift card will be e-mailed your way. The e-card can be used for purchases online or at one of GameStop's brick and mortar locations nationwide.

Cards from nearly 100 retailers will be accepted including Aeropostale, Barnes & Noble, Best Buy, Home Depot, Nike, Old Navy and Target, just to name a few.

GameStop's cut will vary depending on several factors including what they think they can sell the card for. On average, however, customers can expect to get 70 to 75 percent of the value of their gift card in GameStop credit.

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Aereo's subscriber count might surprise you

Aereo's run-up to its Supreme Court case earlier this year and subsequent loss drew quite a bit of media attention. The company was - and could still be - extremely disruptive (especially among broadcasters) but did anyone every stop to question just how big of a deal Aereo was in the first place?

By that, I mean its subscriber count. Aereo drew media attention as if it were a heavyweight juggernaut but according to the numbers, the company had just 77,596 subscribers across 10 cities by the end of 2013.

Documents filed with the U.S. Copyright Office reveal that around 27,000 subscribers lived in New York City, the first market Aereo launched in. Boston got the service in the spring of 2013 but only had 12,000 subscribers by the end of the year while Atlanta, another 2013 entry, accounted for around 10,000 subscribers.

Granted, we don't know Aereo's 2014 numbers but even still, the overall total is likely a lot lower than some might have guessed. To put it into perspective, Netflix just announced it has more than 50 million subscribers reaching all parts of the globe.

Despite the fact that the Supreme Court ruled against Aereo (which forced them to halt services), they aren't giving up. Following the unfavorable ruling, Aereo attempted to get itself classified as a cable company which would have kept them safe from copyright laws.

Unfortunately for Aereo, that route was also shut down as the Copyright Office said Internet retransmissions of broadcast content aren't covered by the type of licensing they were seeking.

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In China more users now access the internet with a mobile device than a PC

China has been going through a major internet usage boom over the last little while, due largely to mobile device use. New numbers published by a state supported research group say that for the first time mobile internet usage has surpassed that of laptop and desktop PCs.

Around 83.4% of China's 632 million internet users recorded across June of this year did so via a mobile device, compared to about 80.9% accessing the web via PC. As internet usage as a whole grew around 2.3% since the beginning of 2014, mobile surfing grew 5.4% and usage on PCs dropped between 0.1 and 0.4% over the same time period. 

Internet usage in the country has hit nearly 47% compared to 87% in the US. However, even with nearly half the adoption numbers, China had more than double the entire US population logon during June 2014.

While the numbers are still the other way around in most other places in the world, some suggest the combination of low cost phones and the considerably low average income in China, make mobile devices a much more practical internet solution than pricey PCs. The popularity of mobile internet is also likely parallel with the boom of social networks, online mobile gaming and other on-the-go services in the region.

Image via Shutterstock

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Security expert details multiple undocumented services running on all iOS devices

During a recent hacker conference, forensic scientist and iPhone jailbreaking expert Jonathan Zdziarski outlined a number of undocumented high-value forensic services running on every iOS device. He also found suspicious design omissions in iOS that make data collection easier according to a report from ZDNet.

Zdziarski notes that while Apple has worked hard to make iOS devices reasonably secure against typical attackers, they've also put a lot of time and planning into making devices accessible on their end on behalf of law enforcement.

The hacker also found that screen-locking an iPhone doesn't encrypt its data. The only real way to do this is to shut down / power off the handset. What's more, some of the undocumented services are able to bypass backups and can be accessed using USB, Wi-Fi or perhaps even cellular.

Using commercially available forensics tools, for example, law enforcement could gain access to a device during a routine traffic stop or during an arrest before a suspect is able to power the phone off.

Zdziarski finds it suspicious that none of these services ("lockdownd," "pcapd" or "mobile.file_relay") are referenced in any Apple software. The data they collect is personal in nature thus unlikely to be used for debugging purposes and is stored in raw format to make it useless to wireless carriers or during a trip to a Genius Bar.

All said and done, Zdziarski is left with more questions than answers.

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Marketing material for Nvidia's Shield Tablet hits the web ahead of unveiling

There's been a lot of discussion regarding Nvidia's upcoming Shield Tablet over the past few months. And now thanks to a cornucopia of leaked slides obtained by the crew over at VideoCardz.com, we know virtually everything there is to know about Nvidia's new gaming machine.

The slides, if legit, leave little to the imagination. The Shield will carry an 8-inch IPS LCD display operating at 1,920 x 1,200 with Nvidia's Tegra K1 SoC under the hood (192 core Kepler GPU, 2.2GHz quad-core A15 CPU) alongside 2GB of RAM.

Storage capacity checks in at either 16GB or 32GB depending on model although a microSD card slot will allow for additional space. Elsewhere, we find a 5-megapixel rear camera and a matching 5-megapixel front-facing shooter, 802.11 a/b/g/n 2x2 MIMO (2.4GHz and 5GHz) Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0 LE, GPS, GLONASS and an included stylus.

Battery life is rated at 10 hours of HD video playback from the 19.75 watt hour lithium ion pack.

Pricing starts at $299 for a 16GB with Wi-Fi model. An extra $100 will double the onboard storage to 32GB and net you LTE connectivity. Nvidia will also offer up a controller as a separate accessory priced at $59 while a cover / stand will carry an MSRP of $39.

The publication claims the tablet will be announced on July 22 and hit stores a week later on July 29 in Canada and the US. Availability for Europe is slated for August 14 with additional regions getting the Shield Tablet this fall.

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Nvidia's Shield tablet is available now and promoting Twitch streaming

Nvidia is expanding its line of mobile gaming products with the Nvidia Shield Tablet today. Right now, you can pre-order the tablet for $299, with the option to add a wireless controller for $59.

The $299 covers the 16GB wifi version, but you can nab a 32GB LTE version for $399. The tablets sport a Tegra K1 192 core GPU, 2GB of RAM with a Cortex A15 CPU, front-facing speakers, and a multitouch display. 

The tablet will be the first mobile device to integrate Twitch streaming as well, with Twitch offering a mobile SDK for developers to use. There's also a 5MP camera, microphone, and accompanying chat overlay to make streaming your games as effortless as possible -- at least, that's the hope behind Nvidia's push to incorporate streaming sessions. 

This tablet will also be the first to stream PC games via Nvidia Grid, a cloud-based gaming service that early adopters in Northern California can utilize to stream a library of PC games, then save them in the cloud. 

If streaming online isn't your thing, there's the option to use Nvidia Console Mode, which allows you to stream your games at home in native 1080p HD. 

The Shield Tablet looks as though it's making great strides in closing the loop between mobile gamers and console gamers, making streaming easier and more accessible to everyone. It's releasing July 29, so if you're interested in pouncing on it early, you might want to consider pre-ordering soon.

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TiVo co-founders shutting down their Qplay video streaming service

Qplay, the Internet video service from TiVo co-founders Mike Ramsay and Jim Barton, this weekend announced that it is closing down just six month after first launching. Its last day of service will be Friday, July 25.

Qplay combined a $49 streaming device and an iPad app to let viewers watch a continuous stream of videos found on sites like YouTube, Vimeo, Twitter, Facebook, Comedy Central, Yahoo, and more. Like Google Chromecast, video playback started from the cloud, making it possible to continue streaming even if the iPad was being used for any other purpose or is turned off.

Although Qplay didn't give any specific reason behind the decision, the shutdown seems abrupt as the company announced just last month that it was adding support for Google’s Chromecast media streamer.

As a goodwill gesture, the startup is issuing refunds to those who bought one of its TV adapters. Refund requests will be accepted until Friday (July 25) at 5 PM Pacific. The company is also urging customers to recycle their adapters as the devices will stop functioning when the service shuts down.

"We truly enjoyed bringing you the best videos from around the Internet. We had fun building and using Qplay and hope that you did too. Unfortunately, it is not possible for us to keep developing and running the service."

Founded in August 2012, the San Jose-based company was initially funded by Redpoint Ventures and Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers. Qplay had not disclosed how much funding it had raised.

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Google may convert New York City phone booths into Wi-Fi hot spots

Back in 2012, former Mayor Michael Bloomberg first tossed an idea to convert the NYC's thousands of largely unused phone booths into something useful. Two years later, Mayor Bill de Blasio has revived interest in the plan, vowing to create a robust, citywide network of Internet hotspots.

Now, Bloomberg is reporting that Google might be looking to get in on the action. According to a request for proposals (RFP) from the city’s Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications, the search giant was among more than 50 attendees to a meeting on May 12 to discuss the project. The meeting was also attended by Cisco, IBM, Verizon, Samsung, and more. Responses to the RFP from vendors were due Yesterday.

The project would allow the selected vendor to charge for phone service (except, of course, 911 and 311 calls) and make money from advertising, though Wi-Fi would have to remain free. The city administration expects the service provider to pay it a minimum annual compensation of $17.5 million or 50 percent of gross revenues, whichever is greater.

For Google, the opportunity to blanket much of New York’s streetscape with Wi-Fi falls in line with the company's efforts to provide fast and efficient connectivity in the US and around the world. The company already provides free wireless access around its West Coast and East Coast main offices in Mountain View, California, and New York's Chelsea neighborhood, and is also working on other Internet ventures like Google Fiber and Project Loon.

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Time Warner Cable to deliver one-gigabit broadband in Los Angeles by 2016

Time Warner Cable is bringing its ultra-fast broadband Internet service to Los Angeles. The company recently said they can offer Internet speeds of up to one gigabit per second to residents, businesses and government offices by 2016, far faster than what they currently offer anywhere else.

The move comes in response to a document released by the city back in April asking for information from companies on how to go about building an ultra-fast citywide broadband network. But as BGR points out, there's a bit more to the story once you start to dig a bit deeper.

As the publication points out, Time Warner Cable has had quite the change of heart as of late. Last year, a TWC executive said they didn't see the need to deliver Google Fiber-like speeds to customers and earlier this year, a TWC spokesperson noted that not everybody needs the capacity that a direct fiber network would provide.

What's more, National Cable & Telecommunications Association CEO Michael Powell dismissed the idea of fiber networks as little more than an irrelevant exercise in bragging rights less than two years ago.

So, why the sudden change of heart?

Cities are getting fed up with cable companies not wanting to update their infrastructure and are threatening to build their own fiber networks. Cable companies like TWC and Comcast are then put in a tough spot and as we see here with the former, they ultimtaely have little choice but to give in and invest in building networks with faster speeds.

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Report claims Apple has ordered 70-80 million next-gen iPhones

In the lead up to the launch of the new iPhone, Apple has reportedly placed its largest order yet for next-generation models: 70-80 million units by December 30th of this year. In contrast, Apple ordered 50-60 million units for the launch of the iPhone 5s and 5c.

There are several reasons as to why Apple has made such a large order of new iPhones. One is that they're expecting record demand for the upcoming phones, which are expected to be available as 4.7- and 5.5-inch models. The larger displays will close the hardware gap between the iPhone and other flagship smartphones, meaning demand will likely increase compared to previous launches.

The increase in orders could also be attributed to Apple's recent partnership with China Mobile, the largest wireless carrier in the world. The launch of the upcoming iPhone could be the first where Chinese buyers can order the smartphone at the same time as other nations, increasing global demand.

Either way, the launch of the next-generation iPhone is going to be a big one. Aside from larger displays, the new iPhones are widely expected to include tougher synthetic-sapphire glass, a better camera, and the usual selection of performance improvements.

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Sony's Walkman gets resurrected as a high-res audio player

Dedicated MP3 players were displaced by smartphones years ago (just ask Apple). But now, the nearly-extinct devices are starting to make a comeback - at least among those who put audio quality above all else.

Stateside, everyone is watching and waiting to see what becomes of the PonoPlayer, a portable music player that will offer studio master-quality digital music at the highest audio fidelity possible. The device finished its run on Kickstarter back in April as the third best campaign of all time and is expected to ship later this year.

On the other side of the planet, there's another high-end music player already on the market with a familiar name that's taking Asian and European markets by storm. Sony's Walkman ZX1 (yeah, the brand is still alive after all these years) launched last December and has reportedly been selling very well despite its $700 price tag.

The portable music player features a 4-inch display with 854 x 480 resolution that's capable of displaying full album artwork with 128GB of onboard storage. It can play standard MP3s and compressed lossless formats like ALAC and FLAC at up to 192/kHz/24 bit.

For those not in the know, the first number is the sampling rate, or how many times the audio file is sampled for data per second. The second figure related to the amount of data in each sample. The chart below does a good job at helping to visualize how this works in the real world when listing to a song.

High-end audio players certainly aren't for everyone as many likely won't be able to hear a difference between lossy and lossless recordings. If you can, however, and are comfortable with a limited catalog of music and a high entry fee, you'll be among the few that get to experience music the way it was meant to be heard.

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