Super Bowl LIX will stream in 4K Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos for the first time
The Super Bowl is this Sunday, and I suppose I’m excited. As a New York Jets fan, I can never truly enjoy football -- it’s a miserable existence. However, I enjoy all things sports, so even though I hate both the Kansas City Chiefs and the Philadelphia Eagles (and refuse to cheer on either team), I will still tune in and watch the big game.
This year, you can watch the Super Bowl in 4K for free, which is definitely cool, but taking things a step further, if you have Xfinity TV service and the right hardware, you can experience the game in Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos too. This upgrade is part of Comcast’s new “Enhanced 4K offering” on X1.
Network-based solution offers SMBs enterprise-class security
A new network-based internet security solution from Comcast is specifically engineered to help small businesses effectively manage the growing risk of cyberattacks.
Comcast Business SecurityEdge works to protect devices connected to a business' Wi-Fi network against existing and emerging internet-related threats, including malware, ransomware, phishing and botnet infections, without requiring additional hardware or software beyond the Comcast Business Internet modem.
Comcast website leaks details of Xfinity users -- including router passwords
Security researchers have discovered a bug in the Comcast website that makes it possible to gather information about Xfinity users. As well as customer data such as home addresses, it is also possible to access wireless network details including passwords.
The bug was reported by Karan Saini and Ryan Stevenson after they found it was possible to use the Xfinity activation website to access customer data using nothing more than a customer account ID and that customer's house or apartment number.
AT&T, Comcast and Verizon say they won’t sell customers' browsing histories
Concern has mounted in the US after the Senate and then the House voted to permit ISPs to sell customers' browsing histories and other data without consent. In response to these concerns, major ISPs have spoken out to say they will do no such thing.
AT&T, Comcast and Verizon have all published statement that aim to calm fears that may have arisen this week. All three insist they do not sell customer data and have no intention of doing so. Whether customers are convinced by the pleading, however, is a different matter entirely.
Comcast partners with WeatherBug to help Xfinity customers with energy usage
Given the rising costs and environmental dangers of energy consumption, people are becoming increasingly concerned. There are a number of options coming onto the market that allow customers to monitor energy usage, a market created by climate change and a desire for cost savings.
Comcast is also in this game with its Xfinity Home offering, a service which allows for monitoring home automation, energy usage and home security. Now the company is partnering with Earth Networks' WeatherBug Home to improve its overall service.
Comcast to launch MVNO using Verizon's network
Comcast has just invoked a three years old agreement with Verizon which allows it to use its network. According to Comcast’s Chief Executive Officer Brian Roberts, the network will be used to test a wireless service.
Roberts said during the earnings call on Tuesday that his company plans to "trial and test some things".
Sling TV fights back against Comcast for blocking its ads
In today's television market Comcast is the bully -- the 600 pound gorilla. The cable provider owns NBC, which arguably should not have been allowed, but what's done is done. The carrier also doesn't seem to be above using it's status to fight off rivals, especially those in the new TV market that it knows is coming, but would prefer to prevent.
That is apparently the case recently with Sling TV, a service that works just like cable, but comes in over the internet, which turns Comcast into a bandwidth provider and takes away that lucrative TV business. With that in mind, Comcast-NBC has begun blocking Sling's ads.
Comcast calls time on merger plans
The planned merger between Time Warner and Comcast has been quashed. Back in February of last year the "most hated company in America" announced that it was planning to join forces with Time Warner to create a technology giant.
Today the company did an about-face, announcing that the merger is now off. The deal would have seen Comcast Corporation acquire Time Warner Cable for $45.2 billion leading to the creation of the largest cable company in the US.
Comcast could cut off customers who use the Tor browser
Last week there were net neutrality protests from a number of big names in the online world. This week there is controversy courtesy of Comcast -- described by DeepDotWeb as "the most hated company in America" -- as the firm apparently declares war on Tor.
The web browser -- one favored by those concerned about their privacy -- has been branded "illegal" by Comcast according to DeepDotWeb and customer reports appearing on the /r/darknetmarkets subreddit (reddit itself having banned subreddits associated with the Fappening). Customers are reporting having been warned that use of Tor is against Comcast's term of use and could result in a termination of service.
Netflix releases monthly ISP speed test, Comcast improves
Last month there was a bit of controversy over a deal between Comcast and Netflix. Many, but not all, thought it unfair to force the streaming service to pay up in an effort to provide reasonable service to its customers. The entire net-neutrality issue reared its head, as it appeared to some that Comcast was intentionally slowing traffic to the service in an effort to extract extra money.
Regardless of your feelings on this, Netflix paid to play, and Comcast's speed for streaming media miraculously improved.
Sorry Netflix, but you should pay 'tolls' to ISPs
Money doesn't grow on trees and neither does bandwidth. For internet providers, there is a cost for providing the service. For the most part, with broadband connections such as cable, bandwidth is shared between users. And so, if too many users abuse the service -- torrents, ftp servers, media streaming -- it can slow things down for others.
Entire companies are run from the backs of ISPs. One such company is Netflix. If you aren't familiar, the company provides streaming videos for a monthly fee. However, the videos are streamed over third-party internet providers. In other words, Netflix is profiting by using the providers' bandwidth and is sharing none of the money.
Comcast friends Netflix, promises better video performance
Comcast has had a busy couple of weeks, with a proposed acquisition of rival Time-Warner and rampant accusations of throttling bandwidth for Netflix subscribers. The former awaits approval, while the latter was illustrated by the offended service, which posts monthly reports on ISP performance.
Now the US's largest cable provider wants to kiss and make-up with Netflix, partnering with the video service with the promise of better times ahead for the couple.
Apple needs Time-Warner Cable more than does Comcast
Tech news changed last week faster than the weather. At the beginning of the week Charter Communications was trying to buy Time-Warner Cable, then on Tuesday Apple was rumored to be close to a deal for Apple TV to replace or augment Time-Warner’s cable boxes, then on Thursday both stories crashed and burned when Comcast bought TWC out from under Charter, killing the Apple deal in the process. But does it really have to end that way? Not if Apple is smart.
I don’t care about cable consolidation, frankly, though a lot of other people do, seeing too much power being concentrated in Comcast. I would just like to see things shaken up in the TV industry bumping services quickly forward to where I’ll only have to pay for the stuff I actually want to watch. I suspect that’s where the Apple-TWC deal was heading. Apple would pay TWC for the privilege of taking over a substantial part of the cable company’s workload, cutting costs and raising TWC profits in the process. It was a desperate attempt on TWC’s part to avoid the clutches of John Malone’s Charter Communications.
NBC pressures Twitter to shutter account of journalist critical of Olympics coverage
As criticism over NBC's coverage of the 2012 Olympics in London grows, the network now finds itself at the center of a controversy surrounding its apparent involvement in the suspension of the Twitter account of an American journalist.
Guy Adams, the Independent's Los Angeles bureau chief, has been extremely critical of NBC's coverage of the games. In a series of tweets, Adams takes on NBC's decision to run almost no major event live, and Matt Lauer's sometimes inane banter during the Opening Ceremony coverage. Adams even went so far as to criticize NBC Olympics president Gary Zenkel.
Comcast ditches data caps, but charges heavy users overage fees
Comcast said Thursday it plans to make changes to its pricing structure to start billing for the amount of data customers use, versus the capped method in place today. The cable company will test two different pricing structures in some markets, while hard enforcement of the 250GB cap put into place in 2008 would end.
Both piloted pricing structures give users 300GB of data at a flat rate. Where they differ is in how this allotment is treated: one solution places this cap across all of Comcast's tiers, while the other carries the 300GB allotment for the Internet Essentials, Economy, and Performance tier and higher allotments for faster tiers above that.
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