Gadgetell | Tech News, Reviews, and Interesting Things

Plug your PC into a wall electrical outlet, and that’s all your need to surf the web at high speeds. Tell the cable and DSL service providers where they can stuff their plugs, while you ride the wave of yet another next-generation technology at cheaper prices.

Well...not yet.

It’s been a bad couple of weeks for the concept of broadband over power line (BPL), which the Federal Communications Commission has been touting since 2003 as possible pricing competition for cable and DSL providers. It’s only a pilot program in a handful of cities, but the FCC commissioned studies on the technology and wanted an accelerated rollout of the program. Now you can scratch one of those cities off the list, while the FCC studies themselves are being attacked by amateur radio operators.

MORE »

Realizing that many people now watch movies through their PC or laptop, HBO will give its current subscribers exclusive rights to download and watch hundreds of movies and original programming through the Internet, at no additional cost. The trial run will commence this week in Green Bay and Milwaukee, Wisconsin and will be cascaded nationwide shortly.

But there is a twist in its strategy. Unlike many major TV networks that stream videos free for all online users, this Time Warner Cable subsidiary will provide its qualified subscribers a separate software program that automatically downloads videos directly to the hard drive of your computer. Added features include parental controls, customized accounts for every family member and ability to view a live TV version of HBO.

But there are also some limitations in this new service. For one, you must subscribe to HBO. Also, even if you are already a subscriber you cannot still save these videos permanently because they will expire after 4 weeks. Sideloading to other portable devices is also not allowed. While not perfect its seems to be a very good starting point.

Read [The New York Times]

If you are a heavy user of high-speed Internet, your happy days of peer-to-peer downloading might soon be over. Time Warner Cable, currently the second largest U.S. cable operator, plans to shift from the standard flat fee to a usage-based billing scheme.

The Internet subscribers in Beaumont, Texas are the chosen guinea pigs for the first trial run. The test is slated later this year but the terms had not been set yet.

Since video downloading and streaming are very popular nowadays, the cable operator claims this is a strategy to minimize network congestion. Moreover, it assured the public that its impact is very minimal for only 5% of all customers are considered heavy users. In fact, this new billing scheme is claimed to be very favorable for the majority of light users.

Other cable companies are quietly observing the results of this new pricing test. If proven effective without much hullabaloo, this could entice other players to adopt this scheme and abandon flat fee pricing totally.

Read [Reuters]

HDTVs are flying off the shelves, there is HD-DVD and Blu-ray, we have HD camcorders, but the cable offerings are still rather pathetic. Thankfully CNN is expected to announced plans to launch an HD network in September, NBC Universal confirmed the company will launch a “suite of HD networks,” and a Turner spokesperson also confirmed HD networks for TBS and Cartoon Network.

If you opt for satellite over cable you can expect over 60 HD channels from DirecTV including USA, Sci Fi, FX, CNN, Cartoon Network, TBS and several other channels. The satellite provider plans to launch 100 HD channels by the end of 2007 year as part of its strategy to expand its HD offerings. To support this DirecTV is launching of two new satellites in 2007, to offer the bandwidth for more stations to take the plunge into HD.

Until then it is just a waiting game…

Read [TV News]

Mojo is the new series of of programming that was brought to you from the folks over at In Demand (INHD) and INHD2, starting this past June. Now reports have been confirmed that INHD2 is officially dead as of January 1st. Current programming will come through INHD now, helping the channel get a bit of its groove back—though this may not be enough. The next probable change is the re-branding of INHD to Mojo. In Demand is looking at adding a third night of original shows and possibly a fourth to Mojo before it changes the name of the service itself.

Read [Engadget HD]

It is very hard to find an HDMI cable longer than 50 feet and at that point the quality begins to suffer. Intelix came up with one possible solution. They announced a HDMI over CAT-5 converter, which will allow you to run two 150-foot CAT5 cables to connect your HDMI equipment. Furthermore, the device is HDCP compliant. This will now let you run HD video feeds from your system in the closet to your TV.

Read [HD Beat]