Wired iPhone 3G Survey Reveals Varying Network Performance

Many vocal iPhone 3G adopters have been unsatisfied with the device's performance in 3G coverage areas, sighting the phone's technical limitations as the achilles' heal of the famous cellphone, with some even saying that the connectivity issues were unfixable due to the phone's immature 3G chip.

However, Wired.com's tests indicate that cellular performance varied from area to area, a fact that was somewhat expected, but difficult to determine. By country, Australian users reported the slowest speeds which averaged to 759 kbps, while Germany and the Netherlands tied for the fastest speeds with an average of 2000 kbps. In more congested areas that were 3G-rich, users reported slower speeds and more dropped connections, which is a common issue with the infrastructure.

The iPhone's connectivity issues have prompted much debate over the exact cause. In fact, Swedish researchers conducted a test and came to the conclusion that the iPhone reception is "normal," and comparable to other phones. Despite this, Apple released a new firmware upgrade 2.0.2, to help solve some of the related issues, while being served with a class action lawsuit from unhappy customers.

Recently Wired.com asked iPhone 3G users all around the world to participate in a study, which involved testing their 3G speeds and entering their data on an interactive map. The purpose? To gain a general idea of how 3G was performing -- where it's best and where it's worst -- in light of widespread complaints about the handset's network performance. More than 2,600 people participated (wow!) and we've diligently cleaned up the data to present it to you here.

Source: Wired Blog

NBC and Yahoo Benefit from Online Olympics Coverage

NBC's online Olympic video service, NBCOlympics.com, reached a modest amount of success as the company streamed a whopping 2,200 hours of video of Olympic events over the last two weeks. As a result, NBC was able to reel in 4.3 million viewers and $5.75 million in ad revenue from the "$1 billion research lab."

However, the real winner was Yahoo!, which topped NBC in overall traffic with 4.7 million unique visitors a day. Although Yahoo wasn't able to compete with the live streaming, they did offer articles, photos, and a blog, which evidently linked to a BBC video of Usain Bolt's record-breaking 200-meter-race before NBC aired it on its network or put the video online.

Viewers and researchers seem to agree that many viewers were dissuaded from using the service because of the mandatory Silverlight install and DRM issues that plagued the site. Users were also restricted from watching the streams if they selected a cable or satellite provider that wasn't partnered with NBC. Some viewers complained about the lack of information and updates, which could have potentially contributed to the overall returning viewership.

The ratings for NBC’s television coverage of the Games were record-breaking this month. But the extent to which the Internet served as a supplement to television was unprecedented, and there were two clear winners: NBC’s own Web site and Yahoo’s Olympics section.

Source: New York Times, Via: Ars Technica

NVISION 08 on Now! Check Back for Coverage

As a reminder to everyone, we'll be at the NVISION 08 convention happening in San Jose, so keep checking back to the site for updates of major news to come from the event or for random photos of the going-ons. If case you haven't yet checked out the NVISION homepage (how is that possible?), you should.

NVIDIA is hoping to make NVISION into -the- visual computing conference of the year, and if this launch event goes well, we can expect it to happen each year, similar to other events around the world. There isn't too much missing from the show, if anything. There will be things to see and do regardless of whether you are a gamer, developer, modeler or even a business major.

If you live around San Jose, swing on by and register. It's rather inexpensive if all you are doing is playing in the LAN or just walking around, and should be a great experience. I can't discuss everything we'll see there in a small news post, so just check out the site and see what will be happening!

Don't forget to check out our Day 0 pictorial!

Featuring over 55 hours of jaw-dropping visual wonderment - from today's hottest games and movies, video, science, mobile and computer technologies - you will get to experience, touch and feel the latest visual technologies that will change your life. And let you see into the future. You'll also get to meet the inventors and the celebrities who are leading the revolution!

Source: NVISION Official Site

August 25th Tech Roundup

• Gigabyte GA-EP45-DS3R - PC Perspective
• Gigabyte EP45 DS4R - Motherboards
• ASUS P5QL-E - InsideHW
• Intel E8600 Core 2 Duo - Legit Reviews

• XFX GTX280 XXX - Bjorn3D
• VisionTek Radeon HD 4870 X2 - Phoronix
• Palit Radeon HD 4870 X2 - Gamepyre

• Patriot Viper DDR3 2GB - Virtual-Hideout

• Tension Labs EAP03 Amplifier - techPowerUp
• Travagans Green Amplifier - techPowerUp
• Zotac Nitro - Technic3D
• Micro SD & T-Flash Card Reader - DragonSteelMods
• TomTom One GPS - ThinkComputers
• TomTom GO 930 - Rbmods

• Scythe Ninja 2 - Pro-Clockers
• Noctua NF-P12 Fan - Top Review Sho

• Thermaltake Xaser VI VG4000BWS - Overclockers Club
• Cooler Master HAF 932 - Motherboards
• Kingwin Mach 1 900W - DragonSteelMods

• Smooth Creations Neptune - Neoseeker

Google Street View Ignores "No Trespassing" Signs

Google has received flack for quite some time now for their Street View cameras snapping pictures of private property without the owners' approval. In a suit between Google and a Pittsburgh couple in April of this year, Google claimed the right to enter and photograph private roads with their camera-equipped Street View vans, largely due to the availability of satellite images.

The company has a policy of staying off private roads, and using local drives who know the surrounding area whenever possible. However, despite the fact that a Humboldt County resident says she had two "no trespassing" and 1,200 feet of private road separating her home from the nearest public road, Google photographed her property.

Though Google offers a link to submit questionable material to a queue for censoring or deletion, the process is totally up to the company's inclination and free from any governing body. And even though they have a public policy of avoiding private roads, an unnamed Google van driver confessed that he was told simply to "drive around," which supports the reason why so many other instances were captured on camera.

Source: Press Democrat, Via: Ars Technica