17 streaming video firms form an alliance… without Netflix or YouTube

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A new industry group, the Streaming Video Alliance (SVA), has formed to work on industry-wide standards and best practices in internet video. There’s 17 members of the group but the problem is, YouTube and Netflix aren’t among them. The founding members of the SVA do include some big names such as Alcatel-Lucent, Charter, Cisco, Comcast, Epix, Fox Networks Group, Major League Baseball and Yahoo. However, since YouTube and Netflix are the two biggest sources of bandwidth usage in the world, they’re major omissions. The group plans to focus on three areas: open architecture, defining specifications for network and cloud-based streaming...



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Telenav’s Scout GPS navigation app goes social with real-time location sharing, group chat and more

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Earlier this year, navigation company Telenav announced that its US-focused mobile Scout app was switching to OpenStreetMap from TomTom for all its mapping data. And today, Scout is being given a slew of nifty new features with a focus firmly on social. Scout will now offer real-time location and ETA sharing with third-parties, so you can see exactly where you and others are on a route. This is actually similar to a Glympse integration Nokia recently introduced for its own HERE maps for Android. Elsewhere, Scout is pushing out into the broader event meet-up realm with pretty powerful social features...



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Spreaker Studio: Podcast live from your Android device

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Spreaker, the podcast listening and creation app, which claims to now have over 4 million active users, is splitting in two. While the original Spreaker app will remain for Android and iOS, a new free app aimed at podcast creators, Spreaker Studio is available now on Google Play. The iOS version is due to launch in February 2015. Spreaker Studio features a mixing console, a sound effects library and the ability to broadcast live audio. Broadcasts can automatically shared via Twitter and Facebook as well as embedded on websites and blogs. The app also includes a live chat box so...



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UK telecoms watchdog: EE and O2 offer fastest 4G downloads, while Three lags behind

♠ Posted by channel-top-news in The Next Web » Mobile

The UK telecoms regulator Ofcom has released a report looking at the performance of 3G and 4G connectivity in the UK across major operators, and has found that while EE and Vodafone deliver higher than average 4G speeds, Three is lagging behind. Released today, the report (PDF) used data from 210,000 indoor and outdoor smartphone tests in five UK cities between March and June this year. The tests, which looked at HTTP download/upload speeds, the time it took to load a standard Web page and network latency, were all carried out by experience Ofcom engineers, rather than self-submitted by users....



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SideChef takes its Kickstarter-funded cooking app to Android

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Back in August we brought you news on SideChef, the Kickstarter-funded mobile app that uses audio and visual cues to guide you through the cooking process. The hitherto iOS-only app has finally made the jump over to Android, serving up step-by-step cooking instructions from chefs, bloggers and more. However, it’s the audio and visual instructions that are particularly notable, as it means you can get your hands as mucky as you like without worrying about dirtying your screen. Moreover, SideChef lets you search for recipes based on the ingredients you have, while integrated times ensure you don’t burn that Sunday...



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Facebook launches new Places Directory to rival Yelp

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Facebook has quietly launched a new Places Directory, which lets you search for the best destinations in cities across the world. Once you’ve searched for a specific city or town, you can select from restaurants, hotels, bars, cafes, attractions, arts & entertainment, gyms, cinemas, schools and universities, theatres, supermarkets and landmarks. The results of your search are ranked by user ratings and show comments from friends and others in your Facebook network. The new Places directory taps into Graph Search, the Page Locations API and other elements of the Facebook platform. While it won’t replace other local search and travel...



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PlayStation Vue: Sony’s cloud TV service launches in the US this month

♠ Posted by channel-top-news in The Next Web » Apps

The beta version of Sony’s cloud TV service, PlayStation Vue, is launching this month. It will initially be offered on an invite-only basis for PS3 and PS4 users in the US. It’ll then launch on iPad followed by other Sony and non-Sony devices. Sony has signed deals with CBS, Discovery, Fox, NBC Universal, Scripps Networks Interactive and Viacom for the US launch. The means PlayStation Vue customers will have access to over 75 channels including FX, NBC, Bravo, the Food Network, Comedy Central and Nickelodeon. It will offer live streaming video from the channels as well as catch up and...



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Uber is down for some users [Update: It's back up]

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It looks like Uber is suffering from some issues as the taxi-app service goes down for some users. Users in San Francisco, Boston, New York City and other metropolitan areas are reporting via twitter that the ride sharing service is down. I’m actually unable to sign into the service even after a password change. We're currently experiencing a brief service disruption. Stay tuned for updates. — Uber (@Uber) November 13, 2014 We’ve reached out to Uber and will update this article when we get a reply. Update: It looks like the service is back up and running. And we're back....



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Samsung announces Flow ‘hand-off’ feature for its devices with screens

♠ Posted by channel-top-news in The Next Web » Mobile

At the Samsung Developer conference, the company showcased a new feature for its tablets, smartphones and TVs that makes moving content from device to device a snap. The new Flow feature keeps “everything connected” according to Samsung. With the feature you can move videos from device to device, defer content to watch on another Samsung screen and get notified of important events. Flow will also notify you on your TV when you receive a phone call or text onscreen. Helpful when an important call comes in while you’re watching TV and your phone is on silent. Not so helpful when...



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Samsung announces new Advanced S Pen

♠ Posted by channel-top-news in The Next Web » Mobile

Not happy with just having a boring old stylus for it’s smartphones, Samsung just announced a new S Pen with its own SDK. The new Advanced S Pen has double the sensitivity of the current S Pen, recognizes speed, tilt and rotation and features advanced editing. It will also understand and renders life-like strokes so your handwriting looks like your handwriting. For artists, this could make the Note line a better mobile drawing device. In addition to the hardware, Samsung announced an updated S Pen SDK so developers can support the new features of the stylus. The Advanced S Pen...



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