Internet & Websites News - Page 36

Google met with technology companies and publishers recently to discuss the issue of slow loading websites on mobile, an issue they believe causes significant revenue loss for website owners.

Following the talks, they've launched the Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) project. As you can probably tell from the name, the aim is to improve mobile browsing performance, but it's also to better how code functions across all the different devices available today.

The project is built on AMP HTML, "a new open framework built entirely out of existing web technologies, which allows websites to build light-weight webpages."

Facebook and French satellite provider Eutelsat have teamed up to transmit free internet to large portions of Africa via orbital satellite.

With the help of Spacecom, the duo has secured the entire Ka-band payload of the AMOS-6 geostationary satellite which will transmit the signal. The AMOS-6 is configured with "high gain spot beams covering large parts of West, East and Southern Africa" as well as "high throughput satellite architecture" that ensure cost-effective, Direct-to-User internet access for Africans. Both Facebook and Eutelsat will split the broadband capacity, and the satellite is scheduled to launch in the second half of 2016.

"Facebook's mission is to connect the world and we believe that satellites will play an important role in addressing the significant barriers that exist in connecting the people of Africa," said Chris Daniels, Vice President of Facebook's Internet.org. "We are looking forward to partnering with Eutelsat on this project and investigating new ways to use satellites to connect people in the most remote areas of the world more efficiently."

In a bid to push Prime subscribers towards its own Fire TV set-top box, Amazon is planning on ceasing all sales of Google's Chromecast and the Apple TV.

The digital retailer says that it will no longer list or sell devices that don't support Prime Video streaming, including all current and last-generation Apple and Google streaming products. The new policy will go into effect starting October 29, whereupon the entire online retailer will be Chromecast and Apple TV-free.

"Over the last three years, Prime Video has become an important part of Prime," Amazon said in an official statement to Mashable. "It's important that the streaming media players we sell interact well with Prime Video in order to avoid customer confusion. Roku, XBOX, PlayStation and Fire TV are excellent choices."

According to a report from Recode, Google is preparing for the launch of 'YouTube Red', the company's ad-free, subscription-based model for YouTube that has been in the pipeline for quite a while now.

Recode is reporting that numerous emails were sent out to channel owners, asking them to agree to a new set of terms and conditions by October 22nd or their monetized videos would be switched to private until the new agreement had been agreed upon. We don't know if the subscription-based YouTube Red will launch on that day, but it should be within hours of that.

The ad-free YouTube Red will launch in the US at first, after which it will float across the pond once Google begins sorting out the various legal issues associated with rights management. As for pricing, we can expect a decent price of $9.99 per month, something that will include Play Music Unlimited. As someone who shifted over from Spotify to Play Music Unlimited, I'm hoping my existing subscription will include YouTube Red.

Facebook is finally moving into the world of immersive video content, announcing that 360-degree videos will begin rolling out to your News Feed in the very near future.

The social network announced that the Facebook website is the only place they'll appear for now, with the Android and iOS versions of the Facebook app to support 360-degree video "in the coming months". When you're on the web and on your News Feed with a 360-degree video, you can click your mouse on the video and move around the video, all from your desktop.

But what about content? This is next to useless without some good content, right? Well, various companies are already diving on the 360-degree content bandwagon, with Star Wars, Discovery, VICE, GoPro, Saturday Night Live and LeBron James & Interrupted. The Disney side of things has a 360-degree promotional video for Star Wars: The Force Awakens, which is super-awesome.

It turns out that many people aren't afraid of fallout from Ashley Madison's high-profile data breach, with "hundreds of thousands" of new members reportedly signing up for the site in the past week. In addition, 87,596 women also signed up for the infidelity website, according to Avid Life officials.

"Last week alone, women sent more than 2.8 million messages within our platform," according to Avid Life Media.

"Recent media reports predicting the imminent demise of Ashley Madison are greatly exaggerated. Despite having our business and customers attacked, we are growing." However, CEO Noel Biderman stepped down as head of the company, and additional shakeups are possible - though it looks like a bit of notoriety could be helping the website.

The UK government wants to be a bit more proactive in discussing its strategy to counter the spread of the Islamic State, and is using the @UKAgainstISIL Twitter account to help share that message.

The Foreign Office officially launched the account last Thursday, and will share "updates on the UK government's ongoing work to defeat Isil." The group is sharing updates regarding airstrikes, condemn the Islamic State's activities, and share information on how to defend against the group.

"The government is very well aware of the fact that it doesn't have the ability to say things that will resonate with extremist Islamists," said Charlie Winter, senior researcher at the Quilliam Foundation, in a statement published by The Guardian.

We knew it was coming, but Google has just officially announced YouTube Gaming, a new gaming-focused service that is launching tomorrow. YouTube Gaming will arrive as its own web service, as well as including Android and iOS apps.

YouTube Gaming will be Google's portal for gaming video content, with the service automatically collecting all gaming-related videos. This will include livestreams on individual pages for more than 25,000 different games. More so, it will provide gamers with personalized recommendations based on the pages and channels that they follow.

Google is also making it much easier for people to livestream their games to YouTube, offering up a new page (which is currently sitting in beta form), providing a better way to start streaming your games from a personal URL. Frank Petterson, Engineering Manager for YouTube Gaming said: "Together, we all make gaming better. Our peers make us better gamers, and games are made better by the communities that surround them".

As we quickly approach the start of the NFL football season, it looks like LG Electronics is preparing to help us hear the games better with new wireless audio products. LG showed off the P5 (NP5550), P7 (NP7550), and SoundPop 360 speakers, LG X-Boom Theater, and OM7550 Cube Speaker System.

The LG Music Flow P5 is a 10-watt wireless speaker with up to eight hours of battery life, while the LG Music Flow P7 is a 20-watt speaker with up to 10 hours of battery life. The LG SoundPop 360, similar in design to a drinking tumbler, is a cylindrical speaker providing 360-degree range â€" and up to 20 hours of battery life.

The LG X-Boom Theater has a pair of tower speakers with up to 1000-watt total audio output, built-in subwoofers, and is paired with a 3D Blu-ray player including LG Smart TV functionality. The LG Cube Speaker System supports a 1000-watt speaker and subwoofer, two USB ports, portable audio input, Multipoint Bluetooth, and NFC.

Intel wants to have a go at Hollywood, partnering with the United Artists Media Group and Turner to create the "America's Greatest Makers" TV show. Ideally, Intel wants to help inventors use Curie to develop "the next big wearable or smart-connected device."

Intel CEO Brian Krzanich was joined onstage during the Intel Developer Forum (IDF) by UAMG CEO Mark Burnett, as they announced the show. America's Greatest Makers will debut during Q1 or Q2 2016, and will feature technology inventors fighting it out for a $1 million cash prize.

To help promote the show, expect to see trailers and teasers across Turner networks, such as TNT, CNN, HLN, TruTV, Adult Swim, and Bleacher Report.