Akamai: Global Average Connection Speed Dropped 14% In Q4 2011, Down 5.3% in U.S.

According to Akamai's latest State of the Internet report, the average Internet connection speed around the world was 2.3 Mbps by the end of 2011. That's down about 14% from the previous quarter. In the U.S., which ranks thirteenth in this report, the average connection speed in the last quarter of 2011 dropped 5.3% to 5.8 Mbps. In total, eight out of the top 10 countries in Akamai's report saw their average connection speed decline compared to Q3 2011. Worldwide, speeds declined in 93 of the countries included in this report and only increased in 41 countries.

facebook timeline kim jong il kim jong il vaclav havel vaclav havel kim jong ii dead snapdragon

Pocket Will Have You Grabbing Content by the Handful

I've been playing around with Pocket, a not-so-new app which may have undergone one of the smartest name changes in the history of the App Store -- previously Pocket was known as "Read It Later." The app basically lets you snag content that you find online and store it in a handy way for reading or viewing at some point in the future.

manning peyton florida state meghan mccain wilson chandler bristol motor speedway puerto rico

Microsoft Ponies Up $300 Million Investment in Nook Spinoff [Nook]

In what some may consider an odd move, Microsoft has just announced that it's investing $300 million into a "strategic partnership" with Barnes & Noble to develop the future of e-reading. More »

roman holiday belize adele lyrics bruno mars best new artist 2012 grammys foo fighters

Nancy Beatie: I'm Broke and Homeless!

The strange case of Thomas Beatie - an individual born as a woman, but known as The Pregnant Man for undergoing gender reassignment surgeries during pregnancy and soon after - is only growing stranger.

Earlier this month, we reported that Thomas and wife Nancy were separated. Then, it came out that the former has filed divorce documents in which he accuses the latter of assault.

Now, TMZ reports that Nancy Beatie is broke and homeless, often living out of her car.

"I'm house sitting right now, cleaning it for another two days… but I don't know where I'll go after that," Nancy tells the site of her predicament, adding that she's been pawning possessions for cash. "I have some junk gold that I grabbed when I had to leave... broken rings and bracelets, not worth much but it's a start."

Thomas alleges that Nancy is a violent alcoholic who has assaulted him, unprovoked, on numerous occasions. A judge has granted him a restraining order against his estranged wife, limiting her time with the couple's three kids.

A May 7 hearing regarding spousal support and custody will be the next step for the troubled couple.

zeno melanie amaro new air jordans jeff dunham young guns concord safe and sound

Lil Wayne, Cash Money Settle $20 Million 'Lollipop' Lawsuit

Track's co-producer Deezle, who claimed he wasn't properly compensated, has settled for an undisclosed amount.
By Rob Markman

Lil Wayne
Photo: Hutton Supancic/ Getty Images

The folks at Cash Money Records just saw their pockets get a little lighter after they came to an agreement with longtime producer Darius "Deezle" Harrison. Last year, the New Orleans producer filed a court action for $20 million against Young Money Entertainment and Cash Money Records claiming he wasn't compensated for his co-production work on Lil Wayne's #1 2008 hit single "Lollipop." TMZ reports that Weezy has finally settled the case out of court.

Deezle produced "Mrs. Officer" in full and co-produced a few tracks off Tunechi's Tha Carter III, including the Grammy-winning "Lollipop." It was Jim Jonsin who served as the chief beatmaker on the song, and he too filed a suit in April 2010 claiming that he wasn't paid proper royalties from the track. Jonsin has since settled his case with the label, and now, according to reports, so has Deezle, thanks to a confidential agreement.

Hitmaker Bangladesh also had issues with the powerhouse label. In 2008 he claimed he wasn't properly compensated after producing "A Milli," another stand-out single from Wayne's triple-platinum Tha Carter III. Bang went on to supply the beat for "6 Foot 7 Foot" for Wayne's Tha Carter IV and claimed to MTV News that there was initially a payment issue with that track as well. In March, however, Bangladesh was happy to report that he and Cash Money put all of their differences behind them.

"We just did some nice business together. They just bought a whole bunch of tracks, that's about it," Bang said. "They gave me a song deal, basically, first song deal I ever had, so shouts out to Cash Money."

Related Artists

• Lil Wayne

vince young vince young john carter trans siberian orchestra trans siberian orchestra little big town little big town

BBC's Planet Earth returns as a live simulcast next week -- but not in the US (video) (Update)

For fans of HD and / or nature documentaries, the BBC Planet Earth series is the unquestioned champion, and to provide a proper followup the Brits are improving it the only way they know how: doing it live. What the broadcaster calls its "most ambitions global wildlife series ever" will air simultaneously in 140 countries (more on that bit later) starting Sunday May 6th, then every Thursday and Sunday for three weeks. The plan is to track animals in seven different locations around the world in real time as they struggle for survival and broadcast it all in HD. One segment features Top Gear's Richard Hammond following a pride of lions across southern Kenya, while another will track black bears in Minnesota. The bad news? If you're in the US or Canada you're not on that 140 country list and won't be seeing any of this live. We're not sure if there's time to make this a campaign issue in the 2012 presidential election but we figure that, or at least bugging BBC America (while we're on the subject -- where's our global iPlayer?) is worth a try. Check after the break for a press release with all the details on where and when it is airing, as well as a trailer.

Update: While we won't be getting the live simulcast, BBC's Paul Deane dropped in a comment below noting it will air the next day on National Geographic Wild retitled as 24/7 Wild. We haven't located a program description yet, but there are already listings in the schedule starting May 7th -- schedule your DVRs accordingly.

Continue reading BBC's Planet Earth returns as a live simulcast next week -- but not in the US (video) (Update)

BBC's Planet Earth returns as a live simulcast next week -- but not in the US (video) (Update) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 30 Apr 2012 04:14:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  BBC Planet Earth Live, YouTube, @BBCPlanetEarth (Twitter)  | Email this | Comments

varez ward solar storms uganda the parent trap invisible children kony 2012 space weather sunspots

PHOTOS: Intimate Shots of Mariah & Nick's Twins!

As the adorable babies celebrate their birthday, look back at the first photos the family released of the little cuties

bohemian rhapsody bohemian rhapsody spike lee carson daly heejun han donovan mcnabb donovan mcnabb

Is this RIM's BlackBerry 10 development device?

You know the drill -- grab yourself a spoonful of Morton's and get ready for another supposed leak of a gadget. This time around, you're looking at what's claimed as being one of Research In Motion's BlackBerry 10 "Development Alpha" devices that'll be handed out during next week's BlackBerry Jam -- just like the company promised a month ago. Images of the device first surfaced over at CrackBerry's forums and, as the site points out, the touchscreen candy bar seems to share its design DNA with the PlayBook. Keeping in mind that it's likely to remain a testing device for devs, don't bank on it ever hitting store shelves. That said, we're now curious how pivotal a role RIM's famous tactile keyboards will play on its next-generation phones -- if any. Head over to the source links below if you'd like to catch more photos from Mr. Blurrycam and extra information in the meantime.

Is this RIM's BlackBerry 10 development device? originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 28 Apr 2012 21:46:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  CrackBerry  | Email this | Comments

cough dandelion wine matt groening brandon phillips summerfest summerfest usher

Apple spits out Android option from Chomp app navigator

It's taken a bit longer than we expected, but following Apple's acquisition of app search engine Chomp, the Android option has now been cut out from its homepage. We're now left with the choice between iPhone and iPad categories, alongside existing shortcuts for popular freebies and apps on sale, in a few efforts to cut through Cupertino's 600,000-strong app selection. Hit up the source to give it a run for yourself.

Apple spits out Android option from Chomp app navigator originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 30 Apr 2012 00:41:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink TUAW  |  Chomp  | Email this | Comments

new york philharmonic marines urinating on taliban critics choice awards super pac dre kirkpatrick mls superdraft school cancellations

Is this RIM's BlackBerry 10 development device?

You know the drill -- grab yourself a spoonful of Morton's and get ready for another supposed leak of a gadget. This time around, you're looking at what's claimed as being of Research In Motion's BlackBerry 10 "Development Alpha" devices that will be handed out during next week's BlackBerry Jam -- just like the company promised a month ago. Images of the device first surfaced over at Crackberry's forums and, as the site points out, the touchscreen candy bar seems to share its design DNA with the PlayBook. Keeping in mind that it's likely to remain a testing device for devs, don't bank on it ever hitting store shelves. That said, we're now curious how pivotal a roll RIM's famous tactile keyboards will play on its next-generation phones -- if any. Head over to the sources links below if you'd like to catch more photos from Mr. Blurrycam and extra information in the meantime.

Is this RIM's BlackBerry 10 development device? originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 28 Apr 2012 21:46:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  CrackBerry  | Email this | Comments

lou gehrig toby mac blue ivy carter photos purple squirrel blade runner close encounters of the third kind norovirus

Micromax's Superfone A50 Ninja enters India with AISHA voice assistant, forgets its shuriken

Hoping to compete with the Siris of the world, Micromax has announced its new Superfone A50 Ninja alongside a novel feature dubbed AISHA -- which is short for Artificial Intelligence Speech Handset Assistant. Similar to Cupertino's personal secretary, AISHA vows to help folks with every-day elements such as making calls, setting up calendar events and even reporting what the weather looks like. Much to our disappointment, however, the A50 Ninja runs a not-so-new flavor of Android -- Gingerbread to be exact -- and Micromax left out any mention of Android 4.0. On the specs front, the dual-SIM Superfone sports a 3.1-inch display (mum's the word on the resolution), a two-megapixel shooter, Bluetooth 2.0 capabilities and an unspecified 650MHz processor. All in all, thanks to its 4,999 rupees (around $95) budget price, we can't imagine you'd complain too much. Be sure to hit up the Micromax link below if you're interested in grabbing one of these.

Continue reading Micromax's Superfone A50 Ninja enters India with AISHA voice assistant, forgets its shuriken

Micromax's Superfone A50 Ninja enters India with AISHA voice assistant, forgets its shuriken originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 28 Apr 2012 08:22:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  Micromax  | Email this | Comments

jersey shore season 5 mark driscoll unemployment rate unemployment rate jesse ventura keri russell drew barrymore