Netflix Reportedly Enters Paid Deal With Comcast To End Slowdown Standoff

Netflix has reportedly entered a precedent-setting deal with Internet service provider, Comcast, to end a public feud over the speed of streaming video.

The Wall Street Journal reports that Netflix will be paying Comcast for “direct access to Comcast’s broadband network”, which will provide much smoother service for those frustrated by Netflix’s recent slowdown.

Netflix eats up an incredible amount of global bandwidth. In 2012, Netflix was estimated to hog a 1/3rd of traffic in North America. This number probably spike last week, when 2% of Netflix’s 33 million views binge watched their new (ultra-addicting) political thriller, House Of Cards.

As one of the addicted, I can attest to the noticeable slowdown in streaming. It could take a few minutes to load up video–and I have Comcast.

“In exchange for payment, Netflix will get direct access to Comcast’s broadband network,” explains The Journal. If Netflix is indeed paying Comcast for quicker access, it sets an important precedent for the future of the Internet.

For the most part, websites have always enjoyed a practice of Net Neutrality, where all services were given the same bandwidth. However, recent court challenges threatened the future of Net Neutrality, giving Internet providers like Verizon and Comcast the opportunity for potentially lucrative new payment schemes.

Critics worry that this kind of pay-for-service will erode the meritocracy of the Internet. “Absent net neutrality, the Internet could turn into a high-priced private toll road that would be inaccessible to the next generation of visionaries,” wrote President Obama’s Senior Technology Advisor, Todd Park, about the White House’s commitment to net neutrality.

The  deal between Comcast and Netflix, which has supposedly been in the works for “more than a year”, may be legally outside of the traditional net neutrality rules.

The Federal Communications Commission is considering how to advance net neutrality and it’s unclear if they’ll find a way would prevent more deals like the one reportedly inked between Netflix and Comcast. Certainly, this will ramp up the political pressure to find some kind of solution to balance network congestion and open Internet access.

Google: How not to be a 'Glasshole'

Editor's note: Mobile World Congress is the world's largest mobile phone trade show looking at the current state of mobile and where it might go next. Watch CNN International's coverage live from Barcelona on 24 February to 28 February.

(CNN) -- Google has heard all the concerns about Glass, its digital headset expected to hit the market by the end of the year.

They've heard people's fears they'll be secretly recorded by a Glass-wearing creeper. They know somebody's going to be stupid and drive while using them. And, yes, they know that some people might think you're a "Glasshole."

So, now, they're serving up a list of "do's" and "don'ts" to avoid those awkward moments and get the most out of what may be the most high-profile entry in the emerging wearable-tech market.

On its website for Glass, Google has posted advice for testers in its current Explorer program and, presumably, the folks who will be entering the world of Glass when the headset goes on sale to the public.

DO: Ask for permission

"Standing alone in the corner of a room staring at people while recording them through Glass is not going to win you any friends," Google says. "The Glass camera function is no different from a cell phone so behave as you would with your phone and ask permission before taking photos or videos of others."

Fears about privacy around Google Glass have been one of the device's biggest hurdles on its path toward acceptance. Restaurants have banned them, and complete strangers have confronted testers because of the device's ability to shoot photos and video.

Easing those fears will be important for Google as it moves forward.

DON'T: Be creepy or rude (aka a "Glasshole")

Yes, Google itself used the derogatory term "Glasshole" (although it's been massaged into a description of bad behavior, as opposed to its broader meaning as a slur, voiced by some critics, used to describe anybody wearing the headset).

This is the flip side of the first entry.

"If you're asked to turn your phone off, turn Glass off as well," Google writes. "Breaking the rules or being rude will not get businesses excited about Glass and will ruin it for other Explorers."

DO: Take advantage of the Glass voice commands

This is the real advantage of a lot of wearable tech. You don't have to fiddle around with it like you do a smartphone. But we mostly just like Google's hypothetical scenarios here:

"Glass can free your hands up to do other things like golfing, cooking, or juggling flaming torches while balancing on a beach ball."

DON'T: Glass out

Google is pushing Glass as a way of getting quick updates or performing quick actions, as a complement to other mobile devices instead of a replacement.

"If you find yourself staring off into the prism for long periods of time you're probably looking pretty weird to the people around you," the post reads. "So don't read War and Peace on Glass."

DO: Use screen lock

Once you've customized your Glass, bad guys who get their hands on it will have access to your e-mail and other sources of personal information, just as if they'd snagged your phone or laptop.

DON'T: Wear it and expect to be ignored

Google is treating its Explorers (many of whom forked over $1,500 for the right to say they were first) as walking billboards for the product.

They don't want those billboards acting like ... well ... Glassholes.

"If you're worried about someone interrupting that romantic dinner at a nice restaurant with a question about Glass, just take it off and put it around the back of your neck or in your bag," says Google.

Around the back of your neck? That sounds like a fashion faux pas -- and another "don't" to us.

Google, LG working on smartwatch to be unveiled in June

• area where there's rabid interest but few sales so far. But there's a reason wearables have drawn the attention of tech companies: the market is estimated to be worth $19 billion by 2018, according to Juniper Research.

BARCELONA, Spain--Google and LG are about to jump into the smartwatch game together.

Google is set to unveil plans for its smartwatch-centric operating system in March, likely in a blog post, according to a person familiar with its plans. The actual smartwatch itself will make its debut at its Google I/O conference in June, the person said.

With its smartwatch, Google will employ a Nexus-like model in which it designs the software and controls virtually every aspect of the launch, leaving the hardware details to a partner who takes a backseat in terms of visibility. In this case, LG is the manufacturing partner, following up on two successful partnerships with the Nexus 4 and Nexus 5 smartphone.

Google will pin its smartwatch-centric operating system on its Google Now voice assistant and search feature, which also drives the core functions of its Google Glassheadwear.

For now, sales of smartwatches haven't exactly been impressive. The common complaints are that they are too bulky, or don't do enough, and often do work as a fashion accessory. It remains to be seen if Google's take will address some of those issues and buck that trend.

The other big name in the business, Samsung, made its big push late last year with the Galaxy Gear. It introduced two successor devices in the Gear 2 and Gear Neo, which were unveiled earlier today. Unlike the original Gear, which ran on Google's Android operating system, the Gear 2 and Gear Neo run on Tizen, an OS that Samsung has had a large part in developing.

Google smartwatch: Will it be an iPhone moment for wearables?

There are a number of other players in this category. Sony has been in the smartwatch area even longer -- although it hasn't been particularly successful -- while there are also a number of niche players such as Pebble making a name for in this area.

Apple is widely believed to be introducing its own smartwatch -- perhaps later this year -- so many companies have been scrambling to get ahead of that announcement. HTC has also said it plans to create smartwatches that it will likely unveil later this year.

Google's planned smartwatch rounds out a wide portfolio of products that it is directly selling through its Google Play store, making it more of a destination for hot tech gadgets. There is, of course, Google Glass, its other big push in the wearables arena, as well as its Nexus phones and a number of other high-profile smartphones running on pure Android and labeled as "Google Play Edition" devices.

It's just the latest evidence that Google is more than a simple "search" company and is looking to go toe-to-toe with the best consumer electronic players.

What mattered at Mobile World Congress day zero: Samsung Gear, Firefox phones, fierce convertible competition

The Fira Gran Via in Barcelona, home of Mobile World Congress.

(Credit: Stephen Shankland/CNET)

BARCELONA, Spain--While the rest of the world sipped Sunday coffee and took weekend strolls, journalists at Mobile World Congress got down to the gritty business of unearthing the news of the biggest mobile show in the world. CNET's team came together from London, San Francisco, New York, Singapore, and Sydney and we won't say we didn't eat some tapas along the way. But we also reported countless stories for our whopping Mobile World Congress special package. Short on time? Here's the TL;DR debrief on MWC day zero.

Samsung ditches Android for two Tizen-based Gear smartwatches

The new Samsung Gear watches ditch Android.

(Credit: Samsung)

Clearing the way for its Galaxy S5 news coming Monday, Samsung sneaked out the news on the next generation of its smartwatch, the Samsung Gear 2 and its baby brother, the Gear 2 Neo-- both with Samsung's take on the open-source Tizen OS instead of Android. Presumably to address the poor Galaxy Gear sales, these new smartwatches ditch some of the sillier Gear details from the first product, including the wart-like camera on the band of the first model (which moves to the watch face on the Gear 2). The Gear 2 also picks up a heart rate sensor and a music player, making a much more legitimate sports accessory. No word on price for either, though.

Firefox makes a $25 smart phone possible
Think the mobile OS wars are over? Maybe in some parts of the world, Android and iOS can claim near-total victory, but Mozilla plans to elbow into developing markets with Firefox OS, which may just drive the price of a basic smartphone down to $25. An avalanche of partners including Alcatel, ZTE, and Huawei showed off inexpensive, global Firefox phones. And while many amount to a simple proof-of-concept, we're convinced that the browser company is on to something.

Firefox on your phone (or tablet) at Mobile World Congress

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there's a lot more in store for the Firefox OS. Mozilla showed off the interface changes -- notifications, task switching, app discovery, search -- that we can expect to see this year.

An early look at Firefox OS's upcoming looks and features (pictures)Huawei's biggest western news yet?

Speaking of Huawei, the Chinese behemoth Huawei came out swinging today with more phone announcements than you probably need to know about. If you're going to focus on any of them, consider the fashionable metal 4G MediaPad X1 tablet (at 7 inches with a SIM card slot, for all the world a phone, too) or the selfie-centered Huawei Ascend G6 coming to the UK in April with a 5 megapixel front-facing camera. But you must not miss the weirdest product we've seen yet at Mobile World Congress: the Huawei Talkband B1. The TalkBand B1 enters the fitness band race with an attempt to stand out by doubling as a Bluetooth headset. Say what? Yes, that's right: you can snap the tiny capsule out of the band and hold it to your ear. But you have to have a smartphone nearby for the device to work, so we're not quite sure yet why you wouldn't just use your phone unless you're a dedicated Zoolander imitator.

LG shows off its top-shelf phone, finally

The LG G Pro 2's 13-megapixel camera features optical image stabilization and 4K video recording.

(Credit: Sarah Tew/CNET)

Today's LG news started with a bang, with our own Roger Cheng discovering that LG and Google will jointly launch a smartwatch at Google I/O in June -- news perhaps leaked to get just one turn on the Mobile World Congress wearables dance card. But LG's official news at MWC include an in-the-

Microsoft flew east for MWC and didn't come packing much in the way of hardware, but did bring a new reference design based on Qualcomm technology that the company says makes it faster and easier for companies to make Windows Phones. In other words, as CNET's Shara Tibken writes, the company is essentially begging partners to build Windows phones based on Microsoft's design. Microsoft also expanded the number of companies supporting Windows Phone (now Lenovo, LG, and a bunch of low-cost manufacturers) and let us know that aWindows 8.1 update is coming in the first half of the year. Oh, and Facebook Messenger will finally arrive on Windows Phone in the near future, too.

HP and Lenovo compete with convertibles

Lenovo's foldable laptop-or-is-it-a-tablet Yoga has long reigned supreme in the land of convertible computers, so we don't blame the company for introducing yet another version of its popular machine, the Yoga Tablet 10 HD+, which tries to shore up a previously dull screen and improve battery life. Meanwhile, HP tried to poke a hole in Lenovo's convertible tablet dominance with the Yoga-lookalike HP Pavilion x360 and threw in a phablet, the Slate 7 VoiceTab for good measure.

Smartwatches, cases, games, and more teased ahead of Mobile World Congress (pictures)

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Really, there's so much more news from the MWC pre-show that we could go on for quite some time. Instead, we'll say this: Alcatel released practically a zillion products, we saw a lot of crazy cases and some interesting devices (Bluetooth iPhone camera lens, anyone?) at a pre-show press event called ShowStoppers, and we did the same all over on the hunt for nonstandard wearables and fun extras at Pepcom, a rival press event at which we also saw ananocoating product that renders a phone entirely waterproof.

Smartwatches and waterproof gadgets catch our eye at MWC (pictures)

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So what's next? Just as the U.S. starts to say good night, the action will heat up again in Barcelona. Nokia and Sony are holding simultaneous press events that kick off at 11:30 p.m. PT. We'll report live from both, so you can follow Nokia's news here and Sony's event here. And we'll pick right back up with Mark Zuckerberg's keynote address Tuesday morning (9 a.m. PT; 6 p.m. in Barcelona). That will be followed by what will surely be the biggest press event of the show, where we expect Samsung to introduce the Galaxy S5 (11 a.m. PT; 8 p.m. in Barcelona).

And of course you can always check in on our special coverage page to find the latest.