Summary: News: New FiOS top speed is half that of Google Fiber—and 4x the price 500Mbps FiOS now available for $310 per month. In an attempt to go after more lucrative, higher-revenue customers, Verizon announced Monday that it would be boosting its FiOS service to 500Mbps—for $310 per month. By comparison, in original Google Fiber locale Kansas City, 1Gbps of service starts at just $70 per month. (Comcast charges $320 for 305Mbps speeds on its network.) Last year, Verizon boosted its speeds to 300Mbps—of course, that’s still limited to the small part of the United States where FiOS is available. (Verizon has essentially halted new FiOS rollouts, meaning that if it's not available in your area, it’s unlikely to show up anytime soon—for now, only 5.8 million Americans have Verizon’s fiber service.) While rollout of significantly faster broadband across North America is limited, we’ve reported on developments in some parts of Northern California, Vancouver (Canada), rural Vermont, and Seattle. And Google Fiber is only reaching specific areas of the Midwest and Western United States and probably won’t be nationwide anytime soon. However, one Verizon technician told Bloomberg that the company is holding back. “We can support up to 10Gbps on our network,” said Fowler Abercrombie, a manager of the FiOS development team in Irving, Texas. “We’re watching the market to see where it goes next.” http://arstechnica.com/business/2013/07/new-fios-top-speed-is-half-that-of-google-fiber-and-4x-the-price/ NPD Group's U.S. Games Industry Sales (New Physical Sales Channel*) - June 2013 5-week month; Reporting Period 6/2/13 through 7/6/13 Overall Retail sales declined 15% year over year. Software (New Physical Retail only; across all platforms incl. PC) 1. The Last Of Us (PS3)** Sony (Corp) 2. Animal Crossing: New Leaf (3DS) Nintendo 3. Minecraft (360) Microsoft (Corp) 4. Call of Duty: Black Ops II (360, PS3, PC, NWU)** Activision Blizzard (Corp) 5. NBA 2K13 (360, PS3, WII, NWU, PSP, PC)** Take 2 Interactive (Corp) 6. Injustice: Gods Among Us (360, PS3, NWU)** Warner Bros. Interactive 7. Donkey Kong Country Returns (3DS, WII) Nintendo 8. Deadpool (360, PS3) Activision Blizzard (Corp) 9. Battlefield 3 (360, PS3, PC)** Electronic Arts 10. Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon (3DS) Nintendo http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=627656 ************ Geek This Week: Aaron: Doctor Who at SDCC, iPad shopping with MIL Gozer: Day One App, Pacific Rim & The Last of Us * Spoilers * ************* Feedback and items of Note: Aaron, I am so sad. I have run out of Dr. Who on Netflix
