Currently in beta with 5000 subscribers, here’s what we know:

• It’s free with a subscription
• You authenticate up to three devices through Comcast.net or Fancast.com
• Video playback on Move Networks player
• Video on Demand content, though no word on HD content
• Streaming will count against Comcast’s 250GB monthly bandwidth caps

But don’t take our word for it. Watch the whole interview with Comcast’s Amy Banse here:

[NewTeeVee via mediaexperiences2go via Engadget]

The New York Times says Microsoft, Google and Yahoo have confirmed the addresses are real, and that they’re helping affected users recover their accounts.

Even though you generally have to be pretty damn gullible to fall for one of these fake sites (or open strange-looking email attachments), now might be a good time to change your webmail password…something you should be doing every now and then anyway. [BBC via New York Times]

In fact, while the 10 biggest cable operators have deployed 16.7 settop boxes with integrated CableCards to date, they’ve only issued 443,000 standalone CableCards. And during the last two years, full CableCard devices have been installed 38x more often than CableCards alone.

(I’m also betting that the percentage of population that orders more than one CableCard for dual/quad tuning is greater than the percentage of population who orders more than one cable box, which means the CableCard-exclusive population may be even smaller than it seems…but I could be wrong.)

It’s tough to tell why CableCards haven’t been more popular. Then again, limited VoD options and a lack of consumer education might both have something to do with it. [Multichannel News via EngadgetHD]

Cohen is Comcast’s executive vice-president for broadband, who believes that FCC should get their hands off the internet. Because, you know, everything is perfectly fine now that private companies are controlling it, making sure to block or throttle down any traffic they want. They just want to keep doing that, because that’s what benefit most all of us, the consumers and other companies trying to make free use of a vital infrastructure, one that should be neutral for everyone.

In typical demagogical fashion, Comcast appeals to the fear, uncertainty and doubt. “Does the internet need more regulation? FCC to decide” is the headline of his corpospeako yadda-yadda post. As in: “OH, the BIG government wants to regulate YOUR internet. Are you going to let them do that, your ignorant peasants you?” This comes from a guy who represents a company that took the FCC to court because they were illegally throttling down bandwidth for certain internet applications, like—oh, surprise—Torrent apps.

So, does the internet need more regulation, Señor Cohen? Yes, it does. Regulation against you arbitrarily deciding to regulate the service we pay for. And, you know, so you and your pals in the industry don’t get all cozy and snuggly to take services or companies out of the network. [Comcast via Crunchgear]

Comcast, for example, argued for the definition of “basic” broadband to be a paltry 0.256Mbps downstream and upstream. Verizon aimed for 0.768Mbps downstream and 0.200Mbps upstream. Japan’s rate? 92.8Mbps. Korea has 80.8Mbps and France offers 51Mbps.

So what it all boils down to is this: These companies want stimulus funds, but they don’t want to, you know, improve their services with these funds. Instead, they want money for continuing to rank near the bottom of internet speeds offered by major industrialised nations. Here’s hoping the FCC sees through their BS and forces them to raise the bar if they’re getting any taxpayer money. [MSNBC]

Now it appears they’re at it again, although what the target(s) will be this time around is anybody’s guess. A few of the names floated so far are Viacom Inc and Time Warner Inc.

It’s most likely not Disney, said former Disney CEO Michael Eisner. “They may want to recapture their dreams of going after Disney, but not with Disney specifically,” he said. “I am sure [Comcast] Brian Roberts and Steve Burke (COO) have Time Warner high on their computer screens.”

The analysts, in a word, were wary of such a move. [Reuters via Slashdot]

AU: Obviously this one’s all US, but it’s interesting to see the performance of the next generation of wireless technologies – NB

It’s hard to conceive of harnessing that much bandwidth wirelessly while sitting outside a shopping centre, enjoying an unseasonably warm March day. It’s almost a joke, being able to watch Jon Stewart ream Jim Cramer—streamed via Hulu—while sitting in the backseat of a Lincoln Navigator doing 60 on the freeway. Having reviewed gadgets for almost a decade, I sometimes have to fake excitement that I may not truly feel in my loins. But this is different—real, honest-to-God wireless broadband made me freakin’ giddy, even if it didn’t deliver peak speeds at every spot where I parked.

If most of what we review is a chunk of the present, WiMax is from the future. Thankfully, it’s the near future.

The Test
Clearwire is a wireless data service now majority owned by Sprint (but with Comcast and others holding stakes). Currently it’s got the Clear WiMax service in both Portland and Baltimore. In Portland, it sells mobile and home modems that can pull down up to 4Mbps, but you know from reading Giz Explains that WiMax is already capable of a lot more: It’s the first 4G network that’s actually up and running in the US.

Clearwire gave me a chance to see what WiMax was like without any throttling: I got a USB dongle that could pull down whatever was out there. That turned out to be, in some places, nearly 13Mbps downstream—the current speed of your typical cable modem, and about 10 times what wired broadband delivered just a few years back.

I trekked around Portland, OR for a couple of days, testing the boundaries of the WiMax network, and spot testing in different locations around town to see what I got. I used the Motorola USBw25100 WiMax dongle, connected directly to a very sweet, very pimped-out HP Pavilion dv4 notebook that I borrowed for the occasion. (At the moment, there’s no Mac driver for the WiMax modem, but as you can imagine that’s in the works.)

As a helpful comparison, I used a 3G dongle from Verizon Wireless. I want to be clear that this isn’t to be read as a test of Verizon’s Portland network. However, that little USB modem held its own amazingly well, 3G beating 4G on a few occasions—at one point reaching a top speed of 3.3Mbps—so good on you, Verizon!

The tests were fairly simple, and resembled the ones we used for our Coast-to-Coast 3G Test last fall. I ran the Speakeasy Speed Test a minimum of five times in each location with each connection, then averaged those results. I loaded a very heavy page—the Wikimedia Commons Hubble Images page—at least five times, timing the pageload with the YSlow plug-in for Firefox. And I pinged local servers in three sets of 10 to determine latency. I chose locations based on their overall geographic variety, throwing in some locations that just made sense for me to visit, like my in-laws, and the family of my buddy Tom.

Here are the locations, neatly marked on the map, followed by a chart of test results:

View Larger Map

Hot Spots and Cold Spots
As you can see, though I got the kind of awesomeness that blisters during three of my stops, I saw some mediocrity in three more, and in one location, smack in the centre of town, I got nothing at all. When I checked with Clearwire, they not surprisingly told me I had accidentally chosen four locations that were slated for improved coverage, the two downtown locations set to get lit up in the coming months.

The up side of the experience was exciting enough that the downside didn’t bash my spirits. You’ll notice in the chart that even when the connection wasn’t that great, latency tended to stay low, and even when the connection was shabby, the download speeds tended to stay at or above 3G levels. I mean, before now, when was 1.2Mbps wireless considered a bad thing? Uploads were consistently just below 2Mbps—a far cry from the 10Mbps I can get with hard-wired cable, but pretty much on par with 3G.

Clearwire has to lease all of its cell towers just like any other wireless carrier, and not having a legacy network in place does keep it from automatically having a tower everywhere it’s needed. Also, the fact that WiMax runs in the 2.5GHz band points to a need for more towers. 3G is in the 1.8 to 2.1GHz, and the proposed LTE operates in the 700MHz spectrum. Though WiMax’s higher frequency may guarantee a more stronger signal closer in, it also has shorter range with the same power. WiMax doesn’t feel like Wi-Fi—it can handle smooth handoffs from tower to tower at high speeds—but the Clearwire coverage map of Portland does look a bit like a tightly packed collection of hotspots.

This can be good news: Clearwire knows every inch of the city, and can look up any customer’s home, workplace or favourite hangout to see if getting the service even makes sense. But it also means that if you’re not covered—depending on how a school board votes about what happens on their rooftops, or what the local port authority has to say about radio antennas—it may be a while before that changes.

Rockin’ Down the Highway
Like most carriers, Clearwire takes advantage the many tall cell towers that line the highway, meaning you get WiMax’s sick bandwidth pretty much unbroken as you fly down the road at 60 or 70 miles per hour. In the following video—in 90 quick seconds—you’ll see the following:
• Speakeasy speedtest showing roughly 13Mbps at 60 miles per hour
• Skype voice call (sorry we didn’t do a video conference)
• Slingbox video that’s being uploaded via WiMax at Clearwire’s office, and downloaded via WiMax in the car
• Hulu, where we load up and begin watching a full-screen episode of The Daily Show, at 70 miles per hour

In Summary:

It’s easy to reach download speeds that are four times the peak of today’s best 3G networks

Power demand does not seem to be any greater than other wireless connections

Most available Clear services now are capped at 4Mbps, though uncapped plans may be available sometime this year

Only a handful of cities will have this service in 2009, with more to come in 2010

Wide fluctuations in bandwidth feel weird: 12Mbps upside makes 3Mbps feel like a disappointing trickle

Within Portland’s city limits, there were plenty of dead zones that will hopefully be filled in soon

[More information on Clearwire service]

Yeah, this sounds exactly like what people need in their retail experience:

“At Sony Style Comcast Labs, trained staff show consumers how to unlock the full potential of their devices by demonstrating how Comcast’s advanced delivery services integrate beautifully with Sony’s hardware products and entertainment content.” —Stan Glasgow, President and COO, Sony Electronics US

Anyone who is feeling masochistic tomorrow and wants to check this place out, please let us know how it is. It’s located on the ground floor of the Comcast Centre at 17th and JFK Boulevard.

SONY ELECTRONICS AND COMCAST UNVEIL CO-BRANDED RETAIL STORE: SONY STYLE COMCAST LABS
Interactive Technology Lab will Debut a Live Demo of 100 Mbps

PHILADELPHIA – March 16, 2009 – Sony Electronics Inc., a world leader in consumer electronics and technology, and Comcast Corp. (Nasdaq: CMCSA, CMCSK), the nation’s leading provider of entertainment, information and communications, are partnering to open a unique retail experience in the Comcast Center: Sony Style Comcast Labs. Sir Howard Stringer, chairman and CEO of Sony Corporation, and Brian L. Roberts, chairman and CEO of Comcast, conceived the idea as a destination where consumers could learn about emerging technologies and experience new digital devices.

The co-branded retail store and technology lab, which opens to the public tomorrow, will showcase the latest innovative products and services from both companies and preview future Comcast technology, products and services.

“This is another great example of innovation and consumer technology being showcased in Philadelphia by Comcast. Comcast has attracted great partners like Sony that continue to benefit our citizens with cool products,” said Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter.

Of the many future technologies on display, the following will be unveiled to Philadelphia consumers for the first time:
1) The Future of High-Speed Internet: 100 Mbps surfing and downloading live.
2) The Future of Home Phone Service: the enhanced cordless telephone – forget smart phones, this one is a genius with email, IM, text and Yellow Pages.

“Consumer electronics are becoming increasingly advanced, and the strategy behind the Sony Style stores has always been to create a comfortable environment where consumers interact with and educate themselves about the latest technology,” said Stan Glasgow, president and COO of Sony Electronics in the U.S. “At Sony Style Comcast Labs, trained staff show consumers how to unlock the full potential of their devices by demonstrating how Comcast’s advanced delivery services integrate beautifully with Sony’s hardware products and entertainment content.”

“Innovation has been the cornerstone of all that we do at Comcast and this new interactive space is the perfect showcase for our current and future technology,” said Tony Werner, Comcast’s chief technology officer. “We’re thrilled to have this unique space anchor our corporate headquarters as a clear demonstration of innovation. It’s also a terrific, hands-on way for consumers to experience how all our products work together.”

Sony Style Comcast Labs feature the best of Sony’s electronics and the most innovative service offerings from Comcast. Sony Electronics offerings include BRAVIAÒ high definition LCD televisions, VAIO® PCs, a (alpha) DSLR and Cyber-shotÒ digital cameras, HandycamÒ camcorders, PSPÒ and PlayStationÒ 3 game consoles and emerging technologies like OLED (Organic Light Emitting Diode) TVs. Comcast will showcase all of its products and services from voice to video and Internet and demonstrate how they each work together seamlessly for the consumer.

Shoppers will have opportunities to make informed purchase decisions about what best fits their needs via personalised service and product demonstrations from in-store Sony Electronics and Comcast representatives.

The Sony Style Comcast Labs is located the heart of The Market at the base of the Comcast Centre in Philadelphia at 17th and JFK Boulevard.