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SAN FRANCISCO -- Google is nearly done with its VP9 video technology, and it wants the world to use it.

At its Google I/O conference Wednesday, company employees made the case for the royalty-free, open-source technology as a higher-quality alternative to today's dominant video codec, H.264. Moving to VP9 -- available now in testing on Chrome and YouTube -- will save bandwidth costs.

"If you adopt VP9, as you can very quickly, you'll have tremendous advantages over anyone else out there using H.264 or VP8, (its predecessor)," said VP9 engineer Ronald Bultje in … Read more

NEC has apparently jumped the gun, releasing the full specs of a laptop based on Intel's 4th Generation Core processor, aka, Haswell.

That processor, along with a crush of new systems, is slated for rollout on June 3 at Computex in Taiwan.

But NEC is talking specs already in Japan.

In addition to the Haswell chip (about which NEC provided little additional data), the LaVie L will sport a 15.6-inch IPS touch screen (1,920x1,080 resolution), 8GB of memory, 1TB hard drive with a 32GB solid-state drive cache, Windows 8, and Microsoft Office Home and Business.

The … Read more

John McCain wants to make it easier for consumers to buy only the TV shows they want to watch.

On Thursday, the Arizona senator introduced legislation that would force cable operators and other TV providers to split up their so-called programming bundles and instead offer TV shows in smaller, more affordable packages and as a la carte channels. His legislation, called the Television Consumer Freedom Act, also would require sports leagues that use publicly financed stadiums to broadcast home games within their local markets. Now many home games are blacked out in an effort to encourage fans to go to … Read more

Thirty years is a long time to suffer for the bad behavior of a few young and boisterous tech workers. But after being permanently banned from the posh La Playa Carmel resort in 1983 for an evening of skinny-dipping and other misdeeds, Apple executives appear to be back in the fold.

According to SFGate, the new ownership of the La Playa Carmel has decided to extend an olive branch, and Apple seemingly has booked an event there.

That was the message from the new owner of the recently restored La Playa Carmel, where Cupertino'… Read more

It's estimated that more than 20 million people worldwide are currently victims of human trafficking. Put in perspective, that's nearly the equivalent of the entire population of Australia.

In an effort to combat human trafficking and provide help for victims, Google has launched a new joint project with three advocacy organizations -- Polaris Project, Liberty Asia, and La Strada International. Dubbed the Human Trafficking Hotline Network, this project aims to create a consolidated global hotline connected to a data-driven network.

Here's more on the project from a blog post by Google Ideas director Jared Cohen and Google … Read more

Google has reached a licensing agreement with MPEG LA over patents that cover video compression, clearing the way for wider adoption of the Web giant's VP8 video codec and its streaming-video platform WebM.

The deal grants Google the right to sublicense the VP8 as well as the techniques in the forthcoming VP9 codec, which is already under development. MPEG LA also agreed to abandon its efforts to form a VP8 patent pool, which would have allowed it to cross-license its video patents.

Financial terms of the arrangement were not revealed.

"This is a significant milestone in Google's … Read more

Valentine's Day can be stressful. It's one of those holidays that people want to be perfect and therefore is sometimes a let down.

Despite living in a tech era, romantic traditions still seem to adhere. There are flowers to buy, dinner reservations to make, and gifts and cards to exchange. And then, there's the daunting task of coming up with original ideas of what to do on February 14.

None of this is really going change, but technology can help make some of it easier.

Here's CNET's resource guide for 10 helpful Valentine's Day … Read more

LG announced a pair of five-figure TVs already, one OLED and another 4K, but among models mortals can afford, its flagship 2013 series of LED-based LCD TVs is the LA8600.

Unlike last year's LM9600 flagship, the LA8600 will forgo a full-array local dimming backlight in favor of an edge-lit variety. While that seems disappointing from a videophile perspective, it's worth noting that the LM9600 was among the worst-performing full-array LED TVs we'd ever tested.

Available in a 60- and 55-inch size, it will feature all of the latest tricks including an onboard, retractable camera. LG initially told … Read more

LAS VEGAS -- LG has announced its penultimate LED for 2013, the LA7400, which will feature all of the latest tricks including new connectivity and search options.

Search and control are two of the company's new mantras and the TV will feature natural language voice control via the new Magic Motion remote.

The TV will feature an edge-lit LED with dimming, a 240Hz refresh rate and come in 47-inch, 55-inch and 60-inch sizes.

LG's Smart TV platform will also get an update with a customizable dashboard via the new "My Interest Cards." Sharing from tablets and … Read more