Google to introduce 4K video format that uses less bandwidth

Google has begun collaborating with hardware manufacturers to introduce a new video format that will allow you to play 4K content from YouTube on your TVs, smartphone and PCs while it consumes half the bandwidth needed by current high-definition videos. PCWorld reports VP9 format allows for videos to be shown at 3840 x 2160 pixel resolution. Television makers that plan to back the new format include LG, Samsung, Sony, Toshiba, Samsung, Philips, Sharp and Panasonic. Nvidia and Qualcomm also plan to create new graphics chips and processors to support VP9.

“Starting in 2014, you’ll see products from major mobile, PC and TV partners that are using a new, more efficient video format called VP9 that gives you HD quality at half the bandwidth,” Francisco Varela, global director of platform partnerships at Google, wrote in an email to PCWorld.

Connect with aging parents through Lively

Lively: Creating new avenues of connection between older adults and their families. from Lively Inc. on Vimeo.

If you live apart from your aging mom and dad but want to keep track of their activities, then Lively will help you do just that. The sensor-based device is designed to be placed on objects around your parent’s home (such as fridge, front door, etc.) so you can check on their daily activities without taking away their independence. The sensors are designed transmit activity messages daily to its main hub and you will receive activity reports regularly in your email, through a smartphone app, or through the company’s website.

BBM Beta on Android receives BBM channels, voice chat functionality

Ardent Android BBM Beta users should soon get an update to BlackBerry's cross platform messaging app that includes the social media-ish BBM Channels and the awaited WiFi voice chat functionality. Launched late last year by BlackBerry on their native BB10 version, these features were promised to Android and eventually iOS users as well.

Source: Engadget

Visiting Toronto’s newest downtown attraction: Ripley’s Aquarium of Canada

Text and photos by Corey Herscu

Complete pandemonium.

That’s essence of what it to experience Canada’s largest aquarium on a busy winter afternoon.

It starts with a two-hour line-up that ticket holders are forced to brave outside, one that they’ve been criticized  for in the past, and then continues inside the main foyer, and goes on throughout most of the entire 135,000-sq foot aquatic experience.

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