Google Video Quality Report tests your ISPs performance for YouTube playback

Google on Tuesday announced its new project, dubbed Video Quality Report, which focuses on testing the video quality and the connection speeds of Internet service providers (ISPs).

The service will be available in Canada at first and will expand to more number of countries with time.

Google will test the ISP by playing back a high definition video from YouTube. The ISPs will then be graded as "YouTube HD Verified" if it is able to play 90 percent of the 720p HD videos.

The firm is said to have two goals behind implementing this test, according to Shiva Rajaraman, director of product management at YouTube.

"We wanted to give users a measure of performance that they can truly understand ... the other side is we felt this would be beneficial for ISPs too, because now they can describe their service and the various product offerings and price points they might have to their customers in a way that they can truly understand: You can access YouTube in HD on my ISP, or not," he stated to the Financial Post.

After the test, Google is said to show a graph showing the video quality based on the time of the day. The users are also given the option to compare their ISPs with other ISPs in the area. It has been also understood that the test showed positive results in Canada (with most of the ISPs giving good results), prompting Google to say Canada may be one of the first HD Verified Countries.

"Canada was very impressive for us in many ways because theres so many HD verified ISPs in the region," Mr. Rajaraman said.

"On some level, we think Canada could be one of the first HD verified countries out there. So, we wanted to start with a market where clearly people are doing it well, and we wanted to lead with the best.

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Talon Performance street legal quad

Forget those super exotics that you see spoilt rich brats drive up in front of the club with two birds in tow, while you and your group of friends curse your down and out luck at not having a bottomless bank account and having to rely on public transport to get around town.

Enter the Talon Performance - this is a street legal quad that won’t cost you an arm and a leg, and yet is sleek enough to draw more stares from folks compared to a Ferrari. I suppose the number of stares received is for a very good reason - this is hardly seen around, and they’ll probably wonder what kind of eclectic character would drive a vehicle such as this, especially on a Saturday night. Check out the specifications after the jump.

* Engine KFX 700: Liquid-cooled, four-stroke V-twin, SOHC, four valves per cylinder with wet sump
* Displacement: 697cc
* Bore x Stroke: 82 x 66mm
* Carburetor: Dual Keihin CVKR-D32
* Starting: Electric
* Transmission: Kawasaki Automatic Constant Velocity Transmission with forward, reverse and neutral
* Final Drive: Shaft
* Frame Type: Double cradle, racing type, high tensile 1.25″ tubular steel
* Suspension: Front: Dual A-arms, coil-over shocks
* Rear: Linkless swingarm, billet aluminum gas-charged shock
* Tires: Dunlop 205 40 ZR17
* Brakes: Front: Dual discs with two-piston calipers
* Rear: Sealed, oil-bathed, multi-disc
* Overall length: 107 inches
* Overall width: 59 inches
* Overall height: 43 inches
* Wheelbase: 63 inches
* Ground clearance: Center of chassis 6 inches
* Lighting: Dual L 35W /H 75W halogen headlights, LED tail light/brake light
* Dry weight: 765 lbs
* Fuel capacity: 3.2 gal. optional 7 gal.

Granted, this won’t be smoking any vehicle on the road anytime soon, and woe to you when you bring a hot date on the Talon Performance and the unforgiving skies decide to fool around with you and ruin a seemingly perfect evening.

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Nvidias Tegra Note Stylus performance demo videos released

The story of the Nvidia Tegra Note started back in August for us, when the first pieces of information on a duo of Nvidia tablets surfaced on the web. We never heard more about the fancier, more high-end one, but the 7-inch Tegra Note has since become a reality that carries a very welcoming $199 starting price. Its specs sheet reads very well, as it sports a 720p screen that is powered by Nvidias very own Tegra 4 SoC, 2GB of RAM. Furthermore, the slab features what the company is calling DirectStylus (see video below), and it really is trying to push it. Not too surprising, seeing as according to Nvidia, feedback is overwhelmingly what customers are looking for.

But while the specs and the price are predominantly what youll be looking at, from our point of view, its quite curious to consider Nvidias business model for the Tegra Note. Namely, the California-based company wont be manufacturing the Note itself, but rather provide a reference design to willing partners, that can then go ahead and brand the tablet. This kind of process certainly isnt unheard of, but its definitely far from the norm, especially when a high-profile companys products are involved, so itll be intriguing to see where it gets Nvidia. Interestingly enough, one cant help but draw parallels between this move, and the way Nvidias GPUs business work, with companies like EVGA (which is taking a shot at the Tegra Note, by the way) and others branding and further tweaking its graphics units. PhoneArena

Alas, we digress. Youll be wanting to check out them teasers we sneakily avoided mentioning until now, the very ones you can see immediately below.

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