What is Starry? An Internet service and router unlike anything else
Tech Industry
There's a new way to get Internet at home that doesn't involve a cable or phone company.
I'm Bridget Carey.
This is your CNET Update.
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Right now, to get Internet at home, most people sign up for some sort of wired broadband service to be installed.
Like something from your cable or phone provider.
Or you could connect to a cellular network to get online.
But there's a company that's launched a whole new concept that cuts out the cable and phone companies.
It's called Starry Internet.
It uses millimeter waves to send broadband to your home at super fast speeds, up to one gigabit, which is ten times the average home broadband speed.
So what are millimeter waves?
it's what those airport body scanning machines use.
It's an extremely high frequency.
So how much is the service?
Well no one knows.
The company isn't saying.
But it is first being tested in Boston this summer.
And you don't need the service to turn out a new friendly WiFi hub called Starry station.
That cost $350 and it works with any internet service.
It has a touch screen with some real handy controls.
You can see the health of the connection speed Which devices are online, even set parental controls.
The promotional video for Starry plays on our need for something simple because we are always online.
Even you're toddler's on the toilet with an iPad.
How can you control them without this?
And don't you hate cords?
What a mess.
Internet life is horrible.
Well the hub starts shipping in March if you wanna try it.
The company behind this also has some interesting history, it's from the team that created Aero.
Which based legal drama when it deliver local free over the air broadcast television to homes through the internet As a streaming video subscription.
But Aereo is no more.
Let's see how Starry shakes things up with internet service providers.
But your internet world is gonna change more drastically in the near future with Facebook.
The social network is almost ready to kill the Like button as we know it.
And it's gonna launch reactions.
Which let you respond to a post with different emotions beyond just a thumb's up.
It's been in testing for a while now, but a story published on Bloomberg has Facebook saying that it could launch in the next few weeks.
And Microsoft wants to be part of the changing way you get your news online.
Microsoft released a new app for iPhones and iPads called News Pro.
It's sort of like Apple News and Flipboard.
You pick what news topics interest you And you have to login with Facebook or LinkedIn accounts to get started, because it's trying to look at your profile to see what topics you may want to read about based on your job or what things you post.
It's not perfect, so like all these news readers, it takes some tweaking.
That's it for this Tech News Update, but you can catch up on the latest at cnet.com.
From our studios in New York, I'm Bridget Carey.
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