Do you commute via Amtrak? Then you might know the horrors known as Amtrak Wi-Fi. Indeed, the railroad has taken a lot of heat over spotty Internet access, but news came in this week that things are beginning to change for the better: The organization has upgraded its Wi-Fi to broadband speeds across select lines on both the East and West Coast.

In situations like this, it’s always important to set realistic expectations. Although the move was intended to give business-class customers a faster, more reliable experience, Amtrak is also quick to point out that there are some limitations it will be enforcing. Customers are not permitted to stream HD movies or music, and certain data-heavy activities, like downloading large files (greater than 10 MB) are also prohibited. This makes sense, since a few passengers hogging the bandwidth could impact speeds for everybody onboard.

And though it may be improved, the connection probably won’t be seamless. Maintaining consistency on a moving car is tough enough, but when you’re talking about traversing different regions, coverage issues come into play. The railroad uses a variety of carriers along its lines, and switching between them could cause some hiccups.

Even so, it will almost certainly be better than the slow, fickle access of its previous lower-grade cellular-based wireless network. And considering passengers who have this access will be getting it for free, it’s sort of tough to complain. (Just ask frequent airline flyers.)

On the East coast, the upgrade has gone out to high-speed Acela lines topping 400 miles between Washington and Boston. On the West coast, it was implemented on many of California’s state-supported routes, like the Capitol Corridor, Pacific Surfliner and San Joaquin routes. As for the rest, Amtrak said it would upgrade all remaining Wi-Fi-equipped trains by late summer.

[via technobuffalo]

Can’t afford $ 40,000+ to get a master’s degree in computer science? Well, how about $ 7,000? That’s the tuition price for a new degree program from Georgia Institute of Technology and Silicon Valley educational startup Udacity.

Subsidized by AT&T, the three-year online program centers on curricula and coursework designed by Georgia Tech instructors and support from Udacity, which will step in to field student questions. This allows costs to remain low — in fact, only eight new instructors will be required to handle the projected 10,000 new students (over the next three years). Compared to the 300 master’s students currently in the university’s traditional program, that’s a pretty major expansion. And when they graduate, they will have degrees comparable to Georgia Tech’s traditional master’s.

In tech circles, education is definitely an area to watch. MOOCs (or massively open online courses) is a rapidly growing area of the industry. However, many of these are non-credit courses, and the for-credit offerings that are out there often carry a hefty price tag, like their offline counterparts. Hopefully seeing a respected university step up like this will inspire others to make affordable education possible. This seems to be Udacity’s mission as well. It has actively worked to slash costs, most recently at San Jose State University.

As for Georgia Tech’s program, enrollments will open in January, with several hundred students expected the first year — mostly candidates from the military and AT&T. As time goes on, other students will be admitted, including non-master’s students, such as those seeking certification only or wishing to audit classes for free.

[via technobuffalo]

Next to Rockstar’s Grand Theft Auto V, Naughty Dog’s The Last of Us is shaping up to be one of this year’s biggest games. And when it hits, Sony will rightly give it the special treatment. As soon as the game is available digitally, on June 14, users will be able to start playing once the download reaches 50 percent. Sony mentioned the feature at its PlayStation 4 event in February, but we have yet to see that support in any current generation console.

Steam allows users to start playing select PC games after a download starts—it shows that the PlayStation 3, for what little life is left, still has some untapped potential. The Last of Us is an enormous title, and Sony obviously wants folks to access it as quickly as possible. It’s unclear if any other upcoming PS3 game will take advantage of the feature—or if consumers even care—but it’s a nice little added bonus for what is surely going to be a nice sending off for Sony’s aging console.

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[via technobuffalo]