The FCC’s Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking proposes significant, substantive reforms to the manner in which Universal Service Fund (“USF”) contributions are assessed. The FNPRM undoubtedly will elicit a blizzard of comments and counterproposals as interested parties assess and respond to the proposed changes. At this juncture, several comments are warranted:
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Smart grid networking firm Tropos Networks will serve Guan Power Authority as network communications vendor for the utility's smart grid rollout across the island of Guam.
Tropos and GPA have begun implementing the Tropos GridCom network to support GPA's smart grid rollout in 2012.
As part of GPA's overall smart grid project, the utility is implementing a reliable, multi-application Tropos GridCom network that meets their existing needs and future requirements as they move to a comprehensive smart grid deployment.
GPA will use their Tropos GridCom network to backhaul smart meter data, automate switches and reclosers in their distribution system, provide connectivity for communicating faulted circuit indicators and deliver critical data to field workers.
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A major campaign launched on May 8, is urging residents and businesses to do their bit to help secure superfast broadband for Cambridgeshire and Peterborough.
Superfast broadband will help boost local businesses and the economy, reduce isolation in rural communities and help improve health and access to services.
Councils from across Cambridgeshire and Peterborough as well as the Government are investing millions of pounds in the Connecting Cambridgeshire project.
But to secure vital support from broadband providers we need residents and businesses to simply click and show them we want improved broadband.
The more people that register the fact they want superfast broadband the more chance of it being delivered.
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In Walter Isaacsonʼs biography of Steve Jobs, Isaacson describes the time that Jobs cold called Wendell Weeks, the CEO of Corning, Inc., to learn about Gorilla Glass(which is now used in more than 500 devices).
Weeksʼ assistant refused to put him through, but offered to take a message. Jobs described that as “typical East Coast B.S.” In response, when Weeks returned the call, he was told by Apple’s receptionist to put his request in writing and to fax it.
When the two finally did meet, Jobs tried to impress Weeks with his knowledge of glass, and Weeks had to tell him to shut up — Corning, of course, has been making glass and ceramics for a century.
This anecdote is partly funny, partly troubling. It is made funnier by the fact that Corning, due to customer NDAs, cannot publicly confirm that the meeting ever took place. It is troubling, because few Valley companies look at companies in Kansas or Kenya as anything more than potential suppliers or partners — though their CEOS are happy to fly there to close a big customer sale.
In broader terms, it is symptomatic of how little the Valley knows about how much technology is being developed in corporate America. And in reverse, it hints at how little corporate America knows about the world class operations of many Valley companies. Both sides should wake up to the consumerization of enterprise tech and the enterprising of consumer tech.
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This past week I wrote about Skype competitor OoVoo, which launched a new Facebook 12-way video chat appalong with updateds to many of its other apps. While the Facebook app was the headline, what really stood out to me was my conversation with OoVoo chairman Robert Jackman. Jackman told me that OoVoo’s mostly young users — 60 percent of its 46 million users are under 25 — don’t use OoVoo like other people use Facetime or Skype: to make the equivalent of a phone call over video.
Many simply come home and leave OoVoo on in the background as they do homework or watch TV, sort of like an instant messager app. Friends jump on or jump off, checking in with each other and seeing what’s going on. The person who starts the video chats isn’t obligated to stay on. This is not appointment video: it’s ambient video, running in the background.
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House lawmakers will consider an international proposal next week to give the United Nations more control over the Internet.
The proposal is backed by China, Russia, Brazil, India and other UN members, and would give the UN’s International Telecommunication Union (ITU) more control over the governance of the Internet.
It’s an unpopular idea with lawmakers on both sides of the aisle in Congress, and officials with the Obama administration have also criticized it.
“We're quite concerned,” Larry Strickling, the head of the Commerce Department's National Telecommunications and Information Administration, said in an interview with The Hill earlier this year.
He said the measure would expose the Internet to “top-down regulation where it's really the governments that are at the table, but the rest of the stakeholders aren't.”
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Strip away the hype and you’re left with a reasonably good video podcast with delusions of grandeur. For most of the millions of people who watch TED videos at the office, it’s a middlebrow diversion and a source of factoids to use on your friends. Except TED thinks it’s changing the world, like if “This American Life” suddenly mistook itself for Doctors Without Borders.
"The model for your standard TED talk is a late-period Malcolm Gladwell book chapter. Common tropes include:
Drastically oversimplified explanations of complex problems. Technologically utopian solutions to said complex problems. Unconventional (and unconvincing) explanations of the origins of said complex problems. Staggeringly obvious observations presented as mind-blowing new insights.
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City-Parish President Joey Durel and Lafayette Utilities Director Terry Huval appeared on ‘Mornings With Ken & Bernie’ today and the only discussion centered on an article in yesterday’s Daily Advertiser critical of LUS Fiber.
"Durel said, “the article in the Advertiser yesterday so distorted and misleading from the meeting the other night that I felt it was so inappropriate that I need to clarify the audit.”
According to Huval the audit was conducted 18 months ago and indicated about $16.5 million in losses but revenues are 57 percent higher than last year and last month was the first month that the debt service was paid and paid all operating costs out of earnings.
"As Huval said, “yesterday we turned the corner on being self-sufficient.”
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The Broadband Commission for Digital Development, in partnership with ITU, has released its first country case studies looking in-depth at the state of broadband development in four economies and examining links between broadband and the UN Millennium Development Goals.
The case studies, which cover the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Panama, the Philippines, and Romania, look at the effect of broadband connectivity on economic growth and access to basic services like education and health. They offer regulatory guidance and best practices, showcasing success stories and lessons learned.
Romania and TFYR Macedonia both provide strong examples of how adopting pro-ICT policies, establishing effective regulatory frameworks and developing strategic private and public partnerships can play a key role in boosting broadband access, affordability and demand.
A nation with a strong commitment to connectivity as a driver of national growth, TFYR Macedonia already boasts an impressive broadband penetration rate of 32%. Internet access in schools and Wi-Fi-based public Internet access points have been rolled out throughout the country, including remote areas. Schools now offer one Web-enabled computer for every 1.45 children, while university students and academics can freely access knowledge and research resources via the academic network MARnet.
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Since Facebook released its new "Camera" mobile app yesterday, there's been speculation as to why the social network would buy Instagram and then release its own very similar app. The answer could be that Instagram as it already exists in the world just isn't quite authoritarian enough for Facebook's tastes.
At least that's one possible explanation -- one seemingly given credence by the fact that the Camera app requires iOS Location Services to be turned on so it can access your locally stored photos.
At issue, according to BuzzFeed, is the fact that Facebook saves a little bit of location information with each photo taken, and it uses its own process to access the camera roll, rather than the standard iOS photo picker. Apparently this means Facebook won't go near your photos without location services turned on, because it ruins the app's mojo or something.
According to one developer on Twitter, the location services requirement is "an iOS limitation in order to be able to multiselect. Otherwise you would have had to pick one photo at a time..."
CNET's Bridget Carey received confirmation, however, that you can keep Facebook Camera from getting your photo's location, just in case you're creeped out by a massive social network and now publicly traded company knowing where you've been. (As if they didn't already.)
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For the last couple of years, European officials have been trying to implement a new online privacy directive that they say is intended to give ordinary web users greater control over their data — but many companies believe is deliberately designed to make their lives difficult.
But whether they’re outraged, scrabbling in terror, or simply hoping it goes away, it’s the privacy rule that European startups can’t ignore. But what exactly is the so-called “cookie directive”?
As the rules finally come into force in the U.K., we take a look at the details.
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The Platteville Senior Center is one of several locations in the Grant County area that offers free computer access, technology equipment loan programs, and free, hands-on training for a variety of computer hardware, software and online programs.
The Center will be hosting an open house Tuesday, June 12, 4-7PM to showcase what’s available for area residents.
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We've written a few times that the end goal behind ACTA and TPP is to put in place frameworks by the US and Western Europe for certain things, and then pressure the key developing nations to join in based on the framework that has already been established. That is, let the US and Europe set the rules... and then pressure Brazil, Russia, India and China (BRIC) countries to "join" later, when they can no longer influence the rules. It's not hard to see how the plan is really about looking for ways to stifle those up-and-coming economies. Of course, the end result will actually be the opposite. Since those countries won't be saddled with overly restrictive laws (hopefully), there will be interesting opportunities for businesses.
And, of course, among the BRIC countries, none is seen as important as China. Thus, the real goal behind TPP and ACTA isn't just to set up this framework around things like IP (TPP covers much more), but then to get China to sign on to support that framework. Of course, China, whose leaders are much more savvy than the west likes to give them credit for, have made it pretty clear that they have no interest in signing up for ACTA or TPP.
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The Curt Schilling 38 Studios fiasco is a symbol of what’s deeply wrong with Rhode Island’s political culture. RIPR political analyst Scott MacKay explains.
The cliché about Rhode Island is that you can put the decision-makers all in one room. In our cozy state, it’s easy to gather everyone who matters together and hammer out a decision, goes this theory.
If that’s the case, it begs the question: Why is our political culture so dysfunctional? The latest example of this, of course, is the deal that gave Curt Schilling, a washed up Red Sox pitcher, $75 million in state loan guarantees so he could follow his retirement dream of creating a video game company in Providence.
Now, Schilling’s company, 38 Studios, is on the rocks. And taxpayers are on the hook for as much as $102 million.
It doesn’t have to be this way. We got into this swamp because of the way the General Assembly works, or doesn’t, and the whims of then-Gov. Donald Carcieri, who turned the state’s economic development checkbook over to a ballplayer with no discernible business track record.
That’s because the beauty of Rhode Island is also its bane. Sometimes getting all the decision-makers in a room yields benefits – the drive to lure Fidelity Investments to our state and the construction of the Providence Place Mall are two good examples.
Yet far too often, this you 'gotta-know-a-guy’ way of doing business makes our state a national joke.
Click headline to read more-- SatADSL, a Belgium-based satellite service operator, will unveil its products and services aimed at boosting operations of financial institutions and SMEs in remote areas in Africa at the upcoming AITEC Mobile Money Conference in Accra next week.
SatADSL, a distribution partner of SES Broadband Services, will be presenting at the event its solutions tailor-made for the African banking and financial community, including banks, insurance companies, money transfer companies and ATM operators.
The service allows financial transactions such as money transfers, cash withdrawals from the ATM devices (Automatic Telling Machines) to be successfully performed over satellite links, in a reliable and very cost-effective manner.
The SatADSL solutions are using the SES Broadband service platform which provides high-speed broadband internet via satellite independently from any terrestrial infrastructure to individuals, businesses and communities.
SES Broadband was first introduced in Europe in 2007 and today is also marketed via distribution partners in the Middle East and Africa.
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This is precisely the delicate "bait and switch" that Facebook is challenged with executing. Having attracted 900 million users to the biggest party in history, Facebook now has to sell them stuff -- without being a buzz kill.
The stakes are high: Bounce the merchants, and the company will fail, disappointing its investors, falling short of its profit promises, and putting its future in peril. Transform the cocktail party into a mall, and risk alienating millions of users who have no tolerance for an infomercial network. Post IPO, there's more pressure than ever to pony up profits.
Facebook's greatest asset -- us -- is also its Achilles' heel. We're a fickle bunch, and what attracted us to Facebook in the first place wasn't ads, or companies disguised as friends. It was each other.
Facebook sucked us in because it felt like such a personal place next to anonymous, one-size-fits-all web pages we encountered elsewhere. But there's no assurance Facebook can keep it that way.
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New EU regulations on the use by British websites of cookies have been watered down by the UK's information commissioner just hours before they were due to come into force.
But they could mean that Britain is out of step with EU law in its implementation of the continent-wide directives, and lead to fights with European courts.
In an updated version of its advice for websites on how to use cookies – small text files that are stored on the user's computer and can identify them – the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) has said that websites can assume that users have consented to their use of them.
The advice was only updated on Thursday, 48 hours before the deadline for implementing the new rules, and published the next day.
"This is a striking shift," said Stephen Groom, head of marketing and privacy law at the law firm Osborne Clarke. "Previously the ICO said that implied consent would be unlikely to work. Now it says that implied consent is a valid form of consent."
The use of "implied consent" shifts responsibility to the user rather than the website operator, and will come as a relief to thousands of website operators who have been struggling to comply with new EU directives which came into law a year ago.
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Which would you prefer — to invest in social media software that can help you connect (or induce damage control) in the realm of social networks, or to possess Big Data facilities that may help improve profitability and analysis capabilities?
The case for social media contains many facets. If used effectively, it can be a means to connect with your customers, digitally market your business and increase your brand’s presence. If something goes wrong or the company receives bad press, it can be a way to launch immediate damage control.
However, as social networking is generally in the public domain and allows for instantaneous communication between its members, it can also become a recipe for disaster. A poorly-written tweet or inappropriate response to a complaint on Facebook, and it can be re-tweeted, made into a screenshot and potentially go viral.
Without doubt, social media is a double-edged sword, which can improve customer relations or seriously damage a company’s reputation.
Big Data, however, does not have these particular pitfalls. Every day, we produce 2.5 quintillion bytes of data — 90 percent which exists today having been created in the last two years alone. From sensors to social media, images, video and purchases, it takes very powerful software to analyze and retain these records — and that is where Big Data software steps in.
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Last week’s announcement that a $200 million broadband investment fund is in play courtesy of Gigabit Squared is part of a quiet trend of communities searching for new ways to fund broadband.
Technologies such as desktop PCs, local area networks and mobile applications moved from their infancy to full-blown industries thanks to venture capitalists, investment firms and angel investors who drop big-to-huge bucks on promising startups. For better or worse, these investors drove industries to maturity. Expect the investment scenario for broadband to be different.
Few view broadband networks as startup businesses, but maybe more should. Many communities believe broadband is critical infrastructure, the same as water, electricity and highways. Enlightened communities also know these networks are business operations, even when in pursuit of the common good. The networks must generate revenue, though the financial goal for community-run and muni-run networks is more sustainability for the infrastructure rather than profit.
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Free Press caught and isolated an excellent question from Senator Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) to FCC Chairman Genachowski during recent hearings. The Senator notes that many Americans do not have sufficient access to broadband but 19 states have enacted barriers to make it harder for communities to build their own.
FCC Chairman said he thinks innovative municipal solutions should be encouraged and that he looks forward to working with the Committee to address the obstacles.
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Availability of high-speed Internet connection is fundamental to the future of our communities for business and job growth, property values and tax base, education and student performance.
Reva Reck, Vice-Chair of the WiredWest Executive Committee and the Town & Delegate Outreach Liaison, will explain how the WiredWest project is part of a three-tiered effort working with state, regional, and local partners to build out all parts of the needed infrastructure to bring high-speed Internet to the unserved and underserved towns in Western Mass. You will hear the latest project updates and what we can do as a community to support this essential effort.
WiredWest is designing a fiber-optic network that will enable high-bandwidth, affordable internet, phone, high-definition television services, and ancillary services to all residents, businesses, and institutions who are interested, in participating towns of Western Massachusetts. For more information on WiredWest http://wired-west.net/
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Sources inside the office of Senate Judiciary Antitrust subcommittee chairman Herb Kohl (D-Wis.) said he has no plans for new hearings to examine the proposed $3.6 billion deal between Verizon and a group of the nation's largest cable companies. Verizon wants to buy licenses for spectrum held by Comcast, Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks to, Verizon says, improve service for its 4G network for smartphones. The company has already entered into a similar deal with Cox Communications to buy other spectrum licenses. The deal would also let Verizon and the cable companies cross-sell each other's services in "quadruple play" bundles.
Public interest advocates fear the deal will harm wireless competition by putting too much of the airwaves into Verizon's hands, and hurt the market for wireline services by letting Verizon give up on its FiOS service. Verizon's competitors also say the deal's purpose is to keep them from purchasing the spectrum for themselves.
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When it debuted in 2009, I took a look at Bump, the mobile app for iOS that wirelessly transfers data between a pair iPhones. At the time, I thought it was ingenious, because it initiated the transfer with a simple bumping of the two phones. Later the software arrived for Android, allowing for cross-platform sharing, and for a while I kept it on my phone. Over time, my usage dropped and eventually, I stopped re-installing it on new phones. Now it’s back.
In fact, Bump now has a coveted place on my smartphone home screens and not just for the original sharing feature. The team added a share to desktop feature for photos, and it’s stellar. To use it, you have to open a browser window to http://bu.mp — which I now have as a dedicated bookmark in my browsers. Then, using the mobile application, you choose what objects you want to move from phone to computer. Finally, you “bump” the phone with the space bar on your computer’s keyboard. BOOM! Bump transfers the files to the computer in a split second.
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The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) voted on Thursday to explore the possibility of launching flying cellphone transmitters after disasters to restore communication services.
"At first glance, it feels like science fiction," FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski said. "But antennas in the sky are fact, not fiction."
In a report last year, the FCC's public-safety bureau noted that hurricanes, earthquakes and other disasters can cause mass power outages and destroy landline and wireless phone networks.
Some emergency responders might have satellite phones, but other people would lack the ability to communicate or call for help.
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It seems that certain schools in Texas are having trouble with their math.
No, it isn't the kids. It's the school administrators. They keep losing kids. And, well, state funding depends, at least to some extent, on attendance.
So Northside Independent School District in San Antonio has decided to insert a little technology into the problem. For it intends to insert RFID chips into the kids' IDs, so that it will know precisely where little Chet is at all times.
I am grateful to the San Antonio Express-News for expressing this development, one that might cause some to pause.
The school's logic appears to be quite simple. These darn kids keep disappearing and that's costing them money. They need to be counted at the beginning of every sunny day. And you never know what kids are going to get up to anyway.
So, beginning with John Jay High School and Anson Jones Middle School, the district will implement its new chips.
"We want to harness the power of (the) technology to make schools safer, know where our students are all the time in a school, and increase revenues," school district spokesman Pascual Gonzalez told the Express-News.
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