Next-gen HDMI turns your TV into an Internet hub - PC World

The next generation of High-Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) cables are going to give your HDTV a boost with a maximum 100Mb-per-second Internet connection, audio upstream capability and HD images at four times the resolution of 1080p. Lost amid this week's Bing and Google hype, was an announcement from HDMI Licensing -- the group responsible for managing the HDMI specification -- that the next generation of HDMI cables will provide new functionality, and do away with separate Ethernet connections for your various devices.

Instead of a having tangled mess of cables behind your TV, the HDTV itself will act as an Internet hub for all those wired goodies in your living room. The new specification is called HDMI 1.4, and aims to take television's Internet connectivity to the next level...

Obama's cybersecurity plan prompts praise and some questions -- Washington Technology

May 29, 2009

President Barack Obama’s announcement today that he soon will name a cyber czar to lead a five-point program aimed at protecting the security of computer networks has provoked early praise and some questions from the contracting and business community.

The president said increased cyber security is long overdue. “Cyber space is real, and so is the risk that comes with it,” he said...

Sears tests MyGofer prototype store in Joliet -- chicagotribune.com

May 29, 2009

What are Sears stores going to look like in the future? You might get a clue by visiting the retailer's latest incarnation: a drive-through general store.

MyGofer debuted in Joliet on May 9 with little fanfare. The Sears name is nowhere in sight. Neither is Kmart's. MyGofer wants no help or hindrances from Sears Holdings Corp.'s better-known brands. Shoppers can order online and pick up their purchases at a drive-through. They can also order at kiosks inside the showroom...

Amazon's Bezos entertains; No color Kindle near - InternetNews.com

May 29, 2009

When you're the CEO of Amazon.com, you get to have fun at the shareholder's meeting.

While many tech execs these days are sweating their way through the yearly ritual -- facing grim forecasts and unhappy shareholders -- Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) chief Jeff Bezos gave every indication of enjoying his day in front of the e-tail juggernaut's investors...

Verizon CEO nudges against Net neutrality - FierceTelecom

When Barack Obama was elected President last fall, it seemed like Net neutrality would be one of the hot topics of 2009. To date, that hasn't happened, though there have been other things going on in Washington, D.C., that are keeping the telecom industry matter on the back burner (We don't even have a new FCC Chairman yet).

While Net neutrality hasn't come up, and it's still not clear if or how Net neutrality legislation might develop, Verizon Communications CEO Ivan Seidenberg reminded the Washington Post that Verizon still doesn't want to go to there (Yes, that's what qualifies as news this week). Sounding vaguely like an East Coast rapper, Seidenberg referred to how the "West Coast crowd" (that would be mainly Google) wants companies like Verizon to have a unfair cost burden as they build and manage the networks supporting the Internet...

AT&T unlikely to sell rural lines, CEO says - FierceTelecom

May 28, 2009

The Wall Street Journal reports that AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson said at an investor conference this week that the company is not planning to sell any of its rural lines like Verizon Communications is doing through its recent deal with Frontier Communications. However, if rural telco consolidation continues, could Wall Street convince AT&T to change its mind?

Stephenson also said that general economic conditions don't seem to be getting worse or better, using typically cagey CEO-speak to express that things are apparently neither good nor bad, which is... good?...

TOT previews telecom reform and broadband investment study

TOT Executive Director Sarah Briggs moderated a preview of a study of Ohio’s telecom rules and broadband investment in Cleveland on Monday. The study was done by Case Western Reserve University Weatherhead School of Management economics professor Jack Kleinhenz and the Digital Policy Institute at Ball State University.

Kleinhenz, joined by Steve Jones of Ball State, previewed the study before an audience of state and local officials and technology experts at the City Club of Cleveland...

Here are 7 great freebies you'll actually use - USATODAY.com

Free iPods! Free TVs! Free money! Unfortunately, these online offers are almost certainly scams. I'm using the word "almost" because I haven't checked every single one.

They fall under the same rule we've all heard a thousand times: There is no free lunch. But there are legitimate freebies. Here are some that you may want to use time and time again...

AT&T, Verizon racing To rollout 4G wireless -- 4G wireless networks -- InformationWeek

May 28, 2009

AT&T (NYSE: T)'s decision to accelerate its ramp up of Long Term Evolution (LTE) will likely prematurely place it in a head-to-head competition withVerizon (NYSE: VZ) Wireless.

Verizon Wireless, which is already racing to install the super-high-speed LTE wireless infrastructure, is a year ahead in the deployment race...

Ohio House Bill 4 - paving the way for Ohio high school students to better leverage broadband technology for their education

Have you heard of the Distance Learning Pilot Project? It’s also known as Ohio House Bill (HB) 4 - and it’s paving the way for Ohio high school students to better leverage broadband technology for their education.

Twenty-eight percent of schools in Ohio have the broadband capacity of a T-1 line, i.e., 1.5 Mbps or less. HB-4 would provide those schools with more broadband, to enable students to take classes via live, interactive video. This technology would bring Advanced Placement (AP) and foreign language classes to many students that wouldn’t have that opportunity otherwise - such as students in rural areas...

North Ridgeville installs state-of-art water monitor system

May 29, 2009

NORTH RIDGEVILLE — The city is about to install high-tech water meters that will alert residents to leaks before they rack up weeks of big water bills. North Ridgeville is spending nearly half a million dollars to install the system and is the first city in Lorain County to have the latest water meter reading technology.

Currently, if a home develops a water leak, the residents won’t know until getting next month’s water bill, Mayor David Gillock said. By then, they’ve already been charged another three weeks or so on top of the bill they already received. The new meters will be wirelessly connected to a computer at City Hall...

WiMax & LTE meet the real world - Telecom News Analysis

With several major new mobile broadband services launched -- or coming soon -- in the U.S., and all promising blazing performance, it can be hard to get a clear picture of what wireless speeds you will actually get when you plug in your new data card or switch on that minty fresh new handheld or netbook. The official word from AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T), Clearwire LLC (Nasdaq: CLWR), and Verizon Wireless is that their new networks will be faster than the maximum speeds offered today. But not landline-replacement kind of fast.

In fact, the fastest-sounding new network is also the one with the least known about it. Indeed, Verizon doesn’t want to talk numbers at all on its Long Term Evolution (LTE) network until it has done a lot more testing outside the lab. But we can look to other users' experiences, particularly in the case of AT&T’s planned High-Speed Packet Access (HSPA) upgrade, to glean some indication of how these networks will operate in the real-world...

Palm's Pre to access iTunes - WSJ.com

May 28, 2009

Palm Inc. unveiled some new features for its Pre smart phone on Thursday as the company prepares to release the supposed challenger to Apple Inc.'s iPhone in the next few days.

Among the new features is a media manager that can download music directly from Apple's iTunes, Palm executives said. Another newly-disclosed feature is an Internet-based store, like Apple's iPhone App Store, where software can be downloaded onto the phone...

Hands on with Bing, Microsoft's new search engine - PC World

At last, Bing has arrived. I tested a preview release of Microsoft's new search/decision engine, previously called Kumo, to see how well it compares with its predecessor, Live Search. Here's a breakdown of its new features, followed by a quick appraisal of how successful each feature is. (For an image-friendly look at some of Bing's new features, see our slideshow, "Bing: A Visual Tour of What's New.")

Bing's new look focuses on a left-hand navigation menu called the Explorer Pane. This extra column of content includes Quick Tabs that break searches down into Web Groups relevant to your search. For example, a search on "Nikon D70" triggers the Explorer Pane to create Quick Tabs for shopping, accessories, and videos all based on what your intent might be. Under Quick Tabs in the Explorer Pane are additional subcategories such as 'Related Searches' and 'Search History'; the latter, as its name implies, shows you recent searches. Microsoft asserts that 50 percent of all searches are repeats, and that providing a session history therefore offers a shortcut to results of redundant searches...

Bloggers want to make you pay (and you eventually may) - Business Center - PC World

As the advertising ice age continues killing off media dinosaurs, GigaOm's announcement of a plan to charge $79 a year for premium blog content again raises the issue: Is anybody actually willing to pay? Taken another way: How much media has to die before users are willing to pay for what's left?

With online ad revenue at the four top portals down 3.3 percent during the first quarter, according to eMarketer, publishers are scrambling for new revenue sources. Whether they will find them is a huge question for readers and publishers alike...

Aetna contacts 65,000 after Web site data breach - Business Center - PC World

May 28, 2009

Insurance company Aetna has contacted 65,000 current and former employees whose Social Security numbers (SSNs) may have been compromised in a Web site data breach.

The job application Web site also held names, phone numbers, e-mail and mailing addresses for up to 450,000 applicants, Aetna spokeswoman Cynthia Michener said. SSNs for those people were not stored on the site, which was maintained by an external vendor...

US gov't panel calls for new privacy rules - PC World

The U.S. government needs to rewrite the rules it has been using for 35 years to govern its use of personal data by focusing on new technologies for storing and retrieving data, a government advisory board recommended.

It's time for the U.S. Congress to overhaul the Privacy Act of 1974 by revamping arcane privacy notices called systems of records notices (SORNs), by requiring chief privacy officers at 24 major U.S. agencies and by creating a privacy.gov site where privacy notices from all agencies are available, members of the Information Security and Privacy Advisory Board (ISPAB) said Thursday.

Google's Wave consolidates core online features in one tool - Business Center - PC World

May 28, 2009

Google has released to developers an early version of a collaboration and communication tool that consolidates features from e-mail, instant messaging, blogging, wikis, multimedia management, and document sharing.

Called Wave, the Web application is the equivalent of a Swiss Army Knife for consumer online services and possibly one of the riskiest and most ambitious endeavors Google has embarked upon in years...

Adobe takes presentation software to the Web - InternetNews.com

May 27, 2009

Graphics software giant Adobe has unveiled the latest in its Web-based software push -- today debuting Acrobat.com Presentations, a free service that enables users to build Flash presentations through their browsers. It is in public beta.

It's the most recent move in Adobe's (NASDAQ: ADBE) efforts to ride the wave of interest in all things Software-as-a-Service and cloud-based. Intel and Oracle have made their own pitches for cloud-based software, while IBM issues regular announcements. Open source projects such as Ubuntu are there too...

TeleGeography: 700M broadband subs by 2013 - FierceTelecom

May 27, 2009

TeleGeography's GlobalComms Insight research service has released new research on the global broadband market that predicts there will be 700 million broadband subscribers worldwide by the end of 2013. The research also suggests that while landline decline will continue, growth in broadband and wireless will continue to offset the decline to some degree, and that the recession will not have a long-term impact on growth...

The business of backhaul

May 28, 2009

Free Webinar - Mobile backhaul is just one segment of a broad array of business services that telcos need to increasingly leverage for new revenue during difficult economic times & the decline of the landline business. What is the backhaul market worth & how much does it stand to grow?

White House expects cybersecurity report Friday -- Washington Technology

Ma7 27, 2009

The Obama administration will release its long-awaited report on its 60-day review of federal government’s cybersecurity policy on May 29, according to White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs.

“The administration recognizes the very serious threats public and private sector networks face from cybercrime and cyberattack,” Gibbs said during Tuesday’s press briefing. “Recognizing these threats the President has elevated cybersecurity to a major administration priority, undertaking the early comprehensive interagency review...”

Femtos: Consumer-subsidized network buildout?

May 27, 2009

Recently, it was reported that the 3GPP, the Femto Forum and the Broadband Forum have reached agreement on standardization issues.

So what is a femto? Wikipedia defines a femto as: “a small cellular base station, typically designed for use in residential or small business environments. It connects to the service provider’s network via broadband (such as DSL or cable).”

Femtocells are the carriers’ implicit admission that they can’t deliver either the coverage or capacity required for an optimal experience to consumers or enterprises. So, the “answer,” is to shift the network build-out and backhaul costs to consumer...

Google arms developers with free phones, Web tools -- Google -- InformationWeek

May 27, 2009

At its developer conference in San Francisco on Wednesday, Google executives declared victory for the Web even as they urged their developers onward. Google CEO Eric Schmidt heralded the maturation of the Internet application programming model as the fulfillment of a decades-old dream.

"It's time for us to take advantage of the amazing opportunity that's before us," he said. "Internet programming, the way we think about it now, is something we have worked on for all of our careers..."

AT&T boosts 3G networks -- AT&T -- InformationWeek

May 27, 2009

AT&T (NYSE: T) said it would be boosting the speed of its mobile data networks, and the announcement could be just in time for a brand new iPhone.

The company is upgrading its network to High Speed Packet Access 7.2 technology, and it will raise theoretical speeds to 7.2 Mbps. AT&T is spending about $18 billion to accomplish this, doubling the spectrum allocated for its 3G network, and the upgrades will begin this year and are expected to be completed by 2011...

Craigslist fuels online classified-Ad surge - BusinessWeek

May 22, 2009

Use of online classified ads is surging, thanks mainly to Craigslist. Almost half of all adults who use the Internet in the U.S. now rely on classified sites, according to a study released May 22 by the Pew Internet & American Life Project. That number has more than doubled since 2005, when only 22% used online classifieds, and has increased faster than almost every other online activity covered by the researcher, including online banking, travel booking, and shopping on e-commerce sites like Amazon.com (AMZN).

Craigslist gets the vast majority, or 93%, of traffic to classified listings sites, with about 46.5 million visitors in April, according to comScore (SCOR). The next largest competitor, eBay (EBAY)-owned Kijiji, had only 3.9 million visitors that month. San Jose-based eBay owns part of Craigslist. Pew found that 62% of 25-to-44-year-olds have used Craigslist and similar sites, more than any other age group. Internet users with a college education and a household income of at least $50,000 are most likely to use online classified sites...

iPhone app flap underscores process in flux - InternetNews.com

May 26, 2009

Another day, another iPhone app approval kerfuffle.

At issue recently is an e-reader, Eucalyptus, that enables iPhone owners to access free books from the Project Gutenberg library. Though the app is now available for sale online, it was initially rejected by Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) because it allowed readers to download the Kama Sutra, which was deemed inappropriate, creator James Montgomerie wrote in his blog...

Google declares 'The Web has won' - InternetNews.com

May 27, 2009

SAN FRANCISCO -- Google kicked off its I/O developer conference here with a spirited endorsement of new Web tools and adoption of new standards, particularly HTML 5, as driving a new generation of more innovative applications. "The Web has won -- it's the dominant programming model of our time," said Vic Gondotra, Google's vice president for engineering.

Gondotra and other Google personnel showed off new tools including Web Elements, designed to simplify the process of adding new features to Web sites. In a demo, a Google product manager showed how to add features like search and geolocation to a Web site by copying and pasting a block of Web Elements code...

Online job searchers face malware risk - Dayton Business Journal:

May 27, 2009

Some of the riskiest searches on the Internet today are associated either with finding items for free -- such as music or screensavers -- or looking for work that can be done from home, Internet security company McAfee Inc. reported Wednesday.

Santa Clara, Calif.-based McAfee (NYSE:MFE) released a report on the Web's most dangerous search terms that said during the recession it observed a growing number of malicious search results targeted at people who want to save money or earn extra income working at home...

AT&T chief defends his network - WSJ.com

May 27, 2009

Carlsbad, Calif.--AT&T Inc. Chief Executive Randall Stephenson on Wednesday said U.S. wireless networks aren't prepared for the surge in smart phones use that has already shown signs of choking their networks.

He defended his company's wireless network's performance, though, which has come under fire for not being prepared for the popularity of Apple Inc.'s iPhone, which the company sells on an exclusive basis in the U.S...

Spam now more than 90% of all e-mail - InternetNews.com

May 26, 2009

Spam continues to surge and now comprises 90.4 percent of all e-mail, according to the latest report from anti-spam firm MessageLabs. The firm, a unit of security player Symantec, said in its May report that spam grew more than 5 percent from the 85.3 percent it recorded in April.

"Much of this increase is attributed to spam with very little content other than a subject line and a valid hyperlink," the report said...

Tracing back unhappy customers online - InternetNews.com

May 27, 2009

NEW YORK -- Companies need to know about and respond to criticism on the Internet, said Matthew Brown, Forrester Research analyst at the Enterprise Search Summit in his speech on connected structured and unstructured information.

He pointed to a complaint about BMW posted in 2007. He said that companies lack the analytical tools to find customers who are complaining about their products. "The goal is to better understand customers," he said. He added that the tools are needed. "Our studies show that bad news travels very quickly today," he said...

Comparing Verizon and Clearwire open developments

May 27, 2009

The WiMAX and LTE deployments pursued by Clearwire and Verizon are pivotal brew houses for the lon- fermenting mix of technologies and market factors of in-process 4G unified communications. Close on the heels of the introduction of Clearwire’s shell open development effort, Verizon launched their OpenDevelopment effort and device specification.

A lot of work still needs to be done: Clearwire’s site looks more like a shell for gathering ideas than a structure for innovation. Nonetheless, both Clearwire and Verizon are embarking on open access developments, the catalysts for creativity of both applications and new business methods that are needed to flesh out revenues for next generation networks...

A brief history of AP's battles with news aggregators | PBS

May 26, 2009

The news is information, and information wants to be free, as the saying goes. But for news organizations, the news is a product that is collected, recorded and sold for profit. And those profits are now under extreme economic pressure, threatening some news organizations with extinction. Both online and traditional news outlets are regrouping, retrenching and reconsidering their business models in order to survive in the rapidly evolving information economy.

And some news organizations are also looking to the legal system for assistance in protecting their product from the challenges presented by the proliferation of online news sites, including the copying and redistribution of their news stories by unauthorized third parties...

Intel sees netbook cannibalization at about 20 percent - washingtonpost.com

May 27, 2009

LONDON (Reuters) - Cannibalization of laptop computer sales by lower-priced netbooks is currently about 20 percent, "less than speculation", Intel's European sales chief told Reuters on the fringes of a company event.

Christian Morales said netbook sales were about 16 percent of all notebook sales globally, and a little higher in western Europe. In Britain and Italy they may account for as much as a quarter of all notebook sales, he said on Wednesday...

New Web site to amplify debate on Google book deal - washingtonpost.com

May 27, 2009

SAN FRANCISCO -- Caroline Vanderlip believes the escalating debate over Google Inc.'s plans for a vast Internet library of copyright-protected literature will yield enough compelling material to fill a book.

That's one reason why SharedBook Inc., a 5-year-old company run by Vanderlip, has set up a Web site so the supporters and opponents of Google's digital book project can more easily post their opinions about a legal settlement that will help fulfill or possibly derail the Internet search leader's ambitions...

Online news fees: financial salvation or suicide? - USATODAY.com

May 26, 2009

SAN FRANCISCO — The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette is a rarity among large U.S. newspapers — it's selling more weekday copies than a decade ago. In Idaho, the Post Register's circulation has remained stable, while many other print publications have lost readers to the Internet. How can this be?

The executives behind the Arkansas and Idaho newspapers believe it's because they've been giving free access to their websites only to people who subscribe to the printed edition. Everyone else has to pay to read the Democrat-Gazette and the Post Register online. Meanwhile, most publishers have been giving away their stories and photos to all comers on the Internet...

Laughery sentencing continued - NewsandSentinel.com | News, Sports, Jobs, Community Information - Parkersburg News and Sentinel

May 27, 2009

HUNTINGTON - A federal sentencing for a woman accused of bilking large amounts of cash from a local startup broadband Internet company was continued from today to August, according to court officials.

Heidi C. Laughery, 47, of Meadville, Pa., and formerly of Marietta, is accused of illegally obtaining millions in federal grant money and embezzling some of it. The former Marietta city development director pleaded guilty in February in U.S. District Court in Huntington, W.Va., to one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering. Eleven other charges from her indictment were dropped as part of the plea agreement...

Ericsson lights up LTE site -- Long-Term Evolution -- InformationWeek

May 26, 2009

Ericsson and TeliaSonera have flipped the switch on the world's first commercial Long Term Evolution cell site in Stockholm, Sweden.

The site will be part of a full-scale deployment that's scheduled for next year, and it's a milestone for the next generation of mobile broadband. LTE networks have shown a peak performance of 160 Mbps, which could enable a host of new mobile services like high-definition video streaming, Internet television, and mobile video blogging. While the average speeds likely will be lower, LTE networks still blow away modern 3G networks, which generally top out at about 7.2 Mbps...

FCC gains cable-competition victory - WSJ.com

May 26, 2009

WASHINGTON--A federal appeals court says cable companies cannot have exclusive rights to provide service in apartment buildings that they wire.

The decision Tuesday from the Court of Appeals in Washington upholds a Federal Communications Commission ruling that banned the exclusive agreements as anticompetitive.

The deals involved a company exchanging a valuable service such as wiring a multiunit building for cable in exchange for the exclusive right to provide service to all the residents...

Auctions fade in eBay's bid for growth - WSJ.com

May 26, 2009

SAN JOSE, Calif. -- EBay Inc. is remaking its e-commerce marketplace to combat declining sales. In the process, it has pitted merchants such as Jack Sheng and Walt Kolenda against each other.

Mr. Sheng describes his company, eForCity Corp., as a "mini Wal-Mart." It buys electronics accessories from China and sells 4.3 million of them each year to people looking for deals online. After eBay made it cheaper and easier to list products in large quantities for sale last year, his eBay sales in April were up 46% from a year before. The site's changes have "helped good sellers come ...

UN distributing 500,000 computers to poor countries - Business Center - PC World

May 26, 2009

Ncomputing on Monday said it will provide virtual desktops for the United Nations as part of a wider UN program to distribute 500,000 workstations to developing nations.

The first part of the UN deployment involves Ncomputing supplying 1,000 virtual desktops to primary and secondary schools in three African countries, said Stephen Dukker, Ncomputing's CEO...

BlackBerry Bold vs. iPhone 3G, side by side - Business Center - PC World

May 26, 2009

The BlackBerry is the corporate smartphone standard, yet the iPhone has captured the public's imagination. Does the BlackBerry deserve to remain the business standard? Is the iPhone all flash and no substance? See how these two mobile 2.0 platforms compare in our head-to-head comparison. And read our in-depth comparison feature to find out what's behind our conclusions...

Will your mobile phone become a Wi-Fi hotspot? - InternetNews.com

May 25, 2009

MiFi might be the buzzworthy technology of the moment after the mobile wireless hotspot device landed the backing of Verizon and Sprint this month. But at least one wireless tech vendor is looking to top MiFi, with a new enhancement for smartphones that turns them into mobile Wi-Fi hotspots.

As a result, mobile hotspot functionality won't just limited to MiFi devices and laptops anymore, thanks to Atheros Communications (NASDAQ: ATHR)'s introduction of the technology in Japan and later this year, in the U.S...

NATCO breaks ground for fiber optic project in Bull Shoals | baxterbulletin.com | The Baxter Bulletin

May 25, 2009

Northern Arkansas Telephone Company has broken ground on a multi-million dollar fiber optics project in Bull Shoals that will bring broad-band Internet connectivity to the city that's now available mostly in big cities and suburbs.
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Steven G. Sanders Jr., NATCO president and general manager, said the contract for the project was awarded to Klaasmeyer Construction of Conway. The project is beginning at the Bull Shoals Central Office and is expected to continue in six stages through Bull Shoals...

Mexico looks to boost competition in fiber auction - FierceTelecom

May 25, 2009

Mexico's government-led electric utility Comision Federal de Electricidad will auction dark fiber capacity on its existing network later this year in an effort to jump-start telecom competition, according to Mexican President Felipe Calderon, who announced the plan in a speech last week. It's an interesting move by the government in a market dominated by Telmex, a situation that in the past the government has not appeared eager to change, according to local reports.

Telmex is run by international telecom player and multibillionaire Carlos Slim, and the telco has more than 17 million lines in the service. Under the new plan, alternative carriers will be able to light their own fibers and connect with CFE's network through more than 100 carrier hotels to get a leg up in competing against Telmex...

QR codes connect print to the Web | PBS

May 25, 2009

Point your phone at a printed page. Take a picture. Get taken to a website. That's the power of QR codes, codes embedded in print that can link cell phones to specific websites. They've been doing this for years in Japan, and now they are starting to do it in Europe. Sooner or later it will get to the States.

From the user's point of view, this is very cool. But the important issue for newspapers and journalists is that every click gives feedback on what is interesting to whom and when. In the post-Google advertising environment, QR codes could finally help solve the dilemma that has long plagued advertisers, the "50%-of-advertising-doesn't work, but-I-don't-know-which-half" problem...

Will Democrats become a permanent majority thanks to Internet voting? « FOX Forum « FOXNews.com

May 26, 2009

The election news from Hawaii seems both interesting and unobjectionable: Honolulu has became the first jurisdiction to run an “all digital” election–that is, all the ballots were cast on the Internet, or by telephone. After the voting was finished on Friday, the Associated Press headline painted the Aloha State as e-pioneers: “Honolulu’s Internet vote considered 1st in nation.”

For its part, The Honolulu Advertiser praised the digital balloting, calling it “a worthwhile experiment that can help Hawai’i move toward a more efficient, electronic polling system for all of its political contests...”

Clearwire getting more aggressive in Portland - FierceBroadbandWireless

May 24, 2009

Clearwire is getting more aggressive in its Portland, Ore., market, adding new pricing plans that include an unlimited home plan and a mobile package for $55 a month.

Clearwire chief strategy officer Scott Richardson recently revealed during the company's first-quarter conference call that Clearwire's network in Portland is experiencing better-than-anticipated performance. He also said there will likely be more service and equipment pricing promotions as more cities are launched this year...

Twitter has millions tweeting in public communication service - USATODAY.com

May 26, 2009

SAN FRANCISCO — It's tea time at Twitter. While that may evoke images of courtly discussion over Earl Grey and finger sandwiches, it's quite another thing at Silicon Valley's new "it" company.

The idea is that any employee can step in front of the 43-person start-up and offer a no-holds-barred weekly critique on a Friday afternoon. Co-founders Evan Williams, Jack Dorsey and Biz Stone often watch from the back, taking mental notes. Some employees recite poems; others make wacky slide presentations. The point is to express what the company means to them...

Not all celebrities are on the Twitter train - USATODAY.com

May 25, 2009

Twitter has swept Tinseltown, but there are a few stars who say they aren't riding the wave. "By saying to the public, 'I'm not into this, or I don't want to learn about it,' they're keeping one foot in and one foot out," says GeekSugar.com editor Heather Dale. Dale helps USA TODAY determine how sincere the stars are in their disdain for technology...

In-flight entertainment that begins with Wi-Fi - News Analysis - NYTimes.com

May 25, 2009

BY the end of this year, about 1,000 airplanes flying domestic routes will have Wi-Fi service, according to Aircell, the company that has done nearly all of the Wi-Fi installations so far. By the end of next year, 2,000 planes will have the service, Aircell says. That is roughly two-thirds of the mainline domestic fleet, which excludes regional jets.
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So Wi-Fi is clearly going to become a new standard, even though there is no compelling evidence that more than a fraction of passengers will pay for the connection. With prices running as much as $12.95 a flight, it is unclear if customers will be receptive to another extra charge.

So how do airlines make this work long-term as a business proposition?...

Group's web site, Facebook help fuel petition drive by speed camera opponents - washingtonpost.com

May 26, 2009

An effort to halt Maryland's new speed camera law before it takes effect this fall faces its first hurdle this week, as organizers scramble to gather enough signatures, through both old-fashioned legwork and new technologies, to put the issue before voters next year.

The grass-roots group Maryland for Responsible Enforcement is seeking to take advantage of a provision in the state Constitution that allows citizens to petition just-passed laws to referendum. The law being targeted would authorize speed cameras in work zones and near schools across the state. The first third of roughly 53,000 required signatures must be turned in by midnight May 31 for the campaign to continue. If the effort succeeds, the speed camera law will be suspended until voters get a say in November 2010, when Gov. Martin O'Malley (D) is up for reelection...

Obama set to create a cybersecurity czar with broad mandate - washingtonpost.com

May 26, 2009

President Obama is expected to announce late this week that he will create a "cyber czar," a senior White House official who will have broad authority to develop strategy to protect the nation's government-run and private computer networks, according to people who have been briefed on the plan.

The adviser will have the most comprehensive mandate granted to such an official to date and will probably be a member of the National Security Council but will report to the national security adviser as well as the senior White House economic adviser, said the sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the deliberations are not final...

Practical speeds to make mobile bandwidth claims clearer - Business Center - PC World

May 25, 2009

A group of four Swedish mobile operators have decided to use the term "practical maximum speeds" when marketing the bandwidth of mobile broadband, they announced on Monday.

By Sept. 1, a HSPA (High-Speed Packet Access) network that supports data rates up to 7.2M bps will be marketed as having a practical maximum speed of 6M bps. Other practical maximum speeds include 3M bps for a 3.6M bps network and 16M bps for a 21M bps network...

Intel prescribes telemedicine to treat health costs - San Francisco Business Times:

May 22, 2009

Intel Corp. wants to be a player in the health-care technology business, releasing its own products, making investments and sponsoring academic research locally and abroad.

The Santa Clara-based chip maker’s most prominent arm has been its Digital Health Group, created in 2005 as part of a broad reorganization. The group employs social scientists and anthropologists and is designing and producing health-care information technology for hospitals and the home...

Technology doctoring up patient interaction - Business First of Columbus:

As a 40-year-old diabetic, Tamara Farrar is meticulous about tracking her blood sugar and lab results. Even better is the fact that she can track it conveniently and electronically through a Web-based program called OSUMyChart.

Farrar’s doctor, Neeraj Tayal of Ohio State University Medical Center, introduced her to the technology’s predecessor, My PatientLink, a couple of years ago...

Minnesota broadband videos « Blandin on Broadband

May 24, 2009

Long before Blandin Foundation had a blog, we had a video contest for Get Broadband communities. To make a medium story short – several rural communities in Minnesota got digital video cameras; Blandin got great videos that highlighted how each community was promoting or using broadband.

Some were pretty specific to the project; some are more general broadband stories. I thought I’d share a few...

Web start-ups look beyond ads for revenue - NYTimes.com

May 24, 2009

SAN FRANCISCO — For anyone with a crazy idea for a Web business, the way to make it pay was once obvious: get a lot of visitors and sell ads. Since 2004, venture investors have put $5.1 billion into 828 Web start-up companies, and most of them are supported by ads, according to the National Venture Capital Association.

Now advertisers have cut back their online spending. So Web start-ups are searching for new ways to make money, like selling real, or virtual, goods or asking customers to buy subscriptions...

Payoff over a web singing sensation Is elusive - NYTimes.com

May 24, 2009

Susan Boyle, the frumpy Scotswoman who became a worldwide singing sensation last month, may wind up as the winner this week of “Britain’s Got Talent,” the hit ITV show.

After a six-week absence, she returned on Sunday night to sing “Memory” from the musical “Cats,” wowing the crowd and advancing to Saturday’s finale. The producers immediately posted her performance on the Internet for the rest of the world to see...

Webcast your brain surgery? Hospitals see marketing tool - NYTimes.com

May 24, 2009

The point of Shila Renee Mullins’s brain surgery was to remove a malignant tumor threatening to paralyze her left side. But Methodist University Hospital in Memphis also saw an opportunity to promote the hospital to prospective patients...

So, a video Webcast of Ms. Mullins’s awake craniotomy, in which the patient remains conscious and talking while surgeons prod and cut inside her brain, was promoted with infomercials and newspaper advertisements featuring a photograph of a beautiful model, not Ms. Mullins...

Iran blocks access to Facebook, Used by president's campaign opponents - washingtonpost.com

May 25, 2009

TEHRAN - Iran blocked access to Facebook on Saturday in what opposition candidates said was an effort to sabotage their challenges to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Facebook has become hugely popular in Iran, where young urbanites use it to connect with friends, play online games and share photographs. Recently, lively discussions had taken place on the social-networking Web site among Iranians who wondered whether voting in the June 12 presidential election meant supporting Iran's system of clerical rule, or, as some argued, could be used to remove Ahmadinejad...

Direct movie and TV downloads coming to iPhone? - PC World

May 24, 2009 10:16 am

More supposed details are leaking out about the next version of Apple’s 3.0 software update for the iPhone and iPod Touch set to be unveiled next month. The latest buzz, via the site Open Salon, is over direct downloads of TV shows and movies. The ability to directly download TV and movies to the iPhone and iPod Touch would eliminate the steps of plugging your device into your computer, launching iTunes, and performing a synchronization between the two...

Online outages, outrage and ordeals - washingtonpost.com

May 24, 2009

By the standards of most power outages, Google's little hiccup last Thursday was nothing special. Most users of Google's sites and services didn't even notice, and those who did regained access in a couple of hours.

But to people who rely on Google for their e-mail, their calendars and their documents, seeing them suddenly drop offline must have felt as if somebody had carved a chunk out of the Internet...

Call it free, but it will cost you - washingtonpost.com

May 24, 2009

In the late 1960s, two groups -- the Diggers in San Francisco and the Yippies in New York -- began operating "free stores." These were places where people could come to get things they needed -- food, medicine, clothes and, in some cases, cash -- for free. These were designed simultaneously as parodies of, and alternatives to, the usual American materialism. The stores were not around for long, partly because people would come in and simply take everything they could put their hands on.

Now, four decades later, comes Chris Anderson, editor of Wired and author of The Long Tail, whose new book proclaims that giving things away for free is the "radical" new business model of the future. According to Anderson, there are a variety of ways businesses can and should do this. They can charge for other goods and services to make money. They can use one class of customer to subsidize another; they can give away a certain type of service (such as photo sharing) and charge for another (such as storage space)...

Google to give libraries say on prices for scanned books - PC World

May 22, 2009

The University of Michigan has become the first library to amend its book scanning deal with Google, following a proposed settlement that Google reached last year with authors and publishers that sued it.

As part of the amended deal, other institutions can pay a subscription to access the University of Michigan's digitized books. Since Google will set those fees, the University of Michigan will be able to challenge the fee and the parties will settle any disagreements in arbitration...

3-year-old levels parents: Earthmover bought online -- Online Auction -- InformationWeek

May 22, 2009

A tech-savvy New Zealand 3-year-old won an earthmover in an online auction, giving her mom the shock of her life.

Pipi Quinlan bought the $12,400 Kobelco backhoe on the site Trade Me while parents Sarah and Reid were fast asleep. The girl's mom had made the mistake of not logging off the site after bidding on some kids' toys...

Little laptops could drive big data usage - Telecom News Analysis

May 22, 2009

The cutesy mini-laptops know as "netbooks" are becoming one of the elements set to drive up mobile broadband usage up in the coming years.

A new report from Pyramid Research , called "Mobile Broadband for the Masses: The Case for Bundled Netbooks," finds that Webpads are just starting to hit a growth spurt, despite the economic crisis. About 13 million were sold worldwide in 2008, with 10 million of those sales coming in the second half of the year, notes report co-author Cristiano Laux. (See Pyramid: Netbooks Are Hot.)...

Broadband - Spain set for FTTH surge - Telecom News Analysis

May 22, 2009

Almost half of Spain's 14 million households could have fiber-to-the-home connections by 2023, according to a market growth projection made by the country's telecom regulator, Comisión del Mercado de las Telecomunicaciones (CMT).

The regulator, as part of a feasibility study on next-generation networks, gave what it called a "conservative" estimate that between 43 percent and 46 percent of Spanish households in 2023 -- around 8.5 million to 8.6 million households by that time -- would have fiber-access broadband, most likely from a GPON-based access network...

IE's market share declines; could reach 50 percent by 2011

May 22, 2009

After once owning more than 90% of the Web browser market, Internet Explorer could see its share fall below the 50% barrier by mid-2011, according to Web metrics watcher Net Applications. In its most recent data, Net Applications indicates IE lost another 0.7% from its market share in April, ending the month with 66.1% of the market. Over the past year, IE has lost an average 0.7% from its share each month. Although IE8 showed a 2.2% gain for April, IE7 lost 2% and IE6 0.8% for the month...

Salesforce net jumps on higher revenue - WSJ.com

May 22, 2009

Salesforce.com Inc.'s first-quarter profit nearly doubled as the provider of Web-based business applications signed up new customers and kept costs in check.

But Salesforce again lowered its fiscal-year revenue guidance, spurring a selloff of shares in after-hours trading...

Citizen spies lift North Korea's veil - WSJ.com

May 22, 2009

SEOUL -- In the propaganda blitz that followed North Korea's missile launch last month, the country's state media released photos of leader Kim Jong Il visiting a hydroelectric dam and power station.

Images from the report showed two large pipes descending a hillside. That was enough to allow Curtis Melvin, a doctoral candidate at George Mason University in suburban Virginia, to pinpoint the installation on his online map of North Korea...

A Mac tablet would be a welcome addition to tablet PCs - Business Center - PC World

May 22, 2009

It would not be the end of a slow news week without more rumors concerning an Apple product with a large touchscreen. Some call it a netbook, others say a so-called "mediapad" is probably on the way, and now comes word of a "tablet" Mac, rumored to be headed our way in 2010. What gives?

I think the rumors all describe a single device, This is the oversized iPod touch that I'm calling the media pad, but could also be seen to be a small tablet or even a netbook without a physical keyboard, just one that appears on-screen...

'Chinese Wikipedia' offers social networking too - Business Center - PC World

May 22, 2009

A Chinese rival of Wikipedia that also lets users join groups and chat as they might on Facebook has drawn on those social elements to pull ahead of its competition.

Hudong, which means "interaction" in Chinese, has become the largest wiki-based encyclopedia in the language since its founding in 2005, said company CEO Pan Haidong. "We want to be the Chinese Wikipedia," Pan said...

Apple tablet rumors kick up - again - InternetNews.com

May 21, 2009

Each new week seems to bring another Apple rumor. The newest comes courtesy of a research note from investment firm Piper Jaffray, when analyst Gene Munster hinted at an Apple tablet some time next year.

These rumors have persisted despite repeated denials by Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) executives, including CEO Steve Jobs -- who is on medical leave -- and interim CEO Tim Cook. Jobs has said, "We don't do cheap" more than once in response to the question of whether Apple might make its own foray into netbooks, the low-cost, low-powered notebook PC category now seeing a boom in demand...

Skype spinoff a telecom disruption? - InternetNews.com

May 21, 2009

SANTA CLARA, Calif. -- What's next in tech? For the past eleven years, the Churchill Club has taken a crack at answering that question with a panel of high profile venture capitalists proposing and debating trends as part of the annual Top 10 Tech Trends event. Last night's dinner event before a packed Hyatt Regency hall here covered Web trends, alternative energy and even a bit of hardware -- the latter proving one of the few predictions to be roundly voted down, at least from an investment perspective.

The hardware prediction was that e-reading devices, like Amazon's Kindle and future ones based on flexible displays are primed to take off. "Oh, it's coming, we'll all have one," said Joe Schoendorf, a partner at venture capital firm Accel Partners. "But no one [i.e. investors] will make money any money on them." Schoendorf and others on the panel agreed e-readers are one of many hardware categories that end up being low margin, commodity items...

Pope 2.0: Vatican launches Facebook application - USATODAY.com

May 22, 2009

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Benedict XVI has entered the world of social networking sites and smartphones with a Vatican portal that includes Facebook and iPhone applications.

The Pope2You website was launched Thursday and allows Facebook users to send virtual postcards with photos of Benedict. An application for iPhone and iPod Touch gives surfers video and audio news on his travels and speeches, as well as on Catholic events worldwide...

Transparency initiatives launched today by the White House - washingtonpost.com

May 21, 2009

The White House has launched a new process for soliciting public input in the policy-making process. This three-phase structured process runs as follows:

Save money with a netbook - USATODAY.com

May 21, 2009

Netbooks, which are much like laptops, only smaller and less powerful, are becoming more and more common these days. And they can save you a bundle over the cost of a full-featured laptop.

Many are discovering that netbooks provide all the computing power they need. And they start around $300. That combination has made them incredibly popular...

Microsoft adds Netflix streaming to Windows Vista Media Center - Puget Sound Business Journal (Seattle):

May 20, 2009

Microsoft Corp. is adding streaming [CompanyWatch allows you to receive email alerts with stories related to your companies of interest.

You can watch up to ten companies at a time.

] Netflix movies and shows to the content available in its remote control-friendly Media Center interface on Windows Vista computers — adding another way for people to access Netflix on demand in the living room.

The feature is scheduled to go live Wednesday via an online update for existing Windows Vista Media Center users. It increases the ties between the two companies. Netflix, whose CEO Reed Hastings is on the Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) board, also offers streaming content through Microsoft’s Xbox 360 game console. That has quickly become one of the most popular features of the Xbox Live online service...

Report: Google won't buy newspapers - Silicon Valley / San Jose Business Journal:

May 21, 2009

Google Inc. considered buying a newspaper but decided against it, CEO Eric Schmidt told a London newspaper.

The Financial Times reported that the search giant's (NASDAQ:GOOG) chief didn't name the paper, but Google's name has come up several times in recent year's as a rumored white knight. Most recent reports have centered on the New York Times Co. (NYSE:NYT) but another rumored possibility in the past was the San Jose Mercury News...

Learning, and profiting, from online friendships - BusinessWeek

May 21, 2009

A question: If you have 347 followers on the Twitter microblogging service, what are the chances that they'll click on the same online ad you clicked on last night? Advertisers are dying to know. Or, say you and a colleague exchange e-mails on a Saturday night. Can managers assume that you have a tight working relationship? Researchers at IBM and Massachusetts Institute of Technology are investigating...

Verizon beefs up handset security -- Mobile Security -- InformationWeek

May 21, 2009

Verizon (NYSE: VZ) Wireless is looking to offer its enterprise customers more security, and it's launching an authentication service to enable mobile workers to securely access corporate networks while on the go.

The carrier introduced the Software Token 1.0 for RSA SecurID for cell phones and smartphones, and this provides a private network authentication without the need for hardware tokens like a key fob. It's a form of two-factor authentication that generally requires a personal identification number, and once users are authenticated they can access virtual private networks, corporate e-mail and intranets, and other network resources...

Google gives ground on book scan agreement -- Google -- InformationWeek

May 21, 2009

With a ruling expected soon on the acceptability of Google's book-scanning settlement with authors and publishers, Google is trying to address some of the concerns of critics.

The University of Michigan said on Wednesday that it had amended its agreement with Google (NSDQ: GOOG) that covers the digitization of millions of the university's books and journals...

Federal government launches data.gov -- government transparency -- InformationWeek

May 21, 2009

The federal government on Thursday launched Data.gov, intended to let organizations, businesses, and even consumers search large data sets of government information.

The site, launched by the office of federal CIO Vivek Kundra, is best categorized as early beta mode, as it offers very few data sets for perusing...

YouTube launches U.S. government portal -- YouTube -- InformationWeek

May 21, 2009

In March, Google issued a statement on its public policy blog refuting a report that the White House had abandoned YouTube over privacy concerns.

"We want to assure all visitors to federal Web sites that we're aware of this issue and have taken steps that meet the government's privacy requirements," said Steve Grove, head of news and politics at YouTube...

Frontier Communication to acquire Verizon assets

May 21, 2009

A large expansion of Frontier Communications has been announced. The new program will create the nation’s largest pure rural communication services provider. Frontier’s Elk Grove Manager Jim Cline said, “The new $8.6 billion program with Verizon will have a positive impact in Elk Grove.”

Cline stated the $8.6 deal with Verizon will acquire rural access lines in 14 states, thus making Frontier the largest rural communications provider and the fifth-largest provider of voice, broadband and video services in the United States...

Bloggers beware: What you write can get you sued - WSJ.com

May 21, 2009

Be careful what you post online. You could get sued. In March 2008, Shellee Hale of Bellevue, Wash., posted in several online forums about a hacker attack on a company that makes software used to track sales for adult-entertainment Web sites. She claimed that the personal information of the sites' customers was compromised.

About three months later, the software company -- which contends that no consumer data were compromised -- sued Ms. Hale in state court in New Jersey, accusing her of embarking "on a campaign to defame and malign the plaintiffs" in chat-room posts...

Social network etiquette: Introducing yourself - PC World

May 21, 2009

One of the most fundamental rules of social networking etiquette: You must carefully consider who you "friend" or "connect" with on services like Facebook and LinkedIn. According to career experts, the people with whom you associate, in many ways, reflect upon you.

Deciding who to connect with, however, can be a tricky endeavor, since social networks have grown to include people from your personal and professional lives. Some people choose to connect with colleagues on Facebook, while others decide that they want to keep that network for just friends and family...

Nonprofits sometimes on cutting edge of technology - Business Center - PC World

May 21, 2009

Cash-strapped nonprofits may not be the first place many would think to look for novel uses of technology, but it turns out some of them are on the cutting edge.

Take the Nature Conservancy. It recently equipped a couple of scientists for a trip across Africa's Namib desert on foot. "We draped solar panels on the back of a camel, gave [the scientists] a light notebook with low power requirements and digital cameras," said Jean-Louis Écochard, CIO for the Nature Conservancy. "Throughout the journey they could upload images of biodiversity, rhino habitat, they could keep in touch and write a blog." Incidentally, at one point a camel took off carrying a new Macbook, causing a several hour detour for the chase...

Amazon sells Nokia E71x smartphone for 1 cent - USATODAY.com

You can't even get chewing gum for a penny anymore. But you can get a smartphone. One cent is what Amazon.com is charging for the Nokia E71x smartphone I've been testing.

You're probably thinking a penny phone must be a discontinued model, or a device lacking state-of-the-art features. But the Nokia E71x only went on sale this month. And this sleek-looking world phone has a full qwerty keyboard, Web browser, Wi-Fi, GPS, access to corporate e-mail through Exchange, a 3.2-megapixel camera (with video, no less) and other multimedia features...

OECD: U.S. broadband penetration almost 27% - FierceTelecom

May 21, 2009

The global Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development has announced its latest report on worldwide broadband penetration. Not surprisingly, the U.S. comes in just under 27 percent, a few points above the global average of slightly less than 23 percent, which is good for 15th place out of 30 countries listed. The numbers were valid as of the end of 2008.

The average monthly broadband subscription price in the U.S. is about $45.52, according to the OECD, which is slightly above the worldwide average of about $43.92...

Air Force responds to GPS outage concerns - Business Center - PC World

May 21, 2009

The sky isn't falling and neither is the Global Positioning System, the U.S. Air Force said during a Twitter news conference. "No, the GPS will not go down," tweeted Col. Dave Buckman of the Air Force's Space Command. "GAO points out, there is potential risk associated with a degradation in GPS performance."

"The issue is under control. We are working hard to get out the word. The issue is not whether GPS will stop working. There's only a small risk we will not continue to exceed our performance standard," the Air Force official said...

Craigslist goes on the offensive

May 21, 2009

Last week I wrote that the push by 40 state attorneys-general to force Craigslist to police its own site for ads soliciting prostitution amounted to little more than a political power play.

Tuesday, Craigslist CEO Jim Buckmaster took the offensive, filing a suit against South Carolina AG Henry McMaster, declaring McMaster's ultimatum to Craigslist amounted to prior restraint. McMaster (I know, the similarity of names makes things a little confusing) ordered Craigslist to the site to take down all listings pertaining to South Carolina that could be used to advertise prostitution or sales of pornography. If not, he vows to prosecute Craigslist for aiding an abetting prostitution...

Carriers need Wi-Fi, but can it keep up?

05/18/2009

Every imaginable type of handheld device is embedding Wi-Fi these days, as users demand wireless access at home, in the workplace and in public venues. Meanwhile, media-rich data traffic is quickly clogging 3G operator networks. This is driving carriers to use Wi-Fi more strategically to augment their broadband wireless plans. It’s not an opportunity 4G makes obsolete, either. The problem is, can Wi-Fi keep up with the situation?

Wi-Fi is a bubble threatening to burst under the weight of its own popularity. And unless something is done to help the technology reach farther, go faster and with more wire-like reliability, that just might happen. Lucky for all of us, there are breakthroughs in Wi-Fi technology promising to solve this mess by providing much more efficient and adaptive ways to transmit and receive radio signals...

Twitter: Carrier revenue shares, not ads

May 19, 2009

Wondering how Twitter’s going to make money? Well it’s not going to be by spreading false rumors of Patrick Swayze’s untimely death. And it’s not going to be with ads, either.

Instead, the micro-blogging site will likely strike revenue-sharing agreements with the mobile operators that reap Twitter traffic revenue in the form of SMS charges. Twitter also will focus on creating marketable tools for commercial users, such as "lightweight analytics" and business directories, according to Reuters...

Parents turn to cellphones as high-tech rattles - USATODAY.com

May 21, 2009

When Annamarie Saarinen needed to soothe her ailing daughter, she used a rattle — downloaded to her iPhone.

Jeff Hilimire uses a white noise application on his phone to make shushing noises for his infant daughter. And Tracie Stier-Johnson lets her young daughters answer trivia questions on her phone while waiting in the doctor's office or at parent-teacher conferences...

Craigslist sues South Carolina attorney general - San Francisco Business Times:

May 20, 2009

Classified ad business Craigslist filed a suit against Henry McMaster, attorney general of South Carolina, who threatened criminal charges against the business over sex ads.

San Francisco-based Craigslist’s suit seeks declaratory relief (a clarifying ruling that doesn’t include any damage award) and a restraining order over the criminal charge threats...

Panasonic and Verizon make the home phone smart - NYTimes.com

May 20, 2009

“Nobody” has home phone lines anymore. “Nobody” reads printed newspapers. “Nobody” wants books on paper. Is anybody else getting tired of all the “analog is dead” proclamations by 28-year-old new-media hotshots?

Sorry, hotshots, but several hundred million nobodies still have home phone lines, subscribe to printed papers and read printed and bound books. Their popularity may be trending downward, but it’s far from zero...

Google book-scanning pact to give libraries a say in price - NYTimes.com

May 20, 2009

SAN FRANCISCO — In a move that could blunt some of the criticism of Google for its settlement of a lawsuit over its book-scanning project, the company signed an agreement with the University of Michigan that would give some libraries a degree of oversight over the prices Google could charge for its vast digital library.

Google has faced an onslaught of opposition over the far-reaching settlement with authors and publishers. Complaints include the exclusive rights the agreement gives Google to publish online and to profit from millions of so-called orphan books, out-of-print books that are protected by copyright but whose rights holders cannot be found...

Online sex connections linked to false sense of security - washingtonpost.com

May 21, 2009

The Bethesda resident and former University of Maryland student who calls herself Amy says she would never consider walking the street as a prostitute. But to her, performing erotic acts for men she meets on Craigslist seems relatively safe, anonymous and lucrative.

"Life is expensive," said Amy, who like hundreds of other women in the Washington area moved ads from Craigslist's defunct erotic services section to its new "adult services" listings in the past week. "In this economy, you have no idea what it takes. We're all single mothers, struggling beyond belief..."

AT&T to offer mini laptops in stores - Dayton Business Journal:

May 20, 2009

Telecommunications giant AT&T Inc. said Wednesday it plans to offer its embedded 3G mini laptops at AT&T stores nationwide this summer.

The 3G mini laptops are a natural extension of the company’s growing line of mobile devices and is designed to give AT&T customers an opportunity to carry around lightweight computers that allow them to check e-mails and review and edit documents while on the move. In addition, the mini laptop is being touted as a convenient tool to use when dealing with digital files, photos and music downloads...

Microsoft expected to show new search engine next week - WSJ.com

May 20, 2009

Microsoft Corp. is expected to show a new version of its Internet search engine next week, in a renewed effort by the company to compete against Google Inc., people familiar with the matter say.

The software giant, these people say, plans to demonstrate its new search engine publicly for the first time at D: All Things Digital, a technology conference in Carlsbad, Calif., put on by the Wall Street Journal, which is owned by News Corp. The new search engine, which has been in private tests within Microsoft for months, is designed to better organize search results for consumers to ...

Google goes greener with PowerMeter partnerships - PC World

May 20, 2009

Google's commitment to going green sprouted a new bud today as the company unveiled its utility company partnerships in its PowerMeter project.

The Google PowerMeter, announced earlier this year, vows to help reduce individual household energy consumption by up to 15 percent. Equipment is installed in a utility company's box that transmits and tracks energy consumption data right to your iGoogle homepage. It's just like reading the meter yourself, except you won't have to put pants on...

Apple and RIM gain as smartphone sales grow - PC World

May 20, 2009

Smartphone sales for the first quarter increased by 12.7 percent year on year, a bright spot in a depressed mobile phone market where overall sales dropped 9.4 percent. Research In Motion and Apple were the big winners as smartphone sales rose to 36.4 million units for the quarter, according to Gartner.

The two North American companies rank second and third in worldwide smartphone sales -- counting the number of devices sold to consumers -- and are catching up with leader Nokia, which continues to lose market share...

Are Baby Boomers killing Facebook and Twitter? - PC World

May 19, 2009

The story is as old as the Web: A social network born among twenty-something college kids and young wired professionals sprouts up, apparently out of nowhere, and grows into a cultural phenomenon.

Eventually, it reaches critical mass and explodes, its mushroom cloud drawing the attention of millions of Baby Boomers, leading to a huge influx of new users, which in turn triggers complaints from the youngsters who started it all. The invasion of the Boomers spurs some members of younger generations to flee the carnage (and the fallout) in search of fresher territory...

Gmail gains new one-click translations - InternetNews.com

May 20, 2009

Google added a message translation feature to its Gmail service on Tuesday that covers 41 languages, the latest in many "experiments" the search giant offers through Gmail Labs, which includes a series of features users have the option to add or delete.

With message translation enabled, Gmail users will see an option called "Translate message to English" or some other language, depending on settings, for an instant translation. Message translation currently covers 41 languages. If you don't like the translation, you can revert to the original message...

Survival of Internet depends on digital TV

May 20, 2009

For broadcast television stations, it is a tough time to be out there hitting the pavement trying to bring in new advertisers. There are a lot of changes going on in our industry and it is tough to look beyond the next sales call when today's budget shortfall is still looming. Television is not "about the moment" or the hit show or Live Plus 3 ratingsit is something else. Television surrounds us and gives context to our world, an important medium that provides insight into our lives and how we communicate. It is a fundamental building block in our lives.

Broadcasters are just stewards of the spectrum, coming together to transform television from analog to digital. It goes beyond discussions of advertising, time shifting or competition from the Internet: Television is our nation's collective conscious of all our people. How we transform the television spectrum and everything that "going digital" unlocks will have a long lasting impact on our nation and our children. Our purpose is not to tweak the commercial pod, but rather to understand and fully utilize the digital spectrum...

Kicking Ink: The struggles of a print newspaper unsubscriber | PBS

I knew the day was coming, but it was still a shock when the day came. Groggy-eyed in the early morning light, I slowly went down the four flights of stairs in the front of my building and looked down. Nothing. For 18 generally uninterrupted years, I had the San Francisco Chronicle delivered to me, except when neighbors stole it. Today, there was nothing to steal.

I had made the call a couple days earlier to cancel my print subscription. After going through the process of getting the Chronicle at a reduced rate of $20 for a year of Wednesday-through-Sunday delivery, then having that rate shoot up to $400+ per year, the time had come to cut the cord. Or stretch the cord, depending on what I would now be reading over breakfast...

New '2D barcodes' puts info at the tip of your camera phone - USATODAY.com

May 20, 2009

ScanLife and Jagtag want you to get in the habit of using your cellphone camera as a magic wand to extract digital content from inanimate objects. The tech start-ups are in a race to get consumers to scan "2D barcodes" — matrix-like patterns that can hold much more data than the ubiquitous striped barcodes.

ScanLife and Jagtag supply technology that let you use your camera phone to do the scanning. They can deliver anything you might see or hear on a Web page to your handset, paid for by publishers or advertisers. The companies are taking different approaches to rolling out this technology in North America. Though it's early, each has gotten large clients to run promising trials...

The digital divide is back

Remember the digital divide? In 2006 it was the face of public policy that launched a thousand municipal wireless projects.

From the biggest cities to the smallest hamlets, politicians couldn’t find news mics fast enough to proclaim a free WiFi to rid their community of this scourge. Until they realized that “free” wasn’t possible. Then digital divide disappeared from the front pages...

Palm hopes its Pre is a handful for competition - Los Angeles Times

May 19, 2009

More than a decade ago, Palm Inc. rose to prominence on the strength of its Palm Pilot, a small device that put computing power literally into customers' hands. In its stock's first day of trading nine years ago, the shares nearly tripled from their initial offering price.

But the technology market bust, lowered demand and the rise of smart phones, where Palm's Treo was once a major player, took their toll. Palm looked into selling itself two years ago, and its stock hit a low in December, closing at $1.42, down 99.6% from that first-day close...

Yahoo aims to redefine what It means to search -- Internet Search -- InformationWeek

May 19, 2009

At media event in San Francisco on Tuesday, Yahoo Search executives insisted that Internet users don't want to search.

"Nobody really wants to search," declared Prabhakar Raghavan, head of Yahoo (NSDQ: YHOO) Labs and Yahoo Search Strategy. "People want to run their lives..."

Laptops In bed? Workaholics surf before snoozing -- Digital Life -- InformationWeek

May 19, 2009

More than one in four U.K. workers take their laptops or other mobile devices to bed and use them before they go to sleep, according to results of a survey released Tuesday.

Credant Technologies, a data protection company, said that, of those who work in bed, 57% do so for two to six hours a week. Most said their companions found the habit "very annoying," and 8% of the offenders admitted spending more time on mobile devices than talking to their partners each night...

Broadband Forum reorganizes, promotes packet network specs -- Broadband -- InformationWeek

May 19, 2009

A conglomeration of 220 service providers, chip vendors, communications equipment manufacturers, and high-tech industry organizations has banded together to form a new iteration of the Broadband Forum. The strengthened organization was merged Monday with the IP/MPLS Forum to create the new body.

The group will focus on next-generation packet network specifications by forging the Core and access aggregation work of the IP/MPLS Forum with the work of the Broadband Forum, which has traditionally focused on local transport and digital home management specifications...

Skycasters receives 2009 Crain's Leading Edge award

May 18, 2009

Skycasters, America’s leader in broadband satellite Internet solutions for customers who need guaranteed bandwidth and reliable internet access, and recipient of the 2008 Crain's Leading EDGE Award, is pleased accept the 2009 Crain's Leading EDGE Award.

The Entrepreneurs EDGE, a Northeast Ohio organization devoted to economic development through growth and entrepreneurship, is committed to helping existing middle market companies in Northeast Ohio grow their value while building a culture that is supportive of entrepreneurial ventures...

Dell targets students with netbook - WSJ.com

May 19, 2009

Dell Inc., already the largest seller of PCs to schools worldwide, is trying to extend its lead with its first mini-laptop designed for young students at a time adult consumers and businesses are cutting back on technology spending.

Dell's new Latitude 2100, which starts at $369, is part of the newly popular category of netbook computers. Netbooks resemble laptops but are cheaper, smaller, lighter and less powerful...

Sprint to start selling Palm's Pre on June 6 - WSJ.com

May 19, 2009

Sprint Nextel Corp. and Palm Inc. said that their long-anticipated smart phone, the Palm Pre, will hit stores on June 6, just a few days before Apple Inc. may unveil its next iPhone.

The stakes are high for Sprint and Palm. Palm badly needs a hit device to turn its fortunes around, while Sprint continues to see an exodus of subscribers. Both view the smart phone as the key to their turnarounds. The Pre, meanwhile, has a lot to prove as it seeks to capture some of the success that the iPhone has had over the past two years...

Sentencing delayed for mom in MySpace hoax - USATODAY.com

May 18, 2009

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A federal judge in Los Angeles has delayed the sentencing of a Missouri woman for her role in a MySpace hoax directed at a 13-year-old neighbor who ended up committing suicide.

U.S. District Judge George Wu on Monday rescheduled Lori Drew's sentencing to July 2. The judge says he wants to review testimony by prosecution witnesses. He did not rule on a defense motion to dismiss Drew's convictions on three misdemeanor counts of accessing computers without authorization...

Internet Service Providers explained

May 19, 2009

I distinctly remember when my brother in California called me to brag about how quickly he could open a webpage using his new DSL Internet provider. I was living in rural Ohio, still stuck with a slow dialup connection. He went on to describe how he could open up a website as quickly as a Microsoft® Word file. Thankfully, now that dialup is largely passé, most of us can relate to the latter experience...

GPS system could begin to fail within a year - Business Center - PC World

May 19, 2009

The Global Positioning System faces the possibility of failures and blackouts, a federal watchdog agency has warned the U.S. Congress. Mismanagement by and underinvestment by the U.S. Air Force places the GPS at risk of failure in 2010 and beyond. The problem: Delays in launching replacement satellites, among other things.

According to the Government Accountability Office report, "In recent years, the Air Force has struggled to successfully build GPS satellites within cost and schedule goals" as part of a $2 billion modernization program...

Cybersecurity groups pledge to work together - Business Center - PC World

May 19, 2009

Three cybersecurity groups want to create a network of organizations and people focused on securing the Internet in an effort to combat malicious software.

The Anti-Spyware Coalition (ASC), the National Cyber Security Alliance and StopBadware.org rolled out a new program Tuesday called the Chain of Trust. The Chain of Trust Initiative will attempt to link together security vendors, researchers, government agencies, Internet-based companies, network providers and education groups in a united front against malware...

Details about Embarq staffing are expected soon - Kansas City Business Journal:

May 15, 2009

Kansas City - The $11.6 billion deal should close by the end of June. Embarq’s 15,500 employees include about 2,800 locally.

The deal has received approval from all but the Federal Communications Commission and five of the 33 states in which the companies operate. Gerke said they expect those to proceed...

All options on the table for news in the Net age - InternetNews.com

May 19, 2009

WASHINGTON -- For all the nervous talk these days about the future of news, newspapers and quality journalism in the digital age, the old pearl about throwing spaghetti at the wall to see what sticks seems to get at the heart of it.

At panel discussions like the one the Brookings Institution held today, smart people with deep ties to the news business hash over their conceptions of old media transitioning to new, concerns about what might be lost in the process, and what -- if anything -- should be done about it. But unlike some other corners of the debate, none of today's speakers claimed his idea was the panacea for the news business...

Nortel's future may rest with fiber optics and MEN unit - FierceTelecom

May 19, 2009

Nortel Networks Corp. will be disassembled in coming months, as units are sold off at fire-sale prices to help it restructure after filing for bankruptcy, analysts say. As North America's largest telephone equipment manufacturer tries to maintain at least a small place at the table, it's likely to hold on to Metro Ethernet Networks, the unit it tried unsuccessfully to sell last year.

The Canadian company may end up counting itself lucky no suitor stepped forward when MEN was on the block. The little unit has turned into a profit center for Nortel, generating $360 million in Q1 revenue selling Internet infrastructure, including Nortel's optical and carrier ethernet technology.

And, with telecom companies trying to boost bandwidth on the cheap, MEN's new technology that quadruples the capacity of networks using fiber-optic cables thinner than a human hair is looking like a hot item...

AT&T's dereg lobbying in Tennessee tops $523,000 - FierceTelecom

May 19, 2009

AT&T spent more than a half million dollars and used at least 20 lobbyists to convince Tennessee lawmakers deregulating basic telephone service in the Volunteer State was a good idea. The bill passed May 8, and it did away with the bulk of telephone rate pricing controls in the state, except for basic service in rural areas.

AT&T told the Chattanooga Times Free Press the bill removed "outdated rules and process that have applied only to AT&T," and said the lobbying effort "applied reasonable resources to advocate for policies that will help AT&T compete on a more level playing field with our competitors..."

Verizon spends $200 in advertising alone per FiOS customer - FierceTelecom

May 18, 2009

SAN FRANCISCO (AdAge.com) -- It's been almost five years since Verizon wagered $23 billion to build Fios, the fiber-optic-service network that promised to upend the cable world. Since then, it has spent additional millions marketing it -- nearly $100 million last year alone. It's pulled out all the stops, even running a TV ad with jaw-dropping special effects featuring director Michael Bay, and a seemingly ubiquitous campaign that mocks a hapless cable installer continually outwitted by his counterpart at Fios. The tagline: "This is Fios. This is big..."

Joost adds TV guide broadband

Joost announced today that TV Guide Broadband will bring its program offerings to Joost(TM) (www.joost.com), the global web video service.

Dmitri Ponomarev, VP of On Demand for TV Guide Network, added, "We think that Joost, with its young audience and entertainment focus, is the perfect place for TV Guide Broadband to showcase our short form programming around and about the world of TV, music and film..."

Eastlink remains committed to 2009 deadline on high speed Internet

May 19, 2009

Many people could barely contain their enthusiasm as Eastlink employees spelled out plans to bring high speed Internet to the entire county by the end of the year.

About 75 people filled the room at the Shelburne NSCC campus on Tuesday night, May 12 to listen to the company’s update on their efforts as part of the Broadband for Rural Nova Scotia Initiative...

How Google threatens books - washingtonpost.com

May 19, 2009

A court in the Southern District of New York will soon make a decision that could determine our digital future.

A ruling is expected shortly on a proposed settlement of lawsuits filed against Google in 2005 by groups representing authors and publishers claiming that Google's book-scanning project violated copyright. When Google announced its project in 2004, the company said its goal was simple yet far-reaching. Like its search engine, which points people to Web sites, Google's book search product would help people find information in books and direct them to volumes in libraries and bookstores...

Google CEO urges grads: 'Turn off your computer' - USATODAY.com

PHILADELPHIA — The head of the world's most popular search engine urged college graduates on Monday to step away from the virtual world and make human connections.

Speaking at the University of Pennsylvania's commencement, Google chairman and CEO Eric Schmidt told about 6,000 graduates that they need to find out what is most important to them — by living analog for a while...

Tougher antitrust division may target Google - NYTimes.com

May 17, 2009

For decades, the nation’s biggest antitrust cases have centered on technology companies. And they have all been efforts by the government to deal with powerful companies with far-reaching influence, like AT&T, the telephone monopoly; I.B.M., the mainframe computer giant; and Microsoft, the powerhouse of personal computer software.

Last week, the Obama administration declared a sharp break with the Bush years, vowing to toughen antitrust enforcement, especially for dominant companies. The approach is closer to that of the European Union, where regulators last week fined Intel $1.45 billion for abusing its power in the chip market...

The race to provide Wi-Fi at 30,000 feet - NYTimes.com

May 18, 2009

Some airlines are rushing to offer Wi-Fi Internet connections in their domestic aircraft cabins, but none are talking about the space squeeze.

On an AirTran Airways Wi-Fi demonstration flight that went up and back down the Northeast seaboard from Baltimore-Washington International Airport last week, the Internet worked just fine. The problem was actually being able to use it efficiently. My laptop was wedged onto a tray table in the cramped space of a coach seat. I had to slide down in my seat just to read the screen...

Major ad campaign for Starbucks to focus on quality - NYTimes.com

May 18, 2009

In a new ad campaign, Starbucks wants to tell its message to a new generation of coffee drinkers and then recruit them to retell the story online.

The coffeehouse chain is putting up new advertising posters in six major cities. To further spread its message, it is trying to harness the power of online social networking sites by challenging people to hunt for the posters on Tuesday and be the first to post a photo of one using Twitter...

Doctors and medical students embrace smartphones - washingtonpost.com

May 19, 2009

To his frustration, Steven Schwartz often encounters patients who have no idea what each of the pills they've been popping is called.

"But usually they can tell you what it looks like," the Georgetown University Medical Center family practitioner said. "They might say it's a blue, triangular pill for hypertension."

Armed with an iPhone, Schwartz is able to play detective...

Move to electronic system means long waits at U.S. copyright office - washingtonpost.com

May 19, 2009

The envelopes fill white plastic tubs, stacked on hundreds of shelves in the basement of the Library of Congress. They're spreading to a ground-floor space that once housed the gift shop and are clogging offices on the fourth floor. And each day, the mail trucks bring about a thousand more.

A serious logjam in the U.S. Copyright Office has created a growing mountain of paper applications, more than the staff can process. Like the marching buckets of water in "The Sorcerer's Apprentice," the envelopes just keep coming, threatening to flood the operation...

Social networks get advertising guidelines -- social network advertising -- InformationWeek

May 18, 2009

The Interactive Advertising Bureau has released best practices for social advertising.

The group's Social Advertising Best Practices aim to protect consumer control and privacy while allowing advertisers and marketers to work with consumers to enhance their brands and spread their marketing messages...

Scribd opens online store for documents, e-books -- E-Books -- InformationWeek

May 18, 2009

Scribd, a Web site for the sharing of text documents, on Monday expanded its ongoing effort to encourage the selling of text documents.

The new Scibd Store beta allows anyone with a Scribd account to upload electronic documents, sell them, and keep 80% of the author-determined sale price, minus a 25-cent transaction fee, or 40 cents if the document is protected by DRM...

4G wireless growth expected to outpace 3G -- wireless telecom -- InformationWeek

May 18, 2009

The next generation of mobile data will see a rapid adoption rate thanks to widespread vendor and operator support, according to a new study from Pyramid Research.

The report, titled "LTE's Five-Year Global Forecast: Poised To Grow Faster Than 3G," said 4G networks that use Long Term Evolution (LTE) technology will have more than 100 million subscribers in four years. By comparison, it took about six years for 3G networks to hit that milestone...

AT&T intros cloud storage - Telecom News Wire

May 18, 2009

DALLAS -- AT&T today announced AT&T Synaptic Storage as a service, a storage-on-demand offer that provides enterprise customers with control over the storage, distribution and retrieval of their data from any location, anytime, using any Web-enabled device.

AT&T Synaptic Storage as a Service provides a business-class storage service that lets customers use the AT&T network cloud to store, distribute and retrieve data as needed to meet their business or legal requirements. Customers will be able to specify their storage criteria – called user policies – through a Web-based customer portal. The service automatically scales storage capacity up or down as needed, and users pay only for the amount they use.

Rutgers University releases report about online learning | Speed Matters

May 18, 2009

Joining with the Rutgers University Center on Women and Work, CWA's Speed Matters released a report today entitled "Online Learning for Low Skill Adults."

Almost half of the U.S. adult-population does not have the literacy skills required to succeed in the high-tech labor market, according to a 2006 study by the Department of Education.

The Rutgers-Speed Matters study recognizes the challenges of low-skill adults - many of whom hold multiple jobs and care for children or other family members - to obtain additional training that is defined by rigid course and program schedules. It proposes increased opportunities for online learning as a solution to the many Americans who cannot bypass the barriers to traditional classroom based education...

Google Street Views takes to a tricycle - PC World

May 18, 2009

Google is mapping the world one street at a time. However, some of those locations are not conducive to cars, let alone the Google Street Views van or even a smal car. Locations like Europe pose an extra challenge -- how to navigate all of those tightly packed, tourist-clogged cobblestone street in historic city centers?

Well, for all of those hard-to-reach areas, Google’s tactical strategy becomes obvious thanks to a handful of images that have surfaced today. The Google Street Views Car is replaced by the Google Street Views Trike...

The exploding digital universe - Digits - WSJ

“Like the physical universe, the digital universe is expanding. In fact, exploding,” says John Gantz, a researcher for IDC. For the last three years, Mr. Gantz has been commissioned by storage provider EMC to count the number of bits created each year. And each year he reports that IDC previously underestimated the explosion of information.

This is good for EMC, but it’s probably not so good for the CIOs of the world. They’re the ones who have to find room in their shrunken budgets to buy the disk arrays to store all this stuff that’s being created by employees, customers and their devices. IDC says budgets for servers and storage are shrinking by 6% this year...

Small company develops new way to stop form spam - Business Center - PC World

May 18, 2009

Spam isn't just a problem for people with e-mail addresses, but also for companies and organizations running Web sites with various types of feedback forms.

Automated bots troll the Internet for forms, automatically filling them out with rubbish information. Form data often goes to Web-site employees' e-mail addresses for sorting later. Many companies also collect marketing leads through forms that feed directly into databases, which then get gummed up with Viagra pitches instead of potential customers...

Verizon testing latest technology for high-speed service in Columbus - Business First of Columbus:

May 15, 2009

Central Ohio’s flat land, culturally diverse population and good mix of business and industry are helping Verizon Wireless test its next-generation cellular phone network.

Since the middle of 2008, Basking Ridge, N.J.-based Verizon Wireless, a division of Verizon Communications Inc., has been testing what it calls its fourth generation, or 4G, network in 25 cities across the country and world, including Columbus...

Net-neutrality advocates want FCC reg reviews, new broadband direction - FierceTelecom

May 18, 2009

FCC rulings that inhibit or don't promote open broadband competition and net neutrality should be subject to review, says Free Press. The open-Internet advocates also want broadband to be classed as a telecommunications service, effectively imposing open-access rules to ISPs. It's also calling for a morphing of the Universal Service Fund into a broadband service underwriter.

"America's broadband failures are the result of policy failures and the blame falls squarely on the FCC's shoulders," said Free Press research director S. Derek Turner, author of the report. "The FCC predicted a future of broadband competition, and then regulated as if it were already here. While promising consumer benefits, it tore down consumer protections. Digital deregulation reduced the broadband revolution to broadband mediocrity..."

AT&T positions self as smartphone leader - FierceBroadbandWireless

May 18, 2009

AT&T is working to position itself as the top U.S. smartphone provider.

"We've taken integrated devices mainstream," AT&T chief marketing officer David Christopher said in a statement. He said that nearly one third of AT&T's postpaid customers use smartphones, and in March, the operator led competitors with 11.8 million smartphone users, according to M:Metrics. The number is compared with 5.1 million smartphone subscribers for Verizon Wireless 4 million for Sprint and 3.7 million for T-Mobile...

LTE phone unlikely in 2010 - FierceBroadbandWireless

May 18, 2009

Telephony's informal poll of chipset makers reveals handset makers will be hard-pressed to release a Long Term Evolution (LTE) handset by 2010.

Most of the first-generation LTE platforms will sample this year and begin shipping in 2010, and nearly all of them are designed for laptop computing in USB dongles and PC cards...

Motorola clarifies position on WiMAX, LTE R&D - FierceBroadbandWireless

May 17, 2009

Motorola's networks division is working to clarify comments from co-CEO Greg Brown during Motorola's first-quarter conference call that indicated the vendor would reduce its investments in WiMAX and Long-Term Evolution (LTE) technology as it looks to cut costs.

According to a report in 4G Trends, Motorola senior vice president Fred Wright said Motorola will actually double its spending on LTE development this year and has commenced an LTE trial with China Mobile for the Time Division Duplex (TDD) version of LTE...

Verizon offers more details on LTE rollout - FierceBroadbandWireless

May 18, 2009

Verizon Wireless offered a more specific timetable for its planned Long Term Evolution network buildout and said it will impose higher performance standards for its LTE devices.

Verizon said it will commercially launch 20 to 30 markets in the second half of 2010. Previously, the carrier only said it would launch the markets sometime in 2010...

Buy, Sell or Hold: Ciena Corp. (Nasdaq: CIEN), the Second Company to Profit from the Global Broadband Arms Race

In last week’s Buy, Sell or Hold I recommended Corning Inc. (NYSE: GLW), based on three factors:

* The coming global "arms race" to get nationwide broadband connectivity. The arms race recently heated up with the launch of Australia’s $31 billion nationwide broadband plan, which dwarfs the $7 Billion contemplated in the current U.S. budget...

Telephone industry still lacks significant competition | newarkadvocate.com | The Newark Advocate

May 18, 2009

Twenty-five years after the breakup of AT&T, consumers have seen significant changes in how they make telephone calls, what they pay and the services they receive.
Advertisement

The telephone monopoly agreed in a 1982 settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice to break itself into seven companies, called Baby Bells, to provide local telephone services by region. AT&T kept its long-distance service, then its most profitable division. The agreement went into effect in 1984...

Online dating sites: Cupid's arrow lands in war zone - USATODAY.com

May 18, 2009

It may not have the romantic appeal of Paris on the eve of war, but the Internet is now the place for soldiers and Marines in combat to fall in love — through online dating services.

"It always amazes me when I think about how I had to go to Iraq to meet the person I would be with back in the United States," says Jonathan Stoddard, 26, who met Lisa Wagner online while serving as a Marine lieutenant in Anbar province and married her in Fullerton, Calif., last Oct. 26.

Dating services such as Match.com and eHarmony are reporting that numerous servicemembers are finding romance with someone in the United States while serving in Iraq or Afghanistan...

Foodies flock to Twitter-savvy food trucks - USATODAY.com

May 16, 2009

LOS ANGELES — For some foodies, Tweets lead to great eats.

Twitter recently became the communique of choice for the almost cultishly popular Kogi BBQ trucks, roving Korean-style taco vendors in Los Angeles that use the 140-character, cellphone-friendly missives to alert customers to their whereabouts and menu items.

And the trend is spreading to other wheel meals as more food trucks — a fast-growing food phenomenon in major cities, especially in the West — are using the social networking site to draw customers...

Scribd invites writers to upload work and name their price - NYTimes.com

May 17, 2009

SAN FRANCISCO — Turning itself into a kind of electronic vanity publisher, Scribd, an Internet start-up here, will introduce on Monday a way for anyone to upload a document to the Web and charge for it.

The Scribd Web site is the most popular of several document-sharing sites that take a YouTube-like approach to text, letting people upload sample chapters of books, research reports, homework, recipes and the like. Users can read documents on the site, embed them in other sites and share links over social networks and e-mail...

Montgomery County Council to vote on pay-by-cellphone parking meters - washingtonpost.com

May 18, 2009

Nirav Thaker had just pulled his black sport-utility vehicle into a parking lot in downtown Bethesda one recent evening. He hopped out, reached into his pocket and let out a deep sigh. No quarters.

Could he make it in and out of the nearby Barnes & Noble before parking enforcement arrived and slapped a ticket on his windshield that could cost as much as $40...?

Peeved at auto-warranty calls, a web posse strikes back - WSJ.com

May 15, 2009

Millions of Americans have gotten the call.

"This is the second notice that the factory warranty on your vehicle is about to expire," says the recorded voice at the other end of the line. Most people hang up. The machine calls again later.

Michael Silveira decided to strike back. The 22-year-old laboratory technician, who doesn't own a car, says he was getting unsolicited sales pitches as often as twice a day on his cellphone...

FTTH buildouts: Clearfield sees uptake

May 15, 2009

After a brief slowdown in February and March, April was a good month for FTTH buildouts, according to Clearfield, which manufactures fiber distribution systems for fiber-to-the-home.

"April has been very good to us, our backlog is up, we've had to add a second shift, and we are adding support [people] as well," said Clearfield COO Johnny Hill. "We have seen this as an opportunity to gain more market share. The market is good right now..."

Preparing for cyberwar - Business Center - PC World

May 16, 2009

If there's a sudden cyberattack on the U.S. Navy, Jim Granger could be among the first to know since it's his job to keep watch.

"We monitor the Navy's grid," says Granger, who is director of capabilities and readiness at the Navy Cyber Defense Operations Command in Norfolk, Va., home to the Naval Network Warfare Command. Granger works with a team of cyber-defense operations specialists in a security operations center, hunkered down behind computers to keep an eye on networks the Navy uses -- such as the Navy-Marine Corps Intranet -- both on land and at sea...

Coming soon to your language - More of the Web - NYTimes.com

May 16, 2009

In the early years of the Web, nearly all of its content appeared in English. But that is changing quickly. Today, articles on Wikipedia are available in more than 200 languages, for example. And about 36 percent of the seven million blogs running on WordPress, a free software platform, are in languages other than English, according to the founder Matt Mullenweg...

Just browsing? A web store may follow you out the door - NYTimes.com

May 16, 2009

If you try on a sweater in a department store dressing room, but choose not to buy it, a persistent sales clerk won’t pursue you into the street yelling, “Hey, are you sure?” Nor will you receive a call at your home the next day to check again if you want to complete the purchase.

But in the online world, visitors to Web stores who touch the goods but leave without buying may be subjected instantaneously to “remarketing,” in the form of nagging e-mail messages or phone calls...

TV's fuzzy future: Left to their own devices, viewers are cutting the cord - washingtonpost.com

May 17, 2009

Sit down, kids, and let Grandpa tell you about something we used to call "watching television."

Why, back when, we had to tune to something called a "channel" to see our favorite programs. And we couldn't take the television set with us; we had to go see it!

Ah, those were simpler times...

The hits keep on coming - washingtonpost.com

May 17, 2009

Jonathan Coulton doesn't measure his success as a musician by the number of appearances he's made in the music magazines or blogs -- who needs that when you've got Google Analytics?

According the search engine's Web measurement tools, Coulton's Web site gets 50,000 to 60,000 visits per month, and about half of those are by people new to his site. Some visitors download a song and opt to pay a buck; many more download a song but don't pay. Coulton doesn't sweat that particular ratio so much because he's happy enough to be making more than he did a few years ago as a software programmer...

Verizon sheds residential service | The Journal Gazette, Fort Wayne, Ind.

May 14, 2009

FORT WAYNE – It brought some of the nation's fastest residential Internet speeds and a new digital TV service to Fort Wayne.

Less than five years later, Verizon Communications Inc. is exiting the area's residential landline phone, Internet and TV market...

Why Google's outage wasn't a complete failure - PC World

May 15, 2009

I noticed something interesting in the Google outage and its aftermath on Thursday. Google's sites, in case you were hiding in a cave yesterday, were unreachable around the world for a good hour and a half. Gmail, YouTube, Google News, even the google.com home page were inaccessible to scores of people...

Newspapers tweeting like crazy -- But what are the rules?

May 15, 2009

The explosion of Twitter and Facebook use by newspapers this spring has sparked a mixed bag of reaction from editors and other newsroom leaders over how to control -- or not control -- the use by their staffs.

The Wall Street Journal raised attention this week when it expanded its conduct guidelines to include a whole host of online-related restrictions, including warnings not to "friend" confidential sources or get into Web-related arguments with critics. Others have issued guidelines...

Obama aide: Broadband may save the news - InternetNews.com

May 14, 2009

There has been no shortage of hand-wringing of late about the precipitous decline of the newspaper industry. And it goes all the way to the top.

Here at the Newseum, where the media-reform group Free Press held its annual "Changing Media" summit, a White House aide said that the fate of the journalism industry is very much on President Obama's mind as he develops his ambitious tech policy agenda...

Wi-Fi returning to airlines - Los Angeles Times

May 16, 2009

After a three-year hiatus, airlines are bringing back wireless Internet service on planes, allowing business travelers to check their e-mails, browse the Web and log into their corporate networks while in flight.

There hasn't been in-flight Internet access since Boeing Co. killed a very expensive, multibillion-dollar project to wire planes all over the world with a satellite-based system...

The 'Nana' generation - Family Life - MiamiHerald.com

May 16, 2009

As the American population ages and grandparents become more tech-savvy, a growing number of manufacturers are designing souped-up -- or stripped-down -- gadgets for the senior set. The devices boast larger fonts, brighter lights, bigger knobs and louder sound.

The generation that grew up before the arrival of TV, the dawn of cellphones and the advent of the Internet may prove to be the healthiest segment of the tech market yet. From talking pill bottles to bathroom scales that record information for physicians, these gadgets are part of what some have dubbed ''nana'' technology...

Rural Oregon area boasts a top evacuation system - OregonLive.com

May 16, 2009

HERMISTON -- Wildfires, tsunamis, terrorist attacks, hurricanes, volcanic eruptions -- they could all make an emergency evacuation necessary somewhere.

Surprisingly, the place in the Northwest most prepared for an evacuation is the sparsely settled farm country of north-central Oregon.

Thanks to a sophisticated wireless system in Umatilla and Morrow counties, officials and first responders can communicate across about 1,000 square miles, watch a disaster unfold on monitors linked to remote-controlled cameras, and even reverse traffic on area highways to funnel people away from catastrophe...

Google expands use of trademarked terms in ads -- Google online advertisement -- InformationWeek

May 15, 2009

Continuing its dance in the minefield of intellectual property law, Google on Thursday announced a change in its advertising policy to allow advertisers to use trademarks associated with other companies in their ads under certain circumstances.

Google (NSDQ: GOOG) said the change will harmonize its policy on trademark use in ad text with industry standards...

Google Outage Caused 5% Internet Traffic Decline -- Google Network Outage -- InformationWeek

May 15, 2009

The service disruption at Google on Thursday morning caused a 5% drop in Internet traffic, underscoring the extent to which Internet users and other Web sites depend on the company.

Arbor Networks chief scientist Craig Labovitz observed in a blog post that failures happen. "[B]ut if you happen to be Google (NSDQ: GOOG) and your content constitutes up to 5% of all Internet traffic, people notice," he said...

Comcast makes web links faster

Friday, May 15, 2009

Comcast Corp., engaged in a high-stakes nationwide race among Internet service providers, is now offering faster, "next generation" Internet connections for home and business customers in the Pittsburgh area.

Called "wideband" -- as opposed to high-speed "broadband" -- the new service offers download speeds of up to 50 megabits per second. The numbers may not mean much to the average person, but they translate into faster music, movie and data downloads. At those speeds, a full two-hour, high-def movie could be downloaded in 16 minutes...

Pittsburgh gets wideband - Telecom News Wire

May 15, 2009

PITTSBURGH -- Comcast, (Nasdaq: CMCSA, CMCSK) the nation’s leading provider of entertainment, information and communications products and services, today announced it is making the leap from broadband to wideband with the launch of next-generation DOCSIS 3.0 in the Pittsburgh area. With wideband, Comcast will introduce a new echelon of Internet speed tiers, which will redefine the customer experience online and create a platform for Internet innovation in the years ahead...

Cloud computing explained - Business Center - PC World

Friday, May 15, 2009

Cloud computing is a reality, and it's a force that IT professionals need to quickly come to terms with. The economic and social motivation for the cloud is high, the business need for speed and agility is greater than ever before, and the technology has reached a level in which prudent investments in cloud services are fast and easy. The number of cloud success stories is growing every week.

The cloud is here, but what exactly is it? Where is it headed? What are the risks? And how can IT organizations prepare?Cloud computing is the use of Internet-based services to support a business process. Cloud services typically have the following characteristics...

Google outage lesson: Don't get stuck in a cloud - PC World

May 15, 2009

Google has apologized for yesterday's service outage that left 14 percent of its user base without Google's wide variety of online services for a few hours. Google said in a blog post the outage came down to a simple traffic jam at an Asian data center. The search giant described the situation by using the analogy of a large number of airplanes being rerouted through one airport that was not equipped for a massive influx of traffic...

Verizon sells its land lines but doesn't expect many job losses in Everett

May 15, 2009

The pending sale of Verizon phone lines in Washington isn't expected to result in a high rate of job losses at the company's regional headquarters in Everett, but Verizon officials said Thursday that specifics of the sale likely won't be clear for another year.

The telecommunications company announced Wednesday it plans to sell land lines in 14 states to Connecticut-based Frontier Communications for $5.3 billion in stock, pending the approval of state agencies and shareholders...

The Real-Time Local News - Digits - WSJ

May 15, 2009

Impending hurricanes and missing children make the local news, but what about smaller incidents — like senior citizens who wander from their care facility or nearby traffic accidents — that residents still want to know about?

Nixle, a San Francisco community-information startup, has developed a notification system for authorities that lets them alert people in their community by text or email. A police officer can quickly tell local subscribers, for example, if a bank robbery suspect is on the loose...

Why Frontier will escape the curse of the Verizon deal [Voices] - Toolbar - REALHS

May 14, 2009

Should Verizon Communications deals come with a warning label?

In the past few years, the telecommunications company has been shedding slow-growth businesses as it focuses on its wireless and FiOS businesses. While the deals have served Verizon well, they haven’t worked out as well for those acquiring the assets — at least in three cases.

Wednesday, Frontier Communications embarked on this path. The rural telecommunications operator agreed to acquire 4.8 million access lines in 14 states from Verizon in a deal valued at $8.6 billion. Will Frontier face the same fate? Perhaps not...