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Martin Pushes a Freebie
2008-06-07 22:21:00
Commissioner Martin is pushing ahead with offering up a free tier radio spectrum. We don’t see how the plan works as tendered but we applaud the effort. They have had to delay the vote but he intends to push ahead – The chairman remains committed to advancing a proposal that will provide a broadband lifeline for ...
More About: Wireless

Is There an Echo in the Room? II
2008-06-07 22:03:00
ThirdPipe has said before that Open Source willl be a disrupter in the telecommunications market. But hey don’t take our word for it – Open source is about to hit the cell phone industry hard. It may even take with it one of the early darlings of US smart phones " a halfway station to open ...
More About: Room

Are the cable guys throttling to stifle streaming video?
2008-06-07 02:35:00
I’ve often postulated here that the cable guys are feeling threatened by streaming video. New web only original programming is becoming more common, and is taking some viewers from their closed systems. They’ve been heavy handed about “managing bittorrent” claiming it consumed 80% of its capacity to deliver illicit content. Not only is ...
More About: Video , Streaming Video , Guys , Comcast , Cable

A Winner in the VZW - AllTel? Windstream
2008-06-06 05:15:00
  Ok, usual disclaimers apply of course. Where do I get this idea? I cannot tell a lie, I am live blogging The Cramer Show on CNBC right now. Its Cramer’s call. Why? WIN (sticker) will be in a postion to take over some the VZ assets that will have to be divested for the AllTel deal ...
More About: Winner , Alltel

The case against tiered broadband: It?s a drag on the economy!
2008-06-06 05:05:00
I would prefer to not be saddled with tiered broadband from my access provider, but the market dictates that that is what I will have. Unfortunately the Pols want to respond with more regulation instead of opening the market. Without adequate competition, more regulation could easily turn the present broadband duopoly into the broadband ...
More About: Economy , Broadband , Case , Drag

Open Source Content Improving Dramatically
2008-06-06 01:18:00
What can I say? As time marches on the cinematic quality of CGI improves. All you have to do is compare the run of Pixar films over the years to see the improvement. Do you think that Open Source has a chance here? If you said no think again. Watch this trailer – Oh and ...
More About: Content , Open-Source

Explains a Lot of BroadCom?s Problems
2008-06-05 21:57:00
Well just read it. No excuse for this is all I can say.   JUNE 5–A technology billionaire was a drug fiend who trafficked in cocaine, Ecstasy, and methamphetamine, spiked the drinks of business associates and employees, hired prostitutes for himself and others, and maintained several narcotics dens, including one in an underground lair at his ...
More About: Broadcom , Problems

And This is Different From any Other City, How?
2008-06-05 19:58:00
Well Time Warner mght want to hold off on turninig off the UseNet servers. They got a bigger fish to fry. The City of LA just slapped TW with a nice fat law suit for bad service and failure to comply with the contract terms that won them the territory. The Los Angeles city attorney’s ...
More About: Municipalities , Litigation

Time Warner to unplug usenet servers
2008-06-05 19:14:00
The evil eye is getting sly in bandwidth rationing measures. For the those of you that are not familiar with the Usenet , it’s basically a giant distributed collection of bulletin or message boards covering every subject from fan clubs to art to obscure Os’s. It runs on thousands of servers that constantly replicate ...
More About: Servers , Time , Warner , Time Warner

T-Mobile offers 50% discount on unimited account add ons
2008-06-05 02:03:00
If one unlimited wireless account isn’t enough for you clan, T-mobile will sell you another at a 50% discount . For the guys to the left that works out to 3 unlimited wireless accounts for the usual price of 2. To me $200 seems like an awful lot to pay for what I can do at no extra cost over a broadband connection even if I’m getting 3 accounts. Then again, if you and other family members need to concurrently gab and text without limits while on the move, this is the best deal going. Back in February, wireless carriers went a little crazy trying to one up each other by offering unlimited SMS/MMS/voice plans (while quietly taking their wireless broadband offerings in the opposite direction). T-Mobile today threw another “unlimited” offer into the mix, letting users on their unlimited voice plan sign up additional family members at half price. In other words, users who already pay T-Mobile $99.99 for an unlimited account can add up to four other accounts for $4...
More About: Offers , Account , Discount

Verizon wants Alltel enough to pay $27 billion
2008-06-04 23:28:00
Just off the heels of sewing up most of the 700 MHz spectrum, that big telco some of us like to refer to as Darth continues to expand his empire instead of investing his capital to better serve the territory he already controls. While the current customers of the dark helmeted one will do without 4G service for at least another 3-4 years, V is in talks to acquire Alltel . If successful, the Verizon empire will eclipse AT&T as the world’s largest. While the details of the deal were still being worked out one person who asked not to be named said that the $27 billion valuation could be comprised of mostly debt and a smaller amount of cash. Alltel had $23.35 billion in long-term debt on its balance sheet at the end of the first quarter. The ownership structure of Verizon Wireless — 55 percent owned by Verizon Communications Inc and 45 percent owned by Vodafone Group Plc — would not change under the deal the person said. (Reuters)
More About: Billion

VoIP from your mobile isn’t mainstream yet, but it’s getting ea
2008-06-04 20:08:00
Here’s something a few of you may not know that is food for thought. If you use a mobile phone, more often than than not, the backhaul from the tower is done via a DSL connection. So, if you use a mobile, you been using VoIP for some time. With the entry of WiFi and 3G enabled smart phones, a few applications and services have emerged that will enable some to use VoIP their mobile outside of the wireless providers closed network. The obvious benefit for the end user is using no premium minutes via WiFi, and the ability to bypass outrageous international calling rates. The consumer benefits are also the main reason why the cartel of US wireless providers would prefer to keep VoIP capability off of their customers devices. The current state of mobile VoIP software and services are not perfect, but they are improving - with or without the carrier’s blessings. In a recent post on GigaOm, Jason Harris details Seven ways to VoIP from your mobile. It’s a good read if you...
More About: Mobile , Voip

Wofgang’s Vault offers free concert streams and copies to buy
2008-06-04 19:30:00
Attention RIAA: Here is an example of the correct way to grow your business. The new site Wolfgang’s Vault offers free streams of classic concerts, and DRM free downloads for a reasonable price. You can listen to the entire show before you decide to buy. You don’t need a subscription or an annoyingly invasive player/media manager to access your downloads. You can play the media you buy on any device, and manage it any way you like. But enough of that, the other really big thing is the content on Wolfgang’s Vault is stuff millions of fans could only get access to via illicit means (AKA bootlegs) in the past. The big labels never offered most of these recordings to the public at any price. Now it’s possible to buy high quality legit copies from an easily accessible source: The additions were made possible through a deal between Universal Music Group (UMG) and Wolfgang’s Vault founder Bill Sagan. The recordings include live performances by UMG artists...
More About: Concert , Free , Offers

Want to Save $82?
2008-06-04 18:41:00
Well if you own an iPhone you can, at least for the battery. First thing go buy this kit for $8 then stash it away. When you iPhone battery gives up the ghost whip this sucker out and have at it. Considering that its $90 for Apple to do the same thing that is $82 in savings. One caveat. If your iPhone is still under warranty when the battery dies then send it in. Using this kit will most likely void the warranty in their eyes. Once the warranty period expires its fair game. HT: Coolest Gadgets.
More About: Save

More bad juju from Hollywood: disposable DVD’s
2008-06-04 18:16:00
The movie industry continues to show it’s cluelessness about how to deliver content. In a seeming tribute to the quality of much of what Hollywood produces comes another stab at the bad idea of a self destructing, disposable DVD. What is really offensive to yours truly is this comes from the same group of people who routinely pontificate on us to give up our cars and air conditioning while trotting the globe in their private jets. From PC World - The technology’s not all that new; Flexplay DVDs have been around for about five years, though on a more limited scale. The premise remains unchanged: Flexplay’s patented disc adhesive reacts to oxygen when the DVD’s package is opened, beginning a slow chemical reaction that renders the disc unreadable in 48 hours. The idea is that you can rent a movie without having to worry about when you’ll watch it — the disc remains playable so long as it’s sealed — or about returning it. Staples will sta...

Looking for Leprechauns
2008-06-04 17:25:00
We will prove that the early termination fee was marketing based, marketing created, and marketing driven, said Bursor, according to a court transcript. We will prove that the ETF had nothing to do with the cost of any phone. We will prove that the ETF had nothing to do with the cost of any promotions. We will prove that the ETF had nothing to do with the cost of acquiring new customers. We will prove that the ETF had nothing do with any cost at all. — lawyer Scott Bursor But of course it is not Scott. ETF’s were the piper to be paid for falling for a subsidized phone. Yes it was a marketing ploy. When phones were going for a $1000 one way to gain customers was to bury 2/3rds of the cost in the contract. To cover their buns the companies added the ETF to make sure they recaptured the cost of the handset. It all made sense then. But it sure does not now. ThirdPipe’s postion has been to eliminate handset subsidies altogether. Do that and the need for an ETF disappe...

Remove Politics and Muni-WiFi Flourishes
2008-06-03 23:27:00
Oklahoma City has just turned up a Muni WiFi network that covers 555SqMi of the city. The downside? It is a closed system not open for public consumption. But even at that the project was funded out of capital infrastructure funds and capital improvement money. The network is to be shared across multiple deptartments. Oklahoma City says it just turned on the largest city owned and operated municipal Wi-Fi mesh network in the world. The wireless mesh network covers 555 square miles with 95% coverage in the citys core, the city said. However, unlike dozens of other municipal Wi-Fi projects, the Oklahoma City network is only available for use by city staff such as police, fire, first responders. The city plans to eventually expand the use of the network to animal welfare, code enforcement and utilities. The network, which took two years to build to the tune of $5 million, was paid for with public-safety capital sales tax and city capital improvement funds. Our state-of-the-art wireles...
More About: Politics , Wifi

Third Party Billing Services On the Way Out?
2008-06-03 21:02:00
AT&T has agreed to a settlement on third party billing and services. The settlement covers the span of time from 2004 to May of this year. This settlement covers all AT&T wireless customers in the period specified. AT&T customers who have seen mysterious charges for ringtones and other content show up on their cell-phone bills will be eligible for refunds as part of the settlement of a group of class-action lawsuits, a lawyer for the class said Monday. Customers will able to claim refunds for spurious charges that appeared on up to three of their monthly bills between Jan. 1, 2004, and May 30, 2008, according to Jay Edelson, lead counsel for the plaintiffs. It is the first nationwide settlement over the business of third-party content, Edelson said. AT&T spokesman Marty Richter said he knew of no other similar settlement. Edelson’s firm has filed similar suits against Verizon Wireless, Sprint Nextel Corp. and T-Mobile USA. Since Edelson’s firm has cases ...
More About: Services , Party , Billing , Third Party

Comcast tests take a number and wait network management
2008-06-03 18:21:00
When a market lacks adequate competitive forces, providers will invest in rationing before they invest in more product. Here’s more proof that there is not adequate competition in American broadband access: Comcast has cooked up yet another network management AKA rationing scheme. This concept is as old as the service cue at any government office. It’s called take a number and wait. Comcast’s subscribers are going to love it! Comcast CTO Tony Werner stated at the time that “the outcome will be a traffic management technique that is more appropriate for today’s emerging Internet trends.” According to an internal memo obtained by Broadband Reports, this more “appropriate” system will be tested in the Chambersburg, Pennsylvania and Warrenton, Virginia markets from June until July. The memo indicates that the company will be testing several management techniques (I’d assume from different vendors) in the two markets over the next mon...
More About: Management , Network , Tests , Wait

Time Warner keeps a promise: Metering begins in Beaumont
2008-06-03 16:43:00
We’re always the first to report when the cable guy actually keeps a promise, just as we criticize them when he behaves badly. This post is a first, as I am reporting for both reasons. The promised metering in Beaumont begins Thursday. On Thursday, new Time Warner Cable Internet subscribers in Beaumont, Texas, will have monthly allowances for the amount of data they upload and download. Those who go over will be charged $1 per gigabyte, a Time Warner Cable executive told the Associated Press. Metered billing is an attempt to deal fairly with Internet usage, which is very uneven among Time Warner Cable’s subscribers, said Kevin Leddy, Time Warner Cable’s executive vice president of advanced technology. Just 5 percent of the company’s subscribers take up half of the capacity on local cable lines, Leddy said. Other cable Internet service providers report a similar distribution. “We think it’s the fairest way to finance the needed investment in the in...
More About: Promise

Electronic Vigilantism?
2008-06-02 21:46:00
Well this is choice. MediaDefender an electronic hired gun for the RIAA and MPAA brought down the site of Revison3 this past weekend. The attack brought down Revision3’s internal website, RSS and mail systems. FBI is now on the case. – It’s an open debate whether MediaDefender’s actions were lawful, even when it targets illicit torrent-tracking sites pointing the way to unauthorized, copyrighted material. The FBI is examining the Revision3 affair. One bureau source told Threat Level that it was a “gray” area in federal computer security law. Then there’s the area of corporate responsibility. Louderback said in an interview that Revision3 closed the hole in its tracker over the Memorial Day weekend and subsequently got slammed by MediaDefender. “That’s when MediaDefender went into overdrive and started pummeling us,” Louderback said. “If a tracker was previously open and suddenly shut, their systems are automatically c...
More About: Electronic

WSJ interviews Time Warner Cable’s CEO
2008-06-02 21:13:00
The Wall Street Journal’s Vishesh Kumar only tosses a few softballs at Time Warner Cable ’s new CEO in this interview, but it does give us a feel for the managerial mindset of the newly independent company. His soon-to-be-independent Time Warner Cable will be freer to pursue broadband and telephone services. But there are challenges: in the spinoff, the company will take on an additional $10.9 billion of debt to pay a massive, one-time dividend, 84% of which will go to Time Warner. (Wall Street Journal) He continues to be outspoken on premium content going free for ad supported TVoIP delivery. We hope for the sake of his shareholders he works a bit harder on enabling TVoIP with a fat pipe than to reamin focused on the losing battle of trying to control content delivery.
More About: Interviews

On again off again free AT&T WiFi at Starbucks is on again.
2008-06-02 20:57:00
Here’s a little something to take the sting out of the new higher prices for those that can’t live without a daily Starbucks fix, free WiFi is on again. For those of you with AT&T DSL accounts, many already qualify for AT&T WiFi as part of your subscription, but you’ll likely need to activate it at the AT&T web site. For the six of you not freeloading on unsecured open hotspots already, Starbucks will be launching free Wi-Fi courtesy of AT&T starting tomorrow, according to Dave Zatz (formerly of Sling Media). According to a store memo, Starbucks users who use their Starbucks card at least once a month will get two free hours of AT&T Wi-Fi per day. (Broadband Reports)
More About: Free , Wifi

Results Are In…
2008-06-01 16:16:00
For the Android Developers Challenge that is. Looks like Google pulled another winner out of the hat. Just looking at the top 50 winners shows a fair idea of where this is going — Place. Most of the entries were tied to geospatial themes. Here’s a partial list – AndroidScan - Jeffrey Sharkey Beetaun - Sergey Gritsyuk and Dmitri Shipilov BioWallet - Jose Luis Huertas Fernandez BreadCrumbz - Amos Yoffe CallACab - Konrad Huebner and Henning Boeger City Slikkers - PoroCity Media and Virtual Logic Systems Commandro - Alex Pisarev, Andrey Tapekha Cooking Capsules - Mary Ann Cotter and Muthuselvam Ramadoss Diggin - Daniel Johansson, Aramis Waernbaum, Andreas Hedin Dyno - Virachat Boondharigaputra Probably the two most interesting in my view [A dumb male] are Dyno and AndroidScan. Dyno is a automotive status reader. AndroidScan is a full featured UPC reader. Slideshow of the top 50 entrants here. Just think — this is just Round 1!! Linky
More About: Results

Is There an Echo in the Room?
2008-05-31 17:55:00
Thirdpipe has been espousing for about a year now that the landscape of computing was changing. Most of which was enabled by what broadband services we have in place. Sometimes it feels like being the lone tree falling and asking the question — did anyone hear us fall? Well evidently that is the case – This week marks several important events: • Google announced their broad Web-as-a-platform developer toolset. • Microsoft showcased part of their Windows 7 user interface and set the date for their PDC which indicates their new OS, Windows 7, is approaching Beta. • In addition, I and a number of the folks I work with are seeing what appears to be a rather massive move to the Mac platform, which hasn’t seen this kind of growth since the 80s. • Finally, Linux is beginning to get some actual traction, showing up on a number of low cost “Netbook” offerings and MID (Mobile Internet Devices); it is starting to look like even this ...
More About: Room

Amazon’s Jeff Bezos on cloud computing
2008-05-31 17:20:00
  Not to slam our current crop of tech and business reporters, but it’s refreshing to see an interview with a tech CEO done to the point with relevance. Done at the D6 conference, Om Malik Questioned Mr Bezos on how Amazon web services got stated and where it’s going. Om also brought Wall Street’s complete ignorance of the significance of the cloud computing wave into focus. How and when Amazon began its cloud computing effort. Why Amazon has become an innovator with Amazon Web Services and how it relates to their core business of being an online retailer. Whether or not Wall Street recognizes Amazons cloud efforts. Whats next for Amazon Web Services. Whether or not Amazon has plans for a VC fund or for cloud computing startups. (GigaOm)  
More About: Computing , Cloud , Jeff , Cloud Computing

The Oil Shieks UnDoing?
2008-05-31 16:39:00
Computerwold has a very intriguing article. The jest of it is businesses are encourging ‘casual telecommuting’ in an effort to support a reduction in commuting and drive down fuel prices. It is in companies interests to do so as they too consume fuel. – A Reuters report today highlights organizations that are cutting back the number of days employees are required to physically show up at work because of soaring gas prices. Even employees who are required to be on-site in order to work, such as janitors, are being cut down to four-day workweeks to save gas. White collar workers, of course, are being allowed, encouraged or forced to stay home once a week or more often and telecommute. One thing leads to another. High gas prices prompt employers (including the federal government) to allow employees to work from home once a week. Once that’s accepted culturally, an elephant appears in the boardroom: If it’s OK once a week, why isn’t it OK five times a...

Virgin starts daytime throttling of heaviest users
2008-05-31 02:24:00
While the average broadband user inthe UK fares better than his American counterpart, there is still little serious competition in fixed line access. Plus, the UK’s 2 wild and crazy guys can behave just as badly as ours. As further proof that a doupoly does not foster adequate competition to best serve the the public good, the UK cable monopoly is now mimicing the American one. The decision follows recent regional testing of extended restrictions in London and the North West. Previously the brakes were only slammed on for five hours if limits were exceeded at any point between 4pm and 9pm. Now, “M” customers who bust 900MB during the day will have their theoretical maximum download halved from 2Mbit/s to 1Mbit/s. “L” and “XL” users’ usual headline speeds of 10MBit/s and 20MBit/s will be slowed by three quarters if they break daytime download limits of 2400MB and 6000MB respectively. The download thresholds for the daytime throttling pe...
More About: Virgin , Users , Daytime

Changes @ VodaFone
2008-05-30 16:58:00
Arun Sarin is stepping down as head cheese at Voda, effective July. Vittorio Colao will be the successor to Arun. It will be interesting to see if this change of leadership makes any changes to the Verizon Wireless - Voda relationship. – Vodafone Group Plc will say goodbye to its fearless leader. After five years as CEO, Arun Sarin is retiring at the end of July. Vittorio Colao will take his place; Colao has been with Vodafone for almost two years, coming on as head of the carriers European business. During Sarins stint with Vodafone he oversaw the acquisition of Hutchison Essar in India, the largest foreign investment made in the country, and expanded Vodafone into emerging markets including Romania, Czech Republic and Turkey. More at RCR.

Hollywood’s bittorrent hit man seriously wounds Revision3
2008-05-30 16:58:00
There’s a little known (before now) thriving business of attacking open Bittorrent servers the reduce MPAA and the RIAA’s “losses”. While I have no way of being certain, it would seem that the one company in question could be operating automated attack and destroy systems that cannot differentiate between illicit and legitimate trackers. The liability should be huge, and the RIAA and MPAA have already accumulated a huge karma debt. CEO Jim Louderback revealed today that the outage was caused by a massive denial of service attack that he says was perpetrated by MediaDefender, a file-sharing mitigation firm that gets paid by Big Content to disrupt peer-to-peer networks. A SYN flood aimed at Revision3’s BitTorrent tracker clogged the company’s tubes and brought down all of its web services. The traffic logs indicated that the network was getting slammed by over 8,000 packets every second. Revision3 tracked the source of the packets and discovered th...
More About: Hollywood