Posts Tagged ‘fcc’

The FCC is offering a broadband speed test as part of its efforts to encourage better broadband service.

United States broadband users can participate in the test by going to Broadband dot gov.

From the website:

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Recovery Act) was signed into law by President Obama on February 17th, 2009. The FCC is currently working in coordination with the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) to perform the FCC’s role under the Recovery Act. Specifically, in conjunction with the Broadband Technology Opportunities Program established by the Act, the FCC has been tasked with creating a National Broadband Plan by February 17, 2010. The Recovery Act states that the National Broadband Plan shall seek to ensure all people of the United States have access to broadband capability and shall establish benchmarks for meeting that goal.

I think we should help them gather the data they need.

My ISP tested out at about 15,000 kbps down and about 4,000 kbps megs up at the FCC; in contrast, Speedtest dot net, a site that Jeffrey introduced to me, reported 7.91 mbps down and 3.35 mbps up (the FCC reports in kbps, Speedtest in mbp/s). The “down” speeds differ significantly and I cannot account for that. The two sites might be using different testing methods: The FCC says that

Users are randomly assigned the Ookla or M-Lab application.

Once you complete one of the tests, you are given the option of trying the other.

The disparity of results between the FCC tests and Speedtest was similar in Firefox and Opera, though the reported download speeds were faster in Firefox (I have Firefox v. 3.0.17 and Opera v. 10.10 on my Ubuntu v. 8.x netbook here).

I don’t know what my ISP advertises; it was them or Verizon; the very few times I’ve had to call Verizon’s 800-number regarding my landline, the convoluted menu system there has made me reluctant to avail myself of their services when an alternative is available to me. (The real live human beings, once I got to them, were wonderful, but getting to them was an unnecessarily difficult adventure, he said tactfully.)

I learned about this at Balloon Juice.

Since we are not in a leap year, the Day in Tech History does double duty – giving you History of the 28th and 29th.

1966 (Feb 28) – With all these ways to listen in on a conversation, the FCC has to make a ruling to protect the rights of US citizens. They create the Right to Privacy act which bands evesdropping or direct and indirect use of radio – controlled devices.

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Other Historical Events in Technology

• M*A*S*H*  broadcasts the final episode (Feb 28)
• PeopleSoft reorganizes (Feb 28)
• Atari Moves (Feb 29)
• DIVX closes the video site Stage 6 (Feb 29)

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Right now Apple has the corner on the Smartphone – 40 percent market share, to be exact in the US alone. Apple also has the corner in Applications – 99.4 percent of Applications sold are from the iPhone. So if January 27^th comes and they announce a 4G phone in CDMA format working on Verizon, they will have officially pushed the envelope and poised themselves to monopolize the mobile phone industry. That could have a horrible reverse impact for Apple as the FCC will then step in.

It is no secret the Apple iPhone is the device to beat. It pretty much wrote the book on smartphones – taking over what Microsoft and Palm couldn’t accomplish. The only real change in the device was the switch from EDGE to 3G, and that became an added feature – have an underlying network to catch what 3G might not.

Remember those rumors surrounding the 2^nd gen iPhone? People would notice changes, like a “3G” option in the settings, shipment transfers of 2 Megapixel cameras and 3G chips. The rumors flew back then before the announcement. Just like today with this upcoming announcement.

But there is one rumor that – if true – may hurt Apple more than help. If this rumor is true, the phone can dominate in the top 2 U.S. phone carriers’ markets. It could shift the power and give Apple at least 55% of market overnight – with a possible reality of 75% by Q3.

Step in the FCC.

Not to mention step in Palm and any Android phone maker. Example: Motorola Droid is a great phone in its own right. They found a good place in Verizon. Apple moving over could crush them. Verizon just took the Palm Pre Plus from Sprint. If Verizon was to also get the iPhone, do you think Palm won’t look for legal action?

This would definitely cause companies to complain, just like they did with Microsoft in the 90’s and IBM in 1969 with the Sherman Antitrust Act. Complaints that the FCC cannot ignore.

I suppose you could move the iPhone completely from AT&T to Verizon, but that might just cause a lot of issue with customers. It would definitely bring lawsuits from other phone companies that have special contracts with Verizon. It would definitely be a mess that not even Apple would want to get into.

Now to change gears a bit – if the tablet was to go to Verizon, thinking might be different. One would guess it’s a great idea– iPhone on AT&T and the tablet either on Both, or just on Verizon. Then again, there might be a rift between Apple and AT&T and people might not get the tablet if it means having 2 separate contracts.

Another thing to keep in mind – An iPhone takes a lot of wireless resource. Even though a possible 4G option is upon us, the infrastructure is just not there just yet.

Putting more 3G and 4G devices out there means you need to have more tower coverage. It’s not like you can put one tower out there and expect a 250k population to easily access it on a constant basis. Some cities like Chicago or New York – who have over 1 million people – would never be able to keep a phone connection.

So it goes to say if you were to switch a popular phone that takes up twice the resource as other phones, you might find that the full 3G coverage wouldn’t amount to a hill of beans if it’s oversaturated.

Could Verizon handle an iPhone revolution? It’s got coverage, but not speed. Slower download means someone could log more time on the phone just waiting for results. The sooner someone checks email, the sooner they get off the phone and move to something else. Then the next person has the connection to get their stuff done.

While it’s not what people would want, the best solution would be to keep the iPhone on AT&T and have the Tablet on both networks. A limited multitasking phone that takes up twice the resource in a GSM environment seems to be the best fit. It would also keep market share to a reasonable level and a partnership in good standings.

Oh yes. ONE MORE THING: While CDMA phones take less power, CDMA seems to “chatter” more, therefore taking more battery power than a GSM phone. If you think your iPhone battery is horrible now, just wait and see how fast the battery drains on a CDMA/3G iPhone. Even the Droid’s battery does not last a whole day if used in the same fashion as the iPhone.

That is, unless Apple and the chip makers came up with a remarkable new technology to keep the power consumption low. I suppose it could happen…

Wow. I have never had this happen, but during the show, I think I fell alseep! I was thinking about it, and decided to send it out anyway. Hilarity ensues and hopefully I didn’t say anything weird….

We talk CES 2010 – Tripping to CES

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I – S.U.N. (Straight Up News)
Windows Mobile Glitch
Kindle DX on my Birthday
Cool iPhone pro camera rig
Seagate BlackArmor USB 3.0
Microsoft HP introduce touchscreen
FCC Please Expand Broadband Access
HPSA7.0 for T-Mobile, AT&T
HP Touchscreen on Mini Netbook
Google Chrome Surpasses Safari
Flixster Buys Rotten Tomatoes
Cinema Surpasses DVD
Lenovo Lightens ThinkPad
Google Nexus One
EMC Acquires Archer

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Music for Podcast by the John Masino Band

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1914 – The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is formed to regulate business in the US. President Wilson issued this to “Trust bust”. The FTC is controlled by a 5 member panel that serve in 7 year terms. They govern all fair trade practices.

Companies like Microsoft and IBM have been under the microscope with the FTC and the FCC.

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Other items in the Day in Tech History:

• 414’s testimony
• Kentucky shuts down 141 gambling domains
• Iomega Zip across america

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I love my iPhone. The 3GS has finally got the touch screen right. I can use it without feeling like I am fumbling or fat fingering keys. While the advances are nice, I still have to wonder how Apple can get away with some of the things they do to make me use their stuff. Rejecting competing applications and not giving users a choice to remove apps, all seems to be a recipe for non-competitiveness. Will they continue to get away with it, or will the FTC and EU finally step in? Well if they do, these should be 5 questions they should ask.

Skype. iBoobs. MyShoe. Obama Trampoline. Google Voice. What do these apps have in common? They were banned by the Apple application store. Some of them need to be, but others have no reason.

Ninjawords was an application that had a very hard time to get into the store. The reason why : the dictionary does contain questionable words – Including swear words. It finally was resolved and the application was approved, but who knew the dictionary could cause such a controversy.

Some have had it with the iPhone. Proprietary system in a walled garden makes those who like to play feel imprisoned. Co-founder Steven Frank of the website Panic was one of them. He put out this statement:

I’ve reached a point where I can no longer just sit back and watch this. The iPhone ecosystem is toxic, and I can’t participate any more until it is fixed. As people have told me so many times: It’s Apple’s ballgame, and Apple gets to make the rules, and if I don’t like it, I can leave. So, I don’t like it, and I’m leaving.

The Google Voice application seemed to be the boiling point in the controversy. The biggest reason was because there was a possibility that AT&T wanted the app rejected. Whether that was true or not may never be discovered. If it was really true, then someone like the European Union or FTC should step in.

Now the FCC stepped in on the Google Voice issue. However, the FCC is about protecting rights on a communications level. The FTC protects consumer’s rights, or as the FTC puts it on their website:

-          seeks out and challenges anticompetitive conduct in the marketplace, including monopolization and agreements between competitors;

There are many ways that Apple is wading into murky water. If someone posed the right questions, you would have to inquire if they are making it tougher to compete on their platform – no differently than when Microsoft was accused back in the late 90’s. Therefore, we pose these questions – to think about – for Apple on the iPhone:

1. Why Safari and not another browser?

This is a quote from Jon Stephenson von Tetzchner, who created and is CEO of Opera, an alternative web browser:

“Mr. von Tetzchner said that Opera’s engineers have developed a version of Opera Mini that can run on an Apple iPhone, but Apple won’t let the company release it because it competes with Apple’s own Safari browser.”

If that is the case, then why do we have more than one version of the following applications? Cyclops, pic2shop and redlaser are some barcode scanning apps. Tweetdeck can run your Twitter account. Twitter Pro, Tweetie and TwiterFon are some other applications. Shazam and MusicID both identify music and artists.

Personally, I would rather see and use Firefox on the iPhone than Safari. I know that some Google fanatics would rather use Chrome. Won’t mention IE – Does anyone use that browser? Oh well, those that do would use IE6 anyway….

You might be fidgeting in your seat about using another browser – you like Safari and that is well and good. But look at it this way – Safari comes out with an update that causes a Carpet Bomb or similar issue. The only option you have is to wait for the patch to come out. In the smartphone market, iPhone has 84% of all sales in the last quarter.  With banking applications now being written, that is a lot of data you don’t want to have exposed to the public.

The EU should really look into this point. After all, they made Microsoft give people an option to uninstall IE on their Windows OS. How is this any different for Apple?

1. Why iPhone Mail and not another?

iPhone mail is not as great as I would like it to be. Sure, it can connect to Outlook and Exchange, as well as webmail clients like Google and Yahoo.  Still, it would be great to have the mail, calendar, notes and contacts merged together.  One button to rule them all.

Yet we have to suffer through the iPhone mail. Good thing it’s just a “snapshot” of your actual mail client.  I can still keep it on my servers to deal with at a later time.

1. How come the device can only sync to one computer?

I have a Desktop and a Laptop. I cannot natively set up iTunes to Sync with more than one device. If I do, the phone will delete items I have on it to put what is on the other machine.

There is a “hack” that can be done to fix this. Basically, you fool one iTunes to think it’s on the other computer. It works OK, however, if I set one to not sync music, the setting will move over to the other. There may be another “hack” to fix that – It’s still a hack though.

What is more disturbing? iTunes can easily delete your files – mainly music – but Apple should not have any control to the content on your phone. It’s no different than when Amazon retracted 1984 and Animal Farm from peoples’ Kindles. Even purchased music can get removed from the phone. At least you can get it back by syncing with the other machine I suppose.

There are other 3^rd party applications I can use for sync. Nonetheless, why should I have to use something that is not supported to function properly? When I had the Windows Mobile Phone, the ActiveSync feature would let me set up profiles on different machines. Then I could connect to more than one machine without fear of data loss.

1. Tonight there’s gonna be a Jailbreak.

I am not a fan of any phone that has to be tied to a certain network. At least the worry of “Bricking” the phone is not as much an issue as it was back in the v.1 days. Still – Apple could easily turn a phone into a useless device if they so choose to by a simple update.

In all fairness, the jailbreak issue needs to be addressed on all phones. If I buy a phone for $200-400, then don’t like the service – I cannot return the phone after 30 days. I want the phone on another plan – but can’t get that phone from that other service. That, in turn, keeps me stuck with a phone and waste of money.

So I HAVE to buy into a certain plan. I cannot choose to not have the data plan, for example. I  only have 2 options from AT&T – 450 or 900 minutes. It would have been nice to get a 700 minute plan and keep at the prices I was at with the old phone. Instead I will most likely have a ton of “Rollover” minutes. Minutes that expire if I change plans or “Default” on a payment. Nonetheless, I guess it’s just a good thing I don’t have to select a business plan – they have to pay more.  And yes, the minutes are more of an AT&T issue than Apple, but is the Data plan that way, too?

1. How is it that iTunes can multi-task and another application cannot?

This is the biggest issue I believe. 3^rd party iPhone applications can’t run in the background, yet programs like iTunes can.  And when it comes to smartphones, you just assume they can multi-task. Once again, my WinMo phone could.

I use Stitcher, a push application. While it will continue to play when the phone locks, it will not let me do something simple like check email or SMS.  I then have to restart the app to continue functionality.

I will play devils’ advocate for a second – with a 3^rd party app, a malware program could then easily run in the background without you knowing it. With this way the problem can keep a program from accessing your phone data. Yet, Apple should give some “trusted” applications the ability to become multi-task. They could even create a certification program to justify who gets to make apps that run in the background. Yet I still have to close Stitcher to check my mail, then open it back up.

There are other issues as well, but I think that these 5 are what needs to be addressed. I would expect that if Apples’ rumored “Social Media App” comes to fruition, there may be question as to the other social networks and the Apps that run. Especially if Apple’s social media application doesn’t give a warning about possible adult content.

I am not ready to give up my phone just yet – after all, I JUST got it. However, I am seeing and hearing other people talk about trying out the new Palm Pre, the Android and other smartphones that are not Apple. Even others work feverishly on jailbreaking the iPhone so you can get your desired functionality. But that comes with a price – no warranty support after a jailbreak. So I guess I’ll live in the walled garden – for now.

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OK, the website had some issues, THEN the Podcast computer acted up. OYE!… – Week 4 Summer of Podcasts & need people to talk to August 9th at the Podcast Carnivale – I hosted TPN Weekly this week – I did not participate on Podcampcity Online. This is why. – Show 100 is August 19th.

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I – S.U.N. (Straight Up News)
Intel SSD Faster – Also Cheaper
Medical iPhonejuana- I find two shops in the morning…
1984 on Kindle – No more eBook burning
Twitter Changes Movies – Siskel and Ebert
Foxconn Suicide – Wow.
Digg Bar Problem – Digging a hole through the earth…
No Black Wii – At least in US
Goodbye China – Sites go down
Vegas Goes WiMAX – Might be great for CES Coverage
reboot.fcc.gov
Safer to Drive Drunk – then cell phone use

II
-Apple Q2 Results – $900 Million Diffference from last year
-Microsoft Q2 Results – Thursday
–Microsoft off Soapbox
-Yahoo Q2 Results – Good, but not great
–Yahoo Revamps – Too little too late?
-TI Q2 – This is what matters

QOTW – Are Universal Chargers a Good Idea?

III
Palm Pre Returned – Defects on 1st gen Phone
Nebook Revolution – AT&T revamp
Why I am not Happy with AT&T

Extras:
ChiaKeyboard
Lightsaber Flashlight
USB Hellicopter
Microsofts’ Weirdest Patent

YouTubin
Twittaround

HP Technology Forum Videos – Backchannel
CES Videos – Geekazine
CMSExpo Videos – SDRNews

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According to Bloomberg News, the FCC reports that viewer ratings for stations that have already switched to digital only over-the-air broadcast signals have dropped nine per cent. Read the full story here.

Most stations are waiting for the June deadline, which Congress earlier this year pushed back from February.

I suspect that, whenever this goes down, some people are going to have problems. Delaying the switchover isn’t solving anything; it’s just delaying the problems.

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I agree with Jeffrey that postponing the switch to digital over-the-air broadcast television is foolish. Problems are inevitable This just postpones them.

I heard a report today that there are issues with closed captioning in the over-the-air digital signals. Here’s a news story. At the same time . . .

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Porn. It’s a 4 letter word. Maybe you would prefer “Adult Entertainment”? Like it or not, this little enterprise seems to drive our lives. We push it away, and it comes back even more. No matter what we do, the black sheep seems to re-arise. Is there any way we can control the beast on the internet?

Adult Entertainment has been around as long as people can remember. Whenever there was a medium for it, someone was there to try and make a buck. In the musical “Miss Saigon”, the Engineer used the girls so they all could benefit from American soldiers.

Early movies had their share of Back room films. An old, worn out film of a young lady dancing around the stage with no clothes on made some sick, but others were intrigued. It progressed to a slight mainstream area of the communities. Theatres showing X rated movies – some of them actually attempted to have a full story line with them. Yet, it’s still not something you want to take the kids to.

Enter in the Information age. People want it and they want it now. Same with sex – Now.

As computers grew, the Adult Industry did too. From the video poker machines in the bar that make the computer generated woman take her clothes off, the DVD with full interactivity to the people on a website sitting in front of the camera waiting to do whatever you tell them in the chat.

Last week I talked to a friend who used to go to CES. He mentioned  that the two used to go hand-in-hand. Since the Adult Industry put out the most software at the time, they had the most to show. Of course, that has changed, but is something to think about when we shun the industry.

The biggest problem, of course, is the fact that anyone can find anything anywhere. From the one computer stuffed with pictures downloaded from Limewire, to the online streaming of videos through certain video distribution softwares.

A person can go to www. Whatever the porn site is.com and even though they have to sign up to be a member and get the juicy pictures and video, they can still sit on the front page and see naked people either – sometimes already “doing the deed”.

China is cracking down on this by trying to curb the two instigating sites – Baidu and Google. Both are search engines. In China, porn is illegal – but with things like the Internet around, how do you curb it? Can you curb it?

Even if China can get Google and Baidu to block the content, there will be hundreds of other ways to get there. It’s like trying to dam the Pacific Ocean. You will need one pretty big wall to do so.

Then again, China likes to keep things under control. No porn, no blogging, don’t even try to step out of line.

Another interesting comment came up that made me think about this. I was talking to a friend that is close to IPTV and he said that Adult Entertainment on IPTV is what makes the most money. It would imply that if we didn’t Adult IPTV, then the providers wouldn’t bother because it wouldn’t be worth it.

Is this why the FCC decided to lift some of the restrictions on Free Broadband? They can easily hide behind constitutional rights – however instead they might be saying they want people to connect up to get to their favorite porn sites.

No matter what, Pornography will not just go away. It’s too profitable. Maybe that’s why Zack and Miri made one? Maybe that’s why people put “See my girlfriend naked” as a title on YouTube, then show us a video of their kid dancing to Prince?

Oh yeah. Good luck, China, in building that Dam.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (2.6MB)

This week, we have on the Panel Brandon Mendelson and David Schenberg. We had a great “Before CES” show. Of course, the first hour we talked about the big shows of MacWorld and CES. We went on to discuss the Twitter phishing issues.

Hour 2, brought in a lot of talk about Netbooks, Bai du and the Chinese target at Internet Porn, FCC easing up on Filtering rules and a whole lot more. Brandon and David kept up some great conversation as I was starting to loose it. But I got my composure back and continued on.

Here is the Video:

Hour 1

Hour 2
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