May 28, 2009 ("A digital economy requires fiber.")
"Simply put, a digital economy requires fiber."
-- Susan Crawford, National Economic Council
BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for THURSDAY MAY 28, 2009
GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
90 Day Review of Classifying Government Information
Rockefeller and Snowe on Cybersecurity Review
BROADBAND
A Broadband Strategy for Rural America
Obama adviser looks at U.S.-built broadband network
Stimulus A 'Potential Gold Mine' For Wireless Telecoms
Hints of a Tech Gold Mine in the Stimulus Package
Three million UK homes are Web "Notspots"
Best Buy to launch Internet fund
BROADCASTING/CABLE
Time Warner Is Set to Separate AOL
More Households Cut the Cord on Cable
FCC Releases June 3 Agenda: DTV Transition
3.1 Mil Households Still Unready for DTV
The TV Remote Gets An Overhaul As Entertainment Choices Multiply
WIRELESS
Netbooks, smart phones: Is more convergence ahead for mobiles?
iPhone can help autistic
AT&T says to double mobile data speeds by 2011
Recent Comments on:
Cable Industry Weighs Its Approach to Targeted Ads
GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
90 DAY REVIEW OF CLASSIFYING GOVERNMENT INFO
[SOURCE: The White House]
Following up a Jan. 21 memorandum on government transparency and the Freedom of Information Act, President Obama Wednesday told the heads of departments and agencies that within 90 days he expects to get recommendations and proposed revisions to policies on classifying information. The Administration is considering 1) establishing a National Declassification Center that would "bring appropriate agency officials together to perform collaborative declassification review under the administration of the Archivist of the United States" and 2) possibly restoring the presumption against classification, thereby "preclud[ing] classification of information where there is significant doubt about the need for such classification," as well as increasing accountability for the decision to classify.
http://benton.org/node/25566
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ROCKEFELLER AND SNOWE ON CYBERSECURITY REVIEW
[SOURCE: US Senate Commerce Committee]
Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John Rockefeller (D-WV) and Sen Olympia Snowe (R-ME) say the time for our government and the private sector to act in a coordinated fashion to combat cyber terror was yesterday. The are calling on the Obama Administration to: 1) Raise the profile of cybersecurity by establishing an Office of the National Cybersecurity Advisor within the Executive Office of the President. "This Advisor must serve as the lead official on all cyber matters reporting directly to the President and coordinating with the intelligence community, government agencies, Congress, and the private sector." the senators write. 2) Create state and regional cybersecurity centers to assist small and medium sized businesses in adopting cybersecurity measures. 3) Increase the federal cybersecurity research and development programs at the National Science Foundation (NSF), and requiring the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to establish measureable cybersecurity standards and best practices that are applicable both to government and the private sector. 4) Create a Cybersecurity Advisory Panel of experts from industry, academia, and non-profit advocacy and civil liberty organizations to review and advise the President. 5) Require the President's Cyber Advisor to put civil liberties protections front and center. 6) Clarify the President's authority to protect cyber systems in the face of an attack or imminent high-level threat to national security.
http://benton.org/node/25554
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BROADBAND
A BROADBAND STRATEGY FOR RURAL AMERICA
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission]
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Michael Copps released a report Wednesday providing a starting point for the development of policies to deliver broadband to rural areas and restore economic growth and opportunity for Americans residing and working in those areas. The report identifies common problems affecting rural broadband, including technological challenges, lack of data, and high network costs, and offers some recommendations to address those problems. The report includes a number of recommendations, including: enhancing coordination among and between federal, Tribal, state, and community agencies, governments and organizations; reviewing existing federal programs to identify barriers to rural broadband deployment; coordinating broadband program terminology consistent with current laws; coordinating data collection and mapping efforts at the federal, Tribal, and state levels to better inform the public and policymakers; supporting consumer education and training initiatives to stimulate and sustain broadband demand; and identifying important policies and proceedings that support further broadband deployment such as universal service and network openness. The report also recognizes that the new administration has already taken important steps to improve coordination efforts and to prioritize broadband initiatives.
http://benton.org/node/25560
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CRAWFORD LOOKS AT US-BUILT BROADBAND NETWORK
[SOURCE: CongressDaily, AUTHOR: David Hatch]
Susan Crawford -- special assistant to the president for science, technology and innovation policy -- is touting the idea of spending tens of billions of dollars in public funds to build a nationwide, state-of-the-art broadband network featuring speeds 100 times faster than today's technology. She noted she's "personally intrigued" by an ambitious plan by Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd. His plan proposes a public-private partnership that would invest up to $33 billion over eight years to build and operate a fiber-optic broadband network reaching 90 percent of homes and workplaces. Wireless and satellite technology would be used to reach the remaining 10 percent in the outback. Proponents of Australia's program argue that the government-subsidized network promises myriad opportunities for online businesses and enhancements to energy efficiency, media distribution and public safety. A chief concern here is that a public broadband network would be costly -- upward of $430 billion. While consumers would benefit from the increased competition and lower monthly rates, they would foot the bill through tax dollars. As the Federal Communications Commission prepares a national broadband strategy to be presented to Congress by Feb. 17, there's already speculation that the agency -- at the prodding of the White House -- will give serious thought to adapting Australia's model for the United States.
http://benton.org/node/25559
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STIMULUS A 'POTENTIAL GOLD MINE' FOR WIRELESS TELECOMS
[SOURCE: InformationWeek, AUTHOR: W. David Gardner]
Market research firm ABI Research predicts wireless equipment vendors will reap significant benefits from the American Recovery and Reinvestment ACT (ARRA) and the benefits will flow out beyond infrastructure providers to aid specific vertical industries. It will have an enormous impact on Wi-Fi and wireless broadband vendors. It will also immediately benefit a number of specific vertical industries including healthcare, education, homeland security, the environment, and the nation's electricity infrastructure." In health care, ABI predicts a mix of Wi-Fi-enabled mobile devices, sensors, and communications systems will link health networks, while in education, providers will promote a brace of opportunities, including wireless LANs for "learning anywhere," voice over Wi-Fi, and other equipment and software to track "No Child Left Behind" record keeping. ABI points to the Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Customs and Border Protection operations as "potential gold mines" for wireless providers.
http://benton.org/node/25558
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HINT OF A TECH GOLD MINE IN THE STIMULUS PACKAGE
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Steve Lohr]
The headline technology winners in the government's economic stimulus package have been electronic health records and smart grids, where computing is front and center. Many billions have been pledged to these obviously high-tech fields. Yet a far larger flow of money into information technology may eventually come from state and local governments as part of a vast array of stimulus-package investment projects, according to Joaquin Gonzalez, director of research for CivicUS, which advises state and local governments. Gonzalez estimates that between $250 billion and $300 billion of the stimulus funding is targeted for state and local government projects intended to modernize and improve the efficiency of public services. This is not money, he says, to plug budget gaps, but for investments designed to make local government work smarter. In doing so, Gonzalez calculates, as much as one-third of that total will be spent on information technology projects, often involving the Web, to streamline and improve the delivery of public services and information to citizens.
http://benton.org/node/25557
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THREE MILLION UK HOMES ARE WEB "NOTSPOTS"
[SOURCE: Reuters, AUTHOR: Michael Holden]
About 15 percent of homes in Britain have Internet broadband access under 2 Megabits per second (Mb), the minimum speed envisaged by the government for the whole country, research shows. In January, communications minister Lord Carter said the government intended to ensure universal broadband access through a mixture of fixed and wireless connections by 2012 to make Britain more competitive and help drag it out of recession. Currently, around 60 percent of the country takes broadband, while some 99 percent has access to it. However, preliminary research by broadband performance website SamKnows on behalf of the BBC found that as many three million homes had Internet connectivity under 2 Mb.
http://benton.org/node/25555
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BEST BUY TO LAUNCH INTERNET FUND
[SOURCE: Financial Times, AUTHOR: Kenneth Li]
Best Buy, the largest US consumer electronics retailer, will launch an investment fund managed by former and current News Corp Internet veterans that will focus on digital media as it seeks to expand beyond brick and mortar stores. The retailer, which invested $2.1bn to launch a joint venture with the UK's Carphone Warehouse last year, purchased the Napster online music subscription service in 2008 for $121m and aims to invest deeper into the music, video, games and "personal media management" businesses.
http://benton.org/node/25562
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BROADCASTING/CABLE
TIME WARNER IS SET TO SEPARATE AOL
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Shira Ovide]
Time Warner is set to announce a separation of its America Online (AOL) division as soon as today. Time Warner Chief Executive Jeff Bewkes has signaled for months that Time Warner was likely to move forward without the Internet unit, and the company said last month it expected to spin off all or parts of the business. On Thursday, Time Warner's board is expected to meet and approve a separation of AOL into an independent company, although the structure of the transaction hasn't been finalized, according to the people familiar with the matter.
http://benton.org/node/25565
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MORE HOUSEHOLDS CUT THE CORD ON CABLE
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Christopher Lawton]
Amid tighter budgets, more people are trying to save money by cutting their cable cords. In response, cable companies are beginning to experiment with new Internet services. In what's shaping up as the home-entertainment equivalent of severing a landline phone service, more people are joining the ranks of "cord cutters" by forgoing cable subscriptions that can run $60 or more a month. Instead, they're turning to free over-the-air high-definition television channels and video-game consoles, such as Playstation 3 and XBox 360. They're also watching Internet-connected TV sets, paying a basic high-speed Internet fee of about $45, as well as set-top boxes from companies like Netflix Inc. Some are also using media browsers that they can download free and run on PCs, providing access to TV shows, movies and other content directly from the Web. The number of cable cutters remains too small to threaten the pay-television industry. Still, large cable companies such as Comcast Corp. and Time Warner Cable Inc. are noticing that people are spending more time online.
http://benton.org/node/25564
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FCC RELEASES JUNE 3 AGENDA: DTV
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission]
The Federal Communications Commission will hold an Open Meeting on Wednesday, June 3, 2009. The meeting will include presentations and discussion by agency officials as well as industry, consumer groups and others involved in the Digital Television Transition. A list of presenters will be released prior to the meeting
http://benton.org/node/25553
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3.1 MILLION HOUSEHOLDS STILL UNREADY FOR DTV
[SOURCE: TVWeek, AUTHOR: Vlada Gelman]
Nielsen estimates that 3.1 million US households are still not ready for the June 12 transition to digital-only television broadcasting, down from 3.3 million two weeks ago.
http://benton.org/node/25552
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THE TV REMOTE GETS AN OVERHAUL AS ENTERTAINMENT CHOICES MULTIPLY
[SOURCE: Multichannel News, AUTHOR: Todd Spangler]
With hundreds of linear channels, gigabytes of digital video recordings, thousands of video-on-demand options and potentially soon millions of Internet TV clips available to viewers, ye olde remote ain't gonna cut it. "We need better devices to get through that large plethora of choices," said Comcast senior vice president of user experience and product design Gerard Kunkel. Futuristic versions of the remote abound in the lab. Updated versions will be in viewers' homes this year.
http://benton.org/node/25551
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WIRELESS
NETBOOKS, SMART PHONES: IS MORE CONVERGENCE AHEAD FOR MOBILES?
[SOURCE: The Christian Science Monitor, AUTHOR: Gregory Lamb]
While cellphones and computers in general have suffered sales setbacks recently, high-end smart phones and low-end netbook computers remain two of the hottest electronic devices on the market. Might the gap between them someday be filled by a device that combines the best of each? In some ways, the two products are already beginning to merge. The cost is becoming similar, with the priciest smart phones now more expensive than the cheapest netbooks (about $300). Wireless carriers are beginning to add netbook plans, plunging the cost of a netbook with a service plan to as low as $50, similar to discounted phones if users sign up for a contract. Manufacturers are beginning to put smart-phone chips and operating systems, such as Google's Android, into netbooks. Meanwhile, netbook manufacturers such as Asustek are planning to make smart phones. Both products are trying to satisfy the same need "to have something small, portable, and inexpensive with you that is always connected" to the Internet, says Rob Enderle, principal analyst at the Enderle Group. But a big gap in size remains. Netbooks fit in a large purse or a backpack, but not a pocket. That is leading to speculation that a company such as Apple might step in with a mid-sized "tablet" or "iPod-plus" device as early as next month.
http://benton.org/node/25561
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IPHONE CAN HELP AUTISTIC
[SOURCE: USAToday, AUTHOR: Greg Toppo]
It's a largely untold story of Apple's popular audio devices. It is not known how many specialized apps are out there, but Apple touts a handful on iTunes, among them ones that help users do American Sign Language and others like Proloquo2Go, which helps the autistic communicate. The app also aids children and adults with Down syndrome, cerebral palsy and Lou Gehrig's Disease, or ALS — even stroke patients who have lost the ability to speak, says its co-developer, Penn State doctoral student Samuel Sennott. Using the iPhone and Touch allows developers to democratize a system that has relied on devices that were too expensive or difficult to customize, Sennott says. "I love people being able to get it at Best Buy," he says. "That's just a dream." He also says that for an autistic child, the ability to whip out an iPhone and talk to friends brings "this very hard-to-quantify cool factor."
http://benton.org/node/25563
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AT&T SAYS TO DOUBLE MOBILE DATA SPEEDS BY 2011
[SOURCE: Reuters, AUTHOR: Sinead Carew]
AT&T said on Wednesday it would double its wireless data network speeds as part of an upgrade that it aims to kick off later this year and complete in 2011. The second biggest U.S. mobile service said its plan, which includes the expansion of its existing wireless data network from 350 metropolitan areas to 370 this year, would be covered by its previously announced capital spending budget of $17 billion to $18 billion for 2009. The increase to its mobile Web surfing speeds involves an upgrade of a network technology known as High Speed Packet Access (HSPA) that AT&T already uses. The upgrade is expected to increase AT&T's theoretical network speed to 7.2 megabits per second from current levels of 3 megabits per second. However, actual network speeds can vary hugely once a network is loaded with customers. AT&T said it would have multiple laptop network cards and smartphones available to take advantage of the upgrade later this year.
http://benton.org/node/25556
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