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October 2009

Federal Communication Commission
Friday, October 23, 2009
9:30 to 11:00 AM
http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-293952A1.doc

The Federal Communication Commission has "upgraded and enhanced" its Electronic Comment Filing System (ECFS) and will present the changes at a public forum at FCC Headquarters on Friday, October 23, from 9:30 to 11:00 AM. The presentation will be held in the Commission Meeting Room. With the 2.0 upgrade, ECFS will including many new features, including fully Section 508 compliance; the ability for users to file multiple documents to multiple rulemakings in a single submission; advanced search and query of rulemakings; ability to extract comments; RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds; and the ability to export data results to Excel or PDF formats. The FCC will hold a public presentation on Friday, October 23, from 9:30 to 11:00 AM in the Commission Hearing Room to provide information about the upgraded system and to give citizens an opportunity to discuss the future uses and capabilities of the FCC's comment filing system. The presentation will be conducted by Bill Cline, Chief of the Reference Information Center.


Thursday, October 15, 2009 At 10:00 AM
2123 Rayburn House Office Building

Open Markup Session To Consider:

  • H.R. 2994, The Satellite Home Viewer Reauthorization Act
  • H.R. 1147, The Local Community Radio Act Of 2009
  • H.R. 3633, The Public Safety Interoperable Communications Grant Program Extension Act Of 2009

Bringing Broadband to Rural America: Report on a Rural Broadband Strategy

Federal Communications Commission
May 27, 2009

Concluding that all rural Americans must have the opportunity to reap the full benefits of broadband services, Acting Federal Communications Commission Chairman Michael J. Copps released a report today 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.

Recognizing that the need for broadband in rural America is becoming ever-more critical, Congress in the 2008 Farm Bill required the FCC Chairman, in coordination with the Secretary of the Department of Agriculture, to submit a report to Congress describing a rural broadband strategy. Entitled "," the report by Acting Chairman Copps identifies common problems affecting rural broadband, including technological challenges, lack of data, and high network costs, and offers some recommendations to address those problems.

Broadband "is the interstate highway of the 21st century for small towns and rural communities, the vital connection to the broader nation and, increasingly, the global economy," Acting Chairman Copps said in the report. "Our nation as a whole will prosper and benefit from a concerted effort to bring broadband to rural America."

Consistent with the statute's provisions to make recommendations concerning improving inter-agency coordination, 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.

In the report, Acting Chairman Copps notes that Congress has provided new direction and support for federal broadband policies and initiatives, in particular through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. In addition to providing $7.2 billion for broadband grants, loans and loan guarantees administered by the Agriculture and Commerce departments, that law charges the FCC with developing a national broadband plan by next February.

Home Broadband Adoption 2009

Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project
John Horrigan
June 17, 2009

An April 2009 survey by the Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project shows 63% of adult Americans now have broadband internet connections at home, a 15% increases from a year earlier. April's level of high-speed adoption represents a significant jump from figures gathered by the Project since the end of 2007 (54%).

The growth in home broadband adoption occurred even though survey respondents reported paying more for broadband compared to May 2008. Last year, the average monthly bill for broadband internet service at home was $34.50, a figure that stands at $39.00 in April 2009.

Broadband Internet's Value for Rural America

US Department of Agriculture
Economic Research Service
Peter Stenberg, Mitch Morehart, Stephen Vogel, John Cromartie, Vince Breneman, and Dennis Brown
August 2009

The Internet has become widely, but not universally, available. Two-thirds of U.S. adults had in-home Internet access by 2008. Rural businesses and consumers have become almost as likely as their urban counterparts to use the Internet, though broadband—or high-speed—access is less prevalent in rural areas than in more densely populated areas. The 2008 Farm Act reauthorized USDA's telemedicine, distance learning, and rural broadband access grant and loan programs.

What Is the Issue?
Broadband access is viewed as necessary to fully utilize the Internet's potential. As the Internet economy has matured, more applications now require higher data transmission rates, even in the case of simple shopping websites. In a recessionary economy a number of Internet activities—including job searches and home businesses—may become more critical for households. Whereas an estimated 55 percent of U.S. adults had broadband access at home in 2008, only 41 percent of adults in rural households had broadband access. Evidence suggests that some of this shortfall in broadband use is involuntary, and may be due to the higher cost of broadband provision or lower returns to broadband investment in sparsely populated areas.

What Did the Study Find?
Analysis suggests that rural economies benefi t generally from broadband availability. In comparing counties that had broadband access relatively early (by 2000) with similarly situated counties that had little or no broadband access as of 2000, employment growth was higher and nonfarm private earnings greater in counties with a longer history of broadband availability.

By 2007, most households (82 percent) with in-home Internet access had a broadband connection. A marked difference exists, however, between urban and rural broadband use—only 70 percent of rural households with in-home Internet access had a broadband connection in 2007, compared with 84 percent of urban households. The rural-urban difference in in-home broadband adoption among households with similar income levels refl ects the more limited availability of broadband in rural settings.

Areas with low population size, locations that have experienced persistent population loss and an aging population, or places where population is widely dispersed over demanding terrain generally have diffi culty attracting broadband service providers. These characteristics can make the fi xed cost of providing broadband access too high, or limit potential demand, thus depressing the profi tability of providing service. Clusters of lower service exist in sparsely populated areas, such as the Dakotas, eastern Montana, northern Minnesota, and eastern Oregon. Other low-service areas, such as the Missouri-Iowa border and Appalachia, have aging and declining numbers of residents. Nonetheless, rural areas in some States (such as Nebraska, Kansas, and Vermont) have higher-than expected broadband service, given their population characteristics, suggesting that policy, economic, and social factors can overcome common barriers to broadband expansion.

In general, rural America has shared in the growth of the Internet economy. Online course offerings for students in primary, secondary, post-secondary, and continuing education programs have improved educational opportunities, especially in small, isolated rural areas. And interaction among students, parents, teachers, and school administrators has been enhanced via online forums, which is especially signifi cant given the importance of ongoing parental involvement in children's education.

Telemedicine and telehealth have been hailed as vital to health care provision in rural communities, whether simply improving the perception of locally provided health care quality or expanding the menu of medical services. More accessible health information, products, and services confer real economic benefi ts on rural communities: reducing transportation time and expenses, treating emergencies more effectively, reducing time missed at work, increasing local lab and pharmacy work, and savings to health facilities from outsourcing specialized medical procedures. One study of 24 rural hospitals placed the annual cost of not having telemedicine at $370,000 per hospital.

Most employment growth in the U.S. over the last several decades has been in the service sector, a sector especially conducive for broadband applications. Broadband allows rural areas to compete for low- and high-end service jobs, from call centers to software development, but does not guarantee that rural communities will get them.

Rural businesses have been adopting more e-commerce and Internet practices, improving effi ciency and expanding market reach. Some rural retailers use the Internet to satisfy supplier requirements. The farm sector, a pioneer in rural Internet use, is increasingly comprised of farm businesses that purchase inputs and make sales online. Farm household characteristics such as age, education, presence of children, and household income are signifi cant factors in adopting broadband Internet use, whereas distance from urban centers was not a factor. Larger farm businesses are more apt to use broadband in managing their operation; the more multifaceted the farm business, the more the farm used the Internet.

Broadband Quality Study 2009


A global study of broadband quality

Said Business School, University of Oxford
Universidad de Oviedo
Sponsored by Cisco
September 2009

The results of the second annual global study on the quality of broadband connections released today reveal that 62 out of the 66 countries analyzed had improved the quality of consumer broadband services since last year. However, new data from the study highlights the extent of the digital quality divide between urban and rural areas and, for the first time, compares the quality of fixed and mobile broadband services.

Highlights / Key Facts:

Overall average broadband quality increased across the globe:

  • Global average download throughput increased by 49% to 4.75 Megabits per second (Mbps)
  • Global average upload throughput increased by 69% to 1.3 Mbps
  • Global average latency decreased by 21% to 170

South Korea tops the 2009 Broadband Leadership table

South Korea rose just above last year's broadband quality leader Japan with a 72% improvement in its Broadband Quality Score (BQS). This improvement has been driven by continuous efforts by the government to strengthen the country's position as one of the world's ICT leaders. Combined with higher broadband penetration, South Korea rises above Japan in the global Broadband Leadership rankings.

Japan stands out as having the cities with the highest BQS in the world, with Yokohama and Nagoya leading the BQS rankings and Sapporo not far behind.

Sweden has the highest quality broadband in Europe. It is rapidly catching up with Japan and South Korea as its BQS improves 38% from 2008. Sweden is the most successful country in closing the broadband quality gap with residents outside the most populated cities enjoying better quality than those in the cities.

Lithuania, Bulgaria and Latvia come just behind Sweden in quality boosted by recent city-based fibre rollouts and cable improvements but low broadband penetration means these countries have yet to break into the broadband leaders' category.

39 countries have a BQS above the threshold required to deliver a consistent quality of experience for the most common web applications today, such as social networking, streaming low-definition video, web communications and sharing small files such as photos and music.

Nine countries, South Korea, Japan, Sweden, Lithuania, Bulgaria, Latvia, The Netherlands, Denmark and Romania, were found to have the broadband quality required for future web applications, such as high definition Internet TV viewing and high-quality video communications (such as home telepresence) that will become mainstream in the next 3 to 5 years. In 2008, only Japan exceeded this threshold.

The research compares countries according to their stage of economic development:

  • Amongst the developed, innovation-driven economies, South Korea achieved the greatest improvement in broadband quality over the past year with a 73% increase in BQS. Sweden, the USA and the Czech Republic also saw significant above average improvements.
  • Amongst efficiency-driven economies, Bulgaria topped the most improved list with a 57% increase in BQS from 2009. Lithuania, Romania and Latvia also achieved above average improvements.
  • Amongst factor-driven economies, Kenya actually trebled its BQS but the overall score for Kenya remains well below the threshold required for today's applications. Vietnam and Qatar followed Kenya as having made the most progress in broadband quality for countries in this stage of economic development.

The research team compared the difference between the BQS in the most populated cities with the BQS in the rest of the country. Although a digital quality divide was found in the majority of countries, 13 countries showed significant differences in BQS between its major cities and the rest of the country. Lithuania, Russia and Latvia had the biggest digital quality divide, while rural residents in Sweden, United Arab Emirates and Iceland enjoyed similar, if not slightly higher quality broadband services than their city counterparts.

The country with the highest broadband quality outside of its major cities was Japan, followed by Korea and Sweden.

The study also included data on the quality of mobile broadband services for the first time. On average, mobile devices connecting to WiFi services meet the broadband quality threshold required for today's mobile Internet applications. The average BQS of 3G and 3G+ technologies do not currently meet the threshold due to low upload throughput.

Senate Commerce Committee
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
02:30 PM
SR - 253

Witnesses

The Honorable Ray LaHood
Secretary
U.S. Department of Transportation

Julius Genachowski
Chairman
Federal Communications Commission


Oct 14, 2009 (GOP Senators Criticize FCC's Net Neutrality Guidelines)

BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 14, 2009

Ever wonder how many topics we cover in Headlines? See http://bit.ly/LOtvI and check out all the RSS feeds.


GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
   Why Declaring War on Fox News Could Be a Mistake for Obama
   Abdicating on a cyber czar?

NETWORK NEUTRALITY
   GOP Senators Criticize FCC's Net Neutrality Guidelines
   Comcast, the biggest threat to free speech since Nixon
   Broadband Opportunity Coalition Has Questions About Impact of Net Neutrality
   FCC Chief Seeks Broad Open-Internet Rules
   Smartphones weigh on mobile networks
   The Coming Mobile Meltdown

INTERNET/BROADBAND
   Can the Public Have a say in Broadband Stimulus Grants?
   Connecting Anchor Institutions -- Linchpin to National Broadband Plan?
   Natural Born Clickers

WIRELESS
   Mobile-phone access will soon be universal. The next task is to do the same for the Internet
   Cisco buys wireless Web firm for $2.9 billion
   FCC Considers Ways to Simplify Cellphone Bills
   Give Work App Lets You Do Good Anywhere

HEALTH
   Health Care Ripe to Join the Technology Revolution
   Support in Senate for cellphone driving ban
   Analysis of cellphone studies finds tumor risk

ECONOMICS
   Goodbye, Macroeconomics
   Tech firms are enjoying their economic stimulus

JOURNALISM
   Shrinking Newspapers Have Created $1.6 Billion News Deficit

MORE ONLINE ...
   Levy Foundation Helps Archives to Go Online
   Google Looks For Higher Ed Liaison
   California appears poised to be first to ban power-guzzling big-screen TVs
   Afghanistan Tops the Week's News

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GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS

WHY DECLARING WAR ON FOX NEWS COULD BE A MISTAKE FOR OBAMA
[SOURCE: New York, AUTHOR: Chris Rovzar]
[Commentary] Over the weekend, White House communications director Anita Dunn announced the official beginning of the Obama administration's war with Fox News. Of course, the battle has been openly brewing for months now. Even during the campaign, Obama's team gave up on sending surrogates to the network. "It was beyond diminishing returns," Dunn told the New York Times. "It was no returns." But now the war is out in the open. "We're going to treat them the way we would treat an opponent," she told the paper. "As they are undertaking a war against Barack Obama and the White House, we don't need to pretend that this is the way that legitimate news organizations behave." Yesterday on CNN, she clarified: "Fox News often operates almost as either the research arm or the communications arm of the Republican Party." The White House's logic seems to be that there's no point in trying to be fairly portrayed on Fox News. Even if they send administration officials to try and reason with its hosts and viewers, the way the information gets presented eliminates any net benefit. (Especially when hosts like Glenn Beck make up facts and present them as sincere truth — the Times cited a moment when even fellow Fox reporters were angered that Beck claimed Fox White House correspondent Major Garrett was "never called on" in the briefing room, when he had in fact been called on that very day.) It's also helpful to have a foil to fight against. In the continuing effort to portray tea partiers and birthers and the like as a sort of faux-patriotic lunatic fringe, the act of isolating Fox is an easy way to draw some lines in the sand.
benton.org/node/28770 | New York Magazine
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ABDICATING ON A CYBER CZAR?
[SOURCE: Los Angeles Times, AUTHOR: James Zirin]
[Commentary] In May, President Obama completed his long-awaited "cyberspace policy review," concluding that cyberspace is a strategic asset that must be safeguarded from attack as a national security priority. So why hasn't the president appointed a new cyber czar to monitor and, if indicated, secure the electronic highway from attack? His staff said he is looking for just the right person, and that takes time. The problem is that we don't have much time. [James D. Zirin is a New York lawyer and member of the Council on Foreign Relations.]
benton.org/node/28777 | Los Angeles Times
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NETWORK NEUTRALITY

GOP SENATORS CRITICIZE FCC'S NET NEUTRALITY GUIDELINES
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
Eighteen Republican Senators have sent Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski a letter saying a plan to launch a proceeding concerning Network Neutrality rules is partisan, unsupported by data and could adversely impact broadband speeds and deployment. They say that Chairman Genachowski's proposal to codify and expand network openness guidelines and apply them to wireless broadband appears to be "outcome driven." The charge is a direct challenge to the chairman's avowed policy of letting data drive decisions. The senators said the proposed rules, which have not been released yet, "seem to emanate from a fear that there may be some problems related to openness 'in the future," and counter that it would be burdensome and chilling to the private-sector investment they say has been driving choice and competition. In addition to the letter from the 18, Ranking Senate Commerce Committee Member Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX) has sent a letter to Chairman Genachowski outlining her concerns including the necessity of intervention, the impact of the rules on investment, any potential unintended consequences and "fair application." She questioned if the FCC already had the authority to enforce its four Internet access principles why it is necessary to conduct a rulemaking that could create "uncertainty, which in turn will discourage or at least delay planned investment in critical infrastructure." She requested a reply by October 21; the FCC plans to vote on launching the network neutrality proceeding the next day.
benton.org/node/28772 | Broadcasting&Cable | Read the letter | Washington Post | B&C -- Hutchison
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COMCAST, THE BIGGEST THREAT TO FREE SPEECH SINCE NIXON
[SOURCE: The New Republic, AUTHOR: Jeffrey Rosen]
[Commentary] You might think that a decision to block the King James Bible would violate the First Amendment, or at least raise important constitutional concerns. But, if Comcast, a private company, is blocking a particular technology, rather than discriminating against particular speakers, there's no state action and no obvious peg for a First Amendment lawsuit. That's why the Federal Communications Commission is crucial to shaping the future of free speech. Under the proposed FCC net-neutrality principles, broadband operators like Comcast can't "discriminate against particular Internet content or applications" and will have to be transparent about their network-management practices.
benton.org/node/28769 | New Republic, The
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BROADBAND OPPORTUNITY COALITION HAS QUESTIONS ABOUT IMPACT OF NET NEUTRALITY
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
The Urban League, the Asian American Justice Center, the League of United Latin American Citizens and La Raza have sent a letter to Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski in support of President Barack Obama's vision of an open Internet and the "equally essential goal" of closing the digital divide. But, they wrote, "If the history of civil rights in America teaches us anything," they said, "it is that facially neutral laws and regulations are not always applied neutrally to the constituencies we represent. We certainly don't want that to happen to Internet regulation too, and we're very concerned that, despite your very best intentions, some aspects of net neutrality might not turn out to be neutral as applied to our constituencies." They added, "What we were hoping is that in the early part of the proposed rulemaking process, questions will be included that will ask the public for comment on these questions that relate to the civil rights of broadband policy, which are often overlooked and it is better to catch them earlier than later."
benton.org/node/28774 | Broadcasting&Cable
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FCC CHIEF SEEKS BROAD OPEN-INTERNET RULES
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Amy Schatz]
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski is proposing that the agency apply tougher open Internet rules broadly, raising concerns of cable and phone companies and some lawmakers that the government could try to control efforts to offer products such as digital cable or premium business services. Genachowski's proposal suggests everything in the Internet pipe is covered by rules prohibiting discrimination against any legal Internet traffic, known as Network Neutrality, unless the agency says otherwise, according to FCC officials familiar with a draft circulating in the agency. Internet providers could seek exemptions for so-called premium managed services, like private corporate data networks or pay-TV services, which require guaranteed levels of data speed. Phone and cable companies worry Chairman Genachowski is trying to turn their broadband lines into "dumb pipes" of Internet data, instead of highly segmented and managed lines that allow them to offer different sorts of services -- at different prices -- to customers. "We haven't seen the rules yet, so we can't comment on specifics, but we hope the FCC shares our appreciation for the complexity and the societal importance of managed services," said Walter McCormick, president of USTelecom, the phone-industry trade group. "Obviously the more prescriptive the government's approach, the less innovation will be available for consumers."
benton.org/node/28783 | Wall Street Journal
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SMARTPHONES WEIGH ON MOBILE NETWORKS
[SOURCE: Reuters, AUTHOR: Tarmo Virki]
A smartphone generates much less mobile data traffic than a laptop with a data card, but phones impose a load on the network which is much larger than anticipated, a study by technology firm Airvana shows. A boom in mobile data traffic -- boosted by laptops and smartphones -- is putting unprecedented stress on wireless networks around the world. Delivering the same amount of data, a smartphone typically generates eight times the network signalling load of a laptop with a data card.
benton.org/node/28784 | Reuters
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THE COMING MOBILE MELTDOWN
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Holman Jenkins Jr]
[Commentary] Jenkins suspects the "biggest political scrum in the near future won't be over classic net neutrality at all—it will be a battle over usage-based pricing, which is one of the few ways to keep excessive demand in check." Data collector AdMob reports that mobile Web page requests grew 9% from July to August -- a 180% annual growth rate. And Motorola recently went public with worries that a handful of mobile Slingbox users (a video streaming device) could wipe out cell service in a whole neighborhood. This is a mobile meltdown in the making. Freeing up spectrum and speeding cell phone tower construction are "sensible" efforts for Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski, "superintending a false panic about wireless net neutrality isn't." The Obama administration should at least focus on three ways to help, Jenkins concludes: Free up more spectrum, sit on its hands when mobile phone operators begin to do the merger dance, and relax about network neutrality.
benton.org/node/28782 | Wall Street Journal
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INTERNET/BROADBAND

CAN THE PUBLIC HAVE A SAY IN BROADBAND STIMULUS GRANTS?
[SOURCE: App-Rising.com, AUTHOR: Geoff Daily]
[Commentary] After the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, the Rural Utilities Service and the states complete their initial reviews of broadband stimulus applications, why not release a list of finalists and solicit input from the public? The NTIA and RUS could collect a lot of good feedback from the public about these projects: the good, the bad, and the ugly. Not only would this provide some cover for the hard decisions NTIA and RUS have to make, but it would also give the public some way to contribute and feel better informed and more involved with this process.
benton.org/node/28771 | App-Rising.com
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LINCHPIN TO NATIONAL BROADBAND STRATEGY?
[SOURCE: Fighting the Next Good Fight, AUTHOR: Craig Settles]
[Commentary] Does wiring 98,400, or 80% of all U.S. anchor institutions, that lack broadband Internet access make good business sense? Yes. It should be the core for our National Broadband Plan, as well as a central strategic objective for those applying for stimulus grants. In one fell swoop you resolve three critical issues: financially sustaining the network, fostering economic development and generating widespread broadband adoption. If your ultimate objective is to create a communitywide broadband network, then these institutions have to become anchor tenants that actually pay for network services. In many underserved rural and urban areas, low population density and/or low income make it difficult to get enough individual subscribers to pay for a network's operating expenses even when the network is built mainly on grant money. If you look at successful networks already in place, anchor tenants collectively produce most of the revenue because each one spends more per month for services (maybe $1,000, $2,000/month or more) to replace older slower communication technologies, and capitalize on new computing technologies.
benton.org/node/28768 | Fighting the Next Good Fight
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NATURAL BORN CLICKERS
[SOURCE: comScore, AUTHOR: Press release]
The number of people who click on display ads in a month has fallen from 32 percent of Internet users in July 2007 to only 16 percent in March 2009, with an even smaller core of people (representing 8 percent of the Internet user base) accounting for the vast majority (85 percent) of all clicks. The original research, conducted using July 2007 comScore data, showed that 32 percent of Internet users clicked on at least one display ad during the month. These clickers were segmented into Heavy, Moderate and Light Clicking segments based on the group of users accounting for the top 50 percent of clicks (heavy), middle 30 percent (moderate), and bottom 20 percent (light). In 2007, comScore, Starcom and Tacoda found that heavy clickers represented 6 percent of U.S. Internet users, moderate clickers accounted for 10 percent and light clickers accounted for 16 percent. By March 2009, those numbers had dropped substantially in each case, to 4 percent of Internet users for heavy clickers, 4 percent for moderate clickers and 8 percent for light clickers. The results underscore the notion that, for most display ad campaigns, the click-through is not the most appropriate metric for evaluating campaign performance. Rather, advertisers should consider evaluating campaigns based on their view-through impact. comScore has conducted more than 200 client studies demonstrating that online display ads generate significant lift in brand site visitation, trademark search, and both online and offline sales among those Internet users who were exposed to the online ad campaigns ­ whether they clicked on the ad or not.
benton.org/node/28762 | comScore | MediaPost
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WIRELESS

MOBILE-PHONE ACCESS WILL SOON BE UNIVERSAL. THE NEXT TASK IS TO DO THE SAME FOR THE INTERNET
[SOURCE: The Economist, AUTHOR: ]
Global mobile cellular teledensity (the number of phones per 100 people) could surpass 100% within the next decade. 3G networks capable of broadband speeds will be widespread even in developing countries, and even faster 4G networks will be spreading rapidly in some places. Then what? The next task is to ensure that everyone who wants to can use mobile technology to access the Internet. Like many in the industry, he predicts that this will be done using low-cost laptops, or netbooks, connecting to the Internet via mobile networks. Mobile broadband will become a global phenomenon -- it will be the dominant form of broadband. There could be 1.4 billion mobile-broadband subscribers by 2014.
benton.org/node/28767 | Economist, The
   Also see: Cisco buys wireless Web firm for $2.9 billion
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FCC CONSIDERS WAY TO SIMPLIFY CELLPHONE BILLS
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Mary Pilon]
If consumer advocates get their way, deconstructing that monthly cellphone bill could become a lot easier. Comments are filing in to the Federal Communications Commission's request for input on simplifying wireless bills. The deadline comes amid a thicket of consumer-focused fee news, from credit cards to overdraft fees. Consumer advocates are arguing for more transparency in billing, both when shopping around for plans and for existing mobile subscribers. Filing comment Tuesday is BillShrink.com, a site that analyzes the fine print of credit card bills and user profiles to find the cheapest cellphone plan. The average consumer overspends $300 on her cellphone plan a year, Schwark Satyavolu, BillShrink's co-founder and president, said. In the last five months, the site has found $800 million in potential savings on cellphone plans.
benton.org/node/28773 | Wall Street Journal
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GIVE WORK APP LETS YOU DO GOOD ANYWHERE
[SOURCE: GigaOm, AUTHOR: Jennifer Martinez]
Two San Francisco-based startups — Samasource and CrowdFlower — today released a free iPhone application in the iTunes App Store called Give Work that lets you spend a few seconds of your time helping Kenyan refugees earn money, and in turn, improve their quality of life. An fbFund startup, Samasource is a non-profit that provides tech work for women, youth and refugees in countries such as Kenya and Pakistan. CrowdFlower, meanwhile, pairs businesses with pools of workers from such regions who can complete simple tasks that a computer can't, such as removing spam from a company blog.
benton.org/node/28763 | GigaOm
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HEALTH


HEALTH CARE RIPE TO JOIN TECHNOLOGY REVOLUTION
[SOURCE: BroadbandCensus.com, AUTHOR: Christina Kirchner]
Hospitals and health care are the last of the industrial-age institutions that have yet to go online as department stores, banks, and venues entertainment have already gone, panelists said at the Broadband Breakfast Club Tuesday morning. With the Federal Communications Commission charged with developing a National Broadband Plan by February 2010, health care is one obvious area potentially impacted by greater broadband. One of the most significant ways in which broadband is likely to impact health care is through the integration of technology into the fabric on consumers' lives, as with greater use of smart phones.
benton.org/node/28779 | BroadbandCensus.com
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SUPPORT IN SENATE FOR CELLPHONE DRIVING BAN
[SOURCE: Los Angeles Times, AUTHOR: Kim Geiger]
Amid calls from the Obama administration and traffic safety advocates to ban texting and talking on hand-held cellphones while driving, Sen. John D. Rockefeller IV (D-WV) has thrown his support behind the effort -- a sign that the Senate could pass such legislation this year. The powerful chairman of the Commerce Committee has written a bill that would offer federal funds to states that enact laws against driving while texting or talking on a hand-held device. That incentive approach probably would have a better chance at passage than punitive legislation introduced in July by Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-NY) that would require states to ban texting while driving or risk losing federal highway funds. Rockefeller has scheduled a hearing on his proposal in two weeks.
benton.org/node/28780 | Los Angeles Times | Senate Hearing 10/28
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ANALYSIS OF CELLPHONE STUDIES FINDS TUMOR RISK
[SOURCE: Los Angeles Times, AUTHOR: Shari Roan]
The answer to the question of whether cellphones increase the risk of brain, head and neck tumors is truly a matter of whom you ask. An analysis published Tuesday of data from 23 epidemiological studies found no connection between cellphone use and the development of cancerous or benign tumors. But when eight of the studies that were conducted with the most scientific rigor were analyzed, cellphone users were shown to have a 10% to 30% increased risk of tumors compared with people who rarely or never used the phones. The risk was highest among those who had used cellphones for 10 years or more.
benton.org/node/28781 | Los Angeles Times
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ECONOMICS

GOODBYE, MACROECONOMICS
[SOURCE: Financial Times, AUTHOR: Eli Noam]
[Commentary] We are in the midst of a severe economic crisis, the second in about a decade, and the third for Latin America and Asia. It appears that information based economies are volatile. This is partly due to the fundamental price deflation in some of the core information services and products, and partly due to the much greater speed of transactions that outpace the ability of traditional institutions to cope. Information technology contributes to the volatility. But can the same technology also provide new tools for stabilization? The industrial age was the age of massification. Mass production. Mass consumption. Mass media. Mass advertising. But not any more. All around, we see customization and individualization. Macroeconomic activity by government will eventually follow, and become a sub-aggregated 'mezzo' economic policy. Economists, technologists, and policy analysts should work to develop these tools. [Noam is professor of finance and economics at Columbia University.]
benton.org/node/28786 | Financial Times
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TECH FIRMS ENJOYING ECONOMIC STIMULUS
[SOURCE: Los Angeles Times, AUTHOR: Alana Semuels]
The nation's bellwether technology sector is kicking into gear as businesses and consumers boost their spending on computers and electronics. Shipments of semiconductors are on the rise. Some companies are hiring. Tech stocks outperformed the market all summer. And US exports to China, including technology products, have climbed 33% since January. That's good news for California, home to hundreds of companies that make the software, chips and switches that power many of today's bestselling computer and electronics devices.
benton.org/node/28785 | Los Angeles Times
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JOURNALISM

SHRINKING NEWSPAPERS HAVE CREATED $1.6 BILLION NEWS DEFICIT
[SOURCE: Poynter Institute, AUTHOR: Rick Edmonds]
Newspapers have, just in the last several years, reduced their spending on journalism by about $1.6 billion annually. The new media sector defies that kind of collective measurement. By its nature, digital launches are extraordinarily diffuse. There is room for debate over what qualifies as a news/information site. And by any definition, new media ventures are a fast moving target with the pace accelerating even in the last few months. But would take roughly 1,600 MinnPosts or Voice of San Diegos to replace the spending on journalism newspapers have cut.
benton.org/node/28765 | Poynter Institute
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Goodbye, Macroeconomics

[Commentary] We are in the midst of a severe economic crisis, the second in about a decade, and the third for Latin America and Asia. It appears that information based economies are volatile. This is partly due to the fundamental price deflation in some of the core information services and products, and partly due to the much greater speed of transactions that outpace the ability of traditional institutions to cope. Information technology contributes to the volatility. But can the same technology also provide new tools for stabilization? The industrial age was the age of massification. Mass production. Mass consumption. Mass media. Mass advertising. But not any more. All around, we see customization and individualization. Macroeconomic activity by government will eventually follow, and become a sub-aggregated 'mezzo' economic policy. Economists, technologists, and policy analysts should work to develop these tools. [Noam is professor of finance and economics at Columbia University.]

Tech firms are enjoying their economic stimulus

The nation's bellwether technology sector is kicking into gear as businesses and consumers boost their spending on computers and electronics. Shipments of semiconductors are on the rise. Some companies are hiring. Tech stocks outperformed the market all summer. And US exports to China, including technology products, have climbed 33% since January. That's good news for California, home to hundreds of companies that make the software, chips and switches that power many of today's bestselling computer and electronics devices.

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