January 2010

How the battle between Apple and Google will shape the future of mobile computing

When companies start to imitate one another, it's usually either an extreme case of flattery -- or war. In the case of Google and Apple, it's both.

Separated by a mere 10 miles in Silicon Valley, the two have been on famously good terms for almost a decade. Now the companies have entered a new, more adversarial phase. With Nexus One, Google, which had been content to power multiple phonemakers' devices with Android, enters the hardware game, becoming a direct threat to the iPhone. With its Quattro purchase, Apple aims to create completely new kinds of mobile ads, say three sources familiar with Apple's thinking. The goal isn't so much to compete with Google in search as to make search on mobile phones obsolete.

"Apple and Google both want more," says Chris Cunningham, founder of the New York mobile advertising firm Appssavvy. "They're gearing up for the ultimate fight."

Five Takeaways From World's Fair Use Day

[Commentary] By many accounts, World's Fair Use Day was a great success. We had a capacity crowd, with hundreds more joining in on the webcast. Members of the audience included staff from the White House, the State Department, the US Copyright Office and Congress. Since one of the main missions of the event was to demonstrate to policymakers the importance of fair use to our culture, our discourse and our economy, having a strong turnout from government is key.

Here are the 5 key takeaways:

1) Artists of all kinds want to be compensated, although it is not the driving force behind their creativity, nor is copyright a prerequisite to compensation.

2) Fair use, while important, is not a panacea for artists.

3) A business model problem and a copyright problem are not always the same thing.

4) Statutory damages are in serious need of reform.

5) Fair use benefits large copyright holders too.

China Internet population hits 384 million

China's population of Internet users jumped by nearly a third to 384 million at the end of last year, an official report showed on Friday.

Throughout 2009, the number of Chinese Internet users grew by 86 million -- more than the total population of Germany -- or a rise of 28.9 percent compared to the end of 2008. The survey, based on a count of residents who said they used the Internet in the past six months, found 29 percent of China's 1.3 billion people are now net users. The numbers establish China's position as the world's largest online community, more than the entire population of the United States.

By contrast, approximately 74 percent of Americans use the Internet and 77 percent of South Koreans.

Minority Media Ownership Workshop

On January 27, the Federal Communications Commission will examine: the interaction of the FCC's media ownership rules and minority/female ownership, including the potential impact of any rule changes on such ownership; Marketplace or other factors that encourage diverse entrants; the constitutionality of targeted race-based measures for promoting diverse ownership; and the impact of subsequent judicial decisions on the Adarand standard.

The forum will consist of two panels. The first panel will be comprised of representatives from the academic community. The second panel will consist of broadcasters and representatives from media advocacy groups. Public participation in the workshop is encouraged.

FCC Takes Action to Enhance Access to Digital Wireless Service for Individuals With Hearing Disabilities

The Enforcement Bureau of the Federal Communications Commission has taken action against several companies for their failure to provide information that helps individuals with hearing disabilities fully utilize wireless phone services - allowing them to communicate effectively on their wireless phones without excessive feedback and noise.

FCC rules require most digital wireless handset manufacturers and wireless service providers to make available a minimum number of hearing aid compatible handsets. In order to ensure that consumers have access to up-to-date information on the availability of those handsets, and to ensure that the Commission can monitor compliance, FCC rules also require these manufacturers and service providers to make periodic status reports and to post specific information on their public web sites. The reports and web content provide valuable information to the public concerning the technical testing and commercial availability of hearing aid-compatible handsets, both for consumers, particularly those with hearing disabilities, and for service providers seeking information regarding the hearing aid compatibility of manufacturers' products.

The rules at issue in this week's actions require the following:

1) Manufacturers were required to submit reports detailing their efforts toward compliance with the hearing aid compatibility requirements on January 15, 2009, on July 15, 2009, and must continue to file them on an annual basis on July 15 thereafter.

2) Service providers were required to submit status reports on January 15, 2009, and must continue to file them on an annual basis on January 15 thereafter.

3) Manufacturers and service providers with publicly-accessible web sites must also maintain a list of currently available hearing aid compatible handset models, the technical ratings of those models, and an explanation of the rating system.

Verizon simplifies phones, pricing as it preps LTE

Verizon Wireless made several moves to simplify its devices and services structure, introducing lower unlimited price points, streamlining device categorization and offering new options for unlimited prepaid.

The new plans came as the nation's largest carrier gears up to roll out its Long-Term Evolution (LTE) networks throughout this year and looks to drive as many consumers to data as possible.

The new monthly service plans take VZW's unlimited price point down from $99 to $69.99 for unlimited monthly calling or $89.99 for unlimited talk and text. In addition, Nationwide Family SharePlans will now have unlimited options for $199.99 monthly voice access or $149.99 per month for voice and text for plans based on two lines. In terms of data, VZW expanded its $9.99 25-megabyte-per-month package to all of its 3G multimedia phones, discontinuing its $19.99 data package option. Those customers on the lower tier, using what VZW is now dubbing Simple Feature phones, will continue to pay $1.99 per megabyte or choose either a $9.99 or $29.99 data package. Consumer data packages for 3G smartphones, including BlackBerry, Windows Mobile and Android devices, will remain at $29.99 per month.

The Promise and Peril of Big Data

The Aspen Institute Communications and Society Program convened 25 leaders, entrepreneurs, and academics from the realms of technology, business management, economics, statistics, journalism, computer science, and public policy to address these subjects at the 2009 Roundtable on Information Technology. This report captures the insights from the three-day event, exploring the topic of Big Data and inferential software within a number of important contexts. For example: Do huge datasets and advanced correlation techniques mean we no longer need to rely on hypothesis in scientific inquiry? When does "now-casting," the search through massive amounts of aggregated data to estimate individual behavior, go over the line of personal privacy? How will healthcare companies and insurers use the correlations of aggregated health behaviors in addressing the future care of patients?

Google Hack Attack Was Ultra Sophisticated, New Details Show

Hackers seeking source code from Google, Adobe and dozens of other high-profile companies used unprecedented tactics that combined encryption, stealth programming and an unknown hole in Internet Explorer, according to new details released by the anti-virus firm McAfee.

"We have never ever, outside of the defense industry, seen commercial industrial companies come under that level of sophisticated attack," says Dmitri Alperovitch, vice president of threat research for McAfee. "It's totally changing the threat model." The attackers used nearly a dozen pieces of malware and several levels of encryption to burrow deeply into the bowels of company networks and obscure their activity, according to Alperovitch. "The encryption was highly successful in obfuscating the attack and avoiding common detection methods," he said. "We haven't seen encryption at this level. It was highly sophisticated." The hack attacks, which are said to have targeted at least 34 companies in the technology, financial and defense sectors, have been dubbed "Operation Aurora" by McAfee due to the belief that this is the name the hackers used for their mission.

FCC's Open Internet Workshop at MIT Brought Robust Exchange Among Academics

Academics, economics, technology specialists, application creators, Internet service operators and investors descended on the campus of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology on Wednesday to discuss the possible effects of the proposed net neutrality rules on innovation, investment and Internet users.

Sharon Gillett, chief of the Wireline Competition Bureau at the Federal Communications Commission and Paul de Sa, chief of the FCC's Office of Strategic Planning and Policy Analysis, moderated the late afternoon and evening workshop. FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski provided an opening statement via video feed. He established the goal of the hearing as a discussion on how to preserve the Internet that generates innovation, investment, job creation and growth.

Chairman Genachowski pressed for answers as to how to optimize innovation and investment throughout the edge and core of the networks, so that Internet can play a critical role in our future.

FCC Commissioner Meredith Attwell Baker was the only other commissioner who attended in person; she told the audience that she was "still unconvinced that there is a problem that they should be addressing." "Nothing should interfere with the deployment of broadband," she said.

Net Neutrality Advocates To FCC: Two Titles Are Better Than One

It's an information service, it's a telecommunications service. It's two services in one. A group of Network Neutrality supporters including Consumers Union, Media Access Project and Public Knowledge have advised the Federal Communications Commission to assert its authority for those proposed new rules by relying on both Title I authority to regulate information services and Title II authority to regulate telecommunications services.

In comments to the FCC in its rulemaking codifying and expanding on its Internet Policy Statement, one of thousands flooding the commission, the groups, collectively calling themselves the Public Interest Commenters (PIC), said that they believed the rules were sustainable under the Title I authority the FCC applied to cable modem and DSL service in 2005, but suggested it might be better to tie the rules to both. Under Title I, ISP's are not subject to the mandatory access provisions of Title II regs that apply to traditional phone services, but the FCC has posited the authority to police Internet openness based ancillary authority tied to its general Communications Act powers, an argument it made to a D.C. federal court in the BitTorrent case last week (Title I includes powers "reasonably ancillary to the effective performance of [its] various responsibilities" to regulate wired and wireless communications). But the judges suggested the commission needed to find a more specific statutory hook for its authority over the Internet. Instead of relying on that general ancillary authority, the groups suggest, the FCC should tie that authority to Title II through the transmission element of Internet delivery--the pipes--rather than the content that flows through it.

Benton

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