January 2010

Slim to consolidate telecoms empire

Carlos Slim, the Mexican billionaire, has launched a $21.3 billion bid to consolidate his telecoms empire. América Móvil, the Latin American mobile phone operator that Mr Slim controls, on Wednesday announced it was planning a takeover of the fixed-line phone companies he also controlled. Slim's move looks like a response to rising competition between telecoms companies in Latin America, where América Móvil's main rival is Telefónica of Spain. Vivendi, the French media and telecoms company, is the latest industry player planning to enter the Latin American market by buying GVT, a Brazilian fixed line phone company. Slim is proposing to integrate his telecoms empire of mobile and fixed line companies to sell customers "triple-" and "quadruple-play" bundles of services.

US urges China to work with Google on security

Commerce Secretary Gary Locke urged China on Wednesday to ensure a "secure" commercial environment for Google and other US companies after the world's top search engine said it may shut its Chinese-language website because of cyber attacks.

"The recent cyber intrusion that Google attributes to China is troubling to the U.S. government and American companies doing business in China," Sec Locke said in a statement. "This incident should be equally troubling to the Chinese government. The administration encourages the government of China to work with Google and other U.S. companies to ensure a climate for secure commercial operations in the Chinese market," Sec Locke said. Sec Locke said he has personally raised with Chinese officials several times the importance that President Barack Obama and the U.S. government place on "the full and free flow of information on the Internet."

Action Urged On Tech Agenda

As House Democratic members meet this week to outline strategies on important policy issues, the Information Technology Industry Council is urging House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to ensure the House addresses key priorities aimed at helping to spur innovation and economic growth, including:

1) extension of the research and development tax credit,

2) develop comprehensive plans to increase broadband deployment and adoption,

3) spur the growth of health information technology,

4) provide investments in a "smart" electric grid and renewable energy,

5) act on immigration and education legislation to ensure that the "best and brightest" foreigners can remain in the United States, and

6) provide domestic workers with the skills they need to fill 21st century jobs.

Broadband Funding: Yes, in Your Backyard

[Commentary] As technology grant applicants and broadband champions watch developments unfold on various fronts, there's a danger that frustration will drive people to "excuse-driven" broadband strategy: "We can't until...," "We won't unless...," "If they don't...." Look, folks, if people want broadband, they have to look in the mirror for the solutions to obtain it. Many communities know this already, but everyone needs to embrace this same reality. There isn't enough grant money to dent the broadband need, even if Universal Service Fund money shifts to broadband. And despite the Federal Communications Commission's and other agencies' best efforts, a range of formidable obstacles stands in the way of rural broadband, obstacles that the Feds are hard pressed to overcome.

PBS chief: Kids inundated with ads

Commercial broadcasters have been shirking their responsibilities under the 1990 Children's Television Act, according to PBS president Paula Kerger. At the channel's Television Critics Association presentation Wednesday, she said she welcomed an upcoming review of the act and compliance by the Federal Communications Commission.

The act was passed to require commercial broadcasters to increase educational and informational programming. Among other things, it stipulated that stations air a minimum of three hours a week of core educational series. "The line between commerce and content are blurred beyond recognition" by commercial broadcasters, Kerger said. "Broadcasters are not holding up their end of the deal." She said the same conclusion was reached by a number of independent researchers. Kerger wouldn't cite specific instances but she invited the audience of TV critics on the semiannual press tour to check out any of the most popular web sites aimed at kids.

"Advertising is so thoroughly embedded into the content," she said. "There are a lot of popups. It's on all of them." Compounding the problem is the fact that young children are not sophisticated enough to differentiate between programs and commercials, she added.

Justice Settles E-reader Cases

The Justice Department announced separate agreements under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) with Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Pace University in New York City and Reed College in Portland, Ore., regarding the use in a classroom setting of the electronic book reader, the Kindle DX, a hand-held technological device that simulates the experience of reading a book. Under the agreements, the universities generally will not purchase, recommend or promote use of the Kindle DX, or any other dedicated electronic book reader, unless the devices are fully accessible to students who are blind and have low vision. The universities agree that if they use dedicated electronic book readers, they will ensure that students with vision disabilities are able to access and acquire the same materials and information, engage in the same interactions, and enjoy the same services as sighted students with substantially equivalent ease of use. The agreements that the Justice Department reached with these universities extend beyond the Kindle DX to any dedicated electronic reading device.

Video Relay Defrauders Plead Guilty

Two former Viable Communications executives have plead guilty to engaging in a conspiracy to defraud the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) Video Relay Service (VRS) program of more than $2.5 million. VRS is an online video translation service that allows people with hearing disabilities to communicate with hearing individuals through the use of interpreters and web cameras. A person with a hearing disability who wants to communicate with a hearing person can do so by contacting a VRS provider through an audio and video Internet connection. The VRS provider, in turn, employs a video interpreter to view and interpret the hearing disabled person's signed conversation and relay the signed conversation orally to a hearing person. VRS is funded by fees assessed by telecommunications providers to telephone customers, and is provided at no cost to the VRS user.

Bringing the Smart Grid to the Smart Home: It's Not Only About the Meter

[Commentary] The market for residential energy management is poised to grow dramatically due to increased consumer demand and new government and industry initiatives. Frequently, and for good reason, the discussions about this emerging market focus on the expansion of Smart Grids as these solutions enable electricity distribution systems to manage alternative energy sources (e.g., solar and wind), improve reliability, facilitate faster response rates to outages, and manage peak-load demands. The first step in implementing a Smart Grid is building an Advanced Metering Infrastructure ( AMI). A key component of AMI is the smart meter, which is a digital meter capable of processing and reporting usage data to providers and households via two-way communication with the utility offices. Smart Grids can be potent tools in helping consumers reduce their energy costs, but consumers have several concerns that could inhibit adoption. In order to maximize Smart Grids, utilities and suppliers of energy management solutions must first educate consumers about the benefits of these advanced systems and then package these solutions so that capabilities and advantages are obvious to consumers and easily integrated into their lifestyles.

Report Finds Common Ground in Efforts to Balance Public Access, Scholarly Publishing

A group of representatives from university administration, libraries, information science departments, and the publishing industry collectively released a report with recommendations on open access, specifically the public availability of peer-reviewed journal articles containing data and findings from federal research grants.

The report's recommendations, endorsed by a majority of the 14 members of the group, called the Scholarly Publishing Roundtable, sought to "balance the need for increased access to scholarly articles with the need to preserve the essential functions of the scholarly publishing enterprise." One key recommendation is the establishment of specific embargo periods between publication and public access, allowing for some variation across fields of science. The report states: "an embargo period of between zero (for open access journals) and twelve months currently reflects such a balance for many science disciplines," but notes for "other fields a longer embargo period may be necessary."

The group also emphasized the need for the adoption of common standards to ensure searchability and collaboration across fields and databases and suggested that international cooperation on standards would also be critical. While there was not unanimity on the need for or type of legislation or other government action, members of the roundtable agreed that federal agencies should work together with the publishing community to ensure common core properties and a coherent framework for access and preservation across the government.

Public Stays with Health Care, Media Focuses on Terror

The public and the media went their own ways on the news last week. The media kept up heavy coverage of the aftermath of the attempt to blow up a Detroit-bound jet on Christmas Day, while the public focused most closely on the health care debate in Washington.

About a quarter (26%) of Americans say the debate over health care reform was the story they followed most closely, while 17% say they followed news about the government's response to the attempted terror attack on a Northwest Airlines jet more closely than any other major story. By another measure, the percentage of Americans saying they followed the government's response to the failed terror attack "very closely" rivals interest in the other major stories of the week: 37% say they followed this story very closely. Just more than four-in-ten (42%) say they followed news about the harsh winter weather very closely, while 39% each say the same about the economy and the health care debate, according to the latest News Interest Index survey conducted Jan. 8-11 among 1,043 adults nationwide by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press.

Benton

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