April 2012

World's next technology leader will be US, not China – if America can shape up

[Commentary] Innovation drives income growth and determines global military and diplomatic leadership. China lacks the kind of inclusive political institutions like those in the US that promote innovation. But inequality and money's influence on political power threaten American innovation.

The reason to believe that it will be the US, not China, leading the world in innovation and technology for many, many more decades is the resilience of US inclusive institutions. We have been here before, and we have rebounded. Things were much worse during the Gilded Age both in terms of economic inequality and in terms of how totally and unscrupulously the wealthy elite, the so-called robber barons, had come to dominate politics.

[Daron Acemoglu and James A. Robinson are the co-authors of “Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity, and Poverty.”]

LightSquared Makes Inmarsat Payment to Win Time for Talks

Philip Falcone’s LightSquared made an outstanding $56.3 million payment to Britain’s Inmarsat Plc related to a spectrum-cooperation accord and was granted an extension on further installments, gaining more time to win approval from US regulators for a wireless service.

The broadband venture won’t need to make any additional payments until April 2014 as part of the new agreement, Inmarsat, the biggest provider of satellite services to the maritime industry, said today in a statement. LightSquared will no longer be in default, it said. Under the companies’ agreement, Inmarsat is giving LightSquared access to part of its spectrum. LightSquared, majority-owned by Falcone’s hedge fund Harbinger Capital Partners, is struggling to get approval for a wireless service after the Federal Communications Commission said it will block the venture because of potential signal interference with global-positioning systems. Falcone has invested about $3 billion in the plan to build out a high-speed data network.

Want help campaigning? There’s an app for that

The coming presidential election may be decided by which candidate best exploits mobile devices. The sentiment of political geeks gathered at Campaign Tech, a two-day conference in Washington, is that mobile technologies can help campaigns gain an edge — much like the use of social media, the Internet and television has in years past. The biggest change since the 2008 campaign is that smartphones and other portable devices have become indispensable tools for Americans. Like never before, political operatives will be working to exploit the mobile revolution through messaging, apps and data collection.

Apple, Google, others to face antitrust suit over staff poaching

Apple, Google, Intel, Pixar and other high-tech companies will face an antitrust lawsuit that alleges they illegally conspired not to poach each other’s staffers.

San Jose U.S. District Court Judge Lucy Koh rejected a motion to dismiss the claims. In a 29-page opinion, she ruled that the “Do Not Cold Call” agreements among the defendants probably resulted “from collusion, and not from coincidence.” Other defendants include Adobe, Intuit, and Lucasfilm. Five software engineers have accused the companies of conspiring to limit pay and job movement. They are bringing the proposed class-action lawsuit. The claims are similar to those raised by the U.S. Department of Justice. It settled an antitrust probe in 2010 that alleged the companies colluded to keep a lid on wages by agreeing not to poach employees from one another. The companies agreed not to restrain competition in the labor market for high-tech talent. The litigation uncovered an email from 2007 from Apple’s Steve Jobs to Google’s Eric Schmidt over Google’s effort to recruit an Apple engineer. "I would be very pleased if your recruiting department would stop doing this," Jobs wrote Schmidt, then-CEO of Google who also sat on the Apple board.

EPIC demands full FCC report on Google Street View

The Electronic Privacy Information Center is demanding that the U.S. Federal Communications Commission release the complete report on its Google Street View investigation. The Washington advocacy group has filed a Freedom of Information Act request to see the full 25-page report. The version that the FCC released April 13 was heavily redacted.

More companies quit blogging, go with Facebook instead

With the emergence of social media, more companies are replacing blogs with nimbler tools requiring less time and resources, such as Facebook, Tumblr and Twitter. A survey released earlier this year by the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth says the percentage of companies that maintain blogs fell to 37% in 2011 from 50% in 2010, based on its survey of 500 fast-growing companies listed by Inc. magazine. Only 23% of Fortune 500 companies maintained a blog in 2011, flat from a year ago after rising for several years.

The trend in business is consistent with the broader loss of interest in blogging among all consumers.

Congressional campaign committees stake out TV time in busy election year

House and Senate campaign committees are worried that if they don’t stake out their television time now, they could be eclipsed in the fall by super-PACs and the pricey presidential race.

With more than six months until the election, the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) has already reserved $25 million in airtime after Labor Day to target six races, while the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) has announced plans to book $32 million in airtime in districts across the country.

Sen. Grassley facing pressure from GOP to lift holds on Obama nominees

Republican senators are pressuring Sen. Chuck Grassely (R-Iowa) to release holds on two of President Obama’s nominees for the Federal Communications Commission.

The nominations of Republican Ajit Pai and Democrat Jessica Rosenworcel have been held up since last December, when both were approved by the Senate Commerce Committee. GOP aides said Republicans are growing impatient for Grassley to release his holds. They say Republicans were willing to back Grassley’s effort to win more information about a waiver the FCC provided to LightSquared, which sought to build a new mobile network. But they argue now it is time to lift the holds.

‘We the People’ petition site the newest tool in K Street lobbying repertoire

A White House petition site designed for the public has become a handy lobbying tool for interest groups in Washington. The “We the People” site was set up by the Obama administration more than six months ago to take petitions calling for changes in federal policy. The White House responds to any petition that receives more than 25,000 signatures within 30 days. Seeking to capitalize on grassroots energy, trade groups and watchdog organizations are using the site to try and force President Obama to take a position on their key issues.

ACA: It's Clear Analog-Only Systems Can't Retransmit TV Stations In HD

The American Cable Association has told the Federal Communications Commission it needs to clarify that an analog-only cable system is not required to carry a broadcaster's HD signal in HD because, well, it can't.

In a filing with the FCC, ACA was responding to questions from Media Bureau staff about whether it is necessary to have an exemption for analog-only systems. ACA says no, and that the commission should make it clear that in its reauthorization of the HD carriage exemption for smaller cable systems that analog-only systems are permanently excluded.

Benton

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