March 2013

Which cellular carrier’s LTE data service is the fastest?

Since LTE is a technical standard, you might expect them all to be pretty equal. But to paraphrase George Orwell, some LTE networks are more equal than others. And all of those fancy features on your smartphone are meaningless if they are on a balky network. RootMetrics, a company that tests mobile network performance, did a survey in 77 cities, taking more than 725,000 samples to see how well various carriers perform. The short answer is that AT&T had the fastest LTE network by a clear margin. The second-fastest was Verizon, followed by Sprint. Verizon was in all 77 tested markets, and has the largest LTE network.

The Parents Television Council released data on media violence collected from all primetime broadcast programs that aired between January 11, 2013 and February 11, 2013, following Vice President Joe Biden’s meeting with the industry in January.

During the one-month study period, of the 392 shows examined, 193, nearly half, contained violence; 121, almost a third, contained violence and guns. Within the 193 shows that included violence and that aired during the study period on the broadcast networks in primetime, there were 934 individual scenes of violence. Of those 934 individual scenes with violence, there were 305 individual scenes that included guns. Therefore, 33% of all violent scenes included guns. Every program was rated TV-PG or TV-14, meaning that the television networks determined every single program to be appropriate for a child aged 14 or younger. The “V” content descriptor was present on 84% of the shows that contained violence.

Opponents of an online sales tax measure are pushing back on efforts to get the bill added to the Senate budget this week.

Phil Bond, the executive director of the WE R HERE coalition, accused backers of online sales tax measures of trying to “sneak through” their legislation outside regular congressional order. “There are good reasons this policy hasn’t been considered in the US Senate for over a decade: Taxpayers don’t like it, it turns the Internet into a tax collection platform, it allows state tax collectors to exercise authority far beyond their boundaries and it will put thousands of small businesses out of business,” Bond, a top Commerce Department official under George W. Bush, said.

A San Francisco activist, a local attorney, and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Northern California collectively filed a civil lawsuit against the City and County of San Francisco and its police chief, alleging that the activist's rights were violated when a police officer warrantlessly searched his cellphone at the time of his arrest in January 2012.

Bob Offer-Westort of the Coalition on Homelessness, says in court documents that the suit stems from an incident where he was non-violently engaging in civil disobedience to protest a new city ordinance that made it illegal to camp in public places without permission. A spokesperson for the San Francisco Police Department said that the department does not comment on ongoing lawsuits. The court documents, filed this week, charge San Francisco and its police department with violating Offer-Westort’s privacy, conducting an unlawful search and seizure, and violating his free speech under the United States Constitution and the California Constitution, among other allegations.