If you’re paying attention to what Google’s CEO says and the company’s actions, it’s “do no evil” credo is getting to be a tough sell for it’s PR people. That is at least where the right to privacy is concerned. Google’s Schmidt has stated bluntly that this right does not exist. As mere commentary or a matter of corporate policy, that kind of talk will guarantee plenty of reaction like the video above.

After months spent gathering comments about preserving an open and competitive Internet, the F.C.C. requested more feedback on Wednesday about whether regulations should apply to wireless Internet service.

The agency is also asking for comments about one of the most hotly debated Internet regulatory issues: special services that offer to prioritize certain digital traffic for a fee. …

The F.C.C.’s decision to seek further comment during the next 55 days effectively precluded any commission actions until after the Congressional elections in November.

Source

With that single action the FCC buys time. The comment periods generally run 90 days or more depending on depth and technical complexity. But the singular act pushes any decision by the FCC till after the midterm elections. (Feld, if you are out there, I told you this was exactly what the FCC would do.) This is a no decision decision.

Now if you read this HotAir piece, one comes away with a position that the FCC will do a rule making in the dead of night kind of thing. Personally I don’t think it that way. Remember that the FCC is uniquely a device answerable to Congress not the Executive. So this is a move to, like a trapped animal, look for a way out of the trap they are in. The FCC realizes that they may have new masters come January. No since angering them during a lame duck session for any rule making along those lines could be dispatched in short order by reshuffling the Commission.

This is just another indication that the FCC is generally irrelevant to most matters associated with communications. Technology has nearly eliminated the general necessity for band allocation in all but a few distinct areas. And consumer protection, if its needed is the purview of the FTC not the FCC.

The  culprits are Senators Thomas Carper, Joe Lieberman, Jay Rockefeller and Harry Reid. Lieberman recently provided a bit if insight into why the kill switch is “necessary”

Lieberman let slip his real thoughts on the Internet Kill Switch in an interview with CNN’s Candy Crowley when he said, “Right now China — the government — can disconnect parts of its Internet in a case of war. We need to have the ability to do that, too.” (Libertypulse)

Obviously Joe Lieberman has a strong case of commie envy. There are a number of things the Chinese government can do that even self important elites like Lieberman aren’t allowed to do in the still largely free nation of the United States. The biggest problem with giving the kill switch to the feds is that an out of control federal government can declare an emergency just about any time it wants to. So, if a rogue president, senator or any other power grabbing high level bureaucrat simply wanted to kill communication between the unwashed masses, all he or she would need to do is declare an emergency. In case you hadn’t noticed, just about every for of communication passes over the Internet now. For that reason, the kill switch is a tool no one in a free nation should have. Not even the almighty Senator Lieberman.

If you value your freedom it’s probably a good time to write to both of your senators.

The Dallas-based company has been warning for almost two years that it might need bankruptcy court protection to reorganize its nearly $1 billion in debt, as it struggles with dwindling cash and a shrinking business hurt by competition and its own store closings.

A “pre-planned” bankruptcy filing in mid-September is now considered the most likely scenario for Blockbuster, according to unnamed sources quoted by the Los Angeles Times. That would require agreement from the company’s biggest creditors and suppliers, among others.

Blockbuster CEO Jim Keyes recently visited all the major Hollywood movie studios with an entourage of senior secured-debt holders and restructuring consultants, the Times reported.

Source

So yes I am leading up to what I suspect is the ‘Next Middling Thing’. Its this –

vs this –

At first glance you might say ‘How’? The theater might have seem to have all the cards. Big screen experience with a professional sound system, night out plumage, food on demand, all the trappings of being part of a night out on the town. But hold on you also get to experience teenagers yacking through the whole movie. Several people not have the conviction to turn their cell phones off. Then to top it off be prepared to pay about $40 for a couple to see the viewing with ticket, drinks and popcorn. Its that cost vs say no more than $3 to do the same in the comfort of your home.

But here is the kicker, I don’t think any of the other tech blogs has caught on to the nature of this coming issue. LCD TVs have not been gaga tech for quite some time. Same with Pay-per-View. So this has been slipping by under the radar. But you can be assured that the Suits running the theaters certainly are considering it. Its not tech but a tipping point issue that is quietly giving the nod to In-Home viewing.

The tipping point is cost. You can walk into any Best Buy today an purchase a 50″ or larger LCD panel for around a $1000. Add a DVD player or Roku NetFlix box for another $100. That is a pricing level that is affordable to every middle income family in the nation. Home Theater is no longer the providence of well heeled households. Then just roll the numbers. If you figure that the average unit will last 5 years or more then consider many may go to the movies twice a month. It does not take long for the system to pay for itself in deferred expense. Its substitution. Another entertainment deflation.

The second tipping point is scale. Large screen LCD’s are now selling briskly even in this down economy. When a large segment of the population can do their viewing at home the theaters are toast. We are not even close yet, but give it 5 years as the conversion continues and theaters will be gone or greatly reduced in number.

Its no great shucks but it is something you can take to the bank from a business perspective.

The complaint (PDF), filed in federal court in Washington state, asserts four patents that cover e-commerce and online functions that have been staples of most websites for years. Noticeably absent from the hit list is Microsoft, which Allen co-founded in 1975 and in which he remains a major shareholder. It was filed on behalf of Interval Licensing, the patent arm of Interval Research, the Silicon Valley technology incubator Allen bankrolled in 1992. (The Register)

There’s already so much new “innovation” coming from the abuse of the patent system and the courts. It’s troubling to see one of the world’s deepest sets of pockets joining the troll business. Responsible law makers would try to fix the patent mess. Unfortunately, most of them are lawyers and patent trolling is a lawyer’s business.

Rural North Carolina has been a battle ground between local residents who have pro actively worked to improve their internet connections and duopoly controlled state politicians who have blatantly tried to stop them. At least in Salisbury, it looks like to locals won. They managed to do it without help from federal stimulus or the masses of political blowhards who are supposed to work in the interest of the individual.

The lesson: Forget the empty promises from Washington and the State houses. Time to act locally.

According to the Washington Examiner,  Philadelphia demanding bloggers pay a $300 licensing fee in addition to taxes on any income thya may generate. It would seem that blogs have been classified as a businesses without any provision for the average blogger. Most bloggers are hobbyists who may pick up enough revenue to offset only a portion of their costs. I wonder how that constitutes a business? And what of other casual online activities that may generate a little revenue from a hobby like arts and crafts, micro stock photography, or dare I say Ebay? While I’m sure this will result in fewer blog posts originating in Philadelphia, I doubt it will generate much revenue.

I think Leo’s been overly enthusiastic in the usefulness of social media. For a time he was constantly obsessed with the number of followers he had collected. Our experiment with Twitter last year  led me to the conclusion that  posting there was useless to this blog’s growth. Having millions of followers on Twitter doesn’t mean any of them will hear you. There’s just too much noise. It’s true in its early days Twitter could help content producers reach a new audience. A relevant message had a chance of being heard in social media until all of the pols, actors and celebs started using it. When the texting masses followed the noise floor became so high that it became impossible to engage any sort of audience. Add all of the other microblogging and friend me friend you platforms, and you have lots of platforms an little chance to be heard over even more noise.

Anyway, back to Leo Laporte. When Google’s over hyped Buzz left Leo standing in the rain, he saw the light:

It makes me feel like everything I’ve posted over the past four years on Twitter, Jaiku, Friendfeed, Plurk, Pownce, and, yes, Google Buzz, has been an immense waste of time. I was shouting into a vast echo chamber where no one could hear me because they were too busy shouting themselves. All this time I’ve been pumping content into the void like some chatterbox Onan. How humiliating. How demoralizing. (Leoville)

Social media has its place, but it’s short form content for the short form audience who will read you one day, and never read you again. Smart guys like Leo will always get it sooner or later. The Hollywierd types never will.That makes for even more noise and less intelligent content in social media as time goes on.

You’re making progress Leo! Now if we could just de-hoax you on Global Warming, Net Neutrality, and a few other over hyped ideas.

For the foreseeable future, postpaid wireless will rely of exclusive deals to sell the coolest new handsets as a tool to prop up ridiculous rates. Meanwhile back in Washington, the feds are distracted by another wave of “net neutrality” talks that are being happily papered over by lobby dollars that distract from the needs of real world users.

If we really want to shake up the wireless  market today, net neutrality is irrelevant. For the moment, wireless regulators need to focus on locked handsets. If handsets are unlocked, the best and brightest of them will be under $200 and usable wireless plans will head towards $20/ month. Even at those rates, there’s abundant profit potential for a lean and mean carrier.

Meanwhile, prepaid will continue to race t o zero even with mundane handsets that are locked and overpriced.

I don’t expect this will create a better job market the army of American IT workers who are unemployed and under employed. Much of the engineering, manufacture and support takes place elsewhere these days.  The current federal policy has been open hostile to all tech. That means new investment is likely to take place where policy, regulation and tax rates are friendlier.

While we’ve heard lots of rhetoric about new growth in “green tech jobs”. The reality is that they have been few and have only come with heavy government subsidies. In an of themselves, endless government subsidies are not sustainable.  Sustainable jobs are created by a competitive market and minimal government interference. We need to put some green back in peoples wallets with sustainable, non-subsidy dependent jobs, creating goods and services that have real market value and generate real profits. What we don’t need is more un-sustainable rhetoric.

Meanwhile, Dell and HP shareholders can rejoice. I’m betting many will take their profits this year before taxes go up.

Time Warner Inc.’s pay-television channel, home to shows including the “The Sopranos” and “True Blood,” holds cable and Internet rights to films from Warner Bros., Twentieth Century Fox and Universal Pictures and is unlikely to make a deal with Netflix, HBO Co-President Eric Kessler said.

“There is value in exclusivity,” Kessler said in an interview. Consumers “are willing to pay a premium for high quality, exclusive content,” he said.  (Bloomberg)

In other words, don’t look for HBO’s programming on Netflix or any other non-cable operator any time in the foreseeable future.

That’s very short sighted. There is no rule that states HBO has to be offered as part of a catch all package. In fact, it could easily be added as a service tier to Netflix, Hulu, Clicker, or even as a stand alone HBO offering. The fastest growing audience is cable cutters, not subscribers. Cable cutters are no longer willing to pay $30-$40 per month just to have access to HBO for another $10 or $20. Many may just be willing to pony up a ten spot or more for HBO via a stream they can access from any broadband connection. In fact, Mr Kessler, that is the future of content distribution. Not catering to cable cutters is already eroding your shareholders’ value. Even if you won’t listen to potential customers. sooner or later, you’ll have to listen to them.

If you are a mom and pop blogger, getting hit with a Federal lawsuit out of the blue has got to be terrifying. Many of those being sued by RightHaven LLC do not have deep pockets and are afraid that they will lose everything. Clayton Cramer reported that some of those being sued will probably have to declare bankruptcy.

Fortunately, its seems that the victims and those opposed to RightHaven’s tactics have started to organize. Realizing that information is key, a new website has been established called RightHavenLawsuits.com. They say their mission “is dedicated to gathering together and posting for the public information about Righthaven LLC.” They have links to some of the lawsuits as well as articles on RightHaven LLC.

Another website called RightHaven Victims lists every individual, business, and blog that has been sued by RightHaven LLC for copyright violations. It encourages those sued to work together to share information and to unite to form a collective front against RightHaven LLC. They realize that one of the keys to RightHaven’s success will be the use of a “divide and conquer” strategy. This website is also sharing defense strategies being used by the defendants.

Source
My hat off to those preparing to make a stand. A first logical move is that every defendant request a change of venue to their locale. Make the actual charging as expensive as possible. If it becomes economic to file the charges RightHaven will fold and the suits will go away.

Good luck to you all.

More on Wimax 2

Cellphone technology is gearing up to go to war. From defense giants like Lockheed Martin, which rolled out a new militarized mobile network this morning, to the start-up tech firm Berico Tailored Systems and even individuals, a diverse range of players is pursuing an equally wide range of approaches.

The most basic approach is that of “Apps for Army” (A4A), a contest held by the Army to develop new military-specific applications for the personal cellphones that many soldiers already have.

But civilian phones rarely work in a war zone: If you think your reception is bad, try getting a signal in rural Afghanistan. Forward bases in devastated countries don’t have access to the billions of dollars in very static infrastructure that civilian mobile devices require, and the Taliban routinely shuts down cell towers with threats and sabotage. Current military network devices require so much power and weight that they are only practical at fixed command posts or on vehicles; soldiers on foot scream into staticky handheld radios the old-fashioned way. So the critical problem in bringing handheld devices to troops in the field is how to get them on the network.

Dare not call is open source, surely the govt would close source any winner for security reasons once selected. So maybe it should be called Open Sourcing? Anyway it is very novel and far from the usual way of gaining DoD business.

Linky.

[Update, Dr Dog] Further background from NYT on the Epix deal –

Epix has the rights to films from Paramount, Lions Gate and MGM. But in a crowded marketplace, the service has gained very little distribution on cable and satellite systems, making it invisible to most consumers. Viacom, one of the owners of Epix, disclosed last week that the joint venture continues to lose money, though it said that the service is moving closer to the break-even point.

The Netflix deal is a way to partly circumvent the cable and satellite carriers — and stem the financial losses.

Only thing missing? A feed for newer Warner Bros works. Netflix gets that and the only reason you need a cable provider might be because its your only source of broadband. Channel based servicing is dead.

Google, which is said be “agonizing” over the balance between user privacy and advertising opportunities. It’s a long piece that you should read in full, but essentially the WSJ claims that Larry Page and Sergey Brin have gone from strictly forbidding any efforts to track users online to a more subtle interpretation of their famous “don’t be evil” motto which allows them to leverage user data and sell finely targeted ads without “exploiting customers.”  (Endgadget)

Google has been able to assemble so much information so quickly by offering an ever growing suite of services, mostly free.  By putting all of you data in Google’s basket, you’re enabling them, with implied consent. At least that’s how the company will spin it when the privacy cries get louder.

Google’s Android platform has gone from activating 100,000 units a day in May, to 200,000 daily units as of today, according to Google CEO Eric Schmidt.

Schmidt was speaking to journalists (pictured above) at the Techonomy conference in Lake Tahoe, CA, and the technology blog TechCrunch managed to get some video of the chat (see below).

The activation growth shows impressive progress for Google’s mobile OS in the span of just a few months. Schmidt pointed to recent quarterly shipment numbers that showed Android phones outselling the iPhone in the last quarter as proof and said that he confirmed the number with Google’s own internal figures. (Mobile Beat)

While Android is open source, there are some big caveats that come with its dominance. It will be the top target for exploits. We still haven’t developed an effective way of policing them on the desktop, and many mobile users tend to be even less tech savvy than desktop users. Then there’s the fact that while the platform is open, implementation is crippled by carriers.That limits users choices on how they use their handsets and  allows carriers to continue to nickel and dime them for simple services that could be replaced by simple apps. Lastly, the Andriod project, while open is overseen by Google. Many of us will argue that this “do no evil” company is anything but. Searchzilla continues to unapologetically cook its search results to favor a political agenda along with pay for placement. Worse yet, Google’s CEO has repeatedly stated that we have no right to privacy online. It’s virtually certain that some of this attitude will be baked into Andriod if it’s not already present.

There is a silver lining. Open source projects tend to spawn forks and branches when the overseers overstep. Andriod and its inevitable variants are likely to dominate mobile for some time to come. This will put Apple back in the boutique business for mobile. In other words, if smart phones were shirts, we won’t all be forced to wear turtlenecks. It will also most likely make Google’s Chrome OS irrelevant.

Conclusion: look for the cloud in your pocket, soon,and cheap. It also means you’ll have many more choices than you have now.

Redbox makes a big move this morning in its effort to dominate the home video business. The company says it will install its $1-a-night DVD rental kiosks in 700 CVS pharmacy stores by year end, with more to come in 2011.

CVS is the USA’s No. 2 pharmacy chain, with more than 7,000 stores. Although the release from Redbox is short on details about its new arrangement with CVS, it’s easy to imagine what can happen if the drug store executives like what they see.

Redbox — which has 23,000 kiosks in stores, malls, and supermarkets – has already rattled Hollywood. The fear is that the $1-a-night rental price will lead lots of consumers to forego paying $15 or so to buy a DVD — and may also undercut the ability to keep charging $3 or more for cable or online video-on-demand.

Dare we say it? RedBox IS the number one distributor of DVD rentals in the US. At this point not even BlockBuster the legacy player comes close in total volume of disks per week. RedBox is also trialing Blu-Ray in certain markets to ascertain price points vs its $1/night DVD deal.

The world, it be a changing.

Barnes & Noble has said this week, somewhat surprisingly, that it plans to put itself up for sale after suffering large losses in the battle for leader in the digital books market.

After the news, shares of the company jumped as high as 27 percent, finishing the day up 19 percent.

Founder and largest shareholder Leonard Riggio said he would consider being part of an investment group that could purchase the company. (After Dawn)

With the #1 eabook reader, Kindle, likely to shatter the $100 price barrier soon, and a wave of cheap tablets on the way to market, pushing an also ran proprietary reader is a terrible strategy. Operating so many large square footage outlets devoted to selling ink on dead trees with the market rushing to the electronic does not make sense. There are plenty of opportunities remaining, but the BN management, and most other book retailers continue to not get it. The wave is cresting. It’s time to ride it or drown.

Even disregarding Microsoft’s bubble valuation when Mr. Ballmer took over in 2000, the stock has been the proverbial dead money for a decade … At bottom, this is a corporate governance problem. Manifestly, the solution is not to let management keep stepping up to the plate with shareholder money and promising home runs that never materialize…

What the company should … do now is sharply lift its regular dividend and then promise to keep lifting it, so management will have to strain and push to reinvest in its core business while still meeting its dividend commitment to shareholders. Mr. Ballmer or whoever succeeds him needs to be placed under relentless daily pressure to distinguish between necessary spending on the business and pursuit of me-too products that don’t serve shareholder interests.

And…

One big bet Microsoft should make is on open source, the tool of the underdog, a label that is coming to fit the Redmond giant.

Yes, Microsoft is increasingly dabbling in open source, but the company needs to get more than its feet wet. It needs to dive into open source head first.

Open source would pave the way for Microsoft to be more relevant on the web, as Mitch Kapor has argued. If Microsoft wants to compete with Google - and it must - then it’s going to have to significantly sharpen its web arsenal.

Forget loose distribution agreements for Drupal and better interoperability with PHP. Microsoft should consider acquiring Acquia and thereby bringing Drupal (and Acquia) founder Dries Buytaert into the fold. It should be looking for ways to aggressively woo the Linux, Apache, MySQL and Perl/PHP/Python crowd to Windows plus AMP and, frankly, to embrace LAMP developers for everything but Windows.

But let’s not stop there. Microsoft also needs to go deep on Linux. Yes, this is anathema to the Microsoft faithful. But I’m not talking about porting its applications to run on Linux, nor am I suggesting that Microsoft replace Windows with Linux as its desktop and server operating system. That would be madness.

Source

In the former observation, this maybe true under Ballmer. Ballmer is less of a risk taker than Gates ever was. The Internet adaption being a case in point. Bill bet the farm with little realization if the switch would pay off. It did.

But this time around its a little different as the latter quote points out. This time in order to make a switch, Microsoft will be the underdog in any move to intelligent consumer devices. The high ground right now is held by Apple of all people. To get there Microsoft will have to leave Windows in all its flavors behind. That poses a huge undertaking and I doubt Ballmer has the insight to pull it off.

As to a switch to Linux? Heh. We suggested that two years ago. From a technical standpoint it makes sense. Tie in with all the IP work that has been done on the kernel and concentrate your uniqueness in coming up with a X11 based desktop that is for all the world a Microsoft product. The savings would be huge.

But there is a problem. In going there MS would most likely have to cut costs. I mean, anybody with any IT experience will tell their TAM that MSLinux is not worth the current going price if all it is a desktop layer. I can free from 20 other distros. So MS would have to figure out how to survive on 50% of its current income stream while porting all their apps to the platform.

Question is will they, can they?

According to the survey released by the Online Computer Library Center, public libraries in the U.S. lend an average 2.1 million videos/day, which edges out the 2 million discs shipped by Netflix and almost as much as the combined total of DVD rentals at Redbox (1.4 million) and Blockbuster (1.2 million).

Netflix shrugs off the idea of libraries as competition to their business. “I think of libraries as places for books,” explains a rep for the company. “It’s free, so it’s a whole different model.” (consumerist)

While Netflix is unfazed, this can’t be good news for the cable guys. A bad economy has made pay TV a luxury for most of us, and libraries are a great free resource.  I wonder how long it will be before duopoly and Hollywierd lawyers start looking for ways to shake down your local librarian.

It’s time to take control of our broadband and do it locally. The feds who got us into this mess to begin with are only going to ask for more control and more money. As long as so much control remains centered in Washington DC, nothing will improve unless you’re a telco or cable guy.

The problem is that we’re all locked into the spectrum offered by a single cell phone carrier, and our phones can’t even access most of the wifi hotspots that are in range, much less use them to make calls.

As Yap et al. outline in a provocative new paper entitled Delivering Capacity for the Mobile Internet by Stitching Together Networks, this leads to all sorts of inefficiencies that could be solved by a network ruled by standards that allowed devices to be agnostic about which portion of the wireless spectrum they are currently using:

- Increased capacity through more efficient statistical sharing. Cellular network operators tend to heavily over-provision their network in order to handle times of peak load and congestion. Most of the time, the net- work is lightly loaded. If instead they were able to hand off traffic to each other, or from cellular to WiFi networks, then their traffic load would be smoother, and their network more efficient. For example, what if AT&T could re-route traffic from their iPhone users to T-Mobile during an overload? Or T-Mobile could re- route their customers’ flows to a nearby WiFi hotspot?

- Exploit differences in technologies and frequency bands. Mobile technologies such as EVDO and HSPA provide wide area coverage with consistent bandwidth guaran- tees; while technologies like WiFi provide high band- width and low latency. Lower frequencies provides better coverage and penetration; while higher frequen- cies provides better spatial reuse. Being able to use the most appropriate technology for the application at hand would make best use of capacity available.

- Open up new sources of capacity. The ability to move between networks also open up new sources of capacity. For example, one can now use a network such as that of fon.com to supplement their main network, without having to deploy an extensive WiFi network. Such crowd-sourcing can be a powerful tool to cover dead spots and relieve congestion.

ThirdPipe has observed this since it started posting. We have advocated a technical solution set that included opening up the bands, requiring intelligent spread spectrum devices. We could open up that other 95% of the bandwidth not currently being utilized. Prices would drop, additional services can be had and disasters like the AT&T 4G debacle in places like New York City.

Its time.

Linky.

A bunch of really well known authors, working via their agents, have decided to route around their publishers and offer some of the most popular books of all time as ebooks directly on Amazon’s Kindle, without going through a publishing house. Among the books released through this effort are works from Philip Roth, Martin Amis, Vladimir Nabokov, Hunter S Thompson, John Updike, William Burroughs and Saul Bellow along with many others. Basically, some of the biggest names in literature from the 20th century. (Techdirt)

Of course, new author contracts include the publishers right to distribute “all formats”. That makes me wonder why any writer would want to play with any publisher.  Unless there’s a 100% guarantee you’ll have a permanent spot on the very scarce shelf space at the mega retailers, self publishing in ebook and print on demand format makes more sense.

Here’s a breakdown of how much companies spent in the second quarter, rounded to the nearest thousand, according to disclosures filed by midnight Tuesday:

Verizon: $4.4 million

Comcast: $3.82 million

AT&T: $3.08 million

Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0710/40087.html#ixzz0ul0XiYHa

The government is hoping to launch the first version of a “national operating system” for its computers as early as next year, a senior Communications and Press Ministry official said Thursday.

The operating system, for use on the computer systems of government agencies and state-run companies, will be 90 percent based on the open-source Linux operating system, Deputy Communications and Press Minister Ilya Massukh said.

He said use of the operating system would be optional for all agencies.

The operating system is part of the Information Society program, which the government is planning to implement from September. The program will receive 10 billion rubles ($330 million) in funding per year and includes other technology-related projects such as the creation of an “electronic government.”

The national operating system “may be one of the first targeted programs from the new raft that the government is going to approve,” Massukh said.

143m Russians using Linux? Maybe.

Linky.

Borrowing a page from patent trolls, the CEO of fledgling Las Vegas-based Righthaven has begun buying out the copyrights to newspaper content for the sole purpose of suing blogs and websites that re-post those articles without permission. And he says he’s making money.

“We believe it’s the best solution out there,” Gibson says. “Media companies’ assets are very much their copyrights. These companies need to understand and appreciate that those assets have value more than merely the present advertising revenues.
Read More http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2010/07/copyright-trolling-for-dollars/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+wired%2Findex+%28Wired%3A+Index+3+%28Top+Stories+2%29%29#ixzz0uSk6QU6X

I think it’s time that blogs started assessing the value of traffic sent to news sites by calling attention to new items. By adding opinion the benefit of additional knowledge, the blog more often than not adds value to the item and generates more interest in the original article.

Since the average blog is more or less like this one, a lawsuit would be catastrophic. We don’t make a profit. Small bloggers will never have the funds to go to trial and will settle. Even though it’s perfectly legal, this amounts to a shake down.

There’s plenty of room for more players, and they’re already in the game to some extent.  The others are Hulu, Amazon, Apple, Youtube and more. The glaring absence remains in the cable channels themselves and programming distributors. The cable guys and Verizon still have some big bandwitdh potential in their dumb pipes. AT&T and the satellite guys are likely to suffer the most.

Consider Facebook. As the world’s top  social networking site, membership is nearly compulsive as friends and family made it the center of communication. Even recurring problems securing users data, along with aggressive monetization of user data with blatant disregard for privacy haven’t slowed user growth. In fact Facebook is expected to reach 500 million members within days.

Then lets take the iPhone. Now in it’s fourth incarnation, the cute factor initially overcame annoyances like a proprietary headphone, a non replaceable battery, and being forced to pay upscale rates to AT&T for iffy service. In fact, recurring issues with the hardware itself and inconsistent service would have killed any less clique-ish device. Response to complaints has typically been snarky with half fixes like the one for antenna problems in the new model. Never the less, the iPhone clique keeps growing.

Could it be you d0n’t have to build a better mouse trap to succeed as long as you can build a cult around a bad one?

The broadband duopoly exists only with the help of government - local state and federal. By locking down right of ways, the telco and cable giants have been able to maintain a low investment enterprise with declining costs while routinely raising prices to consumers. When municipalities try to use their right of ways to provide better service, the duopoly always invests in lobbying rather than trying to compete.

There are plentiful pols who are all too willing to carry the duopoly’s water. Fortunately, one case to thwart  muni alternatives in North Caraolina has been defeated:

Indeed it has. North Carolina Senator David Hoyle’s (D-GA) now-defeated amendment (S-1209) was cosmetically titled “An Act to Ensure That A Local Government That Competes with Private Companies in Providing Communication Services Has The Support Of Its Citizens.” But advocates of city/county backed high speed Internet projects just knew it as the Municipal-Broadband Must Die Die Die bill.

Hoyle’s proposal would have banned any Tar Heel state city or county from contracting to “purchase, or finance or refinance” any kind of property to set up an “external communications system.” The law defined the latter as anything that “provides broadband service or other Internet access service, cable service, telecommunications service, video programming service, or a combination of these services.” (Ars Technica)

I hope NC voters will have enough common sense to send Senator Hoyle on permanent vacation from his law making duties when his term expires.

With the lack of will in Washington and most state houses to open the market for competitive broadband, the time for muni networks is here. These networks should not be the last alternative, but hopefully the one that will beak the duopoly strangle hold.  Around the world broadband is moving from copper to fiber at break neck speed at falling prices. World Class Broadband isn’t delivered in electrons any more, it comes in photons. It’s time to join the race and leap ahead or stand on the sidelines with our duopoly and watch the rest of the world race by.

In just over two weeks, Emmy-winning AMC drama Mad Men is slated to begin its fourth season on the basic cable channel. But with negotiations between its parent company and AT&T U-Verse over carriage fees, the cable and internet provider might force subscribers to relocate their premiere parties to the apartment of someone with Comcast.

It’s not just AMC that faces being dropped by U-Verse. Female-oriented channel WE tv and the Independent Film Channel could also face the firing squad if AT&T can’t reach an agreement with parent company Rainbow Media before July 25.

This is similar to the situation faced by Cablevision last March when its pricing squabble with ABC resulted in customers missing a bit of the live Oscars telecast.

Source

It is crazy that a channel customer should be losing any access to the entertainment over some internal provider-carrier squabble. That is fighting over who washes the dishes kind of silliness. And the customer be damned thank you very much.

The better model is the carrier is paid by the subscription of the consumer not by the channel provider. No squabbles occur. In fact under that scheme the two parties work in concert to maximize subscription rates. The whole effort become customer focused rather than channel focused as it is now on cable.

And that is why the likes of Netflix and Hulu will be winners in the space.

One of the biggest problems with the old model, which has been going for 50 years, is thinking, “We’re the labels, they’re the artists, and we make money even if they don’t make money. We reduce our risk, they put their blood, sweat and tears into it, and we only give them money when we sign them and when they deliver a new album.”

In between, the only place where they get money is from their booking agent, because they’re touring. They all love their booking agent, because their booking agent gives them a check every month, or every week, and we only give them a check every year and a half when they deliver a new record — and most of that money goes to their lawyer, manager, the taxman, and making the record. Not much of it ever goes in their pocket, and that’s been true for 20 years. Unless they have a five million seller, most of that money goes into that project. Of course they don’t like the labels, because they’re not getting that reinforcement of regular cash flow. They see the labels making money, and them not making money on records.

He also considers the use of the Internet and social networking much a waste of time. Even though in this same article he admits that Susan Boyle broke thorugh on the basis of internet presence. –

No, I think you have to be out there. You have to spread the word to get exposure, but I think the problem is context. When you’re in a glutted environment, you need to differentiate yourself more than ever, so you need a great story. Story is context; it’s not content. The songs on Susan Boyle’s record are forgettable, and her performance is just okay. There are a million singers who can sing that well at least. It’s just the story that sold it. If people could learn from her, regardless of what kind of music they did — “How can I make my story so that when people hear it, they have to spread the word?” That would activate the medium more effectively than trying to get another 50,000 followers on Twitter, which doesn’t seem to do much at all.

Silverman also suggests a different management model. Using LLC’s and Silicon Valley type investment techniques. Oddly we suggested that very thing on this blog well over a year ago. And it is right.

But there are some pieces that Silverman I think is missing –

• The first is good talent is extremely common, and extreme talent is in good supply. Go into any good size church in the USA and there are probably 2 singers in the choir equal to or better than what is screamed out of Hollywood. Is that the case?

  Empirical evidence. Neil Sedaka held a contest with several radio stations as part of a record tour/sale 5-6 years ago. Thousands were screened by the radio stations. Sedaka was floored that several hundred were good enough to be considered by his measure of talent. Anecdotal I know, but good talent recognizes that in others.

  Value in many ways is a perception, especially when the goods are of a nonphysical nature. So when the perceived supply of the goods rises dramatically because consumers perceptions are altered by the sheer volume of good choice the cost curve must drop. Its supply and demand. There is a huge talent supply and only a finite consumer supply.

• The other is this one. Silverman sees it, calls it the ‘clutter the marketplace’. He is of course, right. $3k and you can foam a garage, buy mikes and stands, a 2yo PC and a midi/mixer card and have the equivalent of what a decade ago cost $500k. So anybody can be in it if they want it enough, such is modern technology.

  But again that is not the biggest issue as I see it. Look the big labels are soon to be gone. They are right now where the major studios were back in the 60’s. Then as now, every release had to be a mega blockbuster as that what the audience expected but the costs were beyond belief. The end game will be the same too. Fundamentals now are also different.

  A band, even if it does not break thru to the levels that Silverman expects which is 100k distribution as the floor. Well run the numbers at $10 per disc. $1m gross. Deduct 5% for production costs. (Yes that cheap.) Zero out distribution costs as most bands at this level would sell either direct over the internet or more likely direct at the concerts wher they make most of their money anyway So out of say $900k split 10 ways with band, light, stage men that is still $80-100k. No you won’t get overnight rich at those numbers, but that is a descent upper middle class income with unlimited upside you you do break thru.

To an extent Mr. Silverman’s lament recognized for what it is runs head long into supply chain economics. The Internet has eliminated the middle man in most cases. Producer and retailer become one. No industry is immune from it even music. And for a lack of a better analogy, iTunes IS WalMart in the music industry.

Linky

Rep. Bill Delahunt (D-Mass.) has teamed with four Democratic co-sponsors to introduce the Main Street Fairness Act, legislation that aims to put online retailers on a par with their brick-and-mortar counterparts regarding the collection of sales taxes.

Internet retailers typically only collect sales taxes in states where they have a physical presence, such as a corporate office, call center or distribution center, though some states have enacted laws to impose collection requirements on ecommerce companies that generate sales through referrals from affiliates.

Delahunt’s bill would authorize states that participate in a voluntary consortium that aims to harmonize the byzantine web of state and local tax rules across the country to require online retailers to collect and remit taxes on residents’ purchases. (Ecommerce Guide)

The current system of not requiring merchants with no presence in your state to collect tax from buyers in your state has been with us since the time your great grandfather mailed money orders to Sears. In that era there may have been some lack of parity, since mail order companies tended to be located in large population centers. States and localities were free to require payment of sales tax on residents out of state purchases, but needed to collect directly from the buyer in their state. Over time, most states have enacted laws requiring locals to pay sales tax on out of state purchases, but have only been able to force retailers with a local presence to be their unpaid tax collector. For all practical purposes, no sales tax collected on purchases from smaller concerns out of state.

With the advent of online commerce, the advantage enjoyed by the mega corporations has been diminished. A new level paying field benefits all states from online businesses who hire local people and pay local taxes.  The lure of not having tax added to purchases has helped small sellers woo buyers, but more as an offset to the disadvantage of added shipping charges.  The lack of accounting woes that playing bag man for 50+ taxing entities would create also allows the little guys to run an online shop with a smaller investment. With so many Americans starting businesses to support themselves when there are few jobs to be had, that’s important.

The dirty little secret Rep Delhunt and his cronies don’t want you to know is that the current sales tax system is working well. Even if tax is not collected from local buyers,  sales are also made to out of state buyers by local business, increasing the local tax base.  Every state benefits from small business selling online. If there is any advantage, it goes to the states who are friendly to small business over those who only offer special treatment to corporate giants.

Who really benefits from this proposed tax law? Mega retailers like Wal Mart. In fact, Wal Mart has lobbied long and hard for this type of legislation.  I have no doubt there are plenty of local government Luddites who do not understand the advantage of freeing small enterprise from the burden of playing tax collector for 50 different states. While they may back it  this legislation, if passed, I believe the new law will actually decrease revenues in most states as millions of marginal micro businesses will call it quits.   This is a full assault on small business and technology as a great equalizer for the little guy. That’s a bad idea in good times, and sheer stupidity in times like these.

The deal announced Tuesday with film financier Relativity Media LLC adds to a batch of newer movies from The Walt Disney Co. and Sony Corp. that can be watched online through Netflix’ 2-year-old deal with Starz Entertainment LLC on a service called Starz Play.

Among the first films in the deal are “The Fighter,” starring Christian Bale, Mark Wahlberg and Amy Adams, and “Season of the Witch,” starring Nicolas Cage. The films are set to hit theaters later this year.

With new movies from Relativity available early next year, about one-fifth of the rental movie chain’s 100,000 movie and TV show titles can now be streamed online. (Yahoo)

The next questions is: Will HBO and Showtine see the light soon enough to jump on the TVoIP bandwagon or will the be displaced by upstarts. This brings us even closer to the time when subscribers will demand bigger pipes from a protected duopoly  that competes directly with web based services.

Oh but it gets worse. The economics of its do not bode well either —

The study, authored by Charles Davidson and Bret Swanson, forecasts that the nation would hemorrhage 500,000 jobs in a best-case scenario were broadband reclassified as a Title II telecommunications service. That just so happens to be an objective currently under pursuit by members of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) with support from backers of “net neutrality” policy.

The forecasted job losses are likely to make for unpleasant headlines for the FCC at a time when jobs and the economy remain paramount in the minds of most voters and legislators.

“Especially at time when the national economy is attempting to recover from a major and enduring downturn and private sector job creation remains a concern, the destabilizing impacts of the FCC’s proposals place the nation’s economy at even greater risk,” the study reads.

Telecommunications companies have for months now warned that a formal adoption of the FCC’s reclassification proposal could hamper innovation and infrastructure investment, and observers say this study could provide them with fresh ammunition in the fight against reclassification and net neutrality.

“If this Title II regulation looks imminent, we have to re-evaluate whether we put shovels int he ground,” AT&T chief executive Randall Stephenson said earlier this month in an interview with the Wall Street Journal.

From 2003 to 2009, broadband service providers invested, on average, an annual $30 billion for deployment, which created or sustained some 431,000 jobs. Were that level of investment to dip by a conservative 10 percent in the wake of reclassification, 502,000 jobs would disappear and the nation’s GDP would shrink $62 billion. At 30 percent, the study projects the U.S. GDP would drop by $80 billion, for a loss of 602,000 jobs.

Following suit of their Republican colleagues, a growing chorus of senior Democrats have in recent weeks expressed opposition to the FCC’s regulatory rewrite, asking they instead pursue a legislative solution. Cross-chamber whip counts reveal at least 285 legislators disapprove of the measure.

Flush 500k jobs? Sure could. Do the major Telcos have that many jobs? No. But what is not known by many in the beltway crowd is that a large percentage of the Outside Plant work is today done by contract firms. They would be the first to be laid off on the street if the current proposals are adopted. But even at the Telcos there would be follow on layoffs in the management ranks. Why keep an outside plant manager or a facility supervisor if nobody is laying any FIOS cable? They too would be on the street.

The Net Neutrality move is as bad as the DISCLOCE Act in many ways. But to lose a half a million jobs to boot? Somebody get a broom. The FCC needs sweeping out.

The white paper is located here.

But the question I have is it it worth $10? For the money you get –

• Access to more shows from the major networks.
• Access to the past seasons archives.
• It will be viewable on more devices (iPod, iPhone, Samsung devices, Sony PS3, Xbox, your PC)
• All of it available in HD.
• Oh, and you still have to watch all the ads. The price of entry does not spare one from this.

Now ole Fuddy-Duddy here says maybe its worth $10. Fact if they would ditch the ads I would give a serious thumbs up. I would also suggest they consider bringing in other partners like USA Network as well. Finally I could really care less that HuluPlus runs on an Xbox or PS3. I don’t game.

But with a little jiggering of the content. Dropping of the ads. Then getting some of the channel partners like HBO on board in an ala carte fashion this could fly. There is only one problem. HD already exists over the air and that ole trusty Tivo is still there with the FF button. So questions boils down to does access to the archive of shows worth the $10.

My last Ah-Ha. Does HuluPlus set the new price model for broadband content? Personally I think it does. Not because I think the content is competitive as what $40/mo cable provides. No, its a market perception thing. Once the public gets it in their mind that $10 is the value proposition the cable Cos won’t be able to shake it. Serious downward pressure waits in the wings.

Now, do the networks have the guts to pull content off the cable providers?

Linky

Senator Joe Lieberman and other bill sponsors have refuted the charges that the Protecting Cyberspace as a National Asset Act gives the president an Internet “kill switch.” Instead, the bill puts limits on the powers the president already has to cause “the closing of any facility or stations for wire communication” in a time of war, as described in the Communications Act of 1934, they said in a breakdown of the bill published on the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee website. (Techworld)

For me, there’s a contradiction in the senators claims. The act not only grants authority to seize control of non-telecom public networks (something it is not currently allowed to do), it also creates a new bureaucracy with limited accountability.

The bill, introduced earlier this month, would establish a White House Office for Cyberspace Policy and a National Center for Cybersecurity and Communications, which would work with private US companies to create cybersecurity requirements for the electrical grid, telecommunications networks and other critical infrastructure.

The bill also would allow the US president to take emergency actions to protect critical parts of the Internet, including ordering owners of critical infrastructure to implement emergency response plans, during a cyber-emergency. The president would need congressional approval to extend a national cyber-emergency beyond 120 days under an amendment to the legislation approved by the committee.

The legislation would give the US Department of Homeland Security authority that it does not now have to respond to cyber-attacks, Lieberman, a Connecticut independent, said earlier this month. (Techworld)

I’m sorry Joe, this is a very bad idea. I doubt you and the other bill sponsors even manage you own email, let alone possess even the most cursory knowledge on securing networks. In fact Joe, the federal government repeatedly under performs the free market in securing its own networks and systems. In other words you’re just not qualified to create best practices, let alone implement them.

As a very young infrastructure, the internet has been phenomenally resilient and secure. It’s no secret that private control has made the net as secure as it is today. Having said that, there is a need to harden all of our systems nationwide. We are under investing in security. One of the largest obstacles to increasing IT budgets to improve security has been the escalating costs of compliance with federal IT regulation. Most of these regulations come down from well meaning folks like Joe Lieberman and the bureaucracies they work tirelessly to create. Turning over control of critical networks to an under performing agency like  DHS is just insane. The agency can’t even effectively enforce something as simple as  a no fly list.

Joe, if you want to help, you should roll back the compliance load you have already placed on private IT and networks and encourage companies to invest some of that money in security. In the event of emergency, private network managers who are already up to the task will be able to respond much more quickly and effectively without the burden of complying with even more federal oversight.  If you really think the bureaucracy can do a better job of securing systems then start with the ones you are already responsible for. When you can prove that the feds really are up to hardening their internal systems  we can discuss that kill switch. Until you can get your own house in order, hands off ours please!

The stage is set for a showdown between television networks and cable/satellite TV services, thanks to the internet. It won’t happen overnight, but your monthly cable or satellite bill could eventually be replaced by a monthly bill from Hulu, an online service that streams TV shows on demand.

For $10 a month, viewers will reportedly have access to a wider selection of shows than the free, ad-supported version Hulu currently offers. The service would work on PCs and specialized devices such as the iPad, videogame consoles and set-top boxes. The company plans to test a version of this “Hulu Plus” subscription, an expected development, with select users as early as this month to find out whether they’ll will bite, according to sources cited by the Wall Street Journal and All Things Digital.

In order for consumers to pay for a video service like that, it will need to be reasonably comprehensive. So it’s no accident that the same week Hulu’s subscription plans came to light, a Bloomberg report surfaced that the company is talking with CBS, Viacom and Time Warner’s television studio divisions to add their shows. That would be on top of a line-up that already includes “Fox, NBC Universal, ABC, ABC Family, Biography, Lionsgate, Endemol, MGM, MTV Networks, National Geographic, Digital Rights Group, Paramount, PBS, Sony Pictures Television, Warner Bros. and more,” including Wired.com.

Source

There is one piece that I believe will not bode well —

Cable and satellite are classic middlemen. When the internet meets the middleman, the middleman tends to disappear — or at least be replaced by a thinner middleman. We’ve seen it with record stores, classified ad-dependent newspapers, video-rental stores, bookstores and any other business that delivers something that the internet can deliver more efficiently.

If you look at the Supply Chain Collapse that have gone before, in industries like retail, trucking, warehousing, etc, there is no such thing as a thinner middleman. There were only dead middlemen. There is a twist to this scenario however. For IPTV to work one has to have a fat pipe. That means Cable, FIOS, or WISP as a provider. So the carriers may not be dead but they certainly will be wounded. So how does this all play out –

• Hulu launches the premium service. Expect the cost to rise to $15-20 end game. More providers will want to get in on the act which will raise the cost.
• Expect cable costs to collapse. That $40/mo you have been charged will wilt under the shift that is about to occur.
• But that cost savings will not go without a price. Expect the Comcasts of the world to respond to this by cutting services. All those cut portals that require maintenance by high priced talent will be shelved. YOYO will be the name of the game.
• We will finally see a shot at ala-carte services. It would be a no brainer for Hulu to provide ‘The Indie Channel’ at a $1 a month. They give you a key on subscribing that is entered into your HTPC. Hulu keeps the key current as long as you are subscribed. When you drop it they cease the update and the channel stops working. That capability is the real nail in the coffin of cable tv.
• Expect in some corners to see a large shift away from network produced product to lower priced indie production. Able to tap into Hulu, these indie producers could create short run series. The model is already there with shows like Burn Notice and Royal Pains.

The content choices are going to explode here very quickly. The beauty is you may only pay for what you want. Out of a million choices you may only subscribe to 40 channels for $15-30/mo or less. I can’t wait.

It also makes Verizon’s choice to go with a Cable-like pricing model the wrong move. They should have derived the FIOS pricing on the cost to deliver the pipe as a data only service. Just like they have done for the last 150 years. Like the knight in ‘Indiana Jones’ related — “He chose poorly.” Indeed they did.

The board of net overseer Icann gave initial approval for the creation of the .xxx domain at its conference in Brussels.

Icann’s approval will kick off a fast-track process to get the porn-only domain set up.

ICM Registry, which is backing the domain, said .xxx would make it easier to filter out inappropriate content.

The decision ends a long campaign by ICM Registry to win approval.

Stuart Lawley, chairman of ICM, welcomed the decision and said it was “great news for those that wish to consume, or avoid, adult content”. (BBC)

This is a good idea that is long overdue in moving forward. Limiting adult content to a single TLD could cure many ills if managed well. There are plenty of caveats, and a large risk that .xxx will not work out as intended. I suspect that a big revenue blip motivated ICANN more than social responsibility. With the .xxx domain in place, there is a large vacuum to be filled regarding enforcement and there are sure to be “civil liberties” suits. While I like the concept, I have serious doubts that ICANN is up to the task of  implementation and enforcement.

According to a Symantec (NASDAQ: SYMC) survey of 2,152 executives and IT administrators at companies with between 10 and 499 employees, the majority of SMBs are now making data security their top IT priority compared to just 15 months ago, when the majority admitted they had yet to implement even the most basic data security technologies and policies and more than 33 percent didn’t even have basic antivirus software applications installed.

This sea change in organizational philosophy boils down to a matter of dollars and common sense. Lawmakers are pressing companies of all sizes to take more responsibility for protecting their customers’ data by passing legislation that spells out the minimum security standards they must meet and provides for the assessment of stiff fines for data breaches — accidental or otherwise.

After years of either ignoring or neglecting their security infrastructure, small and midsized businesses are now coming to terms with the fact that it’s more expensive not to invest the money and staff required to keep hackers, phishers and garden-variety cybercrooks at bay. (Small Business Computing)

This could be very telling. Business, especially smaller enterprises tend to be reactive in making security investments. That means criminals are hitting targets with smaller and smaller pay offs. This tells me that big business as a category has secured its systems well enough to deter malicious hackers. That sends the crooks down the food chain to small business. If small business can build an effective deterrent, that means a tidal wave of new exploits from criminal hackers will be targeting individuals next. This also promises web based exploits will continue to be increasingly sophisticated and more difficult to secure against.

Law enforcement has been completely impotent in deterring cyber crime.  A total lack of international cooperation points to a lack of political will to resolve slow the perpetrators. In the west, politicians and law enforcement have chosen to concentrate their efforts on  file sharing and monitoring the communications of individual citizens. Yes, this means the folks who are supposed to help protect us are watching us instead of the crooks.

The new feature will allow users to make voice calls over the Internet and it’s likely that it won’t be limited to Gmail. In April, TechCrunch reported that Google “built a Google Voice desktop application to make and receive calls” and that the application is tested internally. Google used technology from Gizmo5, a VoIP service acquired by Google last year.

For now, Google Voice’s integration with Gmail is not publicly available.

A Google Voice VoIP service with land line tie in? The consequences are rather formidable –

• Google probably becomes the instant largest VoIP phone company on the planet. Assuming that they tie this to every GMail account, that is in the cards by default. GMail outclasses Skype by at least an order of 2X.
• The paid for VoIP service collapses? Or the price points become inordinately cheap. Why pay for it if I can get if for free?
• Skype’s propietary signaling format bites them back. What has kept most folks with Skype is market size. If a larger player shows up with open protocols, it makes Skype’s technical decision problematic. That become a huge problem for them as they are now a start up again.
• The Skype-Verizon deal is toast.
• It makes the job of the folks trying to control the Internet that much harder. Hard to enforce net rules is they are precluded 1st Amend. speech provisions, which is what the FCC was supposed to guard in the first place.

As a technology this is not earth shaking, its just VoIP. But if Google follows their usual — free basic, paid premium scenarios — it is a massive realignment of the VoIP space as a business. It would also portend a serious challenge to the big three wireless carriers. A smart upstart could offer a unlimited data plan coupled with Android/GMail/Voice/SMS and blow their competitors voice/data plan pairings out of the water. (Hear me out there T-Mobile??)

This is a dark swan for telecom.

Linky

Update:

You must appreciate the remorse I have when I read this –

When Google acquired Gizmo5, a Skype competitor, in November Google Voice users rejoiced – presumably they’d be getting a much needed soft phone on the desktop for users to make and receive calls through Google Voice.

We confirmed that the application had been rewritten and was being tested internally at Google in April. Some Google employees continue to use the app, we’ve confirmed.

But don’t expect it to launch publicly any time soon, we’ve heard from multiple sources. Why? an internal religious debate about desktop software.

Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin don’t want Google to be in the business of creating software outside of the browser, say our sources. And that’s consistent with Google’s product launches over the last several years.

Of course it ignores the efforts that Google is putting into developing their own Chrome browser, Chrome operating system and Android operating system, as well as a variety of mobile apps – all are software that installs on computers or mobile devices.

But there may be a hard line when it comes to pure desktop apps like Google Voice. So the team has been sent back to the drawing board to try to make a workable soft phone that will work entirely within the browser using HTML 5.

So the upshot is, it ain’t gonna happen this year or next. Damn! Apparently part of a religious war internally. Personally I think this is a bad move on Google’s part. There is only so much you can do with Search. But with telephony, when you can do it big, there are all sorts of avenues where not only is search manifest in telephony use but it provides yet another source of revenue apart from search. Smart companies diversify income streams.

I need a scotch…..

Linky.

Update II :

Ok, so my scorecard was only half right! The upshot is, Google Voice is out of the Labs and into the wild! Wow. Integrated with Google Mail? Nope. I want that, but the fact that I can freely sign up for Google Voice without the invite is a good start.

Will be a busy weekend. Have a few clients that want this integrated into their websites. Loving it. The current release of GV won’t however put Google in the MaBell business however. It depends on an existing phone line to operate. But merely as a call director it has many uses for lots of people.

In itself the technology is no big shucks. People have been using twitter for years now. (why I don’t know.) But at a humanistic level it feels cold. Yes the recipient was a cold blooded killer. But do we need to become as cold as the perp was? Such an event at least requires a phone call so that another human can hear the demand.

Techno death is a little too unfeeling for my tastes.

In a statement released Thursday morning, Intuit said that after working throughout the night on Wednesday it had restored service to the customer sites that were down since 7 p.m. PDT Tuesday as a result of the outage. Those sites include Intuit’s core Web site, QuickBooks Online, Quicken, QuickBase, and TurboTax Online. Intuit advises that in some cases customers may need to refresh their browsers to reconnect to the affected sites and services.

Intuit explained that the outage occurred during routine maintenance Tuesday night when an accidental power failure affected its primary and backup systems, taking down a number of its Web sites and services. (Cnet)

A high availability hosted service should never have a multi hour outage as a result of a simple power failure. Conventional wisdom would lead us to say that if you own a market, you are less concerned about service outages. As we see fewer, larger businesses taking over entire market segments, we’re bound to get more of this.  Fortunately, open source is providing robust alternatives to commercial software. I wish the same could be said for broadband access.

The fourth-generation iPhone, which features a higher-resolution display, longer battery life and a front-facing camera for video chat, appears to be in high demand. So high, in fact, that when Apple and its partners started taking pre-orders on Tuesday, many anxious customers were unable to reserve one. The phone will be released next Thursday.

“This pre-ordering process is an absolute joke. I’ve tried Apple.com, ATT.com and even calling the store… no luck. #FAIL,” Andrew Dumont of Seattle wrote on Twitter.

Another Twitter user by the name of JoeKLee wrote: “Apple.com and Att.com, I just want to give you guys money. Please fix your websites.”

Other users have said that Apple’s new retail application, which the company introduced Tuesday morning to allow customers to pre-order the iPhone 4 on their existing iPhones, isn’t working. (New York Times)

With demand so high, I doubt this lack of a core customer care competency will deter the hungry masses from buying Apple’s new handset in record numbers. It’s unfortunate for them that we still have a wireless cartel where carriers and devices are locked to one another.  It’s also sad that to so called technology leaders have  managed two huge technology blunders inside of a week.

In a letter to FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski, Sens. John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) requested that the commission set the final rules for the so-called “white spaces” spectrum in the third quarter, bringing closure to a proceeding that’s been on the table for more than half a decade.

The FCC approved an order to open the white-spaces spectrum in November 2008, over strenuous opposition from broadcasters and others who warned that the new networks would interfere with signals in adjacent bands.

In a nod to those concerns, the FCC in its order mandated the establishment of a national database cataloging TV station frequencies region by region. Any device connecting to a white-spaces network would have to be equipped with location-aware technology and communicate with the database to ensure it occupied a vacant channel.

Since rural areas have the lowest density of television broadcast signals, white spaces could be a boon for rural Americans.  I doubt Kerry and Snowe are pushing this issue to help farmers the vast expanses of the rural fly over country. Never the less, any effort that gets the FCC moving forward will certainly be beneficial to under served who live and work there.

We saw this recently with the EPA and carbon emissions. The Congressional climate change bill stalled. So EPA acted under its existing statutes to make sure Americans have clean air and stuff. “Shocking!” Cried Industry. “An appalling power grab!” Agreed industry allies in Congress. “Just doing our actual firkin’ job you told us to do,” responded EPA. “And if you get your act together to provide more detailed guidance on climate change, we’ll be all set to do what you want. Until then, we do the job you told us to do with the tools we have.”

Which brings us back to the current fight over broadband. After the Comcast/BitTorrent case, spending some time pondering what to do, Genachowski concluded that if the FCC wanted to accomplish anything in the National Broadband Plan or have the ability to protect consumers if anything went wrong, he needed to look at the underlying basis for FCC authority and consider a new approach. That includes proposing “Title II-lite,” “Third Way,” whatever you want to call moving broadband out of the “Title I” ancillary services box and into the “Title II” telecommunications services box. Needless to say, the forces in favor of the status quo reacted predictably by fighting any action tooth and nail.

How do I think Mr. Feld misses the mark? –

• The FCC was designated as the protector and arbiter of the wireless realm to prevent conflict and promote its expansion AS A TECHNOLOGY AND SERVICE. That is what the 1934 act is all about and little has changed from that original mission.
• The expanded intent to protect consumers via ‘net neutrality’? If that is the case then the FCC is the wrong agency to even consider, it should be moved to CPSC. That is their charter. Or the FTC if one thinks that market collusion is harming the consumer. But not the FCC.
• Then here is the big one you don’t feign to mention. In your EPA example, the Court (SCOTUS) ruled that indeed the EPA had the responsibility to consider CO2 as a possibly harmful gas as part of its charter in the founding legislation. In the case of the 1st DC Court, Comcast vs FCC, the Court ruled specifically against the FCC as having no controlling authority.

  You can’t in the second instance down play the rationale of the Court for your own ends then upsell in the first instance when it suits your need. The Courts have been reasonably consistent on this matter of administrative law. Good for them and an awful red herring in your missive.

There are of course the nagging bits that the beltway does not want to face. Like, in several survey’s a full third of respondents in target exurban markets said they would not connect EVEN IF THE PIPE PASSED THEIR HOUSE. What a waste of money. Which is why the physical plant rarely strays outside the major MSA on the country. The other little bit, is even if the FCC were to move forward, how does it get funded? Tax? In an election year? With the Democrats on the defensive? And no authoritative legislative means to fulfill it? Again a waste of time.

If the Beltway wants to see a broadband implementation, then they need to change their mindset. A) The pipe for the exurban space is in the air not the ground. B) That means that Congress should grant tax incentives for WISPs to expand their foot print commiserate with the data rate capabilities. C) That the FCC provide fast track tower approvals and the development of a national construction plan consistent with the National Building Code to be able to fast track tower construction.

But Mr. Feld, the NOI is a dead letter politically.

Starting July 1st, Starbucks will finally begin to offer free and unrestricted Internet access over Wi-Fi in its stores. Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz made this announced at Wired’s Disruptive by Design conference today. With this, Starbucks finally joins the ranks of neighborhood coffee stores all over the world that have long offered free and easy access to Wi-Fi. By Fall 2010, Starbucks also plans to give Internet users in its stores free access to paid sites, including the Wall Street Journal.

Until now, Starbucks customers were restricted to two hours of Wi-Fi access and needed to register for a Starbucks Card in order to access the Internet. Starbucks already offered free Wi-Fi access to AT&T customers.
Free Access to Paid Content

The free access to paid content sites, however, is the big news here. According to Starbucks, this new service, called the “Starbucks Digital Network,” will give users who surf the Internet from U.S. company owned stores access to “various paid sites and services such as wsj.com, exclusive content and previews, free downloads, local community news and activities, on their laptops, tablets or smart phones.” Besides the Wall Street Journal, Starbucks’ partners include Apple’s iTunes, The New York Times, Patch, USA TODAY, Yahoo and ZAGAT.

The free paid access sweeter I guess makes up for the delay?

Linky.

Blockbuster is in discussions with bondholders to get up to $150 million in so-called debtor-in-possession financing, said people familiar with the matter. Such loans, which typically carry high interest rates, are used to help companies operate while under Chapter 11 protection. The senior bondholders, owed about $630 million, would provide the financing to protect their original investment should Blockbuster enter bankruptcy court.

The talks don’t necessarily mean Blockbuster will file for bankruptcy. Blockbuster is pursuing other options, and troubled companies often negotiate bankruptcy loans as a precautionary measure and still reach deals with creditors to restructure debts outside of court.

On a separate front, Blockbuster is talking with possible strategic partners about a new cash infusion, a person familiar with the matter said. Under that scenario, a group of lower-ranking bondholders owed $300 million would likely convert their debt to equity, this person said.

One potential investor could be NCR Corp., which provides the company with Blockbuster Express-branded vending machines, this person said. It remained unclear what other possible investors Blockbuster had sounded out. Blockbuster and NCR declined to comment.The movie-rental chain faces possible bankruptcy as its debt has mounted amid stiff competition.

Moves of a company that is looking for operating capital through the bankruptcy proceedings hoping for a white knight buyout. That will only work if there is a desirable level for a pennies on the dollar deal. The problem for BB is that its floor rent is tied to a cost structure of 2-3 years ago in a commercial real estate market that is selling square footage at 50% discount.

The other problem for BB is that the nature of the competition matrix has not changed and will increase over time. Home theater systems are getting cheaper all the time. RedBox is expanding at a furious pace and will be offering Blu Ray rentals shortly. Even the Pay-per-View market is holding up well as the customer seems satisfied with the pricing. Add it all up and the BB market is not looking good for a B&M model.

Another loser in the Whack-the-MIddleman sweepstakes.

Linky.

The US comes in 19th when measured on “cost per Mbps.” The OECD numbers use Purchasing Power Parity to ensure that the dollar amounts are comparable between countries, and US broadband turns out to cost $8 for each advertised Mbps of service. In Korea, it’s $1.76. The UK, not known for fast speeds, but having decent competition thanks to line-sharing rules, is $1.98. Japan is $2.33 (ARS Technca)

The one glaring difference between the US and the other developed nations is that those with better, cheaper connectivity have mandated line sharing. That’s something the FCC declared no longer needed due to  “adequate competition” from a duopoly.  Obviously Washington’s “adequate competition” still falls short.