Michael's Insight

FCC's DTV race car crashes... again

Michael Willner — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 11:23:14 -0500

FCC's DTV Race Car Crashes... again [Reuters]

Last month, the FCC announced that it was paying $350,000 to become a lead sponsor for NASCAR's #38 driver, David Gilliland. The FCC sponsorship was ostensibly to bring public awareness to next year's digital television transition. In it's first race, the DTV car crashed into the wall at Martinsville Speedway. Then, adding insult to injury, the group Citizens Against Government Waste gave the car the dubious honor of "porker of the month" for the use of taxpayer dollars to pay for the sponsorship.

But the tale of the DTV car doesn't end there. In the most recent NASCAR race, held on Sunday, the FCC's DTV car endured a second fiery crash. Thankfully, Gilliland again was uninjured.

Broadcasters and cable operators have provided hundreds of millions of dollars of free airtime to educate Americans about the impending digital transition. Surveys show that nearly all Americans are aware of the transition, but many still need to know what they need to do to continue to receive television signals on February 17, 2009. Rather than crashing race cars into walls, the federal government should be focused on educating these Americans about the options available to them in order to make a successful transition to digital television.

And if I were David Gilliland, I'd be wondering if that paint job has a hex on it.

App verification comes to Facebook's platform [CNET News]

Here's a welcome note for Facebook users, like myself. Facebook is introducing an application verification process that will give users peace of mind that the applications they install on their Facebook profile are safe and stable. Facebook has been the victim of recent malware attacks, with some malware applications on the site posing as safe. Facebook application developers can pay a fee and submit their application for approval. If the application is approved, Facebook will post a seal on the application's web page verifying for users that it is safe to install.

Privacy Laws Trip Up Google in Parts of Europe [New York Times]

Google has quite a few neat products, but some of them may be running afoul of privacy laws in several European countries, according to this article. One in particular is the Street View feature of Google's mapping tools. Street View allows users to access a 360 degree ground level view of many points on the globe. Countries like Switzerland and Germany have laws that may prohibit the Street View feature, which has forced Google to block the feature in those countries.

McColo takedown: Internet vigilantism or online Neighborhood Watch? [Computerworld]

Some computer researchers are questioning the recent takedowns of notorious spammers McColo and Intercage. Both takedowns were the result of anti-spam advocates and a Washington Post reporter contacting the respective ISPs to inform them they were hosting high volume spammers. The ISPs made the decision to terminate the spammers' Internet connection. The question that some are asking is about the lack of law enforcement in these recent takedowns. Is it proper for "web vigilantes" to track down spammers and ask ISPs to disconnect them? Or should some form of law enforcement be involved?

The problems of the fact that the spammers on the Internet don't recognize legal jurisdictions, makes it difficult for law enforcement in multiple jurisdictions to coordinate efforts to takedown spammers. And, quite often, the independent researchers who are tracking spammers are dedicating more resources toward the issue than law enforcement. While we're all glad to have less spam in our inbox, this is an important question for policy makers, network managers, and spam trackers to ponder.

By the way, we continue to see a reduction in the amount of spam coming into our email servers since these bandits were shut down.

More on A-La-Carte; DSL Falls; Young Men and Tech Glitches; The Prez and His BlackBerry

Michael Willner — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 10:29:57 -0500

Professor Cory O'Connor, from Chapman University and formerly the Senior Vice President of Communications of The Disney Channel disagreed with my a-la-carte position in a comment he posted on this blog last week.

I was SVP of Communications for The Disney Channel when it moved from a la carte to basic. I'm not without some loyalties to your industry, but you guys are overplaying your hand to protect your status quo, forcing us to pay for Sumner Redstone's excrement. .... I am firmly in the camp of a la carte, Michael, and I intend to stay on your case about this. I hope David Lazarus from the Los Angeles Times does also.

To fully review his position I am linking to his entire post as I want to give everyone an opportunity to consider his position.

Professor O'Conor did not, however, address the economic issue I raised in last week's post. Instead, he responded to an earlier post of mine in which I argued that a-la-carte would dramatically "dumb down" television by reducing the number of choices people have.

Professor O'Connor argues that there is too much junk on television. Frankly, on that I agree. But instead of reducing junk, government-mandated a-la-carte would increase the dominance of programmed-for-the-masses junk. Why? Because it will put serious financial distress on the narrow appeal and often much higher quality niche networks.

Referring to me as the industry "pit bull" over at his blog, Leprechaun Lexicon (that's ok, I'm pretty thick-skinned), Professor O'Connor should not misinterpret my motivation for opposing government-mandated a-la-carte. He suggests that I am protecting the status quo, I guess to protect the current business model.

He doesn't know me very well. I have a long and storied history of poking holes into current business models and habitual business practices. Just ask my colleagues.

Contrary to his comment that I am simply, "telling consumers to go jump off a cliff," in fact, I am deeply concerned about the ongoing economic viability of cable's video product. I understand that a-la-carte can sound very attractive when you ask, "Would you rather have the option to get only the channels you want and only pay for them?" Heck, I'd answer "yes" too if I didn't have the potential impact explained.

Why do I worry about the economic viability of today's video product? Because network fees are skyrocketing and only a fraction of those higher license fees are being passed along to consumers.

Something has to give.

I've heard the argument that a-la-carte could help solve that problem. Unfortunately, I just don't believe it. Instead, I believe it will dramatically limit the number of choices consumers will have which simply is bad for America. And, as I said last week, it will make the fewer surviving channels both more similar to each other and much more expensive to consumers.

I gather from his posts that Professor O'Connor was a Senior Vice President at the Disney Channel when, in 1995, they announced that they could no longer economically support a-la-carte distribution. They told their distributors that, in order to stay in business, Disney Channel would have to move to basic cable. Operators were required to agree to move it there or they would have to drop the channel at the expiration of their contract.

That was a business discussion between a single network and its distributors. It was not an industry-wide government mandate, applied to all networks and distributors. How many networks would find themselves in Disney's position with no alternative to going dark if the law required a-la-carte?

More than you could imagine.

Will DSL Survive? [Multichannel News]

For nearly thirty years, telephone companies made the decision to keep DSL technology in the vault because they didn't want to introduce a product that would compete with their valuable T1 business. After cable companies unveiled the first generation of cable broadband in the 1990's, the phone companies finally decided to pull DSL out of the vault because they finally new they had to market the product - as a competitor to cable broadband.

But, after a decade DSL subscriber growth is falling fast, with cable subscribers outpacing DSL at a 3-1 rate. Cable broadband is quickly becoming the service of choice due to its superior speeds when compared to DSL. And cable operators aren't sitting on their laurels. DOCSIS 3.0 technology is in the process of being tested, which promises initial speeds of 50 Mbps and future speeds up to 200 Mbps.

According to this article, while telephone companies are wiring some areas of their choosing with direct fiber-to-the-home or -node, most areas will continue to be served by slower DSL for years to come. And those slow DSL speeds mean that someday soon, DSL will be heading the way of dial-up Internet.

Study: Young people, men more optimistic when tech fails [CNET News]

The Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project has released a survey of over 2,000 Americans that indicates young people and men are marginally more confident when faced with technology problems.

"Although young adults age 18 to 29 years old are no more likely to be able to fix devices on their own, they were significantly more likely to be confident that they were on the right path to fixing it, and they were significantly less likely than older adults to feel discouraged or confused about fixing devices," according to the report.

There's no data about how successful the younger generation is in fixing their technology glitches, just that they're more confident when faced with them. Overall, 48 percent of the people in the survey said that they need help setting up and learning to use a new tech device.

Lose the BlackBerry? Yes He Can! Maybe [New York Times]

The burning question in the minds of political and tech junkies is whether President-elect Barack Obama, already known in political ciricles for an executive-style BlackBerry addiction, will take his BlackBerry to the White House. He will be the most tech-savvy president, after taking the oath. This weekend Obama introduced America to the first of many presidential addresses via YouTube. But the BlackBerry is another question due to the fact that many of his emails would be subject to public disclosure. So, Obama may decide to give up the 'Berry. Nevertheless, Obama plans to be the first president to keep a computer on his desk in the Oval Office.

A new era for peer-to-peer applications?

Michael Willner — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 14:25:25 -0500

ISPs To Speed Up P2P Transfers [Silicon Alley Insider]

Peer-to-peer transfers might be getting much faster and more efficient. According to Silicon Alley Insider, some of the country's largest ISPs are set to release the first version of P4P software. P4P is the product of a coalition of ISPs, content producers, and P2P software developers. It's designed to speed up P2P file transfers without consuming more than a user's fair share of bandwidth. It also promises to bring content producers to the table, bringing P2P out of the dark alleys of the Internet and into the mainstream.

Here's how P4P promises to make P2P better:

It makes peer-to-peer transfers -- a huge chunk of all the bandwidth used on the Internet -- more efficient by sending more traffic, when possible, across the ISP's internal network -- as opposed to across the broader Internet. It can also prioritize P2P traffic from networks with which ISPs have so-called symbiotic "peering" relationships, which could save them money.

.....

The companies that are preparing to unveil P4P, Comcast, AT&T and Verizon, have been testing P4P for several months now. And the statistics show that P2P transfers can be speeded up substantially with this new technology, while making the file transfers more efficient by reigning in the bandwidth appetite of conventional P2P.

In the most recent P4P tests, announced yesterday, download speed increased an average 59% over traditional P2P, and up to 150% for the fastest class of users. Efficiency improved, too: The percentage of data delivered interally within each ISP -- best-case scenario -- increased from 14% for normal P2P to as much as 89% for P4P delivery.

We will continue to monitor the development of P4P and consider it as a part of our future services once we are convinced it technically works and is an appropriate next generation for file sharing.

Why You Should Pay For More Than You Watch [CableTechTalk]

CableTechTalk posted on David Lazarus' LA Times column on a-la-carte, and their post offers another analysis of why cable bills would not go down under an a-la-carte system. Bottom line - current carriage costs for channels would go up in a-la-carte, and proponents of picking their own channels wouldn't see the changes in their cable bill that they expect. The post at CableTechTalk, coincidetnally, uses the same metaphor I did yesterday when it comes to newspapers and a-la-carte. Newspapers, which in most cities in America are themselves a monopoly, don't allow subscribers to purchase their content a-la-carte, so why should the government regulate a-la-carte delivery of cable, which competes with two satellite services everywhere and phone companies in a growing number of communities?

Woman out $400K to 'Nigerian scam' con artists [KATU]

This is one of the most outrageous stories I've ever read about advance fee scam email. An Oregon woman is going public about the fact that she sent $400,000 to email scammers that offered her millions if she would only pay a "one time" up-front fee. Most readers know how the story goes. The scammers continued to ask for more "one time" fees and never sent any money. Most email users have received one of these scam emails, and if you haven't read this article so you can know what they look like.

These scammers continue to be in business because people send them money. If you see one of these scam emails in your box, just delete it.

Is There a Privacy Risk in Google Flu Trends? [NYT Bits Blog]

The Electronic Freedom Foundation (EFF) is raising privacy concerns about the way Google is using search information from users to identify flu trends. The question that the EFF raises is that even though the flu trend information that is available to the public doesn't show any search queries that are personally identifiable, what happens if the government wants to know about a specific user's searches? Google does retain information that makes queries identifiable to a particular computer for up to 9 months. For their part, Google promises that the information provided to the public is anonymized and they promise to protect the identity of searchers.

Any thoughts?

Hey Mr. Newspaperman! You Think A-La-Carte Makes Sense?

Michael Willner — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 11:56:29 -0500

More Misunderstanding About A-La-Carte [Los Angeles Times]

Here we go again. Now LA Times columnist and newspaperman David Lazarus thinks consumers would be better off if the Federal government required cable operators to offer all of their channels on an a-la-carte basis. You can read my previous posts and my guest blogger, Gerry Laybourne's, that argue that the cost of television would rise dramatically under government-imposed a-la-carte and the diversity of choices would all but evaporate when scores of niche networks simply cease to exist.

Let's use Mr. Lazarus' example to understand the economics.

The average U.S. home now receives a record 118.6 TV channels, according to a recent report from Nielsen Co. But the dirty little secret of the cable industry is that the average subscriber watches only about 17 channels regularly...

...When I watch TV, it's usually CNN, CNBC or a movie channel. On an a la carte basis, I could probably get the handful of channels I like for pocket change.

Ok. We believe the studies that suggest that, on average, fewer than 25% of the population would subscribe to any particular channel, like CNN or CNBC. Let's just say that news and movie channels that are on basic cable, on average, cost cable operators about 50 cents per month, each. Today, those channels receive that 50 cents per month from all expanded basic customers. If only 25% of the customers actually were willing to pay for the channel, they would each have to charge about $2.00 per month, just to stay revenue neutral.

But that's only half the story.

We also know that most networks rely on both subscriber revenue and advertising revenue and about half of their revenue comes from advertising. We also know that a great deal of a network's viewing comes from channel surfing, so their ratings for advertisers are enhanced by that viewership. Many people estimate that each channel would lose about 40% of its viewers in an a-la-carte world. A proportional reduction in advertising revenue, reflective of that lost viewership, would require the network to charge customers another $.80 per customer just to stay revenue neutral. ...

So for just the three channels Mr. Lazarus identifies that he wants to watch, his bill has gone from $1.50 per month to $8.40, nearly a six-fold increase! But he also believes that most Americans only watch 17 channels regularly. For the sake of this analysis, let's accept that. And for the purposes of this example, lets spread the economics of Mr. Lazarus' three channels to a total of 17.

The result? Mr. Lazarus would pay around $48.00 per month for his 17 favorite channels, if they all continue to survive. Most cable operators retail their expanded basic channels for about $50 to $55 for around 70 channels, not to mention the discounts available to customers who also purchase Broadband and/or voice services from their cable provider.

Maybe Mr. Lazarus should think about it this way.

I buy the New York Times everyday. At a retail price of about $60.00 per month, I regularly read the news and business sections. For part of the year I read the sports, if there's a story about the New York Giants. Of course, I admit that I often thumb through the arts, home, and local sections, but that's not why I bought the paper and I wouldn't care if they weren't there. How about if you let me buy the paper on an a-la-carte basis? I'll buy just the news and business pages (and sometimes the sports). Think of all the money I could save.

Not to mention how many trees won't get turned into newsprint.

I'd bet my NY Giants Superbowl shirt that this won't happen. Why? Because it would make newspapers prohibitively more expensive and many would simply disappear.

Sound familiar?

Washington Post Kills Major Spam, Child Porn Pit [Broadband Reports]

Yesterday, I linked to a story about a Washington Post reporter who managed to shut down a major producer of junk email, the McColo Corp. The reporter investigated McColo's connection to the Internet, contacted their ISP asking questions about why they were hosting McColo's nefarious behavior, which resulted in McColo's connection being terminated.

Just how much spam was McColo responsible for? Broadband Reports has posted a graph of SpamCop statistics around the time of McColo's disconnection showing a 50% drop in spam. ZDNet has posted an article indicating that many network administrators are noticing a "35% to 50% drop in inbound spam." Our email specialists at Insight reported a similar drop. They will keep an eye on the issue and see if the spams morph to another origination point. I'll keep you posted.

Insight adding to its HD channels [Louisville Courier-Journal]

The Louisville Courier-Journal has published an article about the new HD channels that are coming with Insight Digital 4.0 in the Louisville area. Thirty-three new HD channels are coming by December 18, plus new On Demand HD programming. For all the details, head over to InsightDigital40.com.

Japan Has 10x Fewer PC Infections Than the US? [Sherman's Security Blog]

Sherman has posted about an idiosyncrasy in the rate of PC infections by malware in the U.S. and Japan. If you live in Japan, your chances of having a malware infection are ten times less than the U.S. (1.8 per 1000 PCs versus 11.2 per 1000 PCs). Sherman asks the obvious question: why are users in the U.S. so much more prone to having a malware infection on their PC?

Is it because U.S. users are much more likely to click on links to malware in junk email or is there some other reason. If you've got a theory, send it to Sherman or post it here. Figuring out how Japanese users manage to avoid these infections has the possibility of creating new ways for users in this country to reduce their rate of infection.

YouTube Ventures Into Live Event Webcasting [Reuters]

Not only is YouTube venturing into partnerships with the Hollywood studios to bring feature films to YouTube, yesterday the popular video-sharing site announced that it will be launching a live webcasting service later this month. On November 22nd, YouTube Live will broadcast a concert featuring several artists who have made popular recorded videos on YouTube. Google, which owns YouTube, is promising additional follow-up events to the November 22nd debut, but details have yet to be released.

WiFi security vendors buttress products against WPA crack [ArsTechnica]

The recent news that the WPA Wi-Fi encryption protocol might be subject to a crack, has security vendors responding. Of the three major vendors of Wi-Fi security products, two are saying that their products already prevented the type of crack that researchers conducted against WPA. The other vendor has announced a software upgrade that will defend against the crack. Check your Wi-Fi router's documentation to make sure your router's firmware is up-to-date to guard against these type of attacks.

Broadband 100.0? Not Yet

Michael Willner — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 12:55:02 -0500

As reported in the Lexington Herald Leader and on Broadband Reports, Insight is testing a 100 meg broadband service at one location in Louisville. We are pushing the limits of speed on our network as an early part of a process that will lead to more extensive hypersonic speed testing in the future. In this test, a doctor's office is using the service to electronically transfer medical imaging to and from his office.

Our business services group, Insight Business Services (IBS), is conducting this test for us. We are able to provision for just about any bandwidth requirement for IBS customers and what better result is there -- to help doctors treat their patients more efficiently and effectively. In order to increase speeds to 50 or even 100 meg for residential customers, we plan to utilize the new cable modem open standard of DOCSIS 3.0. We're doing a lot of preliminary work to get ready for DOCSIS 3.0 but don't yet have a timetable.

Meanwhile, we are watching DOCSIS 3.0 tests that are underway in other markets and we're extremely encouraged with the performance of the new technology. A couple of questions being asked by interested customers have do do with upstream speeds (some are testing 5 to 10 meg) and whether you will need a new modem (yes).

We have been a leader in pushing the limits of speed having been one of the first cable ISP's to break the 10 meg barrier followed by our early launch of our premium 20 meg service. Going much beyond that requires a whole new standard for cable modems which eventually will increase speed capabilities into the triple digits. We are going to be absolutely sure DOCSIS 3.0 works well in a large-scale deployment before we launch. However, knowing us, after we take it out for a test drive, I wouldn't be surprised if we find we can't help ourselves and look to press the pedal to the medal soon after we break in the new speedster.

Major Source of Online Scams and Spams Knocked Offline [Washington Post]

Here's a win for the good-guys in the fight against spam, botnets, and lots of other nasty stuff on the Internet. This week, the ISP that provided the McColo Corp. with their connection to the Internet cut their connection. McColo was recognized by the network security industry as a notorious spammer (sending up to 75% of global junk email) and controller of botnets. As a result, McColo is no longer online and able to send spam.

This is the second such story I've seen in the last few weeks about ISPs shutting down spammers, and I'm glad to see that the good guys are on the offense in light of the news in this next article. Now let's see if someone else fills the vacuum immediately or if we're going to see a reduction in spam. I'll check in with our network managers and let you know in a few days.

Net bombarded by heaviest ever attacks this year [ZDNet]

Malicious botnets are now launching the heaviest distributed denial of service (DDOS) attacks in the history of the Internet. Those attacks have reached up to 40 Gbps, according to a recent survey of ISPs. And attacks in general are 67 percent larger than those last year. It's important that ISPs and users remain vigilant against these attacks. Protect your PC with a solid antivirus and firewall program, and keep them up-to-date to prevent malicious attacks against your computer. These attacks are often an attempt to co-opt your system into a botnet, so that hackers can use your computer to attack other networks.

Google now tracking flu trends via search [CNET News]

Not feeling well? Looking to Google to give you some advice about how to deal with flu symptoms? Big brother will be watching. Yesterday, Google announced that it will be using flu related searches to track the spread of the flu throughout the U.S. So if quite a few people start searching for "aches" and "fever" on Google, that data is aggregated along with other similar searches in the same geographic area, telling epidemiologists that the area those searches are coming from is a flu hot spot.

FCC Chairman to Open Up Quiet Period for Comment [Marketwatch]

FCC Chairman Kevin Martin has decided to open up a public comment period for a quiet period on retransmission agreements during the digital transition. This is a necessary first step toward helping consumers avoid confusion about the digital television transmission. As I've said here before - this move is a no-brainer. Cable operators, broadcasters and the FCC all need to be working together to ensure that the transition is successful, and the quiet period is one critical step in that direction.

Two congressmen asking questions about DTV issues

Michael Willner — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 09:04:39 -0500

Congressmen look to resolve expected DTV problems [CNET News]

Two more members of Congress are expressing concerns that the FCC, broadcasters and the federal agency responsible for the digital converter box coupon program need to do more to prepare the public for the digital transition. House Telecommunications Subcommittee Chairman Ed Markey and Commerce Committee Chairman John Dingell have written letters to broadcasters and the federal agencies asking them to detail plans to remedy concerns that arose during the September digital transition test in Wilmington, NC.

The letters noted that the FCC's trial conversion in Wilmington, N.C., this September "revealed many problems related to the transition, including consumers who did not know they needed to rescan their boxes to search for new channels after the switch, needed to obtain or adjust antennas to receive digital signals, or were no longer able to receive a station's signal because the station's digital signal contour differs from its analog coverage area."

While a majority of Americans are well aware of the digital transition, primarily because of a public service campaign by cable operators and broadcasters, there are still lingering issues for many over-the-air television viewers. It's critical that the FCC continue to focus on solving these issues prior to Februrary 17 of next year.

Remember, if all the televisions in your house are connected to cable, you're already prepared for the digital transition. If you choose to use an over-the-air digital converter, you will need to determine if your antenna is receiving the digital signals and that the converter is properly programmed to the frequencies in your local area. Come next February, your televisions will continue to work normally during the switch from analog to digital broadcasts as long as they are connected to cable.

Is Broadband TV a Cable Killer? [Light Reading]

Light Reading asks the question whether Internet video is a threat to traditional cable video delivery at the Cable and Telecommunications Association for Marketing Summit. One of the better responses to the question comes from the founder of Next New Networks:

Fred Siebert, creative director and a founder of Next New Networks, a developer of niche, "micro-television networks" for the Internet, said assumptions that tried-and-true TV distribution models will die out anytime soon is foolish. "It's just stupid. Nothing is going away," he said, noting that cable did not kill off broadcast television in the 1980s, and, before that, broadcast TV did not plunge a dagger into the heart of radio.

AT&T’s Dubious Behavior [Broadband Politics]

AT&T has rolled out a new tier of DSL service in some areas based on a press release from the company last week, but, as Richard Bennett points out, AT&T is telling consumers that they're required to purchase AT&T's television service if they want to get the new DSL speed tier. I'm all for bundling services to provide a better deal for customers, but forcing customers into a take-it-or-leave-it deal for a group of bundled services isn't an appropriate way to treat customers. Bundling of different services should be an offer for a discount, not a requirement.

Furthermore, this new tier's speeds sound fairly sketchy. Because AT&T is using the same pipe to deliver the DSL as the TV service (which consumers are required to buy), a subscriber's actual DSL speed is dependent upon how much television content is being delivered. So, don't turn on too many televisions if you've got AT&T's new DSL tier, or you could slow down your Internet download speed.

iPhone Best-Selling Phone in the U.S. for Q3 2008 [GigaOm]

It's come from a glint in the eye of Steve Jobs two years ago to the best selling mobile phone in the U.S. According to the NPD Group, Apple sold nearly 7 million iPhones during the third quarter of 2008. As other phone manufacturers introduce their own models designed to compete with the iPhone, the way we use the web is quickly changing. It's a must have feature for new smartphones to have a full web browser, and more and more people are using them for their web browsing. Even this blog gets hits everyday from mobile devices.

New customers choose cable two-to-one over DSL

Michael Willner — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 10:15:55 -0500

Cable Beating Back DSL [Broadband Reports]

Third-quarter results are showing that new broadband subscribers are choosing cable broadband at a 2-1 rate over DSL. The gap between cable broadband and DSL continues to grow because of the significant speed differences between the two. Cable broadband is faster than DSL, and promises even faster speeds as cable operators begin to roll out DOCSIS 3.0 technology. Another BBR report declares that DSL has cemented its title as the next dial-up.

Unlike phone companies, cable companies do not view technology as the end-game of their services. Instead, it's a means to an end. Do customers really care if they receive their blazing Internet speeds via a network that delivers their service via fiber to the curb or fiber to the node? No. Unless there is a difference in the quality of service. With DOCSIS 3.0, cable has put to rest the belief that a complete fiber optic rebuild is needed to compete effectively with Verizon's FIOS technology. Instead, both Verizon and AT&T remain burdened with huge capital investment requirements in order to compete with cable's already-installed platform that easily adds DOCSIS 3.0 to it.

The remaining question is when does Wall Street figure it out and start reflecting these economic differences in the values of wireline phone and cable companies.

BitTorrent Sacks Half Its Staff [NYT Bits Blog]

A well-known peer-to-peer software company has announced that it is laying off half of its staff and has brought in a new CEO. The company has had trouble developing a revenue model - its free software is often (but not always) used to illegally trade copyrighted material. This article indicates that the company will be pinning its hopes on BitTorrent DNA, a service designed to allow legitimate content providers to reliably and quickly deliver their content over the Internet.

As attractive "free" is, it's only good while it lasts. Rather than figure out how to get someone else's property for free, creative thinking should invest in figuring out how to get content to people as quickly and inexpensively as possible. P2P may indeed be able to play a major role in that ideal.

MGM first to post full-length features to YouTube [CNET News]

I mentioned last week that YouTube was in the final phases of inking a deal with at least one Hollywood studio to deliver full-length feature films on its site. Yesterday, MGM Studios announced that their films will be the first to debut on YouTube. The films will be ad supported, as part of Google's effort to develop a reliable revenue model for YouTube.

YouTube had a rocky start with studios and other content owners because YouTube users often posted copyrighted content and the company was slow to remove the improperly posted material. Google has endeavored to move more quickly to pull down copyrighted content from the site.

Seven things you may not know about Windows 7 [CNET News]

Though it's not scheduled to be released for a year, the Windows 7 hype is already beginning. This article highlights the new features Windows 7 promises for the next generation of mobile computing - helping users find and login to Wi-Fi hotspots and easier connections for cellular modems. And if you've had problems with Vista, like a fair number of users, Windows 7 promises to bring a new approach to troubleshooting that really will help you figure out what ails your PC.

The OS wars will only heat up over the next year as Microsoft attempts to keep computer users from switching to Mac by promising a new day with Windows 7. I use both platforms, Microsoft at my desk and Mac on my laptop. I see advantages and disadvantages to both so I look forward to reading about the new features each plan to roll out for consumers in this competitive battle for users.

Facebook to take their election tools overseas

Michael Willner — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 10:16:49 -0500

Facebook's political squad looks overseas [CNET News]

Having had a major influence in the presidential election this week, Facebook is looking abroad to provide the social networking tools that allowed campaigns to organize their supporters and to recruit additional supporters.

"This week is definitely all the post-election aftermath, but I'm definitely looking forward to jumping right into some of the international politics (and) international elections," said Zuckerberg (who is, in case you were wondering, CEO Mark Zuckerberg's sister). "It's a little more fun to work on some of those because they don't draw out their elections for a year and a half."

According to Facebook, more than 5.4 million users clicked on the "I Voted" button on their Facebook account on Election Day. Over three-quarters of Facebook users live outside the U.S., so there are plenty of users that can take advantage of Facebook in their home country's elections.

WPA Wi-Fi Encryption Is Partially Cracked [Broadband Reports]

Researchers have announced that they have partially cracked the Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA) security protocol. This article indicates that the researchers managed to find a way to crack WPA's Temporal Key Integrity Protocol (TKIP) in twelve to fifteen minutes. This partial crack could allow an intruder to monitor data going from a wireless router to computers connected to the router.

The researchers conducting this test recommend upgrading to the WPA2 protocol because it is safe from this kind of attack. Most Wi-Fi routers support WPA2. If you have questions, check your router's documentation about how to switch to WPA2.

This also has implications on neighbors being able to use your Internet connections. That will slow you down but if and when caps are more widely implemented, it will also have an economic impact on users as well. Guess it's time to upgrade our security settings.

More Specifics On AT&T's Cap Plans [Broadband Reports]

Broadband Reports has the scoop on AT&T's download cap trial, including the different cap sizes for each tier of service. All service tiers will be subject to a cap, starting at 20 gigabytes per month. As earlier reported, the testing is occurring in the Reno, Nevada market and will be tested in another unnamed market by the end of this year. Looks to me like their cap levels are thoughtful and reflective of the different usage patterns of their customers.

Project Turns GPS Phones Into Traffic Reporters [Slashdot]

Researchers at cell phone manufacturer Nokia and the University of California have developed a program for cell phones that use crowd sourcing to develop detailed traffic reports for the Bay Area. The free program taps into each user's cell phone GPS to determine where a user is driving and how quickly they are moving. Then the data from thousands of cell phones is aggregated into detailed traffic data that is available to all drivers.

Would you be willing to put a program on your phone that transmitted your location information in exchange for traffic information? Ask me that question when I'm sitting in a New York traffic jam. I'm in.

HBO Nabs Rights to Obama Documentary [Multichannel News]

A documentary team following President-elect Obama since early 2006 will see their final film aired on HBO. The yet to be named documentary was created and produced by Edward Norton's Class 5 Films company. The documentary promises a behind the scenes view of the Obama campaign from its initiation to historic wins in the Democratic primary and general election. HBO has said the film will premiere sometime next year.

Hollywood movies you can watch on YouTube?

Michael Willner — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 10:17:01 -0500

Feature films coming to YouTube [CNET News]

After Google acquired YouTube, they began looking for ways to create a revenue model for the ultra-popular video sharing site. Now, news is leaking out that YouTube may be bringing advertising supported feature films to the site. According to an anonymous Hollywood executive quoted in this article, Google's negotiations with Hollywood studios are paying off, and we can expect to see movies on YouTube within the next three months.

This move will position YouTube to move into the space occupied by Hulu, a joint venture between NBC Universal and News Corp. Hulu offers users a variety of TV shows from NBC Universal and Fox, along with a few feature-length films.

The fact that there's a lengthy discussion in this article about whether Hulu's superior video quality gives it a competitive advantage over YouTube tells me that we've crossed a threshold with web video. This format's popularity is already expanding exponentially, and there's every sign that popularity will only increase over the coming months.

We’re Gonna Have to Wait a Year for White Spaces [GigaOM]

The FCC's new rules on white spaces have given the green light to electronics manufacturers to begin formalizing their white space device designs and submitting them to the FCC for final approval before they go to market. GigaOM's article says it will be at least a year before any device finds its way to consumers. Between perfecting the geo-locating features that the FCC mandated in the white space rules and the spectrum-sensing technology, there's still a lot of work to do for manufacturers hoping to bring these devices to market.

All these rules are designed to prevent these devices, which promise to bring wireless high-speed broadband over long distances, from interfering with broadcast and cable television reception. For their part, broadcasters have vowed to continue their opposition to white space devices due to their potential for interference.

U.S. News & World Report goes all-Internet [UPI]

The third-highest subscribed news magazine has decided to completely drop its printed publication and publish on the web only.

But, the move to an all-Web publication "allows us to stay ahead of a changing media landscape and do an even better job of motivating our readers to act on the information we provide them," company President Bill Holiber and editor Brian Kelly wrote in a recent in-house memo.

Wow. This really is news. Most newspapers and magazines are struggling to find a way to survive in the Internet age, and I expect to see more announcements like this one from other publications as they work to stay competitive in a world where people have a broader array of information choices and often choose the Internet and TV over print.

And it's pretty good for trees too.

Hackers and Spending Sprees [Newsweek]

Newsweek reports in an exclusive that both the Obama and McCain campaigns' computer networks were hacked by an unidentified foreign entity. At the beginning, the Obama campaign's IT professionals thought the attack was a phishing attack aimed at stealing contributors' credit card numbers. According to this article, the FBI and Secret Service advised both campaigns that a foreign power had hacked their computers in order to gain information on policy positions to gain an upper hand in negotiations with a future presidential administration.

Amazing piece of news. It's high time to get serious about online security, especially when the national security is at stake.

An Internet President-Elect, Broadband Caps Come to DSL and White Spaces Approved

Michael Willner — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 09:54:00 -0500

America elected Barack Obama as the 44th president of the United States yesterday. Obama changed the way campaigns will be run in this country forever. While candidates had used the Internet as part of their campaign strategy in some part before Obama, he was the first to fully leverage its potential to raise enormous sums of money in political contributions and communicate his message to millions of mostly-younger, connected Americans.

In the days to come, the pundits will analyze the results of the election and try to figure out how and why Barack Obama won. I feel, with great certainty, they will find that the turnout among young voters was higher than ever and the Obama campaign's near-perfect execution of an Internet strategy made that happen.

If you're interested in a deep-dive recap, the New York Times site has a good state-by-state map of the results. The map will allow you to drill all the way down to county-by-county results.

AT&T Starts Metered Billing Trial In Reno [Broadband Reports]

Metered billing now looks to be expanding to DSL, as AT&T has announced a trial of broadband caps in Reno, Nevada. New DSL customers in that area will have a cap starting at 20 GB for the lowest speed tier up to 150 GB for the highest speed tier. Each extra gigabyte downloaded over the limit will cost the subscriber $1.

AT&T hasn't yet announced whether or when they will expand the metered billing trial to all subscribers, but is saying they plan to test it in one other market this year. CNET has an additional story on AT&T's announcement. AT&T tests limits on subscribers' Web use [CNET News]

Comcast recently announced plans to cap their broadband customers at 250 GB, higher than AT&T's proposed caps and Time Warner is testing metered billing in Beaumont, TX. I have said repeatedly that individual Internet usage is expanding exponentially and, in the long run, that means an all-you-can-eat model is going to have to be reconsidered. I'm thrilled that we have found so much value in Internet connectivity but we also must ensure we keep up with the changes in the usage patterns. Failing to do so will inhibit aggressive maintanence and upgrading of the infrastructure. That means broadband's enormous potential will be severely limited.

The Roles of TV and the Internet [CableTechTalk]

One of the questions I asked one group of UK students on Monday was whether they would give up television or the Internet, if they were forced to choose one. All of them chose to sacrifice television in place of the Internet. They reasoned that they could still get video content on the Internet, but not the interactivity and wide content of the Internet on television. CableTechTalk continues to explore why people might choose to cut the cord on their television in favor of the Internet's video content.

CableTechTalk surmises that while 90% of broadcast programming is available online, only 20% of cable programming is available there, and that content gap is one reason why cable subscribers aren't cutting the TV cord in favor of their computers.

FCC opens free 'white space' spectrum [CNET News]

The FCC proceeded with yesterday's planned vote on white space rules despite requests from the National Association of Broadcasters and the National Cable and Telecommunications Association to allow for a public comment period prior to the vote. Commissioners approved the rules by a unanimous vote, though Commissioner Deborah Tate dissented in part.

While there are still questions about white space devices ability to avoid interfering with cable and broadcast television reception, yesterday's vote allows consumer electronics manufacturers to begin development of white space prototypes for testing and approval by the FCC. The devices will likely contain geo-locating abilities to assist them in avoiding interference, and they promise to have the ability to transmit and receive high-speed Internet over wide distances.

CNN’s cool hologram technology also used tonight [VentureBeat]

If you were watching CNN's election coverage last night, you were able to see the unveiling of their cool new hologram technology. Whenever anchor Wolf Blitzer interviewed a correspondent reporting from the field, they magically appeared as a hologram in front of Blitzer. VentureBeat reports that the hologram technology took 44 cameras and 20 computers in each correspondent's location to film the reporter from all angles and assemble the hologram and beam it to CNN's headquarters.

Beam me up Scotty.

Talking Media and Telecom at U.K.

Michael Willner — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 11:43:24 -0500

Yesterday, I was on the campus of the University of Kentucky in Lexington to speak with students as part of The Cable Center's Cable Mavericks program. I was joined by Geraldine Laybourne, a cable pioneer who lead the team that created Nickelodeon and later founded Oxygen Media. Gerry and I were hosted by UK's School of Journalism and Telecommunications.

Our morning started with an introductory class in telecommunications. Topics included cable programming and distribution, past and present and then we discussed the future of video delivery. We had a great time asking the students in the class about what they thought the "next big thing" in telecommunications technology would be. Gerry regaled the class with a story about how she is preparing for her first meeting as a member of the board of Electronic Arts. She hired a 10 year-old, a 13 year-old and a 16 year-old to tutor her on playing video games. I joked that since she's having a hard time getting the knack of the games, the board is considering inviting the 10 year-old onto the board.

After the first class, we headed off to UK's student center for a box lunch discussion with upperclassmen in communications and telecommunications majors. The discussion was lively. We had a group of former "Nick Kids" that asked Gerry several questions about her leadership at Nickelodeon. Gerry described how she wanted to make Nickelodeon a network that didn't make kids grow up too fast. The students enjoyed hearing the story about the day that Gerry instituted "recess" at Nickelodeon. Every day at 3pm, all the Nickelodeon employees had to take a break from meetings and work and step away from their desk for a few minutes of recess. Not a bad idea.

At the lunch, I answered questions about regulatory issues in our industry and why we manage our broadband network. One student asked me about why he had gotten "the call" from Insight about the quantity of his broadband usage. As it turns out, he had three roommates, one of whom was using an unusually large share of bandwidth.

Later in the day we spoke with a research class about the importance of good research to cable programming and to cable distribution. Gerry talked about how programmers use research to determine the potential success of a show, and she emphasized how important it is to do your own research -- making sure that the results square with what you know to be true. I talked about how Insight uses research to determine how our customers view us, and how we can improve how our customers perceive Insight. I also talked about technology that will allow us to tailor our message to specific demographics and even specific customers, based on their interest. Of course, first we have to debate whether or not that type of advertising should be permitted at all.

Finally, we ended our day with a discussion at UK's Young Library Auditorium with a large group of students. Gerry and I both noticed several students that had attended two or three of the different events during the day. I thought it was because we were so interesting. She thought we might want to open a door or two for these graduating seniors.

It was great to spend the day with the next generation of innovators in cable and telecommunications, and I appreciate the opportunity that UK and the Cable Center provided for Gerry and me to share some of our experiences with students. Special thanks to Beth Barnes for taking such good care of us all day.

By the way, Gerry and I are scheduled for a similar appearance at the University of Louisville early next year.

One final note -- It's election day today, and a historic one at that. One of the things I spoke about yesterday at UK is the historic new role that the Internet has played in this year's campaigning. There won't be another election after this one in which the campaigners don't heavily leverage the power of the Internet. Remember to go vote. And as the election results start to come in this evening, remember that many of the earliest reports are going to be posted to the Internet.

Here are links to Ohio, Kentucky, and Indiana's Secretaries of State web sites, where you'll find the early voting results for those states.

Web developments have changed the way campaigns are run

Michael Willner — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 09:07:23 -0500

Campaigns in a Web 2.0 World [New York Times]

Here's a neat article that summarizes many of the changes that the web has made in the way presidential campaigns are run since the last presidential election. Candidates use social networking applications like Facebook to organize their supporters, and the explosion of web video sites like YouTube have allowed candidates to package video nearly instantaneously for connected voters.

The new media politics is also having an impact on how people consume traditional media. Cable news outlets have attracted audiences on par with broadcast throughout the major events of this political cycle. This article posits that will likely be true for election coverage tomorrow night - as news consumers check the latest results on the web, while watching their favorite cable news network.

Today, I'm speaking with students at the University of Kentucky School of Journalism and Telecommunications. One of the topics I'll be discussing is this article. I'll write more tomorrow about the discussion.

Happy 20th birthday, internet worm! [ZDNet]

Malware has been around for a long time - almost as long as the Internet itself. This past weekend marked the 20th anniversary of the first "Internet worm." Back in 1988, prior to the world wide web, when the Internet was still mainly the domain of computer science professors, a man named Robert Morris released a set of code that was designed to take advantage of the Unix servers on the Internet and duplicated itself until the Internet slowed to a crawl. Morris was caught and prosecuted. The infected servers were fixed and the vulnerabilities plugged.

We've come a long way since 1988 in the sense that a single piece of malware hasn't been able to stop the whole Internet from functioning. However, the number of security threats to the average Internet user are as vast today as they have ever been.

Try Netflix Watch Instantly on your Mac right now [VentureBeat]

Reviews of Netflix's new "Watch Instantly" feature for Mac are starting to come in. The feature uses a Microsoft product called Silverlight to stream over 12,000 titles from Netflix directly to your Mac. Based on this review, picture quality is average, but improves the higher your broadband connection speed is. This particular reviewer was impressed enough to ditch Netflix's DVD delivery in favor of watching the broadband stream.

As broadband video services like Netflix and YouTube become more and more popular, they become a larger percentage of all broadband usage. These type of services are driving broadband speed innovations like DOCSIS 3.0.

MTV Bleeps File Sharing Software Out Of Music Videos [TechDirt]

A song about p2p files haring has had portions bleeped out when played on MTV. When MTV plays Weird Al Yankovic's "Don't Download This Song," the names of popular file sharing services are bleeped out so that viewers can hear the names. The song's lyrics mention Morpheus, Grokster, Limewire, KaZaA, which were popular p2p sites when the song was released in 2006. Instead of hearing those services names' on MTV, viewers hear bleeps instead. TechDirt speculates that MTV is attempting to protect artists and content producers against infringement. Yankovic's song is a parody of the recording industry's attempts to curb illegal file sharing.

Speaking to the Lexington Rotary Club

Michael Willner — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 14:20:45 -0400

Q & A with the Lexington Rotary Club

I had the good fortune to speak to the Lexington Rotary Club yesterday at the beautiful Fasig-Tipton Catering Center where the warm welcome from Rotarians, the peak-color Autumn leaves, and magnificent horses made the visit truly special.

My main goal was to advance the awareness of the February 17 digital transition and to explain what, if anything, consumers need to do in order to continue to watch broadcast television after the date. After receiving a couple of questions about the transition, we discussed other cable-related subjects, all of which we've addressed right here on this blog since we began it last spring.

There was lots of interest about the launch of Digital 4.0. In addition to wanting more clarity on what to expect, they were also interested in when. As I told the group of 200 or so community leaders and activists, we expect Digital 4.0 to launch in a couple of waves in late November and December, depending on where you live.

I also explained the reason we use the software industry's policy of numbering service upgrades -- so you can always be assured that by the time we are rolling out our latest version of our products, we're already well into the development cycle of the next release.

More stations conducting digital transition testing

Michael Willner — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 11:37:57 -0400

The Great Two-Minute Television Blackout [NYT Bits Blog]

We're just over 100 days away from the digital television transition, and in an attempt to increase awareness of the transition and how to prepare for the transition, many broadcast television stations are performing digital transition tests. Earlier this week, broadcasters in New York City turned off their regular analog signal for two minutes as part of one of these tests. During the test, viewers prepared for the digital transition continued to see normal programming, but viewers still watching the analog signal received a message telling them that they needed to make changes to continue receiving a television signal after the transition.

As we get closer to the transition, I expect additional broadcast stations will conduct this type of testing. Remember, if you're an Insight customer, after the digital transition you will have no problem continuing to receive everything you receive today on all your televisions that are connected to cable. If you have additional TV's that receive their signals with an antenna, just give us a call.

TiVo and Netflix Connect [Multichannel News]

TiVo and Netflix have announced a partnership that will allow TiVo users to access the Netflix movie catalog from their TiVo. One catch - if you own a TiVo, you must have the TiVo connected to a broadband Internet connection to access the movies. By the companies' estimate, less than one-third of TiVo owners have the box connected to broadband.

FCC member optimistic airwaves proposal will pass [Reuters]

One member of the FCC is predicting a unanimous vote on November 4 in favor of proposed white space rules. Robert McDowell tells Reuters, "I'm very optimistic. I think this could be a 5-to-0 vote." The National Association of Broadcasters and the National Cable and Telecommunications Association have requested that the FCC allow a public comment period prior to the vote due to interference issues revealed in the FCC's technical report on the issue.

Facebook worm feeds off Google's reputation [CNET News]

One video circulating on Facebook is a portal that leads to the installation of malicious code. The malicious video is designed to fool users into thinking that Google is requesting that the user install a codec to view the video. Google has nothing to do with the video, and the link to install the codec install the malicious code instead.

Be vigilant as you use sites like Facebook, and only use content and click on links from sources you trust to protect your computer from schemes like this one.

NCTA favors public comment period on white space rules

Michael Willner — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 10:23:34 -0400

NCTA: FCC’s white space approval “inexplicable” [CED Magazine]

As the FCC considers a public comment period prior to a vote on white space devices, the National Cable and Telecommunications Association (NCTA) is weighing in. In a formal letter addressed to the FCC, the NCTA joined in the call for a public comment period prior to the adoption of final rules for white space technology.

From CED Magazine:

The NCTA reiterated its support for the notion of white space broadcasting, but noted that though the Commission is supposed to balance the benefits of new technology with protection of established broadcast systems: “Recent reports of imminent Commission action in this proceeding do not reflect this balance. Instead, there seems to be a complete disconnect between what the Commission’s technical analyses have shown and what the Commission is proposing to adopt.”

The technical report released by the FCC regarding their testing of white space devices indicated that white space devices have the potential to interfere with cable television reception. According to NCTA's letter, NCTA's own tests indicate that the power levels that white space devices operate at are a determining factor in whether the devices disrupt cable service. The proposed FCC white space rules would allow white space power levels that are 20 times as powerful as the power levels that interfere with cable TV reception.

Rather than rushing to finalize these rules, the Commission should take some time to consider public comment and the results of the Commission's own tests.

Global TV pricing sinks 22% year-over-year in September [EngadgetHD]

A couple of days ago, I wrote about the likelihood that LCD and plasma television prices will be dropping during the upcoming holiday period. EngadgetHD has posted an article that says that holiday season price drops are part of a larger trend of price drops that have the average price of a television in the U.S. down 22% since this time last year.

According to research from DisplaySearch, the average plasma television price has dropped 27% since last year. The average LCD television price has dropped 16%, while the average CRT television rose 4%. On average, the larger the screen size, the larger the price drop has been.

iPhones not on House 'must-have' list [CNET News]

A news story that indicated the U.S. House of Representatives was going to make the switch from the Blackberry to the iPhone as the mobile device of choice isn't true. But the House is testing 10 iPhones to see how they might work. As with other large organizations, security issues with the iPhone are still a concern with the IT professionals testing the devices for the House.

For the record, only 2 of the 435 members of the House have requested that they be provided an iPhone rather than a Blackberry. I don't know whether that says more about the iPhone or members of Congress.

Besides, I recommend extreme caution for another reason. With all that money going to save the economy, let's make due with what is already in hand, at least for now.

Movie Theater Pirate Sentenced to 21 Months [Wired: Threat Level]

A Maryland man who pleaded guilty to taping two movies inside a theatre, planning to sell the pirated copies, has been sentenced to nearly two years in federal prison. While this story indicates that this particular situation involved copying the pirated movies to DVD, this type of operation frequently involves uploading the pirated movies to a peer-to-peer network to share the illegally-taped movie around the world.

It is extremely important to protect the rights of content owners. Without those protections, we will lose another major export -- entertainment. Writers and producers simply will go elsewhere where they can enjoy the orderly protection of their property. In today's ailing economy, we should be pristine in protecting the interests of producers and manufacturers who create value here at home.

Disappointing News -- No Meaningful Reduction of Spam

Michael Willner — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 10:15:16 -0400

I guess it was wishful thinking but I was hoping to see a meaningful drop in spam traffic after the authorities busted the "HerbalKing" Network, a major source of spam. Most published reports confirm that there was little or no impact. I also promised to check with our email experts for a first-hand look and here's what they found -- No noticeable change. On two Wednesdays before the bust, we blocked 10.2 million spams. On the two Wednesdays after it, the number was 9.8 million.

Considering this network was supposedly responsible for one-third of all spam, this shows how versatile Internet bandits can be. Too bad. It's an unfortunate example of how complicated it is to manage bad things on the Internet. Almost instantly, alternative routes were established and spammers were enjoying business as usual.

Check your Windows Update history [CNET News]

Microsoft says that the latest update for Windows XP and Vista is too important to wait until the scheduled automatic update. Due to security concerns, Microsoft is recommending that you check your Windows update to make sure you've got the patch, and if you don't to download it. The security issue that the update is designed to fix poses a greater threat to Windows XP users than Vista, but it's significant enough that it's recommended that all Windows users take a few minutes to check their update status.

This post from CNET contains instructions on how to check your update status to make sure you've got the patch.

Microsoft Presses for White Spaces Vote [Broadcasting and Cable]

Google's role in the lobbying effort for approval of white space devices by the FCC has been very public, and now Microsoft is joining Google in a public push for the controversial proposal that will allow broadcast television spectrum to be used for wireless broadband Internet. The controversy involves the FCC's technical report about their testing of white space prototypes and the interference they caused for broadcast and cable television reception.

But when Microsoft's Chief Research and Strategy Officer, Craig Mundie, the person who is heading up Microsoft's lobbying efforts for white space approval, was asked whether he'd reviewed the FCC's technical report, he said:

“I haven’t actually personally reviewed the test data from the FCC, so I can’t comment radio by radio,” said Mundie.

The report has been cited by the National Association of Broadcasters in their request to allow a public comment period on the white space issue because the NAB claims that the report details several instances of white space devices causing interference with broadcast television reception. I've linked to an article at ArsTechnica that quotes a section of the report detailing how one prototype interfered with cable television reception.

Maybe it's time the advocates of white spaces take a look at the FCC's technical report. Or perhaps, when we start getting the flood of calls because TV's aren't working properly, we should give our customers Microsoft's Government Relations Department's phone number.

Hollywood braces for new D.C. chief [Variety]

Here's an interesting read about the potential future of the FCC under either an Obama or McCain administration. Who would be either administration's chief advisers on the issues over which the FCC has purview? What about potential FCC appointments by either a President McCain or a President Obama? A word of caution -- predicting the next FCC Chairman is a daunting task. First, new administrations usually take their time in making that decision. Second, the decision is often a surprise to everyone.

And will Congress pass some type of net neutrality legislation under a President Obama (who has supported net neutrality)? This article provides some insight into how both candidates might approach this area of policy making.

The Race to Instant-On Computers Begins [NYT Bits Blog]

Are you waiting and waiting when you boot up your computer? As consumers have begun using other "instant on" devices like smartphones, the demand for computers that are usable as soon as users press the power button has increased. Don't forget what Carrie Fisher once said, "Instant gratification takes too long." This article has a summary of how several computer manufacturers are planning to roll out computers to meet that demand.

TV prices falling fast for the holidays?

Michael Willner — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 09:34:04 -0400

TV Prices Falling Faster [NYT Bits Blog]

Are you looking to buy a new HDTV during the holidays? If you're looking to get a new television for the digital transition or getting hooked up to high definition content, the NYT's Bits blog indicates that television prices may be falling fast in the next six weeks due to the challenging economic situation we find ourselves in. Retailers are very concerned that consumers are keeping a tighter grip on their wallet, and are expected to respond by slashing TV prices.

An expert on TV prices is quoted in the NYT article, telling consumers to look for these prices.

Paul Gagnon, DisplaySearch’s director of North American TV market research, predicts the following prices in the coming weeks:

19-inch high definition LCD: $199
32-inch HD LCD: $399-$499
40-inch 1080p LCD: $799-$999
42-inch HD plasma: $599-$699
50-inch HD plasma: $899-$999

I hate to tell you what I paid for that 50-inch plasma TV in my living room only 3 years ago. Ouch. But the NY Giants sure looked great yesterday, coming from behind to beat the Steelers in high-def!

Debate to delay 'white space' vote heats up [CNET News]

First it was the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) asking the FCC to allow a public comment period before voting on approving white space devices, now several professional sports leagues are joining the NAB, along with several members of Congress. The National Football League, Major League Baseball, the National Basketball Association, and NASCAR (the very entitiy that received a $350,000 "buy" from the FCC to paint one of its race cars with a digital transition message) have petitioned the Commission for a public comment period prior to the FCC's vote on white spaces.

White space devices were the subject of an FCC technical report earlier this month that indicated white space prototypes still have some issues with interference with broadcast television signals and cable television.

I know I sound like a broken record, but rather than jumping quickly into a vote on a controversial technology that has not yet succeeded in fully proving itself, shouldn't the FCC should focus its efforts on getting the nation ready for a successful digital transition next February? It's just 113 days and counting and I worry it will be no cake walk.

New DOCSIS 3.0 Deployment [CableTechTalk]

CableTechTalk does a good roundup of all the news on Comcast's rollout of DOCSIS 3.0 cable broadband - complete with a 50 Mbps tier. DOCSIS 3.0, as I've talked about here before, is the next evolution of cable broadband technology, with the capacity of bringing speeds of up to 150 Mbps.

Needless to say, we are watching the progress of DOCSIS 3.0 very closely. As more and more large, bandwidth-consuming applications become attractive and available to our customers, we will be ready to offer access to them at blazing speeds.

Google Earth brings virtual tourism to iPhone [CNET News]

Have you used Google Earth? It's a neat product that you can download for free from Google that displays satellite imagery of the entire world. Users can zoom in to look at detailed images of points of interest. Because of the amount of image processing power that Google Earth does, the news that Google is releasing a mobile version for the iPhone is surprising.

If you're familiar with the product, you'll probably be as amazed as I was at the screenshots on the device. If you download Google Earth for your iPhone (also free), you may want to use your wi-fi connection for browsing - this article indicates there is some significant latentcy downloading Google Earth's satellite images over the 3G mobile network.

Survey says that majority of upstream Internet traffic is P2P

Michael Willner — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 10:06:47 -0400

61% Of All Upstream Traffic Is P2P [Broadband Reports]

Sandvine, the company that manufactures network management equipment and software, has released a survey detailing Internet usage in the U.S. The key finding in the survey is that 61% of all upstream traffic on the Internet is peer-to-peer file trading. P2P applications compose 22% of all downstream traffic on the Internet.

“Bulk bandwidth applications like P2P are on all day, everyday and are unaffected by changes to network utilization,” said Mr. Caputo [of Sandvine]. “This reinforces the importance of protecting real-time applications that are sensitive to jitter and latency during times of peak usage. Effective network traffic optimization techniques use sophisticated policies that balance network capacity, application requirements and subscriber quality of experience in real-time.”

You've heard from me on this subject on numerous occasions. Unfortunately, the 61% of traffic is generated by a much smaller percentage of users. Without responsible network management 61% would be more like 80% and would degrade the quality of the Internet experience for all users on the network, including P2P users.

Sandvine's survey has some other interesting facts about things like YouTube and gaming console traffic on the Internet that I found interesting. Both applications are currently experiencing significant growth in terms of their overall percentage of Internet traffic.

Local Vets Give Insight To Students [KYPost.com]

I spotted this article at KYPost.com in Northern Kentucky. I want to thank these outstanding Insight employees for their service to our country and their willingness to share their experiences with students at Newport High School.

Three Insight Communications employees, who are all veterans, visited Newport High School Wednesday, to discuss their experiences in the military as part of Take a Vet to School Day, a program co-sponsored by Insight and The History Channel.

United States Army veteran Rob Mize, speaking about his experiences in Iraq and Afghanistan.

United States Army veteran J.P. Smith, speaking about his 23 years of service, including time served in Germany.

United States Army veteran Michael James Shebelske, speaking about his experiences in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Kill Switch in Android Phones [Sherman's Security Blog]

Are you interesting in purchasing the new G1 mobile phone with Google's Android operating system? According to Sherman, Google has installed a "kill switch" in Android that will delete "wayward third-party applications." That means if you have a phone powered by Android, Google can tell your phone to delete an application that you've installed. Google says that they'll only use the kill switch to delete applications that are misbehaving.

Apple's iPhone also has its own kill switch, and they've already used it some applications. What do you think of the idea that your cell phone manufacturer can simply erase a program from your phone without your intervention? Is it a good security feature or an intrusion on your privacy?

A New (Fighter) Jet for Google’s Founders? [NYT Bits Blog]

The New York Times reports that Google has started its own air force. A company associated with Google's top executives has recently acquired a Dornier Alpha Jet, a light jet attack and advanced trainer aircraft. Google added the fighter jet to its inventory of Boeing 757, 767 and two Gulfstream V's.

According to the NYT, the Google Jet is leased to NASA for support of a recent science mission.