The future of media will be information consumed on superphones while on the go, said Rob Glaser, chairman of RealNetworks, today in his first public speech since stepping down from his CEO position. In the speech, given in Seattle at a Mobile Broadband Breakfast event, he forecast that by 2013 the installed base of smart and superphones (see chart for Glaser’s definition …

Josh Gerstein over at Politico sent Threat Level his piece underscoring once again President Barack Obama is not the civil-liberties Knight In Shining Armor many were expecting. Gerstein posts a televised interview of Obama and John Walsh of America’s Most Wanted . The nation’s chief executive extols the virtues of mandatory DNA testing of Americans upon arrest, even absent charges or a conviction. Obama said, “It’s the right thing to do” to “tighten the grip around folks” who commit…

Regulating big consumer issues such as the availability of Internet apps on mobile devices and metered broadband are outside the Federal Communication Commission’s authority, said Kevin Martin, the former FCC chairman, speaking today in Seattle at the Mobile Broadband Breakfast . Martin, who is now with Patton Boggs LLP, responded to a question about how as networks open up, the activities to keep them closed are being pushed to hardware, by saying, “The further it is …

As we’ve recently noted , the cable industry’s own data indicates that cable service passes roughly 125 million U.S. homes. Upgrading the majority of those users can be done relatively inexpensively with DOCSIS 3.0 upgrades, which a Comcast executive once stated could be completed with ” couch change .” Cablevision was able to upgrade their entire service area with DOCSIS 3.0 for $300 million, with enough…

The internet is one of the most important things in each and every computer user’s daily life. Internet is used in almost every field starting from information, communication, e-commerce, education to entertainment. Fast and easy web browsing is one of the most significant things in the internet connection.

The National Broadband Plan that the FCC will present on 17 March will set the USA on a completely different telecoms path. This plan will hopefully show Congress that it is worthwhile making the legislative changes that will deliver the social and economic benefits of a national broadband infrastructure. Groundwork for a new direction in telecoms Shortly before Barack Obama won the election in 2008 I started to work with what became the Obama Transition Team on some of the US telecoms policies. Obama and his small team of technological experts were…

As we’ve been exploring , Verizon has all-but completed their first wave of FiOS deployment with the exception in major cities where they’ve recently signed franchise agreements. Verizon has made it clear they want to pause for a while and market the service more heavily to markets where they’ve installed the fiber to the home service. Cities that were left out of this initial wave (like Baltimore ) are of course left wondering when and if they’ll see the upgrades. According to the Washington Business Journal , Alexandria, Virginia is another city that’s been overlooked by the Verizon FiOS fairy. City leaders expected to see FiOS deployment shortly after signing a new phone franchise agreement with the …

Radio on the Internet works pretty much like radio in the real world, except that – what with the Net being global and there being no online equivalent to radio stations fighting over frequency bands – the choice is almost infinite. You’re limited neither by your geographical area nor your next-door neighbour’s four-storey gazebo.

For many people that have broadband spending hours trawling through websites can be a frustrating experience. However, one ISP believes that it may have the answer. Many people that have broadband connections spend many hours a week – or in some cases even a day – trawling the Internet to try and find the best websites for their purposes. With most people already having little enough time this is something that can take up a great deal of precious time, and can therefore result in users rushing through and using sites that perhaps aren’t the best ones for their needs. However, one Internet provider has created …

It has been reported that the mobile network and broadband provider Orange has seen a drop in the number of customers taking its fixed line broadband service. There are now many Internet service providers around that offer home broadband services, and in addition to the big communications giants such as BT and Virgin Media there are now other companies that offer home broadband such as mobile network providers like Orange. This has resulted in competition in the …

Another very important aspect to consider for a modem is the speed at which it works. The truth is that we are all in hurry one way or the other and will want everything around us to reflect this. A snail’s speed internet connection will make its users very sick.

The U.S. Supreme Court is agreeing to decide how much personal information the federal bureaucracy may acquire on its workers. The justices, without comment, decided Monday to review a lower-court decision surrounding the concept of so-called “ informational privacy .” The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco struck down intrusive background checks last year on nearly three dozen National Aeronautics and Space Administration contractors as being too invasive — calling them an unconstitutional, “ broad inquisition .” The checks sought information from any source surrounding their sex lives, finances and even drug use. The contractors being investigated were not privy to classified information. The Obama administration, in seeking review of the lower-court decision, told the justices…

The FCC has begun their sales pitch for the nation’s first national broadband plan ahead of its formal unveiling next week. As we’ve been discussing, we haven’t been too impressed by the plan’s failure to tackle competition , or its tendency to make proclamations that sound good but are rather empty upon closer inspection . The FCC is back today making headlines about how the agency hopes to help the estimated 100 million Americans without broadband by offering “free or low cost wireless plans” according to Reuters : U.S. regulators may dedicate spectrum to free wireless Internet service for some Americans to increase affordable broadband service nationwide, the Federal Communications Commission said on Tuesday. . . One way of making broadband more affordable is to “consider use of spectrum for a free or…

The FCC said today that as part of its National Broadband Plan it might allocate spectrum for a free or low-cost wireless broadband network as a means to help address the affordability of broadband for poor people . If all this sounds familiar to you, maybe you recall the efforts of M2Z Networks, a Kleiner Perkins backed venture that tried to offer filtered, low-cost broadband using WiMAX. A source at the FCC assures me that the agency’s efforts, which will be detailed next…

The CEO of Lifelock, Todd Davis, became famous for advertising his Social Security number on television ads and billboards promising his $10 monthly service would protect consumers from identity theft. The company also offered a $1 million guarantee to compensate customers for losses incurred if they became a victim of identity theft after signing up for the service. But the Federal Trade Commission said Tuesday that the claims were bogus (.pdf) and accused Lifelock, based in Arizona, of operating a scam and con operation. The commission announced, along with 35 state attorneys general, that it had levied a fine of $12 million against the company for deceptive business practices and for failing …