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November 11, 2002
Slow blogging week
I'm busy working on Supernova and other projects.
Posted by Kevin Werbach at 9:57 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
November 8, 2002
The FCC's spectrum task
The FCC's spectrum task force officially announced its report yesterday. The actual document should be released in a few days.
Posted by Kevin Werbach at 9:05 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
November 7, 2002
Now that's broadband
ConvergeDigest: South Korea’s Ministry of Information and Communication announced a new plan
to deliver Internet connections of at least 1 Mbps and preferably 20 Mbps to every household by 2005. (South Korea already leads the world in broadband penetration.)
Posted by Kevin Werbach at 12:55 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
David Gelernter: "An operating
David Gelernter: "An operating system connects the user (and the user's software) to the ensemble of machines we call a computer. But nowadays users no longer want to be connected to computers. They want to be connected to information, a claim that sounds vague but is clear and specific."
Posted by Kevin Werbach at 9:57 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
November 6, 2002
I guess techies like the Sopranos
CyberAtlas: "Comparing profiles of 30 media devices and services ... the report found that homes that typically watch HBO have the highest index of home technology. Other networks whose viewing homes have high technology levels are Showtime, MTV, Disney Channel, Cartoon Network, VH-1, and TLC. The WB and UPN had the highest technology indexes among broadcast networks."
Posted by Kevin Werbach at 11:45 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Maybe she should listen to herself
Grid Computing Planet: "In five to 10 years, Grid computing could become more significant than the Web is today," said [HP product marketing manager Sara] Murphy.
...
The biggest risk factor for Grid is "over hype," Murphy said.
Posted by Kevin Werbach at 11:41 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Another observation from the
Another observation from the conference -- the media industry is still obsessed with Tivo. All of the entertainment company CEOs have brought it up, whether as a threat, an opportunity, or something they can successfully compete against. Tivo CEO Mike Ramsay is speaking tomorrow. All this attention doesn't guarantee that Tivo the company will survive and thrive, but it reinforces my belief that they are onto something deep and important.
Posted by Kevin Werbach at 10:40 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
November 5, 2002
Foursquare notes
I'm sitting here in the lounge at the Foursquare conference in New York, watching the proceedings on a monitor while cozying up to one of the few power outlets in the facility.
The conference is strictly off the record. I think that's is a bad idea for conference organizers, but I'm not the one setting the rules. So far, I can say that WiFi has come up several times, though I wonder if most people in the room understand what it really signifies.
Posted by Kevin Werbach at 4:50 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
November 4, 2002
Something doesn't add up
San Jose Mercury News: "'We have dramatically scaled down any further deployment of DSL,' said SBC Senior Vice President Jim Smith. 'We couldn't make a good business case to go forward.'"
Two years ago, SBC loudly promoted the billions of dollars it would invest in rolling out DSL. What changed? All of the regulatory restrictions on the local phone companies were in place by 1996 or shortly thereafter in the rules implementing the Telecommunications Act.
What's new is that competitors can use use deeply discounted "UNE-P" wholesale rates in many states. If SBC's argument is that they can't compete against the cut-rate DSL resellers, where are all those competitors? All I see is Earthlink and a few others offering broadband at rates similar to the incumbents, and a bunch of smaller players targeting business customers. There's something that just doesn't add up in the Bells' arguments about broadband.
Posted by Kevin Werbach at 10:12 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
John Markoff of the
John Markoff of the New York Times writes about Vivato, a smart antenna startup that claims it can extend WiFi to distances of 2,000 feat indoors and four miles outdoors. The exciting aspects of the technology are that it works with the established WiFi standard, and with a point-to-multipoint configuration serving several hundred users. If Vivato's antennas work as promised (always a big qualifier), they could greatly expand the utility of WiFi as a broadband access technology.
Posted by Kevin Werbach at 8:46 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
November 2, 2002
Steve Gets It
Steve Stroh: For some time I've felt that the trend of decentralized, ubiquitous Broadband Wireless Internet Access wasn't a question of "if", but rather "when". Now we know "when" - within a few years, as the chips from the next generation of Intel's processes begin to hit the street. This trend is inherently decentralized and small-scale because there's no one commercial entity, or group of commercial entities, such as the wireless telephony companies, that can possibly scale to meet this tsunami of demand for broadband wireless connectivity.
Posted by Kevin Werbach at 1:59 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
November 1, 2002
Lighting up Manhattan with WiFi
Marcos R. Lara of the Public Internet Project has unveiled an amazing map of WiFi access points in Manhattan, compiled by volunteers who drove along every street. As you'll see, virtually all of the island is covered. Pretty remarkable for a technology that has been on the market for just three years, operates in unlicensed bands, and is deployed bottom-up by individuals and small businesses. Email Marcos if you want to see the full research.
Posted by Kevin Werbach at 2:52 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Bundles of the future
CNet: Sprint to enter WiFi hotspot market. (via Alan Reiter)
It's good (and not surprising) to see the mobile phone operators realizing the potential of WiFi as a revenue opportunity. But the six national US carriers are still facing a death spiral of undifferentiated competition. My guess is that the survivor will be the first one to implement the third leg of the stool: last-mile wireless broadband.
Think about this: One bill for wireless access at home, in public places, and on the road. Voice and data. It feels like one network to you, but on the back-end there will be roaming agreements and different prices for the different services. That's a compelling bundle. It's the only one I can think of that competes with the other bundle-of-the-future: cable companies offering wired home broadband + TV programming + VOIP telephony.
UPDATE: Andy Grove apparently agrees with me on the wireless broadband piece.
(via John Robb)
Posted by Kevin Werbach at 9:02 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Anil Dash looks at
Anil Dash looks at Microsoft Sharepoint as a Weblogging platform. An interesting thought. As Anil notes briefly, Sharepoint is tied into Groove (via Microsoft's $51 million investment in Ray Ozzie's startup), and Ray gets blogs in a big way.
Posted by Kevin Werbach at 8:51 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack