Sony axes legacy PCs, TVs to focus on mobile

7 February 2014 by Steve Blum
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Innovation deficit.

Sony is distancing itself from the soon-to-be-legacy television and personal computer markets, in a effort to play catch up in the mobile device game. The company that redefined color quality in the 1970s is spinning its television business off into a separate subsidiary, and is selling its Vaio computer brand to a Japanese corporate restructuring specialist. It’s a response to what it calls “drastic changes” in the global PC industry…

Sony has determined that the optimal solution is to concentrate its mobile product lineup on smartphones and tablets and to transfer its PC business to a new company.

… More

CenturyLink stokes fiber demand in Utah


Picking the Utah state fruit.

Salt Lake City businesses will be getting gigabit service from CenturyLink soon, according to a company press release. It’s a follow-on to its fiber-to-the-home experiment in Omaha and its gigabit business service push in Las Vegas. Although CenturyLink doesn’t seem to be running quite as scared as AT&T, which is rushing to roll out FTTH service in Austin, it’s a fair bet that it’s feeling the heat from Google Fiber in Provo and the recently refinanced Utopia system, both just a short drive down Interstate 15.… More

CPUC delays expanding broadband subsidy eligibility

5 February 2014 by Steve Blum
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Picker takes a seat.

The California Public Utilities Commission put off consideration of new rules governing the California Advanced Services Fund (CASF) today. The vote on how to expand eligibility for CASF grants and loans was put off until 27 February 2014. No reason was given for the delay, but it’s likely due – at least in part – to comments filed last week by The Utility Reform Network (TURN) that proposed allowing more flexible requirements for local governments that might want to apply for broadband construction subsidies.… More

$50 million for rural gigabit projects included in farm bill

4 February 2014 by Steve Blum
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Incumbents are still king.

The U.S. senate just joined the house in approving a new $50 million ($10 million a year for five years) “Rural Gigabit Network Pilot Program”. It’s in the farm bill just sent on for the president’s approval (or not). Unlike current rural broadband subsidy programs, it allows grants in addition to loans and doesn’t particularly favor incumbents.

An eligible applicant is one that does “not already provide ultra-high speed service to a rural area within any State in the proposed service territory”.… More

Sustainable economic growth on California's central coast demands cooperation


Yearning creativity seeks willing opportunity.

The economic drivers in California’s central coast region are agriculture and tourism, which account for just about half of private sector jobs in Monterey and Santa Cruz counties.

But the region also has a well educated workforce that commutes to Silicon Valley and beyond – 24% of Santa Cruz residents, according to Bud Colligan, CEO of South Swell Ventures, who spoke at a regional economic development forum in Seaside. He talked about building a regional high tech economy by creating opportunities for people to work where they live…

The usual narrative about tech on the Central Coast is about companies that have left or missed opportunities (Seagate, Digital Research, Borland, SCO, etc.)

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Bullies and nannies alike threaten Internet freedoms

2 February 2014 by Steve Blum
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“Everything we’re talking about are threats to authoritarian regimes, and they have the votes”, said Robert McDowell, formerly an FCC commissioner and currently a thinker (or would that be a tanker?) at the Hudson Institute think tank. He was speaking at CES earlier in January. His concern is maintaining the vitality of an open Internet and everyone’s freedom to use it as they please. “A big threat to this is international regulation and governance”, he said, renewing his warning that some governments – via international organisations as well as their own efforts – want to bring online activists and entrepreneurs to heel.… More

ARM is a growing server-side threat to Intel

1 February 2014 by Steve Blum
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Low profile, high potential.

2014 will be the year that specialised ARM-based chips gather momentum in the server market. That was not good news for Intel as it scrambled at CES to maintain relevance in the mobile device market. The last thing it needs – but the next thing it’s going to get – is competitive pressure on server processors, an increasingly rare example of a growth market that it dominates.

ARM maintained a relatively low profile at CES, leaving center stage to companies, like Qualcomm, that license its microprocessor architecture and make the chips that rule the smart phone and tablet space.… More

Wanaka speeds ahead in New Zealand Gigatown contest

31 January 2014 by Steve Blum
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Jumping on board the Gigatown Wanaka bus.

New Zealand communities are slugging it out to become the country’s first “Gigatown”. It’s part of a national government sponsored effort to build out a fiber-to-the-premise (FTTP) network to something like two-thirds of New Zealand homes and businesses.

Would-be Gigatowns are competing via social media to be “the first town in the Southern hemisphere to access a one gigabit per second (1Gbps) internet connection”. The more mentions on Facebook, Twitter and other designated social media sites, the higher a community ranks.… More

Motorola sale sets a benchmark for judging Google's fiber strategy

30 January 2014 by Steve Blum
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As long as it takes, but no longer.

There’re two ways to look at Google’s decision to unload its Motorola handset business to Lenovo for $2.9 billion. It’s either a long overdue retreat and admission of failure, or it’s a model for gauging what Google will do with other hardware projects and acquisitions.

Getting past the “they shoulda done it sooner” carping, what Google did was snap up Motorola and chew on it a bit, before digesting what it craves – patents, expertise and operational experience – and spitting out the rest.… More

CPUC urged to recognise differences between public agencies and private companies

29 January 2014 by Steve Blum
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Treat munis like munis.

A consumer advocacy group – The Utility Reform Network (TURN) – wants the California Public Utilities Commission to be more flexible in evaluating broadband subsidy proposals submitted by local governments. The comments came in response to proposed new rules that open up the California Advanced Services Fund (CASF) to organisations other than traditional telephone companies.

As the proposed rules now stand, cities (and other local agencies) would have to meet the same financial requirements as private companies (at least those that aren’t traditional telephone companies).… More