Facebook is first brand into the mobile skin game

5 April 2013 by Steve Blum
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Sometimes innovation only needs to be skin deep.

Facebook Home is a new kind of threat to Android and a new kind of opportunity for mobile entrepreneurs. It’s middleware that’s downloaded onto select – for now – smartphones and acts as the top skin of the user interface. Instead, for example, of seeing the standard lock screen, users see their Facebook feed, constantly updated.

Android apps are still there, if you dig down. But if you just go with the flow all you see is what Facebook pushes to you.… More

Who gets CASF money is first decision on California legislative agenda, how much comes later

4 April 2013 by Steve Blum
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Structurally sound or not, the cake gets cut.

The debate over whether to give priority to public housing programs when California broadband initiatives are funded continues on 15 April 2013, when the Assembly utilities and commerce committee is scheduled to formally consider assembly bill 1299.

It would require the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) to give particular consideration to urban public housing projects for California Advanced Services Fund (CASF) grants. It would also allow money previously set aside to build broadband infrastructure to also be spent on broadband adoption programs.… More

Faster, cheaper fiber microtrenching gains acceptance

3 April 2013 by Steve Blum
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Verizon’s microduct ready to be installed near Sea Ranch in Sonoma County.

In what could lead to the first large scale urban use of fiber microtrenching in the U.S., Verizon and the City of New York have agreed to test it at 12 sites. Verizon has used microtrenching for other fiber projects, including one last year in a rural part of California.

You can see a video of the process here. It involves sawing a narrow trench – 2 cm wide and up to 30 cm deep – into the roadway, inserting thin, flat microduct, and then sealing it back up.… More

EU proposes "best practice" for broadband deployment

2 April 2013 by Steve Blum
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The bell system worked for missions, but Spain has moved on.

An international consensus on the best ways to encourage better broadband infrastructure is rapidly forming. The European Union is proposing to harmonise broadband development policy across its 27 member states, including…

  • Creating a central source of information about broadband assets to help network planning.
  • Coordinating civil construction/public works projects – sometimes called open trench or dig once policies – so opportunities to put fiber in the ground are maximised.
… More

Libraries are the killer app for Chromebook

1 April 2013 by Steve Blum
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Fastest library in the West?

Google’s Chromebooks have found a very useful niche in California libraries, thanks to a pilot program by the State Library. Jarrid Keller, acting deputy state librarian, outlined the project in a presentation to the California Broadband Council.

Internet access is an increasingly important – maybe the most demanded – service provided by public libraries. A recent survey by the Institute of Museum and Library Services found that 45% of library customers connect to the Internet any time they visit.… More

Bargaining for broadband saves money, even more in a competitive market

31 March 2013 by Steve Blum
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If you don’t ask, you don’t get.

Sharp consumers can sometimes save hundreds of dollars a year by negotiating with cable and telephone companies, according to a recent study by Consumer Reports. But few people are even giving it a try.

Only a third of the triple/quad play subscribers surveyed said they tried to bargain for a better deal for Internet, television and telephone service. And the people responding were subscribers to Consumer Reports, who aren’t exactly passive shoppers.… More

FDA might tax and regulate mobile apps, but that's not the worst part

30 March 2013 by Steve Blum
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We’ll just do it the old fashioned way.

Medical applications are approved and regulated by the federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA). An agency representative [recently told a congressional committee](https://searchhealthit.techtarget.com/news/2240180401/Congress-explores-potential-regulation-of-mobile-health-apps) that rules regarding mobile medical apps are coming later this year.
Over the course of a week, three separate committees heard a wide range of helpful advice on how best to regulate, or not, mobile medical applications and devices. Taxes were also an issue. The Affordable Care Act – Obamacare – puts a 2.3% tax on medical devices.… More

Blackberry skids through a quarterly profit

29 March 2013 by Steve Blum
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Cash cows confront the fiscal cliff.

Blackberry surprised the financial community by reporting a profit of 22 cents a share for its fiscal quarter that ended earlier this month. Expectations were for a loss of about that size, not a gain.

It certainly is good news for Blackberry. It looks more like the result of tighter management than anything else, but there’s nothing wrong with that. So long as market success follows.

The big problem is in the subscriber numbers, which fell by about 3 million.… More

Unlimited means unlimited, at least in the Queen's English

28 March 2013 by Steve Blum
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Immoderate Virgin.

British Internet service providers can’t claim to offer “unlimited” downloads or streaming with “no caps” if it comes with more than incidental throttling for heavy users. That was the ruling yesterday from the Advertising Standards Authority, an independent U.K. watchdog agency with real teeth.

The ASA investigated complaints against Virgin Media, a major national ISP, made by a member of the public and two of its competitors, BSkyB and BT (aka British Telecommunications).… More

Real world planning brings real free WiFi to Santa Clara


Free WiFi coverage in most of Santa Clara.

It’s a beautiful thing when the pieces fall into place and a city can maximize the value of past investments and decisions. Particularly when it means better and cheaper broadband service.

Santa Clara is rolling out an elegant solution for universal Internet access. The city owns and operates its own electric utility, and put in a fiber optic network to support it. The fiber’s reach is limited – it’s definitely not FTTH scale – but it’s enough to make broadband connectivity relatively easy throughout the city and keep the cost of Internet bandwidth down.… More