Steve Blum's Blog

Getting back to business with broadband investment

6 June 2010 by Steve Blum
business, casf, community networks, demand, microeconomic, need, NTIA, private capital, public policy, rural utilities service, RUS

The federal stimulus program overshadowed private sector funding for new broadband infrastructure for more than a year. The National Telecommunications and Information Administration and, to a somewhat lesser extent, the Rural Utilities Service (RUS) threatened to wash out broadband venture opportunities with billions of dollars of grants and loans. Some projects will absorb federal money instead of private risk capital. Most won’t and the surviving opportunities will become evident over the next few months.

Price points, service benchmarks and likelihood
to buy are key data for revenue projectionsLocal agencies and economic development organizations still have the job of attracting that investment.… More

Building community broadband: three things that work without stimulus grants

15 May 2010 by Steve Blum
ARRA, BIP, broadband stimulus, BTOP, casf, cetf, cpuc, CSU Chico, CSU Humbolt, rural broadband, SEDCorp, sierra economic development corporation

The California Emerging Technology Fund (CETF) has funded several regional broadband consortia in northern and central California. At its third annual Rural Connections workshop in Redding this week, representatives from six groups presented the results of their work over the past couple of years. Two, covering California’s Gold Country and Redwood Coast, stood out as having made genuine progress toward bringing Silicon Valley-grade Internet service to areas that are otherwise off the broadband map.

Gold Country Connect provides prospective investors
with broadband planning toolsBrent Smith, CEO of Sierra Economic Development Corporation, and Connie Stewart from Humboldt State University had success stories to tell.… More

The stimulus was fun while it lasted, now back to work

14 May 2010 by Steve Blum
ARRA, BIP, broadband stimulus, BTOP, casf, ccbc, cetf, Jonathan Adelstein, NTIA, public policy, rural broadband, RUS

It’s time to look past the stimulus program, and re-adjust community broadband planning assumptions. The National Telecommunications and Information Administration’s (NTIA) Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP) and the Rural Utilities Service’s (RUS) Broadband Initiatives Program (BIP) encouraged local groups to roll themselves up into regional alliances and propose magnificent projects that would meet any conceivable need and serve every user imaginable.

It made sense, because that’s where the money was. NTIA and RUS made some dreams real in the first round last year, and are on track to fulfill a few more fantasies in the second round.… More

Best Practices Highlight Wireless Broadband Feasibility Study for the City of Oakland

13 May 2010 by Steve Blum
ARRA, broadband, broadband stimulus, BTOP, business model, feasibility study, Google broadband, municipal broadband, NTIA, Oakland

Download the Oakland Wireless Feasibility Study

Like nearly every government agency in California, the City of Oakland was faced with increasing demand for public services and a decreasing budget. An evaluation was needed of the potential for wireless technology to make municipal staff more efficient and allow them to stay in the field longer, and to provide Internet service to residents, either directly in their homes and businesses or indirectly through community anchor institutions. This evaluation needed to focus specifically on Oakland’s diverse population, needs and terrain.… More

Follow the money, from the first to the second round of broadband stimulus grants

18 January 2010 by Steve Blum
ARRA, BIP, broadband stimulus, BTOP, casf, ccbc, cetf, NTIA, public policy, rural broadband, RUS

More than a thousand first round hopefuls are still staring into the black hole that swallowed their applications. The second round notifications of funding availability (NOFAs) issued by the Rural Utilities Service (RUS) and National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) for the broadband stimulus program do not explicitly address the status of first round applications.

The stimulus bill gave RUS $2.5 billion and NTIA $4.7 billion for broadband project funding. In the first round, RUS said it would give out up to $2.4 billion.… More

Real time tweets from Showstoppers at CES 2010

7 January 2010 by Steve Blum
CES2019, consumer electronics, plasticlogic, showstoppers, xyxio

PlasticLogic promises and deliversPlasticLogic is back with a real product this year, was worth the wait, $649 to $799 for coolest pro-level e-book reader.

PlasticLogic QUE Pro Reader delivers newspapers, displays work documents, has PIM functions, wireless connectivity.

Screen 10.7 inches diagonal, unit 8.5×11 total, wafer thin, light as feather, at top of a crowded category.

Xyxio has breakout potential although it’s a headscratcher at first look, control a computer with your breath.

Xyxio is a technology company, offers means to create devices that are breath controlled and do the same thing as a mouse.… More

Broadband stimulus grant update: first round still under review, second round likely to slip a bit

7 January 2010 by Steve Blum
ARRA, BIP, broadband stimulus, BTOP, casf, ccbc, CES2019, cetf, NTIA, public policy, rural broadband, RUS

Anna Gomez, deputy assistant secretary for communications and information at NTIA (National Telecommunications and Information Administration), spoke at today’s Tech Policy Summit at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

Secretary Gomez speaks to reporters
at 2010 Consumer Electronics ShowShe repeated previous agency comments about wanting to “get it done fast, get it done right and with the greatest effect possible.”

She described the Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP) as “unprecedented” at the NTIA.

Lessons learned in a difficult first round would be applied in the second round.… More

Computing power can now go wherever people want it

7 January 2010 by Steve Blum
cloud computing, foxconn, holographic laser projector, light blue optics, light touch, mobile, mobile broadband

Light Blue Optics debuted its Light Touch technology here at the Consumer Electronics Show, and it is what computers, mobile and fixed, will be ten years from now. As CEO Chris Harris put it, “it transforms any flat surface into a touchscreen.” The concept is disruptively simple. What it really does is unleash computing power from physical, mechanical devices.

Any table becomes a team work spaceKeyboards, mice and monitors are easily broken and awkward to arrange anywhere except a desk.… More

Mobile phone disruption coming soon to a TV near you

6 January 2010 by Steve Blum
app store, apple computer, CES2019, consumer electronics, developers, mobile, mobile broadband, samsung, software

“If you like developing for a 3-inch screen, I have a 55-inch screen for you,” challenged Tim Baxter, president of Samsung Electronics America, as he invited mobile application developers into the world of television. Speaking at the Consumer Electronics Show, he introduced Samsung Apps, a consolidated app store for televisions, mobile phones and Blu-ray players.

You’re welcomeSamsung is a major mobile phone and television manufacturer, with a mobile phone app store already serving subscribers in Europe and Korea.… More

RIP STB

6 January 2010 by Steve Blum
CES2019, consumer electronics, ibm, iptv, new stuff, set top box, sony, toshiba

The set top box is on the run, harried away by television manufacturers. Toshiba sounded the hunting horn this morning, unveiling its Cell TV product line. Don’t be fooled by the name, it’s a classic case of branding in a vacuum. It has nothing to do with mobile phones. It’s a computer morphed into a set top box and wrapped with a big screen TV. The set top box is the TV.

Spot the set top boxToshiba calls the chip that powers it the Cell TV Broadband Engine, which was developed in a joint venture with Sony and IBM.… More