Posts Categorized Technology

Why Are We Still Fighting About Net Neutrality?

In Government, Technology on Aug-4-2010 with
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Via a Businessweek article:

Google Inc., AT&T Inc., and Verizon Communications Inc. executives are meeting behind closed doors with U.S. officials in talks that critics say reduce the public’s voice in keeping the Internet open.

The companies sought a compromise, in a rare Saturday session last weekend at the Federal Communications Commission, on rules proposed by Chairman Julius Genachowski to regulate how phone and cable companies handle Web traffic such as Google’s YouTube videos.

“These kinds of meetings where the substance isn’t being revealed go against the chairman’s promise of an open, transparent and inclusive agency,” said Gigi Sohn, president of Public Knowledge, a Washington-based advocacy group, in an interview today.

The companies and senior FCC aides have been holding private meetings since June over the regulations, known as net neutrality rules, according to disclosure statements on the agency’s website. Issues include the extent of FCC power over Internet service providers, and whether phone and cable companies can favor some traffic, such as making their own videos run faster.

The FCC may be negotiating a “secret deal” that would keep Genachowski from fulfilling President Barack Obama’s pledge to back net neutrality, said Josh Silver, president of the Washington-based advocacy group Free Press. The agency may be about to “abdicate its responsibility to protect Internet users,” Silver said in an e-mailed statement.

I mean, I don’t think it takes a rocket scientist to understand why giant billion dollar telecom corporations are against it. They’ve found a way to make even more money off a universally loved and relatively affordable service by providing less service. What’s not to love about killing net neutrality for them? More money and more control. A win/win.

Kindle’s First Million Club Member

In Books, Technology on Jul-29-2010 with
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Steig Larsson is the first author to sell a million copies of his books on the Kindle.

All three books in Stieg Larsson’s Millennium Trilogy—”The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo,” “The Girl Who Played with Fire” and “The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest”—are now in the top 10 bestselling Kindle books of all time.

I am not a Kindle owner so I don’t follow news related to it very closely. I would have thought another author would have already hit the million sales mark for their “entire body of work,” but I guess I would have been wrong.

Introducing WordPress 3.0

In Technology, Video on Jun-20-2010 with
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WhiteHouse.gov Goes Open Source

In Technology on May-23-2010 with
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Well this is some pretty cool news:

Yesterday at DrupalCon, representatives of WhiteHouse.gov announced they are making modules of Drupal code they have developed and customized open source, i.e. are giving them away free of charge.

Drupal itself is an open source project and one of the most popular website building tools around. This CMS powers a sizable chunk of the Internet, from Warner Records artists to World Bank’s data site.

The code WhiteHouse.gov is releasing into the wild deals with three main aspects: scalability, communication and accessibility. This move is part of the general move toward openness we’ve seen in a slew of recent government initiatives online, such as Data.gov. The opening of WhiteHouse.gov’s platform means that more developers will get to use, review and modify WH code for their own applications, while quite possibly expanding and improving the modules’ capabilities along the way.

A New Look For Google Calendar

In Technology on May-21-2010 with
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I’ve used countless calendar, to-do, and project management apps looking for the right combination. For about a year I’ve used a combo of Basecamp, HiTask, and Outlook ’07. With that said Google Calendar has made some huge improvements in both the interface and functionality in recent months, so I’m going to have to play with it a few hours this weekend and see if it can do what I need.

The New Yorker Profile Of Chatroulette Creator

In Social Media, Technology on May-11-2010 with
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The New Yorker reporter Julia Ioffe interviewed Andrey Ternovskiy as he was in the process of moving from Moscow to the United States. Pretty interesting stuff

The best way to talk to Ternovskiy is through some kind of digital intermediary. Shy and evasive in person, he fills with a wry swagger when he is just a stream of text. “They have no business no money blablablabla,” he typed to me one afternoon, feigning phlegmatic unconcern with the financial woes of an advertiser he’d been negotiating with-his only one. Like much of his generation, Ternovskiy has an online persona far more developed than his real one.

My brief experience on Chatroulette wasn’t what you might call pleasant. But the concept has almost unlimited potential. Should be interesting to see what happens.

Google Android Tablet

In Technology on Apr-18-2010 with
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I don’t have any idea how Google’s tablet will compete with the iPad, but the mere introduction of it basically solidifies that this type of device will be the new way we encounter computing for many, many years moving forward.

iPhone Desk Phone

In Design, Household, Technology on Apr-1-2010 with
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Well this is pretty darn cool. Almost makes me want to run out and buy an iPhone.

Apple iPad Launch Ad

In Technology, Video on Mar-7-2010 with
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Topeka Wants Some Google Fiber Optics

In Technology on Mar-2-2010 with
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Google recently released a request for information (RFI) asking cities to submit a bid for them to be chosen as a testbed for their super high-speed Internet service, which is 100 times faster then what is currently offered. It would appear Topeka wants to be a “player.”

Topeka Mayor Bill Bunten signed a proclamation Monday calling for Topeka to be known for the month of March as “Google, Kansas—the capital city of fiber optics.”