FCC

Comcast unveils new broadband policy

Paul Mah — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 10:00:22 -0400

Comcast has revealed the details of its new plan to shift from a protocol-oriented approach to a scheme based on aggregate use of bandwidth instead. This comes on the heels of an FCC decision that Comcast's earlier approach violates net neutrality. The new plan works by de-prioritizing heavy users located in a physical section of the network in which a predetermined threshold of traffic is exceeded. A user's priority is reset upon a sufficient period of time. At the moment, this threshold is set at 70 percent of either upstream or downstream traffic. The timer for re-prioritization has been pegged at 15 minutes. Obviously, actual settings might change pending tweaking by Comcast.

To read more about Comcast's new broadband policy:
- check out this ChannelWeb article

Comcast to set monthly bandwidth limits

Paul Mah — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 11:33:11 -0400

Beginning October 1, Comcast, the largest provider of cable broadband in the U.S., will impose a monthly limit of 250 gigabytes of bandwidth on residential users. Customers who exceed the 250 G-byte limit will be warned to curtail their use. A one year service suspension will result should the limit be exceeded again in the next six months. This is a departure from the current situation where Comcast will contact high-bandwidth users should they cross an internal threshold. The current cap comes on the heels of the FCC ruling that Comcast violated net neutrality principles with their attempts to throttle BitTorrent traffic.

To find out more about this new move by Comcast:
- check out this PC World article

FCC set to vote against Comcast

Paul Mah — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 08:01:34 -0400

If reports are to be believed, the majority of FCC commissioners will vote in favor of punishing Comcast for secretly impeding BitTorrent peer-to-peer file sharing on its network. Scheduled to take place at the FCC on Friday, the entire case stemmed from a request (pdf) submitted by the Free Press in November 2007. On the other hand, Comcast and their supporters do not agree that the FCC has the authority to impose any penalty. (You can read up on more arguments to the effect here) Personally, while I am all for unrestricted Internet access, I question if any Internet Service Provider (ISP) can maintain viability in the face of unrestricted network utilization. Will punishments force ISPs to eventually revert back to metered Internet, or simply spur greater competitiveness? Only time will tell.

For more on this debacle:
- check out this BetaNews article

FCC pushes net neutrality

Mon, 14 Jul 2008 12:11:42 -0400

If Kevin Martin, the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, gets his way, Internet providers will be barred from blocking their customers from downloading large video, music and software files. Martin last Friday recommended that Comcast, the nation's largest cable company and a major broadband provider, be sanctioned because it interfered with the Internet connections of customers exchanging files with other users. Martin is a strong advocate of network neutrality--the concept that Internet access providers should not control what flows over their networks. But Internet service providers want freedom to manage their networks as they see fit, saying they need to exercise controls to prevent overloads and slowdowns. Ultimately, they would like a tiered pricing schedule, charging larger users more money for their services. The FCC still must adopt Martin's recommendation for it to take effect. His plan calls for requiring Comcast to change its practices and disclose what it has already done. The broadband industry is not happy, and one could expect this fight to play out for some time in the regulatory arena, Congress, and perhaps the courts.

For more on this net fight:
- See the New York Times article

ALSO NOTED: OLPC calls Intel a cheating spouse; Hands-on with Dell's new 30" LCD;

Wed, 09 Jan 2008 06:59:51 -0500

> Hands-on with Dell's new 30", DisplayPort-sporting display. Article
> Nicholas Negroponte likens Intel to a cheating spouse. Article
> Video: Deep-frying a cell phone. Article
> MacHeist II offers big savings for Mac users. Article
> 8" Eee PC surfaces. Article
> FCC getting more consumer friendly in 2008? Article

And Finally... Mommy, where do servers come from? Article

700Mhz auction: Who's bidding?

Thu, 20 Dec 2007 06:59:59 -0500

This week, the FCC revealed the names of all 266 companies who submitted applications to bid in next year's 700Mhz spectrum auction. Of those 266, 96 were accepted, while 170 applications were deemed to be "incomplete"--though would-be bidders will still have a chance to complete their applications and participate in the auction. Of course, nestled among the names of regional telcos and obscure holding companies is the big G, under the name "Google Airwaves." More interesting, however, is the number of big name companies whose applications were deemed incomplete. Among them:

AT&T
Cellco Partnership (aka Verizon)
Alltel
Chevron
Qualcomm
Cox Wireless
Licenseco (aka Frontline Wireless)

Come on guys, get your acts together and hand in that homework.

For more on the FCC announcement:
- see this TechCrunch article

ALSO NOTED: IE8 beta due in the first half of 2008; Apple rumor site Think Secret settles lawsuit, shuts down;

Thu, 20 Dec 2007 06:59:51 -0500

> Apple rumor site Think Secret settles lawsuit, shuts down. Article
> Samsung F700 (U940) gets FCC approved for Verizon. Article
> Palm working on "breakthough" devices. Article
> Samsung launches 17" laptop for just under $1000. Article
> IE8 beta due in the first half of 2008. Article

And Finally... Enraged UNIX admin nearly shuts down West coast power grid. Article

Rumor: $1500 ultraportable Mac, 3G iPhone

Fri, 07 Dec 2007 06:59:54 -0500

Okay folks, now we're really cooking. While MacWorld rumors--most notably rumors about an ultraportable MacBook Pro--have been trickling in over the last month or so, we haven't had anything really juicy to discuss...until now. CNBC is reporting that January's MacWorld Stevenote will bring both an ultraportable MacBook Pro and a 3G iPhone. According to CNBC's sources, the laptop will be half an inch thick, will sport a SSD in lieu of a mechanical hard drive and will retail for--get this--$1500. An ultraportable, SSD-sporting Mac laptop for $1500? Pinch me, I'm dreaming.

On the iPhone tip, they're claiming that Steve will announce the 3G iPhone at MacWorld but that it won't be released until late May or early June. As you'll recall, that's pretty much exactly what they did at this year's MacWorld, to avoid an outing of the phone by the FCC. A May/June launch would also make a lot of sense because it would be almost a year after the release of the original device.

Admittedly, CNBC isn't the foremost source on Mac rumors but both of these yarns seem to make a lot of sense. The ultraportable MacBook Pro is pretty much a given at this point and we already know that a 3G iPhone is going to appear sometime next year. I'm not sure about that $1500 price point, though...Apple isn't known for low prices and they'll have to be willing to roll with some pretty slim margins if they want to sell an ultraportable machine with a Core 2 Duo and a SSD for less than $2000.

So, where's the love for the desktop crowd? Good question. Did Apple somehow forget that they haven't updated the majority of the MacPro lineup in more than a year? Hopefully not. According to French rumor site MacBidouille, Apple is still planning to launch a new lineup of MacPros, topping off with that 8-core, 3.2Ghz Penryn-sporting model we've been waiting for. Additionally, the machines are said to rock optional Blu-ray burners and NVIDIA QuadroFX graphics. Finally, MacBidouille states that Apple will deliver OS X 10.5.2 during MacWorld and that it will be "the largest and most important intermediate system update ever released by Apple." I'm not sure about the whole Blu-ray thing but the rest of those predictions sound spot-on to me. Apple has been hurting for some new Pro-level boxes and an announcement at MacWorld makes a lot of sense--especially if the new machines sport a complete redesign like we've been hearing. Plus, waiting until January will ensure that there will be a large enough yield of top-bin Penryns from Intel, because there's certainly going to be a lot of pent-up demand for these machines.

For more on the rumors:
- see CNBC's predictions
- and MacBidouille's rumor write-up

It's official: Google to bid in 700Mhz auction

Fri, 30 Nov 2007 06:59:59 -0500

When Google first announced its interest in bidding in the FCC's 700Mhz spectrum auction this year, it was hard to read the company's intentions. Was Google really planning to buy spectrum? Was it simply bluffing to push an open agenda? Only the top brass in Mountain View knew for sure. Well, regardless of what they have up their sleeve, it does look like they're really going to throw down and in a big way: the company has officially announced that they will bid in the late January auction for the "C Block" of 700Mhz wireless spectrum. Keep in mind that this is a pretty serious commitment--the auction, which kicks off on January 24th, has a minimum bid of $4.6 billion. "We believe it's important to put our money where our principles are," Google CEO Eric Schmidt said in a statement. "Consumers deserve more competition and innovation than they have in today's wireless world. No matter which bidder ultimately prevails, the real winners of this auction are American consumers who likely will see more choices than ever before in how they access the Internet." So what happens if Google really does take home a slice of spectrum? Will they build their own wireless broadband network? Keep it as an investment? Sell it off to a carrier but with specific restrictions on how it must be used? Looks like we'll have to wait until next year to find out.

For more on the announcement:
- see this press release

ALSO NOTED: Vista SP1 RC1 due next week?; Motorola CEO Ed Zander to step down;

Fri, 30 Nov 2007 06:59:51 -0500

> Intel takes aim at SMB server market. Article
> Vista SP1 RC1 due next week? Article
> Gateway lays off 100 employees. Article
> OS X getting ready to run Windows apps natively? Rumor
> Mysterious HTC device shows up at the FCC. Article
> Number of mobile phones is now half the number of humans on earth. Article
> Motorola CEO Ed Zander to step down. Article
> How to: Replace an iPhone battery. Video

And Finally... Remember that Korean man who was allegedly killed by an exploding mobile phone? Turns out it was a negligent co-worker, not the phone, that killed him. Article