February 2010

Students endure hundreds of hours on yellow buses each year getting to and from school in Vail, a desert exurb of Tucson (AZ), and stir-crazy teenagers break the monotony by teasing, texting, flirting, shouting, climbing (over seats) and sometimes punching (seats or seatmates). But on this chilly morning, as bus No. 92 rolls down a mountain highway just before dawn, high school students are quiet, typing on laptops. Morning routines have been like this since the fall, when school officials mounted a mobile Internet router to bus No. 92's sheet-metal frame, enabling students to surf the Web. The students call it the Internet Bus, and what began as a high-tech experiment has had an old-fashioned -- and unexpected -- result. Wi-Fi access has transformed what was often a boisterous bus ride into a rolling study hall, and behavioral problems have virtually disappeared. Internet buses may soon be hauling children to school in many other districts, particularly those with long bus routes. The company marketing the router, Autonet Mobile, says it has sold them to schools or districts in Florida, Missouri and Washington (DC).

Democrats are hoping to fast-track a set of sweeping new campaign finance regulations to prevent the Supreme Court's landmark Citizens United decision from affecting the November midterm elections.

Sen Charles Schumer (D-NY) and Rep Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) on Thursday unveiled the majority party's legislative response to the Citizens United case, which they and other Democrats -- including President Barack Obama -- have sharply criticized as one that will "open the floodgates" to corporate financing of federal elections. Opting against a constitutional amendment to undo the court's rejection of existing laws that ban certain political spending by corporations, Democrats are proposing to ban donations by foreign-influenced and taxpayer-assisted corporations, as well as a series of tough new disclosure requirements on corporations that would still be allowed to steer money toward political action groups.

The Senate's jobs bill was to be the vehicle for the much-delayed renewal of DISH Network's and DirecTV's licenses to reach 1.7 million people. But after the Senate Finance Committee Thursday morning released a draft of its massive jobs bill containing provisions to renew the law for another five years -- until Dec. 31, 2014 -- the section was stripped out in the afternoon, along with several other tangential riders. They were dropped to make the underlying jobs legislation "more targeted" so it can move more quickly. The provisions would have renewed the Satellite Home Viewer Extension and Reauthorization Act (SHVERA) which provides satellite providers' ability to import distant TV network affiliates to viewers who can't receive their local affiliates through broadcast or cable service. Satellite companies' right to send these signals to customers were set to expire at the end of 2009. But in December, Congress extended SHVERA by 60 days. The satellite licenses have to be reauthorized by Congress every five years. Congress is running out of time to approve the provisions in the jobs bill. If the licenses expire, about 1.7 rural satellite customers could lose access to programming from the likes of NBC, CBS, ABC and FOX.

Tech bloggers are expecting big things from Google's proposed high-speed network:

• Don't Underestimate This Move, writes Mark Sullivan at PC World: "This is Google we're talking about. It has massive influence in business, and, increasingly in regulatory circles. The announcement comes right on the heels of the federal government releasing the first round of funding for broadband networks to rural and under-served areas. It appears to be intended as an adjunct to the FCC's own Broadband Plan, as if to say: 'See, you can do it like this.'"
• Self-Interest Rightly Understood, writes John Paczkowski at All Things Digital:"[This is] an altruistic goal, but a selfishly altruistic one. By providing Internet speeds of 1Gbps — more than 100 times faster than what most of us are used to, Google will drive further usage of its various services and the contextual ads it peppers them with. At the same time, it will humiliate the telcos into improving their own networks and — given Google's stated focus on 'openness and choice,' perhaps even change market dynamics."
• Google On-Demand Here We Come, writes James Turner at O'Reilly Radar: "Once Google has a pipe into the house, they can easily become a player in VoIP and landline telephone service, as well as cable TV and on-demand. Of course, these areas are fraught with regulatory issues. Many towns require cable providers to enter into individual franchise agreements in order to provide service, which can be a nightmare when you multiply it times N towns. But it's much easier to offer when you have a bit pipe already in place. And a 1Gb service will allow for HD or even Blu-Ray 3D service on-demand to the house."
• Finally a Challenge to Comcast, writes John Cook at TechFlash: "Broadband Internet customers love to rail against Comcast, one of the dominant providers of Internet service in the Pacific Northwest. But customers who are dissatisfied with Comcast service or prices eventually could have an alternative. And it is coming from none other than Google."