April 2014

[Commentary] With every word he writes, recently installed Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler shows he has little interest or belief in network neutrality as most consumers understand it.

In another flimsy attempt at defending his position on “fast lanes” -- i.e., allowing Internet service providers to charge more to content companies seeking priority access to end-users – Chairman Wheeler contends that consumers should do what Verizon and other telecoms want because well, it could take a while to do it correctly.

Once again, Chairman Wheeler completely glosses over the fact that the only reason a federal appeals court gutted the previous neutrality rules was because a shortsighted FCC never thought to categorize Internet service providers as vital communications infrastructure.

As numerous supporters of a true net neutrality have repeatedly pointed out, reclassifying ISPs would likely mean the FCC could reinstate the old rules (and possibly more stringent ones) and survive a legal challenge. He once again points to this so-called “blueprint” that the appeals court laid out in its opinion as a way to “create Open Internet rules that would stick,” without regard to whether or not those rules result in an Internet that is open.

[Commentary] It is no secret that Facebook, Google, Microsoft and others are targeting your personal data.

They use complex methods to gather, store, and reuse information that is important to you. They look at the things you post, the things you search for, the websites you visit, the things you like, and then adjust the ads you see. Cookies stored on your computer or device keep track of websites you've visited, especially the sites you frequent most. Many times, we seem surprised by how much these companies know about us.

But in reality, most people upload photos, make comments, "friend" others and "like" things without a second thought. Over time, it can be determined by our online activity when you are most likely to post something, when you are online, and for how long. It's easy to determine what you do for fun, your political stance, and your religious preference. Even more simple is to determine your family members and best friends.

[Warner is CEO of ContentWatch]

The jury is still out on the latest Apple-Samsung patent trial, but Samsung has already won the larger battle.

When the iPhone was introduced in 2007, Samsung’s US smartphone market share was about 10 percent. By mid-2010 it had dropped to about half that level. By 2013, Samsung had more than rebounded, nabbing nearly a third of the US market in some quarters.

For all Apple’s legal victories, including a roughly $1 billion verdict in the last patent trial, Samsung has continued to grow its share of the smartphone market, both in the US and globally.

Ted Rappaport is in charge of NYU WIRELESS, a New York University research program in downtown Brooklyn that has enlisted researchers to work on the next generation of wireless technology.

His goal? To demonstrate that a commercially viable expansion of spectrum for cellular and Wi-Fi could physically be done.

Many industry players doubted that it was possible. Now, those same people are using the results of the professor's research to begin sketching out their own strategies for the next phase of wireless technology.

Rappaport's team found that signals at 73 gigahertz could be sent and received as far as 200 meters under very dense conditions, with an acceptable number of instances where buildings stopped a signal. Sending and receiving data at these particular narrow frequency bands are what the industry refers to as 5G wireless technology.