Universal Service
TelecomAM: Senate Amends Universal Service Appropriation Bill
Free Time
NYT: F.C.C. Chief Backs Off on Rules for Free Air Time for Candidates
WSJ: FCC Backs Away From Plan Aimed At Giving Free Time to Candidates
TelecomAM: Appropriations Committee Tells FCC Not To "Act On Its Own"
Television
WSJ: CBS Chief Paid Least of Three In Top cable Troika
Electronic Commence
WSJ: Cybershopping Becomes a 2-Way Street
WSJ: Mercedes Dealers Offer New Kind of Test Drive
NYT: Netscape Aims to Be Web 'Portal'
Spectrum
NYT: F.C.C. Wireless Licenses Sell for $578 Million
Minorities
NYT: Bringing the Visual World of the Web to the Blind
InfoTech
NYT: On Dogma of Big is Good, an Agnostic
International
NTIA: New Directions in International Telecom
** Universal Service **
Title: Senate Amends Universal Service Appropriation Bill
Source: Telecom AM
http://www.telecommunications.com/am/
Issue: Universal Service
Description: On March 24, the Senate amended the universal service section
of an appropriations bill and eliminated the requirement that the Schools
and Libraries Corporation award "E-rate funds based on financial need." Bell
companies complained that some elements of a report on access charges would
be too burdensome for them -- those sections were also dropped.
** Free Time for Candidates **
Title: F.C.C. Chief Backs Off on Rules for Free Air Time for Candidates
Source: New York Times (A15)
http://www.nytimes.com/yr/mo/day/news/washpol/fcc-political-ads.html
Author: Lawrie Mifflin
Issue: Campaign Finance Reform/Free Air Time
Description: Faced with threats to cut the Federal Communications
Commission's budget, FCC Chairman William Kennard backed away from
his plan to begin developing rules requiring broadcasters to
provide free air time to candidates running for a federal office. Chairman
Kennard
has decided to slow down the process of trying to pass such a ruling, but
not drop it completely. While testifying at a House appropriations
subcommittee hearing, Chairman Kennard said he would not move ahead with a
notice of
proposed rule making, the first steps needed to make an FCC regulation, but
he would pursue an information-gathering process that could lead to a
rule-making procedure. "I'm impatient," Chairman Kennard said in an interview on
Wednesday. "I wanted to be able to do something in this area right away. But
given the political realities, this is a better course to take."
Title: FCC Backs Away From Plan Aimed At Giving Free Time to Candidates
Source: Wall Street Journal
http://wsj.com/ (B11)
Author: Staff Reporter
Issue: Free Time for Candidates
Description: Federal Communications Chairman Bill Kennard has received sharp
criticism from both Democrats and Republicans on Capitol Hill for pushing
for a rulemaking that would require broadcasters to give free political ad
time to candidates. "Although Mr. Kennard had warned that his agency would
move ahead with the proposal if Congress failed to act, he told a House
subcommittee yesterday that he will continue to pursue the issue, but would
like to work more closely with Congress." The FCC will start taking public
comment in the next 30 days. [See Chairman Kennard's prepared statement
http://www.fcc.gov/Speeches/Kennard/Statements/stwek816.html]
Title: Appropriations Committee Tells FCC Not To "Act On Its Own"
Source: Telecom AM
http://www.telecommunications.com/am/
Issue: Free Time for Candidates
Description: The House Appropriations Subcommittee will not mark up the
FCC's budget request until the Commission promises that it will not "act on
its own" on free time for candidates. The subcommittee may also block the
FCC's move to a new building in Washington, DC.
** Television **
Title: CBS Chief Paid Least of Three In Top cable Troika
Source: Wall Street Journal
http://wsj.com/ (B5)
Author: Kyle Pope
Issue: Television Economics
Description: CBS Corp. Chairman and CEO Michael Jordan made #3 million in
salary and bonuses last year, but is paid less that CBS Television President
Les Moonves and the chief executive of CBS's station groups, Mel Karmazin.
Although Mr. Moonves's programming development has boosted CBS's ratings,
the network's audience is a tad older than advertisers like. The pretax
earnings of CBS will probably be about $100 million this year -- compared to
$500 million for market leader NBC. Wall Street analysts speculate that 1)
Mr. Karazin may be thinking about breaking up the company, 2) the network
may be brought by a Hollywood studio or 3) it may be purchases by a
technology company. CBS denies any such deals are in the works.
** Electronic Commerce **
Title: Cybershopping Becomes a 2-Way Street
Source: Wall Street Journal
http://wsj.com/ (B8)
Author: Rebecca Quick
Issue: Electronic Commerce
Description: SocialScience -- a Silicon Alley firm that will soon be know as
SiteBridge Corp. -- has developed software to make shopping over the
Internet more that "real world" shopping. CustomerNow will allow web
customers to type questions to customer service reps who can reply quickly
to the inquires. "You can't automate everything on the Web and expect it to
work," says the company's founder. "This type of technology will allow
customers to get questions answered by a real live person."
Title: Mercedes Dealers Offer New Kind of Test Drive
Source: Wall Street Journal
http://wsj.com/ (B8)
Author: Brandon Mitchener
Issue: Electronic Commerce
Description: Germany's Daimler-Benz AG is developing "Virtual Vehicle," a
system that uses virtual reality to allow customers to test different
options for their cars. Customers can walk around and even through a
computer-generated image of a car, "clicking" on seats, for example, and
sampling different combinations of colors, fabrics and even stitching. After
designing their dream car, customers will be able to order it
instantaneously and get a binding delivery date directly from the factory.
Title: Netscape Aims to Be Web 'Portal'
Source: New York Times (CyberTimes)
http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/98/03/cyber/articles/26netscape.html
Author: Matt Richtel
Issue: Internet
Description: Netscape Communications Corp. announced yesterday that it has
created a separate division to focus on its Web site, called the Netcenter.
The company said that this move is an effort to put additional focus and
resources on building content and attracting traffic. "This shows we want to
be a major portal site," said Jennifer Bailey, vice president of the Web
site. In many ways, Netscape, which has had the Netcenter concept in place
since September 1997, is playing catch-up to more established hubs that
already offer a range of services to users, like Excite, Lycos and Yahoo.
"There are a lot of utility features -- free email, white pages, yellow
pages, home pages, instant messages -- they are all becoming standard," said
Patrick Keane, analyst with Juptier Communications, adding that every time
one hub site offers a feature, another seeks to match it. "It's almost
becoming tit for tat."
** Spectrum **
Title: F.C.C. Wireless Licenses Sell for $578 Million
Source: New York Times (D7)
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/f/AP-Airwaves-Auction.html
Author: The Associated Press
Issue: Spectrum
Description: The auction of licenses for the largest slices of the nation's
airwaves ever to be placed on the auction block ended yesterday, generating
only $578.6 million. Analysts say the value of the licenses was depressed
because the amount of spectrum being auctioned was so massive. "It's a tidal
wave of spectrum being dumped on the market and that brought bidding prices
way down from the very beginning because there is more supply than demand,"
said David Roddy, chief telecommunications economist for Deloitte & Touche
Consulting Group. T. Lauiston Hardin, CEO of Hardin and Associates, a
wireless consulting and engineering company, agreed. "For raising money for
the U.S. Treasury, the auction was not a success."
** Minorities **
Title: Bringing the Visual World of the Web to the Blind
Source: New York Times (E8)
http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/yr/mo/circuits/articles/26blind.html
Author: Debra Nussbaum
Issue: Minorities
Description: For the more than half-million blind people of working age in
the U.S., being able to use the World Wide Web may not only mean being able
to research areas of interest but may be needed in order to get and keep a
job. "We want to use the Web, and we want to use it like everybody else
does," said Curtis Chong, director of technology for the National Federation
of the Blind, based in Baltimore. "We don't believe the computer is the
great equalizer for the blind, but it's one way to make our lives better."
Although current
statistics on computer and Web use by the blind and visually impaired are
difficult to find, a study published in 1991 by the American Foundation for
the Blind in NY found that 43% of this group were using the computer
for writing, said Emilie Schmeidler, senior research associate for the
foundation. "The change from DOS, a text-based operating system, to Windows,
a graphic-based operating system, was a setback for the blind." But in the
last two and a half years, Microsoft "has shown concern and responsiveness"
to the blind, Wunder said. The National Federation of the Blind, the Center
for Applied Special Technology and the World Wide Web
Consortium each have groups working to provide advice for people interested
in making technology and Web pages more accessible. Blind users say they
want basic instruction on how to navigate the Web and get the information
they want, not long, drawn-out explanations intended to describe pictures or
graphics.
** InfoTech **
Title: On Dogma of Big is Good, an Agnostic
Source: New York Times (E3)
http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/yr/mo/circuits/voices/26norm.html
Author: Peter H. Lewis
Issue: InfoTechnology/Lifestyle
Description: Dr. Donald A. Norman, head of the Advanced Appliance Design
Center at Hewlett-Packard, is on the human side when it comes to the
technological revolution. "The personal computer is fundamentally too
complicated, and there is no silver bullet to fix it," he said at a recent
conference. "Consumers don't care about technology -- they want low cost,
simplicity or prestige. You go to the kitchen to use an egg beater, not to
use an electric motor with a special wire attachment at one end."
Hewlett-Packard recently announce plans to enter the consumer market with
smart information appliances based on its own version of the Java
programming language. This "new generation of smart devices" will include
products like printers and cameras, gas pumps and phones. Dr. Norman
envisions information appliances that would perform one major task but could
also have many uses because they could communicate easily with each other.
When asked if he thinks these smart devices are going to replace PC's, Dr.
Norman replied: "I've long maintained that the digital computer is simply
the first vestige of today's information technology...It's just too complex.
It's like the attempt to have one electronic motor in the kitchen to serve
the whole house. Why should I have to do my work at the computer? Why can't
I do my work where I want to? When you try to make one device do everything,
you end up making a device that's not as efficient doing anything. As soon
as you try to make one device do two things, it gets more complex because
the specialization for one task can no longer hold. It's two different
tasks, and on top of that you have to add a third task, some way of telling
it which of the two things you want to do. So I'm a fan of trying to start
over again."
** International **
Title: New Directions in International Telecom
Source: NTIA
http://www.ntia.doc.gov/forums/international/press.htm
Issue: International
Description: "The recent trend toward liberalized global telecommunications
markets has opened up a $675 billion international market in telecom
equipment and services. Given the opportunities this expansion offers for
U.S. businesses, the U.S. Department of Commerce is hosting a roundtable of
industry representatives and Washington policymakers to discuss: 1) What are
successful strategies for penetration into newly liberalized markets? 2)
What are current or potential barriers to global market entry and expansion
in newly liberalized markets due to policy, regulation or other hurdles? 3)
How has/should U.S. policy influenced changes in the telecommunications market?"
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