EDTECH
Project Trains Teachers to Use Technology (CyberTimes)
MINORITIES
Latino Actors Press TV Execs for Visibility (USA)
BROADBAND
FCC May Deal Regional Bells a Victory Today (USA)
U S West Targets Mass Market With $19.95 DSL Service (SJM)
E-COMMERCE
Internet Tax Panel Faces Thorny Issues (CyberTimes)
TELEPHONY
FCC Expected to Relax Wireless Airwave Cap (SJM)
Small, Local Phone Carriers Go in Search of Big Suitors (NYT)
DTV
Step Right Up For the Next Push in Remote Control (USA)
EDTECH
PROJECT TRAINS TEACHERS TO USE TECHNOLOGY
Issue: Ed Tech
The U.S. Department of Education is backing a project by the University of
Northern Iowa in Cedar Falls where a group of colleges and institutions
hope to identify good examples of classroom technology in use. The project
will tape teacher's work with technology, add footage of teachers
explaining the techniques and then post the results on a Web site. The goal
is for teachers to get guidance on using technology as an educational tool
and begin emulating what they have learned. This project comes on the tail
of a recent survey, conducted by Market Data Retrieval, an educational
market research firm, that found that 61% of teachers felt at best only
"somewhat prepared" to integrate technology into classroom instruction. The
study also found little difference between older teachers and those new to
the profession. According to the Department of Education, over the next ten
years the nation will be hiring 2.2 million new teachers as the retirement
of the Baby Boom generation of teachers and the push to reduce class sizes
come into play. The expected turnover in teachers, combined with the fact
that school districts have begun spending billions of dollars on hardware
and software, means that now is the time to ensure that educators receive
adequate technology training, said Linda Roberts, director of the Office of
Educational Technology at the DOE. Last month, the DOE announced that it
had awarded about $75 million in grants to the initiative as well as to 223
other projects in its new Preparing Tomorrow's Teachers to Use Technology
program
[SOURCE: Cybertimes, AUTHOR: Pamela Mendels]
(http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/99/09/cyber/education/15education.html)
MINORITIES
LATINO ACTORS PRESS TV EXECS FOR VISIBILITY
Issue: TV/Minorities
Hispanic Heritage Month just happens to coincide with the kick-off of the
new season of network TV shows. And this year, the issue of minority
representation on television is taking center stage for many Latino
entertainers, advocates and politicians. While Latinos make up 11% of the
U.S. population, only 3.8% of television roles went to Latinos last year.
Many Hispanic Americans are staging a two-week network boycott to protest
the lack of Latino faces on this fall's shows. "If network executives don't
care enough about us to include us in the family picture, why should we
care about their programs," said actor and National Hispanic Foundation for
the Arts co-founder Esai Morales at the foundation's third annual dinner.
Vice President Gore, who also spoke at the dinner, said that he was not in
favor of quotas, but "simply in favor of reality."
[SOURCE: USA Today (3B), AUTHOR: Cesar G. Soriano]
(http://www.usatoday.com/)
BROADBAND
FCC MAY DEAL REGIONAL BELLS A VICTORY TODAY
Issue: Broadband
The Federal Communications Commission is scheduled to vote today on a
proposal that would allow regional Bell companies to not offer deep
discounts on high-speed equipment to long-distance companies. Firms like
AT&T and MCI are eager to enter the emerging market for high-speed digital
subscriber line (DSL) services, but say that buying the equipment
themselves would be costly and inefficient and would "inhibit competitors
from providing broadband service to mass market residents," according to an
AT&T statement. The United States Telephone Association, representing the
regional Bells, argues that they should not be forced to spend large sums
of money developing networks just to give their rivals low cost access. The
association asks; "Why risk large investment in facilities when you will
have to share the fruits?"
[SOURCE: USA Today (1B), AUTHOR: Paul Davidson]
(http://www.usatoday.com/)
U S WEST TARGETS MASS MARKET WITH $19.95 DSL SERVICE
Issue: Broadband
US West is targeting a wider economic base of customers with plans to offer
high-speed Internet access in more than 40 Western cities, including
Denver, Minneapolis/St. Paul and Salt Lake City for $19.95 per month. U S
West is offering the service to its U S West.net to customers for only
$17.95 per month.
It will be available in other areas in U S West's 14-state territory next
month, the company said. The new (digital subsciber line) DSL service is
called MegaBit Select. The company said its "DSL on-demand" service is not
the always-on connection typical of DSL, but allows customers to access the
Internet at speeds nearly 10 times faster than the average dial-up modem at
the click of a mouse at any time, for several hours at a time. There is no
limit on access time, said spokesman Garth Neuffer.
[SOURCE: San Jose Mercury, AUTHOR: Associated Press]
(http://www.sjmercury.com/svtech/news/breaking/merc/docs/001023.htm)
E-COMMERCE
INTERNET TAX PANEL FACES THORNY ISSUES
Issue: E-commerce
House Republican leaders sent a letter to the 19-member Advisory Commission
on Electronic Commerce, a commission appointed by Congress last year to
report back on Internet taxation, reminding them that the reason the body
was formed was to decide whether or not to tax Internet transactions, not
how to tax them. House Majority Leader Dick Armey and 34 colleagues signed
the letter. "We recognize the challenge you face, as members of this
national commission, in trying to tackle some very important issues
regarding the future of e-commerce," the letter said. "...We are concerned,
however, about the fact that most of the news reports from the first
commission meeting seemed to focus on how to tax the Internet, rather than
whether to tax the Internet." The Congressional leaders discussed Internet
taxation saying, "This idea is not a popular one in Congress or among the
American people. You should also know that there are many members who will
oppose any new taxes on the Internet." There are now more than 30,000 tax
jurisdictions with varying tax rates and rules in the country, so the idea
of taxation and the Internet opens many taxation jurisdiction issues, which
Congress faces in the future. The panel is expected to begin discussing its
various options today, but no final recommendations to Congress are
expected until spring.
[SOURCE: Cybertimes, AUTHOR: Jeri Clausing]
(http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/99/09/cyber/articles/15tax.html)
TELEPHONY
FCC EXPECTED TO RELAX WIRELESS AIRWAVE CAP
Issue: Wireless
Today, the Federal Communications Commission is expected to ease ownership
limits on wireless telephone service licensees, in a move to help carriers
roll out new Internet and data services. Large wireless carriers had asked
the agency to remove altogether the ownership cap, which limits the amount
of airwaves any one company may control in a market to 55 megahertz out of
180 megahertz available for wireless phone service. But with competition
flourishing and prices for service plummeting, FCC officials were fearful
that totally removing the cap would reverse the trend and lead to massive
consolidation. So the FCC plans to begin granting case-by-case waivers to
the cap when companies can show that they plan to use new spectrum for new
services like high-speed Internet connections or in rural areas where
competition has not yet arrived and some airwaves are going unused. The FCC
is expected to give wireless carriers greater flexibility in meeting its
regulations on emergency calls using 911 services which have required
wireless carriers to add the capability to locate callers using 911 by
October, 2001.
[SOURCE: San Jose Mercury, AUTHOR: Reuters]
(http://www.sjmercury.com/svtech/news/breaking/reuters/docs/852779l.htm)
SMALL, LOCAL PHONE CARRIERS GO IN SEARCH OF BIG SUITORS
Issue: Telephony
Young communications companies trying to compete against the Bells in local
phone and data communications markets are looking to be acquired. According
to executives on Wall Street, E.Spire Communications, GST
Telecommunications, ICG Communications and Intermedia Communications are
among the competitive local exchange carriers (CLECs) searching for someone
to buy them. The companies are looking to reduce costs and analysts say
that often the fastest way to do that is to merge. CLEC's have found
competing against regional Bell companies to be more difficult and
expensive than expected. But, for all of their volatility, many CLECs have
built valuable fiber optic networks in cities and towns across the nation
and have won many business customers away from the Bells. Groups that may
be interested in the CLEC's include McLeodUSA, Nextlink Communications,
Teligent, Winstar, Qwest Communications, Level 3 Communications, Global
Crossing and the regional Bells themselves -- especially SBC and Bell
Atlantic.
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Seth Schiesel]
(http://www9.nytimes.com/yr/mo/day/news/financial/local-phone-carriers.html)
DTV
STEP RIGHT UP FOR THE NEXT PUSH IN REMOTE CONTROL
Issue: Digital TV/Cable
Free Pizza. WebTV Plus, Domino's Pizza and B3TV recently ran interactive
commercials offering free pizza to 9,000 San Francisco homes equipped with
the WebTV Plus system. Nearly 140 homes took the partners up on their
offer, raising hopes that interactive television systems will be the next
venue for online goods. Advertisers were further encouraged by the response
of the homes that got the free pizza, 96% said they would be inclined to
buy pizza through their television, and 98% said they would buy other
products. By 2004, Forrester Research predicts that interactive television
systems, such as WebTV Plus and Wink, will provide advertisers with the
potential to reach 24 million households generating an estimated $3.8
billion in interactive commerce. The market potential of the technology is
spurring advertisers such as General Motors, AT&T and Procter & Gamble to
step up their development of interactive commercials. Major broadcasters
and cable stations, such as E! and HBO plan to enhance some of their
existing programs with interactive elements for the fall. While the
technology is ready to move forward, some artistic and legal concerns for
interactive media are yet to be addressed.
[SOURCE: USA Today, (7D) AUTHOR: Bruce Haring]
(http://www.usatoday.com/)
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