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Google says super high-speed Internet is the future. But the company doesn’t have a crystal ball, nor are all of its projects successful. Part of Google’s business model includes taking risks. But Google isn’t hemming and hawing about gigabit Internet. Its message is clear. The cities that Google chose to be its first fiber cities will be at the forefront of the next generation of Web technology, said Google Communications Associate Jenna Wandres. “We really believe that this is an investment in the future of the Web,” she said. And now it seems gigabit networks are becoming a trend.
Google or Not, Cities Pin Hopes on Gigabit Networks
The percentage of daily print newspaper readers in the U.S. has fallen nearly 20% since 2001, according to research firm Scarborough. But that drop has not been spread evenly, with print readership remaining strong in some metropolitan areas. In several cities rimming the Great Lakes and Northeast, the percentage of adults who claim to read a print newspaper daily hovered around 50% in 2012, compared with 35.7% nationwide, Scarborough found. The number is as low as 23% in locales across the South and Southwest.
The Best And Worst Cities for Newspapers
Apple now holds about 20 percent of the U.S. e-book market, director Keith Moerer said in court.
Moerer was a government witness in U.S. vs. Apple, in which the Department of Justice accuses Apple of illegally colluding with book publishers to set e-book prices at the launch of the iBookstore in 2010. Most estimates had placed Apple’s U.S. e-book market share at around 10 percent, with Amazon’s Kindle at 50 to 60 percent and Barnes & Noble’s Nook at 25 percent. But Moerer said the iBookstore’s market share was 20 percent in the first few months after the iBookstore’s launch, Publishers Weekly reports, and is about 20 percent now.
Apple: We have 20 percent of the US e-book market
The farm bill that passed a Senate vote could bring gigabit networks to as many as five rural communities in a pilot program. The plan came in the form of an amendment to the Senate farm bill proposed by Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT).
A spokesman for Senator Leahy said the gigabit networks would not require new funding but would be funded through an existing Rural Utilities Service program. The spokesman said the initial plan was to award funding in the form of loans but that the final version of the amendment includes grants. It would be up to the RUS to determine where the gigabit networks would be built and the selection process would be similar to the one used today in awarding RUS grants and loans, the spokesman said. “Next-generation gigabit networks have the potential to transform rural areas,” said Senator Leahy in an announcement about the amendment. “Rural America has so much to offer, but without the great equalizer of high-speed Internet, rural communities cannot live up to their full potential. Investing in next-generation networks now will help ensure that rural areas do not fall even farther behind.”
Farm Bill: Five Rural Communities Could Get Gigabit Networks Leahy's high-speed internet amendment passes (WCAX)
AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson said structuring the rules of the upcoming incentive auctions of 600 MHz broadcast TV spectrum to favor Sprint Nextel and T-Mobile would be a "big gamble."
Stephenson, speaking at a panel convened by the Brookings Institution here on mobile technology and innovation, touched a great deal on the auctions, scheduled to start next year, and how they might be structured. His comments came against a backdrop of continued debate among the carriers and their allies over how much spectrum AT&T and Verizon Wireless should be allowed to pursue in the incentive auctions. The AT&T chief said that policy makers at the Federal Communications Commission and elsewhere need to decide what it is they want to accomplish with the auctions, whether that is maximizing revenues, lowering prices for consumers or something else. He said the structure of the auctions should flow from that.
AT&T's Stephenson: Favoring Sprint, T-Mobile in 600 MHz auction a 'big gamble'
[Commentary] “Dollarocracy”—rule by the dollar—what a great and telling name for a shrinking American democracy that every day loses ground to the command-and-control of unchecked money. Somebody ought to write a book based on the idea. Just in: somebody has! Dollarocracy: How the Money and Media Election Complex Is Destroying America is the title of a just-released “must-read” by prodigious historian/scholar Robert McChesney and force-of-nature journalist John Nichols. Their book gets at what’s ailing America better than any diagnosis I have encountered. Plus it prescribes some cures. What more could a reader—or a citizen—ask? To me, it’s the book of the year.
Dollarocracy or Democracy?
An annual survey of reporters around the world shows that a growing number regard themselves as “digital first” and see social media tools and blogs as part of their job. The Oriella Digital Journalism Study asked 553 journalists in 15 countries about their outlook and their publications, and reflects some interesting geographic differences.
Here are some highlights:
- 59 percent of journalists are tweeting in 2013, versus 47 percent in 2012.
- Twitter use is highest in English-speaking countries, while barely a third of German journalists have a Twitter account.
Global study shows more journalists embrace social media — Germans, not so much
Leslie Harris, the president of the Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT), announced that she will step down sometime before March 2014.
Harris became the group's president in 2005. Under her leadership, the group tripled its staff, opened a California office and put more emphasis on EU policy-making. CDT's board has appointed a search committee to pick her successor. CDT is an advocacy group that focuses on Internet freedom, online privacy and free expression. Harris said she is still determining her next step.
CDT President Leslie Harris to step down A Message to the CDT Community, from President Leslie Harris (Leslie Harris)
Washington Post
June 18, 2013
8:30 - 10:00 a.m.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/postlive/conferences/spectrum
The explosion of data and video on mobile devices is placing growing demands on spectrum, the radio waves that carry wireless calls and data. The federal government, which allocates slices of spectrum, must balance the changing needs of wireless companies, broadcasters, government, public safety, and consumers. This forum will convene experts to discuss solutions to balance the growing demands on wireless bandwidth.
Confirmed Speakers
- Ajit Pai, FCC Commissioner
- Blair Levin, Communications & Society Fellow, The Aspen Institute
- Larry Irving, President & CEO, The Irving Group
- James Cicconi, Senior Executive Vice President, AT&T
- Patrick Butler, President & CEO, Association of Public Television Stations
- Michael Catalano, Managing Director, PMT Americas
- Rick Kaplan, Executive Vice President, National Association of Broadcasters
- Additional speakers to be announced
Georgetown Center for Business & Public Policy and the Portable Computer and Communications Association
Friday, June 14, 2013
8:00 AM to 4:00 PM (EDT)
http://optimalcoevolution.eventbrite.com/
Agenda
8:00 AM Registration. Continental breakfast available.
8:30 AM Peter Rysavy, Executive Director, PCCA. Introductions.
8:45 AM John Mayo, Executive Director, Georgetown Center for Business and Public Policy. Welcome.
9:00 AM Blair Levin, Communications and Society Fellow, Aspen Institute and Executive Director, GigU. The Push and the Pull of Technology and Consumer Demand: Opportunities and Pitfalls
9:30 AM Thomas Power, Deputy Chief Technology Officer for Telecommunications, the Office of Science and Technology Policy, the White House (Invited). Obama administration perspective on spectrum objectives, strategy, and priorities.
10:15 AM Break
10:30 AM Al Jette, Head of North American Industry Environment, Nokia Siemens Networks. Standardization efforts (including 3GPP, ETSI, IEEE) to accommodate new spectrum policy approaches. Includes LTE spectrum coordination and white-space.
11: 15 AM Dean Brenner, Senior Vice President, Government Affairs, Qualcomm. Opportunities and challenges of new bands, including the proposed 3.5 GHz small-cell band.
12:00 PM Lunch provided.
1:00 PM Ruth Milkman, Chief, Wireless Communications Bureau, FCC. FCC perspective on policies and proceedings impacting wireless technology evolution and innovation.
1:45 PM Jennifer Fritzsche, Managing Director, Wells Fargo Securities. Making the business case for continued investment in the mobile broadband sector: a Wall Street perspective.
2:30 PM Break
2:45 PM Panel Discussion. Efficiencies in Spectrum Use and Distribution: A Review of the Perspectives.
- Scott Wallsten, Vice President for Research and Senior Policy Fellow, Technology Policy Institute and Senior Policy Scholar, the Georgetown Center for Business and Public Policy
- Peter Rysavy, President, Rysavy Research
- Anna Maria Kovacs, Visiting Senior Policy Scholar, the Georgetown Center for Business and Public Policy
- Delara Derakhshani, Policy Counsel, Consumers Union
- Moderator: Carolyn Brandon, Senior Industry and Innovation Fellow, the Georgetown Center for Business and Public Policy