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[Commentary] Banks have turned to the National Security Agency (NSA) for help in protecting their systems. The super-secret electronic surveillance agency has been at the forefront of defending U.S. government networks from intrusion; its director, Gen. Keith Alexander, also serves as chief of U.S. Cyber Command. What’s happening now is something that Gen. Alexander and other cyberexperts have warned about for a long time: attacks aimed at the soft underbelly of American society, our wired but vulnerable private sector. Congress would be well advised to focus early on this topic. The private sector remains unprepared for the kind of massive botnet assaults being aimed at the banks. The U.S. government can offer an important line of defense. Congress ought to lay down a foundation for this cooperation in new legislation, and without delay.
Time for Congress to offer help against cyber attacks
Google is trying to create an experimental wireless network covering its Mountain View (CA) headquarters.
Google submitted an application to the Federal Communications Commission, asking for an experimental license to create an “experimental radio service” with a two-mile radius covering its headquarters. Google’s small-scale wireless network would use frequencies that wouldn’t be compatible with nearly any of the consumer mobile devices that exist today. The network would only provide coverage for devices built to access certain frequencies, from 2524 to 2625 megahertz. Those frequencies, which could work well in densely populated areas, could be important in the future because mobile operators in China, Brazil and Japan already are building wireless networks using them, meaning that compatible devices eventually will be manufactured.
Much of Google’s application is confidential, but it does say that the first “deployment” of the experimental network will occur inside a specific building on Google’s campus. That building houses the Google Fiber team. Google said it would be using wireless frequencies that are controlled by Clearwire.
Google Creating Wireless Network, But For What?
Gov. Sam Brownback (R-KS) is proposing a big cut in state funding for public radio and TV stations, but he also appears to have abandoned a previous effort to eliminate the funding altogether. He is proposing $600,000 in funding for public TV and radio in each of the next two fiscal years, down 42 percent from the current figure of slightly more than $1 million a year. The next fiscal year begins July 1. Two years ago, Gov Brownback sought to end all funding for public broadcasting.
Kansas funding for public broadcasting scrutinized
In the past month, there have been reports that Apple is working on a smaller, cheaper iPhone. But the latest sales numbers do not make it appear that Apple needs to sell one.
Apple released its quarterly earnings report. While its revenue grew 18 percent from last year, profit stayed flat at $13.1 billion. As for iPhones, Apple sold 47.8 million, up from 37 million last year. Analysts paid keen attention to one particular detail about the iPhone: its average selling price. The theory goes that if the average selling price teetered to the lower side, it would indicate that Apple’s older iPhones were selling much better than the newest model, the iPhone 5. It would therefore behoove Apple to sell a new model of a cheaper and perhaps smaller iPhone, aimed at the lower end of the market. But the average selling price of the iPhone over the past quarter was $641. That suggests the iPhone 5, which costs $650 at full price in the United States, accounted for the vast majority of iPhone sales.
Does Apple Need a Cheaper iPhone?
While Americans are sending a third less mail than they did 10 years ago, the junk mail business is actually thriving thanks to changes in databases, computing power and available storage. Using Big Data—a catchall phrase for a combination of analytic software and huge computer storage—direct marketers have been able to refine their pitches with a newly startling precision.
Junk Mail Gets Personal
Rep. Steve Scalise (R-LA), the chairman of the influential Republican Study Committee, argued that regulation of up and coming Web companies should be viewed as "attacks on Internet freedom at large."
Speaking at the State of the Net conference in Washington, Rep Scalise encouraged lawmakers and federal agencies to use a light touch on governing the Internet, saying that it has flourished on its own over the years. "When there isn't market failure, the government should just stay away," Rep Scalise said. "These efforts to regulate important stakeholders across the entire Internet ecosystem should be viewed as attacks on Internet freedom at large." "Even if the government picks winners and losers in the fiscal market ... we should hold the Internet to a higher standard," he added. "The Internet is just too important to go down that slippery slope."
Rep Scalise: Regulating Web companies threatens Internet freedom
At a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said that she created a new unit at the State Department to counter jihadist propaganda in social media.
When Al Qaeda puts up a video saying how terrible the U.S. is, she said, State puts up one about how terrible they are. While CNN and Fox are out there in the world, the U.S. government had abdicated its radio and TV presence, leaving a void that jihadist propaganda had filled. The Broadcasting Board of Governors oversees U.S. broadcasts internationally, including to the Middle East. But like everything thing else in Washington, it has been hit by budget cuts. Sec Clinton said BBG was "nearly defunct."
Sec Clinton: Government Has Left Media Message Void That Jihadists Filled
The US International Trade Commission will review a potentially key decision in the patent fight between Samsung Electronics and Apple over smartphones and tablets.
The Commission also sent part of the dispute back to the judge who ruled in October that Samsung, the world's top maker of smartphones, infringed four Apple patents but did not violate two others. The full commission said it would review the judge's decision, and asked the agency judge to take a second look at portions of two patents where he had found that Samsung infringed. One of the patents in question allows the use of a headset with the smartphone while the other allows the device to show an image on a screen with a second, translucent image over it. The case at the International Trade Commission is No. 337-796.
US ITC to review Apple patent complaint against Samsung
The coalition of television broadcasters willing to sell spectrum rights has grown to 39 large-market stations, according to comments filed at the Federal Communications Commission by the Expanding Opportunities for Broadcasters Coalition, and it wants the FCC to make the auction as attractive as possible by not limiting wireless bidders or which stations can share spectrum with.
The coalition, whose members don't have to identify themselves publicly because of the obvious competitive and operational issues related to publicizing their willingness to sell, also is pushing the FCC to reclaim "at least" 120 Mhz. The coalition was formed because the principal broadcast trade association, the National Association of Broadcasters, is focusing on making sure the auctions hold harmless broadcasters who are not selling and want to remain in the business.
Spectrum Coalition Pushes FCC To Reclaim At Least 120 Mhz
In the past, YouTube has always been treated as one of many parts of Google’s business: worth a shout-out, and maybe a nice data point if time permitted during an earnings call. This time around, it seemed to move more towards the center.
“Video is now baked into all of our products,” said Google Chief Business Officer Nikesh Arora, adding that video is especially important for advertising: “Video is a key language that brands speak.” Arora said that Google’s top 100 brand advertisers spent 50 percent more money on YouTube in 2012 than during the previous year. He reiterated that the site now generates more than 4 billion views a day. One new metric shared during the call was that 70 percent of YouTube’s in-stream ads are now what the company calls TrueView - ads that viewers can skip, and that advertisers only pay for if they’re not skipped.
YouTube’s quiet evolution into the heart of Google