Six Months Ahead of Time-Warner CEO

Thu, 17 May 2012 17:00:39 +0000

Last November we provided a seven minute video demonstrating how to easily watch any Internet video on a flat-panel TV. When I say easily, I really mean it. It annoys me when someone with specialized experience claims a new procedure for the uninitiated is “simple” when it really isn’t. So, let me clarify. For anyone [...]

Why Hollywood Really Will Shrink

Wed, 09 May 2012 16:22:09 +0000

Although it’s been predicted before, the stars in their courses are finally lining-up against the studios. First, most Hollywood motion pictures aren’t very good. As moviegoers we generally only learn about the good and successful ones. But the catalogues licensed to Netflix, Hulu, YouTube, and other websites reveal just how big the inventory of bad films [...]

Subsidies for Internet Service

Tue, 01 May 2012 17:52:25 +0000

Since IP telephony is merely one of many applications available on Internet networks, it’s increasingly evident that broadband Internet access shall become more important to rural residents than traditional telephone service.  While the FCC is recommending subsidy changes, the situation warrants a more radical course of action. There’s a lot of money at stake and [...]

The Great Locomotive Chase

Fri, 13 Apr 2012 17:12:58 +0000

Today the Disunion series of The New York Times published my third article. The story corresponds to a Civil War incident known as The Great Locomotive Chase which occurred one-hundred-and-fifty years ago yesterday. For Confederates the quickest connection between eastern and western theaters was a railroad from Richmond to Chattanooga. Consequently, the Mountain City’s strategic significance [...]

Why I am Buying More Books

Wed, 11 Apr 2012 18:30:53 +0000

The four reasons I’m buying more books than five years ago are (1) Internet interactivity, (2) second-hand markets online, (3) Amazon.com rewards points and (4) iPad. Internet Interaction The ability to interact over the Internet stimulates my book buying in two ways. Download seven minute audio narration to iPad, iPhone, or iPod here. First, I can buy [...]

Big News in Wireless Internet

Tue, 03 Apr 2012 17:35:08 +0000

Wireless Internet Service Providers held their semi-annual conference in Orlando last week. A number of important industry-specific developments were announced and one was coincident. 1. Last Friday Towerstream (Ticker:TWER) filed a Form 8-K with the Securities & Exchange Commission disclosing it “signed a Wi-Fi agreement with a national wireless carrier (for) utilizing our current and future [...]

New Wireless Competitors

Mon, 26 Mar 2012 19:27:50 +0000

A little under a year ago, we posted four reasons why Apple may decide to become a Wireless Internet Service Provider. Presently, we conclude that if Apple doesn’t do it, one or more of the other Internet-dependent giants shall, by the year 2020. Companies like Apple, Amazon, Google (YouTube), FaceBook, and Microsoft cannot permit their [...]

Titanic Media Frontiers

Tue, 20 Mar 2012 21:10:46 +0000

The night before many Americans file income tax returns this year marks the Centennial of the Titanic disaster. Consider how media frontiers correspond to the end-points of the one hundred year span. First, the shipwreck underscored the value of incipient wireless communications. Marconi operators on Titanic were among the first to use S.O.S. A New York [...]

The President and His General

Wed, 14 Mar 2012 22:53:58 +0000

As The New York Times continues its Sesquicentennial recognition of the Civil War, I’m honored to have a second article, The President and His General, selected. In addition to clicking on the hyperlinks above, readers  may also locate the article by searching for “The President and His General” at the New York Times website. Download one minute [...]

Amazon Kindle Publishing

Tue, 13 Mar 2012 15:58:29 +0000

Although there are only a few winners, about 45,000 runners complete the New York City Marathon. It’s likely that each one completed a disciplined training regimen which probably included at least a few moments of indulgent fantasy about attaining unlikely goals. In the end, most are satisfied by the award of a modest medal and [...]

iPhone as Wallet

Thu, 08 Mar 2012 15:50:39 +0000

Smartphones have already supplanted personal wallets in several ways. Perhaps the best example is how they’ve displaced the paper family photos that were customarily tucked behind a plastic window in leather wallets. Furthermore it’s easy to envision how smartphones-as-wallets could replace the clutter of discount coupons clipped from newspapers and sundry items, like laundry claim [...]

Fallacy of Useage Based Internet Pricing

Fri, 02 Mar 2012 19:18:45 +0000

Recently Time-Warner cable announced it’s once again testing subscription plans that bill Internet subscribers based upon the bandwidth they consume each month. They call it usage-based pricing. Others, such as the editors for The Wall Street Journal, like to call it consumption-based pricing. Either term implies Internet Service Providers (ISPs) can justify charging subscribers additional fees [...]

Comcast Streaming Video Service

Thu, 23 Feb 2012 13:31:08 +0000

Earlier this week, Comcast announced it will offer a video streaming service termed, Streamflix.  At $5 monthly it’s a direct competitor to NetFlix priced at $8. Like NetFlix, the Comcast service will be streamed over the Net to any device capable of displaying such streams, including suitably equipped television sets. Content shall include old movies [...]

Author Interview: Inside Apple

Mon, 13 Feb 2012 20:28:32 +0000

As much as any contemporary book can be, Adam Lashinsky’s Inside Apple is about Apple, not Steve Jobs. While Jobs and his legacy permeate the entire story, Fortune Magazine’s Senior Editor-at-Large provides two key insights. One is an exploration of the methods and other personalities that transformed the company into the enviable success it became over [...]

Superman’s Virtual Reality

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 22:12:11 +0000

A casual remark during a Harlem educator’s interview inspired the title for the public-education documentary, Waiting for Superman. As a poor child in the 1950s and early 60s, Geoffrey Canada read comic books. One day his mom explained Superman was not real. He cried, because he had expected Superman would arrive someday to fix everybody’s [...]

Apple’s Textbook and Education Plans: Part 2

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 12:16:17 +0000

Part 1 concluded that the fundamental disadvantage of conventional books is their limitation as isolated information silos. In contrast, e-books are simultaneously both (1) information repositories, and (2) portals into the nearly infinite resources of the Internet. For example, not only are definitions of unfamiliar words easily obtained in an e-book by highlighting the applicable [...]

Apple’s Textbook & Education Plans – Part 1

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 22:22:46 +0000

A couple of months hence shall mark the 100th anniversary of the Titanic disaster. In response, I’ve been reading several books including Charles Lightoller’s memoirs, purchased from the Kindle store for ninety-nine cents. Lightoller was the ship’s senior surviving officer. His story is so incredible that fiction editors would likely reject the plot as too [...]

Internet Threat to Satellite TV

Tue, 31 Jan 2012 15:21:08 +0000

Before “cord-cutting” became a popular term we predicted almost five years ago consumers would use the Internet to bypass conventional Cable TV. Later when Wall Street dismissed the practice as an urban myth in 2009, we concluded Cable operators may ultimately divest CATV service in order to concentrate on high-speed Internet. Download 6-minute audio narration to [...]

Explaining the Wikipedia Blackout

Thu, 19 Jan 2012 18:29:51 +0000

“Gee, Granddad (or Granny), tells us again about the day the Wikipedia went dark!” Today’s 18-minute audio interview is with Jim Burger who is a copyright attorney with Dow, Lohnes in Washington, D. C. He’s specialized in copyright law for thirty years and prior to Dow, Lohnes was on the legal staff at Apple. Wikipedia turned out [...]

First Certified White Space Radio

Fri, 06 Jan 2012 21:30:00 +0000

Today’s sixteen minute audio interview is with William Koos, Jr. who is the Chief Executive Officer of KTS Wireless. For the past 30 years his company has been a specialty-maker of high performance radios for both military and commercial markets. Presently, KTS produces the only TV Band White Space transceiver certified by the Federal Communications [...]