Google revealed a project called The Physical Web, intended to allow smart devices to provide information without user prompts (http://bit.ly/1CHwzoO). For instance, a user walking past a bus stop would automatically be sent bus schedules, Google said Thursday. “The number of smart devices is going to explode, and the assumption that each new device will require [its] own application just isn’t realistic,” the company said. “We need a system that lets anyone interact with any device at any time.” Google said it will release an open, common Web standard “that any device can use to offer interaction.”

The FCC should remember the “problems of undue regulation” when it takes on net neutrality, NCTA CEO Michael Powell wrote in an op-ed in The Hill Thursday (http://bit.ly/10msw3k). Based on “history and experience,” Powell wrote, “competition goals will be thwarted if the commission buckles to those who are baying to blanket the Internet industry with the dirty quilt of common carrier regulation.” Powell referred to FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler’s Sept. 7 speech on the need for more broadband competition (CD Sept 5 p1). “Can anyone honestly argue that new heavy regulation will attract new broadband competitors and bring more choices to consumers?” Powell wrote. “Or rather, will it only entrench the power of incumbents and frustrate innovators and entrepreneurs? Will it help broadband build out into rural areas or rather impede it?"

The FCC said it scheduled its National Cyber Security Awareness Month technology expo for Oct. 28. The expo will include demonstrations on effective personal cybersecurity practices, the FCC said Wednesday. Exhibition space will be available free to “qualified” entities in cybersecurity, including federal agencies, IT corporations and law enforcement, the FCC said (http://bit.ly/1wYXnh1). National Cyber Security Awareness Month began Wednesday. CenturyLink separately marked the beginning of National Cyber Security Awareness Month by launching a security blog that it said will give customers tips on privacy protections and Internet-wide security issues. The blog will also recommend steps for resolving potential vulnerabilities and cyberattack recovery. The company said customers can also buy its Online Security suite for automatic cloud backup, antivirus services and identity theft protection (http://bit.ly/1qWLClM).

One of every eight U.K. homes uses streaming services to watch TV, while tablets and smartphones are the “go-to” browsing devices in a third of British homes, and one in every 10 millennials doesn’t own a PC or laptop, said a survey report released Monday by the U.K. firm Post Office HomePhone and Broadband (http://bit.ly/1uz0VZk). Streaming or downloading TV programs ranked as one of the top three most popular uses for broadband at home, with 12 percent of homes viewing TV shows mainly via online channels, the report said. The survey of 2,000 British consumers in mid-August also found that nearly a third of U.K. homes use a smartphone or tablet as their main browsing device at home. But PCs and laptops still remain popular for accessing the Internet at home, though not among the youngest consumers, it said. Only 15 percent of 18-24-year-olds use PCs as their main browsing platform compared with two in five consumers over 55, it said. “Streaming and on-demand entertainment services respond to the needs of the time-poor consumer and our report demonstrates how the convenience of these entertainment channels is beginning to dominate the UK’s home browsing activity,” the company said. “While smartphones and tablets provide convenience when accessing the Internet away from home, it’s interesting to see that they are now superseding the PC and laptop as the device of choice in nearly of third of households as well."

Academics will discuss the economics of broadband at the FCC’s Oct. 2 net neutrality workshop, the Office of Strategic Planning & Policy Analysis said Thursday (http://bit.ly/1u3hpri). The panelists at the 1:30 p.m. event will be Jonathan Baker, a professor at American University’s Washington College of Law; Nicholas Economides, a New York University Stern School of Business economics professor and executive director of the Networks, Electronic Commerce and Telecommunications Institute; Thomas Hazlett, a Clemson University economics professor; Christiaan Hogendorn, a Wesleyan University associate economics professor; and John Mayo, an economics, business and public policy professor at Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business.

Yahoo disclosed content in response to 1,396 of the 6,791 government data requests it received between Jan. 1 and June 30, according to the company’s most recent transparency report, released Thursday (http://bit.ly/1rgdrvA). The company rejected 382 requests. Those statistics show numbers that are roughly equal to the previous six-month period but significantly lower than the first six-month period Yahoo reported on -- January through June 2013. Yahoo said it disclosed content for 4,604 of the government’s 12,444 data requests over that stretch.

The number of consumers using tablets to watch TV shows and movies has skyrocketed, a survey by Altman Vilandrie & Co. found. Tablet ownership penetration increased to 50 percent last year, up from 40 percent in 2012, said the consulting firm Thursday in a news release (http://bit.ly/1v4tL2l). The portion of all consumers watching TV shows or movies on tablets on a weekly basis jumped from 17 percent to 26 percent last year, it said. More than 40 percent of consumers under age 35 use smartphones to watch TV or movies, it said. More than 70 percent of the consumers binge watch at least once a month, and 41 percent use their cable providers’ TV Everywhere service each month, it said. The survey also found that over-the-top use increased from 26 percent last year to 35 percent in 2014. The survey received input from more than 3,000 U.S. respondents. It was drawn from an online panel by Research Now, Altman Vilandrie said.

Stanford University pushed back Wednesday in a blog post against reports it had decided to stop using Google funding for privacy research at the Center for Internet and Society (CIS) (http://stanford.io/Y47dBR). ProPublica said Tuesday that a document filed in a Stanford legal proceeding (http://bit.ly/1rngkJU) contained this sentence: “Since 2013, Google funding is specifically designated not be used for CIS’s privacy work.” In the blog post, CIS Director-Civil Liberties Jennifer Granick said the sentence meant CIS had other funding sources for its privacy work that year, and its decision not to use Google’s funding on privacy was not a comment on Google. “Funding sources impose no restrictions on CIS researchers. Period,” Granick said. “All donors to the Center -- and to Stanford more generally -- agree to give their funds as unrestricted gifts, for which there is no contractual agreement and no promised products, results, or deliverables.” Stanford could in the future designate Google money for privacy research, she said. In 2012, Jonathan Mayer, a Ph.D. candidate at CIS, found Google was circumventing the Apple Safari browser’s cookie blocking feature, which led to a $22.5 million settlement with the FTC (http://1.usa.gov/19VRGcD).

Car-ride sharing service Sidecar joined the Internet Association as its 28th member, said an association news release Wednesday (http://bit.ly/1sqGde3). “As with many innovative companies, policies don’t always keep pace with innovation and progress,” said Sidecar CEO Sunil Paul. IA members include Amazon, Facebook and Google (http://bit.ly/1oi5uA8).

Facebook is “unlikely” to renew its membership in the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) and Yelp withdrew, said spokespeople for the companies Wednesday. A Yelp spokesperson said the online review website pulled its membership several months ago. Facebook is evaluating whether to renew its membership and hasn’t made a final decision, said its spokesperson. “While we have tried to work within ALEC to bring that organization closer to our view on some key issues, it seems unlikely that we will make sufficient progress so we are not likely to renew our membership in 2015.” Earlier this week, Google said it was pulling its financial support from ALEC because of the organization’s denial of climate change (CD Sept 23 p15).