Pandora is now available for streaming in select new Toyota models equipped with the Toyota Link app suite, the Internet music service said Monday in a news release. It said Pandora will be integrated into select cars from nearly two-thirds of all new Toyota vehicles shipped in Australia.
Senior citizens are using new technology and online tools more regularly, said tech industry and online service experts during a panel at the White House Conference on Aging Monday. Representatives from companies such as Peapod and Uber said they are surprised at how many elderly citizens use their respective products. Tom Parkinson, Peapod chief technology officer, said the reason for the expanded use of the Internet-based services among the elderly is that they are beginning to focus on what the technology is allowing them to do, rather than the technology itself. An Uber representative told the audience it would begin working with two senior centers in Gainesville, Florida, to provide free and reduced-price rides and to educate the members of the centers on the technology used to access Uber. A representative from the company also said it has begun launching the senior citizen focused initiatives in several cities across the U.S. One of the problems that the older generation faces when attempting to use new technology appears when they can't see the results of the technology, such as when using cloud services, said Chuck Wallace, associate computer science professor at Michigan Technological University. Wallace said that even though more elderly members of society are embracing technology, it becomes hard for them to grasp when it they can no longer see it or readily access it.
NTIA will hold its first multistakeholder meeting on unmanned aerial vehicles (UAS) Aug. 3, 1-5 p.m., in the boardroom at the American Institute of Architects, 1735 New York Ave. NW, an agency blog post said Monday. President Barack Obama called on NTIA “to launch a multistakeholder process to develop best practices that enhance privacy and promote transparent and accountable operation of UAS by commercial and private users,” NTIA Deputy Assistant Secretary for Communications and Information Angela Simpson wrote in a separate blog post Monday. “The end goal is best practices that mitigate consumer concerns while promoting growth and innovation in this exciting sector,” Simpson said. “In April, we received more than 50 comments regarding the most pressing UAS issues and potential solutions,” Simpson said. “This input will be the basis of the group’s initial discussions.” Multistakeholder meetings are also scheduled for Sept. 24, Oct. 21 and Nov. 20, NTIA said.
VoIP-Pal is suing its former CEO and chief financial officer for allegedly defrauding the company of millions of shares of stock, according to documents filed in the Nevada circuit of the U.S. District Court. The suit claims Richard Kipping, former VoIP-Pal CEO and current president of Locksmith Financial, and Terry Kwan, former CFO and current owner of TK Investments -- a shareholder of VoIP-Pal -- entered into a $1.5 million loan agreement between VoIP-Pal and Locksmith Financial but "did not authorize defendants to unilaterally issue stock to Locksmith in exchange for debt." The lawsuit also alleges both Kipping and Kwan issued several million shares of VoIP-Pal stock at a reduced price as payment for the loan, which VoIP-Pal claims in the suit had not been communicated to the company's board and was in violation of the loan agreement. According to the court filings of VoIP-Pal, the total value of the stock transactions as repayment for the loan totaled nearly $1.55 million. VoIP-Pal also accused Kipping and Kwan of initiating a $360,000 debt-to-stock conversion in which the company bought back 9,000,000 shares of stock, and then "caused that VoIP-Pal ... issue 36,000,000 shares of VoIP-Pal stock" -- which the company claims was worth $4.8 million at the time -- in exchange for the settlement of the $360,000 loan. VoIP-Pal, Locksmith Financial and TK Investments could not be reached for comment Friday.
Assigning TV stations to the duplex gap is unnecessary and will prevent wireless microphone or unlicensed uses there in some markets, NAB President Gordon Smith told FCC Commissioners Jessica Rosenworcel and Mignon Clyburn and aides to Commissioner Mike O’Rielly in meetings Monday, according to an ex parte filing. Smith also opposed the post-incentive auction band plan and market variability, the filing said. “The FCC should have learned its lesson from the fallout of the 700 MHz A block’s challenges due to its close proximity to TV channel 51. Instead, the Commission proposes to recreate those challenges, but on a much larger scale,” the filing said. The current draft procedures public notice also diminishes the effect of FCC negotiations with Canada and Mexico, the filing said. “In the event the Commission is able to conclude agreements with Canada and/or Mexico prior to the auction to reduce or eliminate foreign impairments, the Procedures PN would allow the Commission to replace these foreign impairments with new domestic impairments -- an unnecessary and unreasonable outcome,” NAB said.
The U.S. ranked No. 1 globally in 24 indices of leadership in the Internet ecosystem, according to more-detailed information that the Media Institute released Wednesday about its Net Vitality Index. The original report published in April and written by Stuart Brotman of Harvard Law School, lists the U.S. as one of the top five nations in the Internet ecosystem and provides extensive global rankings by country across 52 indices -- including the amount of top digital startups and highest-valued digital startups, access to information, top web browsers and investment in telecommunications. It ranked no lower than 13th in any measurement. South Korea, France, Japan and the United Kingdom were identified as the other four countries in the Internet ecosystem's leadership tier.
Retransmission consent costs have increased by $3 billion per year since FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler took office, said pay-TV company Mediacom CEO Rocco Commisso in a letter to Wheeler filed with the FCC Tuesday. That is a larger increase “than in any similar period since retransmission consent was created in 1992,” Commisso said. Mediacom also filed a petition Tuesday asking the FCC to adopt rules preventing local broadcasters from imposing blackouts unless the stations' signal is available for free over-the-air or via Internet streaming to 90 percent of the homes in the relevant market. “The reality is that millions of Americans cannot receive a quality off-air signal,” Commisso said in a news release. “Our new petition does nothing more than ask the FCC to ensure that broadcasters keep their part of the bargain and further the congressional goal of promoting universal availability of free broadcast television.” The American Television Alliance applauded the Mediacom filings in an emailed statement. “Mediacom's letter and FCC petition make a very strong case for the FCC to act to prevent consumers from being harmed by the broadcast industry's brass-knuckle tactics,” ATVA said. “It takes a lot of nerve on Mediacom's part to file such a self-serving petition to 'fix' retransmission consent without acknowledging its own legacy of abusive treatment of consumers.” said broadcaster advocates TV Freedom in an email. “Mediacom tied for dead last with ATVA member Time Warner Cable as the worst pay-TV company. So maybe Mediacom and ATVA should look in the mirror if they are truly concerned with the plight of consumers,” TV Freedom said.
Comments and data on the 17th FCC video competition report are due Aug. 21, replies Sept. 21, the Media Bureau said Thursday in a public notice in docket 15-158. The 17th report will focus on 2014, and as with past reports will look at how the industry is aligned with such FCC goals as increased competition and diversity in multichannel video programming distribution, increased availability of satellite delivered programming and more development of communications technologies.
Pandora completed an acquisition of analytics provider Next Big Sound to "augment" its Artist Marketing Platform, it said in a news release Wednesday. The deal, terms of which weren't disclosed, was announced in May (see 1505190034).
CBS-owned TV stations, CBS Network, the Smithsonian Channel and Showtime will remain on AT&T U-verse, which signed a new carriage agreement with the broadcaster, CBS said in a Wednesday news release. CBS' rebranded TV Guide Network, Pop, also will be carried on U-verse, CBS said.