Pioneer said its lineup of 2014 CarPlay-compatible in-dash multimedia receivers will have access to Apple’s CarPlay platform via a free firmware update. Consumers with the iPhone 6 Plus, iPhone 6, iPhone 5s, iPhone 5c and iPhone 5 can use the Siri “personal assistant” to make and receive calls, compose and respond to text messages, use Apple Maps for navigation, and listen to their music libraries and iTunes Radio, Pioneer said Thursday. Ted Cardenas, vice president-marketing for Pioneer’s car electronics division, said CarPlay improves the iPhone experience while driving by “by providing a safer way to access the iPhone features.” In another announcement, Pioneer said its gen-four AppRadio touchscreen receiver will begin shipping Thursday to Pioneer dealers including Best Buy, Car Toys and Crutchfield. The CarPlay-compatible AppRadio 4 SPH-DA120 ($600) lets consumers use cloud and device-sourced content from the iPhone 5 and later Apple smartphones, Android smartphones and MirrorLink-enabled smartphones, Pioneer said. AppRadio 4 adds “feature-enhanced” smartphone control, voice control for Siri Eyes Free and Google Voice Recognition, Bluetooth hands-free calling and audio streaming, and a new graphical user interface, Pioneer said. AppRadio 4’s design uses minimal physical buttons on the left side of the screen for quick access by drivers, Pioneer said. Most functions -- including the app interface, music control/playback, AM/FM radio and Bluetooth connection -- are operated through the 6.2-inch WVGA capacitive touch screen, the company said.
The FCC unlicensed devices rulemaking notice approved by the agency Tuesday asks questions about how to improve white spaces databases, as well as dozens of other often highly technical questions. The FCC posted the notice, which runs 87 pages without commissioner statements, Wednesday (http://bit.ly/1vxJFBU). The NPRM says the FCC is examining whether it should allow white spaces devices to operate in the whites spaces that remain in a larger part of the broadcast band than is now permitted. “We believe that it is appropriate to revisit the Commission’s previous decisions to prohibit personal/portable device operation on channels 14-20 and below channel 14,” the FCC said. “Since the time the Commission made these decisions, it has designated multiple TV bands database administrators and has had extensive experience working with their databases.” Comments are due 45 days after publication in the Federal Register, replies 20 days later. The size of guard bands and the duplex gap will depend on how much spectrum is recovered in the auction, the agency said. The guard band between wireless downlink services and TV spectrum could be 7, 9 or 11 MHz wide, the notice said: “The duplex gap will be 11 megahertz wide under all spectrum recovery scenarios, but its frequency location will depend on the amount of spectrum recovered."
The FCC is “actively working on initiatives” in line with recommendations in a GAO report on how the agency should improve the accountability and transparency of its high-cost program funding, Chairman Tom Wheeler told members of Congress from both chambers and parties in a Sept. 19 letter the agency released this week. The GAO report advised the agency to show “how high-cost funds are being used to improve broadband availability, service quality and capacity, and by conducting analyses of carrier data and publicly reporting this information annually in a granular and accessible manner,” Wheeler said (http://bit.ly/1ue8raJ). “We agree with the GAO’s findings and its recommendation,” he said, having “carefully reviewed” the report. “Specifically, based on the GAO’s recommendation, we are working to quantify where recipients have used high-cost funds to increase broadband deployment, penetration, and available speeds.”
FCC staffers are “actively reviewing” the meaning of the term “not-for-profit hospital,” which appears in the Communications Act, Chairman Tom Wheeler told multiple lawmakers in a Sept. 19 letter (http://bit.ly/1E18CdH). Agency officials will “seek to reach a determination in as expeditious a manner as possible,” he said. The meaning of the term came into question as the FCC seeks to implement its Healthcare Connect Fund.
House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers, R-Mich., is continuing to work with Senate Intelligence Committee Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., to deal with “political tantrums” over the House-passed Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA) and the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act (CISA), he said during an event Wednesday. Experts consider CISPA (HR-624) and CISA (S-2588) relatively analogous, though CISA’s proponents say it has better privacy protections than CISPA. Critics of CISA argue those privacy protections are insufficient (WID July 30 p3). “Tantrums” over CISA threaten to result in “holds and other things” in the Senate that could kill the bill’s prospects for the rest of the 113th Congress, Rogers said during a Washington Post event. Rogers said he fears if the Senate isn’t able to pass CISA during the post-election lame-duck session, the legislative process “all starts over.” Rogers and Senate Intelligence Vice Chairman Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga., are retiring at the end of the 113th Congress, adding to future problems for cybersecurity information sharing legislation, Rogers said. There aren’t any holds on CISA because the bill “hasn’t been hotlined,” a committee aide told us. Senate Intelligence hopes to address all potential issues before it’s hotlined “to allow it to be passed,” the aide said.
Third place behind Apple and Samsung in the tablet wars is “up for grabs” among Amazon, Asus, Lenovo and other emerging vendors, ABI Research said Wednesday (http://bit.ly/10lBnlY). Lenovo in particular “is working to gain ground in the market,” and in 2019 is expected to ship 21 million tablets, or 7.3 percent of the global market, ABI said. This “would land it solidly in third place,” it said. Lenovo remains the world’s biggest PC supplier, but now sells more smartphones and tablets than it does PCs, and is the world’s third-largest tablet supplier, Lenovo itself said in the runup to the IFA show last month in Berlin. During 2013, the tablet market “exploded with new devices overwhelming consumers,” ABI said. “Leading tablet vendors quickly dominated the market, but are now feeling the squeeze and quickly losing market share control,” creating a “stall” in more advanced and mature markets like North America and Western Europe, it said. “This stall is giving other vendors the opportunity to close the prominent gap and claim third place. The dent emerging vendors are creating in the market is impressive, but continuing that success is going to be the real challenge.”
Georgia Tech is the first university to integrate bitcoin payments for stadium concession sales, student dining and the school’s shopping credit system via BitPay, said a BitPay news release Wednesday (http://bit.ly/1yzbI8w). BitPay has partnered with Greenpeace (WID Sept 23 p10), electronics e-retailer Newegg (WID July 2 p14), Warner Bros. Records (WID June 12 p16) and others. BitPay raised $30 million in May (WID May 14 p14).
Rep. Tony Cardenas, D-Calif., has continued to weigh potential problems with Comcast’s proposed acquisition of Time Warner Cable. He met with members of the Writers Guild of America, West for an informal briefing at the Capitol Tuesday that included Alfredo Barrios, known for his work on the TV show Burn Notice, and Patric Verrone, a past guild president. Cardenas is concerned about “the potential for both vertical and horizontal integration issues surrounding the potential Comcast-Time Warner merger, and how those could lead to both media consolidation and a shortage of independent voices in front of the camera, along with fewer job and growth opportunities in production and other trades,” his spokesman told us. The spokesman said the briefing’s key takeaway was the Guild’s objection to Comcast/TWC due to creation of “more homogenized programs, with far fewer opportunities for diverse, unique voices to be heard.” Cardenas signed a letter to the heads of Comcast and Time Warner Cable this summer expressing concerns. In September, Cardenas and members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus met with independent producers to discuss the transaction. Comcast has defended the proposed acquisition as ultimately good for consumers.
The FTC will now accept public comments on its recent big data workshop (WID Sept 16 p1) until Oct. 31, it said in a Wednesday news release (http://1.usa.gov/1vuVTu0). Instructions for filing comments are on the workshop’s Web page (http://1.usa.gov/1qVOLlS).
AgeCheq’s verifiable parental consent (VPC) method application “is in fact a business plan for a parental consent management intermediary,” said FTC-approved safe harbor Privacy Vaults Online (PRIVO) in comments filed Tuesday night to the FTC. Comments were due Tuesday on AgeCheq’s application, which proposes a central database from which parents can control their children’s access to various apps across devices (WID Oct 1 p1). Products like AgeCheq is proposing may have “great public benefit,” and the FTC has encouraged their development, but they are not appropriate for a VPC method application, PRIVO said. All forms of verification AgeCheq presents are already well-established under the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), PRIVO said. “The FTC’s processes should not be used to approve the specific business plan or proprietary products of specific companies,” said PRIVO. “Doing so could lead to confusion among developers that they must use a service or product that is listed in the FTC’s rules or they will be at risk of noncompliance.” PRIVO argued the product presented also falls short of COPPA’s requirements. The age-gate’s language would be “very alarming to a child,” and encourage underage users to lie, PRIVO said. Parents are also given an “all or nothing” approach to consent for data collection. “The mere use of the service does not make its customers COPPA-compliant,” PRIVO said.