The Wireless Broadband Alliance said WBA will “take an active role” in encouraging community Wi-Fi network development, including hosting community Wi-Fi interoperability trials. WBA released a white paper Thursday in collaboration with Comcast, Cox Communications, Time Warner Cable and 20 other major companies that discusses key challenges community Wi-Fi faces and benefits of deployment. The white paper includes multiple case studies of services like Comcast’s XFinity Wi-Fi service. WBA said it will submit the white paper to other industry groups for further review. WBA also plans to generate network management and device behavior specifications, as well as launch a community Wi-Fi compliancy program for devices and access points (http://bit.ly/1rgmTik).
Orbitcom and SES expanded a partnership to include the delivery of a satellite broadband service in Germany. Astra Connect “uses a single antenna to provide an entire community with a satellite broadband connection, which is then distributed via a local network infrastructure,” SES said Thursday in a news release (http://bit.ly/1uKgpWH). Users served by the networks will be able to browse the different packages offered online “and then place orders through a dedicated website and webshop set up by Orbitcom,” it said. The ISP also will be responsible for the delivery of the equipment and customer support, SES said.
The “primary,” and for most end users, the “sole function” of broadband is precisely how telecom service is defined in the Communications Act -- “’the transmission, between or among points specified by the user, of information of the user’s choosing, without change in the form or content of the information as sent and received,'” said a NASUCA net neutrality reply (http://bit.ly/1n1jdjK) posted Thursday in docket 14-28. Therefore, net neutrality rules should be based on Title II authority, the organization said in the Sept. 15 reply.
Nearly nine of 10 millennials say their smartphone never leaves their side, while six of 10 predict that within five years, it will be the only device they'll need for everything from banking to enrolling in classes. So said the results released Thursday (http://bit.ly/1n20yo6) of a Zogby Analytics survey of 1,000 millennials commissioned by Mitek, a supplier of mobile imaging technology for banking and other business applications. The survey found that the “mobile habits of this important demographic extend beyond just apps, to also include widespread use of the camera on their mobile devices,” and that this trend will “only continue to grow as the smartphone camera evolves,” Mitek said. Of those canvassed, 37 percent said they've made a decision on where to bank or spend money “based on what the organization allowed users to accomplish with a mobile device,” it said. Forty-eight percent said they wish they could do more banking with a snapshot, while 41 percent would like more mobile imaging in retail, 35 percent would like more in insurance and 34 percent would like the credit card industry to adopt more uses for the camera, it said. One in every three expressed the wish “that nearly every industry would adopt more mobile imaging functionality, so they would be able to enter information by snapping a picture,” it said.
Insteon said it added voice interaction to its home automation platform via an update to the Insteon app for Windows Phone 8.1 (http://bit.ly/1stZ1sy). Support for Cortana, Microsoft’s personal digital assistant, lets consumers control and monitor smart home products via voice commands, a “major development in the evolution of the home automation industry,” Steven Guggenheimer, Microsoft corporate vice president, said Thursday. Adding Cortana support to Insteon products enables users to turn on and dim lights, lock and unlock doors, and open a garage door by voice while inside or outside the home. Users also can activate scenes by saying, for instance, “Insteon, leaving the house,” which could set in motion a series of events such as turning off lights, setting a thermostat to a lower temperature and locking doors, Insteon said. Other features of the app include Visitor Mode, which restricts access to the system by children or guests; enhanced camera support for multiple, simultaneous camera views; multi-house support to control a second home or business; and a dashboard that provides a view of a home’s status, it said.
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.
Those who oppose intellectual property rules in free trade agreements (FTAs) mostly base their rejection on a fundamental opposition to IP rights protections, rather than to the particulars of trade deals, wrote Tom Giovanetti, president of the Institute for Policy Innovation, on the group’s website this month (http://bit.ly/1v3RKyE). Exports from within the IP industries, including copyright, make up the largest slice of U.S. shipments abroad, and IP rules in FTAs are critical in keeping U.S. dominance in those sectors, Giovanetti said. “Listening to the rhetoric of IP skeptics in the blogosphere and social media, one would think that the IP industries are an insignificant part of our economy, and that the only reason IP is included in trade agreements is due to the IP industries’ lobbying efforts and their influence with the federal government and the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative.” Cato Institute trade analyst Simon Lester challenged Giovanetti to specify the details of his preferences for IP rights in FTAs. “If you treat intellectual property as a single concept, and you can either have more or less protection of it, it would be reasonable to conclude that some countries have too little protection and probably need more. But intellectual property covers a lot of ground,” Lester said in a Friday post on Cato’s site (http://bit.ly/1reFeMI). “Otherwise I'm just going to assume you want stronger IP protection of any and all kinds and would go along with the European Union demand that Feta cheese can only be made in Greece."
Data broker Experian revealed a technology that links data to provide a “real-time single customer view,” to reduce issues involving digital data quality and accuracy, it said in a news release (http://bit.ly/1BbGMY5). The new technology “allows organizations to increase the precision, authenticity and sophistication of their marketing campaigns across channels and devices,” Experian said. The feature will help companies move toward the desired one-to-one marketing strategy, the company said Wednesday. Rick Erwin, president-consumer insights and targeting for Experian Marketing Services, called it a “common denominator” and “persistent link” across “all channels."
The House Commerce Committee received 50 responses to its white paper on USF policy, the committee revealed Thursday, posting all comments online (http://1.usa.gov/1lBg6gN). It had issued the white paper in August as part of the Communications Subcommittee initiative to overhaul the Communications Act, and responses were due Sept. 19. It was the fifth white paper on aspects of the overhaul issued this year. Respondents include major companies such as AT&T and Verizon as well as state groups like NARUC and NASUCA and the tech company Microsoft, which has responded to every white paper so far. Other commenters include the Nebraska Public Service Commission, the Oregon Telecom Association and the Telecommunications Association of Maine. “We urge Congress to encourage the FCC to create an inclusive environment where all eligible providers have an opportunity to compete for support with the goal of closing the gap between broadband available in urban and rural areas,” the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association told House lawmakers. Microsoft lauded the shift in focusing USF on broadband and encouraged Congress to “continue to afford the FCC with authority and flexibility to reform the mechanism for contributing to the universal service fund, as needed.” The Alaska Communications System noted that “contrary to the prevailing view in Washington,” it “has never considered the USF system as ‘broken,'” but said it’s “vital to include safeguards that ensure that available funding is used efficiently.”
Ninety-four percent of 808 “unique” critically acclaimed or high-grossing films were available through at least one online VOD service in the U.S., said an NBCUniversal-commissioned report by KPMG released Thursday (http://bit.ly/1CnwiY5). The report analyzed the availability of 808 critically acclaimed and/or high box office grossing films, 60 independent films and 724 TV shows among 34 online VOD services, like Hulu and Netflix, it said. The data was compiled in December, it said. Eighty-one percent of the top films were available on at least 10 of the 34 VOD services, it said. Ninety-six percent of the 100 most popular TV shows in 2012 were available on at least one VOD service, it said. The growth of VOD services “reinforces and encourages the creativity and hard work of the men and women behind the scenes of the film and television industry,” MPAA CEO Chris Dodd said, in a separate news release Thursday (http://bit.ly/1ysEqbf).