Technology Futures

Apple released its quarterly earnings statement, and some analysts have noted that its market cap has surpassed that of IBM. Market cap is calculated from the stock price, and Apple has left computer rival Dell in the dust; Dell is barely one third the value of Apple right now. Dell's founder, Michael Dell, is famous for stating a decade ago that Apple had no future and should be just shut down.

Pundit Bruce Nussbaum writes about a report by analyst Bill Tancer that suggests most of us are using the 'net as a kind of glorified TV, meaning we sit and watch. Only a small percentage of 'net users are actively participating in online "social networking" sites and an even smaller number is actually creating content and posting it.

This news report suggests that some cable companies are actively blocking certain kinds of traffic on their networks. The target of such blocking is peer to peer file sharing, in which the subscribers are often sharing very large files like movies and TV shows. From a network operator perspective, what you see is a very small number of your customers using a disproportionately large chunk of your network bandwidth, which can degrade service for other customers and increase costs.

There are no technology problems when it comes to community broadband. In my work with hundreds of communities, success usually comes down to the kind of leaders that a community has, well, leading. Ed Batista has a great set of resources for leaders, and it is a short list of annotated references, not a two hundred item laundry list. Well worth a look.

I have an American Express business card, and got an email to take part in an online survey. I spent ten minutes or so answering questions about my satisfaction with the company. Many of the questions were related to promotional offers and other solicitations the company sends out. Fine so far.

Morning keynote speaker Rex Nelson, who is the alternate Federal Co-chair of the Delta Regional Authority, delivered a lively, tough love talk this morning at the 10th Annual Rural Telecommunications Congress. Nelson said that too many rural communities have economic development programs that are "stuck in the fifties and sixties," with strategies that amount to little more than trying to sell "pastures....with water and sewer."

Internet access providers in the UK are being challenged on their broadband speeds, which their customers claim are not as advertised. An independent study showed that 62% of customers were getting less than half the advertised bandwidth that their provider had promised.

It must have been a slow news day yesterday. During a long drive, I heard a news story on the radio at least ten times. It was about a new capability added to GM cars and trucks equipped with Onstar. The vehicle can now be turned off remotely. The news story was all about what a boon this was going to be to law enforcement officials, who could request that the friendly Onstar person turn off the engine in a car being chased by the police.

If you have worried about having some alternative source of power during power outages but don't want to keep a gas-powered generator around, this new human-powered generator from Freeplay may be just the thing.

It is a bit of a stretch to call this gadget a "robot," but since it comes from the iRobot folks, who pioneered the robot vacuum cleaner, it is hardly surprising. I don't think this gutter cleaning "robot" has much more intelligence than a remote control toy, but it is still a pretty good idea.

The Northwest region of Pennsylvania has started a great blog on broadband. And some folks in Roanoke, Virginia have started a terrific blog on news and issues of interest to business people in the area.

Efforts like these move a community up in the rankings of search engines, help promote and support local economic development initiatives, and project a "modern" image to the rest of the world, where there are always businesses and entrepreneurs looking for a great place to relocate.

Fights over WiMax spectrum are slowing deployment of WiMax. The FCC, which manages the WiMax spectrum, has been renewing the existing spectrum, called EBS (Educational Broadband Services). The problem is that the EBS spectrum licenses, in many cases, belong to local educational institutions. Sprint wants to build a national WiMax network and thinks that the FCC should require the schools not using the spectrum to give it up.

A 1998 ban on taxing services provided over the Internet is due to expire next month. Congress has three options: make the tax ban permanent, extend the ban for several more years, or start raking in a whole new source of cash.

If Congress decides to tax Internet access, everyone's access provider bills (dial up, DSL, cable modem, wireless, Blacksberry, etc.) could jump as much as fifteen to twenty percent.

BoingBoing has a short article about a dumb crook that stole an iMac. What the crook has not realized is that the computer, which has a built in camera, is running a little program called Flickrbooth, which automatically takes pictures and uploads them to a Flickr photo account.

A new manufacturing process for creating solar panels at half the cost of the old way of making them is about to come online in a new plant in Colorado. Developed by a Colorado State engineering professor and perfected over sixteen years of study, the new low cost solar electricity option could open many more opportunities to use solar power to replace fossil fuels.

A lot of companies are frustrated at Apple's domination of the portable music and video market via the popular iPod, which has about 80% of the market for such devices. NBC recently announced it is pulling its TV programs from the iTunes store, and now Universal is going to distribute its music catalogue via SpiralFrog, which will compete directly with the iTunes store.

Roanoke
In a great example of collaboration, a wide range of economic development groups and two local governments are sponsoring a workshop on starting a business or expanding an existing business. Part of a series of entrepreneur workshops being held around southwest Virginia, the October 5th workshop includes advice and materials from local, state, and national resources, a panel discussion led by successful entrepreneurs, and personalized break out sessions.

Even as some municipal wireless projects are falling apart, many other communities are still pursuing the risky "direct to vendor" approach. Instead of identifying broader community goals and needs first and then selecting systems and technology that support those goals, community leaders are going straight to a vendor and letting the vendor specify what the community should buy.

Here at the office, I've been downloading a single file since 10 AM this morning. I'm writing this article at 5:30 PM. The file is not particularly large; it is six gigabytes, or about the size of one DVD. And the Design Nine offices are on a substantial network that supplies the entire business park. Trying to get this file on a DSL or cable connection would be even more painful.

USA Today's front page article on long commutes could be good news for smaller towns and cities that are focused on enhancing quality of life. Commutes in big cities are now beginning at 5 AM so that commuters can reduce the amount of time spent on the road.