Why is a software company like Google stringing cable in Kansas City for its Google Fiber initiative? Its Google Fiber announcement opens a lot of questions about where the company is going. But the details are interesting to anyone committed to seeing a high-speed broadband future for America: The initiative will deliver1 gigabit of Internet speed [...]
It’s not the crime, it’s the coverup. You’d think most people would have learned that lesson of Watergate, but Friday’s decision by the Federal Communication Commission to fine Google $25,000 for “willfully” ignoring subpoenas and delaying investigations into the company’s “wi-spy” scandal should be a 25-page wake-up call that Google is accelerating its legal meltdown. [...]
Now, Google is hardly alone in abusing patents, but a German high court’s ruling against Motorola shows that Google is just adding to the list of its monopoly abuses by playing the patent abuser game. The ruling stemmed from Google demanding that companies either pay an absurdly high patent license fee — in this case [...]
AT&T is discussing the possibility of letting app creators pay to let wireless users bypass data caps when using particular app services. De facto, app makers could use payments from users — or revenues from ads generated by those users — to cover the data costs. Groups like Public Knowledge are complaining about the possible [...]
Following a vote by Brooklyn Cablevision workers voting to form a union, about 120 workers at a Cablevision contractor in the Bronx walked off the job in a wildcat strike last Thursday. The vote by 282 technicians and dispatchers working for Cablevision in Brooklyn is the first time workers at the cable company have successfully [...]
In launching ts iBooks Author program for creating interactive textbooks and other books, Apple has also created what Ed Bott at ZDNet calls “Apple’s mind-bogglingly greedy and evil license agreement.” How bad is it? Well, any book created by the software can be sold by Apple– and only by Apple. It’s like a company buying [...]
It’s kind of bizarre. Google reports it made $10.58 billion in the fourth quarter of 2011– a 25% increase from a year earlier — and analysts freak out and the share price plunges. 25% growth is pretty damn large for any company, especially one that it already a multi-billion a year giant, so it raises [...]
The federal government, including Congress, have done a moderately decent job of opening up government information to the public, but the House seems poised to take the important step of making more raw data available for third party developers to highlight key aspects of Congressional operations: House Leaders from both parties agreed on the need [...]
When it turned out software created by Carrier IQ was spying on customers and sending that information to wireless carriers, there was broad outrage by news and blog sites across the Internet. Now, three top lawmakers have called for Congressional hearings on the data transmission actions of Carrier IQ and similar products. (See the open letter [...]
Amazon has come out strongly for a federal law allowing states to require online retailers to collect sales taxes, as long as all web retailers are covered by the tax. Ten U.S. Senators have introduced the bill, including Republicans Michael Enzi (R., Wyo.) and Lamar Alexander (R., Tenn.): Thanks to modern technology, “widespread collection no [...]
