« December 11, 2007 | Main | December 13, 2007 »
Apple in 2008
December 12, 2007
It looks as if Apple will release a new iPhone with more memory next year as well as an iPhone which works on 3G networks. I have covered the 3G network news before as you may recall. In general, laptops and computers will be upgraded and the company seems to expect virtually all product lines to exceed expectations. Check out this article from AppleInsider for more.
Link this |
Email this |
Leave comment
Trackback URL: Apple in 2008
Technorati
Del.icio.us
BoingBoing
Slashdot
Digg
Spurl
Furl
Net Neutrality 2.0
December 12, 2007
Should service providers be allowed to alter your web pages? The issue came up yet again when Toronto-based Rogers decided to insert messages containing sales messages in web pages they display on their customer’s browsers.
"We are concerned about these reports," Google said in an emailed statement to the Toronto Star.
"As a general principle, we believe that maintaining the Internet as a neutral platform means that carriers shouldn't be able to interfere with Web content without users' permission," the Google statement said. "We are in the process of contacting the relevant parties to bring this to a quick resolution."
Without a doubt, this is the sort of issue that begs for politicians to ensure there is network neutrality.
If service providers are allowed to display messages in web browsers, there are virtually unlimited things they can do to destroy other businesses. They could for example only show messages on Google search pages thereby giving users the incentive to switch search engines.
They could reformat pages in such a way that they look unattractive. An example is this graphic which shows Google’s home page adorned with an ugly message that has to be a turnoff to users.
This sort of activity by service providers is obviously one of the reasons that Google is bidding on 700 MHz spectrum and is further at odds with service providers.
One has to wonder if Google has to purchase spectrum and fiber in every country to ensure they can get their services to customers without interference.
And perhaps this is the most important point of all.
If the practice of altering web pages is not halted, a serious question needs to be raised. Can you start a successful internet business without interference from the service providers who you rely on to get your pages and other content to customers?
While a single uninvited message displayed by Rogers on web pages is not an issue to worry about yet, it can easily lead to disruption of web pages at the discretion of service providers.
Although I generally shy away from discussing religion and politics in this blog, imagine a service provider blocking web pages discussing religions that company heads do not approve of. Imagine a service provider looking to boost the chances of Democrats by blocking Republican websites.
Perhaps block is a strong word. What if they just slowed the sites so they were unusable? What if they displayed ugly messages at the top of them to discourage visiting of these sites?
These are very serious issues and as time goes on, service providers will feel more emboldened if there is not strong language coming from the US and the UN that blocking internet access will not be tolerated.
I realize this has serious repercussions for other countries – especially those with governments that currently block access to some sites but it seems to, me unfettered internet access is a right all human beings should have. The general news stations, sites and newspapers spends countless hours covering celebrities, sports figures and other topics which pale in comparison to the importance of this issue. Wouldn’t it be great if one or more of these networks devoted serious airtime to ensure Internet access remains available to all without interference from governments or service providers?
Perhaps we need a sexy moniker to get the news organizations all excited. If this is what it takes, let’s call this latest threat Net Neutrality 2.0.
Link this |
Email this |
Leave comment
Trackback URL: Net Neutrality 2.0
Technorati
Del.icio.us
BoingBoing
Slashdot
Digg
Spurl
Furl
What Toshiba is Doing Right
December 12, 2007
Wow! A while back I commented that Toshiba’s products were not very well known in the telecom space. This is an excerpt from that blog entry:
My point is the company is well-known in computing but virtually unknown in communications. What if they installed soft client telephony applications on all their computers and devices? And in addition what if these devices worked with a Toshiba-powered hosted communications system? Companies could pay for premium services and over time migrate to CPE Toshiba equipment that worked with the same software already on the devices.Of course this is just a thought but it is a great way to use a strong brand in computing to bolster a lesser known product line. I certainly can’t see this strategy hurting the company in any way and they have much to gain if it is successful.
Yesterday I was researching the Toshiba battery breakthrough known as SCiB and when I went to the Toshiba home page and there was a Flash graphic at the top that cycled through many of the Toshiba products. Guess what… The primary focus of these graphics was telecom.
It was basically, VoIP, VoIP, VoIP. Amazing. This is very encouraging and I have no idea if this Flash animation is new – in response to my comments or has been there for months. All I can say is that this is a fantastic way to generate awareness for Toshiba’s telecom systems.
By the way, Toshiba gets a tremendous amount of web traffic. In the US alone, Quantcast pegs their monthly unique visitors at 795,584. Alexa ranks the site in the top 4,667 in the world.
I have to give the company high marks for utilizing a strong asset – their very popular website, to generate much more awareness for the company’s telecom systems.
Although this move isn’t what I suggested it is in the same spirit. The company IS leveraging its very strong IT product portfolio via its website to promote its telecom systems. Smart move.
Link this |
Email this |
Leave comment
Trackback URL: What Toshiba is Doing Right
Technorati
Del.icio.us
BoingBoing
Slashdot
Digg
Spurl
Furl
SCiB Battery Breakthrough
December 12, 2007
The biggest problem with mobile devices has been -- and for the foreseeable future -- will be the fact that battery technology is not advancing fast enough to keep up with the power needs of today’s mobile devices. Battery breakthrough is something technology enthusiasts dream about but rarely get.This may have changed as Toshiba has announced a new technology called SCiB or Super Charge ion Battery. And the great news for battery enthusiasts (do people really fit such a moniker?) is that there are two breakthroughs here.
The first is that in five minutes the battery charges to 90%. This is huge for mobile users and car drivers as they can rapidly charge their devices.
The second breakthrough is battery life which the company says is ten-years under rapid charging stress.
The technology is also environmentally friendly as it will make it possible to have more flexible battery-operated vehicles and the batteries will last so much longer.
It seems impossible that battery technology could have improved this dramatically but according to Toshiba, you don’t need to pinch yourself. Generally when we get such good news there is a downside.
As many of us recall – whoops, poor choice of words, Sony’s batteries used in many laptops caused explosions. Toshiba says their SCiB technology is safer of course.
But one wonders what the drawbacks to this new technology are. Will the defect rate be high? Will there be health problems associated with it?
I am not trying to be an alarmist but it just seems the new Toshiba battery technology is too good to be true. I just can’t wait to see it in my next laptop, cell phone and car. I wonder how long it will be before this happens.
I hope Toshiba decides to send me one of these batteries soon to try out in my laptop and if it works as advertised I am sure many people will begin to think SCiB stands for “Seems Cool, I Believe”
Link this |
Email this |
Leave comment
Trackback URL: SCiB Battery Breakthrough
Technorati
Del.icio.us
BoingBoing
Slashdot
Digg
Spurl
Furl
