government

Telcos, as sick as railroads?

The Wall Street Journal has a page one story (subscription required) on the trials faced by the big local phone companies, which are seeing their core business lost to Internet voice services, cell phones, and other rivals. The big local phone companies have lost 18 percent of their lines to rivals since the end of 2000, the article says.

Nor is technology such as DSL necessarily their salvation. The reporters cite the post-World War II railroad business, which threw money at new tracks and trains, only to see its passenger traffic evaporate in favor of airlines and automobiles.

It's … Read more

Twilight Zone of the Apes

Somebody's gone and made a high-quality re-edit of the original Planet of the Apes as if it were a Twilight Zone episode. Yes, Virginia, there are video mash-ups. Somebody else got tired of waiting for the download, and put it on BitTorrent. Boing Boing has the link.

Legal? Don't ask me, I'm not a lawyer. Record companies have spent money on trying to keep music mash-ups ?? such as the "Grey Album" mix of Jay-Z's "Black Album" and The Beatles' "White Album" ?? offline. If you're interested, I'd watch this … Read more

Justice Dept.: Let RIAA do its work

At least one top U.S. Department of Justice official isn't crazy about a proposed law that would let federal prosecutors target online copyright infringers with civil lawsuits. "There's something to be said for those who help themselves," Assistant Attorney General for Antitrust Hewitt Pate said at a conference in Aspen Tuesday.

The Recording Industry Association of America has backed the idea of federal civil prosecutions as a way to cut down on file swapping. The idea is contained in the Pirate Act, short for Protecting Intellectual Rights Against Theft and Expropriation Act of 2004, which … Read more

Optical networking comeback in the works?

Since the telecommunications bubble burst, "optical" has become a dirty word in the networking world. But that could be changing, as researchers from Internet2 and the National LambdaRail start developing optical technology to exponentially increase capacity on the Internet.

LambdaRail, a consortium of universities, research institutions and private industry, has been quietly buying long stretches of fiber from carriers across the country at bargain basement prices. The organization is building the first nationwide fiber backbone owned by the research community.

Cisco Systems has donated all the optical gear used in the LambdaRail network. And Internet2 is using fiber … Read more

TV via Microsoft: Swiss have it; should we?

Microsoft and Swiss telecommunications company Swisscom are starting a trial, offering TV service over DSL lines, according to Reuters. It only takes 1.2 megabits per second to 1.4mbps to provide a good signal, the companies say--well within the range offered by most DSL providers in the United States today--but a little more than what most customers get in Europe.

Microsoft is also testing the service with Bell Canada, and SBC Communications has said it will try out the technology. It's part of telephone companies' long-standing (and as yet unsuccessful) drive to match cable companies' range of ordinary … Read more

Power lines, today's broadband hype

PC World has a story saying broadband over power lines is gaining steam, and cites some promising projects. That's all true, but it'll be a long, long time before it can provide real competition to the local phone and cable giants.

We asked AT&T CEO Dave Dorman on Friday what he thought about alternative broadband pipes, since Ma Bell is pretty squarely locked out of DSL these days. Power lines are interesting, but they're run by big monopoly utilities themselves, he said. Think of the local phone companies, but back when they were doing their … Read more

FCC chairman: Telecom rules are broken

FCC Chairman Michael Powell is blunt in assessing telecommunications and broadband laws these days. They're kaput, he says. Finished. Yesterday's mayonnaise. The existing system is "dated--it does not match reality anymore," he said at a conference in Aspen, Colo. today.

This is pretty much conventional wisdom these days. The 1996 Telecommunications Act was aimed at boosting local phone competition, while allowing the Baby Bells into long distance. The Bells have fought the rules forcing their monopolies open at every step of the way, and have largely won. But they've gotten into the long distance business … Read more

iFilm takes Acacia streaming media license

IFilm is one of the most prominent Internet companies to sign a deal with Acacia Research, the company that says it owns patent rights to on-demand streaming media. Acacia announced the deal today.

Acacia is seeking royalties from virtually every operation--cable TV, Internet, satellite, hotel in-room movies--that streams audio or video in any way. Disney's signed, along with a host of others. Acacia isn't asking for much, and most companies appear to think that agreeing to pay is cheaper than fighting a patent lawsuit. The company only reported $666,000 of revenue on the patent licenses last quarter, … Read more

Microsoft's music store coming this week?

The San Jose Mercury News says MSN's music store may appear this week (registration required). This is the online store that Microsoft is launching to compete with iTunes. It will probably be part of the company's newest Media Player software--but if so, that might also trigger some competitive concerns. As long as they continue providing links to Napster and others in the software, it will probably pass legal muster, though.

The company scheduled, and then canceled, a big digital media event for reporters next week. Gates was even rumored to be attending. Supposedly too many people had conflicting … Read more