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Month: January 2016

Snow, the Internet and All That

Snow, the Internet and All That

There was just a near-record blizzard here in New York City - for the record, we happen to love snow (maybe not quite as much as this guy) - so we decided to have a bit of fun with snow – and snow jobs.

Net Neutrality. We won! Or so they say. We’ve said it before and for those who didn’t hear the first few times – careful before you do a victory lap and in case you missed it, FCC accused of power grab on broadband According to the article, 'The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) will vote next week on an annual report about the state of high-speed Internet deployment around the country. A proposed draft of the congressionally mandated report finds that advanced telecommunications capability isn’t being deployed in a “reasonable and timely fashion” to all Americans. According to a fact sheet released by the agency, 34 million Americans do not have access to wired internet service that meets the FCC’s definition of broadband — download speeds of 25 Mbps and upload speeds of 3 Mbps…Critics say the report isn’t just a compendium of statistics, but a way for the FCC to expand its authority and place arbitrary standards on Internet service providers.” In fact, the standards are so arbitrary that the FCC hasn't even defined what constitutes 'broadband.' (The agency has now included wireless in their broadband definition, without defining speeds.) We’ve already witnessed how government has gutted out privacy. Heaven (and the FCC) knows what's next.

The Kool-Aid Hangover

The Kool-Aid Hangover

New years typically kick off with What to Watch lists, People to Watch lists and the like, and 2016 is certainly no exception, especially considering that the Consumer Electronics Show kicks off each year with a slew of new gadgets and gear and predictions/observations (The companies that rule mobile are taking over the smart home, too). But the mood is markedly different in these early days of this new year: the party’s over, and we’re not talking New Year’s Eve. As Ari Levy (CNBC, Silicon Valley's cash party is coming to an end) put it most succinctly, “2016 is shaping up to be a year of reckoning for scores of technology start-ups that have yet to prove out their business models and equally challenging for those that raised money at unjustifiably high prices.”

Winner Takes All: The Rise of the Platform

Winner Takes All: The Rise of the Platform

Imagine almost anything, and chances are, there’s an app for that. Apple announced not all that long ago that for Apple TV, the future was in apps. Considering that apps have been a major focus in tech for the past few years, not surprising and not exactly a groundbreaking announcement, but then, Apple hasn’t exactly had its most stellar year (This has been the worst year for Apple shares since 2008), but apps were built for platforms, so it was only a matter of time and a good move on Apple's part.