Some VoIP companies are looking to broadband stimulus funds to boost deployment and market expansion, experts said.
FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski plans to put substantial emphasis on process, ensuring that the commission’s work is done through the its bureaus and offices, staffed by longtime experts. That emphasis, industry and commission officials said, marks a major change from the Kevin Martin FCC, in which power was concentrated in the chairman’s office. An immediate result, commission officials acknowledged, is that the FCC probably won’t make major policy calls in August.
STOCKHOLM -- The Internet Engineering Task Force has not provided methods within the Internet architecture for ISPs to keep network costs in line with subscription revenue, said Mark Handley, professor of networked systems at the University College of London, during a panel at the IETF meeting. The task force is partly to blame for the resulting net-neutrality controversy, said Handley, a member of its Routing Area Directorate who formerly served on the task force’s Internet Architecture Board. The lead standardization body for IP standards for the first time discussed how it could address net neutrality when developing protocols for Internet architecture and applications.
STOCKHOLM -- The Internet Engineering Task Force has not provided methods within the Internet architecture for ISPs to keep network costs in line with subscription revenue, said Mark Handley, professor of networked systems at the University College of London, during a panel at the IETF meeting. The task force is partly to blame for the resulting net-neutrality controversy, said Handley, a member of its Routing Area Directorate who formerly served on the task force’s Internet Architecture Board. The lead standardization body for IP standards for the first time discussed how it could address net neutrality when developing protocols for Internet architecture and applications.
The FCC approved an order allowing vehicle-mounted earth stations on armored vehicles in Iraq and first-responders’ vehicles in the U.S. General Dynamics had asked the commission to permit vehicle-mounted earth stations in May 2006, but no action was taken under then Chairman Kevin Martin. The current three commissioners support the change, and new Chairman Julius Genachowski wanted to move before the two new commissioners join the FCC, probably next week, commission sources said. They said waiting could have delayed a vote several weeks.
The port of Los Angeles reports that for the period of June 1, 2009 through June 30, 2009, 58.64% of the 177,920 cargo moves at its terminals were made by clean trucks that meet or exceed the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency 2007 emissions standards. (Notice, available at http://www.portoflosangeles.org/)
A proposed government initiative to widely deploy HD voice technology would be a boon to device manufacturers, said analysts and industry executives in interviews. But while Web-based VoIP providers and big network operators are eying HD voice, some smaller service providers doubt the unproven technology is worth the effort. And Washington may have other priorities.
Silicon Image is “on track” to announce this quarter a promoters’ working group to support adoption of the Mobile High-Definition Link technology it introduced at the January 2008 CES, CEO Steve Tirado said in an earnings call Thursday. MHL is an AV interface technology for connecting portable CE devices to an HDTV set through the TV’s standard HDMI input. It connects portable consumer electronics devices -- such as mobile phones, digital cameras, camcorders and portable media players -- to HDTVs using a single cable connected to the TV’s standard HDMI input port. MHL-enabled devices will allow a user to view multimedia content in HD, in contrast to the poor image produced when the portable device is linked to the TV through standard analog connections, Silicon Image has said. The company has landed an MHL design win for a “major mobile phone OEM,” which will begin shipping the phone this quarter, Tirado said. He said the company has made its first MHL licensing deal, but he didn’t identify the licensee. Tirado said he expects MHL to take off when creation of the working group is publicized, like HDMI finally took off when Silicon Image posted the finished spec online. The company wants the MHL spec to come out this year, he said. With the recent announcement of the HDMI 1.4 spec, “we are starting to see customer silicon innovation, not just cost reduction,” Tirado said. HDMI 1.4 “lays the foundation for profound changes in the HD entertainment experience,” he said. “The addition of Ethernet inside the HDMI cable acknowledges the importance of continued cable consolidation and connecting the home theater stack.” With version 1.4, “HDMI certification has now embraced the trend in IP connectivity necessary for a whole new class of entertainment content, services and applications by including it in into the HDMI standard,” Tirado said. “At the same time, we're looking forward to future enhancements in picture quality that will come with 3-D movies and television. The HDMI standard now incorporates the necessary protocol changes to handle this important improvement in visual quality.”
Arbitron continues to push federal and state regulators for permission to randomly dial cellphone numbers so it can recruit people who don’t use a land line to participate in its radio ratings panels, CEO Michael Skarzynski said during its Q2 earnings teleconference. “We have taken up that topic at the state and federal level with a variety of office holders and we continue to work that issue.” Asked whether allowing such calls would also help politicians with polling, Skarzynski said: “That comment is part of our argument.” Q2 revenue at Arbitron gained 10 percent from a year earlier to $86.8 million. Net income increased 482 percent to $3.5 million. But the company reduced its guidance for the rest of the year, sending shares down 8.2 percent at Tuesday’s close. Univision’s recent announcement that it would not buy Portable People Meter ratings data in certain markets nor encode its radio signals for the service is one factor that may limit sales for the rest of the year, said Arbitron Chief Financial Officer Sean Creamer. The persistent macro- economic troubles also played a role in the guidance reduction, the company said. Meanwhile, the company is working on a software solution for its PPM product so panelists can download the system onto a smartphone they already carry, rather than having to always tote the pager- like PPM device, Skarzynski said. That won’t be available until 2011 under Arbitron’s plans, he said. For now, smartphone penetration is too low for Arbitron to push PPM software on cellphones, said Creamer. “At this particular point in time a cellphone is an option, we don’t believe it is an ideal research tool, because it is first and foremost a cellphone.” Any new device would also require accreditation from the Media Ratings Council, Skarzynski said.
Mobile advertising doesn’t need government regulation, speakers said during a webinar sponsored by the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) Wednesday. A new IAB report, a Mobile Buyer’s Guide, was released with the session. Advertisers see privacy as a fundamental consideration in mobile advertising, said Cameron Clayton, vice president of Mobile Weather Channel Interactive. The industry regulates itself with guidelines and rules on consumer education, disclosures about what information is collected and special protections for sensitive data, he said. “Government regulations will only be problematic,” he said, saying industry groups are working on more-developed privacy guidelines and rules.