This notice serves as a reminder to the trade that effective September 16, 2005, the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) will begin requiring that all1 imported regulated wood packaging material (regulated WPM) imported under general permit be appropriately treated and marked to comply with the International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC) standard entitled, "Guidelines for Regulating Wood Packaging Material in International Trade" (ISPM 15).
Millions of people visited NASA’s Web portal in the record-setting 24 hour period surrounding NASA’s Deep Impact spacecraft’s Mon. morning collision with the Tempel 1 comet, the agency said. Visitors downloaded 80 million Web pages in 24 hours, smashing the previous record of 30 million set July 5, 2004, during the Spirit rover’s Mars landing. The portal transmitted 25 terabytes of information, 5 times the previous high. The portal also streamed NASA TV’s live coverage of the collision, peaking at 118,000 streams around the 1:52 A.M. collision. That beats the previous record of 49,672 streams at once.
The FCC Wireless Bureau seeks comments on a Va. proposal to use Part 22 frequencies for a digital trunked land mobile system for public safety radio communications. The state said its existing analog public safety network is 30 years old, uses 47 transmitter sites but only 4 channels, and is severely congested. It also said the equipment is obsolete and no longer supported by manufacturers. The state has approved a plan for a digital trunked network linking 20 state agencies, but paging and radiotelephone operations’ use of the spectrum would conflict with state use. Comments (DA 05-1934) are due July 22, replies Aug. 1.
Days after moving up the expected start date of a 2nd 7th-generation (7G) LCD production line to April (CED July 5 p2), Samsung said it plans an 8G line in the 2nd half of 2007 and a 9G plant no later than 2009. The announcement, by Samsung LCD Pres. Sang Wan Lee, said the company has set aside land for 8G, 9G and 10G LCD production at its Tangjeong facility, where a 7G plant operated by its S-LCD Inc. joint venture with Sony also is located, S. Korea’s Chosun Ilbo reported. In May, Lee said glass substrate sizes would reach 2,160 x 2,460-mm and 2,400 x 2,800-mm sizes in the 8G and 9G stages, respectively. Samsung’s previously announced 7G plant will operate independently of S-LCD, the company said. The 7G plant -- previously scheduled to start manufacturing in the 2nd half next year -- will focus on 32W and larger sizes and have capacity for processing 45,000 glass substrates a month.
The Senate Finance Committee has posted a notice on its Web site that on June 29, 2005, it favorably reported S. 1307, the Dominican Republic-Central America-United States Free Trade Agreement Implementation Act and S.J. Res. 18, a joint resolution approving the renewal of the import restrictions contained in the Burmese Freedom and Democracy Act of 2003. (See ITT's Online Archives or 06/29/05 news, 05062905, for BP summary on the House passage of a joint resolution approving the renewal of import restrictions on Burma.) (Senate Finance notice, dated 06/29/05, available at http://finance.senate.gov/sitepages/leg/062905leg.pdf.)
Several TV stations are asking the FCC for waivers to a July 1 deadline for DTV stations to reach their full service areas, mainly due to construction problems, state issues and environmental issues. As of Thurs., the FCC had received at least 34 requests to extend the deadline, a spokeswoman said. Several broadcast attorneys told us they plan to file more requests this week.
Several TV stations are asking the FCC for waivers to a July 1 deadline for DTV stations to reach their full service areas, mainly due to construction problems, state issues and environmental issues. As of Thurs., the FCC had received at least 34 requests to extend the deadline, a spokeswoman said. Several broadcast attorneys told us they plan to file more requests this week.
Policymakers and public safety agencies should look beyond radio spectrum when planning future public safety communications networks, Mobile Satellite Ventures (MSV) said Thurs. The white paper urges policymakers to “ensure that satellite and terrestrial providers are afforded the opportunity -- through pro-market and innovative spectrum policies -- to develop effective offerings for public safety agencies.” Written by U. of Colo. profs. Dale Hatfield and Phil Weiser, the paper envisions flexible public safety networks integrating multiple technologies. “Contrary to traditional thinking on the subject,” policymakers’ approach “should not be centered on how much spectrum in the 700 MHz band needs to be dedicated specifically for public safety uses,” the report said: “Policymakers should focus on making spectrum generally available for broadband uses, whether via unlicenced WiFi- like systems, licensed commercial carriers, or satellite providers.” The paper suggests integrating satellite, terrestrial and emerging wireless broadband networks with traditional public safety land mobile radio systems (LMRs), which the authors said always will play a vital role in public safety networks. But the best strategy for developing a next-generation public safety network is “not necessarily to promote next generation private LMR systems operated by local public safety agencies. Indeed, committing to such a limited vision might well prove problematic,” the paper said. Policymakers should make more spectrum available for public safety applications provided commercially, the authors said. “In short, policymakers should appreciate the importance of committing spectrum to commercial providers who can offer service to public safety agencies,” the report said: “In the case of satellite providers like MSV, it is not merely sufficient for the FCC to allocate spectrum for use by satellite providers, but it is also critical for it to provide certain and stable assignments of satellite spectrum.”
The NAB, CEA and DirecTV endorsed use of Longley-Rice as a predictive model for determining household eligibility for distant DTV signals in comments to the FCC on its SHVERA-mandated inquiry into the subject. However, EchoStar suggested revisions to the methodology that would adjust for digital signal sensitivities.
The NAB, CEA and DirecTV endorsed use of Longley-Rice as a predictive model for determining household eligibility for distant DTV signals in comments to the FCC on its SHVERA-mandated inquiry into the subject. However, EchoStar suggested revisions to the methodology that would adjust for digital signal sensitivities.