Let's Keep the Internet Tax Free
We reported in December that Congress would have a chance in 2016 to pass a permanent extension to the Internet Tax Freedom Act, or ITFA, thereby ensuring that America’s Internet users never see taxes go up on their Internet access. January has come and it’s expected that Congress will soon have the opportunity to permanently prevent state and local governments from taxing Internet access. In our December blog post, we said ITFA would stop Internet access from being exposed to “aggressive tax collectors [who put] at risk all those who rely on the Internet.” The fact of the matter is that the
The Building Blocks of a Digital America
We sometimes take our connected lifestyles for granted – the ease with which we can stream a championship football game, play our favorite video game against a competitor in Japan from the comfort of our living room, or take an online professional development class to further our careers. But all of this is viable because of the myriad of Internet service providers, technology companies and businesses in our country that tackle the challenge of building a bigger and better network day in and day out. It takes a village, and cable companies have been among the leaders of building America’s
We Can Make Gigabit Wi-Fi a Reality
Fact of the day: more Internet traffic is carried over Wi-Fi than any other medium – more than wireline and wireless combined – and it’s increasing every year. So it’s fair to say the future of the Internet is the future of Wi-Fi. Wi-Fi was born in the unlicensed 2.4 GHz band that was once written off as “junk spectrum.” And the unlicensed nature of the band meant that the barriers to entry were low. Anyone with a good idea could launch a new wireless service as long as they played well with others in the band. As a result, the 2.4 GHz band has proven to be an unparalleled hotbed of innovation
The Countdown to INTX 2016 Starts Now!
With INTX just four months away, now is the time to register for a one-of-a-kind experience in Boston from May 16-18. If you’ve never been, INTX is the event where the worlds of media, technology and entertainment converge and gather to share ideas on future of the Internet and television and Boston is the perfect place to connect. The city’s reputation for fueling innovation and start-ups is set to welcome a flurry of new ideas this Spring, when participants will get the unique opportunity to participate in and contribute to the ever-changing new media economy. At INTX, ideas are not only
Why the FCC is Wrong On Broadband Deployment
In tonight’s State of the Union address, President Obama is likely to highlight the Administration’s success in expanding broadband access for millions of Americans. Yet, according to a document that FCC Chairman Wheeler released last week, in late January the FCC will draw a very different conclusion and find that broadband deployment remains inadequate. Why does that matter? Because, under a federal law called “Section 706,” the FCC is authorized to “take immediate action” – code words for regulation – if it determines that broadband is not being deployed to all Americans in a “reasonable
Cable Triumphs at 73rd Golden Globes
Cable shows and their beloved celebrities shined in last night’s 73rd annual Golden Globes, claiming six out of the eleven accolades for television. USA Network came out with two big wins for Mr. Robot. Mr. Robot won for best television drama series in its first season debut, beating out usual favorite HBO’s Game of Thrones, and Christian Slater snagged the Golden Globe for best performance by an actor in a supporting role for his stint as Elliott Alderson. Cable superstar Jon Hamm closed out his career with AMC’s Mad Men on a high, taking the award for best performance in a television drama
VR Experimentation, Storytelling in 2016
I’ve heard it said from the mouths of many a speaker and exhibitor here at CES this week: 2016 will be a big year for virtual reality–in journalism, in film, in gaming, for high technology fiends down to the average smartphone user. A panel of pioneers experimenting with groundbreaking VR experiences convened on Thursday morning and shed some more light on how VR technology is changing the course of how people follow and engage with this type of entertainment and emerging storytelling platform. What particularly stood out to me was the account from the leaders at the New York Times who just
Are Better Wi-Fi Routers the Trick to 4k Streaming?
They sit dusty, untouched, crammed behind bookcases, slid under couches, forgotten in hallway closets. They don’t have screens, they don’t make sounds, and they don’t have apps. They’re Wi-Fi routers and they’re the unsung heroes, the silent workhorses, of broadband and they deserve a little attention – a little love. Without a good Wi-Fi router that’s not only properly rated for the amount of data it’s being asked to handle, but capable of working smoothly with multiple devices, you could be missing out on the full potential of your speedy Internet connection. Considering how quickly speeds
New Technology Has Family at the Heart of It
My first experience on the CES show floor has had me fazed, what with the myriad of toys and gadgets that the Internet of Things has to offer, but amid the chaos one curious theme stood out to me. In our world of new media and television that’s often geared toward customizing experiences for the individual, and toward creating the on-the-go connectivity and entertainment most of us demand, the sense of family and community still remains strong, and innovators are managing to embed this key element into the devices and home appliances of the future. Take Alcatel‘s new OneTouch tablet, Xess
The IoT: Turning Things On. And Off. And Then On Again.
With more than 170,000 attendees streaming through 3,631 exhibiting company booths that cover over 2.2 million net square feet of exhibit space at CES, you’ll have to forgive me if my brain (not to mention my feet) turn to mush within a few hours of wandering the show floor. Booths, devices, ideas all seem to blend together. Endless buzzwords and tech specs meld into indecipherable globs of marketing speech that flow in one ear and out the other. One way I keep everything straight is to play little games with myself. Today I was playing, “Can I find a booth that doesn’t feature something that