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Nick Carr has again rethought another aspect of technology in his Rough Type blog. This time he takes up arms against  hyperlinks or as he refers to them, “textual gnats” and “more violent form of the footnote.” On this one, … Continue reading →

After tuning into parts of Google's IO conference last month, news about version 3 of the Maps API slowly made its way into my waking consciousness. I had some time last week to explore this newer, cleaner Map interface as part of a project I've been thinking about. I wanted to get a handle on competition in the broadband sector, a topic I've been covering since the start of this blog, and was hoping to use visualization to get answers and also generate new questions. While trolling the FCC's Gov 2.0 sitelet, I came across files containing service provider competitive data. I then learned about the extensive data the FCC captures from carriers on a per zip code basis as part of its "Form 477" database. Some of the 477 statistics are publicly available, but much is still closed off. (Hey, FCC open those files!) I just needed a way to render zip codes into geo data suitable for mapping. A few more Google searches led me to state-by-state files of zip code polygon paths at the US Census Bureau's page of cartographic boundary files. I had enough to get started. Continue reading →

The FCC reported that  emergency agencies in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama were able to stitch together a 700 MHz radio network to connect first responders and government workers.   This was an ad hoc telecom effort to, in effect, route callers … Continue reading →

I think it’s true that the Communications Act gives us the authority that we need. But I also think that by virtue of it’s structure, it’s not quite ideal.

Carriers have always loved to meter. They are utilities after all.  Of course, then came the Internet,  dirt cheap bits,  and a generation of consumers brought up on free.  Wanting to charge on a piecemeal basis but fearful of consumer … Continue reading →

Shown off at the Consumer Electronics Show in January, Freescale’s  7″ tablet prototype was supposed to inspire manufacturers and design houses to produce real products.  Realease took the bait and has followed up with an iPad clone it calls Shogo. … Continue reading →