[Note: This item comes from Dave Farber's IP list. DLH]

From: David Farber <dave@farber.net>
Date: January 4, 2010 3:41:19 PM PST
Subject: [IP] Innovation in the Wireless Ecosystem: A Customer-Centric Framework Gerald R. Faulhaber, David J. Farber

International Journal of Communication, Vol 4 (2010)

Abstract

The Federal Communications Commission’s Notice of Inquiry in GN 09-157 Fostering Innovation and Investment in the Wireless Communications Market is a significant event at an opportune moment. Wireless communication has already radically changed the way that not only Americans, but people the world over communicate with each other and access and share information. In this article, we review the wireless industry’s past performance in three dimensions: (i) the rate of innovation, (ii) how competitive the industry is, and (iii) how competitive wireless innovation is. We do so by examining the record of three key layers in the industry’s vertical chain: software applications, devices (handhelds), and the core wireless distribution networks. We find that all three markets exhibit very high rates of innovation, that the markets are competitive, and that this competition has driven innovation. As in previous work (Faulhaber, 2009a) we argue that, absent market failure, regulatory intervention is not appropriate. A customer-centric perspective should govern the FCC’s actions in the wireless ecosystem: let customers decide what they want in this competitive market.

<http://ijoc.org/ojs/index.php/ijoc/article/view/670>

[Note: This item comes from friend Mike Cheponis. DLH]

From: Michael Cheponis <mac@Culver.Net>
Date: January 2, 2010 4:49:59 AM PST
Subject: What Were the Science Breakthroughs of 2009?

<http://www.pbs.org/newshour/updates/science/july-dec09/yearinscience_12-31.html>

Neil DeGrasse Tyson
Astrophysicist, American Museum of Natural History

…

“Add to these stories the widespread paranoia across America that the world will end in 2012 because an extinct Mayan civilization from half a millennium ago said so, and that we still need court cases to decide whether or not evolution by natural selection should be taught in our public schools, and I’m left fearing the future of America’s leadership on the world stage of science and technology.

This leadership, as any historian will tell you, drives the economic strength and security of nations. The fall is not from a cliff. More like a slow, downward slide — almost imperceptible from day to day. But as the years pass America will have descended from leaders to players to merely followers as we fade to insignificance, at best hitching a ride on the innovations of others.”

Hotel WiFi Should Be a Right, Not a Luxury
Sarah Lacy
TechCrunch.com
Friday, January 1, 2010; 1:39 PM
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/01/AR2010010101568_pf.html>

I’m in my hometown of Memphis, Tennessee for Christmas and on a drive between Memphis and Nashville I noticed that every $30/night hotel offered free wireless Internet access. Further, when we got to Nashville and checked into the relatively low-frills Holiday Inn Express we had better wireless Internet access than I?ve had in hotels around the US and the world?some of which I paid double to stay in.

What gives with hotel WiFi?

This is a ten-year-old technology that has improved in speed and quality nearly everywhere?in homes, in offices, in public spaces, in coffee shops, in airports?even on planes. You can even get free WiFi at Krystal, a fast food chain that?s on par with White Castle and sells hamburgers for less than $1 each. Over the past two years I?ve stayed at more than two-dozen hotels around the United States and the emerging world. I?ve noticed a trend that seems to fly in the face of basic economics and technology adoption: The pricier and fancier hotel, generally the worse quality the WiFi, if it exists at all.

On a trip to Boston two years ago my fancy downtown, five-star hotel had no wireless access. The brand new W in Santiago, Chile has no wireless access. In India, Rwanda and Argentina I?ve had to buy expensive 24-hour WiFi passes, which can add up to hundreds of dollars per stay, for a connection that was just OK. But I knew better than to complain: The quality of the connection is almost always better in emerging markets than Western Europe.

London is hands-down the worst: I?ve stayed at the Sanderson in London twice and always had a hard time getting online, and I?ve also stayed at the Malmaison where even the wired connection didn?t work. I had to go down to the lobby to get a signal. Even then it was like the early days of wireless where you wandered around holding your laptop looking for bars like you were panning for gold.

Arrington may have his silly germaphobe, fist-bump movement. MG may be determined to hold AT&T accountable for its embarrassingly bad iPhone service. Here?s my outrage: Why in 2010 do so many hotels have zero, unreliable or outrageously expensive wireless Internet access?

This is clearly not a cost issue when economy hotels like Holiday Inn and Days Inn have no problem offering free wireless access from the middle of nowhere in the South. (Not to mention Krystal.) This is an issue of greed or tech ignorance on the part of luxury hotels and consumers and business travelers need to start showing some outrage.

[snip]

Five BitTorrent Predictions for 2010
Written by Ernesto on January 01, 2010
<http://torrentfreak.com/five-bittorrent-predictions-for-2010-100101/>

A whole new and exciting year lies ahead of us, so this is an opportune time for some BitTorrent predictions for 2010. On the upside, video streaming sites will begin experimenting with BitTorrent. One of the negatives is that a major BitTorrent client will be sued by the entertainment industry for assisting copyright infringement.

The last year has been one of the most hectic in BitTorrent’s short-lived history. While the three largest BitTorrent sites – The Pirate Bay, Mininova and isoHunt – all faced setbacks in court, the number of BitTorrent users continued to steadily grow.

The new year starts without The Pirate Bay tracker, which was closed in November, and also without Mininova, which saw its site being censored and stripped down by a Dutch court. To counter these losses, several public tracker-only services have made a comeback along with multiple torrent-only storage sites.

Where do we go from here? Let’s make some predictions.

Prediction 1: The Pirate Bay will cease to offer torrent links
After closing its tracker in 2009, The Pirate Bay will further evolve by removing all torrents from its index in the new year. The site will be reduced to a BitTorrent platform that no longer stores torrent files. Users will still be able to submit torrents through a third party service such as Torrage, but instead of linking to these torrent files, The Pirate Bay will list only Magnet links.

During the second half of 2010, The Pirate Bay four will appear before the Appeal Court. They will be found ‘not guilty’ and walk away free. Shortly after this victory in court, Pirate Bay’s YouTube killer The Video Bay will be released to the public.

[snip]