News

About 20 years ago, the AOL startup disc was as ubiquitous as McDonald’s locations. In the era before broadband, AOL was the most dominant Internet service provider with more than 126 million subscribers. I actually worked for PeoplePC for a period of time, and we had the same direct mail initiatives. At that time CD’s were an awesome way to attract new subscribers. (more…)

FCC is ‘deeply troubled’ by Verizon’s plan to slow down data for subscribers.  Is this a play for stronger regulations by the FCC?

The Federal Communications Commission has sent a strongly worded letter to Verizon warning that changes in the way it handles mobile Internet traffic may violate federal regulations.

More broadly, the letter by FCC chairman Tom Wheeler is the latest sign that the commission is considering applying its new net neutrality rules to wireless carriers. (more…)

Disgruntled customers seek damages.

eBay faces a class action lawsuit after a high-profile data breach forced customers to reset their passwords and the company attracted criticism for its tardiness in alerting customers. (more…)

Value propositions for cable providers are changing as broadband becomes more indispensable than TV.

Moody’s Investors Service says in a new report, “Couch Potatoes Are Switching Screens” as Broadband demand becomes higher than video for cable companies.  Most companies are well positioned to reap the benefits, and manage the risks, of the transition. (more…)

Eliminating your FAT cable bill is easier than you think !

These days, streaming devices are inexpensive and popular, compared to the steep monthly price of a cable subscription.  Cable subscribers pay anywhere from $80/month on the low side, to over $150, for simple cable internet service with TV.  Now in 2014, cable TV is losing market share to sites like Hulu, Amazon, and Neflix.  Not to mention satellite.  It’s time to cancel cable and save, while adding services you only dreamed of.  It’s easy to find great alternatives to cable TV. (more…)

Mobile phone banking is gaining in popularity so swiftly that it is set to overtake online banking in just a few years.

This trend has security implications for growing firms that are increasingly adopting bring-your-own-device (BYOD) policies to keep up with the need for an optimized mobile information infrastructure.
(more…)

House Republicans passed legislation Wednesday to keep the Obama administration from overturning state bans on city-owned Internet providers.

The vote is a warning shot at the Federal Communications Commission, which has been mulling taking action against states that restrict municipal broadband service.

Rep. Marsha Blackburn, a Tennessee Republican, spearheaded the amendment that would bar the FCC from using any funds to prevent states from imposing limits on city broadband. The amendment, which is attached to a fiscal 2015 spending bill, passed mostly along party lines in a 223-200 vote. (more…)

Were There Server Backups?

You can probably quit holding out any hope that additional recovery efforts might retrieve some of the missing emails from former Internal Revenue Service (IRS) official Lois Lerner’s hard drive: The drive, which the IRS says crashed in 2011, just days after Republicans began investigating the tax agency’s scrutiny of conservative non-profits, was apparently thrown away. Is she lying or just completely incompetent? (more…)

Could the Supreme Court’s decision endanger cloud storage services?

The Supreme Court’s ruling against Aereo is a huge deal — not because it’ll upend the TV industry, as some may have hoped, but because of the disruption it won’t cause. What is (was?) Aereo, and what does the decision mean for the way we watch TV? Read on for more.
(more…)