Finns Get the Right to Universal Broadband Access

October 16, 2009

You may have read, right here at Discovery, that Finland's just passed a landmark law that gives all of its citizens (yes, even the ones who live in the middle of snow-covered forests miles from nowhere, or are sitting in saunas) the right to universal broadband (1MB) Internet access. As if that's not enough of a challenge to the country's telco providers, they're thinking of bumping that up to 10MB in the future. Obviously, someone thinks the Internet-driven knowledge economy is here to stay, at least in northern Europe. As part of my coverage for this week's Tech Podcast for PRI (the day job, as I call it), I had Cyrus Farivar call up (Skype up, actually) Suvi Linden, Finland's Minister of Communications. Here's what she had to say about the new law, and about the reasoning behind it:

By the way, I hear through the grapevine that Finland's neighbor Estonia (or E-stonia, as it likes to bill itself) is a wee bit jealous that the Finns beat them to it!

PRI's The World: Technology Podcast 223

December 15, 2008

Oh, that pesky brain. If only we understood it better, right? If only we understood other people's brains, maybe even could read their thoughts, their dreams, no? Well, I'm not sure that's such a good idea. I'd hate to see what my 2 1/2 year old daughter's dreaming about, for example, after I've read the scary parts of Sleeping Beauty to her (the dragon, remember?) for the 4, 256th time. Anyway, make of this what you will. Researchers at the ATR Computational Neuroscience Labs in Kyoto, Japan say they've succeeded in processing and displaying images directly from the human brain. The study is written up in the latest edition of the journal Neuron. And we've got a bit of cold water to throw on the notion that this research means we can now read people's minds. It's only one part of this week's Technology Podcast (WTP 223).

We also hear a report on Internet addiction in one of the world's most wired countries, South Korea. The problem isn't a new one in South Korea. Jason Strother looks into efforts to help Korean youngsters get offline...at least for a while.

Then, it's on to Egypt, where we hear about how the Apple iPhone is making its debut, but without one of its most popular features -- GPS. Turns out the Egyptian government doesn't much care for its citizens having access to GPS-enabled devices. The fear, officials say, is that terrorists might use the service to pinpoint government buildings. We get the skinny on the ban, and how much it will matter to Egyptians, from blogger Wael Abbas.

We then head over to the West African nation of Ghana, to take a look at how one US company is trying to turn the country into a hot place to set up telephone call centers. From there, we head south to South Africa, where we switch gears a bit. Adequate housing -- well, a lack of housing -- is a critical issue in South Africa. But now, some smart folks have come up with what may prove to be a cheap and effective solution -- houses made of sand, well sandbags really:

Cool, huh?

And, since it's that time of year when everyone wants to take a stab at predicting what will happen in 2009, we run an extended interview with Michael Brook, editor of the technology magazine T3. Brook looks back at some of the worst tech predictions ever made. My favorites: a Brit tech big-wig's 2005 prediction that the iPod would never catch on, and a US postmaster who quipped in 1959: "We stand on the threshold of rocketmail."

Wow, if only...then I could really save writing those holiday cards until the last possible moment.

(Image, and actual brain, courtesy of Genesis 12 on Wikimedia Commons. Sandbag home courtesy of MMA website).

The Long, Winding and Largely Tech-Free Road

October 30, 2008

Well, it's the post that I've finally been forced to write. We're down to the wire now with the US Presidential elections. The editors at the day job have been on me now for a many months to "do something about Obama and McCain on technology policy." OK, first of all, that's a horrible assignment. It's too broad, for starters. I mean, how can I squeeze H1-B visas, broadband policy, and spectrum into four and a half minutes of radio. Heck, I can't even explain net neutrality to someone...coherently...in less than 10 minutes. Trouble is, well -- war, the economy, health care and host of other issues seem to have pushed tech off the official agenda. I sat through three presidential debates eagerly awaiting at least ONE tech-related question I could run with. All I got, during the second debate, were numerous questions FROM the Internet, but not ABOUT the Internet. I wondered out loud not only who this Internet was, but why he/she/it was allowed three questions, when others got only one.

So imagine my delight when I found out that the New America Foundation in DC was sponsoring "McCain v. Obama: The Tech Policy Smackdown." In one corner, wearing the red trunks, Douglas Holtz-Eakin, Chief Economic Adviser to McCain. And in the blue trunks, in the other corner, Reed Hundt, Technology Policy Adviser to Barack Obama. I tuned into the webcast at 12:25PM today, ready for the rumble.

Trouble is, Holtz-Eakin from the McCain camp was a no-show. And no one came in his place to represent to the McCain camp. I'm not in the business in reporting one-sided talks. If you want to listen to Reed Hundt talk about what tech policies an Obama adminstration might or might not pursue, you can listen here. You can find McCain's tech policies laid out, in similarly vague fashion, here. Hundt did manage a head-on collision with FCC Chairman Michael Powell back in June, and you can listen to that here.

Some final links to help your inner geek at the ballot box: Wired Magazine's election scorecard. There's also this report (PDF) comparing the candidates' tech and innovation policies from The Information Technology & Innovation Foundation.

And for the cynics among us, here's Scientific American's take on whether your vote will even get counted correctly by the voting machines.

(Pix from the official websites of the candidates)

Metered Broadband: Nickled and Dimed?

June 17, 2008

If you like surreptitiously downloading the latest, high-def, bandwidth-hogging episodes of Battlestar Galactica via BitTorrent, you might want to run for your wallet. In recent weeks, two cable internet service provider and one DSL provider have said they want to lower the financial hammer on customers who are considered big downloaders.

Welcome to "metered" internet access. Doesn't it take you back to the days when you were charged by the hour for dial-up?

Time Warner Cable internet subscribers in Beaumont, TX are the lucky guinea pigs for the companies trialling of this. Simply put, the company's put a monthly limit on the amount of data a user can upload and download. If you go over, you pay. How much? One dollar per gigabyte.

Time Warner officials noted that about five percent of subscribers take up close to 50 percent of the capacity on the cable lines. Hey, they're just trying to even things out.

Sir Tim-Berners Lee, creator of the trusty World Wide Web, said earlier this year that he wants Internet Service Providers to simply deliver connectivity to households the same way that the water company supplies water. Well, looks like Time Warner wants to grant Sir Tim's wish...with a bullet.

Comcast likes the sound of that too.

DSL users, don't worry. You're in the headlights too. AT&T is reportedly thinking about requesting a little extra from users who like to pump up their bandwidth a bit too much.  An AT&T spokesman said last week that "usage-based pricing" for those deemed to have "abnormally high usage patterns" is bound to happen.

North of the border in Canada, Rogers Communications is already metering Internet usage. Pay-as-you-go schemes are popular across Europe as well.

Funny thing -- big telcos generally keep their cap limits, and individual usage, pretty secret. Mostly because the majority of users would be amazed at how little  bandwidth they use each month. Of course, the problem here is that the idea of what constitutes abnormally high usage is, to put it mildly, a moving target. More and more movies, television shows and other high-bandwidth content are being shoved down the cable and DSL lines at us all the time.

Today's abnormal might be tomorrow's small potatoes if trends continue.

Given all this talk of metered wired broadband, I can't help but share this little gem I came across recently. Talk about nickled and dimed. Check it out -- a coin-operated Wi-Fi hotspot!

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What's That Smell? Did Someone Step in Broadband?

May 07, 2008

It is really, really difficult to post about this BBC story without going down some seriously pun-filled roads, er, pipes.  But, I have promised to try.  And so here we go.

Even in the developed world, one question has stumped folks: how do you get high-speed internet access out that so-called "last mile" and into people's homes and businesses.   Wireless -- wi-fi and more recently, WIMAX get a lot of play.   Just look at today's announced deal between Sprint and Clearwire.

And there are also attempts to sell us all on the idea of sending data down powerlines. 

But there's also time and effort going into figuring out innovative ways to get fiber-optics out to folks.  Problem is, you generally have to start tearing up streets, etc. to lay the cables.  And many communities don't want to see that, either in the tax dollars they have to pay to make it happen, or in the environmental damage it can cause.  So, what to do?  You need to find a path for the cables that already exists, is out of sight, and is safe for the cables.  Well -- British authorities reckon they already have some 350,000 miles of sewers across the country, so why not follow your nose? (whoops, sorry -- made it for four paragraphs). 

You can see a short BBC video here about how Fiber Optical Cable Underground Sewer (or FOCUS) is installed.    In the next six months, a Welsh company called H20 will extend some of the networks it's already built, and try to bring speeds up to 100Mbps.

France has already toyed with this idea, offering 50 and 100Mbps connections in some places.  Japan too is reportedly rolling out sewer-based systems like this.

It may work well in dense urban areas, but the problem with building fiber-based broadband networks here in the US boils down to space...lots and lots of space.  We are a big country with a far-flung population, and many wonder if wouldn't be cheaper, and easier, to use wireless solutions, rather than pull fiber through miles and miles and miles of sewers.  And what if you have a septic system?

But broadband by sewer doesn't seem to be completely off the radar here.   At least one company is pitching the idea, although if you click on the web page detailing their network, it takes you to a map of Vienna, Austria, where the parent company is based.

Not bad -- only one questionable reference to the nature of the pipes that might one day carry your precious YouTube videos to you.

You know, I'm left wondering if the Cable Guy Union is ready to write this particular <cough> detail into its contracts?