03.24.10
Posted in Digital Divide at 9:17 am by Travis
IPad Subscriptions Could Boost Mag Circulation – BLACK ENTERPRISE.
Where are the black magazine & newspaper iPhone and web apps? There is something wrong with this picture. Technology is one way to overcome the obstacles in the real world, but getting on the forefront of the technology is crucial. It’s time that we start creating our own paths and stop waiting for others to chart the territory first, then jump on board. You have fewer opportunities to dictate the terms when you wait. Black magazines are all talking about the effect that iPad could have on magazine, all the apps you can get for your iPhone, but they don’t have an app, nor do they seem to have a plan for one. Essence Magazine even had an article iPhone Apps for Ladies but no Essence iPhone/iPad app seems to be in the works. The only black magazine app I have seen is Black Men Magazine. Essence, Ebony/Jet, Black Enterprise please tell me that you have these products in development and that we are not going to sit back and “see” how well the iPad does before we jump on board. “CP” time with technology is not cool at all and can be extremely costly.
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03.08.09
Posted in Digital Divide at 7:36 pm by Travis
http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d09413t.pdf?source=ra
Report from the GAO (Government Accountability Office).
From the article,
In preparation for the 2010 census, the Bureau planned what it refers to as the Dress Rehearsal. The Dress Rehearsal includes systems and integration testing, 6 as well as end-to-end testing of key operations in a census-like environment. During the Dress Rehearsal period, running from February 2006 through June 2009, the Bureau is developing and testing systems and operations, and it held a mock Census Day on May 1, 2008.
The Dress Rehearsal activities, which are still under way, are a subset of the activities planned for the actual 2010 census and include testing of both IT and non-IT related functions, such as opening offices and hiring staff.
The Dress Rehearsal identified significant technical problems during the address canvassing and group quarters validation operations. For example, during the Dress Rehearsal address canvassing operation, the Bureau encountered problems with the handheld computers, including slow and inconsistent data transmissions, the devices freezing up, and difficulties collecting mapping coordinates. As a result of the problems observed during the Dress Rehearsal, cost overruns and schedule slippage in the FDCA program, and other issues, the Bureau removed the planned testing of several key operations from the Dress Rehearsal and switched key operations, such as nonresponse follow-up, to paper-based processes instead of using the handheld computers as originally planned.
Through the Dress Rehearsal and other testing activities, the Bureau has completed key system tests, but significant testing has yet to be done, and planning for this is not complete.
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12.23.08
Posted in Digital Divide at 12:56 am by Travis
Chamber backs broadband deployment–without Net neutrality laws | Politics and Law – CNET News.
That’s right, no regulation. Did wonders for the mortgage and financial industry.
“An estimated $60 billion has been invested in broadband infrastructure by the communications industry this year,” William Kovacs, the U.S. Chamber’s vice president for environment, technology, and regulatory affairs, said in a statement. “Given these turbulent economic times, federal policy must continue to support this high-level of investment. This will spur job growth, innovation, and consumer choice.”
Go and check the updated information from the OECD.
Let me get this straight, they have spent $60 billion and want no government “interference” that would stifle competition and innovation. We pay on average $53.00 for an average download speed of a blazing 9Mbs. Japan on the other hand pays on average $41.00 for an average speed of 96 Mbs! Well now, that’s money well spent. If the UAW wasn’t involved, we could get that download speed up to at least 10 or 11 Mbs! 60 billion and only 3% of the US is fiber while Korea and Japan stand at 39% and 45% respectively. I want to see a receipt.
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12.08.08
Posted in Digital Divide at 10:24 pm by Travis
I am still trying out the browser. First, I am amazed at the people who balk at a “black only” browser as if something like that really exist. Does it mean if you are non black, it won’t download? Let’s be real about it, though the content may be preset on the browser, you can still go anywhere on the net and get any content you want black, white or other. Does the existence of this browser mean that if I search for anything other than “black stuff”, I won’t get a return?
I am bothered by the fact of people suggesting what black folks need or don’t need. Why not criticize the program on the merits of it technology. Does it work as well as Firefox? Is it as safe as Firefox? Will black folks use it? It remains to be seen. I am more concerned with the content that will be present on the browser. I am for empowerment, not fluff. I am assuming that those that oppose the ethnic browser are concerned about the images and content that has crippled our communities for decades being the sole purpose of this endeavor.
If the issue is a browser that will continually dumb down the consciousness of the community, we don’t need a special browser to push foolishness to the black community. We have plenty of TV networks, radio stations, music artist, videos, comedians and others that have this on lock. The internet is a vastly unregulated arena. Trust me, there is room for one more browser. If we have black dating service websites, black cosmetic websites and any other website geared to one particular ethnic group, then why can’t there be an ethnic centric browser? I doubt if black folks with take over and control the internet with their own “black” browser.
If black folks should be doing anything, it is learning how to manipulate the current technology to benefit the community at large. Build websites that validate so that search engine spiders can crawl them, and other folks can find them. We still have major black entertainment sites that don’t use RSS for their news, force you to listen to audio clips that could be podcasted or at least pushed out as an RSS feed. Many of us are not using Twitter or any social networking technologies on our websites. We still depend on tradtional media and feel as if we have to have their validation to present the news to our communities. I don’t know if you have heard or not, most of them are in trouble. The Tribune Company has filed for bankruptcy. We have outlets such as Mogulus and U-stream to present our own version or perspective, but we don’t use them or know that they exist. There are powerful networking opportunities on the web. Maybe the new black browser will bring us into another level of consciousness.
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06.03.08
Posted in Digital Divide at 11:23 am by Travis
Time Warner Cable tests metered Internet service | Technology | Internet | Reuters
Consumers in the test region will be offered several levels of service. A $29.95 per month plan for slower speeds of 768 kilobits per second and a 5 gigabyte limit would let users send and receive about 349,525 e-mails, play 170 hours of online games, or download 1,383 digital songs per month.
At the high end, a $54.90 monthly fee for a 15-megabit-per-second service and a 40 gigabyte monthly limit would allow subscribers to watch 124 hours of standard-definition videos or download 11,070 songs.
Time Warner has fired the first shot. Let me remind you. There is no need for this. The have the money for the next level improvements needed. This is a merging of long distance and cellular platforms. You get charged by going over whether you know it or not. Here’s why. It is more profitable to restrict the internet and nickle and dime you than it is to open the pipes up to their true ability. Long distance charges on the internet. Shameful shiggity.
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05.10.08
Posted in Digital Divide at 2:52 pm by Travis
House panel chair offers network neutrality bill | Technology | Internet | Reuters
“Broadband deployment is a bright spot in the U.S. economy that provides high paying jobs, unprecedented infrastructure investment, and innovation. Why would Congress want to jeopardize all that with this bill?” Fish (Verizon) said.
This week John Conyers introduced a modified Net Neutrality Bill regarding ISP’s such as Verizon and AT&T which would restrict them restricting us, the end user. Whenever legislation such as this is introduced, we hear quotes like the one above from the Telcos. This is 20th Century thinking. Corporations always pull the “government is stifling innovation which is killing job growth” line out of their you know what. What they fail to understand is that because of true innovators such as Google, average Joe sitting at his home computer or laptop in an airport is the new competition and innovator. The end user is now a viable playa da game, so to restrict the end user’s access is to truly stifle competition and innovation. Don’t think so? Remember, Youtube was not created over at Verizon. This is also why the big media companies do not want net neutrality because their new competition which they often describe as ‘market forces’ when they need to lay people off, is killin’ them. Just because you have billions, does not make you genetically predisposed to be a successful online media outlet. You need freedom and democracy, an opportunity for anyone with an idea to bring it to fruition. Too much of American Capitalism is in the hand of too few because it was designed that way from the beginning. Wake up ISP’s and media companies and smell the 21st Century.
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04.03.08
Posted in Digital Divide at 6:04 pm by Travis
Comcast Unleashes New 50/5 Mbps Extreme High-Speed Internet Service Using DOCSIS 3.0 Technology in the Twin Cities
Heeeeeeerrrrrrrreeeeeee’s DOCSIS. If you have been a faithful listener of my podcast, you would have heard me enlighten the masses about this back in 06. Here is my podcast from July of 2006. $150 for 50Mbs. We are still getting spanked by Japan. They get about 100Mbs for $50. Something is wrong with this picture. We are still gettin’ the cracker and thinkin’ it’s a gourmet meal.
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03.20.08
Posted in Digital Divide at 8:31 pm by Travis
Cable Digital News – Cable Digital – Teeing Up Docsis 3.0 – Telecom News Analysis
First, cable has been getting spanked by the phone companies partly because they have been able to roll out their new high speed fiber services such as U-verse(AT$T) and FIOS(Verizon). The only drawback is they have to lay fiber all over God’s creation to do it. The FCC has been favoring the phone companies in their roll out attempts by trying to force local municipalities to allow the phone companies to roll out in rich areas of town only while forcing the cable companies to watch because of a loop hole in the rules. Cable is a one-way transmission. IPTV is not.
Not to be outdone, cable has a ace in the hole, DOCSIS 3.0. This ingenious method uses the existing copper lines to provide speeds of over 100Mbs bi-directionally. This makes AT&T and Verizon systems look like dial-up. Do you think they want everybody using this high speed system, of course not. They need to section it off to make more money, thus crippling America once again. Only the rich and affluent would know what to do with such a powerful system.
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03.03.08
Posted in Digital Divide at 9:17 pm by Travis
Civil Rights Groups Side With Comcasts Net Neutrality Stance — Net Neutrality — InformationWeek
Harry C. Alford, president and CEO of the National Black Chamber of Commerce, said in a prepared statement. “Content discrimination is a real threat to an open Internet, but so are bandwidth hogs — particularly those who traffic in illegal, pirated material.”
Attention “Civil Rights Groups”, please know what you are talking about when you become front men and women for telecommunication companies that do not have your best interest at hand. Here is today’s lesson. Bit Torrents. This is the evil communication device that is being blocked by Comcast because it sucks up so much bandwidth. As you can see from this lesson, the opposite is true. P2P file transfers actually is a way more efficient way of transferring large files over the net as opposed to direct downloads.
How Bit Torrents Work
Further more, everybody is not downloading illegal material as the media geniuses would have you believe. First of all, it ain’t that much good content from these folks to steal. A lot of bit torrent is for legitimate use like start up independent media companies who want to distribute their material on the net. These are the people the media giants are really afraid of because they can not control them or their content. Also I find it ironic, that the Bit Torrents are a good way of distributing Linux Distros, you know that free OS software that is so helpful to small businesses, non-profits and individuals. The same type of software that runs the National Black Chamber of Commerce’s website, Joomla. I know it very well. I use all the time.
“Ignorance is the night of the mind, but a night without moon or star.”
– Confucius
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02.29.08
Posted in Digital Divide at 6:12 pm by Travis
Civil rights groups: FCC should allow network management | InfoWorld | News | 2008-02-29 | By Grant Gross, IDG News Service
“Civil rights groups: FCC should allow network management
A coalition of seven civil rights groups believes that net neutrality laws would only serve to protect bandwidth higs at the expense of other users”
Shame, shame,shame. These organizations need to listen to my podcast and read my blog. They lack sufficient information to make informed decisions. This is the abortion/gay rights debacle of technology. Ask the telcoms, when was the last time they provided any major innovation in the way of broadband adoption? The Japanese who run blinding broadband speeds that make ours look like we are using tin cups and string, just launched a satellite to provide true broadband (1.2 Gbs), that’s right gigabits. 150 times faster than our blazing DSL service of 8Mbs, that’s megabits and 12 times faster than those shiny new FTTP (Fiber To The Premise) lines being laid down by the telcos. Where is the love? Ya’ll need to go and educate yourselves and try again. A mind is a terrible thang.
Look for a new podcast real soon!!!
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