Cost a significant factor in broadband deployment
The Washington Post writes that “[e]ven if high-speed Internet service was available to the entire nation, about one-third of Americans not currently using broadband still wouldn't because of the expense, according to a report released yesterday by the Pew Internet & American Life Project. The report was based on two surveys of 4,254 people last year and illustrates a potential hang-up in President Obama's goal to bring broadband Internet to rural and other underserved areas: If they build it, it's [...]
Europe is a Dracula theme park with highways that have no speed limit. And the park’s employees are on strike.
Over the weekend, a piece of art commissioned by the Czech Republic to mark the start of its six-month presidency of the European Union was installed in the European Council building. However, the piece was not quite what the Czech government had expected. Instead of symbolizing the glory of a unified Europe by reflecting something special about each country in the European Union, each member state is represented by what amounts to stereotypes about the country and its people. For [...]
Will we see changes to the Bankruptcy Code in 2009?
The Wall Street Journal reveals that “[a]s bankruptcy filings ramp up amid the world-wide financial crisis, companies are finding that changes made to the U.S. Bankruptcy Code three years ago have made it more difficult to restructure. But some experts believe relief could be on the way. U.S. lawmakers are scrambling to find a way to revive the economy and the businesses that drive it amid the recession. Revamped laws designed to make the restructuring process kinder to struggling companies [...]
Why Policy Matters
Over at the Innovators Network—ACT’s project that focuses on intellectual property and entrepreneurs—our pal Andre Carter has a post about that Carnegie Institute conference this week. (Morgan wrote about aspects of it here.) I think that Andre’s piece is particularly important because it drives home the points that we’re always trying to make: a) that policy is important, and 2) if you don’t pay attention, people who know little about the real world implications of their decisions end up having [...]
Turns out Interoperability Ain’t That Easy
Over the past few years, there has been growing interest in open standards as the only fool-proof way to facilitate interoperability in the ICT sector. But, a recent study out of the University of Illinois finds that open standards are not enough: implementations matter. (Thanks to Doug Mahugh for highlighting this paper in his blog). The study “Lost in Translation: Interoperability Issues for Open Standards,” looked at several implementations of the ODF and OOXML standards and found a “troubling” lack [...]
PC sales grew in 2008 – just by single digits, but…
Internetnews.com reports that “[p]ersonal computer sales managed the barest of growth rates in the fourth quarter of 2008 even in the face of a worldwide economic slowdown. The U.S. saw the worst damage done, but even then it wasn't enough to cause a year-over-year decline. Technology research firm Gartner said Wednesday that fourth quarter 2008 worldwide PC sales reached 78.1 million, up just 1.1 percent over the same period in 2007. For the year, worldwide PC sales rose 6.1 percent. [...]