Amongst all the burning wrecks of the voice over IP startup scene, is it possible that a $40 device hawked on late-night TV may be emerging as one of the biggest VoIP success stories ever? If you believe founder Dan Borislow, that is what is happening … Read More »
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Paul Kapustka
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Like all the other geeks in attendance, I couldn’t help myself from letting out an audible “whooo” when Google showed off an Android phone demo Wednesday that linked Street View to a compass (see video below). Sure it was just a demo, but watching the virtual-reality … Read More »
Now we know why none of the major carriers showed up for Thursday’s open FCC meeting at Stanford University: Who wants to take on Larry Lessig, the lion of Net Neutrality, in his own den? Class was in session when Stanford law prof Lessig delivered a … Read More »
Talk all you want about the online viewership stats for the NCAA basketball tournament — in my book, the Masters golf event is a much better workday time-waster, for several production and sport-inherent reasons. If you don’t like golf or don’t care about Tiger Woods’ quest … Read More »
Ding! The second round of the Net Neutrality battle officially started today, with Massachusetts Rep. Ed Markey’s introduction of H.R. 5353, a bill supporters are calling the “Internet Freedom Preservation Act of 2008.” Detractors, of course, will call it many other things, including a revival … Read More »
Given its proximity to the Broomfield, Colo., headquarters of Level 3, there’s always a good chance that the Silicon Flatirons telecom conference will get a visit from Jim Crowe, Level 3′s CEO. He made the short drive up Hwy. 36 on Monday afternoon for … Read More »
Given its proximity to the Broomfield, Colo., headquarters of Level 3, there’s always a good chance that the Silicon Flatirons telecom conference will get a visit from Jim Crowe, Level 3′s CEO. He made the short drive up Hwy. 36 on Monday afternoon for … Read More »
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BOULDER, Colo. — FCC commissioner Jonathan Adelstein said Sunday that he and the agency will “definitely look into the allegations” of rumored shadowy deals that may have led to the collapse of Frontline Wireless and the apparent failure of the “D” Block segment to … Read More »
Ribbit, the Mountain View, Calif.-based startup aiming to help developers unite voice with web applications, is scheduled to announce its own voice-web entry Monday, a service called Amphibian that will give users the ability to blend traditional telephony services with a wide range of web-based … Read More »
DigitalBridge Communications, a provider of WiMAX-based broadband-to-rural communities, announced a $20 million Series B round of financing Monday, showing that some investors believe there might be gold to mine in them thar rural broadband markets. The new funding (which PE Hub says is closer … Read More »
After talking earlier this week about the speed bumps that U.S. WiMAX deployment faces, it only seemed proper to take a ride in the WiMAX-equipped vehicles that Motorola and Intel revved up at CES. I will geek out a bit after the jump, but the bottom … Read More »
Frontline Wireless is apparently out of the 700 MHz auction, according to reports from RCR Wireless and the New York Times, as well as an email note from our telecom analyst pals at Stifel, Nicolaus. According to the reports, the startup, which … Read More »
Intel Executive VP Sean Maloney, at CES here in Las Vegas, said the company will have a “middle-of-[this]-year-release” for its WiMAX PC Card, a device that could help accelerate end users’ embrace of the nascent wireless technology. Despite some recent bumps in the road for … Read More »
Champions of a more open Internet could take a small bit of cheer from Yahoo’s plans, unveiled today, to open up its mobile platform to third-party developers. But the lack of a service-provider partner to endorse the idea is one clear sign that chief Yahoo … Read More »
One of the promotional gimmicks planned for next week’s CES show are rides around Vegas in a car with mobile WiMAX Internet access, courtesy of WiMAX backers Intel, Clearwire and Motorola. While the demonstration of real mobile WiMAX is a big step forward for … Read More »
ASPEN, Colo. — Google CEO Eric Schmidt says the search giant will “probably” bid in the upcoming 700 MHz spectrum auctions, telling an audience here Tuesday that Google “got the spirit of what we were asking” for in the recent rulemaking decision by … Read More »
Updated.Looks like the vote on the 700 MHz auction rulemaking is finally in, and as expected the commission adopted some of the open-networking proposals championed by Google, but not all. While Google carefully lauds the FCC for its action in a post on the … Read More »
No matter what the FCC decides Tuesday in its rules for the 700 MHz spectrum auctions, the political deck remains heavily stacked in favor of communications incumbents. Just ask anyone playing the the independent VoIP or the peer-to-peer worlds, two areas of innovation that are … Read More »
Friday’s letter from Eric Schmidt to the FCC was something telecom wonks have been waiting for: Google has not just stepped up to the lobbying table, it has pushed in its entire stack of chips, challenging the incumbent telco status quo in a … Read More »
With professional leagues clamping down on the amount of game footage news and broadcast outlets can use (and yeah, we told you this might happen), programmers are looking hard at niche or ancillary content to beef up their online offerings. Perhaps a bit surprisingly, such … Read More »
If nothing else, FCC chairman Kevin Martin is a master of the media spin move. With Tuesday’s well-executed leak of his plan for the 700 MHz auction rules (to USA Today and the Wall Street Journal), Martin won headlines for championing “open” networks — … Read More »
With all the other important issues confronting presidential candidates, it’s hard sometimes to figure out where political would-be leaders stand on geek-centric topics. But since John McCain is making a whistle stop in Silicon Valley next Monday, maybe we can take advantage of the situation … Read More »
Lost in the iPhone news shuffle late last week was Frontline Wireless’s very public smackdown of telco giant Verizon, a who’s-your-daddy type challenge to debate dueling wireless networking plans in public, in front of the FCC commissioners. While Big Ivan is sure to duck … Read More »
By Paul Kapustka
Jun. 24, 2007, 8:00am PT
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CHICAGO — What was open-source IP PBX leader Digium doing here at the NXTcomm show, traditionally the haunt of the biggest of big telecom players? Besides attracting a fair share of traffic to its small, out-of-the way booth, founder and CTO Mark Spencer spent some … Read More »
The P2P streaming video startup Neokast is scheduled to release its beta program today at 9 p.m. Chicago time, according to the company’s blog. Neokast, which we’ve written about a couple times before, says its QuicKast client “allows anyone to stream live to … Read More »
CHICAGO — Sure, telecom is back from the dead. But for how long? That was the unanswered question floating around the opening day of the telecom industry’s big trade show here Tuesday, as exuberance over record revenues and booming bandwidth demand was tempered by … Read More »
Fresh off the NewTeeVee news ticker, headlines from the world of online video: Disney Gets $1.5 B from Internet Group, sees more future growth in content. (Media Post) EA Sells ‘Sims’ Movie Rights, to 20th Century Fox. (Variety/Reuters) Fiber Vendors Tout Triple Play, selling carriers on IPTV … Read More »
Fresh off the NewTeeVee news ticker, headlines from the world of online video: CBS Partners with Social Networks, Community Sites, will allow content to be embedded, shared across a wide range of platforms (here’s the press release list: new deals with Automattic, Clearspring, DAVE Networks, Goowy Media, … Read More »
Fresh off the NewTeeVee news ticker, headlines from the world of online video: Turner Classic to Launch ‘Classic’ Films Portal, with shorts, clips and trailers. (Reuters/Hollywood Reporter) Charter Offers Home-Networking Help, for a $9.99 per month fee to its cable and broadband subscribers. (Light Reading) NCAA Football … Read More »
The latest big-name content producer to team with Eyespot Corp. for authorized online mashups of video clips is a biggie — George Lucas’ Lucasfilms, which will release a treasure trove of Star Wars clips for fan mashups Thursday at Starwars.com. While Eyespot co-founder David Dudas emailed … Read More »
Fresh off the NewTeeVee news ticker, headlines from the world of online video:
CNN Says ‘Pipeline’ Videos Will be Free, gives up on trying to charge for premium online content. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
Mitsubishi Puts More TV in Frame, with new thin bezel for bigger LCD displays. (
Finally, an answer as to how Google is going to help online publishers monetize video assets, just like they do now with blogs: AdSense for video, where publishers of online video can choose streaming video ads, and also select where they appear in their online videos. The … Read More »
Talk about opening off-off-Broadaway: the lucky Verizon FiOS subscribers in Fort Wayne, Ind., will be the first to see the telco’s new TV interface (or Interactive Media Guide, as the marketers call it) for its fiber-to-the-home video offering. In a sneak-leaked-peek, this demo shows the zippy … Read More »
The battle over the valuable 700 MHz wireless spectrum takes an important step forward Wednesday, the day that public comments are due on the FCC’s latest proposal for rules governing the forthcoming airwaves auction. And while an interesting proposal from Google — for ongoing … Read More »
More Tools for Online Video Ads, as Get Interactive, Adjustables show ways to put messages next to or inside online video offerings. (Media Post) Qwest Bringing Video to Portland, part of slow-paced Northwest region rollout from telco. (The Oregonian) Cable Ads Get ‘Digital Overlay,’ in new … Read More »
If our pounds-sterling-to-dollars math is right, it looks like video search engine startup Blinkx raised nearly $50 million Tuesday in its unique “public offering,” a complex stock arrangement with parent company Autonomy that Liz detailed previously here. At a price of 45 pence per share … Read More »
After spending hard time covering last year’s net neutrality battles, it’s easy to get used to hearing telephone companies saying up is really down, and black is really white. That’s why we’re not going to even nibble at the pitch Qwest’s PR representatives sent our way … Read More »
Content-delivery network provider Limelight Networks seeks to raise as much as $198 million in its previously announced IPO, pricing its shares between $12 and $14 according to reports of new filings made Monday. Limelight, which competes with the bigger Akamai in the burgeoning … Read More »
Fresh off the NewTeeVee news ticker, headlines from the world of online video: Escaped Gorilla tops YouTube Charts, as star of recent most-watched online videos on YouTube. (NY Times) Tremor, Eyespot in Partner Deal, to combine video ads with Eyespot video-mashup capability. (Media Post) VCast Adds New … Read More »
OK, with the Warriors out of the playoffs… and the whales apparently headed back to sea, what better way to spend some time Sunday night than watching whales who got lost and spent some time in Sacramento? Of course if you live coastside seeing whales … Read More »
Fresh off the NewTeeVee news ticker, headlines from the world of online video:
IPTV Will Take Center Stage at NXTComm, according to equipment providers who are planning big exhibits at June Chicago event. (Telephony)
BitTorrent ‘Pirate’ Loses Appeal, Chinese court says he must finish out sentence. (
Fresh off the NewTeeVee news ticker, headlines from the world of online video: AT&T, EchoStar Partnership in Question, but satellite firm extends deal with CenturyTel. (Rocky Mountain News) Canadian Telecoms Turn to IPTV, riding broadband surge. (Mediacaster Magazine) VideoEgg Names Adam Klein President, lures former EMI and … Read More »
From the wondering-out-loud dept. comes this question: Is peer-to-peer (P2P) technology on the verge of radically changing the content-delivery marketplace? And if so, what does that mean for both content producers and content delivery networks — more opportunity, or threatened business models, or both all around? While … Read More »
In a story coming from a sit-down interview with the Associated Press, YouTube founders Chad Hurley and Steve Chen take a shot at the Department of Defense for its decision to ban YouTube viewing from computers using the military’s network: “They said it might be … Read More »
(This post is by Fouad ElNaggar) Paul Kapustka recently wrote a post on how changing media consumption in the sports world could herald the end of SportsCenter. In a world where on-demand highlights are just a click away, I can understand his skepticism regarding the future … Read More »
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