cable

Verizon Communications is asking the Federal Communications Commission to force cable operators to streamline their process for allowing people to switch video providers.

In its petition with the FCC filed on Wednesday, Verizon said that cable operators require customers to contact them directly when they want to cancel service, which often leads to more work for the new video provider and confusion for the consumer.

By contrast, the phone companies have been required to have procedures in place that enable a new provider to submit a voice disconnection order on behalf of the consumer.

"This significantly complicates the process … Read more

The largest phone company in the U.S. AT&T and Japan's NTT said Tuesday that they joined an international consortium to build a new undersea network underneath the Pacific Ocean.

As more businesses expand internationally, phone companies such as AT&T are trying to diversify their networks to keep up with growing demand. AT&T said it was joining the effort to build the new Trans-Pacific Express network to help stabilize the Internet and its voice services.

AT&T and NTT are the latest members of a consortium formed 15 months ago by Verizon … Read more

With discontent still festering over Comcast's admitted slowing of file-sharing uploads, the cable industry's chief on Thursday set out to do a little damage control.

Kyle McSlarrow, president of the National Cable and Telecommunications Association, said he's "amused" that in all the coverage of the Comcast-BitTorrent spat, no one's talking about the cable industry's role in getting high-speed Internet service to millions of American households and, by extension, enabling online applications and services to take off.

"One of the ironies is that most of these applications depended on cable's rollout of … Read more

Web creator rejects net tracking http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7299875.stm

BT confesses lies over secret Phorm experiments http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/03/17/bt_phorm_lies/

Yahoo Buzz is a game-changer for social media http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/ yahoo_buzz_is_a_game_changer.php

Google says Microsoft’s Yahoo buy might hurt Internet http://www.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/ idUSPEK15292020080317

Flickr Video beta due in April http://www.news.com/8301-13953_3-9895044-80.html

Firefox 3 goes on a diet, eats less memory than IE and Opera http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/ 20080317-firefox-3-goes-on-a-diet-eats-less-memory-than-ie-and-opera.html

LimeWire digital music … Read more

Sanity prevails: IE8 will default to standard-compliant mode http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/ 20080303-sanity-prevails-ie8-will-default-to-standard-compliant-mode.html http://www.news.com/8301-13860_3-9884688-56.html

Survey: Warnings from ISPs could slash file-swapping by 70 percent http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/ 20080303-survey-warnings-from-isps-could-slash-file-swapping-by-70.html

Nokia to bring Microsoft Silverlight-powered experiences to millions of mobile users http://www.nokia.com/A4136001?newsid=1197788

Official Google Mobile Blog: Shifting Google Gears to mobile http://googlemobile.blogspot.com/2008/03/shifting-google-gears-to-mobile.html

What price, Scrabulous? Mergers, acquisitions, venture capital, hedge funds http://dealbook.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/03/04/ scrabulous-founders-look-to-score-big-report-says/?hp

Microsoft offers $100K to … Read more

Steve Guttenberg joins us, although not the police academy one, the better audiophiliac one. Monster cables suck, David Lynch is cool, Jeremy Piven is a sellout on the cover of "Heeb," all on today's episode of The 404.

Listen now: Download today's podcast

The existing bandwidth between Asia and North America is crowded. Following FCC approval of a U.S.-China link last month, Google and five other companies have announced a Japan-U.S. link to be completed in early 2010.

The $300 million fiber-optic cable will stretch approximately 10,000 km (6,214 miles) under the Pacific. "Google's partners in the consortium, dubbed Unity, comprises Bharti Airtel, Global Transit, KDDI, Pacnet, and Singapore Telecommunications," Yahoo News reported.

Internet users in East Asia are familiar with sometimes sluggish speeds on transpacific transmissions. In my experience, connections are for some reason … Read more

As I type this post, I can hardly see my desk because of the mess of cables. My headphone wires are strewn between my speakers and keyboard, a couple of USB cables are on my left connected to the computer, and more often than not, I'm charging some mobile phone or handheld using the power strip behind my monitor.

Those who find such an arrangement an eyesore (like the colleague who sits beside me) will like the SpaceStation from BlueLounge. This desk organizer for laptop users cleverly hides cables and has an integrated four-port USB hub. Its raised feet … Read more

WASHINGTON--In a political gambit that could lead to higher fees for cable providers and their subscribers, the satellite television industry urged politicians on Thursday to enact a federal law prohibiting "discriminatory" taxes.

DirecTV and Dish Network executives argue that the federal legislation is needed because six states--Ohio, Tennessee, Florida, Kentucky, North Carolina, and Utah--have enacted laws in recent years that impose steeper taxes on satellite subscribers than on cable subscribers. They claim that those laws are a direct result of cable industry lobbying in an effort to make their prices more competitive with those charged by satellite operators. … Read more