Broadband

The cable industry insists that it's ready and able to compete with Google Fiber when it comes to delivering ultra high-speed broadband.

Indeed, Comcast CEO Brian Roberts last week showed off a 3Gbps cable broadband connection at the industry's annual trade show in Washington, D.C. That's three times faster than Google Fiber, which itself is nearly 150 times faster than the current average broadband connection in the U.S. Armed with that capability, he confidently welcomed Google's challenge to deliver ultra high-speed broadband to consumers.

"I hope there's a demand for (Google Fiber),&… Read more

In 2011, Loris Elementary School in Loris, S.C., was ranked 41st in the state among grammar schools with similar demographics. By 2012, it had risen to 19th.

What happened? According to the White House: technology.

Many of the students at Loris Elementary School are from low-income families that don't have the means to give their children all of today's high-tech devices, according to the Obama administration. That's why in 2012 the school decided to introduce a technology blended learning program complete with laptops, software, and Internet access. It's apparently made a difference.

President Barack Obama … Read more

Six months after wireline telephone operators and trade groups asked the Federal Communications Commission for permission to begin shutting down their aging switched networks, the agency responded late Friday, calling for further study.

In a public notice (PDF) issued by an agency task force created in December 2012, the FCC reiterated the importance of accelerating the transition from switched networks to native IP infrastructure. But rather than approving limited trials to test technical and regulatory obstacles to a full conversion, the agency instead raised more questions about the trials and called for more rounds of comments.

The task force also … Read more

John McCain wants to make it easier for consumers to buy only the TV shows they want to watch.

On Thursday, the Arizona senator introduced legislation that would force cable operators and other TV providers to split up their so-called programming bundles and instead offer TV shows in smaller, more affordable packages and as a la carte channels. His legislation, called the Television Consumer Freedom Act, also would require sports leagues that use publicly financed stadiums to broadcast home games within their local markets. Now many home games are blacked out in an effort to encourage fans to go to … Read more

Believe it or not, there are still parts of the U.S. that don't have access to high-speed Internet. But that's looking to change with the onset of TV white-space broadband technology.

The first commercial application of this type of service in the U.S. is coming to a rural area of Northern California called El Dorado County, or Gold Country. Internet provider Cal.net is partnering with network equipment provider Carlson to bring this region's residents something more than dial-up.

"Over 59,000 residents in our rural service area have had little or no quality … Read more

Boxee's products along with devices from similar companies like Roku have become necessary pieces of equipment for so-called cord-cutters. But now the company is courting traditional TV providers, like broadcasters and cable operators.

Boxee was among the first companies to shake up the traditional TV market by offering a product that allowed people to stream movies and TV shows from Internet services directly to the TV.

In the years since the company launched, its product has evolved from a software platform to a dedicated box that provided access to content from Netflix and other streaming partners. And most recently, … Read more

LAS VEGAS--One major U.S. broadcaster upset with last week's court decision that upheld the right of Internet TV company Aereo to stream broadcast TV to its customers in New York without paying retransmission fees says his company will find new ways to monetize its content if the courts don't protect its copyright interests.

Speaking at the opening session of the National Association of Broadcasters' annual trade show here today, Chase Carey, chief operations officer of News Corp., said that his broadcast network, Fox, will change its business model to ensure it gets paid for TV content it … Read more

Google and Austin, Texas, have invited press and business leaders to a joint event in the city, which has some people speculating whether Austin might be the next place to get Google Fiber.

The event, which is to be held this Tuesday at 11 a.m., doesn't specify what will be announced. It simply says that "the City of Austin and Google will make a very important announcement that will have a positive impact on Austinites and the future of the city."

Austin city officials are mum on the news. And Google public relations representatives have declined … Read more

Hipsters rejoice. Amazon is adding vinyl records to its AutoRip service, which lets people store music in the cloud.

The company introduced the AutoRip service in January. In its original form, the service allows people who buy or have ever bought CDs on Amazon to also store a digital copy of that album in the Amazon Cloud Player. The company said today in its press release that the service has been extended to vinyl records. Customers should look for the AutoRip logo to know which vinyl records offer digital copies.

The way it works is that when customers purchase an … Read more