Jul 24, 2006 | broadband, business
Broadband Internet access by satellite has been available for years, but it’s never been very appealing. Only the truly desperate signed up with Hughes – horrible speeds, frequent outages, and nonexistent tech support made for a lot of frustrated...
Jul 2, 2006 | business, Internet
Net neutrality refers to a founding principle of the Internet, that the companies in the middle handling the movement of data would treat all packets equally. The telcos and cable companies see a revenue opportunity in charging premium rates for certain traffic, so...
Jul 1, 2006 | business, Google, web_services
Business Week has an article about Google’s nonsearch products. According to the article, 99% of Google’s revenue comes from its small text ads on search pages and so far none of Google’s other products are changing that equation.In the last couple...
Jun 7, 2006 | business, video
It’s easy to imagine movies on demand, streamed to your television over the Internet. Unfortunately, there’s also reason to think that it will be many years before that becomes real. Not only are there significant technical barriers, but movie studios make...
May 31, 2006 | audio, business, web_services
Recently I wrote some notes about Sony’s record of failure in developing consumer electronics and music products. Here’s the story behind the collapse of the Sony Connect online music store, a tangled tale of personalities and corporate politics gone...
May 28, 2006 | audio, business, DRM, web_services
The Urge music service, an iTunes competitor jointly sponsored by Microsoft and MTV, is supposed to be one of the major selling points of the new Windows Media Player 11. When I clicked on it the first time, the service asked permission to download some software. I...
