Tech Support on Installing a Husband

Dear Tech Support, 

Last year I upgraded from Boyfriend 5.0 to Husband 1.0 and noticed a distinct slow down in overall system performance, particularly in the flower and jewelry applications, which operated flawlessly under Boyfriend 5.0. In addition, Husband 1.0 uninstalled many other valuable programs, such as: Romance 9.5 and Personal Attention 6.5, and then installed undesirable programs such as NBA 5.0, NFL 3.0 and Golf Clubs 4.1.

Also Conversation 8.0 no longer runs, and Housecleaning 2.6 simply crashes the system. Please note that I have tried running Nagging 5.3 to fix these problems, but to no avail. 

What can I do? 

Signed, Desperate. 

DEAR DESPERATE:

First, keep in mind, Boyfriend 5.0 is an Entertainment Package, while Husband 1.0 is an operating system. Please enter command: ithoughtyoulovedme.html and try to download Tears 6.2 and do not forget to install the Guilt 3.0 update. If that application works as designed, Husband 1.0 should then automatically run the applications Jewelry 2.0 and Flowers 3.5. 

However, remember, overuse of the above application can cause Husband 1.0  to default to Grumpy Silence 2..5 , Happy Hour 7.0 or Beer 6.1. Please note that Beer 6.1 is a very bad program that will download the Farting and Snoring Loudly Beta. Whatever you do, DO NOT under any circumstances install Mother-In-Law 1.0 (it runs a virus in the background that will eventually seize control of all your system resources.) 

In addition, please do not attempt to reinstall the Boyfriend 5.0 –program. These are unsupported applications and will crash Husband 1.0.

In summary, Husband 1.0 is a great program, but it does have limited memory and cannot learn new applications quickly. You might consider buying additional software to improve memory and performance. We recommend Cooking 3.0 and Hot Lingerie 7.7. 

Good Luck! Tech Support

Broadband: This Doesn't Look Like a Problem

There continues to be concern expressed about the "lack" of broadband adoption in the U.S. market in some quarters. This illustration of the current and expected state of affairs for a number of nations by Analysys Mason does not suggest there actually is a problem. 

The United States appears to be in the mainstream of penetration rates. 

The Next Big Thing in Wireless Packaging

In the U.S. mobile business, there have been at least two major marketing concepts with huge impact on consumer adoption: "Digital One Rate," which erased the distinction between "local" and "domestic long distance," and "family plans," which principally are responsible for extending mobile penetration to most members of a family. 

The next big innovation? At some point, "data one rate combined with a family plan." The reason? Mobile broadband growth will be retarded until the data access equivalent of a family plan can be bought. Sprint already has taken a step in this direction by offering an "Everything Data" plan supporting two lines with Web and e-mail connectivity plus 1,500 minutes of shared voice services for $130. 

In fact, it is likely one can carry the concept just a bit further and create "data one rate family plans" that simply allow some consumers to buy a single broadband plan that supports all family members, whether in mobile or fixed mode, for a single rate. Executives at AT&T have been talking conceptually about unifying wired and wireless broadband as well, but the company hasn't actually launched anything like that. 

In principle, the idea is a simple extension of family plans, buckets of minutes or text messaging plans already in widespread use. 

There simply is going to be high consumer resistance to buying separate broadband connections for every connected mobile device. 

Clearwire has been talking about casual use plans, which likewise is a step in the right direction AT&T might also be looking at some transaction-based billing scheme that would support multiple Internet-connected devices. There won't be a marketing "big bang" on the order of Digital One Rate or family plans until carriers decide to get just that serious about mass adoption of broadband services. 

More Enterprises Disconnect Locations

The number of enterprises disconnecting network locations reached its highest level in six years during 2008, according to new research by Vertical Systems Group. In a survey of U.S.-based enterprise network managers, 14 percent reported that they had eliminated one or more network locations without adding or moving others. This figure compares to only nine percent from a survey conducted a year ago.

For the most recent survey, 41percent of respondents reported both additions and eliminations, while 16percent added locations without any eliminations. About 29 percent reported no change.

"The pace of network site additions stalled in the second half of 2008, and a significant number of networks are shrinking as compared to a year ago," said Rick Malone, principal at Vertical Systems Group. "Economic uncertainty and business slowdowns are forcing unplanned network reconfigurations, particularly within hard-hit industries like retail and financial.

Location eliminations peaked during the fourth quarter, and we expect this trend to continue throughout the first half of 2009," says Malone.

More At-Work Video Viewing, Nielsen Says

Though some studies continue to suggest that most online video is viewed at home, there also is growing evidence that at-work viewing is up as well. Among online TV viewers, almost nine out of 10 watch online broadcasts at home, according to the Conference Board. 

But a new study by Nielsen Online suggests people spend more time streaming video during weekday working hours than do so on weekends or at home on workday evenings. About 96 percent of at-work Web visitors in October 2008 were using a broadband connection. 

Since most online video is viewed on a PC, and with many employees spending nearly eight hours a day at their computers, workdays are prime time for online video viewing, Nielsen suggests. Nielsen says that 65 percent of online video viewers stream content between 9am to 5pm Monday through Friday, compared to 51 percent of online video viewers who log on between 6am and  8pm on weekends, or 43 percent on workday evenings between 8 pm and 11 pm. 

BT to Get Universal Service Relief

In a major sign of the changing times, it appears Ofcom, the U.K. communications regulator, finally is ready to release BT, the former monopoly provider, from its universal service obligations, which now require BT to run a phone line to every home in the country, as well as provide payphones and other basic services available at a reasonable cost.

Office of Communications Minister Stephen Carter is expected to propose that the legal requirement for BT to provide a phone line to every UK home become a "shared" responsibility whose costs will be borne collectively by all wired or wireless service providers.

Under the proposed new rules, universal service support will be provided by virtually every provider, whether wireless or wireline, and the support will be for universal broadband service, rather than narrowband voice, as has been the case in the past.

Today, BT has sole responsibility for supplying a phone line to every U.K. home. Current estimates are that this costs BT between £57 million and £74 million a year. Under the new rules BT would no longer bear this cost alone.

Presumably the new rules would require wholesale customers of OpenReach to share in universal service obligations.

Though there is no automatic and linear way to apply regulatory formulas used in one country to any other, there is clear logic to redefining "broadband" as the service for which universal service rules apply, rather than "voice," and equal logic to "burden sharing" by wholesale customers using the BT network, given the U.K.'s functional separation regime, where broadband access widely is available as a wholesale service for other retail competitors.

The North American regulatory regime is quite different, so a brute force application might not be feasible in either the United States or Canada, neither of which have the same sort of wholesale regime.

In the U.S. market, only one provider in each market, typically the incumbent local exchange carrier, has a legal requirement to act as "carrier of last resort," providing voice service to all potential customers. But observers long have wondered how long that state of affairs could last as more communications shift to wireless and as incumbents lose market share. In at least a few U.S. markets, the incumbent telco is in fact no longer the biggest provider of wired voice services.

How to rationalize and update universal service support therefore has been, and will continue to be, a contentious issue for U.S. competitors.

Net-Connected TV Theme at CES

Net-connected HDTVs and applications look to be one of the more-prominent themes from this year's Consumer Electronics show. 

Samsung Electronics Co.and Yahoo! Inc. have announced a new Internet-based service to Samsung televisions available in the spring of 2009. Select models in Samsung’s 2009 flat-panel HDTV line-up will be powered by the Yahoo Widget Engine, which enables TV watchers to interact with " TV Widgets"  that bring Web-based content, information and community features to the TV.

Select models in Samsung’s 2009 flat-panel HDTV lines will support the new TV Widget service, called “Internet@TV - Content Service.” The service allows users to engage in a variety of experiences that traditionally could only be enjoyed on a PC. 

That includes functions such as tracking a stock portfolio, reading headline news, browsing through videos, sharing photos or communicating with friends. Users can access the service by connecting the HDTV to a home network via the built-in Ethernet port or using an optional Wi-Fi USB dongle.

The suite of TV Widgets range from Flickr, Yahoo! News, Yahoo! Weather and Yahoo! Finance, to third-party content from well-known brands, including USA Today, YouTube, eBay and Showtime Networks. The content and services offered will grow to include video streaming and other popular internet services over time. 

Developers will be able to develop and deploy TV Widgets for the television by using the open-platform Widget Development Kit.