Google Instant for Mobile

How Smartphone Users See Themselves, How Others See Them

I'm not sure this cartoon is right up there with the classic "if operating systems were airlines," but it's funny.

For many of you, the "operating systems as airlines" references won't make sense. You weren't born when they were used.

For some of you, the depiction of airlines will make perfect sense. Read it here:  http://webaugur.com/bibliotheca/field_stock/os-airlines.html

What Does "4G" Mean, Now that ITU Has Defined it Out of Existence?

The International Telecommunications Union has settled on a definition of "fourth generation" networks that requires 100 Mbps in a mobile deployment and 1 Gbps in a fixed deployment. None of the actual 4G networks now in operation or planned are actually going to run that fast. So now users have to decide whether standards are set in the marketplace or by standards bodies.

Xbox LIVE Gold Members Watch 1 Hour a Day of Streaming Video

About 42 percent of Xbox LIVE Gold members in the US are watching an average of an hour of television and movies on their Xbox, every single day.

1 Billion Entertainment Hours spent on Xbox LIVE every month

Two Hours a Day of HDTV Per User Will Require 548 Times More Access Bandwidth

Akamai President David Kenny says that in five years the average user will consume two hours a day of high-definition video. To accommodate this insatiable demand, the Internet will need to increase capacity 548 times from where it is today.

That could have all sorts of implications. People might have to pay much-higher fees for bandwidth. People might refuse to pay, and limit their consumption of HD video. People might decide linear delivery and on-demand consumption (store and forward) actually provides high value at reasonable cost, and wind up watching most of their HD video on linear services that have digital video recorder features.

Application providers or service providers might come up with new ways of alleviating the bandwidth necessary to consume on-demand video. Advertising might wind up being a lot more important than it is today. Or all of the above, and other steps, might have to be taken.

Digital Primetime Arrives Just in Time to Crush the Net

Elections Have Consequences: Net Neutrality Might be One of Them

Elections have clear consequences, where it comes to the telecommunications industry, because of the foundational role of regulations in shaping the business. So it probably is noteworthy that 95 Congressional and Senate candidates who signed a pledge supporting "network neutrality" lost their races on Nov. 2, 2010.

The pledge, circulated by a group called the "Progressive Change Campaign Committee," was signed by all 95 candidates, and all 95 lost their races.

Net neutrality gets election night shellacking

4% Use Check-In Services

About four percent of online adults use a service such as Foursquare or Gowalla that allows them to share their location with friends and to find others who are nearby, according to the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life project. On any given day, one percent of Internet users are using these services.

In a May 2010 survey, five percent of adult Internet users said they had used such a site.

Some seven percent of adults who go online with their mobile phone use a location-based service, the report suggests. About eight percent of online adults ages 18 to 29 use location-based services, significantly more than online adults in any other age group.