FCC Report on LightSquared Might Not Settle Much

A report by engineers studying interference issues betweeen LightSquared and GPS and other interests is due to be released June 15, 2011. But the study might only point out the need for further tests, as observers say LightSquared and other companies cannot agree on whether the problem actually can be fixed by using new filters or other methods of preventing interference.

'Where government and private GPS Users and LightSquared will disagree is on the potential for a technical solution,' said Jim Kirkland, vice president and general counsel of Trimble Navigation Limited, a GPS technology company.

The Federal Communications Commission will have to referee the growing disagreement between LightSquared and GPS makers and users, including the Defense Department and Federal Aviation Administration, which is planning to upgrade the U.S.'s existing air traffic control system to one that relies on GPS technologies.

Report to FCC Will Find LightSquared Interferes with GPS - WSJ.com (subscription required)

DOJ Clears Google's Bid for Nortel Patents

U.S. antitrust enforcers have given Google clearance to pursue its $900 million opening bid for some 6,000 patents being sold next week by defunct Canadian telecommunications-equipment maker Nortel Networks Corp., the Wall Street Journal reports.

After an antitrust review, the Justice Department concluded that Google's potential ownership of the patents wouldn't raise any major competitive concerns, these people said.

The clearance could give Google a leg-up against rivals in its bid for the patents, part of its effort to acquire an arsenal of patents that could help it ward off lawsuits by competitors.

Difference Between Apple and Google Cloud Approaches

For many of us, who are just end users, it probably doesn't matter that Google and Apple take arguably different approaches to how applications execute in the cloud and on the device. Developers, architects and geeks think it is more important.

At a high level, some might summarize the difference as Google viewing matters as "cloud and web." For Apple, cloud computing means "cloud and software."

All of the cloud computing services Google offers to consumers, like email, word processing and spreadsheets, happen within the browser. To Google, the point of cloud computing is to replace desktop software with the web. Apple is said to prefer execution within an app.

And of course, many will argue that there are many nuances. Some might say that Google tends to work with the browser are the frame, while Apple tends to work with the screen as the frame, for example. We dumb end users might have our own preferences. But I suspect most end users will appreciate elements of both approaches.

Daring Fireball: It's All Software

After Google Instant, Now Instant Pages

After Google Instant, which guesses at what a user is going to type next when conducting a search, Google now is adding "Instant Pages" that do the same thing for whole web pages. Instant Pages fetches the top search result and keeps it ready in the background while a user is choosing which link to click, saving perhaps two to five seconds on typical searches.

Let’s say you’re searching for information about the Smithsonian Folklife Festival, so you search for "dc folklife festival." As a user scans the results, deciding which one to choose, Google is already prerendering the top search result. That way when the user clicks, the page loads instantly.

Instant Pages will prerender results when we’re confident you’re going to click them.

Official Google Blog: Knocking down barriers to knowledge

Google Introduces Speech Search for Images

Searching with speech recognition started first on mobile, and so did searching with computer vision, Google says. Google Goggles has enabled you to search by snapping a photo on your mobile phone since 2009 and now Google is introducing "Search by Image" on the desktop.

Next to the microphone on images.google.com, you’ll also see a little camera for the new "Search by Image" feature. If you click the camera, you can upload any picture or plug in an image URL from the web and ask Google to figure out what it is.

Official Google Blog: Knocking down barriers to knowledge

Google Adds Speech Driven Search for PCs and Chrome Browsers

Google has been supporting voice search on Android devices for a year or so. Now Google has added speech recognition into search on desktop for Chrome users. If you’re using Chrome, you’ll start to see a little microphone in every Google search box.

Simply click the microphone, and you can speak your search. This can be particularly useful for hard-to-spell searches like "bolognese sauce" or complex searches like "translate to spanish 'where can I buy a hamburger'".

Voice Search on desktop is rolling out now on google.com in English.

Official Google Blog: Knocking down barriers to knowledge

Netflix Streams Putting Pressure on Premium Cable Channels

According to The Diffusion Group’s (TDG’s) latest analysis of Netflix Streamers, people who stream Netflix content to their net-connected devices, the inclination to downgrade PayTV services has doubled in just the last 12 months.

In March 2011, TDG queried a random sample of adult broadband users that subscribe to cable, satellite, or telcoTV service as to the likelihood they would downgrade their PayTV service in the next six months.

In general, the percentage of Netflix streamers likely to downgrade their PayTV service increased from 16 percent in 2010 to 32 percent in 2011.

That should make sense. Netflix primarily is a source of movie content. What do premium channels provide? Primarily movies.

TDG: Proclivity to Downgrade PayTV Services Increasing among Netflix Streamers