Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Get Ready for Net Neutrality Lawsuits

The Federal Communications Commission sent its net neutrality rules Friday to the Federal Register for publication.

The Federal Register typically takes one to three weeks to publish regulations after receiving them. The rules will take effect 60 days after publication. But the lawsuits challenging the rules will be filed almost immediately, so don't hold your breath waiting for anything to change.

WSJ.com Inside Facebook

WSJ Social (https://social.wsj.com) is The Wall Street Journal’s app on Facebook, through which you can read, share and comment on WSJ content right within the Facebook environment.

How does WSJ Social differ from WSJ.com? WSJ Social is The Wall Street Journal’s app on Facebook, offering a new way for you to easily read and share the most important WSJ news to you – all within the Facebook environment. In WSJ Social, you’re the “editor.” Every user is an editor, and the best editors – the ones who amass the greatest number of readers by consistently sharing the most relevant and interesting content – are the app’s top editors.

How do I log in to and access WSJ Social? To log in to the WSJ Social app on Facebook, use the same login and password you use to log into Facebook today. To add the WSJ Social app to your Facebook account, simply go to https://social.wsj.com and accept the Facebook permissions request.

Google Voice "Soon" for Europe

Google is currently testing its telephony service Google Voice in Europe, ahead of a planned launch outside the United States for the first time, the company’s European Director of Business Development, Jens Redmer says.


Redmer couldn’t give a precise launch date. He said that the launch didn't hinge on engineering issues, but rather regulatory issues.

Google phone call from Gmail in the UK from The Next Web on Vimeo.

Google confirms that if you’re outside the United States and you set your language to U.S. English in Gmail, this feature might become available to you.


When Google announced it was rolling out the ability to make Google Voice calls within Gmail, there was the slight caveat that users outside the USA couldn’t use it.

Inflection Point for Some Online Businesses?

For years brick-and-mortar companies happily coexisted with their e-rivals. Borders, for instance, actually increased sales from 2000 to 2005 as it dueled Amazon. Now those days seem to be ending. 

Major Google+ Updates: Hangouts Go Mobile

Lots of people think videoconferencing will be an important future revenue stream. Others think widespread use of Skype video sessions and now Google+ "Hangouts" is displacing much of that potential demand.

Alos, Google Hangouts is now available on Android phones today, as an update to Google+. Users can also broadcast Hangouts sessions to the world using a new "On Air" feature, collaborate with others during Hangouts by sharing your screen and working together on Google Docs or Sketchpad.

Google is also renaming its Huddles group chat feature on mobile devices to Messenger

Google+ Exits Private Beta: Anyone Can Join Now

google_plus_open_networkGoogle+ has exited private beta, and now is open for anyone to join. Go to google.com/+ to become a member. 

Wireless backhaul will help triple Ethernet spending by 2016

Insight Research Ethernet revenues 2009-2016By 2016, U.S. enterprises and consumers will spend over $44 billion on carrier Ethernet services, Insight Research now forecasts, up from $4 billion in 2011.

DIY and Licensed GenAI Patterns Will Continue

As always with software, firms are going to opt for a mix of "do it yourself" owned technology and licensed third party offerings....