planet earth

Building a broadband economy pint by pint

16 March 2013 by Steve Blum
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Tapping into Cybeer space.

Ripping fast fiber optic-powered Internet access has found a worthy application this St. Patrick’s Day weekend: connecting a British pub to the Sierra Nevada brewery in California for an online beer festival.

The Celebration of Beer at the Driftwood Spars Inn in St. Agnes, Cornwall features a live conversation with Sierra Nevada’s Terence Sullivan and Ken Grossman in Chico and an onsite tasting of their signature Pale Ale. The “Cybeer tasting” event follows similar hook-ups between the pub and winemakers.… More

New hope for New Zealand telecoms competition

18 February 2013 by Steve Blum
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Fortunately, there are better ways to spend your time in New Zealand.

New Zealand is a relatively costly place to do Internet-related business. There’s only one underseas cable linking it to the outside world, the Southern Cross, which goes from Australia to California via New Zealand.

That’s two paths in and out of the country, but one owner. It’s not a competitive market. According to Market Clarity, an Australian telecoms research company, Kiwis pay 5.8 times more than Aussies for a gigabyte .… More

HP needs more style, less substance

9 February 2013 by Steve Blum
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First new Chevy of the 80s.

Hewlett Packard is the latest high tech company to distance itself from reported labor practices used by some Chinese contract manufacturers. It’s telling its suppliers to limit the number of student-age workers, the type of work they do and the hours they work.

The email to HP’s suppliers follows similar measures by Apple and Samsung. Two weeks ago, Apple said that a labor contractor used by one of its Chinese suppliers was forging documents in order to hire underage workers.… More

How about renaming the company "Windows"?

5 February 2013 by Steve Blum
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Honest, my first name isn’t Baghdad.

Epidemics are easy to spot in retrospect, but it’s difficult – even dangerous – to predict that one case of a new disease will turn into something virulent. That said, our planet’s mass market of seven or so billion people is slipping away from Microsoft. They’ve caught the same bug that floored the company formerly known as RIM.

Three news items point in that direction. First, Acer is seeing growth in Chromebook sales and sliding Microsoft numbers.… More

China takes a simple, rational step towards FTTH

25 January 2013 by Steve Blum
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It’s a long march to San Leandro.

The Chinese government is adopting a policy that’s been urged here in the U.S. Starting in April, Beijing will require new homes that are built within reach of an Internet backbone to be connected directly by fiber.

It’s one of the policies we looked at when we did an economic development-related study for the City of San Leandro. That particular study was focused on improving commercial and industrial broadband availability, but we looked at the same basic policy question: should broadband be treated like any other essential utility, and be subject to the same sort of minimum requirements when new construction or major remodeling is done?… More

Back of the mobile OS pack getting crowded

23 January 2013 by Steve Blum
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For geeks only. For now.

Telefonica, a multinational telecommunications carrier, is walking point on HTML5. Working with the Mozilla Foundation, the Spanish company announced the upcoming availability of a smart phone running the new Firefox operating system, which is being developed specifically to support HTML5 apps.

The advantage is, in theory, an HTML5 app can run on any phone, regardless of the OS, so long as it has sufficient browser horsepower. So far, the language hasn’t been fully baked (and some question whether it ever will be) but development continues.… More

New Zealand mobile broadband still easy and affordable

20 January 2013 by Steve Blum
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Lake Wanaka, New Zealand. Why spend time on the Internet?

I’ve been doing my annual check on New Zealand’s mobile telecoms, from a traveler’s perspective. Coverage appears to be much the same. Some prices have gone up and some down.

Vodafone and Telecom NZ both deliver 3G service pretty much everywhere I go, in both North and South Islands. I haven’t seen any change from last year in 2degrees’ coverage, which seems to focus on urban areas and not so much in the countryside, where I’ve been spending most of my time this trip.… More

Next wave of global technology brands coming from Southeast Asia

16 January 2013 by Steve Blum
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Disco fever, Hanoi style.

Southeast Asian manufacturers fared better at CES last week than companies from Africa, South America or even India, where the exhibitor count was two, none and ten, respectively.

I counted a total of twenty-one companies from the ASEAN region, with Singapore accounting for thirteen of those and Thailand with three.

Tosy, the sole Vietnamese manufacturer, had the biggest floor presence. The Hanoi-based toy maker was demonstrating its range of dancing robots on a big stage in the Las Vegas Convention Center's Central Hall.… More

Leaving CES, entering the future


Developers jump on a new mobile platform.

If mobile, desktop and other devices like TVs converge on a single operating system, it'll be a Linux variant. When processing, display and input technology get to the point that the size and form factor of a device is irrelevant, an open source ecosystem will provide a cross-sector point of convergence for developers and manufacturers. Service providers will follow. It's an entrepreneurs' world.

Windows 8 will survive as a mobile operating system.… More

Proud and few, African companies at CES

10 January 2013 by Steve Blum
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Nemotek brings Moroccan manufactured products to CES.

More than three thousand companies from 52 countries are exhibiting at CES, but only two are from Africa.

“There's a lot of manufacturing going on,” said Philip Guttentag, CEO of South Africa-based Vivid Audio. “It's just not very well marketed.”

Vivid was showing its sleek speakers in a high-end audio group display. The company makes its products near Durban.

Nemotek designs and builds its tiny CMOS camera modules in Morocco.… More