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The Telecom Digest for June 14, 2012
Volume 31 : Issue 144 : "text" Format
====== 30 years of TELECOM Digest -- Founded August 21, 1981 ======
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Telecom and VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) Digest for the
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See the bottom of this issue for subscription and archive details
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Date: Tue, 12 Jun 2012 14:58:20 -0400
From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Merging Cellphones and Dashboards
Message-ID: <p0624084acbfd419e6a5a@[10.0.1.2]>
Merging Cellphones and Dashboards
By ROY FURCHGOTT
June 8, 2012
SEEKING to please those customers clamoring for more features in
their cars, General Motors will soon make a novel offer: give them
less.
No, G.M.'s strategy is not to shortchange buyers, but simply to let
them avoid buying what they already own. Today, calling home is
rarely done on a phone built into the dashboard, and recorded music
is less often stored on CDs jammed into the glove box; increasingly,
the smartphone in the driver's pocket serves both needs.
So G.M.'s newest approach is a fundamental shift in philosophy from
the practice of embedding such technology in the bowels of the car.
Instead, it will offer an inexpensive link that lets drivers control
their phone - and more important, its apps - using the dashboard
touch screen.
Although phones have routinely connected to the dash for calls, this
system is far more versatile. Buyers of two Chevrolet models will be
able to get music and directions through subscription or phone
service plans they already have.
Essentially, G.M. is proposing to replace the cellphone's windshield
cradle with software.
There are many benefits to this alternative approach, starting with
its lower price. When the Chevrolet Spark goes on sale next month,
the upper-level 1LT and 2LT models, which start under $15,000, will
come with the infotainment system MyLink and a 7-inch touch screen as
standard equipment. (The larger Chevy Sonic will offer MyLink late
this summer.)
A cellphone-style infotainment system can bring other advantages: the
interface is typically more familiar to users, especially young ones,
and its maps are fresher than those of onboard DVDs.
But there can be shortcomings. An app like Google Maps downloads data
to a phone while it is in use, and most phone plans limit the amount
of data you can use. At the least, it means people would need more
expensive data plans.
...
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/10/automobiles/merging-cellphones-and-dashboards.html
Date: Tue, 12 Jun 2012 17:03:26 -0400
From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: In Haverhill case, texting while driving deserves stiff sentence
Message-ID: <p06240801cbfd5dee0d27@[10.0.1.2]>
EDITORIAL
In Haverhill case, texting while driving deserves stiff sentence
The Boston Globe
JUNE 12, 2012
Sometimes an action is so dangerous, yet so accepted, that people need
a powerful deterrent. When it comes to texting while driving, that
deterrent now has a face: 18-year-old Aaron Deveau of Haverhill. Last
week, a Haverhill District Court jury convicted Deveau of motor
vehicle homicide in the death of Daniel Bowley Jr., who died in 2011
after Deveau's car collided with his head-on. Deveau, the jury found,
had been texting behind the wheel just before the crash. Judge Stephen
Abany sentenced Deveau to a year in prison and a 15-year suspension of
his driver's license.
Reactions have ranged from dismay that Deveau won't serve the maximum
prison term of 4 years to shock, largely from teenagers, that an act
so commonplace could produce a sentence so stiff - including going
carless for a decade and a half. In fact, Abany's sentence is both
just and wise. Deveau had no prior record, suggesting the need for
some leniency. But his actions were undeniably dangerous, and the fact
that they were commonplace doesn't change the fact that he should have
known better. Cellphone use while driving is a problem of epidemic
proportions; a new state survey found that 42 percent of Massachusetts
high school students - and 61 percent of seniors - admit to texting
behind the wheel. Deveau's sentence sends a message to drivers of any
age that this casual action is, in fact, an act of supreme
endangerment.
http://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/editorials/2012/06/12/haverhill-case-texting-while-driving-deserves-stiff-sentence/qBubh70CrJLTNL9EAwUi6O/story.html?s_campaign=8315
-or-
http://goo.gl/wwZe5
Date: Tue, 12 Jun 2012 14:56:52 -0400
From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: F.T.C. Levies First Fine Over Internet Data
Message-ID: <p06240849cbfd414b56ca@[10.0.1.2]>
F.T.C. Levies First Fine Over Internet Data
By EDWARD WYATT
June 12, 2012
WASHINGTON - The Federal Trade Commission assessed an $800,000 fine
on Tuesday against Spokeo, a data collector that the commission said
violated federal law by compiling and selling people's personal
information for use by potential employers in screening job
applicants.
The action is the F.T.C.'s first case addressing the sale of Internet
and social media data for use in employment screening.
Spokeo, of Pasadena, Calif., agreed to settle the civil charges
without admitting that they are true. The trade commission alleged
that Spokeo violated the Fair Credit Reporting Act by marketing its
consumer profiles without making sure that they would be used for
legal purposes, failing to insure their accuracy and neglecting to
tell consumers of its own responsibilities under federal law.
The F.T.C. also charged that Spokeo created fake endorsements of its
service and posted those comments on news and technology Web sites
and blogs. In fact, the commission said, the comments were made up by
Spokeo's own employees.
The trade commission normally does not have the ability to assess
fines, but in this instance it was allowed to do so under the Fair
Credit Reporting Act.
In a statement posted on its corporate blog, Spokeo said it has made
changes to its business practices and Web site to ensure that it does
not violate the consumer protections of the Fair Credit Reporting Act.
...
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/13/technology/ftc-levies-first-fine-over-internet-data.html
Date: Tue, 12 Jun 2012 12:56:02 -0400
From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Re: Mystery of Big Data's Parallel Universe Brings Fear, and a Thrill
Message-ID: <p06240841cbfd24bfa5e4@[10.0.1.2]>
(The Wall Street Journal's "What They Know" page has a gaggle of
articles about privacy, or more accurately, the lack of it, in
cellular users' online worlds. - Moderator)
The Wall Street Journal
http://online.wsj.com/public/page/what-they-know-digital-privacy.html
Date: Tue, 12 Jun 2012 12:25:32 -0400
From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Verizon's shared data plans won't save solo users much money
Message-ID: <p0624083acbfd1daffe27@[10.0.1.2]>
Verizon's shared data plans won't save solo users much money
But they should save families with multiple devices some dough.
by Casey Johnston
Ars Technica
June 12 2012
Verizon's shared data plans will finally be available to customers
starting June 28. Well, not exactly shared data plans-plans that
share everything, including data, unlimited texts, and unlimited
voice minutes. Currently, there's no way to get shared data without
an otherwise fully unlimited plan.
Verizon and AT&T have been promising shared data on family plans for
some time, saying it was a logical evolution of the way phone plans
have been offered. Verizon's new plan charges an "account access"
rate based on the size of the shared data bucket, and then a separate
fee per device that uses the plan. The least expensive access fee is
$10 per tablet, going up to $40 per smartphone. Plans start at $50 to
share 1GB, up to $100 for 10GB.
...
http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2012/06/verizons-shared-data-plans-wont-save-solo-users-much-money/
Date: Tue, 12 Jun 2012 12:45:15 -0400
From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: How Africa is embracing "the cloud" on its own terms
Message-ID: <p0624083fcbfd221b07bf@[10.0.1.2]>
How Africa is embracing "the cloud" on its own terms
Mix mobile phones and power outages, and cloud-based services prove crucial.
by Sean Gallagher
Ars Technica
June 12 2012
You're probably one of the lucky people. You live within the coverage
zone of a 3G or 4G cellular network, you have access to Internet at
home and work over a connection measured in tens of megabits per
second, and when you turn on your laptop (or your tablet, or your
smartphone) you can see three, four, or twenty nearby WiFi networks.
Cloud computing was invented for people like you-but it might turn
out to be of even more benefit to the billions of people who don't
own a computer-those dark places on Facebook's map of connections-and
whose lives could be changed dramatically by a couple of mobile apps.
Take Africa, for instance, where an emerging information technology
industry is betting its future on serving customers and businesses
through mobile cloud applications. At the same time, governments and
non-governmental organizations are betting that cloud-based
technology can help transform their economies and societies, spurring
improvements in education, public health, and the environment.
It sounds great, but making the cloud work in Africa remains a
non-trivial problem. Just ask anyone who has run a data center
there-they will tell you how expensive and frustrating it can be to
work on a continent where it's often cheaper to connect back to an
overseas data center from a co-location facility than to connect with
a customer a few miles away; where most people don't even have
landline, let alone wired Internet; and where the electrical grid
could suddenly stop working for hours or even days at a time.
Those very challenges make Africa an increasingly attractive proving
ground for cloud computing, though, especially for mobile
applications. Out of the one billion people in Africa, only an
estimated 140 million use the Internet, but over 600 million use
mobile phones, according to data from the World Bank.
At the East Africa Outsourcing Summit in Nairobi on June 6, Kenya ICT
Board CEO Paul Kukubo said, "The world is beginning to pay attention
to the idea that even in Africa, if you can solve African problems,
you can create an IT product that is attractive to the rest of the
world." As the tagline of Shimba Technologies, a Nairobi-based mobile
application developer, says, "If it works in Africa, it will work
anywhere."
While the problems Africa faces in terms of making cloud computing
work are uniquely African, the solutions developed there could help
to provide more universal access to Internet and cloud services
elsewhere-including underserved areas here in the US.
...
http://arstechnica.com/business/2012/06/why-africa-embraces-cloud-computing/
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