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The Telecom Digest for October 27, 2011
Volume 30 : Issue 273 : "text" Format
====== 30 years of TELECOM Digest -- Founded August 21, 1981 ======
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Date: Tue, 25 Oct 2011 18:46:48 -0400
From: Bill Horne <bill@horneQRM.net>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Ars Technica accuses AT&T of buying support for the T-Mobile purchase
Message-ID: <CAFY5RQJXO68oimZO38czJBdZJJUMtDX97QSKQDY=C9Vbhv94pg@mail.gmail.com>
Ars Technica has an article that says AT&T is paying donations to multiple
charitable organizations who support it's purchase of T-Mobile.
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2011/10/into-the-depths-of-atts-let-us-buy-t-mobile-astroturf-campaign.ars
Bill
(Remove QRM from my email address to write me directly)
Date: Wed, 26 Oct 2011 00:00:22 -0400
From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Screen Time Higher Than Ever for Children
Message-ID: <p06240831cacd2297c349@[10.0.1.9]>
Screen Time Higher Than Ever for Children
By TAMAR LEWIN
October 25, 2011
Jaden Lender, 3, sings along softly with the "Five Little Monkeys"
app on the family iPad, and waggles his index finger along with the
monkey doctor at the warning, "No more monkeys jumping on the bed!"
He likes crushing the ants in "Ant Smasher," and improving his swing
in the golf app. But he is no app addict: when the one featuring
Grover from Sesame Street does not work right, Jaden says, "Come on,
iPad!'" - then wanders happily off to play with his train set.
"I'll lie to myself that these are skill builders,'" said his father,
Keith Lender, who has downloaded dozens of tablet and smart phone
apps for Jaden and his 1-year-old brother, Dylan. "No, I'm not
lying," he said, correcting himself. "Jaden's really learning
hand-eye coordination from the golf game, and it beats the hell out
of sitting and watching television."
Despite the American Academy of Pediatrics' longstanding
recommendations to the contrary, children under 8 are spending more
time than ever in front of screens, according to a study scheduled
for release Tuesday.
The report also documents for the first time an emerging "app gap" in
which affluent children are likely to use mobile educational games
while those in low-income families are the most likely to have
televisions in their bedrooms.
The study, by Common Sense Media, a San Francisco nonprofit group, is
the first of its kind since apps became widespread, and the first to
look at screen time from birth. It found that almost half the
families with incomes above $75,000 had downloaded apps specifically
for their young children, compared with one in eight of the families
earning less than $30,000. More than a third of those low-income
parents said they did not know what an "app" - short for application
- was.
...
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/25/us/screen-time-higher-than-ever-for-children-study-finds.html
***** Moderator's Note *****
I'll bet there's an app that tells ipod users that their kids are
using too many apps.
I'll bet there's an app that reveals I and my brother spent too much
time outdoors playing with wooden guns when we kids, and predicting
that we'd all be serial killers because we weren't being exposed to
the educational material available on TV.
Bill Horne
Moderator
Date: Wed, 26 Oct 2011 00:04:43 -0400
From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: A quizzical response to the new bar codes
Message-ID: <p0624083bcacd37068d2c@[10.0.1.9]>
A quizzical response to the new bar codes
By Beth Teitell
Globe Staff / October 8, 2011
Katie McLoughlin, a hip South End resident, was strolling Newbury
Street when she saw something she'd never noticed: a square piece of
paper with a black and white pattern, posted on a real estate
billboard.
It's the kind of thing that is popping up regularly these days, but
what, exactly, is it? "A reincarnation of those magic eye puzzles
from the '90s - you cross your eyes and the image pops out?'' guessed
McLoughlin, 27. She took another look, and admitted defeat. "I have
no idea.''
The answer: a kind of bar code known as Quick Response. Scan one with
your phone, and you can get additional product information, watch an
exclusive video, win a prize, or, in the case of Group Boston Real
Estate's QR code, learn square-footage and condo-fee numbers for
advertised properties.
QR codes have quickly become the darling of the mobile marketing
world. But despite their increasing ubiquity - they have appeared on
Taco Bell cups, plants at the Home Depot , and Target toy catalogs-
many consumers remain either totally ignorant or baffled.
...
http://articles.boston.com/2011-10-08/business/30258392_1_qr-scan-ymca-branch
***** Moderator's Note *****
How is this different than what "Cue-Cat" tried to do? Does anyone
remember Cue-Cat?
Bill Horne
Moderator
Date: Wed, 26 Oct 2011 16:36:36 -0700 (PDT)
From: "daryl.gibson@gmail.com" <daryl.gibson@gmail.com>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Re: A quizzical response to the new bar codes
Message-ID: <6b061073-1740-4fbf-ac1e-6ead801f16c2@p14g2000pra.googlegroups.com>
> How is this different than what "Cue-Cat" tried to do? Does anyone
> remember Cue-Cat?
>
> Bill Horne
> Moderator
There have been a number of companies that that have tried such
things. Cue-cat was one, [and] Panasonic tried to get barcodes on TV
listings (hardly anyone did it) in order to make programming VCRs
easier for the dolts. Modern 2D barcodes can contain a lot of
information, including maps locations, contact information, network
information, URLs, telephone numbers, and free text of any type. They
can be created by anyone, from multiple online sources. QR code
readers are available from a number of sources for smart phones, and
creating them is simple.
Try it yourself:
http://zxing.appspot.com/generator/
Date: Wed, 26 Oct 2011 03:08:18 +0000 (UTC)
From: moroney@world.std.spaamtrap.com (Michael Moroney)
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Re: Edison's powrer network (Was Re: Telegraph turns 150
Message-ID: <j87tj2$703$1@pcls6.std.com>
>***** Moderator's Note *****
>I meant "system", but it was a network in the sense that any
>commercial company needs to have a combination of people, plan, and
>ability that makes it into a "network" of commercial interests.
>I know that Edison didn't envision a power grid: he once said that the
>only way to move electricity from city to city was to charge batteries
>and load them onto railroad flatcars. My point was that he used the
>same voltage he was familiar with from his days as a telegrapher, and
>we in the U.S. are still using it, although it has been converted to AC.
>Bill Horne
>Moderator
The voltage has been bumped a little since Edison. The nominal voltage
was raised to 115V in the 30s or thereabouts, and when I was dissecting
radios as a youth they were all rated at 117 volts, and these days,
everything is rated for 120V.
Edison outright hated AC, to the point where he couldn't see how AC would
be a better choice for an electricity system. Edison would have had a
world with smallish (DC) power plants on every block.
I suppose Edison gets the last laugh, with the modern systems for
transmitting power for very long distances being high voltage DC.
***** Moderator's Note *****
I think it's the Amish who get the last laugh: the economy has made
everyone conscious of the cost of leaving lights on and depending on
electricity for too many things in too many places.
The idea of getting up with the sun and lighting my house with one or
two lanterns seems a lot more sensible to me now.
Bill Horne
Moderator
Date: Wed, 26 Oct 2011 07:52:44 -0700 (PDT)
From: Wes Leatherock <wleathus@yahoo.com>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Re: Edison's power network (Was Re: Telegraph turns 150
Message-ID: <1319640764.82018.YahooMailClassic@web111719.mail.gq1.yahoo.com>
--- On Tue, 10/25/11, Michael Moroney <moroney@world.std.spaamtrap.com> wrote:
> Edison outright hated AC, to the point where he couldn't see how AC
> would be a better choice for an electricity system. Edison would
> have had a world with smallish (DC) power plants on every block.
>
> I suppose Edison gets the last laugh, with the modern systems for
> transmitting power for very long distances being high voltage DC.
But that high voltage D.C. can only by created in practice by using
Tesla's A.C. to raise the voltage that high, and then rectifying it
back to D.C.
Wes Leatherock
wleathus@yahoo.com
wesrock@aol.com
***** Moderator's Note *****
Yes, that's true, of course, but it's not the point. Edison, who was
the prototypical self-promoting hustler, was apoplectic that Tesla's
invention was more so much more useful and practical than his. In
other words, Edison hated Tesla because Alternating Current
threatened, at least in Edison's mind, his status as the "Wizard of
Menlo Park" and the public view of him as the preeminent inventor of
the time.
Edison was also spiteful about Bell's "Phongraph spelled backwards
Gramaphone", which was Edison's competition in the recorded music
business, even though Bell's invention was markedly superior in tone
quality.
Bill Horne
Moderator
Date: Wed, 26 Oct 2011 05:56:24 -0700
From: Thad Floryan <thad@thadlabs.com>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Re: UPDATE: Steven VanRoekel, CIO of the USA, speaks at Xerox PARC
Message-ID: <4EA80378.5070506@thadlabs.com>
On 10/24/2011 3:34 PM, Thad Floryan wrote:
> On 10/24/2011 2:56 AM, Thad Floryan wrote:
>> " Don't miss this opportunity to hear and interact with Steven VanRoekel,
>> " the Chief Information Officer of the United States, in his first public
>> " appearance since his appointment by President Barack Obama in August 2011.
>> " VanRoekel, who has been a visionary leader at Microsoft and the FCC, will
>> " share his priorities for the Federal IT landscape and his vision for how
>> " technology can enable the government to do more for the American people,
>> " even as we face constrained resources.
>>
>> Details of the free meeting at Xerox PARC in Palo Alto CA are here:
>>
>>
>> http://www.parc.com/event/1613/evening-with-steven-vanroekel.html
>>
>> [...]
A reasonably complete report of the material that was discussed
can be read here (appeared online at 4am PDT) though the meeting
place was incorrectly stated -- it was at Xerox PARC in Palo Alto CA
whereas the Churchill Club is in San Jose CA:
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/10/25/BU901LM2BG.DTL
The first several paragraphs are:
" The nation's top technology official on Tuesday unveiled a "future
" first" strategy designed to minimize the delays that routinely
" sentence government technology projects to early obsolescence.
"
" In an interview, federal Chief Information Officer Steven VanRoekel
" said the plan centers on building small applications that can be
" quickly and cheaply plugged in and upgraded.
"
" For example, in the past the federal government would take years and
" spend hundred of millions to install one broad software package
" covering every aspect of financial management. Going forward, it's
" more likely to rapidly put in place separate ledger, auditing and
" payroll components that can be updated or replaced independently, but
" work together seamlessly.
"
" "The hope is that the future of government is modular and future-
" ready," VanRoekel said. "The government really needs to switch
" to lean startup mode."
"
" VanRoekel was set to present the strategy, which he believes will make
" the federal government more efficient, nimble and cost effective,
" Tuesday night in a keynote address at the Churchill Club in Palo Alto.
"
" The critical problem with the old approach is that systems often
" arrive over budget, past deadline and deeply flawed.
"
" "We have many cases where these long, very expensive projects are
" obsolete by the time you're done," he said.
"
" Famously, the FBI's Virtual Case File initiative, an effort to bring
" the agency's antiquated case-tracking systems into the 21st century,
" took $170 million and five years to build. In the end, it was so buggy
" and unusable that the system was scrapped.
{ article continues at the above SFGate URL }
Date: Wed, 26 Oct 2011 07:40:41 -0700 (PDT)
From: Wes Leatherock <wleathus@yahoo.com>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Re: Hard-of-hearing phones (Was: dugout telephones
Message-ID: <1319640041.71612.YahooMailClassic@web111712.mail.gq1.yahoo.com>
--- On Tue, 10/25/11, HAncock4 <withheld@invalid.telecom-digest.org> wrote:
> Because of noise, it may be helpful to have volume control handsets.
> These have been available since the 1950s and easily available
> today. The standard telephone set ringer is pretty loud on its
> highest setting, but they also make extra loud auxillary ringers
> (gas stations and school gyms used to have them).
An anecdote that might be of interest here, as related to me by the
telco wire chief in Bartlesville, Okla., which also was the
headquarters of Phillips Petroleum Company.
The Bell Labs, in the 1930s or 1940s, announced they had invented a
phone with variable volume, especially for use of people with
diminished hearing.
Frank Phillips, CEO of Phillips Petroleum, was partially deaf. He
called the wire chief (whose name I now forget), showed him the
announcement and said he wanted such a phone. (in a small town like
Bartlesville, dominated by Phillips, Frank often called the wire chief
directly and the wire chief often worked in Frank's office.)
Anyway, the wire chief sent word up through the lines, calling
attention to the customer who wanted the phone. He kept getting no
encouraging respose, and Mr. Phillips asked if [it] would help if the
called the president and CEO of AT&T, with whom he was, of course, on
a first name basis. The wire chief asked him to hold off for now and
he would make another try. The wire chief of course sent word up the
line as to what Frank proposed to do.
He heard nothing for severeal weeks and then a plain brown package
arrived from the Labs, containing such a phone and a hand-drawn wiring
diagram.
He waited a week or two, expecting to hear from state headquarters
about it and the pricing, but he heard nothing and decided he wan't
going to. So he went to Mr. Phillips's office and installed it, to
Mr. Phillips's great appreciation. He never heard anything further,
and decided what they sent him was the prototype that was extolled in
the media.
Wes Leatherock
wleathus@yahoo.com
wesrock@aol.com
Date: Wed, 26 Oct 2011 20:16:06 +0000
From: "Quinn, Michael J." <mquinn@mitre.org>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Re: Edison's power network
Message-ID: <5E50D6DF9C4E074CA597625E527A0540018561@IMCMBX02.MITRE.ORG>
For an interesting description of the competition between AC and DC, I
heartily recommend "Empires of Light: Edison, Tesla, Westinghouse, and
the Race to Electrify the World" by Jill Jonnes.
Mike Quinn
Springfield VA
Date: Wed, 26 Oct 2011 19:01:10 -0400
From: "Geoffrey Welsh" <gwelsh@spamcop.net>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Re: dugout phones--the plot thickens
Message-ID: <a502d$4ea89136$adce93f1$28498@PRIMUS.CA>
Curt Bramblett wrote:
> Seems that the bullpen did not hear St. Louis' manager's call for
> another pitcher. Twice! So how hard is it to get phones that can be
> heard above the noise?
I've seen several phones with lights that flash when ringing... surely that
would help and could have been included. In an open space like a bullpen,
you could put multiple lights so that one would be visible no matter what
direction one was facing.
Date: Wed, 26 Oct 2011 02:25:06 -0500
From: bonomi@host122.r-bonomi.com (Robert Bonomi)
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Re: dugout telephones
Message-ID: <Er6dnbM6zeZPKDrTnZ2dnUVZ_jOdnZ2d@posted.nuvoxcommunications>
In article <ee69ebd7-1061-4fc1-9888-c3c3e8285c08@g7g2000vbv.googlegroups.com>,
HAncock4 <withheld@invalid.telecom-digest.org> wrote:
>On Oct 24, 10:25 am, Curt Bramblett <CurtBramblett.remove-t...@and-
>this-too.cfl.rr.com> wrote:
>> Can someone here add some insight to this:
>>
>>http://tinyurl.com/5wfr6mk
>> ...
>
>"Eric Gagne, then the closer for the Los Angeles Dodgers, made the
>dugout phone at Pac Bell Park in San Francisco an outlet for his
>frustrations, snapping the cord in half while swiping at the receiver
>and in the process earning himself a $500 repair bill from the Giants.
>"
>
>How does a cut cord and broken handset cost $500 to repair?
Did you see anything that said he was only charged the 'cost' of
repair? grin
I'm willing to bet that the bill includes a substantial mark-up,
to serve as a 'deterrent' against a repeat of the behavior.
>Anyway, I would think such dugout phones would be part of the
>stadium's PBX, with a restriction against making outside calls (a
>standard long time PBX feature).
What you 'would think' is very likely incorrect. I cannot speak
with regard to every baseball facility, but the ones I have been
in, the phones are simple "hot ringdown" pairs. This requires little
more than 'talk battery', a ring generator, and a few relays.
>I've seen pictures of dugouts and there were often two wall phones.
One to the bull-pen, the other to the 'observer' in the press box.
>Phone service would be necessary not only to call the bullpen, but
>also stadium security, stadium management offices, team management
>offices, the locker room, PA announcer, and first-aid.
Stadium security has their own people close at hand. who are 'radio
equipped'. If medical services are needed, security will do the
summoning. If stadium management is needed, security -- who works
for the stadium -- con summon them.
Similarly, stadium operations staff are close to hand, and can summon
their management if/when needed. Generally, however, the 'decision maker'
for anything of a stadium operations nature is close to hand.
During a game, the visiting team is 'not able' to talk to their team
management office -- if they needed to talk to 'management' that is
not up in the press box -- that is, and, therefore, the home team
can't do it either.
>(Actually, I would think such phones should have outside capability
>in case of an emergency; I'm surprised league regulations would
>prohibit it.)
I'm surprised that you're surprised. <grin>
"Outside" communications are forbidden by league policy, to prevent
"cheating", i.e., to prevent the possibility that it might APPEAR that
someone could be cheating.
There is no need for outside communications, from_the_dugout in an
emergency. 'Emergency' communications are Security's responsibility.
>Because of noise, it may be helpful to have volume control handsets.
>These have been available since the 1950s and easily available today.
>The standard telephone set ringer is pretty loud on its highest
>setting,
A standard phone ringer is laughably inadequate, given the crowd-noise
levels at most team-based sports events
>but they also make extra loud auxillary ringers (gas stations and
>school gyms used to have them).
A necessity, in that environment, hopefully supplemented by a _visible_
indicator.
TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly to telecom-
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