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The Telecom Digest for October 30, 2011
Volume 30 : Issue 276 : "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: Fri, 28 Oct 2011 23:24:21 -0400
From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: 'Steve Jobs' review: Walter Isaacson's biography mesmerizes
Message-ID: <p0624087ccad121e17040@[10.0.1.9]>
'Steve Jobs' review: Walter Isaacson's biography mesmerizes
Walter Isaacson weaves a full and often revealing tale that brings
'Steve Jobs' to life through interviews with the late Apple visionary
and those in his inner circle.
By Richard Rayner, Special to the Los Angeles Times
October 28, 2011
He was an abandoned child who grew up with the unshakable belief that
he was destined to be a prince. How arrogant and sensible of him.
His personal hygiene was bad. He often wore no shoes and liked to
stick his feet in the toilet. His food faddery was so extreme that he
sometimes endangered his own health. While in a hospital for a liver
transplant in 2009, he refused to wear a medical mask because he
couldn't stand the design. His own signature style, which featured
jeans and a black turtleneck (Issey Miyake made him a lifetime supply
of the latter, which he kept in a closet), was both anonymous and
instantly recognizable. He was a control freak and a credit hog who
burst into tears when he didn't get what he wanted. He sometimes
demeaned his girlfriends and his employees yet such was his charisma
that they went on loving him. He lived in a Palo Alto house whose
modest scale astounded his rival Bill Gates. He said that he came of
age at a magical time, in the early 1970s, when his consciousness was
raised by Zen, Bob Dylan, and the drug LSD.
J.P. Morgan or John Rockefeller, in other words, Steve Jobs wasn't.
Yet he died with a personal fortune of more than $8 billion
(according to Forbes), having been a single-minded pioneer of the PC
age, having created and built arguably the world's most famous
company, Apple, and having, in some way or another, touched all our
lives. He was a visionary as ruthless and driven as any of the great
first-generation American capitalists and his story already strikes
us as a modern-day fable with a multitude of strange and enchanted
details.
Journalist and biographer Walter Isaacson has previously written
about Albert Einstein and Benjamin Franklin. Small wonder that Jobs
picked him out, and Isaacson gives the Steve Jobs fairy tale a swift,
full, and less than utterly flattering airing in a book that Jobs
authorized himself and from whose stark white and black Apple-like
cover he stares like a Zen digital master.
Jobs personally picked that mesmerizing image, while not having the
time, or the health at that point, and maybe not the inclination
either, to influence the text as a whole. Again, this is apt. Jobs
drove his collaborators insane with his perfectionism yet he enabled
them too. He knew the strengths and talents of others and was, for a
tantrum-throwing Svengali, surprisingly self-aware. I'd guess that
when he died less than a month ago he knew that Isaacson had served
him fine.
...
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/books/la-et-1029-book-20111029,0,365536.story
Date: Sat, 29 Oct 2011 08:02:38 -0700 (PDT)
From: Wes Leatherock <wleathus@yahoo.com>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Re: Review: Newfangled Nest thermostat is hot
Message-ID: <1319900558.99949.YahooMailClassic@web111722.mail.gq1.yahoo.com>
--- On Fri, 10/28/11, Adam H. Kerman <ahk@chinet.com> wrote:
> Sigh. The once ubiquitous Honeywell round-dial mercury switch
> thermostat was a wonder of simple design. Its use was simple and
> obvious and, once installed and calibrated, required no manual to
> learn how to use.
That's what I still have in my house. It works quite well, even as
my furnace has been replaced twice because of old age.
No manual, no learning curve.
Wes Leatherock
wleathus@yahoo.com
wesrock@aol.com
Date: Sat, 29 Oct 2011 11:07:36 -0400
From: Bill Horne <bill@horneQRM.net>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: FCC Announces Changes to Universal Service Policy
Message-ID: <1319900856.4140.4.camel@Thinkpad>
The FCC has released news of its new policy on Universal Service:
http://transition.fcc.gov/Daily_Releases/Daily_Business/2011/db1027/DOC-310692A1.txt
(The rest of this post is quoted from the FCC site)
Connect America Fund & Intercarrier Compensation Reform Order and FNPRM
Executive Summary
Universal Service Reform
1. Principles and Goals. We begin by adopting support for
broadband-capable networks as an express universal service
principle under section 254(b) of the Communications Act, and, for
the first time, we set specific performance goals for the high-cost
component of the Universal Service Fund (USF) that we are reforming
today, to ensure these reforms are achieving their intended
purposes. The goals are:
(1) preserve and advance universal availability of voice service;
(2) ensure universal availability of modern networks capable of
providing voice and broadband service to homes, businesses,
and community anchor institutions;
(3) ensure universal availability of modern networks capable of
providing advanced mobile voice and broadband service;
(4) ensure that rates for broadband services and rates for voice
services are reasonably comparable in all regions of the
nation; and
(5) minimize the universal service contribution burden on
consumers and businesses.
2. Budget. We establish, also for the first time, a firm and
comprehensive budget for the high-cost programs within USF.1 The
annual funding target is set at no more than $4.5 billion over the
next six years, the same level as the high-cost program for Fiscal
Year 2011, with an automatic review trigger if the budget is
threatened to be exceeded. This will provide for more predictable
funding for carriers and will protect consumers and businesses that
ultimately pay for the fund through fees on their communications
bills. We are today taking important steps to control costs and
improve accountability in USF, and our estimates of the funding
necessary for components of the Connect America Fund (CAF) and
legacy high-cost mechanisms represent our predictive judgment as to
how best to allocate limited resources at this time. We anticipate
that we may revisit and adjust accordingly the appropriate size of
each of these programs by the end of the six-year period, based on
market developments, efficiencies realized, and further evaluation
of the effect of these programs in achieving our goals.
3. Public Interest Obligations. While continuing to require that all
eligible telecommunications carriers (ETCs) offer voice services,
we now require that they also offer broadband services. We update
the definition of voice services for universal service purposes,
and decline to disrupt any state carrier of last resort (COLR)
obligations that may exist. We also establish specific and robust
broadband performance requirements for funding recipients.
4. Connect America Fund. We create the Connect America Fund, which
will ultimately replace all existing high-cost support mechanisms.
The CAF will help make broadband available to homes, businesses,
and community anchor institutions in areas that do not, or would
not otherwise, have broadband, including mobile voice and broadband
networks in areas that do not, or would not otherwise, have mobile
service, and broadband in the most remote areas of the nation. The
CAF will also help facilitate our intercarrier compensation (ICC)
reforms. The CAF will rely on incentive-based, market-driven
policies, including competitive bidding, to distribute universal
service funds as efficiently and effectively as possible.
--
Bill Horne
(Remove QRM from my address to write to me directly)
"I count my blessigs, show and sure
My memory's not as good as it was before
They've cut off the lights and the phone calls too
The landlord is knocking and he might break through"
- John Gorka
Date: Sat, 29 Oct 2011 08:30:06 -0700 (PDT)
From: Wes Leatherock <wleathus@yahoo.com>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Re: Edison's powrer network (Was Re: Telegraph turns 150
Message-ID: <1319902206.55797.YahooMailClassic@web111710.mail.gq1.yahoo.com>
--- On Fri, 10/28/11, HAncock4 <withheld@invalid.telecom-digest.org> wrote:
[ ... snop ... ]
> In the early part of the 1900s, 25 Hz AC was common. Apparently in
> those years it was a good frequency to use on electric motors of
> that era (perhaps someone could explain the technical reasons for
> that.) In the 1910s-1930s, several railroads electrified with that
> frequency and it's still used to this day on certain Amtrak, SEPTA,
> and NJT lines.
When I was a chiled (teenager or earlier) we travelewd to the West by
car and stayed at the Harvey House hotel in Gallup, N.M. As a sat or
lay in my room I noticed a stange flicker to the lighting that
appeared only if you viewed it from the edge of your eye. If you
looked at it straight on it wasn't noticeable.
I finally realized that this must be 25 Hz power, probably from a
Santa Fe generator or althernator that supplied their considerable
facilities in Gallup.
As far as I know, the Santa Fe at that time had no intention of ever
using electric power fro their trains, so they probably used 25 Hz for
some kind of advatages that tghe writer mentions. Probably lighting
was not a primary concern for their mechanical installations or it was
just more or less the efault custom when the power supply was built.
> At some point in the 1930s or shortly later, the commercial power
> grid became reliable enough to use the 60 Hz as a means to run
> clocks accurately. This led to the loss of pendulum regulator
> clocks and Western Union time signals
I remember lookding through a shortwave radio listener guide many
years ago and for each country it gae the cutomary voltage and
frequency and whether the stability of the frequency was good enough
to be used for timing.
> I wonder if any fledging local power companies also got into
> telephone service as well. Both were public utilities and required
> line poles.
I don't know the origin of the name but a telephone company serving
some of the Los Angeles basin was the Western Light and Telephone
Company. There were quite a few independents in the Los Angeles basin
at one time that fully participated in the network which was dominated
by General Telephone and Pacific Telephone, perhaps in that order.
I remember the first 5XB installed in this primarily step area was
by the Sunland-Tujunga Telephonme Company
Wes Leatherock
wleathus@yahoo.com
wesrock@aol.com
Date: Sat, 29 Oct 2011 11:35:52 -0400
From: Bill Horne <bill@horneQRM.net>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: LightSquared takes off the gloves
Message-ID: <20111029153552.GA16675@telecom.csail.mit.edu>
According to a story at NationalJournal.com, LightSquared has decided
to get down in the political mud to further it's claim that it can
coexist with GPS. While trying to pull off the largest bandwidth grab
in communications history, LightSquared is setting a new bottom level
for the future of the telecommunications industry.
Chris Frates- October 26, 2011
After months spent trying to make a technological case for why its network will not interfere with GPS, LightSquared has gone political.
My colleague Josh Smith reports on a company that has been a boon to K Street:
LightSquared has hired dozens of top lobbyists, including at least
seven former elected officials -- including ex-House Democratic
Leader Richard Gephardt of Missouri; former Republican Sen. Tim
Hutchinson of Arkansas; and Democratic former Gov. Ed Rendell of
Pennsylvania.
Rest is at:
http://influencealley.nationaljournal.com/2011/10/lightsquared-goes-political.php
--
Bill Horne
(Remove QRM from my address to write to me directly)
Date: Sat, 29 Oct 2011 11:55:38 -0400
From: Bill Horne <bill@horneQRM.net>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: BART considering a policy on cell phone shutdowns
Message-ID: <20111029155538.GA16876@telecom.csail.mit.edu>
According to the Electronic Frontier Foundation, California's Bay
Area Rapid Transit system is considering a policy on when it will shut
down cellular access in BART stations and on trains.
I get the feeling that BART is doing some serious backpeddling while
wishing it could revise recent history.
October 26, 2011 - 7:28pm | By Eva Galperin
BART Considers a Cell Phone Shutdown Policy
This summer, decision-makers at Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) garnered
considerable criticism -- not to mention the ire of Anonymous and days
of protests -- after they chose to shut down cell phone access to four
BART stations in downtown San Francisco based on rumors of an upcoming
protest. Now BART~s Board Directors has drafted a Cell Phone
Interruption Policy, which they will consider at an upcoming meeting
on October 27th.
Rest at:
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2011/10/bart-considers-cell-phone-shutdown-policy
--
Bill Horne
(Remove QRM from my address to write to me directly)
"I've been up and down this highway, far as my eye can see
No matter how fast I run, I can never seem to get away from me"
- Jackson Browne
Date: Sat, 29 Oct 2011 22:00:06 +0000 (UTC)
From: David Scheidt <dscheidt@panix.com>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Re: Edison's powrer network (Was Re: Telegraph turns 150
Message-ID: <j8ht16$738$2@reader1.panix.com>
HAncock4 <withheld@invalid.telecom-digest.org> wrote:
:On Oct 27, 6:50 pm, Thad Floryan <t...@thadlabs.com> wrote:
:> I'm really reaching back (I must have been only 2-3 years old or so),
:> but I seem to remember one of my Grandads telling me that their power
:> [would have had to be Baltimore MD] was DC for awhile and then switched
:> to AC. That would also have been circa early 1900s (the power, not me!).
:Having a DC local network was common in many places, and could've
:lasted a long time. An IBM catalog of the 1930s listed equipment in
:both AC and DC versions.
Was that 120V DC (or so), or 48 V DC? Telco plant is 48V DC, and it's
very common for computing equipment installed in telco faciilites to
be so as well, beause it makes power distribution easier. (And, of
course, you can run it off the great honkin' battery plant when the
commercial power fails.) I woulnd't be surprised that IBM were making
equipment for that market, for billing calculations, for instance, but
I'm not aware of it.
--
sig 38
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