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The Telecom Digest for December 26, 2012
Volume 31 : Issue 300 : "text" Format
====== 31 years of TELECOM Digest -- Founded August 21, 1981 ======
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Telecom and VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) Digest for the
Internet. All contents here are copyrighted by Bill Horne and
the individual writers/correspondents. Articles may be used in other
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We must fight spam for the same reason we fight crime: not because we
are naive enough to believe that we will ever stamp it out, but because
we do not want the kind of world that results when no one stands
against crime. - Geoffrey Welsh
See the bottom of this issue for subscription and archive details
and the name of our lawyer, and other stuff of interest.
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Date: Tue, 25 Dec 2012 00:20:36 -0500
From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: The Learning Curve of Smart Parking
Message-ID: <p0624082cccfee7feb89d@[10.0.1.3]>
The Learning Curve of Smart Parking
By RANDALL STROSS
December 22, 2012
PLACE "smart" in front of a noun and you immediately have something
that somehow sounds improved.
In its current state, however, "smart parking" is in some ways little
different from regular parking. The term refers to a beguiling
technology, now being tested in several cities, that uses sensors to
determine whether a particular spot on the street or in a parking
garage is occupied or vacant. When a car has overstayed its allotted
time, the technology can also send the information to a parking
enforcement officer with ticket book in hand.
The sensors' data can also be used to adjust parking prices, using
higher rates to create more turnover on the busiest blocks and lower
prices to draw drivers to blocks with underused spaces.
Smart-parking technology for on-street spaces is expensive, and still
in its early stages. The largest examples are pilot projects with
costs covered primarily by grants from the federal Department of
Transportation. In San Francisco, the SFpark pilot project uses
sensors from StreetSmart Technology for 7,000 of the city's 28,000
meters. In Los Angeles, LA Express Park has installed sensors from
Streetline for 6,000 parking spots on downtown streets.
Cities are marketing the programs as experiments in using
demand-based pricing to reduce traffic congestion - the kind caused
by circling drivers desperately seeking parking spots - and to make
more spaces available at any specific time. Drivers are encouraged to
use mobile apps to check parking availability and pricing, though
coverage is not universal. Parker, for example, from Streetline,
gives detailed information about on-street parking for Los Angeles,
but not for San Francisco.
...
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/23/technology/smart-parking-has-a-learning-curve-too.html
Date: Tue, 25 Dec 2012 00:30:24 -0500
From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Websites Vary Prices, Deals Based on Users' Information
Message-ID: <p0624082eccfee983139c@[10.0.1.3]>
Websites Vary Prices, Deals Based on Users' Information
By JENNIFER VALENTINO-DEVRIES, JEREMY SINGER-VINE and ASHKAN SOLTANI
December 24, 2012
It was the same Swingline stapler, on the same Staples.com website.
But for Kim Wamble, the price was $15.79, while the price on Trude
Frizzell's screen, just a few miles away, was $14.29.
A key difference: where Staples seemed to think they were located.
A Wall Street Journal investigation found that the Staples Inc.
website displays different prices to people after estimating their
locations. More than that, Staples appeared to consider the person's
distance from a rival brick-and-mortar store, either OfficeMax Inc.
or Office Depot Inc. If rival stores were within 20 miles or so,
Staples.com usually showed a discounted price.
...
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323777204578189391813881534.html
***** Moderator's Note *****
It may be that the best online deals are to be had while standing in
the parking lot of a discount store in an economically depressed area
of a city in the rustbelt.
Or, perhaps, to have an app that makes online stores think you're
their. Let the games begin!
Bill Horne
Moderator
Date: Tue, 25 Dec 2012 00:14:53 -0500
From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Is Paying to Message Strangers a New Texting Business?
Message-ID: <p06240828ccfee6ac695c@[10.0.1.3]>
Is Paying to Message Strangers a New Texting Business?
By BRIAN X. CHEN
DECEMBER 24, 2012
Cellphone carriers are making less money from text messages thanks to
free messaging services offered by Facebook, Apple and other tech
companies. But now Facebook is running a test to see if it can make
some money by charging people to send messages to strangers.
Facebook said it started the experiment with a small percentage of
users last week. For $1, a message sent to a stranger will show up in
the recipient's in-box. Typically, when you send a message to people
who aren't connected to you on Facebook, it shows up in a box labeled
"Other," which is often ignored.
...
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/12/24/facebook-premium-messaging/
Date: Tue, 25 Dec 2012 00:24:35 -0500
From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Retailers Try to Adapt to Device-Hopping Shoppers
Message-ID: <p0624082dccfee8e0ed5b@[10.0.1.3]>
Retailers Try to Adapt to Device-Hopping Shoppers
By CLAIRE CAIN MILLER and STEPHANIE CLIFFORD
December 21, 2012
Ryan O'Neil, a Connecticut government employee, was in the market to
buy a digital weather station this month. His wife researched options
on their iPad, but even though she found the lowest-price option
there, Mr. O'Neil made the purchase on his laptop.
"I do use the iPad to browse sites," Mr. O'Neil said, but when it
comes time to close the deal, he finds it easier to do on a computer.
Many online retailers had visions of holiday shoppers lounging
beneath the Christmas tree with their mobile devices in hand, making
purchases. The size of the average order on tablets, particularly
iPads, tends to be bigger than on PCs. So retailers poured money and
marketing into mobile Web sites and apps with rich images and, they
thought, easy checkout.
But while visits to e-commerce sites and apps on tablets and phones
have nearly doubled since last year, consumers like Mr. O'Neil are
more frequently using multiple devices to shop. In many cases, they
are more comfortable making the final purchase on a computer, with
its bigger screen and keyboard. So retailers are trying to figure out
how to appeal to a shopper who may use a cellphone to research
products, a tablet to browse the options and a computer to buy.
...
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/22/technology/as-shoppers-hop-from-tablet-to-pc-to-phone-retailers-try-to-adapt.html
Date: Tue, 25 Dec 2012 00:19:08 -0500
From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Deciphering the Decline in Spanish Mobile Accounts
Message-ID: <p0624082bccfee7b4a73a@[10.0.1.3]>
Deciphering the Decline in Spanish Mobile Accounts
By KEVIN J. O'BRIEN
December 23, 2012
BERLIN - It would take the unimaginable - a major power outage, a
natural disaster or a sudden, permanent loss of income - for many
people to abandon their mobile phones.
That is what appears to be happening in Spain in the midst of its
economic crisis. But in the country's telecom sector, as in a Salvador
Dali painting, there may be more than meets the eye.
The Spanish regulator, Comisión del Mercado de las Telecomunicaciones,
said last week that 486,183 mobile phone accounts were deactivated by
Spanish operators in October alone, the ninth straight month of
contraction that has seen two million prepaid accounts, or 9.4 percent
of the current total, taken off networks since February.
The biggest reason for the industry's difficulties is the most
obvious: Spain's economic slowdown, highlighted by its 26.2 percent
unemployment rate in October, including a jobless rate of nearly 50
percent among cellphone-conscious young consumers.
...
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/24/technology/deciphering-the-decline-in-spanish-mobile-accounts.html
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