---------------------------------------------------------------------- Message-ID: <D0A44F50-DA93-446F-81D1-F1F3A20FA675@roscom.com> Date: Wed, 21 Sep 2016 09:21:36 -0400 From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com> Subject: Allo's Tryout: 5 Days With Google's Annoying Office Intern Google's new chat app promises to stand out from a crowded field by bringing artificial intelligence into conversations. But it turns out to be frustrating and unhelpful. By Brian X Chen You may now have more messaging apps than you have close friends. As of this week, there are six prominent chat apps in the United States - or as I see it, one too many. The latest to join the horde is Allo, Google's highly anticipated messaging app that lets people take advantage of artificial intelligence to chat and make plans. Google began offering the smarter app on Wednesday. Allo is appearing at a time when smartphones are already crowded with chat apps. IMessage from Apple is prominent among iPhone owners. Facebook Messenger is widely used on that social network. Also popular is WhatsApp, the chat service from Facebook that has largely replaced text messaging internationally. Add to the list Slack, a group chat tool that is popular among businesses, and Google Hangouts, which was released in 2013, and you have six. http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/22/technology/personaltech/allos-tryout-5-days-with-googles-annoying-office-intern.html ------------------------------ Message-ID: <caa5890b1ab7fbd0ae0547defa6bac2f.squirrel@email.fatcow.com> Date: Tue, 20 Sep 2016 22:26:03 -0500 From: "Neal McLain" <nmclain.remove-this@and-this-too.annsgarden.com> Subject: AT&T Lab's Project AirGig Nears First Fiedld Trials AT&T Labs' Project AirGig Nears First Field Trials for Ultra-Fast Wireless Broadband Over Power Lines Urban, Rural and Underserved Parts of the World Could Benefit from AT&T's Innovative Wireless, Multi-Gigabit-Speed Internet Connectivity Where There Are Power Lines, There Can Be Broadband AT&T unveiled today Project AirGig, a transformative technology from AT&T Labs that could one day deliver low-cost, multi-gigabit wireless internet speeds using power lines. We're deep in the experimentation phase. This technology will be easier to deploy than fiber, can run over license-free spectrum and can deliver ultra-fast wireless connectivity to any home or handheld wireless device. We designed Project AirGig literally from the ground up to be both practical and transformational. Our initial and ongoing testing at AT&T outdoor facilities has been positive. We expect to kick off our first field trials in 2017. http://about.att.com/newsroom/att_to_test_delivering_multi_gigabit_wireless_internet_speeds_using_power_lines.html -or- http://tinyurl.com/hoequ7l Neal McLain ***** Moderator's Note ***** This sort of breathless, amateur-hour self-promotion by AT&T would normally merit no more than a trip to the bit-bucket. However, I'm publishing it because I want to make people think about some advice my dad gave me over fifty years ago: he said "They'll spend a million dollars to eliminate your job." He was right. BPL is yet-another-effort to eliminate the jobs of the technicians who are paid to wire the last 100 feet of any current Internet connection method. It is designed to allow the wet dream of every monopolist in telecommunications: the provisioning of Internet (and therefore telephone) service through the post office, with customer-installable devices arriving in the mail, which require only that they be plugged into an electrical outlet. It doesn't matter that BPL has gone through several deaths and rebirths, or that it is widely thought of to be impractical. So long as the labor costs are at stake, BPL will keep crawling out of the grave. Bill Horne Moderator ------------------------------ Message-ID: <0b68805848500ff93c2ea8e038c98851.squirrel@email.fatcow.com> Date: Fri, 16 Sep 2016 22:42:36 -0500 From: "Neal McLain" <nmclain.remove-this@and-this-too.annsgarden.com> Subject: RE: AT&T and FCC chairman square off in set-top box fight On Wednesday, February 10, 2016 at 4:25:44 PM UTC-6, Bill Horne wrote: > FCC set to vote on a card-less replacement for CableCard. > > by Jon Brodkin > > The Federal Communications Commission chairman dismissed > concerns from AT&T and other pay-TV providers about new > set-top box rules, saying that the companies shouldn't > fear a little competition. > > FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler's proposal would force pay-TV > providers to make video programming available to the > makers of third-party devices and software, saying he > wants customers to have more alternatives to set-top > boxes rented from cable companies. A vote is scheduled > for next week, and TV providers are furious. > > http://arstechnica.com/business/2016/02/att-and-fcc-chairman-square-off-in-set-top-box-fight/ > > Bill Horne The vote is now scheduled for September 29, on track to a 3-2 vote with Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel casting swing vote. >From FierceCable, by Daniel Frankel, Sept 15, 2016: Rosenworcel wary of angering content community with set-top vote, analyst says. While assumption exists among some pundits that Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel's swing vote was secured by FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler when he put forth his revised plan on set-top regulation last week, not everyone believes the Democratic agency Commissioner's vote is locked up. "We retain our current view that Rosenworcel is unlikely to vote in a way that would anger the content community and thus, we see the current proposal as having to be modified to move forward," said New Street Research analyst Jonathan Chaplin, in a note to investors Wednesday. http://www.fiercecable.com/cable/rosenworcel-won-t-anger-content-community-new-set-top-vote-analyst-says?mkt_tok= eyJpIjoiWkRNMU5XUmtNelJqWVdWbCIsInQiOiIwQXFad2Y4d3pDSFh6dldEcktTdkc5MXFoR 1wvSllyNnpQaEp6V1wvN0RFZzBmTlBOUk84UEVmcXM4SFMwZ3FtVGpwaFdaUGkrd1lndUloMF NWWm1YQTQ5RThGTUlOenhZaXZ6czdhV3hIXC85az0ifQ%3D%3D&utm_medium=nl&utm_source=internal -or- http://tinyurl.com/z2llxnm Neal McLain ------------------------------ ********************************************* End of telecom Digest Thu, 22 Sep 2016