The U.S. Federal Communications Commission should delay its vote on net neutrality rules for at least a month after releasing Chairman Tom Wheeler’s proposal for public comment, the commission’s two Republican members said Monday.Instead of voting on Wheeler’s net neutrality proposal on Thursday, as scheduled, the FCC should open his 332-page proposal to the public “and allow the American people a reasonable period of not less than 30 days to carefully study it,” Commissioners Ajit Pai and Mike O’Rielly wrote in a joint statement.Wheeler, part of the three-Democrat majority on the commission, immediately rejected the request, however. The FCC received more than 4 million public comments on net neutrality during the past year, and they “helped shape” his proposal,” he wrote on Twitter. “It’s time to act.”To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
With the Federal Communications Commission set to vote in three days on reclassifying broadband as public regulated utility, Twitter made its support for stronger net-neutrality rules official Monday.In a blog post laying out its case, Twitter struck the theme of free speech, but also said that an Internet that supports Web businesses without barriers imposed by ISPs is critical for the economic competitiveness of the U.S.“We need clear, enforceable, legally sustainable rules to ensure that the Internet remains open and continues to give everyone the power to create and share ideas and information instantly, without barriers. This is the heart of Twitter,” the post said. Net neutrality rules would prevent ISP from determining what content, services and applications get used and shared on the Web, it said.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Texas Instruments and MediaTek have launched new offerings aimed at making it easier to build IoT (Internet of Things) devices with Wi-Fi connectivity.The chip makers have realized that their future isn't just in selling products to big companies, but also to a growing maker community whose products also need Wi-Fi connectivity.This week TI expanded its SimpleLink portfolio with two new modules, which promise to help add Wi-Fi connectivity without requiring any network experience. A similar promise came from MediaTek earlier this month when it launched a new Wi-Fi development platform.INSIDER: 5 ways to prepare for Internet of Things security threats
To jump start Wi-Fi development, TI now offers the CC3100 module BoosterPack and the CC3200 module LaunchPad, which include an SDK and sample boards that can be connected directly to a PC.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Wide-area wireless networks for connecting Internet of Things devices may go global through a partnership between hot IoT startup Sigfox and aerospace company Airbus.Sigfox builds long-range networks for devices such as sensors that need a wireless connection but are too small and power-constrained for cellular radios. Its networks use unlicensed frequencies and don't go more than a few hundred bits per second, but they cost as little as US$1 per connection, per year.The French company has now joined the Mustang Project, co-founded by Airbus Defence and Space and two R&D partners in France. The project plans to combine Sigfox's terrestrial networks with satellite coverage to achieve global coverage.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Intelligence agencies may have your phone’s encryption keysBritish and American government agents hacked into SIM card maker Gemalto’s network to take smartphone encryption keys potentially used by customers of hundreds of mobile phone carriers worldwide. That let the spy agencies monitor a vast swathe of the world’s mobile phone voice and data traffic, reported The Intercept. It’s the latest revelation from the trove of information leaked by former NSA analyst Edward Snowden.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Samsung pushes into mobile payments with LoopPay acquisitionSamsung Electronics is stepping up to Apple and Google on the mobile payments front: On Wednesday it said it would buy LoopPay and roll it into its mobile division. The Massachusetts startup’s technology is, like competitors, basically a virtual wallet for payment cards, but it works with existing magnetic card readers in the U.S.Qualcomm getting set to roll out 64-bit mobile chipsQualcomm is readying new chips for mobile devices that are the first to implement its homegrown 64-bit architecture. The design will appear first in high-end Snapdragon chips for premium products, and test units will be shipping by the end of the year.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Changes starting to take place behind the scenes in mobile networks may eventually pay dividends to anyone with a smartphone, a connected refrigerator or an IT department.Carriers have done things pretty much the same way for years, with cellular base stations at the edge of their networks feeding into a series of specialized appliances at central facilities. Now they’re virtualizing those networks in several ways, seeking the same rewards that enterprises have reaped by virtualizing data centers: efficiency and flexibility. The trend will be in full swing at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona next month.It’s good news for mobile users that they may not hear much about. A more efficient network leaves more free capacity for the video or application you want to run, and a more flexible carrier could quickly launch services in the future that you don’t even know you’ll need yet. The new architectures may even change how some businesses pay for mobile services.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Liquid Telecom has raised US$150 million to extend its fiber networks across Africa, a sign of the growing need for broadband services on the continent.The company, controlled by African telecom company Econet Wireless, has already invested heavily in East Africa, where it is laying thousands of kilometers of new fiber-optic cable to connect Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo.The company has also already completed its East Africa fiber ring, which connects Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania, in order to provide high speeds and continuous uptime across the region.Liquid will use the additional funds it raised to build fibre broadband networks in several other countries.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
The clock is running down on the chance to lobby the U.S. Federal Communications Commission before it votes on putting stronger net neutrality rules in place, and both sides of the battle are making sure their voices are heard.Advocates of strong net neutrality rules have generated more than 1 million messages to the FCC or Congress since the beginning of 2015 via the Battleforthenet.com website. “You can’t buy public opinion,” Evan Greer, campaign director of digital rights group Fight for the Future, said during a press briefing Wednesday. “We very clearly have won in the sphere of public opinion.”The FCC is scheduled to vote on new rules that would reclassify broadband as a regulated utility on Feb. 26, and with agency rules mandating a week-long quiet period on lobbying before then, groups on both sides of the long-running debate were making last-minute pitches.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
How about this for an idea: run broadband to the home via wires and then spurt the last few meters via airwaves.Neat idea, right? You get the benefits of bulk speed through wire and the portability of a consumer device through airwaves.And, if you think you've heard the idea before, you're not mistaken. It's called wired Internet service coupled with Wi-Fi. Been there, done that.Still, it's a good idea.Well, here's a novel twist on that theme — run broadband via fiber to the home and then send the last couple of yards via airwaves. But, in this case, don't translate to Wi-Fi for the last few yards. Use the light you've already got in the fiber and just extend it outwards from the wire to the devices.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
New regulations, competition and product diversity are likely to help boost digital financial services across the eight West African Economic and Monetary Union countries.Making financial services available and affordable to all segments of the population, especially those excluded by income level, political instability, gender, location, or education, has been a major topic over the past few years in Africa.The availability of financial services to those who historically not had access to them—so-called financial inclusion—is essential for widespread economic growth, according to the African Development Bank (ADF). However, Africa has been lagging behind other continents in this area, with less than one out of four adults holding an account at a formal financial institution, according to an ADF report, “Financial Inclusion in Africa.”To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Most Americans have no idea what net neutrality means or is supposed to accomplish, even though plenty has been written on the topic.And some people, even a few informed Internet activists, remain unconvinced that the current debate over net neutrality matters that much. They wonder whether the so-called Title II reclassification of Internet providers will really result in more affordable and available broadband.MORE ON NETWORK WORLD: 5 free Ethernet tools you should check out
What specifically is up for debate now is Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Tom Wheeler's proposal to regulate broadband Internet providers like utilities by reclassifying them under Title II of the Telecommunications Act, among other actions. The full five-member FCC is set to vote on the issue Feb. 26.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Spy group has embedded tools in foreign networks, systemsA cyberspy group using tools similar to those of U.S. intelligence agencies has embedded spy and sabotage firmware in systems and networks in countries including Iran, Russia, Pakistan and China, a report by security vendor Kaspersky Lab claims. Kaspersky said that the tools can’t be combated by antivirus products and are also able to stealthily obtain a computer’s encryption keys in order to read otherwise protected data.Sony forges ahead with its SmartEyeglassTo read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
If you haven't heard of graphene, or its new brother silicene, you will.For the uninitiated, graphene is a super cost-effective, ultra-hard and light-weight conductor. It's better than copper at conducting and is in fact the world's most conductive substance. Silicene is similar in that it's also ultra-thin, but it has properties that may be more suited for use in chips.We've been hearing about graphene for a while. However, this miracle substance has a slight, somewhat awkward problem for a superstar. Despite its second-coming-like trumpet blowing, it's not very good in transistors. The reason: it doesn't have the necessary logic operation capability.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Yelp has filed a lawsuit against Revleap, a company that says it can help businesses improve their ratings, though Yelp says it actually spams them and cons them out of money.Revleap, based in Los Angeles, operates a paid service that it says can “create a large constant flow of positive reviews that stay on top of your profile, and remove fake reviews,” according to its website.These sorts of messages are knowingly false, Yelp contends in a lawsuit filed Friday, because Revleap has no way of removing bad reviews or getting good ones to appear more prominently.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
In this era of the all-pervasive cloud, it’s easy to assume that the data we store will somehow be preserved forever. The only thing to fret about from a posterity perspective, we might think, is the analog information from days gone by—all the stuff on papers, tapes and other pre-digital formats that haven’t been explicitly converted.Vinton Cerf, often called “the father of the Internet,” has other ideas.Now chief Internet evangelist at Google, Cerf spoke this week at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and he painted a very different picture.Rather than a world where longevity is a given, Cerf fears a “digital dark age” in which the rapid evolution of technology quickly makes storage formats obsolete thanks to a phenomenon he calls “bit rot.”To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
China’s Huawei Technologies is facing a growing backlash in Zambia, following revelations that the company is erecting telecom towers that do not adhere to technical specifications.Lawmakers and consumer rights groups have urged the Zambian government to withhold payments to the company until it brings the towers up to the required standard.The Zambian Information and Communication Technology Authority (ZICTA), awarded Huawei a contract to construct 169 telecom towers in rural areas of the country, at a cost of over $13.5 million. It has been established, however, that the coverage of the towers extends to a radius of 1.65 km (one mile) as opposed to the 5 km specification in the contract.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Internet connectivity and mobile communications throughout the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) have been fully restored, but the country’s political turmoil is far from over.The government had moved to block communications in an attempt to quell public protests sparked by President Joseph Kabila’s political maneuvers to extend his tenure in office.The DRC government shut down Internet, social media and mobile phone communications on Jan. 19, restoring Internet service only to banks, government agencies and other corporate bodies 10 days later.People had been using text messages and social media networks to coordinate rallies to protest Kabila’s attempts to introduce an electoral bill and change the country’s constitution in order to continue his stay in office. The DRC government admitted that the debate over the bill would likely delay the next presidential election by at least one year.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Obama visits Silicon Valley to headline cybersecurity summitThe White House is heading west to Silicon Valley on Friday looking for ideas on how to improve the nation’s cybersecurity. At the first-of-its-kind summit at Stanford University, U.S. President Barack Obama is expected to sign an executive order that urges companies to share threat information with one another and with the government. There are some areas of discord between the government and the tech industry: surveillance and encryption. Apple CEO Tim Cook is the most high-profile executive in attendance, while top execs from Google, Facebook and Yahoo declined invitations to attend (but will be represented in discussions at the event).To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
After acquiring a competitor weeks ago and just announcing plans to buy another one, Expedia may look like the dominant player in online travel, but its CEO argues the deals are necessary to battle another rival: Google.Expedia offers online booking services for flights, car rentals and hotels under brands such as Hotels.com and Hotwire.com, and plans to beef up its business with Thursday’s US$1.6 billion proposed acquisition of rival Orbitz, which offers similar services and operates sites such as CheapTickets.com.Snatching up Orbitz will give Expedia the customers it needs to fend off companies that have muscled their way into the online travel agency space, including Google, said Expedia CEO Dara Khosrowshahi during a webcast held to discuss the Orbitz deal. Google, along with traditional travel industry players like hotels, are all trying to establish themselves as the best option for consumers looking to book travel.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here