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SDRNews SDR2007-11-27

November 27th, 2007 Administrator

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Verizon Opens Network to External Devices
ChipIn – One Laptop Per Child Give Away
Higher Ed Email Outsource

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Today’s Headlines Include…

Verizon Opens Network to External Devices
ChipIn – One Laptop Per Child Give Away
Higher Ed Email Outsource

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Verizon’s Castle Move

Verizon’s announcement for “Any Application, Any Device” has got to be one of the best examples of a preemptive move. Either T-Mobile or some other smaller wireless service provider was going to make the move – and pre-empting the announcement is one more move in the chess game.

There has got to be some fine print somewhere. The embedded Bell Shaped DNA has got to be strong enough to structure the generosity along the way so that there would still be some hooks that would not provide the degree of open access that those coming at this from a internet perspective are assuming.

The idea – creating two tiers : one open and a second “Joe Sixpack” service that is content to get their free phone in exchange for two year contracts, SMS per message charges, $2 music downloads, paying for ringtones, and walled garden web access.

I think there is a two year contact lurking in there somewhere in the “Any App, Any Device” – until there is some real competition.

Next move, AT&T and Apple. Only a few months until it gets interesting. I think the 700Mhz hearings are in March.
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Here’s the full comment text from Bob Randall.

Yep, I probably do get carried away..

Andy,
The statement “(wind energy is) already the most inexpensive, clean, and renewable energy source ” cannot go unchallenged. (SDRNews SDR2007-11-25 – 1:30 from start)
Anyone with some knowledge of current events, and some critical thinking skills, should realize that most every wind power project in the US is primarily dependent upon substantial tax subsidies, and likely would not exist without these subsidies – the projects are simply are not capable of justifying their existence without the aid of tax subsidies.
They do generate power, but it is not highly reliable at any given point in time, they require large investments, and huge maintenance expenditures to keep running. Take a look at the percentage of inoperable equipment in a wind farm at any time – often 1/4 to 1/3 of it. The “best case” scenario at the current time is a cost of about six cents/kwh (after tax subsidies of ?$) vs. a fraction of a cent for hydro and coal generation. While most of us pay six cents plus for electricity – that includes all of the distribution and maintenance costs for the system.
I’m sure that many thousands of the dead birds that they leave don’t consider the wind farms to be “clean” either – nor do many people who regret the loss of the scenic vistas that the wind farms replace. I live in the Columbia Gorge/Portland area – they are a scar on the Gorge.
Society may choose to pay the extra cost for (currently uneconomically justifiable) wind energy (and photovoltaic) – but lets not allow our critical thinking skills go out the window in the interest of parroting “politically correct” manufactured propaganda.

Thanks for the great podcast!

Bob

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