Broadband Plan

Sick of slow Internet connections? The federal government hears you.

The U.S. Federal Communications Commission on Monday unveiled some details of its broadband plan, which aims to speed up Web connections and make high-speed Internet available to more Americans.

The commission plans to use educational programs and an expansion of broadband Internet infrastructure to give 90 percent of Americans high-speed Internet access at home by 2020.

Currently, only 65 percent of Americans have high-speed Internet access at home, which the FCC says is a detriment to economic growth. The proposal will make the U.S. "the world's largest market of high-speed broadband users" and will create jobs, the FCC says in a news release.

The plan would also lower health care costs and improve home energy efficiency by making information available digitally, the FCC says.

Other details of the plan remain unclear. The FCC will release its entire proposal at a meeting Tuesday.

The FCC also wants to speed up overall connections, which are often criticized as slow by global standards.

Its goal is to give 100 million households access to Internet connections that transfer 100 megabits of data per second.

The average U.S. Internet speed today is much slower -- only 3.9 megabits per second, according to the Internet monitor Akamai.

The U.S. has only the 18th fastest Internet connections in the world, behind countries like South Korea, which leads the world with 14.6 megabit-per-second data transfer rates, Akamai says.

Each community in America also will get access to at least one "ultra-high-speed" connection at a library, school or military base. Those connections will reach speeds of 1 gigabit per second, the FCC said in the news release.

The country's broadband plan was required as part of President Obama's 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, which allocated $7.2 billion to broadband-related initiatives.

The FCC's upcoming broadband plan will be "revenue neutral," according to an executive summary of the plan released Monday. The FCC will auction off 500 megahertz of spectrum to pay for some expenses, such as extending broadband networks to rural areas.

Other programs will be paid for with improved efficiencies, the FCC said.

The plan has been delayed, and it is criticized by some as doing too little.

Speaking at South by Southwest Interactive, a technology conference in Austin, Texas, Derek Turner, the research director for the nonprofit group Free Press, said the broadband plan does not do enough to reduce the cost of high-speed Internet connections, which he said is the biggest barrier to adoption.

Still, he said, he is hopeful that the federal government can address the issue.

"I'm actually very hopeful for some positive outcomes," he said at the conference, "because I've seen stranger things happen in Washington."

FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski framed the plan as a boost for the economy.

"The National Broadband Plan is a 21st century roadmap to spur economic growth and investment, create jobs, educate our children, protect our citizens, and engage in our democracy," he said in an FCC news release.

"It's an action plan, and action is necessary to meet the challenges of global competitiveness, and harness the power of broadband to help address so many vital national issues."

The plan places some emphasis on the mobile Internet and indicates that the U.S. wants to be a leader in that emerging space.

via CNN

More info on Apple's Tablet Device

The speculative madness surrounding Apple's rumored tablet computer has finally reached its frothy peak.

Tech's chattering classes are obsessed with the unconfirmed product, which Apple (AAPL) may announce at an event in January, or February, or March, depending on which set of reports you adhere to. Apple, not surprisingly, is mum.

The hunger for information—and misguided speculation—reminds me of the mistaken prognosticating about the iPhone before its introduction three years ago. It may be time to step back and realize that Apple may uncork a product so surprising that the company again leaves the tech industry scrambling to catch up to its products' smooth operation and sleek design.

Documented facts about the tablet are few. This much we do know: In November 2008, Apple took control of the trademark name TabletMac from a company called Axiotron, which converts MacBook laptops into tablet computers running Apple's Mac OS X.

Wild Imaginings

In April, BusinessWeek talked with people who had seen prototypes of a device they called a media pad as well as a small iPhone, described as "iPhone lite" by the person who saw it.

Then there's outside speculation. In November the Taiwanese Web site Digitimes, often regarded as a solid source of information regarding the plans of Taiwan's electronic manufacturing sector, reported that the Apple tablet had been delayed until the second half of 2010 because of the price to build its display.

On Dec. 24, New York Times blogger Nick Bilton quoted two people—one an unnamed source, the other a former Apple employee—dropping tantalizing clues. Jobs is "very happy" with the machine, and users will be "very surprised at how you interact with the new tablet," the Times wrote. About the same time, the Financial Times reported that Apple plans to reveal the new device at an event at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco on Jan. 26.

Missing the Mark on the iPhone

It's important to take reports like these with an appropriate helping of salt. Apple holds numerous trademarks it doesn't actively use; ever hear of MacTel, Vingle, or Drypod? In addition, Apple's top-secret labs in Cupertino, Calif., have probably developed numerous tablet prototypes, some of which may be used to show potential partners but that don't represent a finished product. And leakers have a tendency to exaggerate what they know, or invent from whole cloth.

A similar speculative frenzy surrounded the January 2007 iPhone launch. Looking back at Apple rumor site postings in the months leading up to its debut, I noticed how far off the mark many were about the iPhone's looks, Apple's partners, and who the carrier would be who could resell it. For example, enthusiasts' home-made design drawings that emerged on rumor sites showed a phone that sported a navigation wheel similar to the iPod's. Others imagined the iPhone would have a slide-out keyboard.

Few saw the potential for a touch-sensitive display, which eventually became the signature design element of the iPhone and iPod touch.

Consider the fevered imaginings endemic to Apple. The company engenders such strong reactions from its customers that users tend to "project the known upon the unknown," says Michael Gartenberg, an analyst at market researcher Interpret. That's why so many observers took the well-understood iPod and grafted a phone onto it when imagining Apple's iPhone plans.

A Larger Screen?

Apple's tablet may revolve around a larger touch-sensitive screen than the iPhone's, which could be central to its design and control. I've speculated about it myself in a past column. The iPod touch is so useful an Internet device that I keep one handy on my bedside table. It would make a lot of sense for Apple to market a device with a larger screen—say, 7 in. to 10 in. diagonally—that runs applications downloaded from the iTunes app store, wouldn't it?

Writers and tech pundits think so. But we're not Apple engineers and designers. What seems from the outside to be a logical progression may seem merely simplistic to the folks at Apple's 1 Infinite Loop headquarters. Their job isn't so much to think about the next logical step on a path as to set a divergent course for what people are likely to want for years to come.

Apple may throw everyone a curve ball here. Imagine an Apple tablet about the size of a 11-in. spiral notebook with an iPhone-like touch screen. How about the ability for the machine to recognize voice commands and dictation of text? A built-in video camera and maybe a mini-projector for meetings would be nice. And if the reports of Apple's discussion to land print media content in the iTunes store are true, how about an easy-on-the-eyes display for reading electronic magazines and books?

Embracing Two Worlds

A more fundamental question is whether Apple's tablet will more closely resemble an iPhone or a Mac. It will be fascinating to see how whatever emerges straddles those two worlds.

We use PCs and laptops to get things done when we're stationary; we use mobile devices to stay informed and complete small tasks when we're out and about. This device, it seems, will either have to incorporate both paradigms or have to create one of its own.

My bet? There will be a product from Apple reasonably described as a tablet, and Apple will reveal it during the first quarter of 2010. That's not going too far out on a limb. As the iPhone enters its third year, Apple needs something new to sell to keep delighting its customers, inspiring envy among its competitors, and increasing its sales.

Check your expectations about this product at the door, though. We're probably all in for a very big surprise.

Arik Hesseldahl is a reporter for BusinessWeek.com.

Nvidia CEO Reveals new tablet device & Love for Apple

In an interview yesterday, Nvidia CEO revealed two things: First, their sleek tablet prototype, which looks just like my wet dream Apple Tablet concept: Simple, thin, and omgIwantone. Then, he declared his enraptured love for all things Apple:

"[In my home we are] all Apple. Apple uses the best technology for their [computers]. Apple says to their customers: if you buy a computer from us you can be sure we have selected the best technology inside for you. That is their promise to consumers. Their promise to consumers isn't we've selected the best technology for you with the exception of what Intel allows us to use. That's not their promise. And that's why Apple uses the best technology where they want whenever they want. And that's why I'm all Apple! At home it's just Macs everywhere. It's Nvidia's technology in all of them but I use Macs. My son has two Macs, my daughter has a Mac, there's an extra Mac just in case and my wife has a Mac. It's just Mac, Mac, Mac! Because I know it's got the best stuff inside."