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Today's Topics:
1. Cell phones won't keep your secrets (Monty Solomon)
2. An Industry Based on a Simple Masquerad (George Antunes)
3. Bidding War Starts for Chip Maker Freescale Semi (George Antunes)
4. How Will Apple?s Marketing Maestro Marry the Computer and the
Home TV? (George Antunes)
5. Revived 'Nightline' May Get Last Laugh (George Antunes)
6. Florida County to Vaporize Trash - Poof! (George Antunes)
7. Study: Promising future for power-line broadband (George Antunes)
8. AT&T Enters Muni Wi-Fi Game (George Antunes)
9. La. Utility Continues Broadband Fight (George Antunes)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Message: 1
Date: Mon, 11 Sep 2006 02:36:44 -0400
From: Monty Solomon <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: [Medianews] Cell phones won't keep your secrets
To: undisclosed-recipient:;
Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
Cell phones won't keep your secrets
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The married man's girlfriend sent a text message
to his cell phone: His wife was getting suspicious. Perhaps they
should cool it for a few days.
"So," she wrote, "I'll talk to u next week."
"You want a break from me? Then fine," he wrote back.
Later, the married man bought a new phone. He sold his old one on
eBay, at Internet auction, for $290.
The guys who bought it now know his secret.
The married man had followed the directions in his phone's manual to
erase all his information, including lurid exchanges with his lover.
But it wasn't enough.
Selling your old phone once you upgrade to a fancier model can be
like handing over your diaries. All sorts of sensitive information
pile up inside our cell phones, and deleting it may be more difficult
than you think.
A popular practice among sellers, resetting the phone, often means
sensitive information appears to have been erased. But it can be
resurrected using specialized yet inexpensive software found on the
Internet.
A company, Trust Digital of McLean, Virginia, bought 10 different
phones on eBay this summer to test phone-security tools it sells for
businesses. The phones all were fairly sophisticated models capable
of working with corporate e-mail systems.
Curious software experts at Trust Digital resurrected information on
nearly all the used phones, including the racy exchanges between
guarded lovers.
...
http://www.cnn.com/2006/TECH/ptech/08/30/betrayed.byacellphone.ap/
------------------------------
Message: 2
Date: Mon, 11 Sep 2006 16:11:09 -0500
From: George Antunes <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: [Medianews] An Industry Based on a Simple Masquerad
To: [email protected]
Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset=iso-8859-1
September 11, 2006
An Industry Is Based on a Simple Masquerade
By MATT RICHTEL and MIGUEL HELFT
NY Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/11/technology/11hewlett.html?_r=1&oref=slogin&ref=business&pagewanted=print
When Patrick Baird, a private detective in Granbury, Tex., was hunting a
runaway or helping a husband find out if his wife was cheating, he would
often look for clues in telephone records. He bought them from firms that
specialized in obtaining them, and says he did not ask about their methods.
But late last year, as scrutiny of such firms and their often deceptive
practices heated up, Mr. Baird stopped giving them business.
?If my own mother came to me and said ?I need this done,? I couldn?t do
it,? he said in an interview last week. ?We?re abiding by public opinion here.?
People who obtain calling records often use a technique known as pretexting
? using a pretext, like masquerading as a customer, to get a company to
disclose information. Their shady subculture has been getting renewed
attention since the revelation last week that a subcontractor for an
investigative firm working for Hewlett-Packard used pretexting to obtain
the call records of company board members and reporters.
It is hard to quantify the size of the telephone pretexting economy. But in
recent years it has turned into a small industry, with dozens of Web sites
offering calling records to anyone with a credit card, for a modest fee.
Their main customers appear to be private investigators, although some in
that field criticize the practice.
?Web sites came out of the woodwork like locusts in the last five to seven
years,? said Eddy L. McClain, past president of the National Council of
Investigation and Security Services, a trade group. ?It was too tempting
for many investigators not to take that shortcut.?
Pretexting ?is at a minimum unethical and at a maximum unlawful,? Mr.
McClain said. ?It is a real smear on our profession.?
Pretexters often use techniques similar to those employed by identity
thieves to obtain not only telephone records but also other private data.
Robert Douglas, an information security consultant and former private
detective, said they often called telephone companies armed with some
personal information, like a customer?s Social Security number, mailing
address or date of birth. Then they charm and cajole the phone company
employee into thinking they are the actual customer.
?They have the knack,? Mr. Douglas said. ?It?s more art than science.?
Many professionals pretexters, including those who have used the practice
to build lucrative data brokering businesses, are reluctant to discuss
their methods. At a Congressional hearing in June, 11 of the witnesses who
were called refused to answer questions, invoking their Fifth Amendment
right against self-incrimination.
But two others agreed to speak. One of them was David Gandal of Loveland,
Colo., whose business, Shpondow.com, helps repossession companies find cars
whose owners have defaulted on their loans.
Mr. Gandal said in an interview that he used pretexting to obtain cellphone
records, when necessary, until last year. He stopped, in part, because
carriers began suing some pretexters. But there was nothing difficult about
getting cellphone records, Mr. Gandal said.
?All you need is the last four digits of a Social Security number and a
correct ZIP code,? he said. ?You go to the wireless company?s Web site, you
sign up like you are that person, you can view the bill.?
In most cases, Mr. Gandal said, he already had the Social Security number
from the lien holder. But if necessary, he could find it in commercial
databases. To demonstrate, he asked a reporter his full name and state of
residence and read him back his Social Security number within seconds.
Another witness at the June hearing, James Rapp, a former data broker from
Colorado with a long history of run-ins with law enforcement, described how
he used pretexting to gather all sorts of information: addresses linked to
a specific phone number from the telephone company, Social Security numbers
from credit reporting agencies, and an address and phone number from a
utility company.
Mr. Rapp explained how he might call the utility company pretending to be a
customer with a gas leak. He would then give the operator a false address
for that customer, only to have the operator correct him. ?They?re going to
say, ?Oh, well, we have you over here, 144 Northwest,? whatever,? Mr. Rapp
told the committee, according to a transcript. With a bit more subterfuge
he could easily get the customer?s phone number as well.
At the hearing, Representative Edward Whitfield, a Kentucky Republican who
is chairman of the Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee of the House
Energy and Commerce Committee, said that research had showed that in
addition to private investigators, lawyers and tabloids, the customers of
these data brokers included ?automobile finance companies and repossession
companies and major banks and major corporations around America.?
The Federal Trade Commission, some state legislatures and telephone
companies have all tried to shut the industry down, with mixed success so
far. Many Web sites that sold calling records have disappeared, but experts
say many pretexters remain in business.
?Part of the problem is that there is still no law at the federal level
making it clear that the activity is illegal,? said Marc Rotenberg,
executive director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center.
Using pretexting to obtain financial records was made illegal in 1999. Many
legal experts say that pretexting to get phone records is already illegal
under federal and state laws against fraud, but Congress is considering
bills that would make this more explicit.
The California Legislature has passed a bill that makes it unlawful to
obtain phone records by fraud or deceit, and to buy or sell someone?s phone
records without their consent. The bill has not yet been signed by Gov.
Arnold Schwarzenegger.
The F.T.C. has filed suits against several pretexters under laws barring
unfair and deceptive practices. AT&T, Cingular, Verizon and other companies
have also sued dozens of people whom they accuse of fraudulently obtaining
phone records.
And some carriers have changed the way they do business in an attempt to
thwart pretexters. Last year Verizon stopped asking customers for their
Social Security numbers as a chief way to establish their identity, said
Eric Rabe, a Verizon spokesman. Instead, he said, the company is asking
people to provide information that is on their phone bill, like an account
number. Verizon is also teaching customer service representatives what they
should look for to identify possible pretexters, Mr. Rabe said.
The new vigilance comes at a price. Customers often want to get information
quickly and are impatient when they have to put up with a series of
questions to establish their identity. Mr. Rabe said.
Walt Sharp, a spokesman for AT&T, said his company continued to accept
Social Security numbers as a central means of identification. ?That?s
generally something known only to customers, or it should be,? Mr. Sharp said.
Mr. Douglas, the security consultant, agreed that the carriers faced a
tough balancing act. ?We?re in the McDonald?s generation. Everybody wants
information and they don?t want to wait for it,? he said. ?That?s why these
guys win.?
No system is foolproof if a wily pretexter knows how to convince a company
representative that he is a customer who is desperate for account
information, Mr. Douglas said. This person might say he is on a business
trip, without access to account information, but needs to check his records
quickly.
?You come up with a plausible scenario as to why you need the information
now,? he said.
Mr. Baird, who operates a detective agency with three employees, said he
did not know if the people he paid for phone records used duplicitous means
to get records, though he assumed that their approach may have involved
pretexting. He said he once regularly contracted with various companies and
people that charged $110 to $175 for sets of records. The records, he said,
were of use in many instances, such as tracking runaways, helping insurance
companies ferret out fraud or helping the police determine if a criminal
suspect was having conversations with another bad actor.
?It?s an issue for law enforcement wanting to move on something early and
we were able to give them a direction while they?re waiting for a
subpoena,? Mr. Baird said. He said that he stopped trying to obtain phone
records because of the negative attention it has received, and the
uncertainty about whether obtaining them was legal.
Mr. Baird said he felt that his and other detective agencies were using the
phone records in beneficial and legitimate ways. The decision to stop using
them has cost him in lost business, though he declined to say how much.
?We?ll leave it alone and let Congress figure it out,? he said.
=================================================
George Antunes Voice (713) 743-3923
Associate Professor Fax (713) 743-3927
Political Science Internet: antunes at uh dot edu
University of Houston
Houston, TX 77204-3011
------------------------------
Message: 3
Date: Mon, 11 Sep 2006 16:13:15 -0500
From: George Antunes <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: [Medianews] Bidding War Starts for Chip Maker Freescale Semi
To: [email protected]
Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset=us-ascii
September 11, 2006
Bidding War Starts for Chip Maker
By ANDREW ROSS SORKIN and JOHN MARKOFF
NY Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/11/business/12dealcnd.html?ref=business&pagewanted=print
Two groups of investment firms were vying to acquire Freescale
Semiconductor for more than $16 billion late Sunday night, people involved
in the negotiations said. Such a transaction, if completed, would be the
largest leveraged buyout to date in the technology sector, surpassing the
$11.3 billion sale of SunGard Data Systems last year.
The bidding war illustrates the increased appetite of private equity firms
for the technology industry, a sector shunned for years by many financiers
because it was considered too volatile. But as technology companies have
matured and private equity firms have begun to look for companies that are
not simply stable, but also growing, more deals are taking place in the sector.
The heart of Freescale's business is in making specialized, or "embedded,"
chips that provide intelligence for things as varied as automotive engines
and cellphones.
A consortium including the Texas Pacific Group, the Blackstone Group,
Permira and the Carlyle Group was near a deal to acquire Freescale on
Sunday. But a rival consortium including Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, Silver
Lake Partners and Bain Capital swooped in with a last-minute offer that was
higher, the people involved in the negotiations said.
The K.K.R.-Silver Lake group is considering a plan to merge Freescale, a
former unit of Motorola, with the semiconductor unit of Philips
Electronics; they and another partner agreed to buy control of that unit
last month, and and Bain has since joined the buyers in that deal.
Exact details of the Freescale bids could not immediately be learned, and
people involved in the discussions cautioned that the talks could still
collapse.
A spokeswoman for Freescale did not return a call seeking comment.
Spokesmen for the consortium either declined to comment or could not be
reached.
The semiconductor industry appears to be in a deal frenzy.
In the Philips deal, the Dutch electronics giant agreed to sell 80 percent
of its semiconductor division to K.K.R., Silver Lake and AlpInvest Partners
for 3.4 billion euros ($4.4 billion). Earlier in the summer, Advanced Micro
Devices agreed to buy ATI Technologies for $5.4 billion in cash and stock.
Joe Osha, an analyst at Merrill Lynch wrote a note to investors last month
saying that semiconductor companies were ripe for more deals. "We think
that managers in the semiconductor industry need to start thinking more
seriously about capital structure or risk some unwanted but long overdue
attention from activist investors and buyout firms."
Freescale, which was spun out of Motorola in 2004, is now the worlds' 10th
largest chip maker, with some $5.8 billion in revenues last year. The
company plays a major role in the automotive and communications industries.
Its customers include Motorola, with its extensive line of cellphones; Sony
Electronics; Whirlpool appliances; Cisco routers; and automakers like
Mercedes, BMW, Ford, Hyundai and General Motors.
The chips used in these companies' products are similar to the
microprocessors that control desktop and portable personal computers.
However, the software that controls the chips is stored in special memory
chips referred to as flash memory.
Freescale's chief executive is Michel Mayer, who is a 19-year veteran of
I.B.M.'s semiconductor business.
On Friday, Freescale's shares closed at $30.75, up 43 cents. The company
has a market value of $12.47 billion.
=================================================
George Antunes Voice (713) 743-3923
Associate Professor Fax (713) 743-3927
Political Science Internet: antunes at uh dot edu
University of Houston
Houston, TX 77204-3011
------------------------------
Message: 4
Date: Mon, 11 Sep 2006 16:14:40 -0500
From: George Antunes <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: [Medianews] How Will Apple?s Marketing Maestro Marry the
Computer and the Home TV?
To: [email protected]
Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset=iso-8859-1
September 11, 2006
How Will Apple?s Marketing Maestro Marry the Computer and the Home TV?
By JOHN MARKOFF
NY Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/11/technology/11apple.html?ref=business&pagewanted=print
SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 10 ? Has Apple Computer?s chief executive, Steven P.
Jobs, found a way to connect the PC to the TV?
With an enticing invitation proclaiming ?It?s Showtime,? Mr. Jobs last week
touched off speculation about how far Apple will go as it takes its next
big step into digital video.
On Tuesday, Apple will hold another of Mr. Jobs?s marketing events here to
introduce what trade publications and analysts indicate will be his next
campaign: an effort to transform the distribution of Hollywood movies as
thoroughly as he has revolutionized the recording industry with the iTunes
Music Store.
A distribution deal with the Walt Disney Company and sleeker,
higher-capacity video iPods are part of the consensus among those who
handicap Apple product announcements. But company executives have hinted
that Apple has at least one bigger idea on tap.
Mr. Jobs needs one. In his quest to remake Hollywood distribution in the
Internet era, his main challenge is one that has bedeviled the personal
computer industry. Today, despite many efforts by Microsoft, Intel and a
variety of start-up companies to insinuate the computer into home
entertainment, almost all movies watched at home use cable, satellite or
DVD players, making it possible for Hollywood to control both piracy and
pricing.
The computer industry, under the banner of ?digital convergence,? has been
looking longingly at the American living room for several years. Beginning
in 1993, Microsoft tried to rally the cable industry under the banner of
Cablesoft, an abortive effort to turn the home cable box into a
Microsoft-based PC.
More recently, Microsoft and Intel have invested millions in a slow-growing
effort to offer Media Center PC?s that promise a single home entertainment
box. Separately, Microsoft has been trying to start a business in
Internet-based television technology, intended to arm telephone companies
to compete with cable operators. And in January, Intel introduced a
microprocessor system called Viiv, designed for PC-based digital
entertainment. So far, it has found few backers.
Despite proclaiming that its Macintosh computer is the center of a digital
home strategy, Apple has taken only baby steps into the video era, offering
iPods that play television videos on tiny screens and a software program
called Front Row, largely hidden within the Mac, for managing video
collections, music playlists and slide shows.
Those efforts may become more aggressive on Tuesday, but so far Mr. Jobs
has kept his strategy well hidden. Much speculation has centered on a
living-room-ready version of the company?s least expensive computer, the
Mac Mini, a compact desktop model originally positioned as an inexpensive
way for PC users to switch to the Macintosh market. A living-room Mini
could play DVD?s, download Internet data like digital movies and include a
TV tuner.
The downside of such a strategy, of course, is that it would be compared,
perhaps unfavorably, with the dozens of similar devices already introduced
in attempts to bring the Internet closer to the home television set. That
might amount to yet another box in the living room ? something Mr. Jobs and
his designers choose to avoid.
?Apple is genetically incapable of doing anything that smacks of me-too,?
said Mike McGuire, research vice president at the market research firm Gartner.
A more intriguing possibility discussed by former Apple engineers and on
rumor sites like AppleInsider.com is that Apple may use wireless
technologies like Wi-Fi and ultra-wideband to stream digital content from a
Macintosh to the TV. Such a system would allow the video to be played on
television screens with the computer?s hand-held Apple remote control.
Such an approach would almost certainly appeal to Mr. Jobs?s spartan
aesthetic. And it tracks well with one of Apple?s peripheral products,
AirPort Express, which makes it possible to stream digital audio wirelessly
to speakers in different rooms of a home.
Moreover, such an approach would keep Hollywood digital video content
locked up on a Macintosh and stream it to the TV using a connector called
HDMI (High-Definition Multimedia Interface), which is engineered to offer
copy protection.
The obstacle to such a wireless video service is that such projects often
run afoul of real-world wireless environments in the home, which are
replete with interference from devices like microwave ovens, wireless video
cameras and wireless phones, and uncooperative neighbors.
Yet Mr. Jobs and Apple were pioneers in using Wi-Fi in their computers, and
it is likely that he is looking for a way to renew Apple?s technological
leadership in video.
That is almost certain to make Tuesday?s event, to be held at a theater
across the street from the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, one of
Apple?s most closely watched product introductions.
Mr. Jobs has repeatedly found ways to position Apple in front of important
technology changes, and the convergence of the broadband Internet and a new
generation of high-definition television has presented an opportunity for
the company to play an even larger role in consumer electronics.
According to Steve Perlman, a former Apple engineer who founded Moxi
Digital in 1999 in an effort to create an integrated set-top box for the
living room: ?The ?last mile? problem of delivering broadband to the home
has largely been solved. What remains is the ?last hundred feet? problem.?
By that, he meant reliably delivering high-definition video to television
sets using Internet-based technology.
?Once that has been solved,? he said, ?it will completely transform the
entertainment landscape.?
=================================================
George Antunes Voice (713) 743-3923
Associate Professor Fax (713) 743-3927
Political Science Internet: antunes at uh dot edu
University of Houston
Houston, TX 77204-3011
------------------------------
Message: 5
Date: Mon, 11 Sep 2006 16:16:04 -0500
From: George Antunes <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: [Medianews] Revived 'Nightline' May Get Last Laugh
To: [email protected]
Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset=us-ascii
'Letterman' in Sights, Revived 'Nightline' May Get Last Laugh
By SARAH ELLISON
Wall Street Journal
September 11, 2006; Page B1
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB115793294451358967.html?mod=hps_us_at_glance_mm
After Ted Koppel left "Nightline" in November, many of the show's staff
members and fans thought the show was effectively dead, even though it was
scheduled to plug along in a revamped format. Colleagues saw Mr. Koppel as
one of the last in a generation of serious newsmen, and his departure was
viewed as another chapter in the inevitable decline of network news in
favor of lighter entertainment programming aimed at younger viewers.
Signing off on in his final appearance, Mr. Koppel warned viewers that if
they didn't give the new "Nightline" a chance, "I promise you, the network
will just put another comedy show in this time slot. And then, you'll be
sorry."
But late-night news junkies aren't sorry now. Nine months after Mr. Koppel
left, "Nightline's" audience is up 9% compared to a year ago, taking its
ratings very close to, and sometimes higher than those of CBS's "Late Show
With David Letterman" particularly in the younger demographics that ABC was
eager to attract.
The new team behind "Nightline" accomplished this by softening some of the
show's programming, adding lighter features and more celebrity coverage,
while still trying to maintain the show's news chops with frequent segments
on political and social topics. The new show has featured singer Alicia
Keys discussing AIDS, an examination of the IRS's efforts to tax gift bags
to celebrities, and profiles of various comedians for a series called
"Seriously Funny." Overseeing the turnaround is new Executive Producer
James Goldston, who previously was best known for producing Martin Bashir's
unsettling 2003 interview with Michael Jackson, in which the pop star
admitted sharing his bedroom with children.
Even if "Nightline" isn't always as high-minded as it was in the past, some
argue that these changes were needed to rescue a dying franchise. "You can
characterize the relative success of 'Nightline' today in this context: In
the last years of Ted Koppel, the show had lost its way," says Andrew
Tyndall, who monitors television news for his New York-based research and
consulting firm, ADT Research. "This is more a rejuvenation than a
reinvention." Toward the end of his tenure, Mr. Koppel was often unwilling
to do live shows and reduced his number of appearances per week.
Many of Mr. Goldston's new features added a touch of razzle-dazzle that
would have been unheard of under Mr. Koppel, such as a "Sign of the Times,"
a 90-second segment at the end of the show. One recent spot featured Dick
Cheney's list of demands when visiting a hotel (examples: turn the
thermostat to 68 degrees and the TV to Fox News). An episode last month
touted the "secret audiotapes of John Mark Karr -- alleged Jon-Benet Ramsey
killer." Mr. Karr was later dropped as a suspect in Ms. Ramsey's death.
One planned new feature, Mr. Goldston said in an interview, is dubbed "What
keeps me up at night." It would focus on the kinds of things that thinkers
and other notable people find themselves obsessing over.
Mr. Goldston also brought Mr. Bashir in as one of the "Nightline" anchors,
and ABC News also named two others -- Cynthia McFadden and Terry Moran --
as lead anchors for the show. To give the network more control, the show
moved many of its staffers to New York, where ABC News is based, while
maintaining a sizable presence in Washington, D.C., where "Nightline" was
based under Mr. Koppel.
The partial relocation to New York precipitated an exodus of staff,
including numerous producers, worried about the direction of the show under
its new management. Still, despite the overhaul, staffers who stayed with
the show say they're happy with how it has turned out.
"I was very, very concerned about the show changing," says John Donvan, a
longtime "Nightline" correspondent. "The reputation of the show was based
entirely on the example Ted set, and when he left, I just wasn't sure if
that wasn't all going to go away." But Mr. Donvan, like several of his
colleagues, stuck around. "I decided to stay...in November, and by the end
of January I was pretty convinced that I had made the right move." He says
the changes have tripled the number of topics the show can cover, leading
to more story ideas and travel for him, which he relishes.
Many former "Nightline" staffers are nostalgic for the old format under Mr.
Koppel, but see the switch to the new format as inevitable. The former
staffers say that they viewed "Nightline" under Mr. Koppel as the best
place to work at ABC News, but they don't see it that way anymore.
Mr. Koppel declined to comment on the new "Nightline." He is gearing up for
his first show on Discovery Channel, a three-hour primetime special dubbed,
"The Price of Security," which is set to air Sunday night, to coincide with
the eve of Sept. 11. His longtime producer, Tom Bettag, who followed Mr.
Koppel to Discovery said, "We don't want to cast a shadow on these people's
worlds. I'm not going to tell people what I really think, other than I'm
thrilled the broadcast has continued."
Mr. Goldston defends the show's new direction, and says it still does
plenty of hard news, something the multitopic format allows. For the Karr
tapes, Mr. Goldston says, "would I have wanted to have made a whole show on
that? No. But I think we followed it with a segment on AIDS denial in
Africa." Last week, "Nightline" aired an interview with Hillary Clinton
from the campaign trail. Mr. Donvan spent the better part of August in the
Middle East covering the conflict between Hezbollah and Israel.
ABC News management is happier with the new show. Four years ago, ABC
unsuccessfully courted David Letterman to plug his comedy-talk show into
its sagging late-night news slot, prompting many in the industry to
conclude that Mr. Koppel didn't enjoy his bosses' support. Many assumed his
departure would be used as an excuse to try to find a new Mr. Letterman,
Jay Leno, or Jon Stewart. With "Nightline's" ratings rise, talk of
scheduling a comedy program in its slot has faded and news is getting the
last laugh.
"All of us had questions about how 'Nightline' would fare once Ted Koppel
left, and while there's no such thing as tenure in the TV business, we are
very pleased with the program today," said David Westin, president of ABC
News, in an interview. "We're not talking about whether it will survive;
we're talking about how to make it stronger."
Earlier in the summer, for the week ending June 25, "Nightline" tied new
episodes of "Letterman" in ratings among both adults ages 25-54 and 18-49.
"Nightline" also beat out "Letterman" in August in total viewers three
weeks in a row. Two of those weeks featured "Letterman" reruns; the third
had new shows. "Leno," as usual, finished first all three weeks.
Now, the big question for "Nightline" is can the show turn a profit? ABC
yanked the program from its initial expensive Times Square studio and now
produces it in the same building as ABC News, but such cuts have yet to
make it profitable, according to a person familiar with the show's finances.
"My key message would be that this show remains a work in progress. We are
pleased with the progress we've made but by no means are we finished," says
Mr. Goldston.
=================================================
George Antunes Voice (713) 743-3923
Associate Professor Fax (713) 743-3927
Political Science Internet: antunes at uh dot edu
University of Houston
Houston, TX 77204-3011
------------------------------
Message: 6
Date: Mon, 11 Sep 2006 16:17:41 -0500
From: George Antunes <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: [Medianews] Florida County to Vaporize Trash - Poof!
To: [email protected]
Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset=us-ascii
County to Vaporize Trash - Poof!
Associated Press
17:10 PM Sep, 09, 2006
http://www.wired.com/news/wireservice/1,71757-0.html
FORT PIERCE, Florida -- A Florida county has grand plans to ditch its dump,
generate electricity and help build roads -- all by vaporizing garbage at
temperatures hotter than parts of the sun.
The $425 million facility expected to be built in St. Lucie County will use
lightning-like plasma arcs to turn trash into gas and rock-like material.
It will be the first such plant in the nation operating on such a massive
scale and the largest in the world.
Supporters say the process is cleaner than traditional trash incineration,
though skeptics question whether the technology can meet the lofty
expectations.
The 100,000-square-foot plant, slated to be operational in two years, is
expected to vaporize 3,000 tons of garbage a day. County officials estimate
their entire landfill -- 4.3 million tons of trash collected since 1978 --
will be gone in 18 years.
No byproduct will go unused, according to Geoplasma, the Atlanta-based
company building and paying for the plant.
Synthetic, combustible gas produced in the process will be used to run
turbines to create electricity -- about 120 megawatts a day -- that will be
sold back to the grid. The facility will operate on about a third of the
power it generates, free from outside electricity.
About 80,000 pounds of steam per day will be sold to a neighboring
Tropicana Products facility to power the juice plant's turbines.
Sludge from the county's wastewater treatment plant will be vaporized, and
a material created from melted organic matter -- up to 600 tons a day --
will be hardened into slag, and sold for use in road and construction projects.
"This is sustainability in its truest and finest form," said Hilburn
Hillestad, president of Geoplasma, a subsidiary of Jacoby Development.
For years, some waste-management facilities have been converting methane --
created by rotting trash in landfills -- to power. Others also burn trash
to produce electricity.
But experts say population growth will limit space available for future
landfills.
"We've only got the size of the planet," said Richard Tedder, program
administrator for the Florida Department of Environmental Protection's
solid waste division. "Because of all of the pressures of development,
people don't want landfills. It's going to be harder and harder to site new
landfills, and it's going to be harder for existing landfills to continue
to expand."
The plasma-arc gasification facility in St. Lucie County, on central
Florida's Atlantic Coast, aims to solve that problem by eliminating the
need for a landfill. Only two similar facilities are operating in the world
-- both in Japan -- but are gasifying garbage on a much smaller scale.
Up to eight plasma arc-equipped cupolas will vaporize trash year-round,
nonstop. Garbage will be brought in on conveyor belts and dumped into the
cylindrical cupolas where it falls into a zone of heat more than 10,000
degrees Fahrenheit.
"We didn't want to do it like everybody else," said Leo Cordeiro, the
county's solid waste director. "We knew there were better ways."
No emissions are released during the closed-loop gasification, Geoplasma
says. The only emissions will come from the synthetic gas-powered turbines
that create electricity. Even that will be cleaner than burning coal or
natural gas, experts say.
Few other toxins will be generated, if any at all, Geoplasma says.
But critics disagree.
"We've found projects similar to this being misrepresented all over the
country," said Monica Wilson of the Global Alliance for Incinerator
Alternatives.
Wilson said there aren't enough studies yet to prove the company's claims
that emissions will likely be less than from a standard natural-gas power
plant.
She also said other companies have tried to produce such results and
failed. She cited two similar facilities run by different companies in
Australia and Germany that closed after failing to meet emissions standards.
"I think this is the time for the residents of this county to start asking
some tough questions," Wilson said.
Bruce Parker, president and CEO of the Washington, D.C.-based National
Solid Wastes Management Association, scoffs at the notion that plasma
technology will eliminate the need for landfills.
"We do know that plasma arc is a legitimate technology, but let's see first
how this thing works for St. Lucie County," Parker said. "It's too soon for
people to make wild claims that we won't need landfills."
Louis Circeo, director of Georgia Tech's plasma research division, said
that as energy prices soar and landfill fees increase, plasma-arc
technology will become more affordable.
"Municipal solid waste is perhaps the largest renewable energy resource
that is available to us," Circeo said, adding that the process "could not
only solve the garbage and landfill problems in the United States and
elsewhere, but it could significantly alleviate the current energy crisis."
He said that if large plasma facilities were put to use nationwide to
vaporize trash, they could theoretically generate electricity equivalent to
about 25 nuclear power plants.
Americans generated 236 million tons of garbage in 2003, about 4.5 pounds
per person, per day, according to the latest figures from the Environmental
Protection Agency. Roughly 130 million tons went to landfills -- enough to
cover a football field 703 miles high with garbage.
Circeo said criticism of the technology is based on a lack of
understanding. "We are going to put emissions out, but the emissions are
much lower than virtually any other process, especially a combustion
process in an incinerator," he said. Circeo said that both plants operating
in Japan, where emissions standards are more stringent than in the U.S.,
are producing far less pollution than regulations require.
"For the amount of energy produced, you get significantly less of certain
pollutants like sulfur dioxide and particulate matter," said Rick Brandes,
chief of the Environmental Protection Agency's waste minimization division.
Geoplasma expects to recoup its $425 million investment, funded by bonds,
within 20 years through the sale of electricity and slag.
"That's the silver lining," said Hillestad, adding that St. Lucie County
won't pay a dime. The company has assumed full responsibility for interest
on the bonds.
County Commissioner Chris Craft said the plasma process "is bigger than
just the disposal of waste for St. Lucie County."
"It addresses two of the world's largest problems -- how to deal with solid
waste and the energy needs of our communities," Craft said. "This is the
end of the rainbow. It will change the world."
=================================================
George Antunes Voice (713) 743-3923
Associate Professor Fax (713) 743-3927
Political Science Internet: antunes at uh dot edu
University of Houston
Houston, TX 77204-3011
------------------------------
Message: 7
Date: Mon, 11 Sep 2006 16:41:30 -0500
From: George Antunes <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: [Medianews] Study: Promising future for power-line broadband
To: [email protected]
Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset=us-ascii
Study: Promising future for power-line broadband
By Caroline McCarthy
News.com
http://news.com.com/Study+Promising+future+for+power-line+broadband/2100-1034_3-6114397.html
Story last modified Mon Sep 11 14:05:38 PDT 2006
The demand for using traditional electrical lines as a medium for broadband
technology in the residential sector is rising worldwide and will continue
to grow, according to a study by market research firm In-Stat.
Broadband service over power lines (BPL), which allows an Internet
connection to be established through a standard electrical outlet, is seen
as a potential rival to coaxial (coax) and twisted-pair wiring, the
fixed-line technologies most commonly used for cable and telephone service,
respectively. Incorporating BPL into a residence or business requires no
additional wire installation.
It may sound too good to be true, and indeed BPL has had a rocky history
because of technical limitations, high development costs and its potential
for interference with ham radio and emergency radio signals. But according
to In-Stat's research, it's catching on. The number of broadband power-line
equipment units sold passed the 2 million mark in 2005, and the research
firm expects that the number will increase by 200 percent this year.
The main advantage of BPL, according to In-Stat analyst Joyce Putscher, is
the fact that the availability of coaxial or twisted-pair connections can
be limited. In many countries, specifically those in Europe and Asia, cable
television is far less common than it is in the United States, and
households in those countries tend to have fewer telephone jacks. BPL could
consequently facilitate more-widespread broadband Internet connectivity in
those markets.
Domestically, according to Putscher, choosing BPL can mean the customer
will have more flexibility when accessing the service because connections
can be set up at any power outlet. "Even in the U.S. there are still a lot
of homes that, even with coax and phone jacks, may only have them running
to one room," she said. "It's limited."
Even in some markets where cable and telephone services seem to have a lock
on broadband services, local leaders still explore the BPL option. And if
In-Stat's research proves accurate, more markets may be picking it up soon.
=================================================
George Antunes Voice (713) 743-3923
Associate Professor Fax (713) 743-3927
Political Science Internet: antunes at uh dot edu
University of Houston
Houston, TX 77204-3011
------------------------------
Message: 8
Date: Mon, 11 Sep 2006 16:43:25 -0500
From: George Antunes <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: [Medianews] AT&T Enters Muni Wi-Fi Game
To: [email protected]
Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset=iso-8859-1
AT&T Enters Muni Wi-Fi Game
By Karen Brown
MultiChannel News
9/11/2006
http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6370090.html
In this story:
COMPANY FINANCED
A MOBILITY PLAY
OWNING NETWORK COUNTS
SPRINT CONFLICT?
AT&T Inc.?s plan to build a Wi-Fi network in Springfield, Ill., not only
signals its entry into the municipal wireless market, but it also is part
of a new strategy to extend its broadband services outside of the home and
office.
The Bell operator is now in negotiations with about a dozen cities to build
and operate Wi-Fi mesh networks, which it plans to operate in parallel with
its existing wired digital subscriber line and Project Lightspeed
fiber-optic-fed broadband services.
In doing so, the former SBC Communications Inc. can offer customers
broadband Internet service that follows them outside the home ? something
cable competitors as yet do not offer.
COMPANY FINANCED
The Springfield City Council has yet to sign off on the deal, but if
approved the plan calls for AT&T to finance and build a
25-to-30-square-mile mesh Wi-Fi network covering nearly the entire city. It
would then offer a range of broadband-access options, including free
service as well as subscription residential and data services. The city
also would have access to the network for its communications.
AT&T won?t disclose how much the Springfield network would cost because the
contract is still pending. But it is ?a substantial amount,? according to
Ebrahim Keshavarz, AT&T?s managing director of new-services development.
AT&T has been in the Wi-Fi service business for some time through AT&T
Wi-Fi, a service that offers wireless service for business and consumers
through 54,000 indoor ?hot spots? nationwide.
Now the telco is moving outdoors and expanding that strategy to include
municipal Wi-Fi mesh networks.
While indoor Wi-Fi hot spots, cellular and wired digital-subscriber-line
access might be the main connections for most customers, providing outdoor
wireless through mesh Wi-Fi also play an important role in extending that
access to broadband, Keshavarz said.
It also helps that Wi-Fi radios have been incorporated in almost all new
laptop computers, as well as a growing number of gaming devices and
portable media players.
A MOBILITY PLAY
?For the consumer side, we see it more as an extension of broadband in the
home,? he said. While the more widely available digital subscriber line
services will provide higher-speed and more reliable service, the added
municipal Wi-Fi networks ?we see as a mobility play, really.?
In addition, cities are looking to these networks to manage utilities and
provide separate communications for public safety. Businesses also are
looking for such systems to keep employees connected in and out of the office.
?We?ve seen the market evolve, where in the past cities had the right
thought ? if you build a wireless network, there are lots of uses for it,?
Keshavarz said. ?Where we?ve seen a change, though, is that municipalities
now realize the scale of that. And doing it in a robust way, it makes sense
to partner with someone like AT&T or other partners who do that for a
living, essentially, and let them do that as an extension of their current
infrastructure.?
OWNING NETWORK COUNTS
The move does put AT&T in competition with the likes of EarthLink Inc. and
Google Inc., which have already pulled down Wi-Fi mesh network deals in San
Francisco and Philadelphia, among others.
But Keshavarz argues that AT&T has significant advantages because it owns
the wired network that will be used to connect these networks to the larger
Internet, and it can offer bundled services that allow DSL customers to
take their connection outside the home.
?When cities look at us, they know that this is a company that knows how to
do wireless, and there is a financial viability aspect, as well,? Keshavarz
said.
AT&T also has a lot of experience in the government and business sector, he
added.
By working with AT&T these cities have a chance to build a viable network
that takes advantage of all the infrastructure in the ground, he said.
It may well be that AT&T wants to gain a foothold in the municipal Wi-Fi
market rather than cede it to potential broadband service competitors like
EarthLink and Google, according to Tom Elliott, vice president of North
American consulting for Strategy Analytics. It also could attract more
valuable customers who will sign up for higher-tier offerings and generate
more revenue.
?Some of those people will turn into interactive gamers or video-swappers ?
they will be the high-bandwidth, high ARPU [average revenue per
unit]-types. So if you are connected with offering them access, it is that
much easier to convert that customer to whatever your premium offer is. In
principal, it makes sense.?
That also could provide another competitive plank for AT&T, especially
since cable operators as yet have not entered the municipal Wi-Fi
competition. Whether this will prompt cable operators to jump in, ?is a
good question,? Elliott said.
?Historically, they?ve been focused on what they do best, which is getting
a lot of stuff into your home,? he noted. ?Technically it?s a bit more of a
stretch for them than an AT&T.?
In addition, the joint venture with Sprint Nextel Corp. could be a barrier
for partners Comcast Corp., Time Warner Cable, Bright House Networks and
Cox Communications Inc., as any Wi-Fi service could compete against
Sprint?s high-speed Evolution-Data Optimized cellular network service.
SPRINT CONFLICT?
?If they got serious about being a mobile alternative, then you have
questions about if they are doing a deal with Sprint, does it make sense
for them to also be offering intra-urban mobility through Wi-Fi,? Elliott
noted. ?If they felt compelled to offer their fixed customers a mobile
alternative, they might be better off putting their energies behind
supporting EV-DO.?
Elliott also speculates that AT&T?s move into municipal Wi-Fi might have
ramifications beyond simply offering a broadband connection alternative to
its customers.
?It just seems to me that this potentially could be a chip played in games
with a lot bigger stake than just cheap broadband access for the masses ?
like in [video] franchising wars. It never hurts to have another friend in
city hall.?
=================================================
George Antunes Voice (713) 743-3923
Associate Professor Fax (713) 743-3927
Political Science Internet: antunes at uh dot edu
University of Houston
Houston, TX 77204-3011
------------------------------
Message: 9
Date: Mon, 11 Sep 2006 16:45:02 -0500
From: George Antunes <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: [Medianews] La. Utility Continues Broadband Fight
To: [email protected]
Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset=us-ascii
La. Utility Continues Broadband Fight
By Linda Haugsted
MultiChannel News
9/11/2006 4:32:00 PM
http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6370673.html?display=Breaking+News
Lafayette Utilities System of Louisiana went to that state's Supreme Court
in an effort to overturn lower-court rulings that ban the utility from
underwriting broadband-system-construction bonds with utility revenues.
The municipal utility has been trying for more than two years to develop a
broadband system in competition with Cox Communications and BellSouth. The
latter two entities went to the state legislature in 2004, and lawmakers
passed a bill that severely limits the ability of municipal entities to get
into competitive broadband businesses.
LUS went back to the drawing board on its process, holding a referendum on
the project in order to comply with the new state law. In July 2005, that
was approved overwhelmingly by voters.
But this past May, a local resident, Elizabeth Naquin sued in district
court to block the project. She alleged that the funding for the broadband
system -- based on bonds guaranteed with revenue from utility customers --
violates the 2004 law. She lost in lower court, but the state's Third
Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the utility's bond ordinance violates
state policy.
In the opinion of the appeals panel, a municipality may not use revenue
from captive rate payers to support a broadband project, even if the
broadband division pays back the utility division with interest.
The appeal asserted that the bond program adheres to state law, and
attorneys will argue that the lower court's interpretation of the state law
is a barrier to community progress and to recovery from Hurricane Katrina.
=================================================
George Antunes Voice (713) 743-3923
Associate Professor Fax (713) 743-3927
Political Science Internet: antunes at uh dot edu
University of Houston
Houston, TX 77204-3011
------------------------------
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