Is an “open architecture” Internet the only way to promote innovation? Several of the most innovative new broadband services, which have triggered major consumer use, have come from different designs, and new ones are being proposed all the time. At the same time, the history of government mandates and how they impact innovation suggests a very poor track record.

Since I am fresh from the Nashville Music Conference, my eye was caught by news that the Broadband Breakfast Club is putting on a panel called Finding Solutions to Problems of Copyright Infringement — Oct. 12 from 8-10 a.m. (Details/Registration.) The blurb: Almost all parties agree that piracy in all of its varieties (P2P services, [...]

Last April, the President of the Ford Foundation wrote an article Why Foundations of All Kinds Should Promote Internet Access. It described Ford’s plans to commit $50 million over the next five years “to support efforts that ensure both that broadband access to the Internet becomes a reality for all citizens and that public-interest values [...]

Cisco is launching a relatively cheap 1080P telepresence system for the home at $599 plus a $25 monthly service fee. This is the lowest price point for a 1080P system with this level of video quality.

Facebook is preparing for their big announcement today. We look in to see if it is a move that will change the digital economy or will it simply change the wuffie economy?

BoxTop will offer a free broadband service and it will work on your TV set. The service will be subsidized by application providers.

Something odd is going on in the world of high tech patents. Microsoft, which used to boast that it simply did not bring patent infringement cases, preferring to work things out among gentlemen and ladies, has shifted to an aggressive posture, with a 243 page Complaint against Motorola over its use of Android (the patents [...]

Hulu started dropping recent content to 360P quality or below and eliminated the 480P option. I hope this isn’t a new trend.

FierceIPTV reports that AT&T is aiming to pull away some of Akamai’s business. The report indicates that AT&T is contracting with Contendo for “app aceeleration and dynamic site acceleration” for AT&T networks. Contendo, a content delivery network (CDN) based out of Sunnyvale, CA, developed the acceleration technology and launched their business last year. They closed their “Series C” funding round a year later with $12 million.

The Nashville Summit was indeed interesting. Nashville is a pleasant city, especially for someone (moi) who enjoys the combination of country music and Civil War history. (While effete Easterners focus on the Army of the Potomac and its sideshow in Virginia, it was in the West that the Union won the war, and came close [...]