Net Neutrality, FCC, What Now?

5 Ways the FCC Could Respond to Invalidation of Its 'Net Neutrality' Rules | JD Supra Perspectives - JDSupra:

1. They could rewrite the rules:
2. They could appeal the ruling:
3. They could draft entirely new rules to achieve similar objectives:
4. They could change the regulatory status of broadband:
5. They could seek additional powers from Congress:

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China, Telecom, Virtual Telecom Licenses

China's Telecom Regulator Awards Virtual Telecom Licenses to 11 Companies - WSJ.com: "... Analysts have long said the creation of the new businesses, known in the industry as virtual telecom service providers, could offer a first step to breaking up the monopoly held by China's three state-run telecom service providers--China Mobile Ltd. (CHL), China Unicom (Hong Kong) Ltd. (CHU) and China Telecom Corp. (CHA). Still, analysts have warned that the success of virtual telecoms depends on the leasing terms they are given by the state-owned goliaths. Many analysts have pointed out that the state-run telecoms could limit the size of competitors by leasing limited bandwidth and also could charge high rates, making it hard for private companies to compete...."

U.S. Mobile Internet Traffic Nearly Doubled This Year - NYTimes.com: "About 1.4 billion smartphones will be in use by the end of this year, according to ABI Research. Cisco, the networking company, predicts that Internet traffic from mobile devices will exceed that of wired devices, like desktop computers, by 2016."

CTIA website shows mobile app data usage | PCWorld: "The website also includes information about how mobile device owners can conserve data. KnowMyApp.org currently includes test results for the top 50 paid and free apps from the Apple and Google stores, and CTIA plans to add more apps each month. The trade group invites developers to submit apps to be tested."
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Stock Android, 4.4 KitKat Edition

Stock Android Isn't Perfect: 4.4 KitKat Edition: ..."Up" vs Back - It Works, But No One Knows Why...Much is made of Android's back button - it can be confusing, it can work inconsistently across apps, and it's never really explained to new users out of the box. It seems especially odd when paired with another backwards navigation element - the "up" navigation button.In a perfect world, the back button takes you to the last view you saw, no matter where that is. The up button, meanwhile, should bring you up one level within the same app you're looking at. Try this: open the gallery from the camera app by swiping left. Then hit back. You're back at the camera, right? Okay, do the same thing but this time hit the gallery's up button. This should bring you to the gallery's home page. This is how it's supposed to work. The problem with this is that it's never really explained to new users. I have a simple solution for this - a quick first run explanation after the device is set up. Just like Android tells you how to add icons to your home screen, it could give a succinct explanation of back and up when the time comes. Easy. This would also be a good opportunity for Google to nudge developers in the right direction, as there are still plenty of instances where this paradigm isn't exactly followed in third-party apps....(read more at link above)

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Why Telecom Carriers Cave to the NSA

NSA, surveillance, carriers --

Smooth operators: why phone companies don't fight the NSA | The Verge: ".... we don't need to wonder what a telecom whistleblower might look like. In February 2001, Qwest CEO Joseph Nacchio says he was approached by NSA agents about establishing direct access to Qwest's call records without a FISA warrant. Nacchio declined, thinking the program was illegal. Subsequent leaks showed Qwest as the only phone company that declined to participate in the program. The retaliation was immediate: Nacchio says Qwest lost government contracts in the following months (although some contest this), and the business started to collapse. Just a few years later, Nacchio was brought up on insider trading charges, a prosecution he maintains was political payback. There are plenty who doubt Nacchio’s story — as one put it to me recently, "it’s a great way to come out of an insider trading case looking like a hero" — but it’s still an unsettling thought for any telecom who’s considering pushing back against law enforcement. For anyone worried about surveillance, the moral of the story is even worse. There are plenty of encryption schemes, plenty of services that will promise to safeguard your data, and the recent transparency push could make them even safer. The past few months have focused more on soft networks, whether it's Lavabit's SSL keys or the encryption that safeguards Gmail. But access to the lines carrying that data has never been in doubt. And anyone making a push for transparency knows better than to look to AT&T for help...." (read more at link above)

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Motorola, Project Ara, modular smartphone

Customization, ordering direct from the manufacturer, modular components --

Motorola's Project Ara modular phone prototype is 'almost ready' | News | TechRadar: "Woodside also dropped a significant hint that, once ready, the modular smartphones and components will be sold on the Moto Maker customisation website. "Moto Maker was the beginning of a more exciting and longer term story which is how do we involve consumers and give them more choice," he added. "Ara is much further out but you can see how those two things tie together and how as we introduce new materials into Moto Maker we're gonna pursue that theme across our product line going forward. What we'd like to eventually get to is [customising] functionality within the device and that's where Project Ara and Moto Maker may converge." Moto's new direction seems heavily centric on giving smartphone users exactly what they want in a smartphone. The Moto X offers custom backplates, materials and colour schemes and Project Ara will take those decisions to the ultimate level for tech enthusiasts." (read more at link above)

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Motorola CEO Dennis Woodside (video)

MKBHD Hangout with Motorola CEO Dennis Woodside! - YouTube: "Streamed live on Dec 6, 2013 Interview/Conversation with Dennis Woodside, CEO of Motorola. We talk Project Ara, Smartwatches, Moto X & more"

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AT&T, phone subsidy scams, competition

AT&T's New Plans Show Competition Works | News & Opinion | PCMag.com: "AT&T is finally starting to edge out of the phone subsidy scam, and we have T-Mobile to thank for it....AT&T isn't doing this out of the goodness of its heart, or out of some religious conversion. It's doing this because of competition: specifically, the rise of the new T-Mobile and the boom in low-cost prepaid plans in the U.S. Big Blue knows which way the wind is blowing. Under CEO John Legere, T-Mobile killed all phone subsidies, lowered its monthly rates and added more than a million customers in the last quarter. AT&T also added customers, but most of those were tablets rather than more profitable smartphones. To grab the smartphone buyer of 2014, AT&T knew it needed to shake off the shackles of old thinking and compete...."

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