Coffee Shops Getting Tired of Wi-Fi Squatters

Uh oh. This is troubling news for anyone out there that is used to finding the nearest Starbucks and sitting down to browse the Web on a laptop. While free public Wi-Fi is fun to use and often shopped as a selling point among many businesses, it seems that coffee shops in particular are getting a little bothered by the growing number of Wi-Fi squatters out there.

The Wall Street Journal has posted an interesting read about this trend. Over the last several years, the amount of people with Wi-Fi enabled devices has been steadily on the rise, as well as the number of businesses that offer wireless access points to its customers. However, this has also attributed to non-paying customers simply loitering and crashing the property of many local owners, without even buying anything.

Even though I for one love to partake in some free Wi-Fi whenever I can get my virtual hands on it, I do have to say that I understand why a shop owner would be upset about non-paying customers just hanging around all day. What are your thoughts about coffee shops clamping down on Wi-Fi squatters? To read more, visit the Wall Street Journal.

Cable Industry: Triple Play Good for Consumers!

According to a recent study commissioned by the National Cable & Television Association, cable’s decade-plus investments in modern digital networks, which they say allows consumers to choose among a wide variety of products and bundled services – including digital high-definition video, high-speed data, and digital voice – provides about $35 billion in annual consumer benefits.

"Consumers as a whole have unequivocally benefited from the transformation of the cable industry over the past ten years and its investment and entry into voice and high-speed data markets,” the report states. “The benefits can be attributed to the cable industry’s massive investments in deployment of advanced communications infrastructure, which enables provision of new digital video, data, and voice services.  Consumers have voted with their feet by subscribing to these new services in ever-increasing numbers.” 

The study, prepared by Microeconomic Consulting & Research Associates, Inc. (MiCRA), found that about 60 percent of cable customers subscribe to broadband Internet service, 26 percent subscribe to digital voice service, and the penetration of each service continues to grow steadily.  The triple-play bundle of digital video, broadband, and digital voice service continues to attract a larger share of cable customers, which provides the greatest opportunity for consumer savings. 

The researches used bundled service figures from the top three cable operators, Comcast, Time Warner and Cox. According to those three, 23% chose a triple play of cable, Internet and phone, in 2008, up from around 10% in 2007.

For more information, download the incredibly detailed PDF of the whole survey. Or just find a triple play bundle available in your area. 

Mobile Internet Use Increases Sharply in 2009

A recent survey by the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project found that 56% of adult Americans have accessed the Internet by wireless means (laptop, mobile device, game console, MP3 player, etc). The most prevalent way people get online using a wireless network is with a laptop computer, with 39% of adults having done so.

The report also found rising levels of Americans using the Internet on a mobile handset. One-third of Americans (32%) have used a cell phone or Smartphone to access the Internet for e-mailing, instant-messaging, or information-seeking. This level of mobile Internet is up by one-third since December 2007, when 24% of Americans had ever used the Internet on a mobile device. On the typical day, nearly one-fifth (19%) of Americans use the Internet on a mobile device, up substantially from the 11% level recorded in December 2007. That’s a growth of 73% in the 16 months between surveys!

The report also found a growth in a broader measure of mobile engagement, as more Americans in 2009 were turning to their handheld for non-voice data activities. The activities probed were: sending or receiving text messages, taking a picture, playing a game, checking e-mail, accessing the Internet, recording video, instant messaging, playing music, getting maps or directions, or watching video.

For more on the findings, check out Mobile Internet use increases sharply in 2009 as more than half of all Americans have gotten online by some wireless means.

Comcast and Cox Take Part in Internet Safety Report

Leading communications companies like Comcast, Cox, Google and AOL are teaming up with Internet safety organizations to form a task force dedicated to keeping children safe online.

They are working on a report, PointSmart.ClickSafe: Task Force Recommendations for Best Practices for Online Safety and Literacy, to unify all Internet service providers under the same safety guidelines.

At the present time the guidelines are too fragments across the board, so this task force is asking for a nation policy to be implements to keep our future online generation safe from the dangers the Internets holds.

To read more about what is being do do keep children safe on the Internet, read Comcast, Cox Contribute to Internet Safety Report.

YouTube to Change Focus

Looks like YouTube feels they've mastered the short-form content market and now they want to go head-to-head with Hulu in the long-format arena. It makes sense for YouTube to grow as a company and right now there is money in long-format content.

Also, as an audience, we are very finicky and our attention will always be drawn to something new and shiney. So as YouTube gives us yet another reason to go to their site, lets just hope it is as entertaining as their current content. 

To read more on the new focus at YouTube, hop over to Broadcasting and Cable.

CenturyTel and EMBARQ Merger Approved By FCC

CenturyTel and Embarq Corporation announced last week that CenturyTel's pending acquisition of EMBARQ has received approval from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). The merger now has received all necessary approvals, and the companies expect the merger to be effective on July 1, 2009.

“The FCC’s approval is a significant and exciting milestone toward completing the merger,” said Glen F. Post III, CenturyTel's chairman and chief executive officer. “It has been a rigorous review process and we are pleased to have the FCC’s approval and recognition that the combination of CenturyTel and EMBARQ offers many benefits to our customers and the communities we serve.”

“We have committed to the FCC that we will remain focused on infrastructure development and broadband deployment after completion of the merger,” said Tom Gerke, EMBARQ's chief executive officer. “Our combined company is committed to investing in our communities and providing our customers high-quality, reliable communications and expanded broadband services.”

We will keep an eye out for how this will affect current customers and ordering service from the combined company moving forward.

Comcast and Time Warner Partner to Put Cable TV Content Online

Time Warner recently announced that it is partnering with Comcast to distribute its television content online. The agreement between the companies will make it possible for Comcast customers to access programming from Turner Broadcasting’s entertainment networks free online and on demand.  In addition, Comcast announced it will begin a national technical trial of its “On Demand Online” service in July carrying programming from Time Warner’s Turner networks TNT and TBS.

"We have been working for a year to bring more TV and movie content to our customers online and we are thrilled that Time Warner is joining us in our national technical trial," said Brian L. Roberts, Chairman and CEO of Comcast. "Ultimately, our goal is to make TV content available to our customers on all platforms.”

The On Demand Online technical trial will deliver more TNT and TBS programming online, free of charge to Comcast video customers, than what had previously been made available. Comcast customers in the trial will be able to access TNT programming like The Closer and Saving Grace, as well as the TBS line-up including Tyler Perry’s Meet the Browns and My Boys. The shows will be initially accessible on Comcast.net, Fancast.com and will soon be available on TNT.tv and TBS.com.

The only catch is that customers must first prove they have cable or satellite service before accessing the content and a high-speed Internet connection is recommend for the best viewing experience.

For more, check out Time Warner, Comcast test approach to more TV on Web.

American Women Choose Apple as Top Tech Brand

According to the results of Women & Digital Life, a study by Solutions Research Group Consultants Inc., Apple is the top technology brand among American women, followed by Sony, Microsoft, Dell and HP. The study asked the open-ended question "which technology brand or company do you admire the most?" Twenty percent of women who responded mentioned Apple. Sony came in second with 14%, Microsoft was third with just over 10%, followed by Dell at 10% and HP at 6%.

Other brands mentioned in the top 20 included Verizon, Google, LG, Nintendo, Samsung, Gateway, AT&T, Panasonic, GE, IBM, BlackBerry and Comcast.

Women are an increasingly important market for technology brands – in fact, an estimated 45 million women in the U.S. bought a digital product in the last six months.

“As women close the gender-gap in technology use, being top-of-mind is more important than before” said Donna Hall, co-director of the Women & Digital Life study. “Teens and young women influence their parents’ choices while moms make choices for themselves and their children, suggesting strong potential for additional Apple products in the home.”

This is the second in a series of releases from the Women & Digital Life study which is based on in-depth interviews and explores how women navigate in the age of broadband, mobile and social media.

For more information on the study, check out SRG's Digital Life in America.

Verizon to Shed Landlines in 14 States

As part of Verizon Communications’ strategy to focus on wireless, broadband and FiOS fiber-optic services, they will sell their predominantly rural landlines across 14 states to Frontier Communications. This translates to the sale and transfer of 4.5 million landlines and related assets.

The big winners in this transaction will be stockholders and Frontier. All-in-all, Verizon stockholders will receive a total value of $8.6 billion and Frontier will become the largest operator of rural communications services across the U.S.

The states affected will be Arizona, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, South Carolina, Washington, West Virgina, Wisconsin and some parts of California. The time line given by Verizon for the full transfer of all assets is 12 months.

For more information regarding this transaction and how it may affect you as a current Verizon customer, visit CNET News and Verizon Investor Relations.

Broadband for All Americans Part of Stimulus Package

The Federal Communications Committee has been tasked with proposing a plan for all Americans to have broadband access as part of President Obama’s economic stimulus package. This plan must be delivered to Congress by February 17, 2010 and take into consideration key opportunities such as how to reach all Americans with broadband service, how to maximize use of current broadband infrastructure and methods for broadband to increase consumer and economic activities.

Cable companies and telcos will receive portions of the stimulus package and it’s likely that unserved and underserved populations will be primary recipients of individual funds. To stay abreast with progress on this initiative, visit FCC.