Comcast's "New" Strategy Lie, Cheat & Deal

Lately, Comcast has been throwing lots of money around to try and convince people that they are the fastest and best value in high-speed Internet service. Although the truth (integrity) of much of the propaganda pushed by their attractive, demographically correct spokes person is questionable, until yesterday I was never compelled to blog about it.

I've been driven closer to writing about this, as I continue to experience "mysterious" performance related problems with my various non Comcast product related high bandwidth activities, such as video conferencing and Vonage.

Despite a number of complaints to Comcast Technical "Support," these problems seem to be getting worse. I find it suspiciously coincidental, that the problems associated with my Vonage VOIP service did not start until Comcast began offering their own "Comcast Voice" product in my area!

So what changed yesterday? Word began to circulate that Comcast had solicited otherwise uninterested people to take up seats at an official FCC public hearing in Boston, resulting in many genuinely interested people and press representatives being turned away! Hundreds of people, many of whom had taken the day off of work to attend and voice their concerns about the importance of an "open" Internet were prevented from entering the hearing, because it was
"full."

Since this story broke, Comcast has actually admitted to paying people to fill up seats, in an attempt to "stack the room." You can view the report HERE. One of the paid attendees is on record as saying he was "just getting paid to hold someone's seat" and said he was clueless about the actual purpose of the meeting.

This incident is a blatant example of corporate malfeasance. The FCC should levy a significant punitive fine on Comcast AND hold another Boston hearing. Future hearings, should be held at venues that are large enough to accommodate anticipated crowds. A web-based registration component should be used, with a limit on one ticket per originating IP address.

I encourage you to tell the FCC to stop the large Telecom vendors from blocking Internet traffic that is not tied directly to one of their revenue producing products. Tell the FCC we need Net Neutrality legislation today!

Garmin's nuvifone Is Another Palm Failure

Once again a new PDD (Personal Digital Device) exposes Palm's failure to capitalize on their early success with both PDA and converged devices(Treo). Garmin's entry into the converged PDD market and turning their back on the Palm OS, has the potential to be an even greater blow to Palm than the iPhone.

The combination of phone, GPS and PDA functionality is something Treo users like myself have been impatiently waiting for this same combination to be delivered by Palm for years. This despite repeated pleas and 3rd party evidence of the potential. Palm's decision to enter into agreements with cellular vendors, that hold them hostage from providing Wifi on Treo devices was a deal with the Devil and a fatal strategic error. All this to keep some ingenious person from porting a Skype, Vonage or other VOIP client, thereby denying the cell phone companies their extortionate annuity.

Although Garmin's nuvifone has the potential to be a formidable rival to both the Treo line and iPhone, it faces the uphill challenge of being based on Garmin's own operating system. Palm's latest Centro model, along with the iPhone are huge hits.

Although most Centro owners don't know it, they have access to thousands of available Palm applications. iPhone users, though victimized by Apple's restrictions on carriers are, like Apple's desktop users, zealously spreading the iPhone gospel and happily hacking their way to carrier independence.

If the nuvifone is released as an unlocked GSM platform with an open development platform, it will likely be one of, if not the final nail in Palm's coffin and a huge obstacle to the iPhone's future success.

Dell Misses Mark With New Tablet XT

One piece of advice I give clients and try to live by myself is: never buy a piece of technology that has an expected ROI of greater than 18 months. I also recommend my SMB clients buy/lease technology that has been on the market for at least six to eight months, so it is proven (SP1) and has had a chance to depreciate in cost.

Why would someone want to purchase a Dell XP, when they can get a proven Toshiba or HP unit for $800-$1,000 less? Most of my clients would be far better off spending that money on mobile productivity applications, two years of mobile broadband service, training, etc.

Most of the people who require longer battery life are also people who need/want a ruggedized form factor, like that found in the Panasonic CF-08. Interestingly enough, the CF-08 has a reported 14 hour battery life!

Dell's experience with the XPS 1710 gaming laptop may have clouded its judgment on this new offering. Unlike the gaming crowd, who are willing to pay a premium for the fastest and coolest rig available, most businesses that I work with, are looking for solutions that minimize their Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) and provide tangible value. The Dell Tablet XP misses this mark.

I've thinking about buying a tablet PC, to replace the Dell Latitude C640 with 1G of RAM and XP Pro, that I purchased off-lease and has served me well for the last two years. I've enjoyed my Dell and have been eagerly awaiting their entry into the Tablet PC market.

Now that I've seen Dell's Tablet XP, I think I'm going to give up on Dell for my next machine. Sorry Dell, but..

What I Really Want Is A Vostro 1500T with 2G (4GRAM for < $1,500

Acedemics Just Don't Get Digital Rights

Much of the furor sorounding "Digital Rights" has been emanating from College/University campuses, where huge amounts of illegal file sharing takes place, using the school's networks. The following article recently appeared on ZDNets Technology News Blog:

Politicians just don’t get it by ZDNet's Marc Wagner -- If we want to keep Washington lobbyists out of Education IT, we need to enforce our own codes of conduct with regards to copyright infringement. It is THEFT, plain and simple and if we don't pursue student misconduct ourselves, Congress will mandate solutions which will impede our educational mission for years to come.

Here was my response:

Disclaimer: I'm one of those "politicians" and have also spent the past 20+ years working in IT.

This issue is not complex. Current laws should be obeyed/enforced, until they are repealed/replaced.

It's illegal to copy and redistribute almost all commercially produced music, video or software. When you have a bunch of elitist academics tacitly supporting the theft of copyrighted materials and universities more interested in promoting their football teams than civics/ethics, you wind up with the situation you have now.

Copyright holders see as much chance of voluntary compliance or enforcement on college campuses, as they see for underage drinking, by the same irresponsible whelps who are all glad to break copyright law if they "feel" like it. If they saw mandatory ethics and civics classes being taught, as a apposed to diversity training and Marxism 101, perhaps they would be more willing to take a less aggressive approach to the problem.

It is my opinion that most of the knowledge worth knowing has little or nothing to do with popular culture. Saying that keeping the miscreants from Kazaa and other P-2-P tools will slow down or stifle true academic pursuits or learning is a disingenuous red herring.

If people want copyright laws changed, they should get involved in the political process. Students, try writing (not email, not text message) your elected representatives and in complete sentences, lay out a well reasoned position on why you think current copyright laws need to be changed and what you think they should be. "Teachers," get off your fat, tenured buts and teach these kids how to be productive, law-abiding citizens and how to work within the system to effect positive change!

Much of the furor sorounding "Digital Rights" has been emanating from College/University campuses, where huge amounts of illegal file sharing takes place, using the school's networks. The following article recently appeared on ZDNets Technology News Blog:

Politicians just don’t get it by ZDNet's Marc Wagner -- If we want to keep Washington lobbyists out of Education IT, we need to enforce our own codes of conduct with regards to copyright infringement. It is THEFT, plain and simple and if we don't pursue student misconduct ourselves, Congress will mandate solutions which will impede our educational mission for years to come.

Here was my response:

Disclaimer: I'm one of those "politicians" and have also spent the past 20+ years working in IT.

This issue is not complex. Current laws should be obeyed/enforced, until they are repealed/replaced.

It's illegal to copy and redistribute almost all commercially produced music, video or software. When you have a bunch of elitist academics tacitly supporting the theft of copyrighted materials and universities more interested in promoting their football teams than civics/ethics, you wind up with the situation you have now.

Copyright holders see as much chance of voluntary compliance or enforcement on college campuses, as they see for underage drinking, by the same irresponsible whelps who are all glad to break copyright law if they "feel" like it. If they saw mandatory ethics and civics classes being taught, as a apposed to diversity training and Marxism 101, perhaps they would be more willing to take a less aggressive approach to the problem.

It is my opinion that most of the knowledge worth knowing has little or nothing to do with popular culture. Saying that keeping the miscreants from Kazaa and other P-2-P tools will slow down or stifle true academic pursuits or learning is a disingenuous red herring.

If people want copyright laws changed, they should get involved in the political process. Students, try writing (not email, not text message) your elected representatives and in complete sentences, lay out a well reasoned position on why you think current copyright laws need to be changed and what you think they should be. "Teachers," get off your fat, tenured buts and teach these kids how to be productive, law-abiding citizens and how to work within the system to effect positive change!