Technology Futures

Fights over WiMax spectrum are slowing deployment of WiMax. The FCC, which manages the WiMax spectrum, has been renewing the existing spectrum, called EBS (Educational Broadband Services). The problem is that the EBS spectrum licenses, in many cases, belong to local educational institutions. Sprint wants to build a national WiMax network and thinks that the FCC should require the schools not using the spectrum to give it up.

To make things more confusing, Clearwire, another WiMax provider, has taken the route of simply negotiating licenses directly with the schools, who make some money from something many of them were not using.

The end result will be extensive overbuilding of WiMax networks, which raises costs and makes it more difficult for users to roam from network to network. Wireless broadband operators have never been able to work out roaming agreements the way the cellular industry did. Cellphones did not become popular until roaming agreements were in place, meaning your phone would work pretty much everywhere. Today, in most airports, as one example, there are often two to five WiFi providers, and paying for service on one operator's network does not let you roam on any other operator's network.

The bigger problem here is overbuilding. With several different companies all trying to build wireless broadband networks in a community, costs go up for all users because of duplication of infrastructure. The solution is for the community to build a multi-service network that allows multiple providers to use a single network. Users gain the benefits of true competition, and prices are lower because there is no duplication of infrastructure. The FCC could play a valuable role here by encouraging the development of multi-service networks, but instead, continues to try to put band-aids on outmoded policies.

BoingBoing has a short article about a dumb crook that stole an iMac. What the crook has not realized is that the computer, which has a built in camera, is running a little program called Flickrbooth, which automatically takes pictures and uploads them to a Flickr photo account.

So the Flickr account now has some nice pictures of the crook, complete with high resolution images of tatoos on his upper body. This guy should enjoy his fifteen minutes of fame on the Internet, because it is not likely to last long.

Sometimes the technology wins one for the rest of us.

A lot of companies are frustrated at Apple's domination of the portable music and video market via the popular iPod, which has about 80% of the market for such devices. NBC recently announced it is pulling its TV programs from the iTunes store, and now Universal is going to distribute its music catalogue via SpiralFrog, which will compete directly with the iTunes store.

SpiralFrog and Universal have decided that the music it sells will NOT play on iPods. Apparently ego and stupidity have combined in some entirely new way at Universal, where they apparently think they can simply walk away from 80% of the market. Why would anyone buy music from Universal if it won't play on your music player and can't be stored with the rest of your music in the iTunes software on your computer?

One of the enduring myths of the iPod is that it will not work with music that is not purchased from the iTunes store. This is not true, and never has been. Another myth is that music purchased from iTunes won't play on anything other than an iPod. This is also not true, as you can simply burn a CD and play the music in any device that reads music CDs.

Apple gets beat up for its market share, but it actually has done a better job than most other online music vendors of trying to be fair to its customers. The music industry is still struggling with the sea change in the distribution of music, and the SpiralFrog/Universal partnership is yet another attempt by music executives to control customers. It is not likely to work.

Even as some municipal wireless projects are falling apart, many other communities are still pursuing the risky "direct to vendor" approach. Instead of identifying broader community goals and needs first and then selecting systems and technology that support those goals, community leaders are going straight to a vendor and letting the vendor specify what the community should buy.

These "solutions" are typically expensive wireless systems, offered to the community in some kind of bundled business deal. There are two common approaches. The first is that the local government buys an expensive wireless system, usually with a combination of public safety wireless and data wireless (WiFi) for residential and business use. The second model is that the wireless firm builds the network but obtains a lucrative long term contract from the local government for public safety wireless and usually some WiFi services for government agencies.

There are two problems with this direct to vendor model. The first is that what a single vendor offers may or may not be well aligned with the long term community and economic development goals of the town or county. As an example, wireless (WiFi) is not a business class service and does little to help with economic development.

The second problem is that the vendor ends up deciding the economic future of the community, not the community itself. It is as if water and sewer were managed privately, and the water and sewer vendor gets to decide when and where water and sewer lines will be be upgraded or added. If the company decides it is not profitable to make such upgrades, the community is out of luck if said upgrades are needed to retain existing businesses or to attract new ones.

Local leaders are handing the keys to their community's economic future to a third party; they are doing so in part because they don't feel competent to make technology decisions. But the solution is to educate local leaders on how to make wise decisions, rather than avoiding them altogether. In fact, communitywide fiber and wireless systems are less expensive and less complicated than your average community sewer system.

Design Nine provides seminars designed specifically for community leaders and economic developers, and provides technology advice for communities that is technology neutral.