Andrew Zarian joins us as we talk about Google Fiber possibly invading 34 new cities, and the FCC cracking down on Net Neutrality violations again.
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Show Notes
FCC announces it will create new rules to strengthen net neutrality Ars Technica reports US FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler announced today that the agency will not appeal the court ruling that struck down parts of the Open Internet Order. Instead the FCC will begin the process of creating new rules to prevent ISPs from blocking or discriminating against websites, that have a more solid basis in law. Wheeler said the FCC will also continue to consider reclassifying ISPs as a common carrier as an option.
Google Fiber expands Ars Technica also reports Google posted that Google Fiber will investigate 9 new metro areas, a total of 24 cities, as possible sites for Google’s 1 Gbps Internet service. Google will send representatives to Portland, San Jose, Salt Lake City, Phoenix, San Antonio, Nashiville, Atlanta, Charlotte and Raleigh-Durham to meet with municipal governments and make detailed studies of the areas. Google hopes to make decisions about the new locations by the end of the year.
Important thing that happened after the show
Facebook to buy WhatsApp for $16 billion
News From You
pete_c submitted this Wired article about Steve Perlman’s attempt to end cell phone congestion, and increase speeds about 1,000 times what they are now by replacing cell phone broadcast antennas and adding a card into existing cell phones. Perlman’s technology is called pCell which works by targeting individual cell phones and using a data center and an algorithm, provides each device with its own connection, rather than sharing bandwidth with every other device in the area. Perlman demonstrated the technology publicly for the first time this morning at Columbia University in New York.
lythander sent in a story from the Charleston Daily Mail describing how customer complaints have dropped nearly 70% since Frontier Communications took over Verizon’s West Virginia landline operations. Frontier has also expanded access to roughly 176,000 households. Regulators required Frontier to invest in infrastructure and increase access as a condition for buying the operation from Verizon.
And ancientbearwizard posted this Popular Mechanics story about a study published in Current Biology showing that an app called UltimEyes lengthened the distance people could see by an average of 31%. The app works by taking advantage of neuroplasticity, the way the brain can require itself. The app confronts you with patterns based on the Gabor stimuli which the brain uses to represent incoming visual information in the visual cortex. This trains your brain to process the patterns more efficiently. Researchers are still unable to say what is happening int he brain that improves acuity.
More links from the show
Glove for Android to help you pick the right mobile carrier by collecting your mobile data
Pick of the day:
Jennie Pick! Ridiculous awesome thing: Z-Board –It’s an electric skateboard for pete’s sake. Lean forward to go, lean back to stop. The company was founded by two guys in Hermosa beach who learn as they go and always try to please their customers. They built a special skateboard for the hills of San Francisco, and made a replica of the Back to Future II hoverboard, complete with awesome promo video. What’s not to love? (Jennie road a Z-board once, and it was awesome. Also she used it to film a Dolly shot.)
