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FCC seeks to streamline licensing requirements for 800MHz band
A new proposal set forth by the FCC would modify the Commission's licensing requirements of the 800MHz band by replacing its current site-based model with more contemporary geographic guidelines. Commissioners argue the change is needed, as site-based rules were originally established to consider the propagation of analog signals -- now obsolete by anyone's standards. The move would bring the licensing requirements of the 800MHz spectrum to parity with the 700MHz, AWS and PCS bands and reduce a boatload of paperwork along the way by eliminating current data collection requirements. The proposal would also create a new, two-stage auction process for the unlicensed areas, based on the new geographic approach. The FCC is now seeking public comment, and its PR can be found after the break.[Tower photo via Shutterstock]
Zachary Lutz02.15.2012
Apple's opportunity to expand retail into India
The Wall Street Journal's Livemint blog reports that Apple may be considering opening up retail operations in India as soon as it possibly can, following a new governmental ruling in that country that foreign companies can indeed open and own retail stores. Apple's been poking around India for a while -- the company reportedly thought about opening a call support center there a few years ago, but eventually decided not to. And while Apple's retail sales in China and elsewhere have definitely been on the rise, India hasn't opened its doors to foreign retailers yet -- until now. Apple of course says it doesn't comment on future plans, but presumably the company is still interested in selling its devices in India, and before long we'll see some retail presence planned for an opening there. There is still a rule that says 30% of the produced items sold must come from local Indian resources, but even the government says that if that limit remains a major obstacle for Apple, it may be reversed as well. Interesting. Apple's seen a lot of success in emerging markets like China already, and obviously India also represents a lot of potential as well. We'll have to see what route Apple takes to set up shop in the country, and how those decisions work out for them going forward.
Mike Schramm01.21.2012
MMO Family: Games of chance vs. MMOs
From childhood on, I've always been a gamer. But I grew up when computers were just emerging as something that didn't just belong in the bowels of the Defense Department. My games were primarily of the board game variety, with a smattering of classic card games, and my exposure to video games didn't begin until later on. Today, I see kids being raised on video games, and I see it as a good thing. "But board games are the good games," you might protest, and while they're still relevant today and I'm glad to see the recent revival in family board game night, a good portion of board games do not compare to what video games offer to children. This edition of MMO Family explains why!
Karen Bryan01.11.2012
Verizon appeals net neutrality rules, let the legal wrangling begin
We told you it was only a matter of time and, honestly, it took a bit longer than expected. Verizon has officially filed an appeal to the FCC's net neutrality rules, which are set to take effect on Novemeber 20th. It wasn't until the regulations were published in the Federal Register on September 23rd that they became fair game for legal challenges -- a technicality that resulted in Verizon's previous attempt to block the rules being tossed out by the US Court of Appeals in April. While Verizon senior vice president and deputy general counsel, Michael E. Glover, assures netizens that the company is "fully committed to an open Internet," it none-the-less takes issue with the FCC's attempt to institute new "broad" and "sweeping" regulations on the telecommunications industry. We're sure this is only the first of several cases that will be brought before the courts challenging the commission's authority. Stayed tuned to see if and when MetroPCS re-enters the fray, and to find out the ultimate fate of net neutrality here in the US. Check out the brief statement from Verizon after the break.
Terrence O'Brien09.30.2011
Sprint launches Drive First Android app to curb texting and driving, keep chatty teens at bay
Are you concerned that your talky teenager is trying to keep up on the high school gossip whilst behind the wheel? Or are you a more experienced driver looking to get rid of the temptation to update your status at 65 MPH? Sprint's got you covered with Drive First. The app, announced by CEO Dan Hesse at CTIA in March, will lock up your phone when it detects you're in a moving vehicle; calls will be automatically redirected to voicemail and incoming texts can get automatically replied to with a customized message. The service costs $2 / month per phone after a 15-day trial, and unfortunately only is available for Android devices, though BlackBerry and Windows Phone support has been promised in the near future as well. We'd say the more the merrier -- for parents, that is. Head below for the full press release.
Brad Molen09.12.2011
Drama Mamas: Should guilds mandate courtesy?
Drama Mamas Lisa Poisso and Robin Torres are experienced gamers and real-life mamas -- and just as we don't want our precious babies to be the ones kicking and wailing on the floor of the checkout lane next to the candy, neither do we want you to become known as That Guy on your realm. Try not to get too distracted by cute young men in groovy costumes. We've got drama to take care of. Dear Drama Mamas, I am a guild leader of a large social guild, with a large group of officers. At officer meetings there are a small group of people who continue to bring up the subject of guild members not saying hello when people log on or grats when an achievement is made, they feel as if they are being ignored and are not welcome, although I have had no complaints from other guild members. This subject has been discussed many times and the main conclusion that the majority of us agree upon is leading by example, as we can not force guild members to say hello or grats. But the same people continue to gripe about this one subject which sometimes leads to aggressive discussions on the officers forums. I understand that they feel strongly about it and have attempted to address the problem many times and tried various things to appease them to no avail.
Robin Torres08.29.2011
Massively's Code of Conduct reminder
Hello faithful readers! As any Massively.com veteran may remember, this site established a code of conduct a few years ago for our commenters. This code is located under our Community link at the top of the page, and outlines common sense rules for commenting on the site, including the fact that we won't tolerate attacks on other readers or our writers. But since the site has grown so drastically in the last year, we feel it's time to send out a friendly reminder for any new readers who may not be aware that there even is a code of conduct. So we invite you all to take a moment to read over the rules, and note that our goal is to provide a place for readers to comment without fear of personal attacks or unnecessary trolling. We want you to be able to express your opinions in the comments (yes, even negative ones) without fear of being called names or cursed at, so we've been actively banning commenters who can't seem to understand the basics of grown-up human interaction. Plus, we expect that you would want us to concentrate our own time and energy into making this site the best it can be, instead of continuously giving warnings to people who troll the site and its readers. And most importantly, if you see a comment that breaks a rule in our code of conduct, please report it so that we can take necessary measures from there. If you have any questions, feel free to email me at shawn@massively.com.
Shawn Schuster07.15.2011Drama Mamas: When love makes raiders unreliable
Drama Mamas Lisa Poisso and Robin Torres are experienced gamers and real-life mamas -- and just as we don't want our precious babies to be the ones kicking and wailing on the floor of the checkout lane next to the candy, neither do we want you to become known as That Guy on your realm. Remember those times at school/work/league/everywhere when a couple got together and then became extremely inattentive to all of their old friends/colleagues/teammates/everyone while they spent more time with each other? Yeah, that happens in WoW too. Dear Drama Mamas, I'm a member of a casualcore raiding guild that's ranked pretty highly on our backwater server. We raid a couple hours 3 times a week, have fun and get stuffs dead. Part of the reason our group is so successful is a feeling of similar purpose ... but it also helps that most of the group is in the same physical location, around 5-7 people of the raiding corps. One of our main tanks is in that group, let's call him P. P has had an ongoing online relationship with another DPS H for some time. H lives on the opposite side of the country. While at the beginning of the expansion everyone in the group meshed well and hung out socially, more and more we see P and H going off on their own and not spending time with the guild outside of raids.
Robin Torres07.01.2011
Golf revises its rules to account for HDTV, DVR technology
You can watch the currently underway Masters Tournament this year in high definition and even 3D, but it will be a little harder to be a part of the action from your couch thanks to just-enacted rules by the United States Golf Association. Recently there have been multiple incidents of players being disqualified for not reporting breaches of the rules that were spotted and called out by viewers at home, equipped with HDTVs and DVRs able to detect minor infractions that might have otherwise been missed during play. Two examples specifically referenced are Padraig Harrington's disqualification at Abu Dhabi after his ball moved slightly when he replaced his marker (would be a penalty, but not a DQ now) and when Camilo Villegas moved a divot as his shot was rolling (still a DQ.) The rules are on the USGA website but you'll have to pardon us, we have some calls to make to David Stern about exactly how many steps you can take without dribbling the ball.
Richard Lawler04.08.2011
Verizon and MetroPCS objections to FCC net neutrality rules dismissed in case of premature litigation
The FCC wants to put new rules in place ensuring access to the web is, like justice, blind to where a person is coming from and indifferent to where on the web he is going to. Verizon's first reaction to these new directives was to publicly decry them as overreaching, and its second was to file a lawsuit, one that was swiftly echoed by MetroPCS. Only problem with their plans? The rules haven't yet been published in the Federal Register, which renders the legal challenges from the two eager mobile carriers "incurably" premature. Such was the determination of the US Court of Appeals, which refused to make a substantive ruling and just threw the cases out due to the technicality. Verizon isn't discouraged, however, and promises to bide its time until all the dominoes have fallen into place before launching another legal attack. Hey, whatever keeps those lawyers in their fancy suits.
Vlad Savov04.04.2011
Google tightening control of Android, insisting licensees abide by 'non-fragmentation clauses'?
A storm seems to be brewing over the realm of Android development. Bloomberg's Businessweek spies have received word from "a dozen executives working at key companies in the Android ecosystem" that Google is actively working to gain control and final say over customizations of its popular mobile OS. That might not sound unreasonable, and indeed Google's public position on the matter is that it's seeking to stabilize the platform and ensure quality control, but it does mark a major shift from where Android started -- an open source OS that was also open to manufacturers and carriers to customize as they wish. Not so anymore, we're told, as apparently Mountain View is now demanding that content partnerships and OS tweaks get the blessing of Andy Rubin before proceeding. The alternative, of course, is to not be inside Google's warm and fuzzy early access program, but then, as evidenced by the company recently withholding the Honeycomb source code, you end up far behind those among your competitors who do dance to Google's pipe. Things have gotten so heated, in fact, that complaints have apparently been made to the US Department of Justice. They may have something to do with allegations of Google holding back Verizon handsets with Microsoft's Bing on board, ostensibly in an effort to trip up its biggest search competitor. Another major dissatisfaction expressed by those working with Android code is that Google needs an advance preview of what is being done in order to give it the green light -- which, as noted by a pair of sources familiar with Facebook's Android customization efforts, isn't sitting well with people at all. Google and Facebook are direct competitors in the online space and it's easily apparent how much one stands to gain from knowing the other's plans early. As to the non-fragmentation clauses in licenses, Andy Rubin has pointed out those have been there from the start, but it's only now that Google is really seeking to use them to establish control. The future of Android, therefore, looks to be a little less open and a little more Googlish -- for better or worse. As Nokia's Stephen Elop puts it: "The premise of a true open software platform may be where Android started, but it's not where Android is going."
Vlad Savov03.31.2011
FCC proposing data roaming rules, not interested in commonizing carriers
FCC chairman Julius Genachowski briefly mentioned data roaming at CTIA last week, but now he's telling Congress that action is inbound, to ensure rural carriers don't get left behind the rest of the cellular industry. You see, in 2007 the Commission mandated cheap roaming agreements for voice and messaging services to let regional carriers compete, but cellular data is what's important now and those existing agreements won't protect the Tiny Tims of telecom in a world of VoLTE anyhow. So, as he explains in a letter sent to members of the Senate and House, the chairman has come up with a set of rules, which will "incent potential roaming partners to come to the bargaining table to negotiate private commercial deals." "The draft order under consideration eschews a common carriage approach and leaves mobile service providers free to negotiate and determine, on a customer-by-customer basis, the commercially reasonable terms of data roaming agreements," reads another letter. Needless to say, we're looking forward to hearing how the FCC will encourage competition while still letting the big boys negotiate from their multi-billion-dollar spectrum holding positions.
Sean Hollister03.26.2011
The Daily Grind: What are the unwritten rules of MMO etiquette?
When my wife first started playing MMOs, I realized that she had absolutely zero comprehension of how to interact in a multiplayer environment. After all, she had only experienced single-player games up to this point in her life, so all of her habits from those games were simply carried over into the new one. She'd attack mobs that other players were fighting, she thought players were stalking her if they sent her tells, and no mining node was safe if she was in the vicinity. As her quote-unquote teacher, I knew that it was my responsibility to teach her basic MMO etiquette -- the unwritten rules of how most players behave and interact in these worlds. Most of my instruction was helping her to see that these other computer characters were actually piloted by people (something we take for granted, but trust me, it's a weird concept to outsiders) and they should be treated as such. So if you were teaching a complete newbie in the ways of MMOs, what unwritten rules of etiquette would you stress? I'll get you started with one: CAPS LOCK HURTS OUR MINDS. DON'T DO IT UNLESS YOU ARE LITERALLY ON FIRE AND NEED ASSISTANCE. Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
Justin Olivetti01.21.2011FCC releases full net neutrality rules
Here's a fine Christmas Eve present from Uncle Sam: the FCC has just released the full text of the net neutrality rules it passed earlier this week by a hotly-debated 3-2 vote. The rules are basically what we expected: the three basic rules require ISPs to be transparent about their network management practices, and further forbid them from blocking any lawful application or service or discriminating against different types of traffic. The biggest tweak comes in the language around paid prioritization, which would let some companies pay for selectively faster access to an ISP's customers -- the FCC is pretty clear that such arrangements will be heavily scrutinized and probably won't pass muster. And then, of course, there's wireless, which is subject only to the transparency and no-blocking rules; the FCC decided to take "measured steps" with mobile because it believes that is still too new and fluid. We'll have a full breakdown later today, but hit the source and check out the full rules yourself -- you're going to be hearing a lot about them over the next few weeks. [Thanks, Phil]
Nilay Patel12.24.2010
IRS employee uses Outlook rules to intercept boss's e-mails, convicted of wiretapping
Here's an interesting question for you: if you set up a rule in Microsoft Outlook to forward messages from one account to another, and you do it without the knowledge of the owner of the account you're forwarding from, are you intercepting or merely copying mail? It may seem like a moot point, but for David Szymuszkiewicz, a former IRS worker, it's an important distinction. David was afraid of being fired after his license was suspended for drunk driving (he needed to drive to the homes of delinquent taxpayers), so he secretly set up this rule on his boss's machine to see what the world was saying about him. The rule was discovered and, wouldn't you know it, he was in trouble. The only question now: whether to charge him under the Wiretap Act for intercepting messages or the Stored Communications Act for merely copying of them. So, what was your answer to the question above? You might be tempted to say he was simply making a copy, and indeed that was Szymuszkiewicz's argument, but any Exchange admin will tell you that Outlook rules are executed on the server, not at the client, meaning those e-mails were indeed being intercepted. Szymuszkiewicz was convicted of wiretapping but seems to have avoided a harsh sentence, with 18 months probation being handed down. A light punishment for wiretapping, but a heavy one for diddling menus in Outlook.
Tim Stevens12.15.2010
Officers' Quarters: Raiding addons aren't optional
Every Monday, Scott Andrews contributes Officers' Quarters, a column about the ins and outs of guild leadership. He is the author of The Guild Leader's Handbook, available now from No Starch Press. Raiding addons aren't optional. They're just not. I'm sure that many people will disagree with me in the comments below. However, I firmly believe this. I'll explain more below -- but first, here's the email that has prompted me to take this stand. Scott, Good news/bad news -- I've recently been promoted to co-guild leader. So now I'm in the position of resolving drama. We are a casual, positive training guild that lets people do whatever they want whenever they want. Our guild rules are basically no swearing; no begging; if you want to raid, get Vent. We are currently running ICC-10 and have just started a second ICC-10 and an ICC-25. The problem is that our Group 1 off tank refuses to get any addons -- not Pally Power, not Deadly Boss Mods, none, zip, zero, zilch, nada. His computer is less than a year old and he is terrified of viruses and won't listen to reason that downloading from sites like Curse is safe -- and yet won't get an authenticator, either.
Scott Andrews10.18.2010
Robots learning our pain threshold by punching humans and seeing if they cry
The first rule of robotics is you do not talk about robotics that a robot should not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm. But how does a robot know when its acts or omissions are causing nearby fleshies discomfort? The obvious way is to scan for the same signals of distress that we humans do -- facial, physical, and aural -- but another, more fun, way is to just hit people over and over again and ask them how much each blow hurt. That's what professor Borut Povse over in Slovenia is doing, in a research project he describes as "impact emulation," where six test subjects are punched by a robotic arm until they can't take it anymore. It's funny, yes, but it's also novel and a somewhat ingenious way to collect data and produce more intelligent machines. Of course, whether we actually want more intelligent machines is another matter altogether. [Thanks, Anthony]
Vlad Savov10.14.2010
FCC set to approve rules compelling carriers to alert you when you're about to go over your limit
Politicians do love themselves a sharp and emotive turn of phrase, of which few are as good as "bill shock." That's the term the FCC has used to sum up all those instances when you've had unexpected surcharges on your monthly wireless bill, caused by unknowingly going outside the bounds of your geographical coverage or monthly allowance. Seeing this issue as something it could help alleviate, the Commission set up a Consumer Task Force back in May in an effort to seek out solutions, and now it has returned with perhaps the most obvious one: getting your network operator to shoot out a voice or text message warning you when you're about to incur costs outside of your normal plan. That's basically what AT&T already does with iPad owners approaching their monthly data limits, which the federales see as a good practice that should be extended across all carriers. We can see no good reason why it shouldn't.
Vlad Savov10.13.2010
New York judge rules 'private' Facebook content can be used as evidence in court
Privacy? On the internet!? You've got to be joking. That has, more or less, been the reaction of New York Justice Jeffrey Spinner when faced with the issue of deciding whether or not content posted to the private sections of Facebook and MySpace should be made available as evidence in court. To be honest, it shouldn't come as a shock to anyone, since typically private information -- like emails and home contents -- can regularly be thrown into the public light when there's "a reasonable likelihood" it may turn up evidence material to a trial's outcome. Bring that tradition to the internet -- where publishing anything comes with an inherent desire to disseminate or share that info -- and the lady claiming for personal injuries against a chair company shouldn't be surprised her "private" snaps are being requested. You know, in case they show her doing the limbo on a tropical isle somewhere. Then again, she could always move to California, where a local judge answered pretty much the same question in a converse fashion. Laws, it's all about how you interpret them.
Vlad Savov09.30.2010
FCC: white space devices won't require spectrum sensing modules
Phew. For a moment few years there, we thought any device set up to operate on these so-called white spaces -- which have been vacated following the analog-to-digital TV transition -- would be forced to use spectrum sensing modules in order to ensure that no TV station was operating in areas in which it wanted to. Based on the FCC's Second Memorandum Opinion and Order, which was just published a few days back, it looks as if forthcoming white space devices will not be required to ping databases in order to make absolutely sure that it won't interfere with TV stations. That's the long and short of it, which is fantastic (if not expected) news for device makers and anyone who despises red tape, but Ars Technica has taken an in-depth look at why the Commission made such a call. Indeed, the FCC's 2008 Order mandated that white space gadgets check in beforehand in order to "protect TV signals from interference." Essentially, the call that nixed this addition was the fact that this security ring would inadvertently provide "many wireless microphones systems that go to unlicensed use" -- things like wireless systems at churches, football games, concerts, etc. As with anything FCC-related, it's a long and wordy explanation, but those interested in the finer details are just one click away from the nitty-gritty.
Darren Murph09.26.2010