Tag archive: Martin

Assuming you’ve already figured out how to keep your laptop powered on your next major jaunt across the continent, staying connected to the Web is your next major travel hurdle. After all, Solitaire and a handful of movies can keep you entertained for a bit, but what you really brought a laptop for is e-mail, Web surfing, Skype, and all the other niceties of connectivity. So, how do you tap into the Internet when your friendly… Read More

President-elect Barack Obama has announced he plans to nominate Julius Genachowski to head the Federal Communications Commission in his administration—a move that has been greeted by applause from media reformers and open media advocates. The FCC is currently run by Chairman Kevin Martin, whose tenure has not been without controversy: under Martin's watch, the FCC approved the merger of Sirius and XM satellite radio as well as… Read More

Speaking at last week's CES show in Las Vegas, outgoing FCC chairman Kevin Martin said that delaying the United States' February 17, 2009 transition to digital television could confuse consumers and, thereby, create higher costs for the transition going forward. Martin noted that all publicity and education materials about the transition—not just from the FCC but from the entire television industry—has been centered… Read More

If you’ve ever had fantasies of being a real James Bond, Facebook might be the best place to start that new career. Britain’s Secret Intelligence Service – better known as MI6, the organization that runs agents abroad – has begun advertising for recruits on the social networking site, a big turnaround from the times (quite recent times, in fact) when it would quietly look for the qualified among Oxford and… Read More

The Federal Communications Commission has ordered U.S. cable giant Comcast to end discriminatory network management policies (PDF) and sanctioned the company for "secretly degrading" the performance of peer-to-peer sharing applications like BitTorrent and Gnutella. The order requires Comcast to stop blocking P2P applications and fully disclose the details of its networking management techniques by the end of 2008. However, the… Read More

In comments to the Associated Press, FCC chairman Kevin Martin has let it be known that he intends to recommend cable operator Comcast be penalized for violating the set of FCC principles that protect consumer's access to the Internet. “The commission has adopted a set of principles that protects consumers access to the Internet,” Martin told the AP. “We found that Comcast's actions in this instance violated our… Read More

One of the little known ironies of the music world is that that largest maker of musical instruments on the planet isn't a name like Fender, Gibson, or Martin—although those names certainly command a lot of brand recognition. No: it's Japan's Yamaha—its logo with three tuning forks!—the same people who make motorcycles, golf carts, jet skis, and powerboats. And a lot of those instruments—and… Read More

At an agency hearing on broadband services held at Stanford University, FCC chairman Kevin Martin said his agency should scrutinize two primary factors when trying to evaluate whether ISPs' network management policies were “reasonable:” do application designers know what will and won't work on the network, and are consumers fully informed about the nature of the service they're purchasing, and any restrictions… Read More

At a hearing yesterday in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Federal Communications Commission chairman Kevin Martin weighed in on Internet service providers that engage in "network management" practices that involve degrading service for some types of traffic—like file sharing applications—in favor of others. While allowing that service providers should be able to take reasonable steps to make sure their networks run… Read More

In an uncharacteristic move, Internet giant Google has informed FCC chairman Kevin Martin the company will commit at least $4.6 billion to the FCC's upcoming spectrum auction in the 700 MHz band—so long as the FCC requires auction winners adhere to four princples of “openness” which designed to encourage competition and consumer choice. Google announcement is apparently the company's way of “putting its… Read More

In the tradition of many highly anticipated games from respected publishers, Grand Theft Auto IV will be available in a special edition for those fans dedicated enough to cough up the coin for it. Rockstar, the game's publisher, made the announcement Monday evening along with the price: a steep $89.99. That’s $30 more than the regular versions on Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 will go for. In exchange for the extra quid, fans will… Read More

Don McLean’s “American Pie” is being used in a Chevy commercial. Again. Another thing I see on my New York late-night TV screen is an ad for “Fresh 102.7,” the latest programming gambit on an FM frequency that used to entertain me for hours every day. The two of them together make me ache.             Why? When I first heard “American Pie,” 102.7… Read More

New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer has filed suit against Washington D.C.s Gratis Internet for what it describes as “the largest deliberate breach of privacy in Internet history.” Gratis operates numerous Web sites including FreeiPods.com, FreeCDs.com, FreeDVDs.com and FreeVideoGames.com, which promised users free products, generally by participating in free trials of other products. According to the suit, Gratis promised… Read More

“After a few incidents where customers failed to reach emergency officials when they dialed 911, federal regulators are increasing pressure on companies to ensure those calls get routed and answeredproperly with location information. The proposal would require companies like Vonage Holdings Corp. to route 911 calls directly to primary emergency lines within four months of the order being issued, the sources said, declining to be… Read More

“Bush named Martin, who has been a member of the FCC since 2001, to replace departing chairman Michael Powell, the White House announced today. Martin, a former special assistant to Bush for economic policy and a lawyer for the Bush 2000 campaign, has at times disagreed with Powell about how far the deregulation of incumbent local telecom carriers should go. Bush's decision was cheered by the telecom industry. Tom Tauke,… Read More