A few quick things

Okay ... A few quick things.

1. Sort of in line with Corrupt's post this morning - WMATA needs to do something when there are delays across the region.  This morning, I did not have to arrive until 11, so I got on the bus around 10:30 knowing that they wouldn't be running with rush hour frequency - but figuring that they would still be crowded since a lot of people were delayed.  Well sure enough the bus was packed, so much so that we started skipping stops 2 after mine.  This is a normal operating proceedure (and perfectly fine), but when it is not rush hour and the next bus is probably 5-10 minutes behind - it becomes a problem for those people who have to wait.  Now I'm not saying that WMATA wasn't aware of these delays, but they should be able to do something - and I'm sure they would if they could.  But their hands are tied by Union contracts.  UGH.

You know how I feel about unions and the such, but I won't really go into that ... my gripe is more with an out-of-date employment structure for mass transit.  When transit companies were first made into public-private entities around the 1920's, the employment structure remained the same ... and as they shifted to completely public entities - still nothing changed.  Unfortunately, this is hurting us.  We all know that clearly you are going to need more bus/train drivers during the morning and evening rush hours - but unfortunately the hiring of true part-time employees to work during these shifts is basically unheard of ... thanks to unions.  I'm sorry unions, I realize you are looking out for everyones best interests - but you are screwing us.

2. Obama is right (again).  I really hope I don't make a habit of saying this -- it is getting kind of scary.  This morning Obama took time out of talking about the economic stimulus package to ask reporters "WTF is wrong with DC" (not exactly in those terms).  But he is right.  He was complaining about how his daughter's school - Sidwell Friends - has decided to close due to some snow and ice.  He said (per WaPo), "We're going to have to apply some flinty Chicago toughness to this town, I'm saying that when it comes to the weather, folks in Washington don't seem to be able to handle things."  And he is compeltely right.  The DC Metro area has no idea how to deal with weather of any kind.  I have said this all four years I have been here, and I am glad to see Obama noticed it too.

3.  This is the thing that really inspired me to write this post this very second.  Google took a huge step in favor of Net Nuetrality today, ironically in the same day that Comcast and AT&T took a step backwards by doing the RIAA's dirty work for them (here).  Google annouced this afternoon via their blog - here - the introduction of a project called the Measurement Lab.  Basically Google is also tired of ISPs trying to regulate what you can and cannot do with your connection (which you know Comcast loves to do), and wants people to know when they are being f---ed with.  To quote from Google's blog, "Researchers are already developing tools that allow users to, among other things, measure the speed of their connection, run diagnostics, and attempt to discern if their ISP is blocking or throttling particular applications."  And Google is giving them the ability to run these tools on Google servers around the globe.  Thank you Google :)

You can access the Measurement Lab by clicking here.

And here is just a great quote from Google:

At Google, we care deeply about sustaining the Internet as an open platform for consumer choice and innovation. No matter your views on net neutrality and ISP network management practices, everyone can agree that Internet users deserve to be well-informed about what they're getting when they sign up for broadband, and good data is the bedrock of sound policy. Transparency has always been crucial to the success of the Internet, and, by advancing network research in this area, M-Lab aims to help sustain a healthy, innovative Internet.

4. Oh one last thing ... The House voted down the DTV Delay Act.  While I previously posted that I was in favor of a delay, the Obama Administration failed to outline any real plan aside from delaying the date and throwing money at the problem.  The vote roll can be viewed here.

Out.

Reader Round

If you have to work today ... I'm sorry

* Okay ... this is a personal appeal.  If you, or someone you know has a subscription (either print or online) to The Next American City ... please let me know.  GW's library, which I still have access to has full text via ProQuest, but ProQuest has not updated their database since last spring.  Needless to say, I don't have the money to pay $50 for the online subscription.  But if you do happen to come across a copy, and it is Issue 21 - check out the following articles:

- The Bell Tolls for Municipal Wireless: This seems like a great article about Philly's attempts to make the city the first full WiFi city in the country.

- New York's Other Banking Crisis

- Two Tales of a City: About Baltimore.

* Lifehacker had this a billion years ago - from a CEO - 12 steps to success - check it out.

* Also via Lifehacker - a service called LifeTango which helps to organize your goals - here.

* I don't know what pisses me off more - having to download a PDF or having it embedded in the web page and causing my browser to freeze.  Well a company called Issuu wants to stop annoying you - and has a neat little code you can embed in your website that makes PDFs, DOCs, and presentations all very pretty and friendly.  Check it out via TechCrunch, here.

* Speaking of Net Neutrality the other day ... apparently Australia is not a fan.  Via Wired, here, the Australian government would like to block approximately 1300 sites - such as those that show child pornography, excessive violence, how-to guides for crime, and terrorism stuff.  Yes, the Aussies are blocking sites that we can all agree are bad - but I'm sorry - its boils down to the same thing as burning books - it just shouldn't happen.  If we are concerned about what our kids can see (which is the strongest argument in this type of thing), we should put in place more strict age controls on our computers and websites.

* Did Google make a mistake in buying YouTube?  Is Hulu where it is at?  Gigaom is reporting, here,  from the FT that major music labels may be in talks with Hulu to host their premium content.  This comes just on the heels of Warner Music's fight with YouTube, causing them pull their content.  It will be interesting to see where that goes...

* One of the funniest articles on The Onion ever: Even CEO Can't Figure Out How RadioShack Still In Business.  It is beyond funny because it is so true ... I am always amazed that RadioShack is still open, the one in DCUSA always seems to be loaded with people.  Here is a quote from the article:

"Have you even been inside of a RadioShack recently?" [the CEO] asked. "Just walking into the place makes you feel vaguely depressed and alienated. Maybe our customers are at the mall anyway and don't feel like driving to Best Buy? I suppose that's possible, but still, it's just...weird."

* Corrupt was shocked that Bush signed a law supporting the Gays ... I'm not.  W, I'm proud.  Here.

* USB 3.0 will be making an appearance at CES.  I'm stoked.  Are you?  Here.  In case you haven't heard, USB 3.0 is the nwe USB standard that is of course still backwards compatible with 2.0 and 1.1 - but is super fast.

* Social Search ... could it happen?  Yes.  Do we need two partners we actually use?  Yes.  Will that happen? Probably not.  As this TechCrunch article points out - the two logical partners in a social search operation are Google and Facebook.  Now, FB has already partnered with Microsoft for Live Search (which sucks and no one uses), but imagine if FB and Google go together.  Imagine when you googled something, you'd see all results in relation to things your friends did - reviews they have written, if they worked there, etc.  TechCrunch reviewed a Google and FB plugin, called SideStripe - which basically does this for them - its really cool.  Check it out!

* Lifehacker: Prius as an emergency generator ... interesting idea.  Here.

Finally, I'd like to close with this from H:

Net Neutrality ... huh?

I know Corrupt is all about laws to protect the people ... so he should be all about this one, but we will have to wait to find out I guess. Net Neutrality.

Whenever net neutrality comes up in the news I just end up pissed off ... because some ISP is just stepping all over the rights of the internet.  Anyway, what got me thinking about this time was a post a few weeks ago on Google's main blog about the concept of edge caching, and a WSJ article basically saying that Google was trying to control and lock down the internet through doing so.  Edge caching is something employed by ISPs to bring frequently accessed data closer to the end users, so for instance - the top 10 YouTube videos would be edge cached on an ISPs servers, so they ISP could utilize less traffic across the whole internet (and speed up the time it gets to the end user), by just sending the user to the copy on the ISPs server.  Google asserts that their openness in regards to setting up Edge server does not violate net neutrality and I tend to agree with them.

That said ... I think net neutrality is an increasingly important issue - as we see ISPs (cough, Comcast, cough) increasingly trying to regulate the amount of data a user can access.   The assertion from ISPs is that only a handful of users account for a majority of their network traffic - which raises their costs and makes the connection slower for all users - so there solution is to throttle back connection speeds for users who exceed a data limit.  I understand these companies need to make a profit, but I also don't think we need to be entering a time when we are paying per kb of data sent over our connections.  ISPs are definitely within ther purview to charge different prices for different speeds (most already do), but the idea of a data cap is something that bothers me.  The internet is about openness - it is why it has become so prevalent - because anything and everything is on it.

It is certainly scary to think that the 'last mile' of the internet is controlled by companies that have shown time and time again that they do not care about consumers and just want to make a dime.  I feel this applies to almost every consumer-ISP with the exception of Verizon, who I just like to think is  better than everyone else -- because FiOS, just is.  But even Verizon is not pro-net neutrality.

This was a small issue when it first came about in the early 2000s, but is slowly growing.  At the rate that the internet continues to expand, and our appetite for data continues to expand - network neutrality will certainly be an issue within our lifetimes and likely very soon.  And it is a very scary thought ... that access could be cut off - and there aren't too many laws protecting us.  So far the FCC has sided with consumers, ruling that it was illegal for Comcast to cut off users access to certain file sharing servers.  We can only hope that the FCC continues to side with consumers and Congress acts soon, though I'm sure any law they pass will be weak and virtually not enforceable.

Personally, I feel that most of the ISPs and hardware manufacturers are not just looking for a quick profit, they are making sure that they are not getting screwed.  These companies can't continue to support the Internet without making sure their own business survive.  In that sense a company like Comcast is out to make a profit and has no concern for the consumers - they have shown time and time again they have no concern for the common good.  Cablevision is the same way.  As for the rest of the ISPs ... I have hope.

The wikipedia article regarding Net Neutrality is here.

Do you have any thoughts?