North Country Consulting

January 18

2008-12-23T17:24:00.002-05:00

First of all, many thanks to the various posters on this blog who have filled us in on the progress of the AT&T/Verizon/Unicel/iPhone soap opera. Most recently, we've heard that employees are starting to package existing materials and send them back. Today, the Press-Republican published information from the AT&T press office, including the statement that in "early January" the Unicel store in Plattsburgh will become an AT&T store.

We're pleased to be able to extend the PR's reporting: our sources tell us that we can narrow down "early January" to January 18. We assume this applies to all of the Unicel stores, but haven't confirmed that--anyone who can help is welcome to.

Burlington Free Press Article

2008-12-18T14:55:00.002-05:00

The BFP is reporting that the cutover could come any day to AT&T. As noted below, the period for responses to objections to the transfer ended 12/8. Would AT&T like to try to get it done in time for Xmas sales this next weekend?

Netvitalization: Identity

2008-12-18T10:12:00.002-05:00

What makes one community large or small more net-savvy than another? (And by community, I mean real, geographically-located communities.) As we explore the differences in communities, here's one of the key factors that is at play: identity.

One of the big accomplishments of social networking sites such as LinkedIn and Facebook is that they have broken down the common net practice of masking people's identities. On Facebook, if you're Marie Queen of Romania, you are; with a few exceptions, if you're Big Red, you're just not on Facebook.

In the beginning, when the Internet was Arpanet, not only were identities not masked, but most of the users knew one another (they were at organizations--mainly colleges--working with DARPA). Although login names were often limited to 8 or even 6 characters, the identity of the organization pretty much identified the person with the login clue. (After all, at the beginning, there probably were no more than a dozen people on Arpanet at mit.edu.)

As the Internet grew, those 6-8 character user names along with large anonymous ISPs (compuserve.com, prodigy.com, aol.com) produced an online world in which, as the famous New Yorker cartoon went, "On the Internet, no one knows you're a dog." (This line was spoken by one dog at a computer to another sitting nearby.)

The reason for that limit was that in ye olden dayes, we were so worried about memory as well as the cost of managing strings, that we didn't use strings for login names but used single words which, in the prevailing character sets allowed only 6-8 characters.

So there we were, back in the beginning with no way of identifying people with their real names in most cases. "Handles" and "screen names" were born out technology limitations of the time, and the Internet became a place of anonymity.

The anonymity was breached in cases where real-life identity was necessary: credit card transactions, for example, and now social networking sites. There's been some retro-fitting (see Amazon.com reviews on the years-long push to turn anonymous reviews to signed and authenticated review), but we still have a great deal of anonymity.

Privacy is very important on the Internet and in real life for certain types of behaviors. If you walk into a public library, museum, or store, you don't have to identify yourself, and that is as it should be--and as it should be with browsing Web sites. But the moment you want to purchase something, take a book out of the library (rather than read it there), get a museum member's free admission, or enter a private club, you need to identify yourself, and that, too, is as it should be.

Based on a totally unscientific survey, it seems that the use of real names on the Internet spreads through the usual viral mechanisms of the Net. Cleaning up an old address book (it snowed yesterday), I noticed that a number of my friends have changed their emails over the last few years. Some changes reflect changes to ISPs, but along with those, I see fewer RDG1828 and more real names.

Now to the topic at hand, the notion that a community where the use of real names on the Web is a common social standard is a more Net-savvy community deserves consideration. In many public meetings, members of the public can stand up and say anything, but they must identify themselves. In many Web discussions, that is not the case. It doesn't matter in a productive discussion area on the Web that is not geographically-specific, but when it comes to blogs and discussions about a geographic community, doesn't the identity of the people matter in the same way it does on the street? For a common-interest Internet community, the discussions can proceed in anonymity, but for a local Internet community, it matters who is involved.

As with all the Netvitalization concepts, this isn't something that happens by mandate, it's just something that people in the community find of value. And, in evaluating a community, looking at the extent to which real names are used on the community blogs and discussions, seems to be an indicator of how effective the community--large or small-is.

P.S. Please don't misinterpret this. Privacy on the Web is one of its most important features. The question is whether community discussions are on the privacy side or the fency or on the real-identity side of the fence where we place important transactions that require identification. I think community discussions are important, and that fence is important, too.

AT&T Licenses

2008-12-11T13:43:00.003-05:00

Seth posted info about an AT&T Wireless ad in the Press-Republican today. That is consistent with the schedule of the AT&T/Verizon petition to actually transfer the Unicel licenses. That schedule concluded with replies due December 8 to oppositions which were due December 1. That suggests that the actual transfer is imminent--keep your fingers crossed.

Obama Stimulus Plan Includes Broadband Access for Underserved Areas

2008-12-06T08:52:00.001-05:00

Roads, schools, public buildings, and broadband.

Broadband is a key component of netvitalization to which we will return shortly.

Community Netvitalization

2008-12-05T09:39:00.002-05:00

For many of us, the first adventures on the Net were all about digital communities--far-flung communities made possible by the Internet. We played bridge with people half a world away, many of us continue to work on a daily basis with people we've never met, and many businesses large and small are looking to the Web for expansion (and, in some cases, survival).

Now it's time to turn back to our communities--our real communities where we live, work, play, and walk our dogs. When we started talking about digital communities (for some of us, 15 years ago) it was exciting to share our digital lives with those few friends and neighbors who also were plugged in. And there was a lot to share--remember dip switches on modems? I still don't know how we figured them out, but we helped one another.

Our neighbors have email addresses and Web sites, not to mention blogs and Facebook profiles. The Net is no longer something for the few initiates. It is a part of our lives and our communities...which brings us to the point.

Some of us are starting to realize that the digital side of our communities isn't really all it could be. When you visit a community and walk or drive through it, you quickly get a sense of what's going on. Does almost every building need a little work? Or does one building stand out because it's the only one that's not spruced up? Is it easy to find your way around--even if you're a visitor? What about those stickers on shop doors--the membership in the Chamber of Commerce, the Mastercard/Visa decals, member of trade organizations or downtown improvement groups--the signs of community (not individual) life. The notices on lampposts--everything from the lost pets to the yard sales and the posters in windows advertising community events...they all present a picture of what's happening in the community and why it is a community, not just a bunch of people camped out nearby.

Over the years, we've learned how to look at our communities, how to evaluate them, and how to revitalize them. But we haven't looked at the digital side of our communities until now. This post is the start of a periodic series about revitalizing the digital aspects of our communities. For the moment, it's called Community Netvitalization.

Here's a major preview. We know from our communities that revitalization doesn't come from one place or from the top down (except in very strictly controlled communities). People and organization do things that together help create and strengthen the sense of community. So far, most approaches to local communities on the Web have looked at a centralization model that we know doesn't work in the real world of communities. So how do we define and foster the myriad of informal connections that make our communities function?

Tune in next time (or subscribe to the RSS/Atom feed).

As always, comments, are welcome.

Jesse

Community Technology Evaluation

2008-11-30T13:00:00.003-05:00

If anyone is interested in thinking about and developing some metrics for ranking communities (particularly smaller ones) objectively on their technology, let me know.

This is a follow-up to several recent conversations nothing the wide variety in tech-savviness among communities. The challenge is to come up with some set of objective metrics that provide a snapshot of how the community as a whole (media, government, social networks, business, etc.) uses technology.

One suggestion that I find intriguing is to come up with some evaluation points and then share them. We're talking about the technology face that a community presents to the Internet, so the evaluation can be done by a third-party. If some kind of evaluation instrument could be devised, someone in Oregon could objectively evaluate the online technological face of a community in Virginia, and a Virginia could do the same for a community in Texas.

Does anyone know of such a project? Or is interested in developing one?

JF

Land of Opportunity: The American Response to Climate Change

2008-11-25T10:29:00.005-05:00

The Wild Center has sponsored two programs--one national, and one regional (Adirondacks). Good for them for the conference and good for them for posting the slides online along with some videos that will be coming soon (they're available for the national conference last summer).

It's an important topic, and using the Internet to disseminate the information quickly is wonderful for people who are time- and distance-stressed.

So what are we to think about our beloved local paper, the Press-Republican when it runs an article on the topic of local lawmakers not attending because they were too busy or not invited? Sure, that's a valid point. But to print an entire article about the busy schedules or long distances these people had to contend with and not to devote one sentence, one phrase, or -anything- to the fact that the Wild Center is making so much of the whole shebang available online is bizarre.

In all fairness, the P-R has run five recent articles about the conference. The online resources have been mentioned in several of them along with links to the Web site. Unfortunately, that information didn't follow along to this article.

Yes, one or more of the legislators who did not attend should have mentioned the online resources (and should have used them).

We have to keep reminding people that these new technologies exist to conquer time and space. We have to keep reminding the powers that be that the lack of broadband access in many areas of the Adirondacks prevents us from being virtually present. If a lawmaker (or anyone else) can't devote a day to attending a conference, the alternative is not necessarily skipping it: the alternative may be attending online. Online meetings are not the same as in-person events, but when you add up the pros and cons, sometimes the carbon footprint of the in-person meeting outweighs its value (note "sometimes").

Obama and Email

2008-11-19T10:52:00.004-05:00

As a number of us have pointed out, this issue of the Blackberry and email is significant.

The issue of how someone complies with laws and standards of transparency, security, and archiving in a public capacity has really not been resolved definitively--not for the President of the United States or for a trustee of a tiny public library operating under an open meetings law. Setting those standards and best practices once and for all would be a small but significant achievement. Nothing is solved by simply opting out of email.

And the bigger issue may also seem trivial, but it's important. The age group least comfortable with email and the Internet is people in their 40s-60s who grew up with the old technologies and in many cases still translate between email-think and typed-memo-think. Unlike seniors, they don't have the time to experiment because many of them are working.

When JFK became president, many photos appeared of him at his desk with that new-fangled Call Director at his elbow. (That was a phone with a dial and rows and rows of buttons to contact people.) In 1960, really senior executives didn't have Call Directors on their desks. They had telephones, and frequently there were no dials. They picked up the received and said, "Miss Jones, bring me a coffee and get Mr. Smith on the line." Executives didn't dial.

Kennedy's Call Director changed all that. If the President of the United States could dial and even buzz his staff directly, every Titan of Industry wanted a Call Director.

If President-elect Obama gives up his Blackberry and email, that sends a similar message: really important executives don't email. They have folders in file cabinets (where the good lord meant for them to be) rather than on a disk drive. Their calendar is on their desk ("Miss Jones, did you see my calendar?").

The solution is obvious: solve the security, archiving, and transparency issues (which need to be solved sometime or other for the President and the library trustees and everyone in between). And if President-elect Obama must give up his Blackberry, for the good of the country, make sure it's replaced with an iPhone--not a pack of 3x5 cards.

Obama and Social Networking, Part II

2008-11-14T09:09:00.002-05:00

Today's LA Times has an article about the internal discussions with regard to the future of the Obama network of names. Should it be merged into the Democratic National Committee or stand alone?

Meanwhile, over at the Washington Post, an article on Monday addressed a similar issue: how (and if) to merge the list into a governing entity.

There are lots of issues here, but the underlying one is as old as the hills: is the old-fashioned way (parties and mailing lists) the way to go, with this new-fangled Web and social networking just another way to conduct business as usual, or is the the old-fashioned way on the way out. (Bias in description is intentional.)

Plattsburgh Federal Building

2008-11-11T12:17:00.002-05:00

As the Press-Republican reported on October 27, the North Country Cultural Center for the Arts (NCCCA) has applied to be given the Federal Building in Plattsburgh to use as an arts center. Meanwhile, the City of Plattsburgh is hoping to obtain the building possibly for retail space so that the building will be returned to the tax rolls.

The decision rests with the federal General Services Administration (GSA). According to a specialist there, "GSA encourages the competing parties to work together to arrive at a mutually agreeable solution. In the event that is not possible, the GSA has the responsibility to determine which public re-use would be the highest and best use of the property."

So what's going on? Are the city and NCCCA working together? Is a combined plan about to emerge to revitalize downtown and make everyone happy? No news is not necessarily good news.

It may be time for individuals to get involved and to demand that a positive plan be developed for this cornerstone of our downtown area. Here's one suggestion, based on a variety of similar situations.

A mixed-use building that includes public and private entities along with taxable and non-taxable organizations can provide a stable anchor for a community. Precisely because it contains multiple organizations and types of uses, it is less vulnerable to weaknesses in one sector or another than a single-use building. What might such a mixed-use plan for the Federal Building look like? It might consist of four components.

1. Certainly an arts component would be useful. If properly planned and managed, it can not only serve the immediate community but also attract cultural tourists to the city. NCCCA could help in this component.

2. The mayor has suggested that retail uses might be appropriate, and they are. Those portions of the building would be taxable, helping the city with its financial difficulties. Some of those retail uses might be specifically tied to the arts component. For example, there is no reason why an art gallery or shop should be a tax-exempt entity. We have seen in many communities that privately-owned for-profit art galleries can be a key component both of downtown revitalization as well as a pillar of an arts community. The city has a good track record in this area.

3. Many communities have succeeded with business incubators that provide office space to small companies along with shared facilities such as meeting rooms and business development training. There could be a focus on arts-related companies (although not an exclusive one). Typically, small for-profit businesses provide resources for arts organization in areas from rehearsal space to services such as graphics, framing, metal casting, and traditional business services such as accounting. The many cultural and historic sites in the North Country need other support services, and they, too, could find a home here. Few small museums can afford to properly conserve its valuable and fragile collections--particularly those of paper and fabric. A conservation business could find a home in the Federal Building. Business incubators help businesses start out and grow; they may receive tax abatements, but the goal is to move them up to full tax-paying status as soon as possible.

4. Finally, the upper floors might provide a residential use--possibly even a small boutique hotel.

A plan such as this would require imaginative structuring of the building both in its physical configuration as well in its ownership and management. A community-wide discussion might be a good place to start to develop a serious and useful plan (the one presented here is just an example of the sort of thing that could be done).

Obama and the Internet in Transition

2008-11-05T09:12:00.004-05:00

What a welcome relief! Unlike recent elections, we had a definitive result by 11 PM Eastern time. A historic victory for those of us who are morning people.

We saw how technology can be used to make small efforts by many people work together. Whether it was raising a significant campaign treasury in many small donations (although a large part of campaign contributions came in traditional, large amounts), or in the technology and imagination that made virtual phone banks possible, we saw a new way of using technology.

Here's an example: an email message received from the Obama campaign at 8:13 PM on election night in the east:

Polls may have closed on the east coast, but we need your help to get out the vote in the west! We know how hard you've been working, but please help us for just two more hours. We know we can win Colorado, Nevada, and New Mexico with your help!

Pick a state and get started now:

Colorado: http://my.barackobama.com/callco

Nevada: http://my.barackobama.com/callnv

New Mexico: http://my.barackobama.com/callnm

Thanks for all you do.

Judith

This wasn't a spur-of-the-moment email; it was built on months and months of imaginative work developing a technology infrastructure that made this and other messages (not to mention the victory!) possible.

This morning, there's an intriguing piece in a Washington Post article.

The transition team is exploring new approaches to communications that could undercut West Wing traditions such as the daily briefings to reporters, including making more announcements over the Internet to ensure that information reaches not only journalists but the millions of individuals who enlisted in Obama's campaign and consider themselves invested in his presidency.

Using the basic principles and technologies as a leadership tool would be an idea as powerful as FDR's Fireside Chats. We have seen how the Internet can be used to motivate and lead a wide swath of people. But if the transition team is truly worrying about trying to "ensure that information reaches not only journalists but the millions of individuals who enlisted in Obama's campaign and consider themselves invested in his presidency," we've got a problem. The transition team must be worrying not about reaching the campaign enlistees, but instead about reaching the public.

It would be possible to take the principles and ideas behind the campaign technology and apply them to a new leadership tool for the president--any president of any party. In addition to the temptation to blur campaigns and governance ("Let's see, which email account do I use for this message?"), the Obama transition team and administration will need to resist the temptation to take part of the massive campaign technology to use in public leadership, leaving the public version a pale imitation of the campaign technology.

Both efforts must be allowed to flourish--but separately. The innovations made in a governance model will be available to everyone, and those made on the campaign side, will be private, as they are now (although most people can easily figure out how things are designed). But neither should be better than the other.

This will be a great challenge. On the one side, the existing campaign may be hesitant to seed a public effort with their technology experiences; on the other side, it is likely that the Obama administration will be accused of using public money to build an even bigger campaign system. But if these challenges can be met (and they should be), we can begin to use our new technological tools as simply and with as much innovation as FDR did with his Fireside Chats.

The Bento Book

2008-10-16T10:41:00.002-04:00

The Bento Book is now in stock at Amazon and other retailers (online and real). It covers the latest features in Bento 2 (released just last Tuesday). There's also a Web site with some Bento Quickies being uploaded in the next day or two. Stop by and leave a note on the Web site or the book's Facebook Page.

This was a great book to write--Bento is a fantastic tool. And Bento 2 is a wonderful set of new features that actually make it even easier to use. (Sometimes, "feature creep" starts to add features as well as complications.)

(Bento is only for Mac OS X Leopard. It's built by FileMaker, a subsidiary of Apple.)

Roundtable, Monday 10/13, 11 AM

2008-10-10T09:17:00.001-04:00

On Monday, we'll be talking about the economy (what else?) and some of the ways in which you can use technology to help muddle through.

HB Studio at Library for the Performing Arts

2008-10-10T09:12:00.003-04:00

There's more to life than technology. With one of my other hats on, I'm on the board of HB Studio. The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts (Lincoln Center) is doing a series of programs on us this fall.

I'll be moderating the panel on HB Studio: The Early Years on Saturday November 8, 3 PM. Panelists are Ed Morehouse, Anne Jackson and Eli Wallach, and Mary Anthony. First-come/first-served for seats, and they're free.

Behind the Sarah Palin Poll

2008-10-10T09:10:00.001-04:00

Very interesting article about what happened with the Sarah Palin poll on the PBS Web site. It also describes the techniques used to make online polls a little more secure--and why they're used.

More of Vermont to ATT

2008-09-17T18:14:00.003-04:00

On September 4 and 5, AT&T and Verizon amended their application to transfer customers from Rural Cellular (Unicel), a subsidiary now of Verizon to Rural Newco LLC, owned and controlled by AT&T. (Don't you think Rural Newco is a clever name?)

The meat of the amendments is:

to comply with the government’s divestiture requirements, the recently filed amendments propose to transfer RCC's cellular and PCS licenses for the entire Vermont 2 CMA, rather than just the cellular license for only the northern portion of the CMA as originally proposed. Therefore, AT&T will also be acquiring customers located in two and one-half counties in the southern portion of the Vermont 2 CMA.

Slow, but it's moving...

Kindle Part 2

2008-09-14T16:01:00.002-04:00

In the last post, I promised further Kindle-specific info, and, after a brief delay, here it is.

Our adventures the last time around (Rocket eBook from Nuvomedia), showed that having to reformat a book even slightly for the eBook was a tremendous obstacle. Being able to flow the text automatically into a format that the Kindle can handle solves an enormous number of problems.

But it raises another issue: the flow is not perfect. An excellent example is in today's New York Times (Sunday, September 14). The Op-Ed page on the Kindle shows a relatively large number of short Op-Ed pieces. Having read the Times for years, I had a good suspicion after the third one that I knew what was going on. Periodically, the Times devotes all or part of the Op-Ed page to a single topic. A headline sometimes provides the clue; other times it's some boxed text. On paper or nytimes.com, you can see that this is exactly what is happening.

Experience. In the 2008 presidential election, it’s been a campaign slogan, a debating point and a subject of endless column inches and talk show hours. John McCain and Barack Obama, Joe Biden and Sarah Palin — whose life experiences offer the best preparation for the presidency and vice presidency? Does it help to be a naval aviator? A community organizer? A senator? A small-town mayor? Does one trump another? To answer those questions, the Op-Ed page asked people whose résumés overlap with the candidates’ to explain how the qualities they’ve needed to draw on for their jobs and their lives would come in handy in the White House.

Without this text, the multitude of short Op-Ed pieces is baffling.

The format of the Times on the Kindle is quite simple: section/article/headline/byline/summary or teaser. There is nothing between a section and an article. Normally Op-Ed pieces show up in a section devoted to email and Op-Ed pieces. Sometimes--as is the case today--an intermediate element is needed. Or, at best, a placeholder "article" that could contain the text cited here.

Similar problems occur with multiple letters to the editor on the same subject.

Going back to designing specifically for the Kindle would not be the answer. The answer probably is a bit more thought about the design of pages so that all possible recipients of the information (Kindle, Web, national edition, metro edition) have their own needs met. As it is now, paper is still primary. (You can see this particularly well in the photos that accompany many articles. Most of the time, they're not suitable for the Kindle. However, in the case of regular Op-Ed contributes such as David Brooks and Bob Herbert, the photo is of the contributor. These photos reproduce very well on the Kindle--perhaps because they were chosen for that purpose.) This is not just a NYTimes problem, but it's one that I notice because I read the Times daily on my Kindle.

There are two other specific issues that remain less than perfect. The first is that we really don't have the cues we have on paper about how far we are into an article or chapter. It's fine to see how much of a book you've read, but at least the option to change that display to a chapter basis can help decide whether or not to finish it before going to bed. Both with books and with newspaper, I find myself paging through a chapter or article to see how much is left. That's not great.

The second is the emphasis on mass media for newspapers and magazines. Regional newspapers (Press-Republican, for example), struggle with circulation and delivery. Are they the ones resisting the Kindle--just as their larger cohorts resisted the web and the first ebooks? Or is Kindle declining to handle regional newspapers? Perhaps the absence of ads has something to do with it--many regional papers have the barest minimum of news to support the local advertisements. The Times and other major papers can exist in the subscription-only world because their content is large and valuable. My guess is that moving to a subscription-based model on the Kindle for regional newspapers would be costly for them. They and their advertisers would have to find a new way of communicating locally. If only to save a few trees, we should have our regional newspapers on the Kindle.

On balance, the Kindle is a massive improvement over delivery of the Times on paper, and for fiction, I think it's great.

Cheers & Jeers to the Press-Republican

2008-09-08T08:22:00.002-04:00

LIke many papers, the Plattsburgh Press-Republican periodically uses its editorial column for a round-up of minor issues. This happens on Mondays under the title Cheers & Jeers.

Cheers & Jeers: Sept. 1, 2008

JEERS to drivers who still don't know how to properly use center turning lanes; JEERS to the City of Plattsburgh for its lackluster notification of a boil-water; CHEERS to improved traffic signs; CHEERS to the commissioner and president of Plattsburgh PAL Football.

Well, Jeers to the Press-Republican for greeting us on the Web this morning, September 8, with last week's entry. Many regional newspapers use Web publishing packages that are not great--fairly ugly, and not user friendly to readers or editors. But that's no excuse for just blindly flipping a switch and not checking what is published.

And it's not just regional papers. Later today, we'll have a review of some Kindle issues. As long as publishers view the Web and ebooks as distractions from their primary publications (you know--the ones on dead trees), there will be issues. My guess is that reading newspapers on the Web and newspapers or books on Kindle will not expand beyond a certain level because of this sloppiness. (That's not to say that paper-based publications are immune: I still remember fondly the headline on the front of one of the NY Times sections about "St. Parick's church.")

The old-fashioned solution is proofreading the publications in all of their forms. But the new-fangled solution has to be much more powerful software to prevent these issues.

See the Kindle posting later today for more...

Opposition to the Verizon/Rural Cellular (Unicel) Order

2008-08-29T08:41:00.002-04:00

This is the last week to file petitions for reconsideration of the Verizon/Rural Cellular (Unicel) ruling from the FCC. So far, one has been filed, and a letter in opposition has also been filed. Brief excerpts follow.

Chatham Avalon Park Community Council CAPCC) objects primarily on the issue of partial foreign ownership of Verizon.

CAPCC is a community based organization based in and around Chicago, Illinois, with hundreds of members who are consumers of telecommunications services, some of which are offered by Verizon Wireless. Our group has a long and proud history of advocating for our local citizens and we have a special interest in promoting the growth and economic development of the African-American and small business communities. ... Petitions and its members are disserved by the increasing consolidation in the telecommunications industry that threatens to produce fewer competitive services at higher consumer prices. While Petitioner is concerned about industry consolidation in general, in light of its interest in economic development and business activity, Petitions is particularly concerned when large entities have access to [foreign] sources of capital that are unavailable to smaller businesses and socially disadvantaged businesses that seek to compete with them.

Response from Nancy J, Victory and Thomas R. McCarthy, counsel to Verizon Wireless (excerpts):

I. Chatham lacks standing to maintain its petitions for reconsideration of the Commission's order. II. Chatham's failure to participate previously in this proceeding is also fatal to consideratin of its petition for reconsideration. III. Chatham's petition for reconsideration is meritless.

On to the next act of the drama...

Verizon Sale Completed

2008-08-08T09:13:00.002-04:00

Thanks to Beemer for noticing the press release that the sale has been completed. As noted previously, the settlement proposed by Verizon (and accepted by the FCC) described placing the Vermont and northern New York licenses in a trust until they are sold, and that has happened.

Presumably the trust will sell the licenses to AT&T.

No new documents have been filed with the FCC since approval on August 1.

Spam: The Next Generation

2008-08-05T17:14:00.002-04:00

We know that the amount of spam sloshing around the Internet is enormous, but anyone who has a good spam filter can examine what is caught and see how much doesn't get through (but uses up bandwidth). Many of us have multiple layers of filtering: the basic level is done at the ISP, often behind the scenes. In my case, for my main account, the company hosting the mail account uses Postini and I can see what is trapped there. I rarely bother to check it--the settings are good and what it catches--spam and viruses--is clearly bad stuff.

What gets through is then screened again by my spam rules in my email program--which is what most people do. At that level, I sort it automatically into two categories--the first is automatically deleted, and the second I look at manually. About half of it is not spam.

It's in that last category that I find examples of the new breed of spam about once a month. This is semi-bulk email sent not in the millions but in the scores or hundreds. It flies below the filtering radar in many cases, but it's still spam and it's still insidious.

I'm sure Plattsburgh is far from being the only place where the local Chamber of Commerce email list is circulated--legally or not. This week, I got an email message from a local hotel banquet manager invited me (and 904 other people on the list) to a tasting of their new hors d'oeuvres menu. The Chamber mailing list would be a likely set of prospects, but this was not marked as spam, and although there was information about RSVPs, there was no opt-out button--the usual violations of the CANSPAM Act.

But the icing on the hors d'oeuvres cake as the fact that the email was sent TO all 905 people. Yes, no BCC addressing, just TO 905 people. That's obviously how this list circulates.

I've seen these before, and I don't know how to stop it. The problem is that in a small community, these are not evil spammers, they're people you know (or who know people you know), and they're not so much evil and inexperienced. If you're sending millions of spam messages a day, you know how to do it. If you send one bulk email message a year--or ever--you are likely to do it wrong (such as by distributing the email addresses).

The FTC has enough to do going after the big guns, so this type of spam just falls through the cracks. How do we raise awareness of how to comply with the CANSPAM Act and of how wrong it is to distribute email addresses in this way?

Comments and suggestions needed.

The FCC (a/k/a The Fat Lady) Sings

2008-08-01T21:45:00.002-04:00

In a press release issued today, the FCC announces that it has agreed to the transfer of assets from Rural Cellular (Unicel) to Verizon. The FCC attached a condition to its order: "based on a case-by-case analysis which determined that there was a potential for competitive harm in the six markets listed below, the FCC is requiring that one of the two companies divest the licenses and related operational and network assets in those markets."

These include two markets in the State of Washington as well as the three in Vermont and one in New York (Plattsburgh/Franklin area). So either Rural Cellular (Unicel) or Verizon has to get rid of them--presumably to AT&T.

The order is effective today (August 1, 2008). Petitions for reconsideration can be filed within 30 days.

Verizon/Unicel FCC Update

2008-08-01T10:01:00.001-04:00

From this morning's document :

The following [the Verizon/Unicel issue] has been deleted from the list of Agenda items scheduled for consideration at the August 1, 2008, Open Meeting and previously listed in the Commission’s Notice of July 25, 2008. This item has been adopted by the Commission.

Border Policies for Laptops, etc.

2008-08-01T09:38:00.002-04:00

An article on the front page of today's Washington Post describes the policies announced two weeks ago that allow Federal agents at the border to take electronic devices (including laptops) away for "an unspecified period of time without any suspicion of wrongdoing."

The policies do seem rather broad (!), and the front page article is likely to generate more discussion, which is all to the good.

From a technology standpoint, this is just another reminder that we need up to date external backups at all times because in addition to theft and damage, we now have to worry about being relieved of our electronic devices at the border.

Senator Sanders Objects

2008-07-29T17:06:00.002-04:00

Senator Sanders raises concerns in a letter to the FCC. He would like the FCC to condition approval on a commitment to increasing cell service in rural Vermont, certainly a laudable concern.

Likewise, there are many people who are concerned about the lack of cell phone coverage in much of the Adirondack Park in New York State--not merely rural but wilderness in many places.

The FCC's disclosure of meetings on its Web site is an invaluable aid to people who believe in open government and who are following a particular transaction.

Senator Sanders, in Footnote 1, writes

Over the last few months, my office, various State of Vermont officials, and Verizon Wireless have been engaged in detailed discussions about the need to expand wireless coverage in Vermont. Wireless service in Vermont, particularly in rural areas, is often unreliable and sometimes non-existent. It was my hope that such discussions would result in a heightened commitment on the part of Verizon Wireless and AT&T to provide service to all of Vermont's communities. Those discussions continued until just a few days ago. At the request of one of the other parties I agreed, as a gesture of good faith, to withhold this filing until these discussions were concluded one way or another. Because of the FCC's announcement that it would consider WT Docket No. 07-208 on August 1, 2008, and with discussions not having yet yielded an understanding, I am submitting these comments now.

I feel certain that there must be some record or reporting of this back-channel process, and I'd appreciate anyone who can point me to a URL or even hard-copy information on the matter.

By the way, it's time to plug a book (not by me). I grew up in Washington, which probably accounts for my interest in government. Many years ago I read Allen Drury's great political novel, Advise and Consent. I reread it recently, and it is still the best guide to what really happens in Washington. The only things that are dated are a line at a cocktail party where one senator offers to fetch another senator a drink from the bar--"What are you drinking? Scotch or Bourbon?" No spritzers, white wines, or even--gasp--vodka. And the reporters have no names as in, The Washington Post was talking to the Chicago Times as they walked down a corridor in the Capitol. [I haven't verified these quotes because Someone Who Shall Remain Nameless never returned my copy.]

APA Looking at AT&T Cell Tower Request

2008-07-23T16:33:00.005-04:00

From today's Press-Republican, in an article about the Adirondack Park Agency (APA) and a request for approval of new cell towers:

Independent Tower, LLC is looking to erect a new tower on a stretch of Adirondack Northway in Lewis, on the western side of the road between Exits 32 and 33, McKeever said.

"That's going to accommodate up to four different cell carriers. AT&T Mobile is co-applicant on that site."

They also approved an application by T-Mobile near exit 34.

August 1

2008-07-18T10:02:00.002-04:00

The Verizon/Rural Cellular (Unicel) issue is on the agenda for the FCC's August 1 meeting. One assumes that the spate of meetings this week was to wrap things up. If there are more documents posted in advance of the meeting, we'll link to them here.

More FCC Meetings

2008-07-18T08:14:00.002-04:00

Things definitely are happening. (See Michael's comment below.) We know about meetings and basically what ground they covered, but along with Verizon, we're still waiting for the FCC to act one way or another.

Here are the meetings we know about this week (for comparison purposes, the previous meeting was June 27, and the one before that two weeks previous.

7/15: Verizon with representatives of FCC Chairman Martin
7/15: Verizon phone conference call with FCC Commissioner McDowell and staff
7/16: Verizon and Rural Cellular (Unicel) with Renee Crittendon, legal advisor to FCC Commissioner Adelstein
7/16: Verizon and Rural Cellular with Wayne Leighton, special advisor to FCC Commissioner Tate.

Note to Verizon, Rural Cellular, and FCC: Please feel free to use any postings on this blog in considering public interest in the transaction and its timely completion.

MobileMe Getting There

2008-07-12T15:14:00.002-04:00

Just got a message on my Mac to run Software Update to install MobileMe. My guess is they're turning it on gradually.

iPhone, MobileMe, Google Apps and Clouds

2008-07-12T08:45:00.002-04:00

The glitches with iPhone activation, MobileMe, and Google apps this week bring up some general issues about cloud computing summarized in this CNET article. The article talks about service level agreements (SLAs) and the issues involved in using someone else's computers for your work. In some cases, that is unavoidable--Facebook has to function on the Web, but in other cases such as a cloud-based word processor, the desktop is an alternative. In the iPhone/MobileMe world, the lack of synchronization is just that--you can still access contacts on your other devices (if you can get to them).

There are two lessons to be learned from this. The first one is that when cloud computing fails, it fails in different ways than desktop computing fails. The most obvious distinction is that cloud computing can fail or degrade with slowdowns that don't happen on the desktop (and if they do happen, you can probably figure out that InDesign is slow at rendering your yard sale flyer because you happen to be editing a video at the same time). Transparency--letting people know what's happening in the cloud--is a big help, but doesn't prevent the problem. One way is to design for speed issues. MobileMe may be having some trouble getting its sea legs, but the benefit in that is that some people have seen a message that says Safari is becoming unresponsive because a script is running slowly. That's a good start.

The second lesson is more interesting. One of the virtues of cloud computing is that it shares resources and should actually improve performance for many people because large resources can temporarily be made available to a multitude of users. Configuring cloud computing allows for peaks and valleys, but in general, the larger the pool of users and the larger the pool of resources, the more stable it should be. The flip side of this is that enormous spikes in use are not what cloud computing handles best. Once MobileMe settles down to a relatively consistent level of use, and once the flood of Day 1 iPhone G3 activations is over, things should be better.

These global one day extravaganzas for iPhones, new operating systems, Harry Potter books, and movies get lots of publicity at the cost of stressing support and distribution networks. Still we know how to do them, and the media knows how to cover them. And there's always the risk that the one-day nature of the product launch can cause problems that are not intrinsic to the product. Maybe it's time to come up with a new marketing technique other than the global one-day launch. Something more interesting, more effective, and with less risk. Global one-day launches are getting to be passe. It's time for some innovative company to Think Different.

P.S. Thanks to Ginny and Michael for pointing out ongoing iPod Touch upgrade issues.

iPhone 2.0 and MobileMe

2008-07-11T11:23:00.002-04:00

After a bit of delay, MobileMe is up. iPhone 2.0 installs perfectly well on the original iPhone, and provides great new functionality. The App Store is up with an interesting array of apps. Browse Lifestyle to see perhaps the most peculiar collection: bible apps, tip computers, and car maintenance. I think there's a thread there, but I haven't figured it out.

The Apple servers are obviously swamped, but they are functioning. MobileMe took a while to be available (and the Web apps were timing out on Safari when last checked). At one point (a very long point), iTunes couldn't access the iTunes Store from my computer, but things seem to be shaking down.

Software Update here is still not showing MobileMe (and the URLs posted yesterday for other downloads from Apple seem to be blocked now).

All told, it seems like a successful roll-out.

iPhone 3G Pricing and Comparison to original iPhone

2008-07-06T09:35:00.003-04:00

This page and its linked pages from AT&T provide the greatest details so far about features and pricing, including absolutely crystal-clear comparisons.

Towards the bottom of the page, there's a chart that compares the original iPhone to the iPhone 3G. It's a one-page chart (in PDF), and the differences are shown in red. (For some reason, we usually have to work backward to find out what vendors are trying to tell or not tell us, but this is as clear as can be.)

To me, big news is iPhone 2.0 software, which will be a free download to original iPhone users as well as coming pre-installed on iPhone 3G. The features of the new software are on Page 2 of the comparison chart. That's where push email and contacts, integration with MobileMe, additional email attachment viewers, and more are described.

The even bigger news is in this link-"What do I do with my current iPhone?" This PDF file shows you how to a erase data and how a new user can activate your old iPhone. This means that the upgrade doesn't require you to get rid of your old phone. If you are in an area without 3G service, the comparison may suggest that you keep your old iPhone. (And by keeping your existing contract, you should save $15/month--the basic plan is $10 more for iPhone 3G, and the minimum text messaging level is $5 on iPhone 3G rather than free.) Also, if you're in an area without 3G service, an upgrader in an area with 3G service might give you the old phone (or sell it to you).

Because the iPhone 2.0 runs on both, being able to keep the old iPhone seems a good deal. (And, gosh, it's an awfully easy way for Apple and AT&T to increase the user base--every upgrader may generate a new iPhone user by handing off the old iPhone.)

AT&T New iPhone Pricing & Availability

2008-07-02T08:58:00.002-04:00

The press release provides the definitive AT&T pricing and a link to further info. For a $400 additional fee, you can get the new iPhone without a contract (that is, no long-term commitment, but you still are tied to AT&T--this is not an unlocked phone).

For customers who have bought an iPhone before the launch date of July 11, you can upgrade to the new iPhone for the same $199(8GB)/$299(16GB) you would get with a new contract. Thus, it seems as if the upgrade is preferable to a new contract (if indeed this is what they mean). And they are silent on whether there is an option to cancel your old contract and replace it with a new one. The new monthly fee for basic service (450 minutes/5,000 night-weekend, unlimited data) is $69.95, $10 more than the previous plan.

These seem to be the choices:

1. Do nothing and download iPhone 2.0 (which will be available free to all iPhone customers). Keep the contract, keep the phone, and benefit from the new software but not 3G or GPS. If you're not in a 3G service area, this may be the best option. If you bought your iPhone at the beginning last year, you have 12 months left on your contract. Will it automatically renew at the same terms? If so, you can keep your original iPhone and the contract until you need the new iPhone.

2. Upgrade. For the 8GB, that's $199. If that indeed means that you keep your existing contract and if--big if--the contract automatically renews at the same level, that's not a bad deal. (And we need to know more about renewal--many cell phone vendors do this).

One Small Step at a Time to iPhone Service in Vermont and the North Country (NY)

2008-07-01T14:43:00.002-04:00

Yesterday, Verizon and the FCC met to discuss divestiture issues. As devotees of this soap opera may recall, the Department of Justice required Verizon to divest itself of certain cell licenses in order to complete its purchase of Rural Cellular/Unicel. (From the 6/11 letter: "Verizon Wireless has agreed to divest certain cellular licenses and related network assets and subscribers in six markets: Burlington, VT MSA; New York RSA 2 – Franklin; Vermont RSA 1- Franklin; Vermont RSA 2 – Addison; Washington RSA 2 –
Okanogan; and Washington RSA 3 – Ferry. These assets will be transferred to a court-appointed management trustee upon consummation of the transaction.")

Are we coming to the end? Will there be cheers from one end of Lake Champlain to another when July 11 comes and the iPhone is for sale in the North Country? (July 11, of course, is the date for the release of the new iPhone and Apple's MobileMe.)

Disclosure and Data: Are the Media Up to It?

2008-07-01T09:50:00.003-04:00

The new data to be reported and disclosed via the 990 can usher in a new era of transparency for non-profits, but this grand scheme relies in part on the media actually using that data. So far, the track record is not so hot, particularly for traditional media.

For example, here we are at the end of another quarter, and fund-raising numbers will be released through the Federal Election Commission. What will local media report? Will they pick up a wire service story on the top 10/50/100 contributors to various campaigns? Or will they click their way through the data so that they can report the top 10/50/100 contributors in their market? (It doesn't take long--I described the process in great detail in the mashups book.)

The end-of-quarter data should be out soon, so let's take a look at the 2008 cycle through the end of April. What was going on in Plattsburgh? A total of $22,832 had been raised. At the national level, Hillary Clinton raised $3,300 to Barack Obama's $1,250 and $250 for Bill Richardson.

But the candidate action (at least looking at the money) is in the House race. Kirsten Gillibrand raised $800, and challenger Sandy Treadwell weighed in with $8,650.

All told, candidates raised $15,320, but PACs (including party committees) raised almost half that again--$7,512.

Obviously the numbers are different for each locality--here's where the combination of easily available data and local media can really shine. (And, of course, there's another story--who are the big givers, year after year? Are these the people who really run Plattsburgh?)

Gosh, I can't wait to read the Press-Republican's reporting on this topic.

New 990: Part VI

2008-06-28T08:42:00.002-04:00

Part VI of the core of the new Form 990 for exempt organizations requests information about policies regarding governance, management, and disclosure. This information isn't required by the Internal Revenue Code, but the responses will flow through the 990 to guidestar.org and other Web locations. This is the aspect of the new form that will change the world for some non-profits and their funders. Nothing prevents an organization from giving the "wrong" answer to a question or from providing a phrase such as "flipping a coin" for the Schedule O documentation of procedures. However, those responses will be out there, and the non-profit food chain can deal with them as it sees fit. Funders and the media will have a powerful tool to penetrate the sometimes murky inner workings of non-profits.

Here's Part VI from the IRS Draft

Part VI Governance, Management, and Disclosure

(Sections A, B, and C request information about policies not required by the Internal Revenue Code.)

Section A. Governing Body and Management

For each “Yes” response to lines 2-7 below, and for a “No” response to lines 8 or 9b below, describe the
circumstances, process, or changes in Schedule O. See instructions.

1 a Enter the number of voting members of the governing body
b Enter the number of voting members that are independent

2 Did any officer, director, trustee, or key employee have a family relationship or a business relationship with any other officer, director, trustee, or key employee?

3 Did the organization delegate control over management duties customarily performed by or under the directt supervision of officers, directors or trustees, or key employees to a management company or other person?

4 Did the organization make any significant changes to its organizational documents since the prior Form 990 was filed?

5 Did the organization become aware during the year of a material diversion of the organization’s assets?

6 Does the organization have members or stockholders?

7 a Does the organization have members, stockholders, or other persons who may elect one or more members of the governing body?
b Are any decisions of the governing body subject to approval by members, stockholders, or other persons?

8 Did the organization contemporaneously document the meetings held or written actions undertaken during
the year by the following:
a the governing body?
b each committee with authority to act on behalf of the governing body?

9 a Does the organization have local chapters, branches, or affiliates?
b If “Yes,” does the organization have written policies and procedures governing the activities of such chapters,
affiliates, and branches to ensure their operations are consistent with those of the organization?

10 Was a copy of the Form 990 provided to the organization’s governing body before it was filed? All organizations
must describe in Schedule O the process, if any, the organization uses to review the Form 990

11 Is there any officer, director or trustee, or key employee listed in Part VII, Section A, who cannot be reached at
the organization’s mailing address? If “Yes,” provide the names and addresses in Schedule O

Section B. Policies

12 a Does the organization have a written conflict of interest policy? If yes:
b Are officers, directors or trustees, and key employees required to disclose annually interests that could give
rise to conflicts?
c Does the organization regularly and consistently monitor and enforce compliance with the policy? If “Yes,”
describe in Schedule O how this is done

13 Does the organization have a written whistleblower policy?

14 Does the organization have a written document retention and destruction policy?

15 Did the process for determining compensation of the following persons include a review and approval by
independent persons, comparability data, and contemporaneous substantiation of the deliberation and decision:
a The organization’s CEO, Executive Director, or top management official?
b Other officers or key employees of the organization?
Describe the process in Schedule O.

16 a Did the organization invest in, contribute assets to, or participate in a joint venture or similar arrangement
with a taxable entity during the year?
b If “Yes,” has the organization adopted a written policy or procedure requiring the organization to evaluate
its participation in joint venture arrangements under applicable Federal tax law, and taken steps to safeguard
the organization’s exempt status with respect to such arrangements?

Section C. Disclosure

17 List the States with which a copy of this Form 990 is required to be filed.

18 IRC Section 6104 requires an organization to make its Form 1023 (or 1024 if applicable), 990, and 990-T (501(c)(3)s only)
available for public inspection. Indicate how you make these available. Check all that apply.
own website
another's website
upon request

19 Describe in Schedule O whether (and if so, how), the organization makes its governing documents, conflict of interest
policy, and financial statements available to the public.

20 State the name, physical address, and telephone number of the person who possesses the books and records of the
organization:

New Requirements for Public Disclosure by Non-Profits

2008-06-27T13:07:00.003-04:00

With the first tax-exempt returns for a fiscal year starting in 2008, new forms will be used and new standards will apply. This is the long-awaited step forward in transparency and board accountability we've been waiting for. There's an excellent summary of the issues on Patterson Belknap's Web site here.

Taking a Meeting with the FCC

2008-06-21T08:19:00.002-04:00

FCC staff met with representatives of Verizon Wireless and Rural Cellular (Unicel) last Tuesday (June 17) to go over the Department of Justice proposed Final Judgment settling the objections to the sale.

Presumably this process is winding down. Could it be in place by July 11 to roll out the new iPhone?

Movement on Verizon/Unicel

2008-06-16T15:12:00.002-04:00

This is an 84-page PDF containing a cover letter from Verizon's attorneys and supporting documents. The Department of Justice has cleared the Rural Cellular (Unicel)/Verizon transaction subject to Verizon's divestiture of some wireless properties (this is the Vermont/Plattsburgh Unicel service that will presumably be traded to AT&T...hence the iPhone). This much has been reported in the local press.

I haven't seen the documents in this FCC filing linked here reported on. Perhaps most important is Verizon's proposed Final Judgment for the divestiture which now includes a definitive statement that southern Vermont GSM users will still have GSM service (at least as I read it).

We're moving ahead.

More on iPhone...

2008-06-09T16:57:00.002-04:00

Apple announced that the new 3G iPhone will be available July 11. It will be $199 (8GB) and $299 (16GB). I assume we may have to wait for 3G coverage in this region, but perhaps by then we'll have something.

Columbia County Board of Elections Site

2008-06-09T07:16:00.003-04:00

Just in time for this morning's Roundtable discussion of politics and the Web, the Register-Star (Hudson) announces the Columbia County Board of Elections Site. They get credit for doing it, and extra credit for accidentally doing it just when we're talking about these issues.

The results for previous elections are posted as PDF files, which means these aren't live data feeds--probably not bad for a BOE because the local media should be picking up non-final results as they come.

Anyone else have a BOE site to recommend?

Roundtable, Monday 6/9, 11 AM

2008-06-08T16:54:00.002-04:00

It's that time of month again. This month, we'll be talking about political Web sites, and how they reflect on politicians. Some are great, some are not so great. Question: can a politician who doesn't understand the Web be trusted to provide leadership on public matters that include today's technology? We're not suggesting politicians sit down and write code, but they should give us reason to trust their technological judgment as it will apply to the matters of the day.

This notion got a bit out of hand, and I whipped up a Facebook app. to list and rate political Web sites. If anyone wants to join in the fun, it's at http://apps.facebook.com/goodbadandpolitical/.

Still Waiting for the FCC

2008-06-05T13:27:00.002-04:00

Alas, the rumored June 2 date for the great switch has come and gone. The FCC is silent on the Verizon/Unicel transaction (the Web page hasn't been updated for a month, and the annotated timeline has never been updated).

Still, AT&T shows coverage for the city of Plattsburgh. This may be related to the announcement this week that AT&T is continuing to roll out higher-speed 3G technology. And that one may be related to the consensus that Apple's World Wide Developer Conference on Monday will feature an announcement of the new iPhone.

This May Be the End of Set-Top Boxes

2008-05-28T11:58:00.002-04:00

The National Cable & Telecommunications Association has announced an agreement with Sony that will create standards for two-way televisions and "other devices" that will work without set-top boxes. Today, the set-top box provides the interaction with the cable operator. By having an industry-wide standard, the set-top boxes (and their remotes!!!!) can go away and the functionality can be provided by the TV.

Of course, "set-top box" is not an accurate description of these devices in an age of flat-panel displays. The set-top box usually sets next to or near to a TV and is more accurately described as a shelf-top box. (Mine, in fact, is a shelf-hangover box which doesn't really fit on the shelf because the cable connectors are in the back and add at least an extra inch to its depth. And don't suggest turning it backwards: then the remote sensor is hidden.)

Follow The Great Switchover

2008-05-27T09:39:00.002-04:00

Click here for the FCC's page on The Great Switchover. The period for comments is ending May 30--June 2 looks like a tight timeframe, but signs still point to a widespread belief it will happen (signs=gossip). The supporting documents provide the precise information.

For some reason, media coverage of this has been sparse and, in some cases, misleading. The FCC is the primary source, so its data can be relied on.

The Great Unicel/AT&T Customer Swap is Under Way: iPhones Work without Roaming

2008-05-24T12:30:00.002-04:00

Verizon and AT&T are swapping customers in Upstate New York, Vermont, and the south. Current Unicel customers in Vermont and Upstate New York will move automatically to AT&T which will establish a presence in the region for the first time. When Verizon wound up owning Unicel last year, its GSM subscribers stood out from the CDMA subscribers of the rest of the Verizon network (which, apparently, is why they never merged them). Because AT&T is GSM, it's happy to have the Unicel customers; the other half of the swap apparently is the reverse transaction, with Verizon picking up some CDMA customers that Rural Cellular (Unicel's parent) had lying about.

Those of us with iPhones who live in the North Country have had to be very careful not to use them excessively. Although AT&T doesn't charge roaming fees, like many other companies it will close your account if you use too many roaming minutes ("too many" apparently is more than 50%, but it's not specified anywhere that I can find). My iPhone gets a perfectly good signal in Plattsburgh, but it's the Unicel signal, and so I haven't used it much. That's why I have two cell phones--one for use when I'm away from home (the iPhone), and one for here.

There's been a little coverage of this deal, but mostly just reports that it would happen "mid-year." I walked into the Unicel store in Plattsburgh a few weeks ago and asked the point-blank what was happening. They said that on June 2, they would become an AT&T store, so that seemed confirmation enough.

Because it really irks me to be paying two bills and forced to use the clunky Treo 650 from Sprint (that, in all fairness, I once thought was state-of-the-art), I've been trying to find out more. (I also am really annoyed that Sprint charges me for each text message, and in order to get a better deal, I have to sign a new contract, which makes no sense because I'm dropping the service momentarily.) And I have found more information--no thanks to the local media. (I guess that's why the good lord invented blogs and bloggers...)

If you check the AT&T coverage map (it seems to be updated at the end of each month), you'll see that AT&T is now showing coverage at the Plattsburgh airport, up in Chazy, and down in Peru. Apparently, these were areas of poor reception in the Unicel network, so it made sense for AT&T to beef them up.

I wondered if the airport signal was close enough for me to pick it up, so I made a test call a few weeks ago. The next day, I called AT&T and asked them if they saw a roaming call the previous day, and they didn't. The woman I spoke to said she showed three towers near my home that were AT&T.

Back to the map--no change. Although it seemed old--the map date was 3/31--Plattsburgh was clearly not covered by AT&T. Today, the 4/30 map appeared, and it clearly shows AT&T service in Plattsburgh. So between the test call and confirmation from AT&T and the map, it seems that indeed we have non-roaming service.

The only thing we don't have yet is number portability. My guess is that when the Unicel store becomes an AT&T store on June 2, I'll be able to move my existing phone # from Sprint to AT&T, and all will be well.

And for anyone else with an iPhone in the new AT&T coverage region, my suggestion is that you do the same thing I did. Make a test call, wait a day for the records to update, and then confirm with AT&T that it was not a roaming call. If not, you can cancel your other cell phone, but you'll have to wait (probably until June 2) if you want to port that number over to your iPhone.

Wouldn't it be nice to have local media coverage of technology? Or do we bloggers have to do it?

P.S. This appears to be a Plattsburgh story. The Burlington area on the 4/30 map does not show AT&T coverage, so maybe they're implementing it gradually. If someone from Vermont has more info, feel free to comment on this post.

A New Digital Divide

2008-04-23T09:01:00.002-04:00

The much-heralded Digital Divide seems to be less a problem than it appeared a decade ago. True, there are demographic differences (particularly at the lower end of the economic spectrum), but the latest numbers (see the OCLC post earlier in this blog) suggest massive availability of the Internet in one form or another.

But we much more serious Digital Divide is looming. Rather than adversely affecting demographic groups, it is affecting geographic areas. It has to do with new Web technologies such as the collection known as Web 2.0 and AJAX , RSS, and even blogs. Here's what I'm seeing.

When it comes to non-geographic-specific sites, we find a range of old and new technologies. Plenty of people area out there writing HTML by hand (!), but there are also plenty of people driving Web sites from databases, using AJAX to improve performance and reduce bandwidth, and generally using the new--and simpler--technologies to power Web sites. These sites are truly worldwide in scope--they can be hosted anywhere and developed from anywhere.

However, when it comes to geographic-specific sites--such as a local newspaper or TV station, local businesses, libraries, and government agencies, the story is very different. If you take a community's sites together, some communities present themselves as being as sophisticated as anyone on the Web. And this is one of the great benefits of new technology for small communities: it takes imagination and keeping up with technology to be a worldclass Web site, but it doesn't take a great deal of money.

On the other hand, if you take a community's Web presence as a whole, some seem to be in a time warp from the early days of the Web. Static HTML. Home pages that remain unchanged for years. "Calendars" with current events....from 2002. The assumption is that users will be happy with old technologies and be content to click through endless links that sometimes work. Where are the RSS feeds that deliver updates without effort? Why do we still have Web sites for businesses and public organizations that demand you create account names and passwords with no disclosures about how the information will be used or stored?

It's not surprising that this happens in some communities: the group of Web designers in a community may be happy to live in the past, and users as well as clients, are happy to join them there. Taken together, it's a big flashing sign on the Internet: not keeping up with technology in this community.

WAMC Roundtable: Libraries and Technology

2008-04-06T15:39:00.002-04:00

It's that time again (Monday, April 7, 11 AM). Another Roundtable segment. This time, we'll be talking about how public libraries are using new technologies. (National Library Week runs from April 13-19.)

Joining us will be Josh Cohen, Director of the Mid-Hudson Library System (on which board I served for 12 years, 3 as president). He's also an adjunct instructor for SUNY Albany, and incoming president of the New York Library Association (NYLA).

You never can tell exactly what will happen on live radio, but among the topics we may talk about are how technology levels the playing field among different-sized libraries, gaming in libraries, Web 2.0-how libraries use blogs, etc. for communicating with their communities, extending the walls of the library with technology, and using downloadable books as part of the library's collection.

How to Do Everything: Facebook Applications

2008-02-06T13:21:00.000-05:00

Books have shipped. For more info, videos, discussion board, and updates, visit the book's Facebook Page.

Sharing, Privacy, and Trust in a Networked World

2008-02-02T13:41:00.000-05:00

Fascinating and detailed (280 pages) report from OCLC (Online Computer Library Center). It provides information about Internet use in six countries; it is an update to a report from 2005, so it is able to show trends.

Here are the usage rates in the online population from 2005 to 2007 for various technologies:

search engines: 71% to 90%
email: 73% to 97%
blogs: 16% to 46%

Unfortunately, there's another statistic. Visits to library Web sites dropped from 30% of the online population in 2005 to 20%.

Social Networking and Libraries

2008-02-02T13:40:00.000-05:00

Jane Secker (London School of Economics and Political Science) has a great paper on libraries and Facebook. It's part of LASSIE: Libraries and Social Software in Education.

Roundtable, Monday February 4, 11 AM

2008-02-02T13:38:00.000-05:00

I'm joining Joe and Julia on WAMC's Roundtable on Monday. We'll be talking about social networking and Facebook. There's lots to talk about--the changing concepts of privacy, what viral marketing is, and who's using Facebook (hint: it's not kids).

The Facebook Page for the Book

2008-02-02T13:35:00.000-05:00

There's now a Facebook Page for How to Do Everything: Facebook Applications. There are some video demonstrations of creating apps and a walk-through of the book's example app. Discussion board, a schematic diagram of a Facebook app integrated with a database and external Web site, and a few more goodies (including the links to the downloadable files).

How to Do Everything: Facebook Applications

2008-01-22T14:55:00.000-05:00

My newest book is now available for pre-order from the usual bookselling resources including Amazon.

Special Edition Using FileMaker on Facebook

2007-12-05T10:20:00.000-05:00

Just set up a Facebook Page for the book. It's pretty sparse yet, but feel free to drop by.

FileMaker 9 Book is Out

2007-11-26T13:37:00.000-05:00

First confirmed sighting of Special Edition Using FileMaker 9 (in Italy!). Files are posted on this site here.

Files and Email

2007-11-02T08:03:00.001-04:00

Two people have said they cannot download the files. Unfortunately, as mentioned in another post, if you post a comment here anonymously there is no way for anyone to contact you (that's what anonymous means).

The link to download files is Mashups Files at the right of this page.

To email Jesse, the link is Email Jesse, also at the right of this page.

Both links work for most people, so if you are having trouble, please use the EMAIL link (not comment posting) to contact us so we can help you.

Thanks.

JF

Comments vs. Conversation

2007-10-25T18:36:00.000-04:00

Comments do not always have your email address attached to them. If you're trying to send a message to Jesse, use this email link, not a comment (or both).

Blog/Facebook Link

2007-10-08T08:59:00.000-04:00

This blog is now feeding notes on my Facebook page.

Books Are Out!

2007-09-29T10:01:00.000-04:00

The Mashups book is out, and the downloadable files are online (in the Downloads & Updates section at the lower right).

Book Update

2007-09-21T10:46:00.001-04:00

How To Do Everything with Web 2.0 Mashups is now at the printer. It should be available by the beginning of October. Amazon is now taking orders (scroll down for the link at the right of this page).

And the next one is on its way. Special Edition Using FileMaker 9 is in final production and will be available in November. There's also an Amazon link at the right of this page where you can order it.

Sample code for the Mashups book will be posted here as soon as it is published. To make certain you know when it is posted, join the mailing list (also at the right).

Search Engines and Public Information

2007-09-09T10:12:00.000-04:00

Search engines such as Google and Yahoo! crawl the Web indexing the pages that they find so that you can quickly find the information you want. Webmasters help the search engines by providing information about what is duplicative information that shouldn't be indexed; they also can help the search engines by pointing them to dynamic Web pages that may not be otherwise located.

As Declan McCullagh documented on CNet last week (see following post), search engines were directed away from certain National Intelligence and White House Web pages. The pages were available through direct access, but they didn't show up on search engines.

On the Roundtable, we certainly can't figure out why this happened. But when Jesse Feiler joins Joe and the group on Monday, September 10 at 11 AM, we can certainly talk about how Webmasters help (and sometimes hinder) search engines. The lessons can be valuable to anyone with a Web site.

Declan McCullagh Peers At the Invisible

2007-09-09T10:06:00.000-04:00

In recent articles on CNet, Declan McCullagh has examined some interesting adventures with government Web sites. The Web site of National Intelligence Director Mike McConnell temporarily disappeared from search engines as described in this January 7 article. An earlier story that day documented similar adventures at the White House Web site.

Google Webmaster Help Center

2007-09-09T10:04:00.000-04:00

Search engines like Google want to provide the best results to their users. Here you'll find the main page that Google provides for Webmasters with tips and tools.

Yahoo! support for Webmasters

2007-09-09T09:57:00.000-04:00

Useful information and many links to help you optimize your site and work well with Yahoo! search. This is the main page.

Roundtable Monday July 9, 11 AM

2007-07-06T11:18:00.001-04:00

Join Jesse on WAMC's Roundtable Monday July 9 at 11 AM to talk about earmarks in the Federal Budget.

Jesse's FileMaker database of all 15,000 earmarks from FY2005 is online here . UserID = visitor, password = password.

The database is searchable--select the Info icon for more information. Remember that it's designed primarily for researchers, so there is some budget-ese involved. Also, remember that you can search on amounts of earmarks as well as ranges (such as >1000000, or 1000000...10000000).

Earmarks2005

2007-06-16T18:43:00.000-04:00

Office of Management and Budget has released 15,000 earmarks from the 2005 US Fiscal Year. You can download it as a CSV file from their site (the compressed file is 1.5 MB, with the raw file 13.5 MB.

Roundtable June 11, 10:30 AM

2007-06-10T11:59:00.000-04:00

Jesse joins the Roundtable at 10:30 on Monday, June 11 to talk about Internet resources for public health information. There are some very powerful new technology tools being used to their utmost in the collection, display, and interpretation of data.

ProMED

2007-06-10T11:58:00.000-04:00

The global electronic reporting system for outbreaks of emerging infectious diseases & toxins, open to all sources. ProMED-mail, the Program for Monitoring Emerging Diseases, is a program of the International Society for Infectious Diseases.

GeoRSS

2007-06-10T11:53:00.002-04:00

Add location information to RSS feeds. Now supported by Google Maps.

International Society for Infectious Diseases

2007-06-10T11:53:00.001-04:00

The orgranization that sponsors ProMED.

NYS Dept of Health

2007-06-10T10:47:00.001-04:00

Information about health resources including regionally important diseases such as West Nile, Lyme Disease, rabies, etc. An enormous resource, well organized.

CDC Pandemic Page

2007-06-10T10:41:00.000-04:00

The CDC page for pandemic and avian flu.

Note the extensive use of push technologies (RSS feeds) and the Pandemic Flu Leadership Blog.

EpiSPIDER

2007-06-10T10:36:00.000-04:00

A terrific mashup of public health information. It demonstrates not just the power of mashups but also how, once a mashup is designed and set up, it can use automated news feeds to update itself on demand.

From their description: "EpiSPIDER (Semantic Processing and Integration of Distributed Electronic Resources) is an application that integrates disparate electronic resources like news wires, RSS feeds and mailing lists to provide an integrated view of reported health events. It specifically uses ProMED mail reports and health newsfeeds as sources of information These reports are then transformed and analyzed with natural language processing and text mining techniques to help scan the horizon for infectious disease outbreaks. These reports are also mapped using the geocoding and mapping interfaces of YahooMaps, Google Maps as well as Scalable Vector Graphics (requires Adobe SVG Viewer). We also integrate these reports with other health information resources such as MedLINE/PubMed."

There's more info in their blog.

WHO GI/Map Server

2007-06-10T10:34:00.001-04:00

Search the WHO databases to display data on maps.

World Health Organization

2007-06-10T10:33:00.000-04:00

The international organization monitor health around the world. All sorts of information and statistics.

Moving

2007-05-26T14:28:00.001-04:00

NCC has moved servers.

Web Viewer at UNYFD 4/19

2007-04-03T17:03:00.000-04:00

The next meeting of the Upstate NY FileMaker Developer Group will be
held on Thursday, March 15th from 10:00AM to 12:30PM. Jesse Feiler, author of a variety of books on FileMaker and other topics (most recently "FileMaker 8 @work: Projects and Techniques to Get the Job Done" from Sams Publishing) will talk about the Web Viewer, which is new in FileMaker 8.5. It's more than just a way to put an interactive Web page on a FileMaker layout; it's a way to create Web viewers that are able to construct URLs from data in each record of the database." Jesse will talk about what it can do, and how to use the built-in templates that let you use information such as addresses from your database to create maps, look up FedEx delivery status, and more. He'll also talk about how to go beyond the templates to construct your own dynamic URLs.

The meeting will be held in room VCC301 of the Voorhees Computing Center (VCC) on the campus of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. For first time visitors to the campus the VCC is the large stone church building located roughly in the center of the campus.

Building Info

Campus Map (link)

Campus Map (pdf)

FileMaker @ Work

2007-03-16T12:00:00.000-04:00

FileMaker 8 @ Work: Projects and Techniques to Get the Job Done, Jesse's new book on FileMaker includes projects with complete code and databases (downloadable from the Web). You'll see how to solve practical, real-life design issues as well as how to use new features in FileMaker 7 and FileMaker 8. (Don't worry if you have FileMaker 7 -- most of the projects can be used with it.)

New Site

2007-03-16T11:28:00.000-04:00

We've made the transition (we think) to new blog-based software. If you're looking for something on this site and can't find it, please email Jesse and let him know.

Mac Mania Geek Cruise

2007-03-16T11:21:00.000-04:00

Jesse's off to Alaska again on Mac Mania 6 with Geek Cruises. From May 26 to June 2, Mac Mania 6 (together with Aperture Aura) explores Alaska -- not to mention the ins and outs of these exciting technologies. Jesse will be talking about FileMaker and Automator.

Automator Training Video

2007-03-16T11:07:00.001-04:00

One of the major new features of Mac OS X 10.4 (Tiger) is Automator. It is a tool that lets you build workflows from actions that may be provided by Apple (over 200 are part of the Automator installation), by software developers -- or by you, following the techniques described in the second part of this tutorial. You can use Automator to automate repetitive tasks or to manage complex and rarely-performed tasks. If you have Mac OS X 10.4 (Tiger) or later, you have Automator. Jesse Feiler guides you through using the software, taking advantage of the actions you already have, and show you how to build your own actions ranging from simple to complex using AppleScript and other technologies.