October 2008 Archives

Gerd Leonhard Added to Schedule

Lee S Dryburgh

on October 20, 2008 3:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Gerd Leonhard has been added to the schedule to give a 20 minute keynote. The content and title is still to be worked out.

Gerd is the author of the 2005 book "The Future of Music" which more recently became "Music 2.0". He is currently working on a forthcoming book called "The End of Control". You can download the work in progress here.

In July 2008, he gave an hour long Google Tech Talk. I've embedded the video of that below:

You can download the 64 Mb .mp4 file here.

For more videos see Gerd's YouTube Channel.

Telco 2.0, 4-5 November, London

Lee S Dryburgh

on October 17, 2008 1:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

I don't enjoy conferences on the whole and if I find myself at one, I usually seek to escape so that I can get some "real work" done.

I guess in part it's because I don't have an office I need escaping from and I don't enjoy travel anymore. Conferences for me at least, mean wasted time and expense traveling. There is increasingly good swathes of content I'd love to find the time to process available on the Internet, so a conference must be special for me to attend. I must have the expectation that the large costs (primarily time, secondary money) invested must be less than the return (new contacts, new insight, industry understanding, Etc.). Not only that, but the investment must bring a greater return than the same time/money spent in any other direction available - i.e. processing web content.

So I think that it is a testament to the value I see in the Telco 2.0 Initiative that I will be attending the Telco 2.0 5th Executive Brainstorm next month in London. The first day is Defining Future Opportunities and the second day is Exploring Near Term Opportunities.

My passion is innovation in communications; those out there driving it and those reducing barriers to it. Business models were not much of an interest but Martin (Chief Analyst at STL) has pushed it home to me during the last couple of years that business models are possibly the largest single friction point holding back the innovation I yearn for. Martin even manages to spark enthusiasm for the topic. Just watch his keynote video from the debut 08 Emerging Communications conference back in March here. You may also like the "What Will Drive Wireless Innovation?" panel video which Martin was on here and probably also a rather lengthy chat between Martin and I here (blog post with link to audio).

It may sound like I'm on a selling roll for STL which I guess I am, although it's entirely voluntary, not requested and unpaid, but I'd also like to share the opinion that the Telco 2.0 Strategy Research Reports are groundbreaking (a horribly over used word nowadays). They can be found here.

If you would like to meetup during this period (or possibly the night before) please feel free to send me an email lee*eCommMedia*com (*= human intelligence test to beat back those spambots).

5th Telco 2.0 Executive Brainstorm - 4-5 November, London is a 250+
person 'executive brainstorm' on 'Reducing Friction in the digital
economy - exploiting latent telco assets'. Participants confirmed so far
include: CTO, Amazon.com; CEO, BT Wholesale; CTO, Carphone Warehouse;
EVP, ComScore; VP Payments, France Telecom; CMO, GSMA; CTO, HP; VP
Europe, Intel; COO, ITV; Exec Director, JP Morgan; VP Strategy, Orange
Group; CEO, Phorm; Director Strategic Projects, Telefonica; VP Group
Strategy, Telenor; SVP, TeliaSonera; CTO, Telstra; CTO, T-Mobile
International; Director Internet Services, Vodafone Group.

http://www.telco2.net/event/november2008/

Martin: FCC Concludes White Spaces Devices Can Share DTV Spectrum

Lee S Dryburgh

on October 15, 2008 11:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6605731.html

Martin: FCC Concludes White Spaces Devices Can Share DTV Spectrum

Chairman says FCC will propose allowing mobile unlicensed devices to operate in white spaces between DTV channels.

By John Eggerton -- Broadcasting & Cable, 10/15/2008 1:44:00 PM

FCC Chairman Kevin Martin said Wednesday that the FCC will propose allowing mobile unlicensed devices to operate in the white spaces between DTV channels.

He says that the item is scheduled to be voted for in its Nov. 4 meeting.

Martin told reporters Wednesday that he was proposing allowing devices with both remote-sensing and geolocation capabilities--like laptops and so-called smart radios--to operate in the DTV band so long as they can tap into a database of broadcast TV channels in the area so they would not interfere with them.

He also said power levels would be more limited for devices operating on channels adjacent to TV channels than for other channels.

Martin said the FCC was proposing allowing the devices to operate at 100 milliwatts, but only 40 milliwatts on adjacent channels.

He said the FCC's white spaces report, which is being released today, concludes that the devices can be employed without interfering with broadcasts, and issue broadcasters argue with. The FCC has been testing prototype devices, with mixed results.

The caveat to the chairman's announcement is that items that are announced for a vote do not necessarily make it to the final meeting agenda, as was the case with the low-power must-carry item for the Oct. 15 meeting.

David Donovan, who heads the Association for Maximum Service Television, told B&C that allowing 40 milliwatts of power on a first adjacent channel will "decimate over-the-air TV." MSTV has been a leading voice in opposition to allowing the unlicensed devices, arguing they could wreak havoc with DTV reception at the same time that the government is trying to convert the entire country to DTV.

Martin said he wants to utilize the spaces between broadcast services for broadband, and that they can be used so long as the devices do not interfere with broadcast channels.

Martin said the FCC testing was not about whether devices comply with existing rules and standards, but to instead use the tests to draw up those rules, saying that at times the devices worked, and at times didn't, but the testing allowed the FCC to go forward with drawing up rules.

Martin said the FCC will both put the report in the record and circulate an item to the commissioners establishing the rules for allowing white spaces devices.

Martin did not know when the unlicensed devices would become available if the item were adopted Nov. 4, but thought it would at least be a year for the devices with geolocation capability, and longer for those that need to be resubmitted.

Pervasive Connectivity: Open Airwaves, Open Networks Event.

Admin

on October 14, 2008 3:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Sascha Meinrath has pointed out that a cool and free (now there is a good mixture) event will be taking place on the 21st October at the Googleplex.

The event has the title "Pervasive Connectivity: Open Airwaves, Open Networks". Sascha will be speaking at eComm 2009 as well Michael Calabrese.

Note you must RSVP by the 17th, so act quick! Details sent in are below.

---------------

Pervasive Connectivity: Open Airwaves, Open Networks
       Tuesday, October 21, 2008
       10:00 - 1:30 p.m.

       Lunch will be provided.

       Google, Building 43, Tunis Room
       1600 Amphitheater Parkway
       Mountain View, CA
       (Directions: www.newamerica.net/files/google_driving_directions.pdf)

       RSVP online at: www.newamerica.net/events/2008/pervasive_connectivity

       As Internet access moves increasingly to mobile platforms,
       control over access to the public airwaves will determine
       whether wireless broadband networks are closed, costly and
       channelized - or open, affordable and innovative. The
       conventional wisdom in Washington is that spectrum is scarce and
       must be auctioned as exclusive licenses. The reality is emerging
       technologies and business models that allow shared,
       opportunistic and unlicensed access to an abundance of bandwidth
       for all.

       This forum will review the technologies and policy debates at
       the center of this battle over the airwaves. The FCC will decide
       this fall whether to open the vacant TV channels in each market
       for shared, unlicensed use. But there is far more unused "white
       space" across the spectrum that can be unlocked with 'smart'
       radios and smarter policies. Among the benefits of open
       spectrum is more open networks - as well as facilitating a
       movement toward community networking that can greatly narrow
       digital divides in rural and disadvantaged areas.

AGENDA

9:30 am - Registration

10:00 am - Welcome

10:15 am - Open Airwaves: Technologies & Policies for Opportunistic Spectrum Sharing

       Michael Calabrese
       Director, Wireless Future Program, New America Foundation

       Paul Kolodzy
       Kolodzy Consulting, Former Chair, FCC Spectrum Policy Task Force

       Mark McHenry
       CEO and Founder, Shared Spectrum Co.

11:00 am - Open Networks: Technologies & Policies for Consumer Choice and Innovation

       Tim Wu
       Professor, Columbia Law School & Chairman, Free Press

       Larry Alder
       Product Manager, Google

       Sascha Meinrath
       Research Director, Wireless Future Program, New America Foundation

11:45 am - Community Networking: Digital Inclusion, Unwired

       Rey Ramsey
       CEO & Co-Founder, One Economy Corp

       Mark Ansboury
       SVP & Chief Technology Officer, OneCommunity

       Sascha Meinrath
       Research Director, Wireless Future Program, New America Foundation

12:30 pm - Implications for 2009 Policy Agenda

       Andrew Jay Schwartzman
       President & CEO, Media Access Project

12:45 pm - Lunch & Tech Demo in No Name Café

       This policy forum is co-sponsored by Google and the New America
       Foundation/Wireless Future Program.

       All RSVPs for this must be received by October 17:
       http://www.newamerica.net/events/2008/pervasive_connectivity

       For questions, contact Liz Wu at (202) 986-2700 x 315 or
       wu@newamerica.net

2009 Call For Speakers Now Open

Admin

on October 3, 2008 3:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

CALL FOR SPEAKERS

Emerging Communications Conference (eComm 2009),

Burlingame, California -

March 3-5, 2009

http://www.eCommConf.com

This isn't a traditional telecom conference. The eComm audience has very high expectations of speakers. They are both seizing opportunities of the post- telecom era (or re-inventing traditional products and services) and can engage the audience. Rules include a ban on "brochure speak" from stage (overt marketing pitches) and a strict enforcement of the clock.

Plenary presentations lasts just 15 minutes including 2-3 minutes of Q+A. We've found this format of carefully prepared presentations keeps the atmosphere charged. This format also helps us to ﬁt in more than 70 speakers over 3 days. Thanks to the intimate feel of the venue and the energy and attention of the audience, many speakers ﬁnd it to be a great public speaking experience.

It's expected that most speakers stay for all three days of the conference. They stay to join a conversation with a high caliber audience containing an exceptional number of the industry inﬂuencer's and thinkers.

Talks can be theoretical, practical, demonstrations or a mixture of all three.

Particular topics of interest for 2009:

Democratization of communications innovation; anything from VoIP community, XMPP enabled social networking to DIY 12-volt telephony
Convergence of the media industry with personal communications
Theme "telecoms is becoming software"
Telecom restructuring, threats, or new business models
Telecom trends, particularly Asian
iPhone or Android applications
The new old - traditional carriers or vendors who are changing the game
Mobile Social Software (MoSoSo) applications on any platform; any socio-centric devices or applications will be considered whether mobile or not
Social Computing
Mobile leveraging of Cloud Computing or Telco in the Cloud
Future of Social Networking Applications
Network Equipment Providers plans for next 1-3 years
Facilitating business processes with voice
4G Technologies
P2P modes of production or networking

Please note that this is a list of topics chosen by the selection committee, but it is not an all-inclusive list of topics - we like to keep an open mind.

Feel free to submit multiple presentations on different topics. Talks on generic subjects

can be rejected. Be unique!

Before submitting a talk, please try to include answers to the following questions:

How will your talk excite people?
What do you aim to arouse in the audience?
What will be said in your talk that has not been conveyed at another conference?
Does your talk educate the audience?

Proposals will be considered for the following types of presentations:

30 minute keynote
15 minute plenary
1 hour tutorial (these extended classes give participants hands-on, practical, in-depth guidance)
5 minute "Lightening Talks" (rapid-ﬁre presentations that provide insight into new technologies, projects, products or services)
Other

Please include the following information for your proposal:

Proposed title
Overview and extended descriptions of the presentation: main idea, sub topics, conclusion
Suggested topic
Speaker(s): expertise and summary biography

Submission deadline. November 17, although the speaking programme is expected to ﬁll in advance.

Final points. Dress code is casual or business casual. All speakers will gain FREE entry,

will receive an extra FREE ticket and a single 50% discount code to giveaway also.

Speakers who have limited budgets (i.e. academics) may have all or some of their ex-

penses paid by prior agreement. The selection committee will be looking for evidence

that you are an expert in the topic that you have proposed. Make sure to leverage your

individual or organizational expertise when making your speaking proposal.

Still have proposal submission questions? Email: Kristi@eCommMedia.com

SUBMIT YOUR PROPOSAL BY EMAIL:

2009_suggestions@eCommConf.com

You should receive an email acknowledgement of receipt within 24 hours.

(The "Large" Small Print:

If chosen you will be required to:

Observe the clock - time slots will be enforced. This requirement is for all and there will be no exceptions.
We will not allow presentation substitutions on-site.
Refrain from "brochure speak" (product or marketing pitches) from stage. The audience is technically minded and averse to being blatantly pitched.
Register for the event (short online process) within 2 working days of
receiving a speaking conﬁrmation (full instructions will be provided)
otherwise your presentation may be canceled and/or ﬁlled with another speaker.
Appear onsite and make oneself known to the delegated Speaker Caretaker at LEAST one hour before your scheduled talk otherwise your presentation WILL be canceled and/or ﬁlled with another speaker.
Send in a draft presentation for review two months before the event and a ﬁnal version one month before the event.
Accept that all submissions will be evaluated by the 2009 Advisory Board. eComm 2009 Sponsorship or Exhibitor participation will not be considered in the evaluation of submissions, outside of any sponsored sessions offered in speciﬁc packages.)

« August 2008 | Main Index | Archives | November 2008 »

October 2008 Archives

Gerd Leonhard Added to Schedule

Telco 2.0, 4-5 November, London

Martin: FCC Concludes White Spaces Devices Can Share DTV Spectrum

Pervasive Connectivity: Open Airwaves, Open Networks Event.

2009 Call For Speakers Now Open

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