The incredible shrinking Internet

[Thanks to Harvey Newman for this pointer –BSA}

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The incredible shrinking Internet

November 05, 2008




The incredible shrinking Internet


Broadband throttling, caps, and content filtering aren't about
sweeping pirates off the Internet

TAGS: Broadband
,
Wireless


Time was, back in the bad old days of regulatory oversight, the feds told telephone companies that they had to extend service to residents outside prime socioeconomic territories. The FCC laid down the law that the local telcos with a regional monopoly on wire and fiber had to share access to that infrastructure with competing ISPs, and to make that happen, telcos were ordered to split their Internet and telephone service branches into separate business units.

Telcos complained loudly about cable TV providers offering VoIP phone service not subject to telco regulations, while at the same time flouting the very regulations they seek to impose on cable companies in the interest of fairness. Cable is hardly squeaky clean, with infamously poor customer service, wavering quality of coverage, prerequisites for cable TV plans, and leased equipment that adds $50 or more to the low monthly prices quoted in their ads.

Just as the FCC has cleared the way for use of narrow bands of analog TV spectrum for Internet traffic, DSL and cable are exacting payback in a manner that should be setting off bells (no pun) in Washington. We know about the tiered Internet, where commercial customers without top-end bundled services have their traffic shoved aside for use by elite subscribers, and for services sold by the carriers themselves. We read less about other threats that attract minimal attention from IT because they seem to affect only residential broadband users, and more specifically, that fraction of residential users that spoils the Internet for everybody with their peer-to-peer file sharing. Nobody can feel sorry for pirates who are getting their pegs clipped.

Changes being made under the rubric of fighting excessive use of bandwidth by that mythical 5 percent of broadband subscribers that use 90 percent of available bandwidth have nothing to do with freeing those ill-used bits for legitimate use. It's hard to get telcos and cable operators to explain why transfer caps, speed throttling, content filtering, and port blocking, necessary measures to avoid being bankrupted by 5 percent of 'net ne'er-do-wells, apply to all Internet subscribers. Unless, that is, you're paid in full for your provider's most expensive data offerings, or you happen to be a telecommunications provider.

The true motivations behind each of the new poisons being unleashed on U.S. broadband customers are easier to understand than the rhetoric held up to justify their application. Limits on the amount of data you're allowed to transfer each month prevent you from using VoIP, other than that provided by your local telco or cable operator, to escape usurious telephone tariffs. Bandwidth throttling, which may kick in when you've exceeded a (likely unstated) threshold for bytes per quarter-hour, turns your third-party VoIP calls into unintelligible mush. Telcos and cable operators not only make it tough to do business as a third-party VoIP provider, but they use bandwidth-imposed quality issues in their marketing to smear VoIP competitors.

Bandwidth capping and throttling also discourage companies that have in mind to offer business-related broadband services, including offsite storage, remote access to desktops, and rich Internet applications. Even if these companies are willing to pay for more bandwidth than they need, a large portion of their potential customer base is subject to restrictions that make using the service too risky. Broadband users will have to budget their Internet use without knowing in advance how much of their capacity a particular application uses. When customers exceed their caps or thresholds, they incur overage charges or involuntarily get kicked up to higher rate plans.

In the capped and throttled Internet, a fledgling distributor of independent films doesn't stand a chance, and neither does a provider of streaming content services. To make these businesses even less attractive, telcos and cable are toying with content filtering that identifies suspect data. This is, we're told, to put down a scourge that affects telecommunications and the entertainment industry equally: the transfer of movies, TV shows, and music.

It seems difficult to imagine why telcos and cable care about content -- these are the same people who insist that the technology doesn't exist to, say, keep businesses from having URL typos send workers and customers to porn sites -- until you understand that the next frontier for telecommunications is streaming and downloadable news and entertainment content. That explains why telcos and cable want to restrict the flow of digital content, but surely identifying commercial content is technologically impractical.

No user of an iPhone
or T-Mobile G1
can believe this. Hosted services such as Shazam can take a random 15- to 30-second clip from a song, match it against a massive database and identify the artist, tune, and CD with a link to iTunes or Amazon.
Skimming a download stream, including the soundtracks of streaming and downloaded videos, will just as easily identify a film or TV show. That does make life tough for pirates. It also makes it difficult for legitimate content distributors in lines of business such as online movie rentals or Internet radio. It would certainly cut YouTube off at the knees, which would make a lot of big studio and record labels happy.

What method, I wonder, would be established for identifying yourself as either duly licensed to distribute the content or covered by Fair Use?
Even if you could negotiate an indulgence with a major telco (you'd have to parlay each of them separately), the customers you're trying to reach run the risk of getting one of those MPAA or RIAA ransom notes. When the content filters kick in, that whole process could be streamlined. The letter could just be stuffed into the envelope along with your phone bill.

I put in that last bit for fun, because I realize that this approaches conspiracy theory. My gut tells me that the customer and business worst case that I've described approximates the future that telcos and cable operators have in mind. I only hope that the new administration and reshaped legislature will realize that pulling the economy out of a nosedive requires the protection of competition and openness of the Internet to ventures of all types and sizes.

Posted by Tom Yager on November 5, 2008 03:00 AM

Brainfeeder LA & SF

Flying Lotus' label Brainfeeder returned home to California last weekend to display their enormously talented roster in LA's Echoplex and San Francisco's 1015 Folsom venues. Both packed to the max, Fly Lo, Kode9, Samiyam, Ras G, Gaslamp Killer, Daedelus, Hudson Mohawke and myself presented a wide variety of music - and had a lot of fun doing it.. Thanks so much to everyone involved!

(first three pics by Sung @ Losanjealous, the rest by Brainfeeder crew)

Flying Lotus & Obama

Kode9 & Gaslamp Killer

me

Daedelus

Flying Lotus & Ques in LA

Fly Lo, Daedelus & Ques

Ques live artwork

B+, Kode9, Daedelus, GLK, Ras G, me

As an ex-sex worker, I am in a privileged position as regards understanding the difficulties of customer service. Granted, there are only handful of occupations in which the gratification of the customer is so literal and, um, obvious, but I imagine there are lessons learnt there which are generally applicable in the wider world of dealing with the public.

As a result I try to be - how shall we say - forgiving in matters of poor front-of-house. Some jobs are a bit shite and grind down even the sunniest of dispositions. I understand that not everything is directly to do with me, and sometimes the person on the other end of the phone is just not having a good day, nowt to do with me. But still:

- When I've stood outside my house for half an hour, and the minicab dispatcher insists two cars have been by already but I was a no-show, do you not think it might occur to her that she's been giving them the wrong fucking address?!? Alas, she would rather argue with me about whether I was in a position the cars could see than to doublecheck the address when offered it. I've spent a statistically significant portion of my life waiting on taxis; you, honey, are an undermotivated 19-year-old with no apparent communication skills.

- The Post Office. What universe do they live in where people are at home awaiting deliveries between 10 and 2 on a weekday? I took the morning off work to wait for a special delivery which they won't leave with the neighbours or let anyone else sign for, so you might think they would consider delivering said item sometime that day. Or give me an information number which does not cost the Bolivian GDP per minute to ring from a mobile, only to repeat recordings of the website address as read by Irene Handl on quaaludes. "Did. You. Know. The. Fastest. Way. To. [light nap] Arrange. Redelivery. [cup of tea and a biccie, dear?] Is. To. Visit. Our. Web. Site. On. The. Inter. Net..." [sound of me kicking chair out from under my noose]

As for Zoe la Williams, she's just bitter that I asked Erica Wagner to interview me instead of her. Witness:

No feminist - first, second or third wave - can endorse prostitution because disproportionately often it has a violated or dead woman at the end of it.

So presumably we can't endorse life, either, then. Cos we die no matter how smugly or self-righteously we live, dear.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Actually, you know what? Fuck it. Gloves off. Mizz Williams is having a laugh at the expense of everyone who takes her writing seriously; she knows fine well I exist and am real, being as I am, after all, mates with her mum's neighbour.

So. When you have had a job that was not directly the result of growing up the pampered and privileged daughter of someone with actual soul, when you have ever had a job out of necessity rather than swanning around doing as little as possible to keep yourself in the manner to which you are accustomed, and indeed, when you have written a book for publication rather than taken a fat advance and pissed the money up the wall in a swell little cottage in the country entertaining your friends, then you, Zoe Williams, can stand nose to nose with me and criticise. Until then, you're just earning money off my immoral acts (should the local constabulary be notified?), or in other words, just a columnist-whore.

Business Model Innovation, Big Companies and Creative Destruction

John Gapper wrote a very interesting opinion piece about Detroit’s car industry in the FT this week ("Detroit tries to fool them again" on FT.com). He clearly outlines why he thinks the bailout of the car industry is questionable and how it is counterproductive for the overall industry. I couldn’t agree more with him, because much of the car industry is an example of big business that failed to reinvent itself.

John argues that a bailout will…

• reward failure
• preserve chronic overcapacity
• benefit the least efficient companies

It is not surprising that Detroit is calling for help. Most big companies have problems preparing themselves proactively for changing environments. An example I often cite is the music industries with its 4 major record companies. They are still struggling to adapt to the impacts of digital music.

Big companies’ track record is particularly bad when it comes to business model innovation. In my workshops and keynotes I usually ask the audience which business models they find interesting and innovative. The examples that come up are almost always start-ups or very young companies (e.g. Skype, Google, MySpace, Zipcar, Kiva, no thrills airlines). And if you look at who founded the successful start-ups with innovative business models you will find quite a few that were created by people who had to leave the world of big corporations to implement their ideas (e.g. GoreTex by Robert W. Gore or EFG Bank by Jean-Pierre Cuoni and Lonnie Howell).

The question is then of course: is business model innovation possible within big companies? I do think so, since there are some good examples out there. Nespresso, part of the Nestlé group, disrupted the coffee market with its innovative business model. Procter & Gamble is reaching new heights with its new business model based on open innovation. However, it took Nespresso 30 years and a separate legal entity to succeed and P&G needed a big crisis to adopt change.

The most interesting recent example is maybe Nokia, the world’s largest mobile phone manufacturer. They are currently transforming their business model from a manufacturer to a content company, which is selling music subscriptions and more along its phones. This is a substantial change from a business model based on transactions towards one with recurring revenues.

From my experience the telecom industry seems quite an exciting playground for business model innovation. In October I worked with Norway-based Telenor, seventh larges mobile network operator in the world with major operations in Asia and Eastern Europe and over 150 million mobile subscribers. I was surprised to discover that they had a unit called “business models” focusing on exactly that. It is part of a 200-person strong Research & Innovation (R&I) department and their staff is quite advanced in business model thinking. They look at new products & services and the corresponding business models for all of the markets they serve.

In July I worked with UNE in Columbia, a mid-sized telecom operator that is trying to integrate business model innovation more systematically into their operations. They will be using my business model canvas to format new initiatives.

A general conclusion from what I see in my workshops and keynotes is that there are some companies and industries that are already embracing business model innovation or at least want to learn about it, while some are still very reluctant (though rarely uninterested). Over time I think all companies will face the challenge of business model innovation and it is only a question of time when they start dealing with the issue.

As to Detroit's car industry John Gapper sums it up nicely:

Perhaps the immediate cost of a Detroit bankruptcy is too high but the long-term effects would be beneficial.

Detroit must learn how to reinvent itself again. It will not be possible to save workers' jobs over the long term with a bail-out - it must be innovation and creative destruction...

DEFENDERS OF THE LAND GATHERING

For Immediate Release: November 12, 2008


MEDIA ADVISORY


WINNIPEG— Spokespeople from Indigenous communities involved in land struggles across Canada will issue a national challenge to Prime Minister Stephen Harper and the Conservative government's policies when Harper attends the Conservative Convention in Winnipeg this week, delivering a letter to Harper on Thursday at 6pm, and following up with a press conference on Friday at the Winnipeg Convention Centre.



Indigenous organizers, leaders and membership will be meeting in Winnipeg for the Defenders of the Land Gathering from November 12-14th, 2008 to share strategies and solutions for achieving land rights and self-determination.


The Defenders of the Land Gathering will feature special presentations by members from the Algonquins of Barriere Lake, Six Nations, Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation, Ardoch Algonquin First Nation, Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug, Secwepemc First Nation, while many others will be in attendance.


The Defenders of the Land Gathering will focus on several key principles including recognition and respect for Inherent, Aboriginal and Treaty rights; opposition to arbitrary, one-sided federal and provincial legislation, policies and practices that negatively affect Indigenous Peoples; stopping the environmental degradation of Indigenous lands; a fair and just interpretation of section 35 of Canada's constitution, including the elimination of the racist, outdated concepts of the Doctrine of Discovery and Terra Nullius; and the application of the Articles of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in Canada.


The Press Conference will be held:
Date: Friday November 14, 2008
Location: Winnipeg Convention Centre
Time: TBA

-30-


For more information, please contact:
Courtney Kirkby 514.893.8283 (c)
Harmony Rice: 204.510.9899 (c)

Something of a minor miracle: a positive review for the new book! And in a broad(ish)sheet no less. For those who wonder, incidentally, what I wrote about Stendhal, the piece is here.

Thank You!

I don’t have a book, let alone a bestseller, and I am not faculty at a prestigious business school. Still, my approach to business model innovation is spreading around the world. People are interested in my thinking and I am getting more and more invitations to deliver keynotes and workshops globally.

This is only thanks to YOU, my audience, fellow business model thinkers, friends and people who have hired me. You are the ones spreading the word about my work, applying it and convincing others to join the thinking. Without you I could not undertake this journey to bring business model innovation management to another level. Thank you!

Thank you to those of you who have taken - and continue to take - the risk of hiring a “no-name" business speaker, simply based on the value you find in my work and my visibility on the web. Through your fees I can continue to advance business model innovation thinking.

Thank you to those of you who apply my work and customize it to your own particular needs and promote it in your organizations. You help improve and complete the inroads I tried to make in business model innovation.

Thank you to those of you who have helped me fill-up my workshops through your valuable business networks and your enthusiasm regarding business model innovation. Without you the seats would remain empty.

Thank you to those of you who read and comment on my blog and give me moral support. I need it to continue my journey towards the business model innovation book and ultimately a platform of like-minded peers who want to advance together and share their experience on business model innovation.

This journey is not easy, intellectually, stamina-wise and financially (despite my relatively high speaking/workshop fees). I only continue because of those of you out there who “read me”, support me, challenge me and hire me. For me these are valuable indicators that show that we are onto something big. Together. As a community. I have the feeling we can create something big around this kernel of a business model innovation approach that I try to promote. I can’t do it alone. I need you on this journey. Only if all of you help, can we make this a killer-approach that spreads globally.

Of course I have a self-interest in this success. But ultimately I am pursuing this because I am passionate about what we can bring to the world. If I were not, I would be working in a private bank in Switzerland and probably earning a comfortable and secure paycheck. But most important, I am stimulated by the growing community of users around the business model innovation approach that I launched.

Thank you for allowing me to continue developing the business model innovation approach. I see it a bit like open source software development. Together with Professor Yves Pigneur I launched a kernel and now hundreds of people are contributing to improving the business model innovation approach and thousands of people are using it...

Let us work together to make this something big! I believe together we can!

I've been dead busy, and doing my best not to neglect this site or the Facebook - but a girl has to prioritise, nu? Still, it would be remiss of me not to at least post something this week. So if you please:

- visit this page: some work directed by (and starring) the very lovely Ethan McKinley, whose status as Belle's Internet Crush #1 is rock-solid for the foreseeable future.

- even if you're not friends with me on Facebook (am limiting how many I accept, after learning FB has an upper limit! Sorry...) you can still join my book club, where this month we're digging in to The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett. It's short, it's in the Wh Smith promotion, and it's well-written and funny - so what are you waiting for?

- ObLoveUpdate: yes, still on. Happy. Words can not express &c.

Click here to listen to Canada: A Pariah State?, a lecture by Arthur Manuel at McGill University, November 3rd, 2008.


At the Defenders of the Land, on November 4th, community spokespeople, Marylynn Poucachiche and Norman Matchewan, Russell Diabo, policy advisor for Barriere Lake for the past two decades, and Arthur Manuel all spoke at the Native Friendship Centre in Montreal. Along with the presentation, a 12 minute film of the recent October blockade of highway 117, made by Martha Stiegman, was screened. It was an informative and emotional event for everyone, bringing both Marylynn and audience members to tears.

The speeches from the event are available here -- just click on the name of the speaker and download the file.

Russell Diabo (35 minutes)
Marylynn Poucachiche and Norman Matchewan (20 minutes)

Martha Stiegman's film:
Click HERE to view

Art Exhibition New Delhi, India: Ramesh Terdal

After a grand success at India Habitat Centre, The Show is running successfully online at Ashok Art Gallery. These manoumental contemporary acrylic paintings of young Ramesh describes the socio-politcal scenario of contemporary world, the violence , the hatered rate and all those efforts to stabilize, a fantastic brushing with a very selective wild colors Ramesh just deserves all kind of appreceations. He has shown all his potential to satisfy todays critics, and undoubtly has made a strong impression in Delhi's Art Market.

23rd Oct 2008 - 23rd Nov 2008

Ashok Art Gallery: Shows

Website: LATEST SHOWS

Art Exhibition New Delhi, India.

Ramesh Terdal

The Ashok Art Gallery is internationally known for one of its most important holdings: more than 2000 major works by the world's most significant Artists.Over the past years, as Ashok Art Gallery has become a major centre for contemporary visual art, the Gallery has built a strong collection of contemporary work of different artists.
Last year we became a sponsor of the STANDUP-SPEAKOUT Artshow, Organized by Art Of Living Foundation and United Nations.Organized an International Contenmporary Art Exhibition including artists from USA, The Nederlands, Pakistan and India.We have also participated at Art Expo India 2008 Mumbai and India Art Summit 2008 New Delhi.

Bamba J Fall Gën Gui Dëk

Face A
Gën Gui Dëk
Djirim
Yabi Door
Free Naya

Face B
Caddu Baycat
Yaay
Ndiangane
Remembering

I thought this would be a straightforward Senegalese rap tape, but it moves constantly between hooky pop, dancehall and hip-hop. Rap-reggae-dancehall music in Senegal is so firmly entrenched at this point that perhaps it's all one in the same to the ears of the current generation of artists. OK, it can't be that simple....but there's something interesting to me about how flexible and genre-inclusive the current urban musics across Africa tend to be, from bongo flava to hiplife to kuduro. Diverse musical approaches, sources and influences intermingle, things are rarely as box-able as we think, etc, etc.

Barriere Lake T-Shirts

Barriere Lake Radio T-Shirts
Cost: $15-25
*Proceeds support Barriere Lake.

The image on the t-shirt is the sound wave file produced by someone saying: "Mitchikinabiko'inik Nodaktcigen", which translates roughly into "Radio Barriere Lake".


To order a shirt, email: barrierelakesolidarity@gmail.com

Blogs: Fuites et liens radioactifs

Voilà, le classement d'octobre est quasiment bouclé... J'ai continué à améliorer l'algo, de façon à prendre en compte vos remarques et commentaires. La modification principale concerne la prise en compte des liens vers la page d'accueil (la "home") des blogs, alors que Wikio prenait en compte jusqu'ici seulement les liens de billet à billet (je l'évoquais ici). Le résultat est vraiment intéressant. On voit sortir des profondeurs du classement tout un tas de blogs nouveaux qui valent la peine d'être découverts, et en particulier des "blogs de filles", qui entrent nombreuses dans le top 100 (je suis sûr qu'Olympe va être contente que le "plafond de verre" se craquelle et que la "machosphère" régresse un peu. Manifestement le nouvel algo fait émerger de nouvelles communautés qui ont tendance à lier les blogs (donc les personnes), plutôt que les infos (comme ont tendance à faire les geeks). C’est un peu l’aspect “réseau social”, je présume. Du coup la part des blogs high tech dans le top 100 diminue, et c'est aussi bien ! J'ai produit quelques stats, mais j'en ai laissé l'exclu à Mr. Xhark, qui avait eu la gentillesse de reprendre celles du mois dernier. Je vous invite à lire le détail chez lui.


Je vais vous proposer encore un peu de maths et de technique, pour vous expliquer une autre modif, beaucoup plus mineure, celle-là, mais puisque j'ai promis de tout vous dire, vous allez devoir maintenant me supporter ! Vous vous souvenez peut-être que quand j'ai pris le dossier en main, les liens étaient comptés avec un poids de 1 pendant 4 mois et puis tout d'un coup au bout de cette période ils n'étaient plus comptés du tout, c'est-à-dire prenaient un poids de 0. Il en résultait des "Wikio Dances" pas très souhaitables. Car s'il faut du mouvement, comme cela a été dit maintes fois en commentaires, il ne faut pas non plus que ça ressemble à du mouvement brownien (surtout dans les profondeurs du classement). Pressé par le temps, j'avais fait implémenter une rustine, qui consistait à donner aux liens un poids décroissant de façon linéaire sur 9 mois. Pas génial.

Une approche plus propre consiste à utiliser, là aussi, une décroissance exponentielle, une fonction décidément bien utile, qui peut servir à modéliser toutes les situations où une quantité décroît d'un taux proportionnel à sa valeur. On peut imaginer bien des façons pour les liens de perdre de leur force dans le temps, mais la façon qui me séduit le plus est celle-là. C'est aussi celle des éléments radioactifs (à propos de fuites...) Vous avez sans doute entendu parler de période radioactive ou de demi-vie. C'est le temps qu'il faut pour pour que la moitié des atomes d'un isotope radioactif se désintègre naturellement. Et plus elle longue, plus c'est embêtant dans le cas des déchets... Pour le krypton (allô, Superman ?) c'est 11 ans, pour le thorium plusieurs milliards d'années (mieux vaut ne pas en avoir trop dans sa cave !).

Pour les liens j'ai choisi deux mois. On pourrait bien sûr discuter de ce choix, et on pourra l'ajuster. Le premier mois, un lien vaut 1, le mois suivant 0,707 (à peu près : c'est la racine carée de 1/2...), le troisième mois (qui correspond à la demi-vie) 0,5 et ainsi de suite. Attention, contrairement à ce qu'on croît souvent la radioactivité ne disparaît pas au bout de deux fois la demi-vie ! Au bout de 22 ans vous aurez toujours du krypton, mais la moitié de la moitié. Et ainsi de suite... La courbe est la suivante :


Au bout de quatre mois, il reste 0,25, et après c'est vrai qu'il ne reste plus grand chose, mais un petit peu tout de même et ça suffit pour faire la différence pour des blogs qui sont quasi orphelins dans les profondeurs du classement. N'oublions pas que ce sont les valeurs relatives qui comptent, et donc celui qui a un vieux lien qui vaut 0,04 passe devant celui qui a un lien encore plus vieux qui vaut 0,03. Mais en aucun cas ils ne sont en compétition avec des blogs qui ont des liens "frais". C'est voulu, comme ça tout le monde a sa chance et le classement nous permet de faire des découvertes. Sinon ce serait ennuyeux comme la pluie (radioactive ?).

Le classement sera publié lundi. Il y a plein de bonnes surprises... Évidemment ce blog monte comme une flèche (entrée dans le top 10). Ça ne me plaît qu'à moitié parce que les mauvaises langues vont sûrement dire que je règle les paramètres pour me faire monter, ce qui n'est pas le cas. Mais bon. La caravane passe. Vous n'aviez qu'à pas me lier comme des malades. Mon billet sur la naissance de Wikio Labs a été le plus lié de septembre, toutes catégories confondues, et j'ai l'impression que celui sur les "entrailles du classement Wikio" a atteint des sommets en octobre aussi... La preuve que ça vous intéresse, quand même, vous ne feriez pas ça juste pour me faire plaisir ?

Sur ce, mon cheval m'attend. Un peu de détente me fera du bien !

Dilectio

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Dilectio

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The "It's close To Midnight and Something Evil's Lurking in The Dark" Halloween Cupcakes

Red Devil Cupcakes photographed as darkness falls across the land: The Midnight Hour Is Close At Hand. Can't you just hear Vincent Price laughing his head off?
These cupcakes are a shoutout to my niece, Kimmie...whose birthday is today. She lives in Spokane, Washington. So, if you see Kim today, but sure to tell her HAPPY BIRTHDAY!






Rock On!

CQ

Cairene Houses

Sawsan Abu al-Naga, Cairene Houses (1988)

oil on canvas

NiteLife

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NiteLife

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DFire

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