Cable providers' big idea: Testing new ways to charge more

It's another week, and another example of old media companies not understanding how to adopt and embrace technological innovation. This week's example is the cable television industry which is looking to meter Internet usage as if it is an old America Online dial-up account.

Dial-up Internet usage used to be sold by the hour. As broadband became more prevalent, the lure of a high speed, unlimited usage connection caused most to abandon dial-up in favor of DSL or cable. As years have passed, broadband speeds have increased as the cost of access has decreased. That all may be coming to a crashing halt in the coming years, however, if some cable providers have their way.

In June of 2008, Time Warner Cable began testing their bandwidth caps in a single Texas town, and now plan to expand it to a few more test markets. This doesn't include those users in the Tri-State (yet), but don't be surprised when you get the letter in the mail letting you know that you are going to start being charged for how much bandwidth you use like it is gasoline or electricity.

The cable companies will argue that the bandwidth and delivery infrastructure are expensive to build and maintain, but don't believe that is the real reason they are trying to curtail your Internet usage.

In reality, they are scared out of their minds of the prospect of their customers abandoning their cable TV packages for online content viewing like Hulu, Netflix or iTunes. They watched as cell phones eroded the sales and usage of landlines and are hitting the panic button fearing that the same fate may come to cable television.

Time Warner's cap level is tier-based with the maximum set at 40 gigabytes per month with a $1 charge for every gigabyte of overage. An average HD quality movie downloaded from iTunes is around 4 GB with an HD TV show hovering around 2 GB. If you were to watch one TV show a night, you'd be over the cap by 20 GB, or an extra $20 on your bill. I haven't even tacked on the music you are downloading, YouTube videos, digital photos, or Web browsing.

Comcast is another provider that is capping usage, but with a larger 250 GB limit. Even so, it seems odd that while the rest of the world is offering faster, unlimited broadband access for approximately $20 a month, the United States is looking to adopt a more restrictive policy that threatens to stifle innovation for the sake of salvaging yet another dying business.

At this point, consumption-based billing hasn't made its way to Evansville. Michael Willner, CEO of Insight, wrote on his blog that his company currently has no plans to meter usage, but if Comcast and Time Warner's tests prove successful, don't be surprised to see your provider adopt a similar policy.

Originally published in the Evansville Courier & Press

iPhone apps make life just a bit easier, a lot more fun

What sets the iPhone apart from any other smartphone on the market today is AppStore. While other smartphone devices such as Windows Mobile have had applications for years, only Apple has been able to mesh a large catalog of high-quality applications with an easy buying experience.

The company realizes this and has been using a massive advertising campaign to highlight applications. Here are a few of my favorites applications that have not yet been given the proper Apple commercial treatment:

Tweetie ($2.99): Tweetie is far and away the best Twitter client for the iPhone. Its gorgeous user interface makes browsing your Twitter timeline a pleasure. It is also the most full-featured client I have found. The "Nearby" feature uses the GPS on your iPhone to get your current location and then show you recent tweets from other Twitter users nearby.

Skype (free): Skype was recently released for the iPhone, but it is something I have wanted for a long while. I use Skype as my primary business line, since I rarely take calls. With Skype on the iPhone, I can finally toss out the WiFi handset I have been relying on. Skype for the iPhone looks like the traditional Phone app. It allows you to see your contacts status, initiate a text chat or call them up. Calls only work when you are on a WiFi network since, I assume, AT&T wouldn't allow it. Text chat works fine on both WiFi and the cellular network.

Groceries ($2.99): Groceries has made it easier for me to keep track of what i need to pick up at the store. The application has a large database of brand-name products in it from the start, but I found several products I frequently use not listed. Luckily, adding a new product is as easy as the click of a button.

It also allows you to create different shopping lists for the different stores you visit so you can filter your shopping list. Once you mark an item as acquired, it will cross it off the list.

Deliveries ($2.99): If you are a frequent Amazon shopper or package-receiver in general, Deliveries is a great way to keep track of where in transit the packages are at any given time. Deliveries is a beautiful looking application that scrapes the delivery and status information of your packages from Amazon, UPS or FedEx.

If you are a Mac user, it will also sync with the excellent Delivery Status Dashboard widget from the same developer.

Now Playing (Free): Now Playing is the perfect application for movie fans. It's primary purpose is to show the show times for the movies in theaters and purchase tickets, but it also shows the movie ratings and reviews from RottenTomatoes.com.

Originally published in the Evansville Courier & Press

Breakups can be tricky in the age of technology

Ending a relationship was a lot easier before the Internet. Before, you met the guy or gal somewhere and gently broke the news. High drama for a few minutes, and then you went your separate ways.

Today, it's not so easy. The premise of the break-up is the same, but technology makes it much more of a chore.

Last century, it was considered a faux pas to end the relationship via a telephone call. Today, you can use a cell phone, a text message or, even worse, instant messaging to break the news. If you're going to use instant messaging, at least have the courtesy to do a video chat.

After the relationship has ended comes the question of what to do with all the friendships and connections you have established via social networks.

Most people use Facebook or MySpace to keep up with friends. If you date a local tech columnist, you also have Twitter, YouTube, Tumblr and a personal blog.

As far as I'm concerned, there are no set guidelines for when to sever the digital ties after you've severed the personal ones. Should you "defriend" your ex on Facebook or just let the name sit in your friends list? What about his friends?

If you sever the digital tie, what's the appropriate time frame? Should you get back together, it certainly will be awkward to have to re-add those connections.

Facebook has way of setting your relationship status. Changing the status usually sparks several congratulatory or commiserative comments from friends and family.

I have never set that status, but I can imagine it being a vexing update for some.

There is also the blog. Obviously, I unsubscribe, but do I dare visit it again to see if it has something about me? And if there is something nasty on there, do I dare leave a comment? I hope the ex will be kind enough to make it a private post instead of airing dirty laundry in a way that is searchable by Google.

Another of the old breakup ritual was putting away (or burning) the photos from the relationship. Technology has made that more complicated now.

Shoeboxes and picture frames have been replaced with photo databases such as Picasa and iPhoto. I can't bring myself to delete those photos from iPhoto and have a gap in my digital pictoral history. What about the photos uploaded to Facebook, Flickr or MySpace? Do I preserve online history by leaving them up or invest the time deleting them as if I'm cleaning up a crime scene.

These first world problems are vexing. I thought technology was supposed to make life easier?

I suppose if I ever end up in a failed marriage, I'm using a Facebook poll to decide if I should get a divorce.

Originally published in the Evansville Courier & Press

Google Voice has your number(s)

To offer another advertisement venue, Google has been building Web-based productivity applications in use by millions of people.

Many times, these products — such as Gmail and Google Reader — are built entirely within the company. All Google employees are encouraged to spend 20 percent of their workweek pursuing a personal project outside of their primary job functions.

Other times, these products begin their life as a startup that Google purchases. Some live on and prosper (YouTube, Blogger), while others fade, never to be heard from after purchase (Jaiku, Dodgeball).

In 2007, Google bought a popular startup called GrandCentral. It was designed to eliminate the hassle of having multiple phone numbers by allowing the creation of a single local number through which GrandCentral would then route all calls. Whenever someone dialed your GrandCentral number, all the phones you had assigned to your account would ring.

It was the first mainstream use of online voice mail. Messages could be played through the phone or listened to on the Web at your convenience. I'm just scratching the surface on how cool GrandCentral was out of the gate.

When Google bought GrandCentral, many feared it would be joining the Google graveyard as it shut off new sign-ups, offered little communication from the inside and added no new features.

Google just released the new version of GrandCentral, now called Google Voice. It's as great as the old service, but with much more cool stuff.

Google Voice adds support for free voice mail transcription, so you no longer have to listen to your aunt drone on for two minutes before getting to the point of her message.

After a message is recorded, the Google bots will convert it to text and send it to you via e-mail or a text message on your cell phone. I was previously paying PhoneTag.com to do this, so there's a few saved bucks a month.

Speaking of text messaging, Google Voice's new text-messaging features are game-changing. If a text is sent to your number, you can specify which phones they go to. It also stores all of your messages in your Web inbox, where they can be organized and searched. Google Voice makes managing text messages as easy and useful as e-mail.

Google Voice isn't fully cooked just yet, so existing GrandCentral users are allowed to try out the new stuff.

If you are interested in getting in on the beta early, you can sign up at https://services.google.com/fb/forms/googlevoiceinvite. If you have multiple phones and numbers to manage, this will change the way you live and work.

Originally published in the Evansville Courier & Press