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It might seem hard to believe, but there was a time when Microsoft's Bill Gates was begging Apple's Steve Jobs to license the Mac operating system to PC vendors. Apple turned down the offer, and was later crushed by Gate's plan B: Windows That was in 1985, and thanks to Job's mistake, Gates doesn't need to beg for anything anymore.
Last weekend, hundreds of die-hard fans gathered at the Star Trek convention in Las Vegas to see the stars and mingle with other sci-fi-minded folks. Costumes and attitudes aptly demonstrated their commitment to the Star Trek philosophy, which has many similarities to American ideals When asked to explain the key aspects of the Star Trek philosophy...
After years of struggling under a massive regulatory framework, the telecommunications industry is starting to see some positive change. Last week, the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) admitted that current regulations stifle innovation, and today the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) will consider a similar policy statement...
In just a few short months, Americans will decide who they want to be president. Speculation abounds, but a better read on who is more likely to win -- a futures market in politics -- may be found at sites like Tradesports.com Futures markets, where people bet on results of various outcomes, can often predict events better than other forms of analy...
The Senate Commerce Committee will soon vote on a bill to bar states from meddling with Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), which allows the Internet to be used like a telephone The bill by Sen. John Sununu (R-New Hampshire) is one of many reactions to a growing movement from states and other pro-regulatory types to control VoIP....
When old ideas meet new technology, the result is sometimes a comedy of errors. Such is the case for New York Senator Hillary Clinton, whose outdated thinking produced many a blunder. On one recent occasion, she played the protectionist card on the issue of outsourcing and got caught in her own hypocrisy. In a March 3, 2004, interview, Senator Cli...
The battle between Hollywood and Silicon Valley over copyright issues heated up recently as two bills in Congress generated attention. Each side has a point, but consumers would be better off if the battleground were the marketplace, not the political stage How to protect intellectual property in a digital age is a question many are trying to answe...
Last week, the FTC rejected the idea of a national "do-not-e-mail" registry, and this week a coalition of ISPs released a set of technical guidelines to help in the fight against spam. Both these actions point the way toward the real solution. But first, a host of bad ideas needs to be canned The first bad idea is that laws alone can stop spam from...
Last week brought some good news for those who wondered if the Bush administration would ever act to clean up the nation's telecom mess. The Bush administration has finally taken its first real step toward its goal of ubiquitous broadband U.S. Solicitor General Theodore Olson, who represents the federal government in cases before the supreme court,...
It's not clear why the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) chose San Francisco, home of "Protesters R Us" and "Rent-a-Mob," for its annual convention this week. But one thing is for sure, the byproduct has been a measure of enlightenment, particularly concerning the protesters These are 1960s re-enactors whose activities reveal more about the...
California wireless customers suffered a blow last week when the state Public Utilities Commission (PUC) voted to approve a pile of harmful regulations. The misleadingly named "Telecommunications Consumer Bill of Rights" is poised to raise mobile-phone bills and tie businesses in red tape "The PUC has overreached its regulatory responsibilities," s...
President Bush has called for ubiquitous broadband rollout by 2007, but to reach that goal, Americans must win the fight against the Axis of Old -- entrenched interests in government and industry that are fighting the progress that comes with new technologies The first member of the Axis of Old is the Federal Communications Commission. For the last...
Cingular and AT&T Wireless recently announced plans to merge, resulting in a bigger, more reliable network for customers. Not long after, Consumers Union and the Consumer Federation of America filed a petition to block the merger. Once again, so-called consumer groups are opposing market developments that help consumers. The push comes in an area ...
TV programs like The Swan and Extreme Makeover demonstrate that when medicine meets the marketplace, the results can be stunning. But while new technologies and investments drive the latest health services, entrenched political interests threaten progress. Take, for instance, the recent controversy over ultrasounds in California California's overlo...
What do you get when you cross a posse of anti-corporate "consumer advocates" with an innovative new e-mail service that most beta testers enjoy? Trouble, as evidenced by the recent hysterics over Google's new Gmail service Gmail is Google's new free e-mail service that provides users witha gigabyte of storage space -- about 100 times more than the...
Many Americans are worried about outsourcing jobs to other countries, prompting President Bush to exalt the benefits of freer trade and Senator Kerry to argue for protectionist measures. But amid this political maneuvering, what's needed are solid suggestions for how to make America more competitive and encourage creation of new jobs. One area whe...
With the recent bombings in Madrid and President Bush's warning that terrorists will "never be appeased because death is their banner," it might seem odd to argue for cutting the defense budget. That is, until one listens to John Arquilla, professor of defense information sciences at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey At a recent meeting of ...
Last week, a U.S. court invalidated key telecommunications regulations created by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). This is the third time the Commission's rules have been struck down, making it imperative that the Bush Administration act to fix the nation's telecommunications mess In its ruling, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of ...
Recently, Bill Gates claimed the problem of spam, the annoying unsolicited e-mail that congests the Internet, could be solved in the next two years. Some may scoff at this idea, but when one examines the marketplace, Gates' prediction may even seem conservative. That's because an old idea is finally getting some new attention For years now, the two...
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