] The letter said BellSouth Telecommunications Inc. had
] ''agreed, in concept,'' to become the conduit for federal
] funds to flow to all subcontractors who provided the
] Internet service under the ENA contract.

geez.. how obvious is this?

State backs BellSouth to take over school Internet

] As DSL loses ground to cable, wireless technologies may
] be the phone companies' best hope for linking customers
] to the Net at high speed

This is one of the worst articles I've read about telecom in quite some time. To wit:

At the end of 2002, just 6.2 million of the 18 million broadband households in the U.S. were using DSL

hmm... not bad, considering that cable got a 2 year jump on DSL thanks to the Bells, and that most of the companies that were offering DSL in the first place are now dead. I'd take a 3rd of the market anyday given those circumstances.

The writer also fails to mention that the reason why DSL deployment is so abysmal for the Bells is because they don't want to deploy it at all.

Broadband Internet service is fast becoming the cable industry's biggest moneymaker: CIBC cable analyst Alan Bezoza estimates that its operating margins on high-speed data run as great as 60% before interest, taxation, and amortization.

yeah, it also helps that a lot of those customers they acquired for pennies when @Home got raided. Compared to the typical $500+ acquisition cost for a DSL customer (or even a new cable HSI customer), that makes the economics look gooooood.

Verizon Chairman Larry Babbio predicts that his company will break even on DSL once he signs up 3 million subscribers.

LOL! 3M? Larry.... who's running your network? How is it that investors allowed a big dinosaur who doesn't even want to deploy DSL cook up a scheme to blow billions of dollars and not make a penny until they've got 3M customers, when dozens of CLECs were left to die who had business plans that showed profitability with one tenth that?

A large niche market is developing that the Bells could have all to themselves: Internet access from rural areas -- those huge stretches of the country where cable doesn't go.

and every economic analysis of this market is that it will never be profitable unless you are a satellite company. No matter what tech you're using.

BellSouth also is testing fixed wireless as an alternative to DSL in both suburban and rural areas.

It fails to mention that the reason why BellSouth is doing this is because they have significant FITL in the suburbs and they don't want to share that fiber with anyone, or allow anyone to colo at the remote terminal. Sounds like good business practices to me.

"There's no advantage," declares Ed Charleton, SBC's vice-president for Internet product management, who explains that SBC's research has shown that it would cost about the same to provide wireless broadband as to upgrade existing copper network to handle DSL.

Hey? How'd this get in there? I was sure this was a flak piece from the wireless lobby!

Moreover, in February, 2002, the Federal Communications Commission ruled that the Bells wouldn't have to share high-speed fiber lines with competitors, as they are required to with copper phone lines. That means they have an incentive to invest in fiber, not wireless technologies, as a way to shut out competition.

BINGO! Hey Jane, didn't you put 2 and 2 together after you wrote this? Oh I forgot, you're just another idiot flak.

Saving the Bells' Broadband Bacon

] Golden feces wipes smile
]
] on Japanese faces

Golden Feces anyone? WORK SAFE

MMMMM

yum! - White Trash Recipes

] The very technology that revolutionized retail checkout -
] the bar code - is now being subverted by anti-capitalist
] protesters who fancy themselves cyberpranksters.
]
] The activists drew the ire of Wal-Mart Inc., the world's
] largest retailer, with a Web site that encouraged people
] to "name their own prices" by offering hundreds of
] substitute bar codes.
]
] Wal-Mart considered the ploy an incitement to theft and
] sent a cease-and-desist letter dated April 2 to one of
] the companies that was hosting the Web site, Re-code.com.
]
] Re-code.com's operators responded by disabling the link
] on their Web site that allowed users to print sheets with
] a selection of bar code labels that could be slapped on
] store items.

Prankster Web Site Draws Wal-Mart Ire

] You've seen these cards on the nightly news. They've been
] featured in newspapers worldwide. Now you can own the one
] true collector's item from Operation Iraqi Freedom. This
] is the same 55-card deck given to Coalition soldiers
] featuring the Iraq's 52 "Most-Wanted" leaders.

Yours for only $5.95

GreatUSAflags.com - Iraqi 'Most-Wanted' Deck of Playing Cards

"North Vancouver is finally respecting the linguistic abilities of a largely discriminated against section of the world population. I think we should introduce legislation mandating these bilingual signs to be used in the US as well. Lead on Canadian brothers!"

Bilingual Signs

] This ad is most definitely a nod to the filmmakers Peter
] Fischli and David Weiss. Their 1987 film, "The Way Things
] Go" is a 30-minute-long showing of a contraption they
] built out of household items.

VERY cool. I want to see the whole movie, not just the car commercial.

Honda's New Accord

Pictures of the men and women who roam the digital frontier.

Hacker Pics, Pictures, Photos, Photographs

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