Here is a recap of some of the cable TV, internet, phone industry and ISP news from around the country for the week of May 22, 2017:
Google Announces New World Domination Plans at Google I/O 17
Google announced so many cool devices and apps at their developer's conference in Mountainview CA last week that no one seems to care that they are surrendering their privacy and safety to Skynet. With renewed focus on AI (artificial intelligence) and machine learning, Google seems to be insinuating themselves even more into your everyday life. A few of the releases announced this year:
- Google Assistant on more devices - iPhone users will now be able to install Google Assistant on their phone.
- Upgraded Google Assistant – Google Assistant was released last year but Google has upgraded it to keep them ahead of competitors like Amazon, Apple, and Microsoft. It seems that everyone wants a spy in your house to tell them how to market to you.
- Google Assistant SDK – now Google will let businesses build Google Assistant into their products, giving Google even more eyes and ears in the world.
- Google Smart Reply – Google reads your email and gives you three reply choices or you can write your own reply. The app will learn from your replies, and if you tend to be a person of few words Google’s suggestions will get shorter. If you tend to be long winded the suggestions will be wordier.
- Google Lens – Is Google’s smart camera. Take a picture of a flower and Lens will tell you what kind it is.
- Google Photos Enhancements - Google Photos will soon be able to remove obstructions from your photos. Suggested Sharing on Google Photos will use machine learning to suggest who to share photos with, ie people in the photo or people who attended the event.
- 360 Degree YouTube - Viewers of YouTube on smart TVs will be able to use their remote to move around 360 videos.
- Android O – The second release of Google’s new Android operating system was released for developers. It is only available for Nexus and Pixel devices.
Microsoft Build 2017
Microsoft recently had their own developer conference from May 10th to the 12th at the Washington State Convention Center in Seattle. They announced several initiatives to work with other operating systems so that you can move apps, documents, etc. to pick up where you left off, across Windows, iOS and Android devices. Gone are the days of installing Internet Explorer and having your other browsers uninstalled, by default. Also, you can activate a feature to see who is calling your Android phone from your Windows PC.
They also announced a new Windows 10 Fall Creators Update. The update, codenamed Redstone 3, features Windows Story Remix enabling users to mix various media to create a story complete with cinematic transitions and soundtrack.
FCC Votes to Start Undoing Net Neutrality Rules
Members of the Federal Communications Commission voted Thursday to begin efforts to repeal the net neutrality rules put in place in 2015.
The vote followed along party lines, with Republican Chairman Ajit Pai and Commissioner Mike O'Rielly voting for the measure and Democratic Commissioner Mignon Clyburn voting against it.
"Today we propose to repeal utility-style regulation of the Internet," said Pai. "The evidence strongly suggests this is the right way to go."
Now is the public comment period so if you have an opinion you can go to the FCC website...Not...Comedian John Oliver set up a tongue in cheek forwarding site called
www.gofccyourself.com/. But typing that into your browser will bring you to the limbo section of the purposely confusing mire that is the FCC website. Comments were shut down before the end of the comment phase.
WOW! to go Public
As expected, No. 6 U.S. cable operator WideOpenWest, WOW! has filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission to become a publicly traded company. The Denver-based MSO filed preliminary documents earlier this year for an initial public offering, indicating that they may look to raise as much as $750 million. Concurrent with the IPO announcement WOW! also released a new logo. They currently have over 770,000 video, voice and Internet customers.
CenturyLink‘s Purchase of Level 3 May Not Go So Easy
Level 3’s acquisition by CenturyLink is facing protests by two consumer advocacy groups in California. TURN, The Greenlining Institute and the California Public Utilities Commission’s (CPUC) office of ratepayer advocates—and the California Emerging Technology Fund (CETF) say that the resulting company would be too large and control too large a portion of the fiber in the state.
CenturyLink Renews Name on Seattle Seahawks' Stadium
Telecommunications company, CenturyLink has renewed the name “CenturyLink Field” on the stadium in Seattle. It inherited the naming rights when it bought Qwest Communications in 2011. It seems like the naming rights sometimes last longer than the company itself.
It must be annoying to CenturyLink that the lounge in the stadium is called the Verizon Lounge and that it is Verizon who furnishes free WiFi to the fans in the stadium.
CenturyLink Gigs Up Arizona with 1 Gigabit Internet Speeds
CenturyLink also recently announced that fiber-ready broadband speeds up to 1 gigabit per second (Gbps) are now available to 47,000 business customers in more than 2,500 multi-tenant unit (MTU) office buildings in Arizona, including more than 800 office buildings in the Phoenix metropolitan area.
Pluto TV Offers Video On Demand in Addition to Live TV
Pluto TV, a startup in the Over The Top video market has secured the rights to offer thousands of popular movies and TV shows on demand. In addition to more than 75 live TV channels currently offered, Pluto now offers movies on demand like “The Usual Subjects” and “Silence of the Lambs” and vintage TV shows such as “The Ben Stiller Show”, “Fear Factor,” and “ALF.” Pluto TV is available online, on Android and Apple phones, Roku, Chromecast, Amazon’s Fire TV and several smart TV brands.
Comcast’s New Wireless Service, Xfinity Mobile, is Now Live
In April, cable company and Internet service provider Comcast announced its new wireless phone service, Xfinity Mobile. The service offers unlimited data plans to Comcast customers that can be as low as $45 per month, for those who also subscribe to Comcast’s high-end X1 entertainment bundles. The wireless service is launching this week.
All Quiet On The WannaCry Front, For Now
“It wasn’t as bad as it could have been.” That seems to be the general consensus after a malware worm infected thousands of computers across the world. The worm, dubbed WannaCry, attacked unprotected, un-updated computers and infected them with a ransomware encryption virus that demanded money from the owner of the computer to decrypt the files. If the computer owner didn’t pay on time the files would be deleted. The spread was temporarily stopped when a researcher discovered a “Kill Switch” that prevented the spread of the attack. Many security experts are pointing to this as a wake-up call. As the world gets more and more connected devices, security becomes even more important. Often a ransomware attack like WannaCry is followed by copycat attacks.
The search is on now for “patient zero”, the first infected PC, as that may lead to the culprits behind the attack.
Many are pointing to this as a reason to switch from Windows operating systems to Linux based systems.