Blogs

It's that time of month again. This month, we'll be talking about political Web sites, and how they reflect on politicians. Some are great, some are not so great. Question: can a politician who doesn't understand the Web be trusted to provide leadership on public matters that include today's technology? We're not suggesting politicians sit down and write code, but they should give us reason to trust their technological judgment as it will apply to the matters of the day.This notion got a bit out of hand, and I whipped up a Facebook app. to list and rate political Web sites.

Alas, the rumored June 2 date for the great switch has come and gone. The FCC is silent on the Verizon/Unicel transaction (the Web page hasn't been updated for a month, and the annotated timeline has never been updated).Still, AT&T shows coverage for the city of Plattsburgh. This may be related to the announcement this week that AT&T is continuing to roll out higher-speed 3G technology. And that one may be related to the consensus that Apple's World Wide Developer Conference on Monday will feature an announcement of the new iPhone.

The National Cable & Telecommunications Association has announced an agreement with Sony that will create standards for two-way televisions and "other devices" that will work without set-top boxes. Today, the set-top box provides the interaction with the cable operator. By having an industry-wide standard, the set-top boxes (and their remotes!!!!) can go away and the functionality can be provided by the TV.