{"id":29036,"date":"2014-12-08T10:42:26","date_gmt":"2014-12-08T15:42:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.technologyinvestor.com\/?p=29036"},"modified":"2014-12-08T10:42:26","modified_gmt":"2014-12-08T15:42:26","slug":"assumptions-about-communications-technology","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.technologyinvestor.com\/?p=29036","title":{"rendered":"Assumptions about communications technology"},"content":{"rendered":"

Our California holiday house that we just moved into is 15 years old. It had a corded phone system, a slow DSL line to the Internet, horrible cell phone service and driveway lights powered from an overloaded circuit box.<\/p>\n

Our man suggested beefing up the driveways lights with more circuit breakers and heavier cable. Better solution: solar lights. And beef up the landlines.<\/p>\n

Land phone lines are no longer easy, cheap nor needed. Key is to boost the cell phone signal — use an extender or a booster? (Amazon sells both.) Need to get to the roof to install an antenna. A better solution might be something called “Wi-Fi Calling<\/em>,” which T-Mobile apparently has and soon other carriers will.<\/p>\n

This is from T-Mobile’s web site. This technology should dramatically improve everyone’s cell phone service. It’s a real reason to get a T-Mobile phone.<\/p>\n

\"WiFiCalling\"<\/p>\n

Meantime, for me, a short-term solution might be Magic Jack, which at $40 lets you make phone calls over your Internet connection.<\/p>\n

The point of all this is twofold:<\/p>\n

1. All these various communications technology improvements should really help Verizon and AT&T if they embrace them quickly. (Pray.)<\/p>\n

2. What all your “experts” are telling you about technology you need is probably wrong. They are thinking in times gone by.<\/p>\n

Meantime, I hear Google is about to spend billions on rolling out Google Fiber<\/em> everywhere. It’s a fantastic service, delivering around one gigabit of data to and from the Internet each second. That’s 24 times faster than my Verizon FiOS. Fiber doesn’t make Google money, yet.Wiring the country with this speed sure is an ambitious project. I suspect Larry Page’s ambitious spending habits may be turning off some investors, which may account for the recent weakness in the stock.<\/p>\n

Matt Taibbi is back with Rolling Stone.<\/strong><\/span> His latest piece is The Police have a legitimacy problem.<\/em> It’s worth reading. Click here.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

The coming fall of Facebook. <\/strong>That’s the tantalizing headline in the latest Atlantic<\/em> monthly. The piece begins:<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Facebook has won <\/span>this round of the Internet.<\/p>\n

Steadily, grindingly, it continues to take an ever greater share of our time and attention online. More than 800 million people use the site on an average day. Individuals are dependent on it to keep up not just with their friends but with their families. When a research company looked at how people use their phones, it found that they spend more time on Facebook than they do browsing the entire rest of the Web.<\/p>\n

The argument is people are moving to more priviate social networks, away from Facebook. You can read the entire piece here.<\/strong><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

No need to ever go traveling.<\/strong> <\/span>Here’s a PowerPoint of the world’s most beautiful places. Truly gorgeous. Foto_dal_Mondo<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

World’s most expensive buildings.<\/strong><\/span> The most expensive cost $3.9 billion. This isn’t the most expensive. This is the Sheraton Huzhou Hot Spring Resort.
\n\"ExpensiveBuildings\"<\/a><\/p>\n

For the top ten, click here.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Neat ad proliferating all over Boston.<\/strong><\/span> This one is on a trash can.<\/p>\n

\"SelfieInBoston\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Suggested Christmas presents.<\/strong><\/span> I have a whole list. But this machine is screwing up this morning. More coming tomorrow.<\/p>\n

\"NestingContainers\"<\/a><\/p>\n

This one is $35 from here.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Two favorite New Yorker holiday cartoons this week:<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\"HolidayEvent\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Notoverpaying\"<\/a>
\n\"HarryNewton\"<\/a>
\nHarry Newton who’ll be more inspired tomorrow when figures out what’s going wrong with WordPress this morning. WordPress is the popular ,reliable software which powers this site. …. Ah, ha, I’ve just figured the problem. Key: Always go back to the last change you made (no matter how small, no matter how “benign”) and UNDO it. Idiot me.<\/p>\n