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Santa Cruz, Monterey and San Benito counties want $43 million from the National Telecommunications and Information Administration fund for high-speed Internet. read more

A panel of smart grid experts claims that smart grid advocates and providers are not doing enough to educate consumers about the benefits of smart grid technology. read more

Consumer privacy groups want the Federal Trade Commission to come up with a privacy rights plan similar to the Federal Communications Commission's comprehensive National Broadband Plan. read more

The National Association of Broadcasters hit back at a group of 31 pay-television providers, independent networks and consumer groups that created an alliance aimed at pushing the FCC and Congress to reform the process for acquiring broadcast programming. read more

Next-generation services will take shape according to social trends, emerging technologies and regulatory pressures. No doubt, one of the more important issues being debated right now is the ability of service providers to innovate and create dynamic, personalized services that not only give consumers what they want and need, but also reasonably afford them the chance to recoup their investment in infrastructure -- the foundation over which not only their services travel, but those of over-the-top players, as well. read more

Buying an $800 couch or television via the tax-free Internet can be nearly $80 cheaper than a purchase made in a high-sales-tax city like San Francisco -- such a deal. But the free ride is costing states and cities billions of dollars a year, and it damages local businesses that find it hard to compete. read more

Demand Media is a company created specifically for the Google Age. It tracks the queries entered into search engines to find out what users are interested in, then hires freelance writers at rock-bottom rates to rush out articles to meet the need. read more

The European Commission approved Comcast's deal with NBC Universal. The two companies' combined market share in European countries remains limited enough as to diminish concerns, the regulators concluded. read more

Cable operators say the Federal Communications Commission is on the right track in seeking a navigation device that brings together various forms of content, but suggests it is risking locking in set-top standards that could threaten the very flexibility and innovation FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski promotes. read more

There's been a lot of buzz recently around Congress questioning the Federal Communications Commission's decision to set a universal broadband goal of 4Mbps down 1Mbps up by 2020 relative to the FCC's 100 Squared goal of 100 million homes having access to 100Mbps by that time. read more

Google is trying to enroll communities in what amounts to an advocacy campaign "for common-sense federal and local policies that would help fiber deployments nationwide." read more

The federal government has, in many ways, lowered the bar for physicians and hospitals to receive reimbursement for implementing electronic medical records (EMR), while also retaining the fundamental measures to maintain quality of care and safety, experts say. read more

Free Press filed extensive comments in response to a Federal Communications Commission Notice of Inquiry issued in the 2010 Quadrennial Media Ownership Review. In its comments, Free Press demonstrates that media consolidation adversely affects both the quantity and quality of local news and information from competing sources and diverse owners. read more

The NBN Co will spend up to $1 billion on two KA band satellites to deliver National Broadband Network (NBN) services to Australian households unable to access coverage via fiber or wireless. read more

The Federal Communications Commission examined the proposed merger of Comcast and NBCU at a forum in Chicago on July 13. The event was chaired by FCC Commissioner Michael Copps who focused his comments on network neutrality and his view that rules must to be in place to rein in network owners' control over Internet traffic. read more

We have entered a momentous period in the history of the American press. read more

The Obama administration has frozen $3 billion in technology spending and is re-examining billions of dollars in other federal computer projects, jarring companies such as Accenture PLC, International Business Machines Corp. and Oracle Corp. that count federal agencies among their major clients. read more

The gamble paid off. Though China may still interfere when Chinese users seek Google searches from the Hong Kong site, Google's action has shown -- at least for now -- that foreign firms needn't give up every principle to do business inside China. read more

Chinese social networking websites that provide Twitter-like services have suddenly reverted to testing mode and access has been spotty amid reports of a government clampdown. read more

The FCC can't shield children from inappropriate programs -- it has no authority over cable TV channels, and it can't stop kids from using DVRs or the Internet to watch late-night programming in the middle of the day. Happily, parents now have better tools for blocking programs they don't want their children to see. The FCC would be better off promoting those tools than trying to micromanage what's said on the airwaves. read more