CourseCast of the Week

Episode 0042, 03/29/2008

Title: CourseCast 42: Sprint Gets Help with Xohm, Musicians Create Their Own Social Networks

Description: Sprint Gets Help with Xohm, Musicians Create Their Own Social Networks

Welcome to Course Technology's CourseCast of the Week, Episode 42, recorded March 29th, 2008. This is Ken Baldauf bringing you this week's technology news and information. This CourseCast is brought to you by Course Technology. Check out www.course.com for innovative textbooks and creative electronic learning solutions.

Story 1 - Sprint Gets Help with Xohm

Sprint has been working to roll out the first 4G national wireless network in the US. 4G wireless technologies promise to bring true broadband internet access through cellular carriers. Sprint's network, named Xohm, will be available in Chicago, Baltimore and Washington this spring and is based on WiMAX technologies. Rolling out new technologies across the entire country is a huge undertaking and many are skeptical that Sprint can pull it off.

This week, however, new developments have occurred that are turning skeptics into optimists. Google, Intel, Comcast, and Time Warner, are coming to the rescue. These companies and a few others have pulled together $2.5 billion to invest in Sprint's WiMAX vision. Why? Analysts believe that by teaming up, these companies stand a better chance of competing in the 4G market against AT&T and Verizon. If the deal goes through, it will more firmly cement WiMAX's position as the next-generation technology, and it will ramp up competition in the 4G market, propelling us more quickly towards anywhere, anytime computing.

Sources: "Can Sprint's WiMax Alliance Last?" [News Factor Network], "Google, Intel and cable companies ponder nationwide WiMAX JV" [Ars Technica]

Story 2 - Musicians Create Their Own Social Networks

In an interesting new trend, musicians are migrating their fans from My Space to their own Web sites. Artists like 50 Cent, Ludacris, and the Pussycat Dolls, are providing social network functionality on their own Web sites in order to gain more control over their fan's information and make more money. When fan's go to an artist's page on MySpace, the artist may benefit from the exposure, but MySpace benefits from advertising dollars. MySpace has become a multi-billion dollar company because of the detailed information it collects about its members, and the value of that information for marketing and advertising. Artists are learning that they can profit like MySpace by managing their own social networks and reaping in the advertising bucks.

This shift towards artist-specific social networks makes one wonder how social networks will evolve. Are we moving towards a less centralized social structure on the Web, where rather than belonging to a few general-purpose social networks like MySpace and Facebook, people belong to dozens of special-interest social networks? Will some type of standard evolve that allows thousands or millions of social networks to be connected to share information? After all, it’s not very convenient to fill out user profiles for dozens of sites. The Web of the future may include a single sign on, and a rsingle user profile, and provide millions of social networks, or special-interest groups, to join. Each special-interest area might be managed by the individual, group, or business that should most-logically profit from your membership.

The OpenSocial Foundation has been established by Google, MySpace, and Yahoo to define standards across social networks that can provide users with these types of conveniences, and to foster more innovation and creativity. So far, Facebook has refused to join in the effort.

Sources: "Musicians take social networking into their own hands" [Reuters], "Yahoo Joins Google and MySPace in OpenSocial Foundation" [News Factor Network]

New Briefs

  • Intel has developed a specialized Wi-Fi platform that can send data more than 60 miles wirelessly. It intends to promote the new technology in rural areas of developing countries where the Internet is unavailable. [Technology Review]
  • Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, have developed a cell phone attachment for use by rural physicians that is able to take high-resolution microscopic medical images using the cell phone's camera, and transmit them to be analyzed by experts at medical centers. [Technology Review]
  • Cuban President Raul Castro has lifted the national ban on cell phones. [Wired]
  • Adobe has released a free Web-based photo editing and sharing service called Photoshop Express at www.photoshop.com/express [Wired]
  • After months of discussions with the FCC, Comcast has vowed to treat all types of Internet traffic equally, and to cease throttling bit torrent traffic. [Wired]
  • Reuters and others are reporting that a 2nd generation iPhone, one that supports faster data rates will come to market in the 2nd quarter of this year. [Reuters]
  • The City of Miami is testing UAV's, unmanned aerial vehicles for use by law enforcement. In the near future you may have a 26", 14 lb drone hovering above you as you stroll through town filming your activities. [Reuters]
  • Motorola is splitting into two companies, by spinning off its troubles handset and mobile devices business into a separate company. [News Factor Network]
  • Google and the "White Spaces Coalition" is asking the FCC to allow the white space in the radio spectrum that exists between television channels, to be used for wireless Internet access. [NewsFactor Network]
  • Apple caused a commotion this week by using its iTunes software update to install the new version of its Safari Web browser on Windows PCs - without the users knowledge. [NewsFactor Network]
  • Google is working to allay concerns over its purchase of Double-Click, by pushing consumer privacy legislation in Congress.[MacWorld]

That's it for this week's CourseCast. Links to this week's stories and many more news and information resources are provided at the CourseCast Web site at www.course.com/coursecasts. E-mail us with your suggestions for the show at course.coursecasts@cengage.com. Until next time, have a great week and be sure to take advantage of the Power -- of Technology!