Episode 0052, 06/07/2008
Title/Description: Cable Internet Providers Break Down in Tiers, Worldsourcing, Colleges Fight Illegal File Sharing
Welcome to Course Technology's CourseCast of the week, Episode 52, recorded June 7th, 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 - Cable Internet Providers Break Down in Tiers
Comcast, the largest cable television company in the US, has been in the headlines ever since it was caught interfering with Bit Torrent traffic, in it's effort to keep illegal movie downloads from bogging down its network. This week Time-Warner, the number two company, stole the headlines in numerous news sources when it announced that it is rolling out a tiered network subscription plan - beginning in Beaumont Texas.
The company will provide two tiers of service providing different quality and capacity for different monthly fees. For $29.95 a month customers can transfer up to five gigabytes of data at 768 Kbps, for $54.90 per month, up to 40 GB AT 15 Mbps. Customers going over their limit will be charged $1.00 per excess GB.
Prior to this, customers have generally been promised "unlimited bandwidth". But, it appears that those days are near the end for both Time-Warner and Comcast. Comcast is considering placing a 250 GB limit on its service - significantly higher than Time-Warner's 40 GB limit. But Comcast is also considering implementing a tiered subscription plan. A tiered subscription plan could be workable if the prices are set at reasonable rates. Individuals that just use the Web for email, and Web browsing could pay less than they pay now for less bandwidth at slower speeds. However it's looking like individuals that make heavier use of the Web for streaming media and movies will most likely be paying more under Time-Warner's plan. Those that stream dozens of movies over bit torrent networks each week will be paying out the nose.
This strategy could initially provide some equilibrium to network usage, discouraging illegal movie sharing, and reducing the strain on the Internet infrastructure - if a strain exists. However, the Internet and Web are providing access to increasing amounts of perfectly legal movies and television programming. Most in the industry expect that all media will be moving over to IP - Internet protocol. A tiered network will put cable television companies in a good position to eventually make a killing as increasing amounts of subscribers move from low tiers to more costly tiers in order to watch Internet-delivered TV and movies. Keep in mind that an hour of video requires about one Gigabyte of storage. That makes Time-Warner's five Gigabyte monthly limit for tier one look mighty limiting.
Also in Cable TV news this week, in an effort towards Net Neutrality, Comcast has announced that, rather than throttling Bit Torrent traffic, it will begin throttling all high capacity Internet use during peak hours. Comcast calls its new approach "protocol agnostic" and says that the only users that will experience any inconvenience are those transferring extraordinarily large files – like movies.
Sources: "Cable Companies Test Bandwidth Management Schemes" [NewFactor], "Going Medieval: Time-Warner Begins Metered Bandwidth Testing" [TechCrunch], "Comcast Beginning 'Net Neutrality' Testing" [Wired]
Story 2 - Worldsourcing
Just as Web 2.0 has revolutionized the Web and how we use it, Global 2.0, also called worldsourcing is expected to change the global marketplace and how businesses operate. The Internet has improved global communication and information sharing to the point that it has become easy to outsource portions of projects and services to the lowest bidder anywhere in the world. Outsourcing has allowed many developing nations to get a boost up the economic ladder, by providing skilled labor for a small percentage of the price charged by professionals in developed nations. This trend has created a global market place, distributed work forces, and an increasingly level playing field, often times with unskilled or low-skilled workers in developed nations paying the price.
If overseas outsourcing is considered Global 1.0, then worldsourcing is Global 2.0. In worldsourcing, businesses take advantage of unique talents offered by various cultures around the world. Worldsourcing isn't about getting cheap deals from work forces in 3rd world countries; it's more about understanding cultures, building relationships based on equality, and taking advantage of the best that all countries and cultures have to offer. In an article in NewsFactor.com, William Amelio states that "We've now entered the early stages of ‘Global 2.0,’ an era where the most successful companies will look for ideas and innovation anywhere to meet customer needs everywhere. Only the organizations that adopt a flexible ‘worldsourcing’ approach to their business models will survive." Business analysts are predicting that worldsourcing will be the dominant business model by 2015. Professionals entering the work force would be wise to approach their new careers with an eye towards building strong International relationships and business ties.
Source: "Beyond Outsourcing, Businesses Look to 'Worldsourcing'" [NewsFactor]
Story 3 - Colleges fight illegal file sharing
The Recording Industry Association of America and Motion Picture Association are pressing hard on colleges to crack down on illegal music and movie file sharing over P2P and Bit Torrent networks. An article this week at NewsFactor.com outlines several different strategies that colleges are using to address the issue. Some colleges pay for access to legal music download services and offer it free to students. Another approach is to cut off Internet access to file sharing networks by closing ports on the campus network. Missouri University of Science and Technology requires its students to ace a six-question quiz on digital copyright law in exchange for six hours of access to peer-to-peer software. At most schools, getting caught distributing or downloading copyrighted music or movies means the loss of the student’s college network access. Schools may also require students to watch an anti-piracy movie provided by the recording industry, or pay fines. Students at Stanford are fined $100 for a first offense and $500 for a second offense.
Sources "Copyright Quiz Limits Students' Music File Sharing" [NewsFactor]
And that brings us to News Briefs.
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. Email 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!