NTT in Japan plans to bundle WiFi and wireline services. They see this as a defensive move to protect voice revenues. (via Mitch Ratcliffe) [Werblog]

I'm so used to entrenched American telecoms digging their heels in -- resisting innovation to preserve the status quo --  that it's a shock to see foreign telecoms that actually have a clue.  If American RBOCs did exactly what NTT is doing they could ensure their survival.  But instead they're flushing their own future down the drain, fighting the inevitable all the way.

(By the way, Werbach is on fire today.  He's right on target with every post, and it's all fascinating stuff.)

11:10:46 PM   

The cowgirl "wants her blog TV." [John Robb's Radio Weblog]

Quote of the day (via the cowgirl):

"Media cartels and government agencies are seeking to reimpose the regime of the broadcast era in which the customers of technology will be deprived of the power to create and left only with the power to consume." -- Howard Rheingold

10:51:02 PM   

Major test of copyright law set to start. The first big test of a U.S. law that makes it illegal to offer software for cracking copyright protections should finally begin next week, after visa delays for two of the case's main players. [CNET News.com]

I'm surprised this wasn't settled.  This could significantly change the impact of the DMCA.

I know lawyers are supposed to be evil lying scumbags, but check out the Assistant U.S. Attorney thinks about instructing the jury on the Fair Use Doctrine: "'Fair use is irrelevant and improper,' to bring into the instructions."  Err, yeah, it's irrelevant.  The whole case is about the giant corporations using the DMCA to take away our rights, but the jury definitely shouldn't be told about those rights.

10:05:29 PM