Category: Technology

Authored by Harry Lin, CEO of Lottay.com

In a world where Google, Wikipedia, and Twitter can tell you almost anything almost instantly, are we smarter or dumber than we've ever been?

Think about these examples:

- You're with a group of people and the question comes up, "When is daylight savings time?" Someone whips out their iPhone and Googles the answer. They can even tell you which countries follow daylight savings and which don't. This info takes about 60 seconds to find, and you could be anywhere, as long as there's Internet connectivity.

The FCC today put forward a draft of so-called "net neutrality" rules. It's largely a battle among giants. The Commission is worried that internet providers, like AT&T, Verizon, and Comcast,can use their networks to block or slow down rivals web traffic. Companies like Google, Amazon, and Yahoo say the rules are needed to keep the Internet open for companies to innovate. But the internet companies say that's not the case. They say new regulation will choke off investment in broadband networks.

The issue is politically charged. President Obama promised net neutrality in his presidential campaign. Today, his presidential rival, Sen. John McCain, introduced legislation that would block the FCC from issuing new rules, calling the FCC's effort a "government takeover of the Internet that will stifle innovation."

October 22nd has been a big day on Microsoft's calendar for several months. That is the first day you will be able to go to a store and buy a boxed copy of Windows 7, the newest iteration of Microsoft's operating system. There will be a big launch event here in New York, with CEO Stave Ballmer making the keynote speech. We expect to have Ballmer on Nightly Business Report that night. But two of Microsoft's competitors, we refer to them as archrivals these days, appear to be working overtime to spoil the Softies' party.

In fact, the rumor lines have been buzzing with word of the plans by Apple and Google to steal some of the limelight. Apple has been a thorn in Microsoft's side for years, primarily by virtue of television commercials ranging from clever to downright nasty, all nagging the market leader about alleged shortcomings in Windows. Sources say Apple will launch another round of those provocative ads next week, focusing on the difficulty users still running Microsoft's 2001- era Windows XP will have in upgrading to Windows 7, as well as the supposed vulnerability to bugs and viruses of Windows systems.

My story tonight on NBR is about a trend called 'mobile coupons' - coupons you receive, not on paper, but on your cellphone. These coupons are typically sent via SMS (text-messaging), or by email (if you have a net-connected mobile phone). But it's not spam. You have to 'opt-in' to receive mobile coupons. This marketing tool is still quite new - JC Penney announced last month it would try out mobile coupons with some of its Houston-area stores. Sam's Club, the wholesale-club division of Wal-Mart, is also looking into mobile coupons. Eric Holmen, the president of mobile marketing firm SmartReply told me on the phone that only about 30 percent of the nation's national retailers have any kind of 'mobile coupon' strategy.

We don't often think of the coordination behind the Internet, because we just expect the thing to work. But one big reason it works is because ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) makes sure every website has a unique address.

Now the CEO of ICANN, Rod Beckstrom wants to expand the addresses available to the world. I spoke to him about that and the global nature of the Internet. Push play to watch the extended version of my interview with Beckstrom.

When I got the email saying that Microsoft and Nokia would be making an announcement about a new partnership I was excited. I was all ready to hear that Nokia would make a Windows branded smartphone running the Windows Mobile operating system. That meant a big app store and a system anyone who downloads a free copy of Microsoft's Visual Basic Express or Visual C# Express can program. Alas, it's not to be.

Now the deal they did announce today, which will bring Microsoft's Office apps to Nokia's Symbian smartphone platform, should be a money maker for both companies. And give Blackberry a few headaches. But I still dream of a true competitor to the Apple iPhone, which is one of the neatest toys around. The only reason I don't have one is that in the part of the world I inhabit, Verizon is the best wireless system by far.

Windows Mobile on Nokia? Apparently neither company is interested. I guess I still have to dream of the day AT&T loses it's exclusive on the iPhone.

Today is the 40th anniversary of the splashdown, the return to earth of Apollo 11. I was 17 years old on that day and had followed the flights from the days of Ham the "astrochimp". The space program encouraged my interested in science. At CBS, I covered the first flight of the space shuttle in 1981. I applied for the journalist in space program, although I did not make the cut for the semifinals. The program was canceled after the Challenger exploded in 1986.

I would never have expected, back in 1969, that 40 years later we would not have reached Mars and beyond. Today, with the latest in a long series of "return to the Moon" plans under review, we are having the same old arguments about the value of space exploration. I've always thought we explore because of something innate, built in, if you will, to our genetic structure.

This is one of those matches headline writers love and fight promoters wish they could schedule for the ring. Google v. Microsoft, Microsoft v. Google, is there room for both?

This reminds me of the battle in the 1990s between upstart Microsoft and market dominating IBM which, many wags love to claim, was won by Microsoft. The lesson pf those days, they claim, is that Google, now offering products which compete with Microsoft on almost every front, is bound to defeat the reigning software champ just because they are younger, bolder, and cooler.

I've been thinking a lot about broken business models. The fact is so many industries can't keep doing what they've been doing and still be successful. Not television, newspapers nor radio, not finance, not health care, not autos or consumer products. So what's the "fix?" Each industry will have its own unique set of fixes. Fundamentally, the economy has to get better. Once households can live within their means the repair can begin.

The broadcast stations migration to digital television is nearly complete. The innovation that it brought didn't all go according to plan, but it can't end here. There could be an opportunities for hyper-local programming, think sports, news for your region. Newspapers have left a void and the internet has yet to fill it. Local stations are strong in those areas, but they have to build on those strengths in a time when ad revenues are shrinking, making the balance sheets weak. There's the potential for video and content on the internet, which can build audience, but doesn't compare with revenue from broadcast.

Tell me about the industry you work in, do you feel like the business model is broken?

Go check. Right now. Leave your computer, turn on PBS and make sure we're still there. Oh good, that's a relief.

People have been trying to get us worried for years that the conversion to digital TV was going to deprive us of our television. We delayed the switchover date numerous times. We spent millions in taxpayer dollars to bail-out those who needed to buy a converter box so they could feed over-the-air digital signals into their old analog television sets. And we argued over whether or not Americans have a "right" to TV. This in a country which can't bring itself to acknowledge a right to health care.

And what did we get? Well the over-the-air broadcasters, who a decade or more ago enticed us with visions of ultra-high quality signals and interactive programming have instead given us mostly more of the same. And even though these over-the-air broadcast channels are supposed to be the property of the people, the broadcasters got their new digital channels for free. They did have to give up their old analog channels, which the government is selling. Why these channels are sold instead of rented, which would provide a continuing revenue stream, I've never been able to figure out.

I still like TV. And I like my new wide-screen digital TV even better. But I find virtually all the programs I like are on the cable channels. And it is on the cable channels that the high definition signals really shine. We didn't need to upset the over-the-air broadcasters for that. The reality based junk they keep running looks just as inane in digital as it did before the conversion.