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British biogerontologist Aubrey de Grey spoke at Stanford University this week about the prospects for curing aging. His reasoned presentation proved a stark contrast to authors like James Hughes, Executive Director of the World Transhumanist Association, who seek to prolong the life of worn-out pol...
Broadband experts gathered in Washington, D.C. this week to discuss the future of high-speed Internet access. Much of the talk centered on Texas, where a major battle recently took place between telecom companies and cable firms. The focus of the war was a Texas bill that would have allowed telecom ...
Last weekend, hundreds of libertarians and conservatives descended upon Las Vegas to discuss and celebrate freedom. One topic that drew a great deal of interest was the question of whether innovators and entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley are really as libertarian as everyone thinks. Back in 2001, tech...
R. Hewitt Pate, head of the Justice Department's antitrust division, said this week that he is leaving his post. This gives the Bush administration an opportunity to appoint someone who will ignore empty political grandstanding and make forward-looking decisions on two recent telecom mergers. Both ...
Late last month, the British House of Lords approved a so-called "designer baby," escalating the debate over genetic engineering and other body enhancements. Fortunately, the new book More Than Human helps to calm hysterics and explain the issues. Zain Hashmi is a six-year-old boy born with beta th...
It's not a bird or plane, it's the "stratellite," a huge broadband blimp announced this month. It will make high-speed Internet junkies gleeful, leave broadband competitors fearful, and tell policymakers to ignore warnings of an imminent broadband monopoly. Some might be surprised to learn that any...
SBC and AT&T announced plans to merge in February, but some states are hesitating to approve the marriage and some advocates want the relationship to end. This uncertainty is bad for consumers because if technology companies can't control their business plans, freedom and choice will suffer. Ou...
Today is tax day, but those who think this expensive event only comes once a year should examine monthly phone bills and beware of recent actions by greedy bureaucrats. Anyone who's ever taken the time to inspect their landline or wireless phone bill will know that, on top of the price of service, t...
At the Open Source Business Conference in San Francisco this week, technology entrepreneurs gathered to discuss "open source capitalism." This conference theme demonstrates how the Open Source (OS) community is beginning to replace its corporate-hating mindset with a profit-loving meme, aiming to c...
Following a trend burning across the nation, San Francisco's Public Utility Commission (PUC) recently approved US$300,000 for a feasibility study on whether the city should add broadband to its utility services. This move toward government-run communications systems is dangerous for a number of reas...
The high-profile battle over the removal of Terri Schiavo's feeding tube is about more than one woman's life. It is the beginning of an important dialogue on American views about life while science and technology progress at rapid speed. Terri Schiavo was brain damaged 15 years ago when a heart atta...
Earlier this month, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger announced his intentions to support a bill outlawing the sale of junk food in schools. Science shows the governor is right to worry about an obesity crisis, but banning candy is schools is like putting a Band-Aid on a third-degree burn.
Last month, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the REAL ID Act of 2005. Privacy advocates decry the act as a move towards a national identification card while others back it as a key national security measure. Both sides miss important points, including the fact that Americans already have a ...
This week, a Congressional committee held hearings on the mergers of SBC with AT&T and Verizon with MCI. While some might worry about consolidation, the mergers are a sign that the telcos are preparing for a new wave of competition from businesses previously confined to other parts of the econo...
This week, the California Telephone Association met in Monterey, Calif., to think about the future of advanced communications. The topics that these small telecom companies discussed will affect consumers across the country. Predictions are difficult, but as musician Webb Wilder once said, it's eas...
Every year, the RSA security conference convenes in San Francisco to discuss the latest technology and issues involved in information security. The event still feels a bit like pre-tech-bubble days, with free gizmos galore, but the topics, such as identity management, looked to the future. One of th...
Most people ignore state public utilities commissions, but this week the California PUC released a well-written report that deserves attention. "Broadband Deployment in California" contains a wealth of facts and identifies key policy problems responsible for slowing broadband rollout and economic gr...
This year will see many important battles in the communications industry, one of which is currently playing out in the Virginia state legislature. On one side are cable companies and on the other telecommunications firms, but both sides should realize they have a common goal. If they do, and work t...
William Safire bid farewell to his column at the New York Times this week, but not because he's retiring. Instead, this Pulitzer Prize-winning, former presidential speech writer is moving on to lead an organization concerned with what some call transhumanism. Transhumanism is the advocacy of using ...
While American soldiers risk their lives overseas to protect freedom, broadcasters at home are cowering in the shadows of government censors. The latest story involves Fox Network's decision to electronically blur a cartoon character's posterior for fear of being fined by the Federal Communications...
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