Lisa Padilla on Media and Culture

The Tech Policy Summit in Silicon Valley begins today examining the individual, corporate and government influence and responsibility in establishing policies online. Walt Mossberg currently interviewing James Cicconi asks "Why does the United States suck at bandwidth?" This question, taking a look at the availability, variety and quality of connectivity. Cicconi responds that some of the problem will be helped when competition increases speed. When asked by a member of the audience whether AT&T might charge those in densely populated area more, in order to support connectivity into rural areas, Cicconi said that "Regulators frown upon this". I would like to know why. Is it because they (we, as consumers, and subsequently carriers) fear customer attrition? Where does the responsibility fall, to the individual, the carriers, the FCC or legislators in Washington DC (who, mentioned this morning by U.S. House of Representatives Congressman Howard Berman, are still c...

Dr. Robert Sinclair was honored with a symposium at Stanford University last week, to celebrate thirty years in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at the university. The list of symposium speakers, comprised mainly of former students, demonstrates the impact that Professor Sinclair has had on the field of electron microscopy: James Wittig – Vanderbilt University Gary Michal – Case Western Reserve Mary Kay Hibbs-Brenner – VIXAR Fernando Ponce – Arizona State University Alan Pelton – NDCUS Velimir Radmilovic – National Center for Electron Microscopy Martha Mecartney – University of California Irvine Edward Goo – University of Southern California Tom Yamashita – Komag Alan Schwartzman – Massachusetts Institute of Technology Warren MoberlyChan – Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory Thomas Nolan – Seagate Technology Gerardo Bertero – Komag Toyohiko Konno – Tohoku University Subhash Shinde – Sandia National Laboratory Brian Morfitt – Frazier Heath Care Katherine Walker – ...

From the RSA Conference in San Francisco, CA, Chief Security Executive, Greg Hughes , discusses how fraudulent criminals go about stealing your identity and the value of Corillian’s products. Coincidentally, just after the interview I learned that Corillian was purchased by CheckFree for $254M. From the press release, today: "Corillian and CheckFree have the potential to accelerate the delivery of future generations of online banking technologies for the industry," said Alex Hart, Corillian President and Chief Executive Officer. "Our organizations and cultures are similar in our mutual commitment to deliver high-value solutions that are flexible, scalable and secure to enhance the financial services websites for our customers and their end users." Corillian supports more than 30 of the top 100 U.S. banks and 21 of the top 100 U.S. credit unions with its online financial services strategy. CheckFree processes more than one billion transactions annually and distribute...

In December 2006, the International Telecommunications Union held its conference in bustling Hong Kong, China . Jeff Schwartz of Disruptive Strategies sat down with long-time organizers of the event, Neustar Managing Director Reza Jafari and CTO Mark Foster , to learn about the event and its purpose.