Health

FCC Seeks More Fast Lanes To the Internet

Federal regulators have unveiled an ambitious plan to bring high-speed Internet service to millions of Americans who can't get it today, while boosting delivery speeds and lowering prices for 200 million current subscribers.

The Federal Communications Commission's National Broadband Plan also aims to leverage broadband to transform nearly every aspect of U.S. society and industry, including health care, education and energy. The FCC will deliver the sweeping blueprint to Congress today.

It's "a 21st-century roadmap to spur economic growth and investment, create jobs, educate our children, protect our citizens and engage in our democracy," FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski says.

Parts of the plan, which could cost up to $20 billion, will likely face backlash from industry or in Congress. Providers fear new costs and regulations.

Genachowski says the USA ranks as low as 15th in the world in broadband adoption, threatening "America's global competitiveness."

About 95 percent of U.S. households have access to broadband, leaving 14 million largely rural Americans with no onramp. Yet just 65 percent of Americans have subscribed. That means about 86 million people don't have service because they can't afford it, lack the skills or for other reasons.

The plan aims to:

*Connect 100 million households to affordable, 100 megabits-per-second service in the next 10 years. Such speeds would permit high-definition videoconferencing and medical diagnostics.

The FCC wants to remove regulatory obstacles providers face to connect to poles, rooftops and rights-of-way and encourage them to open parts of their networks to competitors.

*Boost adoption from 65 percent to 90 percent through training in communities and other steps.

*Deliver broadband to residents in rural areas and low-income households. The FCC plans to shift up to $15.5 billion from the Universal Service Fund -- which supports phone services for poor and rural customers -- to broadband.

*Widen the reach of mobile broadband. Third-generation broadband is available in 60 percent...
Read more [FreeNewsFeed.com]

Kidnapped Spanish aid worker is released

Saturday, March 13, 2010

A Spanish aid worker kidnapped in Mauritania last year has been released, according to the Spanish government. Alicia Gamez, 39, was abducted on 29 November along with two other Spanish aid workers—both men—who are still being held. A North African branch of al-Qaeda claimed responsibility. Spain's Deputy Prime Minister, María Teresa Fernández de la Vega said in a press conference on Wednesday that Gamez was "safe and sound" and on her way to Barcelona.

According to Fernández de la Vega, no ransom had been paid for Gamez's release; she stated that it was a result of work done by Spain's diplomats and intelligence services. She also expressed thanks for the "collaboration given by other countries". She said that the Spanish government would continue efforts to see the release of the other aid workers, Roque Pascual and Albert Vilalta, who are reported to be "healthy, nervous and eager to be released soon".

Apple Chief Operating Officer Gets $5 Million Bonus

Apple Inc. is giving its chief operating officer a $5 million bonus for "outstanding performance" running the company while CEO Steve Jobs was on medical leave.

Timothy Cook, 49, will also receive 75,000 restricted stock units scheduled to vest in 2011 and 2012, Apple said in a regulatory filing Friday.

Jobs, 55, famously limits his salary to $1 per year, which leaves Cook the company's highest-paid executive. In 2009, Cook received an $800,400 salary; $800,000 in nonstock incentive compensation; and about $40,900 in company matches to his retirement account, life insurance premiums and cash for unused vacation days.

The COO also holds 13,741 shares of Apple stock and 500,000 additional restricted stock options that have not yet vested, according to a January filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Cook took the company reins when Jobs, a pancreatic cancer survivor, went on medical leave from January through June 2009.

It was Cook's second stint leading Apple. Cook, who joined Apple in 1998, ran the Cupertino, Calif.-based company for two months in 2004 while Jobs recovered from surgery for pancreatic cancer. His performance then won him the promotion to chief operating officer in 2005.

Analysts credit Cook with solving problems that Apple was having with inventory management. That has been key to Apple's ability to amass $25 billion in cash and short-term investments. Many people consider Cook as Jobs' logical successor.

In the months leading up to Jobs' medical leave, rumors about his health could send Apple's stock soaring and sinking as investors worried that Apple would be lost without his vision.

But under Cook's direction in 2009, the company kept cranking out well-received products including updated laptops with lower entry-level prices and a faster iPhone with many longed-for features. Apple sold more than a million of the new iPhone 3GS during its first three days on the market.

Investors...
Read more [FreeNewsFeed.com]

Ground Zero Workers Reach $657 Million Settlement

A settlement of up to $657.5 million has been reached in the cases of thousands of rescue and cleanup workers at ground zero who sued the city over damage to their health. They said the settlement would compensate about 10,000 plaintiffs according to the severity of their illnesses and the level of their exposure to contaminants at the WTC site.
Read more [World News from Digg]