Free The Airwaves

I am a big supporter of Google tech, and for this reason I watched the video found on FreeTheAirwaves.com regarding a grass roots movement to push the FCC towards free unlicensed use of some of the radio spectrum being freed by the ban on analog TV transmission.

Unfortunately the video, and it's message is not well communicated, produced, nor clear as to what free use airwaves can mean to us, the consumer. Consumer electronic makers could provide us some exciting connectivity tools without the need for subscription based services if the FCC allows some of the new radio spectrum to become free conditional use, as opposed to licensed use as it currently is. Licensed use, such as TV broadcast, radio stations, and cell phone spectrum, only permit the companies who pay for the licenses to use the airwaves, thus we the consumer pay for access. Consider we already pay monthly fees for phone service, internet access, cable or satellite TV signals, satellite radio, and some even for wireless broadband mobile web access, does the tel com and entertainment industry really need to control more of the airwaves?

What we the public must demand of our airwaves is free use by us, our gadgets, and providers of content to deliver our entertainment and communication across our public airwaves, without service fees. Although free airwaves still may require end connection to require some access agreements like you see when you visit an airport with free-wi-fi, or login to subscription based WiFi accesspoints, the free use of the spectrum provides choice, and open access for competion.

Imagine being able to access the web in your car with a mobile WiFi signal as reliable as your FM raidio station, and free of a monthly fee. Have live content such as traffic, weather, and local news accessable wheverver you may be without paying some content provider for access to there privately licensed wireless service.

The possiblites with GPS & in car navigation systems, WiFi enabled media players, to name a few, leave unlimited possibilites.

Don't let the major media, cable, and phone companies steal our airwaves and charge us access fees to use them, sign the petition and tell your friends to support this as well. This will shape our future and how we communicate, and more importantly what it costs us to keep connected in the future.

That's It, Im Going For it And Going VIRAL!

Explore With Eye-Fi

A new version of the Eye-Fi wireless SD card has been out for a time, and I recently read a review here and was somewhat interested, however the using Skyhook Wireless as a method of geotagging does take some of the cool factor away from true GPS accuracy. Skyhook uses WiFi access point locations to approximate your position, similarly some cell phone services use your wireless signal to triangulate your location without using the global positioning satellites. Both methods get you within a few thousand yards, and can help with directions, but for photo geotagging, true accuracy within feet should be realized.

The feature that Eye-Fi Explore provides that I most see appealing is a 1 year Wayport hotspot access subscription. The original Eye-Fi card that I own, only allows pre-set hot spots to work, and only once you configure them using the provided software. This is fine for travel to frequent destinations where you can program in the access point and have your pictures transfer when you are in range. The trouble is no support for roaming access, when you are in public hot spot locations. Wayport has many public hot spots around the globe allowing your uploads to get transferred without being at your home base.

The usefulness of the Eye-Fi card is mostly realised for me around the house, taking photos for craigslisting sales, and getting shots for my work transferred in the background while I type away has saved a few valuable minutes now and again. If they could just shove a GPSr into this chip I might upgrade.

"For those who tag or organize, for those who blog or share in real-time, for those who need to upload here, there or somewhere else, and all the rest who are simply passionate about managing, sharing and saving their memories, there is now Eye-Fi Explore.
It uploads photos wirelessly to your computer and to the web, of course. But, Eye-Fi Explore also automatically adds geographic location labels to your photos and allows you to upload from more than 10,000 Wi-Fi hotspots across the nation. Your memories will be easier to search and more fun to share with geotags, and you’ll be able to upload them on the go."

My Energy Plan

Watching Fox News this morning, the pundits debated the issue of off shore oil drilling, and congress failing to lift the ban. The ban will expire anyway in a few months unless the Dems are bold enough to vote on a continuation, further cementing our dependence on foreign oil, although they state they are for energy independence (just not OIL independence)

The Democratic line is "we can't drill our way out of the energy crisis" yet they want to penalize oil companies with taxes both on the incentive side as well as profit taxes. The Republicans are not much better, they are so afraid of the environmental special interests, they won't propose anything, much less point out the illogical and outright misinformation that the Democrats keep pushing.

Here is my energy policy, and why it will work:

Make a deal with US oil companies that we will allow off shore oil drilling, and drilling in ANWR provided they agree to hold actual oil production and delivery. In exchange we will not tax there profits nor withdraw tax incentives. This will put domestic oil within reach of our shores in the future, with only a switch needed to be turned on when the need arises. The oil companies will see the future potential of having these reserves online, and there stock prices will soar, while they don't even need to pump a single barrel of oil.

This provides 3 key points of national and economic security:

1. We insure we have a domestic oil supply at the ready baring any future instability in our foreign supply chain such as conflict, embargo, or countries such as china monopolizing supplies.
2. We send a message to the oil exporting nations that we currently want their oil but we don't NEED their oil. This will change the tone of negotiations when it comes to issues like Iran's nuclear ambitions, and the Saudi influence in our foreign policy.
   
3. This will bolster the US economy by creating jobs now, while eliminating uncertainty of our future energy needs without softening our current focus on conservation and alternative fuels.

Additionally this policy makes sound domestic sense. By doing so, have planned for our own future, by the time all this oil is ready to go online and into production we have eliminated our own need for it by conservation and alternatives. We should become an exporter of oil to nations like China and India, improving our trade imbalance that has been a leading cause of our current economic declines.

Unless you ride a bike to work, this issue effects you. China is fast becoming the the largest consumer of oil and energy, and they have none of the hurdles that we face, yet we continue to cripple our own nation as if we alone can save the planet. If we truly wish to be an effective environmentally conscious society, we need to strengthen our country, and demand the same environmental protectionism of China, India, Indonesia, Russia, and Africa. Before we allow the Environmentalists to bankrupt our nation, cripple our defenses, and be bought out by China we must act. Many of the European nations have already embraced offshore drilling, and nuclear energy. Why we have become a follower rather than a leader? Because of people like Nancy Peolosi. If she wants to save the planet, she needs to run for the president of the world, then we can get a speaker that wants to save the Untied States of America!