Internet wifi coming to GM cars next month!

[agentUrge]

However, net neutrality also affects the ability of ISPs from making more money, in that it prevents them from tiered fee plans, where they charge more based on the speed of the service.  So the companies that spent billions of their own money to install faster broadband can't pass that cost on to consumers.'

There's a difference between a provider like Comcast charging customers $X for 5Mb access or $Y for 10Mb access and charging to have access to specific content that would otherwise be free.   Net Neutrality doesn't affect their ability to charge for more data rate.

[jabba17]

Mobile broadband won't replace GPS--it will make it more powerful. 

You underestimate the desire of the public to eliminate monthly fees.  Paying for GPS will be as useless as paying for a newspaper.  If you have wifi, you just punch up Mapquest, and plot your course.

GPS (global positioning system) is a "free" (taxpayer-funded) service provided by Uncle Sam/USDOD and Misha Bear/Russian Ministry of Defense.  GPS just tells you where you are--the maps and directions come from somewhere else.  You might be paying for the GIS (geographic info system)/mapping part of it from some third-party provider, but there's no reason why MapQuest, Google Maps, etc. couldn't use GPS with their "free" mapping service.  Some cell phones charge for this feature, but that's because they have crippled the GPS capability of their phones much like they prevent you from using your own ringtones for free.

[TheBigA]

There's a difference between a provider like Comcast charging customers $X for 5Mb access or $Y for 10Mb access and charging to have access to specific content that would otherwise be free.   Net Neutrality doesn't affect their ability to charge for more data rate.

There are other aspects of net neutrality.  The ISPs want to charge more for faster service.  They want tiered service.  Net Neutrality laws seek to prevent that.  It's not a content issue, but a service issue.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Network_neutrality

[agentUrge]

I'm going to guess you that access to something I've not seen yet because nothing in the material I've read on EFF, Art Technica, Gizmodo, etc say anything about denying an ISP the ability to charge higher rates for faster service.  I'd be interested in seeing it. But I still don't want an ISP tainting my QoS because I want to purchase songs from any vendor other than one of their 'favored' vendors.

May be a polly-anna view, but it's mine.

[taylorengineer]

The combination of GPS and interactive mobile connectivity will be the killer app.
Being able to market to specific listeners at specific locations is going to revolutionize marketing. That's if we figure out a way to unicast to each listener - thats' a HUGE "IF"!! But with data compression efficiency increasing every day and the prospect of more bandwidth AND downloading content into your receiver to be played later it may be possible.
What if commercials were stored in your receiver while you sleep - music too? A profile could be generated - commercials and music, specific to your musical taste and route to work could be stored for play at certain geographic points. Much of the close to real time streaming data could be simplified to voice inserts for breaking news, traffic, weather - and those could be location specific. Use a dynamic buffer so when listener interaction is need the stream will get closer to real time.
I wonder if Madison Ave has started pondering the possibilities!!??

[d21ofnj]

http://www.logitechsqueezebox.com/

[taylorengineer]

Do you have an Internet Radio yet??
I got one a year or so back after ClearChannel's Director of Engineering, Mike Lawing told me about them. Mine is made by C. Crane - the famous radio maker. This little box connects to either wifi or a hard wired ethernet connection. After you set it up it downloads thousands or internet radio stations into it's memory. Then you may go through and select a station to listen to.
We are still in the early stages of internet connectivity. The REALLY cool stuff that's coming hasn't even been developed yet! The stuff coming in the next few years is going to totally change the way we do radio and, more importantly, how we use radio to market goods and services.
Some day in the future (if we don't blow the world to pieces first) we will bypass the ears completely to listen to recorded music. We will have a device which inputs the electrical stimulation into our brains which will accurately reproduce sound - just like it would sound if you were at the concert where the band is singing and playing ! You will actually think you're in the middle of a movie......the information being input to your brain is the data produced from actually being there - not two dimensional pictures. Again....we bypass the eyes, ears, nose, and every other part of the body which "senses."
The Logitech box is only one of the first to come. Buckle your seatbelts - it's going to be a wild ride!

[agentUrge]

Squeezbox looks great..I've heard good things.

[GVC]

Content will always be king and information will always try to be free.

You can try and control content and stifle information, and it may work for awhile. . . . . but content will get to the audience eventually and by the cheapest, easiest route.

Comcast and "big ISP," (((that just doesn't have the same ring as big auto or big pharma))) has big negatives, Corporate radio has big negatives and right now they control and stifle. . . . the key phrase is "right now."

 Content will always be king and information will always try to be free.

[TheBigA]

 Content will always be king and information will always try to be free.

Content can only be king if people will pay for it.  If they want it for free, then content has little value.

I suggest a better statement is:

The audience will always be king, and content providers will do anything to attract the largest audience.