Tag Archives: Russia censorship

Weekly output: FCC chair at MWC, Rocket Lab in Virginia, Verizon’s fixed-wireless 5G ambitions, Russia bans Facebook, U.S. tech companies fire Russia

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I got home from MWC Thursday afternoon and finally got a Flickr album uploaded Sunday night. I’m blaming not just jet lag and a busy schedule, but a weird bug in the Flickr Android app that strips out geotags from photos automatically backed up. My workaround for this has been to select the pictures I want to share in Google Photos, download them to my Mac, and then upload them to Flickr. I would very much like to see this bug get fixed already.

Screenshot of the story as I viewed it in my Android phone's copy of Chrome on the way to MWC3/1/2022: Rosenworcel’s MWC appearance hints at shifting spectrum policy, Light Reading

My first MWC dateline came from me covering a speech by somebody whose office sits less than five miles from my house–Federal Communications Commission chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel, who came to Barcelona to suggest two changes in the FCC’s spectrum-policy priorities.

3/1/2022: Rocket Lab to Build, Launch, and Land Reusable Rockets in Virginia, PCMag

The second story I filed from Barcelona also had a back-home component–the news that Rocket Lab USA would build a factory for its partially-reusable Neutron rocket on Wallops Island, Va.

3/3/2022: Verizon’s Sowmyanarayan on how FWA supports edge computing, private wireless, Light Reading

Story number three from Barcelona involved me interviewing a Verizon executive who works 200+ miles northeast of me.

3/4/2022: Russia Blocks Facebook for Not Giving State Media Free Rein, PCMag

The day after I got back from Barcelona, I covered Russia’s latest temper tantrum over American social networks not obliging its authoritarian streak.

3/5/2022: American tech sanctions against Russia, Al Jazeera

Saturday, I joined the Arabic-language news network (overdubbed live) to talk about the trend of U.S. tech companies cutting off Russia. As I noted, the likes of Apple and Intel can afford to fire Russia as a customer–it’s not a Japan, a U.K. or even a Canada.

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Weekly output: T-Mobile’s IoT ambitions, holopresence, miles-and-points trip search, Xperi/TiVo earnings, Russia vs. Facebook

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BARCELONA–I’m back in my favorite city in Spain for the first time since 2019 for the wireless-industry show formerly known as Mobile World Congress, having traveled here mostly on airfare I paid late that year and have since had sitting around as a pandemic-postponed travel credit.

Light Reading T-IoT post2/21/2022: T-Mobile venture aims to bring ‘uncarrier’ simplicity to enterprise IoT, Light Reading

I wrote up news of a T-Mobile venture into offering enterprise and government Internet-of-Things services.

2/23/2022: Your Holopresence Boss Will See You Now, PCMag

A rare in-person demonstration led to this report about a Toronto firm’s hologram-esque display technology.

2/23/2022: This Flight-Finding Site Simplifies the Complex Miles-and-Points Game, PCMag

I’d like to think I’ve learned a thing or two about using frequent-traveler miles and points, but testing out Point.Me, a subscription-required site from some of the people behind the travel blog One Mile at a Time, expanded my knowledge. You may find it helpful to read assessments of this site from two other travel blogs I regularly read, View from the Wing and Live and Let’s Fly.

2/23/2022: Xperi looks to skip ahead to an IP spinoff and TVs running TiVo Stream OS, FierceVideo

I wrote up the quarterly earnings of TiVo’s parent firm Xperi.

2/25/2022: Russia ‘Partially Restricts’ Facebook Access as Punishment, PCMag

Context matters in a story. So in this post about Russia’s reaction to Facebook continuing its limited fact-checking efforts against four state-influenced media outlets, I reminded readers that Russia’s government has been fond of using Facebook as a disinformation machine–and that it’s repeatedly leaned on Facebook and other U.S. tech giants to quash speech that Vladimir Putin’s dictatorial regime doesn’t endorse.

Weekly output: Russia’s tech-hostage law, Mark Vena podcast, Qualcomm’s always-on camera, T-Mobile 5G plans,

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This week featured exponentially more air travel than a typical post-Thanksgiving week–about 9.570 miles’ worth–thanks to my attending Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Tech Summit on the Big Island of Hawaii. And with that trip in the books, 2021’s business travel is done.

11/30/2021: Russia to Top US Tech Firms: Set Up Shop Here or Get Out, PCMag

Russia now requires that large U.S. tech companies establish a physical presence in the country–which I must read as a demand that these firms name hostages that Putin’s authoritarian regime can threaten if they don’t comply with its demands.

12/3/2021: S01 E20 – SmartTechCheck Podcast, Mark Vena

I joined this podcast from my hotel room in some downtime at Qualcomm’s event, which gave me an excuse to wear a Hawaiian shirt to the proceedings; my setup for the recording, however, also somehow resulted in repeated audio glitches.

Screenshot of story as seen in Firefox for Windows 1012/3/2021: Are you ready for Qualcomm’s new “always-on” smartphone camera?, Fast Company

It appears that Qualcomm did not expect that announcing an “always-on camera” feature as a privacy upgrade would yield much blowback. Hours after this post was published, a publicist with that firm e-mailed to provide some useful details–for example, this locked-down sub-system only captures 640-by-480-pixel images–that company executives had not through to mention in prior briefings.

12/3/2021: T-Mobile debuts new 5G layer cake, Light Reading

I spent half an hour at Qualcomm’s event quizzing two T-Mobile executives about the carrier’s plans for building out its 5G network. For another take on T-Mo’s 5G agenda, see this writeup from PCMag’s Sascha Segan, who talked to the same execs not long after I did.