Technology is helping to better train soldiers, as the military incorporates gaming and entertainment software into increasingly sophisticated battle simulations.

When the Devices Are Done [Video] (Wall Street Journal)

AllThingsD’s Katie Boehret tells digits how to take advantage of companies’ stepped-up recycling efforts when getting rid of old technology.

A Revamping of Bing in the Battle for Search Engine Supremacy (NY Times)

When Facebook goes public in the coming weeks, there will be a lot of winners. Among them is one of the stalwarts of the tech industry, Microsoft, which has a small stake in the company.

Study: Location-Based Services Popular Among Smartphone Owners (National Journal)

Tales of illicit tracking haven’t scared smartphone users away from location-based services, according to a new study by Pew.

Facebook’s New App Center: Everything You Need to Know (Mashable)

Facebook’s upcoming App Center may look a lot like the Apple App Store and Google Play, but it’s not exactly their competitor.

While Internet speeds are sure to differ greatly from country to country, one might expect speeds to be more consistent from state to state within a single country.

Why the U.S. Needs a Better Emergency Network, Like in Japan (Mobiledia)

Phones come in handy in a crisis, as long as they work, an obstacle Japan is striving to develop with networks that work in the most extreme of conditions.

New iPhone: Tantilizing Details Revealed [REPORT] (Mashable)

Rumors run rampant about the next iPhone, but now a reliable source has provided specific and tantalizing details.

Facebook & your privacy, Who sees the data you share on the biggest social network? (Consumer Reports)

If you’re reading this article, chances are good you have a page on Facebook, too. More than 150 million Americans already use the site, and the number grows daily because Facebook makes it so easy to keep up with friends, family, and colleagues, discover great content, connect to causes, share photos, drum up business, and learn about fun events.

Interactive Map Offers Unique Tools to View Ohio’s Technology Landscape, Guide Expansion Efforts (Connect Ohio)

Connect Ohio this week unveiled an innovative new broadband mapping tool offering unmatched views of Ohio’s technology landscape. The mapping tool, called My ConnectView™, is a valuable tool for consumers, policy makers, Internet providers, and planning teams working to increase broadband access, adoption, and use in communities across the state and nation.

Name: Jerry the Bear, Big Idea: Jerry the Bear is a robotic teddy bear that “has” diabetes. Children are able to take care of Jerry by checking his blood glucose levels, giving him “insulin shots” and “feeding” him a variety of foods.

FCC Launches $300 Million Broadband Subsidy Program (National Journal)

The Federal Communications Commission launched a $300 million effort on Wednesday to expand broadband to hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses over the next three years.

As users flock to iTunes, Hulu and Netflix, TV stations struggle to survive  (Washington Post)

As the audience for free television fades, federal regulators are wrestling over the future of the government-mandated broadcasts, which were originally intended to knit the nation’s disparate communities together.

“Granny Nav” to guide elderly drivers on the road (Reuters)

Older drivers may now be able to stay on the road for longer thanks to new technology being developed by scientists that uses pictures of mail boxes or pubs as visual turning cues.

Tomorrow’s Privacy Struggles, On Display Today (NY Times)

The thorny privacy issues of tomorrow were on display Thursday morning, when AT&T showed off a batch of technologies under development at AT&T Labs, the company’s research arm.

The Carrier of Last Resort Obligation

Fact Sheet

There is plenty of competition in Ohio

• There are as many as 826 companies selling a range of voice and data services to Ohio residences and businesses.
• Competition for what we might think of as traditional landline phone service comes in the form of wireless cell phones, competitive local exchange carriers (CLECs) and the rising star, voice over Internet protocol (VoIP), all of which, for the most part, are unregulated.

Strong Market Demand for Broadband: Equally Strong Capex

• The investment push is now for broadband. The U.S. consumer broadband market is expected to rise from 74.3 million subscriptions (63.2 percent penetration rate) in 2010 to 87.3 million in 2015 (71 percent).
• On the business side, two out of every three businesses in Ohio have adopted broadband. One in five firms earns revenues online.

Benefits of Broadband

• Between 15,000 and 30,000 Ohio jobs are created or supported per year due to broadband investments. Another rule of thumb indicates investments of $1 million in broadband result in between 18 and 50 jobs either being created or supported.
• Even through this recent recession, the investments in broadband created 1.6 million new jobs.
• Today, IT investment accounts for a record 47.3 percent of all U.S. nonstructure capital investment.

Implications of Carrier of Last Resort Regulations

• Investments made due to obligations associated with being the carrier of last resort become deadweight loss investments; that is, investments made by regulatory fat, not market demand.
• Research indicates that the original market conditions that existed when COLR regulations were imposed no longer exist, and that the regulatory burdens are hampering the carriers of last resort as they are forced to compete with un- or lesser-regulated enterprises.
• It is not in the public’s best interest to have regulations that may distort or hamper any investment in this very beneficial technology. In short, the investment required by the COLR obligation would be much better spent on technologies demanded by the market.
• Should the government want to ensure that COLR services are still offered, then a competitively neutral and technology neutral COLR plan would be preferable.

SB 271 will help Ohio remain a leader in driving innovation and investment in the latest communications technologies, helping us compete in the global economy.

Findings reveal evidence of a robust and competitive telephone service market in Ohio

(Columbus) – A new study reveals that investment in broadband infrastructure would be encouraged by reducing the carrier of last resort (COLR) burden in Ohio, resulting in the saving or creation of thousands of jobs.

The report, titled, “Incentive to Invest in Ohio Broadband & The Carrier of Last Resort Obligation,” was conducted by Drs. Jack Kleinhenz and Russ Smith, economists at the firm of Kleinhenz & Associates in Cleveland. The study was sponsored by Technology for Ohio’s Tomorrow, a non-profit organization that advocates for public policies that inspire and encourage innovation in technology while informing and educating technology consumers about legislative and regulatory issues that impact their lives.

“Ohio’s current telecom laws reflect a time when everyone used rotary phones, and dial-up internet was only beginning to make its way into peoples’ homes,” said John McClelland, Executive Director of Technology for Ohio’s Tomorrow. “Modernizing these laws will allow companies to invest in the technologies of the future, which will help Ohio compete in the global economy and benefit Ohioans for years to come.”

The study reveals a robust telephone service market exists, with over 800 companies selling a range of voice and data services to Ohio residences and businesses. With the strong demand for broadband, development of a broadband infrastructure is believed to be of critical importance to economic growth.

In fact, the study found that every $1 million invested in broadband infrastructure creates or saves between 18 and 50 jobs. Based on current investment numbers, as many as 30,000 Ohio jobs are the result of broadband investment each year.

Authors of the study also found that COLR obligations are outdated, noting that “the original market conditions that existed when COLR regulations were imposed no longer exist.” Additionally, the authors found that conditions are imposed upon select market participants who aren’t guaranteed to see the benefit.

Technology for Ohio’s Tomorrow is the Ohio-based project of Midwest Consumers for Choice and Competition (MCCC), a non-profit organization of individual consumers interested in technology, broadband, and telecommunication issues with state projects throughout the Midwest region. MCCC promotes and supports access and broadband deployment, as well as innovative technology and economic job growth in the Midwest. Technology for Ohio’s Tomorrow (TOT) is a state project of Midwest Consumers for Choice and Competition operating in Ohio.

Editor’s note: Please find complete study attached for your convenience.

###

If controversial cybersecurity legislation is passed, Facebook said Friday, it would not share sensitive user information with government officials.

Arab Women Blaze Trails in Start-Ups (WSJ)

Conferences for start-ups and entrepreneurs often feature “pitch contests,” slots in which aspiring entrepreneurs take to the stage to sell their ideas to the audience. Last month’s ArabNet conference, held in the Lebanese capital, was no different. What was different, however, was the number of pitches from female entrepreneurs.

RIM Almost Let Other Phones Use the BlackBerry Network [REPORT] (Mashable)

Research in Motion was on the verge of adopting a strategy that would have opened the company’s BlackBerry network to competing phones before a change in management led to its downfall, a new report claims.

Appetite for Mobile Access More Than Doubles Wireless Traffic (Mashable)

U.S. wireless data traffic grew by 123% from 2010 to 2011, from 388 billion megabytes to 866.7 billion MB, according to CTIA-The Wireless Association.

10x Startups Make Investor Pitches (Columbus Business First)

Could one of these be the next Instagram? It’s any entrepreneur’s dream that a mobile app or software startup becomes so popular that Facebook buys it for $1 billion 18 months later, but the 10 companies about to finish the latest round of Ohio State University’s 10x business accelerator program started out with cool ideas and $20,000.

Apple has taken firm root in America. Just over half of all households in the country own at least one Apple product, a new survey says, showing just how far the reach of the company has come in the last decade.

New U.S. Research Will Aim at Flood of Digital Data (NY Times)

The federal government is beginning a major research initiative in big data computing. The effort, which will be announced on Thursday, involves several government agencies and departments, and commitments for the programs total $200 million.

LG Develops Flexible E-Paper Display (Mobiledia)

LG is launching a flexible, paper-like electronic reader, a new device that may revolutionize the tablet industry.

Copps Joins Public Knowledge Board (National Journal)

Former Federal Communications Commission member Michael Copps has joined the board of Public Knowledge, the public interest group said Wednesday.

Mobile Phone Buyback and Recycling Company e-Cycle Presented with GreenSpotLight Award (TechColumbus)

Mayor Michael B. Coleman presented the GreenSpotLight Award to TechColumbus member e-Cycle (medium-sized business category) and two additional central Ohio businesses as part of an annual GreenSpot celebration at the Franklin Park Conservatory.

For Your Calendar:

TECHie Camp 2012: Educating, Exciting & Empowering students with technology!

TECHie Camp is a full-day, week-long technology experience designed specifically for elementary and middle school students. The goal of TECHie Camp is to engage students in activities that can stimulate a deeper interest in technology; as well as provide opportunities for them to express their imaginations.  TECHie Camp topics include:  Programming, Robotics, and Web Development! Click here to register.

People of a certain age remember when purchase of the Encyclopaedia Britannica was the mark of a family that valued education. They may have been a little stunned by this week’s news that those somber volumes that aided with homework and provided leisure reading for insatiable readers and dreamers will no longer be in print.

Are Gadgets Affecting Planes? (Mobiledia)

Airlines may soon allow passengers to use tablets and e-readers during takeoff and landing, as the growing popularity of mobile devices leads consumers to demand access.

The robots are coming! Better get used to it (CNET)

Robots are widely used now, and they’re only spread even farther into daily life. The sci-fi future may be closer than you think.

New System Doubles Computing Power of Ohio Supercomputer Center (TechColumbus)

The Ohio Supercomputer Center has announced it is adding a new $4.1 million HP-built, Intel® Xeon® processor-based supercomputer, dubbed the Oakley Cluster, which provides nearly twice the memory per core (4 gigabytes) and three times the number of graphic processing units or ‘GPUs’ (128) of its current system, the Glenn Cluster.

To Detect Cheating in Chess, a Professor Builds a Better Program (NY Times)

When it comes to cheating, chess might seem all but invulnerable. After all, the board and its pieces are out in the open for all to see. But an eruption of recent scandals has made it clear that cheating — fueled by powerful computer programs that play better than people do, as well as sophisticated communication technologies — is becoming a big problem for world championship chess.

Federal Communications Commission senior counsel and legal adviser Amy Levine is stepping down, the agency announced on Wednesday.

Tech Takes a Victory Lap at ‘Tech Prom’ (National Journal)

The tech industry took a victory lap Tuesday evening, celebrating a historic win in blocking – for now – controversial anti-piracy legislation strongly backed by movie, music and other content industry groups.

PayPal Takes on Square With Mobile Payment System (Mobiledia)

PayPal introduced its new small business mobile payment system, rivaling Square and staking its place in a still-developing industry.

Top Tech Buzzwords You Use But Can’t Define [VIDEO] (Mashable)

The Global Language Monitor has released a list of the most confusing tech buzzwords of the decade, so far. The Cloud and Big Data top the list.

Lenovo Plans to Be First to Make a Windows 8 Tablet [REPORT] (Mashable)

Windows 8 won’t be ready for consumers until fall, but that’s not stopping hardware makers from fighting to be first in line to build hardware for Microsoft’s new operating system.

Apple fans buy iPad with faster processor, better screen as sales start in 10 countries (Washington Post)

Apple’s latest iPad drew the customary lines of die-hard fans looking to be first and entrepreneurs looking to make a quick profit.

Even as consumer anxiety mounts over how personal data are being tracked on the Web, don’t expect Congress to do much about it.

Google’s driverless cars get a legislative boost (Washington Post)

A California state senator says rapid advancements in technology mean the cars will be a reality for consumers soon and the laws should be ready for them.

New iPad Sparks Trade-In Frenzy (Mobiledia)

Thousands of iPad owners are selling their devices after Apple announced its newest model, proving the devices’ value in a brisk resale market.

U.S. Appoints New Chief Technology Officer (Mashable)

President Obama has appointed Todd Park as the new U.S. Chief Technology Officer on Friday. Park previously served a three-year tenure as the CTO for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

For Your Calendar:

NorTech Innovation Awards