by Dennis Green
Most Americans scratch their heads in wonder when they hear certain experts say that as a nation we are losing our edge in world leadership. How could such a thing be? After all, we have the most powerful armed forces in the world, the richest economy, a vibrant culture, and we are the birthplace of high technology and the Third Wave…
But in terms of Internet availability, Wi-Fi, and connectivity — the United States of America is Number 18, behind even South Korea. Only 65 percent of Americans have broadband high-speed connections at all, let alone the newer, faster speed — 100 MB per second, compared to the average U.S. speed of 5 MB today — required by most high-quality streaming video.
Google is in the process of setting up some test coverage at 1 Gigabit per second, in select cities and/or universities. Alameda has applied, with much of the real work being done by local newsman David Howard, who has proven more effective than some city officials who have flubbed various events promoting the proposal.
The new federal plan means shifting money from providing telephone service to poor and rural customers, and shifting some wave band from television to broadband wireless applications. There will be, obviously, resistance from telephone and television interests.
Broadband is much less expensive in Europe, where companies are required to provide fiber as a subsidized public service. Odds are very high that in those countries friendly to such technologies, most telephone and television will be delivered by broadband digital services within ten years time. In America, such conversions may occur much more slowly.
The true test of how innovative a nation is can be measured by its policy toward new technologies. After four decades of development — of computers and the internet — America was, until fairly recently, in the forefront of such innovation. But as established interests and technologies feel more threatened, (witness the resistance of the music industry to on-line file sharing, ((as we used to tape friends’ albums)), the publishing industry’s objection to electronic books, libraries to Google’s scanning of the world’s books, confusion in the movie industry about copyright and duplication), we have begun to fall behind.
The Third Wave in America has been reduced to a small ripple. Industries have alienated some of their best customers — the early adopters — by their tactics, by suing file sharers, for example, or encrypting DVDs so that buyers can’t even make a back-up copy of their own movies. Lawmakers catered to these special interests by passing a Revised Copyright Protection Act that extended the life of such ownership and made it unprofitable and almost impossible to access out-of-print works.
As the number of apps available for iPhones and the new iPad increase, however, watching movies and reading books on-screen will become more common and popular. The stereo ear bud or headphone sound on such devices is incredible, and 3-D is only the latest feature Hollywood is using to better compete. 3-D, high-def TVs and computer touch screens, however, are already on the market as well.
In the global tech race, “you snooze, you lose” is still all too true. But whatever the reason, the U.S. is falling behind, losing its edge, and only Steve Jobs may be able to save us from sheer oblivion. I’ll be picking up my 64GB iPad April 3rd, and will let you know.
©2010 Dennis Green
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