Topic: News and Rumors

This week, many of us will be tuning in to the Olympics to watch those young athletes -- and some not so young -- achieve their gold medal dreams. Some of us might be tuning in from our computers to watch streaming video from Beijing. NBC has made a big deal of its uber-coverage of the games, employing broadband technology to fill the gaps of its TV broadcasts.

However, some people aren't too impressed with NBC's approach. The broadcasting company decided to spend big money on video coverage, but is saving much of it for prime time TV rather than live online streams. New York Times deputy managing editor Jonathan Landman accuses NBC of "oldthink." Of course, Landman is trumpeting his media company's coverage over NBC, but his point is valid.

If NBC is showing an event on tape delay, it won't make the video available until after it airs on TV. So much for high-speed communication. In addition, NBC is also monitoring its online visitors to make sure they're located in the United States. And here I thought the Olympics were a global event.

I commend NBC for its savvy video content and nifty Web site (www.nbcolympics.com), but the company is missing the broadband boat. If I'm interested enough in an event, I'm not going to wait until the delayed broadcast to find out what happened. I'll get my news elsewhere, just like everyone else. Oldthink, indeed.

The super-duper iPhone is again grabbing headlines and AT&T is again retracting an offer of free Wi-Fi access. Coincidence? CNET News.com reports that AT&T announced access to the free iPhone service and then quickly killed it.

"For the second time in less than six months, AT&T mistakenly published a notice on its Web site indicating that Apple iPhone users would get free access to the wireless operator's more than 17,000 Wi-Fi hot spots around the country."

Oops. Sorry guys.

CNET reminds us that AT&T did the same thing six months ago with its Laptop Connect customers. AT&T isn't commenting on the double flub.

If the iPhone didn't already generate enough drooling, I'd go all conspiracy theory on you and claim AT&T did this on purpose to nab more customers. But I guess I won't.

Back Talk
John Cooper, commenter and occasional contributor to Last Mile, made some interesting points regarding my last post, "Let Them Eat the Internet." He says communities need strong leadership to educate others and initiate broadband deployments.

"The first step is to accept that we'll have to take matters into our own hands. When communities realize that they have inside their own boundaries all the skills, talents, resources, and initiative they need to do this on their own...then, they will be off and running."

Check out Cooper's site MetroNetIQ.com for more about his stance on community broadband deployments.

Continue the conversation in the comments or let me have it for making you read more about the iPhone.