Once an opera singer, Mike Rowe began his television career by selling tchotchkes on QVC. He parlayed that into a successful career hosting industrial jobs-focused shows including Dirty Jobs and Somebody’s Gotta Do It, as well as stints as a pitchman for Ford and Caterpillar. Many wish the outspoken advocate for hard working Americans would run for president someday, but Rowe’s acumen for honesty, logic and reason preclude a career…
Read MoreAmazon dominates 80% of market
Amazon continues to dominate e-commerce and claims 80% of market share across multiple product categories. According to data company Jumpshot, in a recent report looking at the first quarter of 2018, Amazon has the highest market share with one-click commodity product categories. And Amazon is still growing, as the company’s e-commerce market share is up 14% quarter over quarter. Product categories that grew the most are lower-priced items, as higher-priced…
Read MoreDigital Television: The Revival of Single-Frequency Networks
he upcoming launch of the new digital television technology ATSC 3.0 brought about the reintroduction of single-frequency networks or SFN networks. Apparently, this technology of single-frequency networks has been around since the 1920s, when it was first implemented. It initially consisted of closely situated radio stations that shared a single frequency. During the 1950s and in the years thereafter, the operation extended to the TV industry. The so-called “boosters” transmitted…
Read MorePresident Trump nominates Geoffrey Starks to FCC
The White House said President Trump has nominated Geoffrey Starks to the FCC. If confirmed by the Senate, Starks will fill the seat left vacant by Mignon Clyburn, who recently stepped down after eight years with the agency. Starks is currently an assistant bureau chief at the FCC’s enforcement bureau, where much of his work has involved the administration of rules related to the Universal Service Fund. A graduate of both Harvard…
Read MoreLiquid Crystals Shells Have Potential for Autonomous Vehicles, Robotics and Security Technologies
A team from the University of Luxembourg has discovered the potential of liquid crystal shells in a number of new applications, including autonomous vehicles, anti-counterfeiting technology and a new class of sensors. Liquid crystals are in a state between a solid and a liquid and are commonly used in television screens. Spherical shells of liquid crystals are tunable from the ultraviolet (UV) to the infrared range, with complex patterns arising…
Read MoreOrbital ATK to Bring Two New Weather Satellites Into Play for NOAA
Orbital ATK (NYSE: OA) has reported that NASA has exercised options for two additional Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS) spacecraft to be built by the company. Orbital ATK is currently producing the JPSS-2 spacecraft, which is scheduled to be launched in 2021. All three satellites are to be operated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to provide critical weather forecasting data and to advance environmental and oceanographic science.…
Read MoreReport Regarding U.S. Department of Defense Prepares for Conflict Expected to Take Place Above Earth… in Space
It’s a sobering thought and though some would prefer to not think about ‘it’, that is not what the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) is doing. In fact the DoD is preparing for a conflict that it expects will take place above the Earth, in space. As the nation with the largest number of satellites, it is taking every precaution to ensure that these systems are safeguarded and constantly operational. U.S.…
Read MoreHouse Approves ZTE, Huawei Ban From U.S. Government Systems
The U.S. government has taken another step in its official shunning of Chinese telecoms Huawei and ZTE, with the House voting to exclude them and their technology from government contracts and systems, though the prohibition will take several years to effectuate. The technology includes everything from phones, tablets and smart watches to mobile hot spots, broadband routers, switches and servers. Existing components from the companies would not have to be…
Read MoreFCC’s Carr: Internet Won’t End June 12
Republican FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr signaled this week he thought reports of the impending death of the internet were highly overrated. In an interview for C-SPAN‘s Communicators series, Carr said that on June 11, when the FCC’s network neutrality regulation rollback takes effect, consumers “are not going to see the end of the internet” and “in fact, are going back to the same regime we had in 2015 and for…
Read MoreLive, scalable, addressable, ad-supported TV by 2024
To make linear TV more compelling, programmers must cut ad loads and boost relevancy. Can this be done in a way that scales to television-sized audiences? A team of industry experts thinks it can happen before the 2024 Olympics in Japan. There are just too many ads on TV According to Randy Freer, CEO of Hulu, television programmers simply don’t value the viewers time enough: “We overloaded the formats; we…
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