Heard on the Net

News about People and Companies influencing The Broadband Home

Briefly Noted: Updates, Observations and Trends

Each month, we collect miscellaneous happenings, studies, trends or observations you might have missed. This month's briefs focus on Wi-Fi in your car, TiVo's product purchase feature, and more.

I Can Listen To Your Phone Calls: A Guest Article by Jeremy Bennett

Broadband connected devices are great for users--and for vandals and thieves. As our networks have expanded to include devices in our pockets and on our walls, security risks have crept into countless aspects of our personal lives. Our guest author, Jeremy Bennett, challenges vendors to think about security before attackers do. He illustrates the dangers by providing links to sites like the Car Whisperer, which allows attackers to eavesdrop on conversations or inject fake traffic announcements into your car.

IPTV Update -- IPTV World Forum North America, and More

IPTV is maturing. Worldwide subscribers have more than doubled year-on-year. New tools are being used to measure quality and help isolate problems. Interoperable standards backed by many of the leading telcos and vendors will be published this year, with interoperability testing coming next.

Updates from the Valley

We have reported on Silicon Valley from time to time. This time we briefly report on visits with Ozmo Devices, 4Home, Actiontec and TiVo.

Holiday Toys

Pepcom's promise of margaritas and fiesta food lured us to their New York Holiday Spectacular. We saw some cool new toys for the holidays. Some--like a Skype videophone and a browser-controlled mobile webcam--were even related to broadband.

Upcoming Conferences

There are more than enough conferences to keep you running from place to place. Here are a few that all happen to be in California over the next two months.