Human skin is apparently a very energy-efficient conduit for transmitting data. A recent experiment achieved a rate of 10Mbps, which may put my Internet connection to shame. The experiment used small, flexible electrodes and took place at Korea University. More

Right on schedule, the FCC has submitted its National Broadband Plan. There’s a lot to go through — note the calls for broadband benchmarking and pricing reports — and we’re still combing, but here’s what we’ve noticed so far. The six goals set out for “the next decade” propose that every American have the affordable access (the key, oft-repeated phrase) to “robust broadband services,” and, more specifically, at least 100 million US homes with affordable access to at least 100MBps down / 50Mbps up speeds. All communities should have at their disposal 1Gbps service, every first responder should have “access to a nationwide, wireless interoperable broadband public safety network,” and here’s an interesting one: every citizen should be able to use broadband to “track and manage real-time [home] energy consumption .” The appeal to our taxpaying wallets comes in the form of the FCC expecting the “vast majority of recommendations [to] not require new government funding”, and that the 500MHz of spectrum going on auction is “likely to offset the potential costs.” The plan, as the paper itself says, is in beta and be perennially in flux.

We’ve known some of the major details about the FCC’s sweeping National Broadband Plan —namely 100Mbps broadband in 100 million homes —for a while now, but today they’ve made it official. It’s a sweeping proposal, with six main long-term goals: More

As the intertubes overtake boob tubes and telephone tubes as our primary mode of communication, it becomes increasingly important to ensure that access is available and affordable for all Americans. The FCC’s ambitious new plan looks to do just that. More

Feel like your broadband’s not living up to how they’re advertised? Here’s your chance to prove it: the FCC’s introduced a Consumer Broadband Test that’ll let you know exactly how good a connection you’ve got. More

We talk about the FCC a lot here, but usually the ways ye olde Commission affects our lives are indirect. A little extra spectrum here, a nice leaked image there, that kind of thing. Not this time, though, as the FCC is getting involved directly with its own Consumer Broadband Test app, designed to probe network latencies and download speeds on your home connection or mobile device. Part of the hallowed National Broadband Plan , this will furnish the FCC will useful data to show the discrepancy between advertised and real world broadband speeds, and will also — more importantly perhaps — serve as a neat way for users to directly compare network performance in particular areas. It’s available on the App Market and App Store right now, with versions for other operating systems coming up, so why not get with the program and give it a test drive

Alright, you ultrafast mobile broadband zealots, whip out your calendars and draw a big red tick around the middle of 2011. Verizon’s CTO Anthony Melone has identified next summer as the carrier’s release window for its first LTE handset, which should be preceded by the 4G service being rolled out by the end of this year. If you’re wondering what you’ll be using on that “faster than 3G” network while waiting for the vanguard handset , we saw plenty of LTE-equipped gear at CES and let’s not forget about that 1080p-decodin’ NVIDIA tablet that was teased during the show. The one bit of bogus news from Melone was the statement that contracts with “as much data as you can consume is the big issue that has to change.” Verizon seems resolutely set on introducing some type of tiered or metered price plans, which is unfortunately the same path AT&T is headed down . The message from the networks is therefore clear: with great (downloading) power comes great (bill-paying) responsibility. Verizon promises first 4G handset for next summer, foretells end of unlimited data plans originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 11 Mar 2010 03:45:00 EST.

Call me a cynic, but I’m not sure this is ever going to happen: the FCC wants to dedicate a chunk of the wireless spectrum to providing free internet service. The FCC plans to make its recommendation under the National Broadband Plan set for release next week, which has the goal of making broadband more affordable for everyone in America. Of course, they didn’t, you know, say how they were going to do such a thing. And they’re going to have to claw that spectrum out of the cold, dead hands of telecom lobbyists.

The life of a gadget lover tends to involve a lot of waiting , so it’s always nice to be surprised by a roadmap getting shorter rather than longer. Sprint has told Forbes that its very first WiMAX phone will be arriving in the first half of this year, which will be somewhat earlier than many had expected. We’re likely talking about that A9292 “bar handset” from HTC that was spotted in January , as Forbes goes on to note that it’s likely to be a HTC-built Android device . The aptly-titled Supersonic seems like the obvious, albeit unconfirmed, prime candidate here. Further word from Paget Alves, Sprint’s president of Business Markets, indicates that businesses and government agencies might be the first adopters, which must mean whatever handset’s being discussed will be at least somewhat business-friendly. Finally, CEO Dan Hesse himself is cited as saying Sprint will be bringing out “dozens of devices” with embedded WiMAX this year, so even if you don’t like the first one, there should be plenty of options come the holidays.

Leave it to Google to make even the FCC ’s ambitions look meager. But hey, for the vast majority of Americans who will never have access to an ISP with 1Gbps , we’ve got nothing but kudos to send to Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski. As the story goes, the FCC has unveiled a plan this week that would “require” internet service providers to offer “minimum home connection speeds by 2020,” with a delectable 100Mbps figure being throw around. Currently, US internet speeds average just under 4Mbps, and the nation as a whole ranks 19th in the world. Naturally, companies that provide internet are balking at the idea, suggesting that consumers would revolt if they were forced to pick up the tab for all the network improvement efforts that would have to take place. Of course, Cisco Systems now appears to be the FCC’s best bud, but we’re guessing we don’t have to explain the logic behind that one.