Adaptive radio may upend wireless spectrum system

James Collier runs Neul, a Cambridge startup that makes the green boxes, which house a new technology called adaptive radio. Today, anything that transmits long-range signals over the airwaves -radios, cell phones, television networks - broadcasts on a single, fixed frequency. Think of the 106.7 that appears on your radio dial. Both broadcaster and listener have to be tuned to the same wave. Each cell phone, similarly, has its own allotted frequency to communicate with nearby towers. Carriers must spend billions to license chunks of spectrum to make sure their subscribers can connect wherever they go.



A radio from Neul - or one of several startups working on similar technology - upends this whole system. An adaptive radio doesn't always use the same fixed frequency, but checks to see which frequencies around it aren't in use, then borrows empty air for a short-term connection. As devices move around, the connection can shift, too. Collier's loop around Cambridge is a demonstration - part of a trial led by Microsoft and other tech giants - that the idea works technologically. If it works commercially, too, it could change the dynamics of the wireless business.


 
An adaptive network could help companies in the United States such as AT&T or Verizon Wireless run their networks far more efficiently by squeezing more smart phones and other devices onto a given range of wireless spectrum.


 
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For Cumulus Media, Huckabee Takes On Limbaugh

Radio may seem like yesterday’s medium, but it remains hugely lucrative, with profit margins—before debt servicing—of about 30 percent, according to media research firm SNL Kagan. It’s a business that boasts low fixed costs: towers, transmitters, and talent. “The great thing about the radio business, it’s not capital-intensive,” says Michael Bergner, president of media brokerage firm Bergner & Co. “It’s old technology, but it’s easy and it works.” Overall projected 2012 industry revenues climbed to $14.6 billion from recession lows of $13.3 billion in 2009, according to research firm BIA/Kelsey.

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The ‘Rich Guy Play Toy’ Future of Newspapers

Media General is a chain of small-ish newspapers across America. Not a particularly prestigious or savvy chain of newspapers, and the company's value has been nosediving off a cliff for the past five years along with most of the rest of the newspaper industry. But Media General has now been purchased by Mr. Warren Buffett. And just like that, this mediocre little newspaper chain becomes the embodiment of the industry's future.
 
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Paywalls Proliferate, Most DIgital Pros Won't Pay For Them

While the figures may not be indicative of broader consumer behaviors, over half of digital media professionals who encounter online paywalls say they immediately leave the Web site, according to a DigiCareers survey cited by eMarketer. However, there was some good news for online publishers, as a substantial number said they looked into the details of access and pricing.

The bad news for news publishers: digital media pros were far more willing to pay for entertainment content than for news: 47% paid for movies, 36% for digital magazines, and 35% for music, compared to just 13% for news and newspapers.

 

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Why local firms dominate the Russian internet

Last year the number of Russians online went up by 14%, to 53m. That made Russia’s online population Europe’s biggest, just ahead of Germany’s, with lots of room left to grow. GP Bullhound, an investment bank, reckons that only 18% of those people shop online and that online advertising, though rising fast, takes up only 9% of Russian ad budgets.

The Russian internet market looks more like China’s than either resembles anything in the West. Baidu dominates Chinese search. Tencent plays a similar role to Mail.ru, of which it owns 7.8%. When the Chinese buy online they turn to Dangdang, 360buy or one of Alibaba’s online marketplaces rather than Amazon or eBay. They tap out a cacophony of short posts on Sina Weibo, not Twitter. And so on.

Read more at The Economist