The future of television

Only 24 percent of 18- to 24-year-olds have cable, whereas 61 percent pay for a stand-alone streaming service. Inevitably, streaming will disrupt TV the same way the internet disrupted the music and print-media industries — by "unbundling'' content and making it cheaper.

Read more at The Week

Rich countries are deluged with data; developing ones are suffering from drought

Africa is the continent of missing data. Fewer than half of births are recorded; some countries have not taken a census in several decades. On maps only big cities and main streets are identified; the rest looks as empty as the Sahara. Lack of data afflicts other developing regions, too. The self-built slums that ring many Latin American cities are poorly mapped, and even estimates of their population are vague.

As rich countries collect and analyse data from as many objects and activities as possible—including thermostats, fitness trackers and location-based services such as Foursquare—a data divide has opened up. The lack of reliable data in poor countries thwarts both development and disaster-relief.

Read more at the Economist

FCC Airwave Wireless Spectrum Auction

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has auctioned off AWS-3 frequencies, and total bids have reached more than $30 billion on Nov. 21, surpassing the reserve price of $10.1 billion.

Read more at Tech Times

There are now 3 billion internet users, mostly in rich countries

The UN's International Telecommunication's Union (ITU) has revealed that over 3 billion people are now connected to the internet, an increase of 6.6 percent over last year. Of the 4.3 billion people still not connected to the internet, 90 percent live in developing countries, with two-thirds of users in first-world countries.

Read more at Engadget