This week in etilities: companies keep competing for dominance in the internet TV market, the case is made for and against Google Voice, and your last excuse not to back up your data is taken away.

Comcast, Time Warner, Netflix still going after Hulu

Comcast (Etilities Forum) and Time Warner Cable (Etilities Forum) are working on a response to the Hulu (Etilities Forum) phenomenon with the development of a ‘TV Everywhere‘ service that allows users to view content that they pay for via subscriptions on their computer. The main differentiator here with Hulu is obviously the fact that you need to be paying for a subscription. If, like me, you find yourself increasingly unable to tolerate advertisement, and if Comcast and Time Warner manage to keep the costs associated with this reasonable (this is where I’m not so hopeful), this could be the beginning of an appealing alternative to ad-supported TV.

Meanwhile, Netflix (Etilities Forum) is also looking ahead, projecting that the number of subscribers for its DVD-mailing service will slowly decline over the next ten years. Their answer? Boost the number of titles available for streaming, as well as their quality. Great idea on paper; the trick will undoubtedly be to sell the big studios on it.

The case for and against Google Voice

PC World put out a great piece this week on the five reasons to use Google Voice, and the five reasons not to. What it allows you to do is centralize the control of all of your phone numbers in a single location so that, for example, calling your cell phone number also makes your phones in your home and office ring. You can also manage your voicemails, SMS messages, and much more. According the PC World, the possible downsides mainly fall within two categories: privacy and reliability.

You can now afford to keep your data safe

Do you want a place to safely store your ripped DVDs and other large amounts of data at an affordable price? You may be in luck. Gizmodo came out this week with the review of a great new product from Western Digital: the My Book World Edition II. For $700, you can buy a 4TB networked storage book with 2TB of usable storage space (the other 2TBs back up the first 2TB). Unless you have a bigger media library than I do (yeah, right), that is more than enough space and you can sleep soundly and know that your data is safe from a hard-drive failure.

You no longer have an excuse not to back up!

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This week in etilities: mobile phone practices are under close scrutiny in the public arena, AT&T tries to catch up to Apple, and lagging US broadband penetration is underlined.

Mobile phone practices under scrutiny

Competition between providers benefits consumers in the form of lower prices, better service, and more features. Unsurprisingly, wireless carriers tend to do whatever they can to either land exclusive deals or be on a level playing field with each other. The FCC, at the request of four US senators, is launching a probe investigating the AT&T / iPhone exclusivity deal while the Senate Judiciary Committee is exploring whether Verizon, AT&T, Sprint, and T-Mobile are colluding to set the price of SMS messages outrageously high. AT&T and Verizon claim that this is not the case.

AT&T is playing catch-up with the iPhone 3GS

The partnership between AT&T and Apple is proving quite a headache for the wireless carrier indeed. There has been much coverage about how the carrier is not yet ready to handle some of the new features of the iPhone 3GS, most notably SMS and Tethering. Unsurprisingly, a lot of the information out there is little more than hearsay. AT&T denied rumors that they were going to offer tethering for $55 a month and announced that multimedia messaging (MMS) capability will be included as part of the existing SMS bundles at no additional cost.

As for the iPhone 3GS early upgrade controversy, AT&T has announced that more 3G owners who are currently locked mid-contract will be eligible for the upgrade price of $199 for the 16GB model and $299 for the 32GB model as opposed to $399 and $499, respectively. There are several criteria for determining eligibility, including whether you’re a big spender with AT&T, and not everyone will benefit.

US broadband penetration needs a lot of work

Ars Technica published an article last week dicussing a topic dear to our hearts: broadband penetration. According to the survey, which measures per household broadband penetration rather than per capita penetration, the US ranks 20th, with 60% of households connected by broadband as opposed to 95% in South Korea, the top country on that list.
©2008-2009, Gallop Services, Inc. All rights reserved.

This week in etilities: the DTV transition finally happens, two highly anticipated phones are placed under the spotlight, and AT&T takes a beating in the media.

The Digital TV Transition has finally happened

We’ve been talking about this for a long time, and it finally happened on Friday. Endgaget has a good summary of lead-up coverage here. As was expected, millions of people were still not ready, but the consensus seems to be that the transition was mostly smooth and that the delays did help in preparing more households for it.

New smartphones: the Palm Pre and the iPhone 3GS

This was a big week for smartphones, with the release of the Palm Pre and the announcement of the iPhone 3GS. Both phones have gotten a lot of media attention and generated much emotion among their respective fan bases. We are thrilled that the technology behind smart phones is further maturing, allowing you to take advantage of your online services everywhere you go.

AT&T wireless under fire

This week should have been a good one for AT&T (Etilities Forum), given that they are the only authorized iPhone carrier, but it was not. Indeed, not only is the carrier not ready to handle the 3GS’ new Multimedia Messaging Service or tethering capabilities, but this was pointed out pretty explicitly by Apple during its developer’s conference. This is being seen by some as a clue that it is going to be parting ways with AT&T as soon as it is legally able to do so.

Adding insult to injury,  AT&T also announced that it is charging $399 and $499 for an early upgrade as opposed to the $199 and $299 price tags if you are a brand new customer, which has generated much anger among current iPhone owners.

One thing is for sure: AT&T has a lot of PR work ahead…

©2008-2009, Gallop Services, Inc. All rights reserved.

As we consume utilities, for example water or electricity, we pay for the quantity we consume based on a generally fixed rate per unit. For internet consumption or cable TV however, we still pay by subscription plans. Regardless of how little we use, we pay a minimum service. Most telecommunication companies have been adding insult to injury by applying no discounts for consuming very little but still plenty of stiff charges for overages.

Virgin Mobile is apparently breaking the mold and launching a pay as you go mobile broadband plan.  Though this is still in the early stages, we have to applaud the effort as it seems to be heading in a direction where the consumer’s interests are better met than in the current mobile market.
©2008-2009, Gallop Services, Inc. All rights reserved.

What were the highlights of this weeks’ news in Etilities? Let’s take a look.

Forget what you thought you knew about the XBox 360

This was E3 week, and from an Etilities standpoint Microsoft seems to be doing the most for me. First, it is planing yet another XBox Live expansion that boasts Netflix browsing, Twitter and Facebook integration, and 1080p streaming. On top of that, you will also be able to download full retail games on demand straight to your XBox. Finally, it announced a new control system called ‘Project Natal‘, which will basically allow you to control your XBox… without a controller. I don’t know about you, but I can think of plenty of applications for this kind of technology.

Hulu may start charging users

There are rumors (well sourced, but still just rumors at this point) that Hulu is looking into new models where customers would be charged for the content that they watch. I for one would be OK with that, but according to numerous polls out there I’m definitely in the minority:

• This Lifehacker Poll shows 70% of the users saying they absolutely would not do it
• This EngadgetHD Poll shows that 76% of the users are also saying absolutely not

Google wants YouTube to look good on your TV

Google has released its new ‘YouTube XL‘, which is basically a cleaner, lighter interface that aims to look good full screen (for example on a TV monitor, hint hint). Hulu released a very similar interface last week with seemingly the same goal called ‘Hulu Desktop‘.

©2008-2009, Gallop Services, Inc. All rights reserved.

To those of you with children starting their online experience, what they see and potentially have access to on the internet could be a worry. The ease of which material and inappropriate content can reach children is both phenomenal and scary these days.
Unfortunately, in today’s age, keeping children away from the internet is a virtual impossibility, but at least you can do something about it from your home. McAfee (Etilities Forum) recently released their Family Protection Package which Etilities.Com tested. All of the common and expected features such as WebSite and Program Blocking, Social Networking, IM and E-Mail Protection and Time Limits are present in the package and easy to use and configure.  McAfee also added several industry-unique features such as Usage Reporting, YouTube Video filters bringing parents not only peace of mind but also a great amount of flexibility by setting up alerts to be received via e-mail or even text messages.  Parents can be notified according to their specifications or comfort levels giving them a greater level of control over other competing software.  At $39.99, this package is affordable and highly recommended for families with children.
©2008-2009, Gallop Services, Inc. All rights reserved.

As summer looms, we thought it would be an appropriate time to offer a few recommendations to find savings in your Etilities.

• Switch from monthly plans to annual plans.  Many service providers offer annual payment plans which are economically advantageous over their monthly plans.  If you have a service that you aren’t planning on changing anytime soon, considering the annual payment plan may be beneficial.  In the case of Vonage (Etilities Forum) for instance, the annual pre-pay plan can save clients $59 per year.  If you are a satisfied Vonage customer, you should seriously consider it.
• Going on vacation?  It is not uncommon for individuals or families to go on vacation for several weeks at a time away from home.  What few people know is that many cables companies offer a vacation plan.  Cox Communications (Etilities Forum) for examples allows you to essentially de-activate your TV, Internet and Phone without returning your modem or worrying about termination or re-activation fees.  Instead, for a low $10 a month fee, you can simply leave your house for several months and reactivate all your services back to normal upon your return.  Some of the providers offer packages of up to 4 months which can save hundreds of dollars over the summer.
• Sign-Up for the Assistant.  By signing-up for the Etilities.Com assistant and completing your profile, we will continuously monitor the industry and evaluate savings opportunities.  If you have unique needs or specific questions about your Etilities, you may also e-mail directly at assistant@etilities.com.

Enjoy your Summer!
©2008-2009, Gallop Services, Inc. All rights reserved.