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Imagine downloading Game of Thrones - all seasons, in HD - within a single second. That's what a next-generation optical transmission system developed by University College London scientists could do. Their system can handle a rate of 1.125 terabit per second - that's 50,000 times faster than the average "superfast" broadband connection in the UK. The team set the record for the fastest ever data rate for digital information. The infrastructure itself isn't revolutionary. The system uses optical fibres, which are already used to carry binary code as light signals through thousands of kilometres of wire. What has made the...

Commentary: A proposal by Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler calls for cable companies like Comcast to "unlock the set-top box." Unlocking isn't enough. The box should die, once and for all, and be replaced by apps. There's no technological reason that Comcast, or Time Warner Cable, or Charter or any other cable TV provider needs to provide physical hardware at all. There's no need for warehouses full of cable boxes or arduous "service windows" where the technician supposedly shows up "sometime between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m."-- or not--to fix (or more likely just replace) your device. Full-fledged pay...

Byron Allen’s Entertainment Studios Networks along with the National Association of African-American Owned Media (NAAAOM) Wednesday filed a $10 billion lawsuit in United States District Court for engaging in “racial discrimination” by not launching African-American owned networks. The lawsuit, filed Wednesday night in filed in United States District Court in Central District of California, comes less than a month after Entertainment Studios settled a similar discrimination lawsuit against AT&T and DirecTV after AT&T signed to carry Entertainment Studios’ portfolio of networks.

The government wants to make it easier for you to buy and use cable boxes from companies other than your cable provider. This could help companies like TiVo, Roku and Apple deliver a cable feed, too, as part of their video recorders or streaming-TV devices. Introducing competition could also help lower people's cable bills. The Federal Communications Commission says that 99 percent of cable and satellite TV customers rent boxes from their cable providers, and that the price of cable boxes has nearly tripled since 1994. Meanwhile, prices of common consumer electronics like cellphones, TVs and computers have fallen sharply....

Jack Lessenberry, a columnist for Michigan Radio, wrote an Oct. 23 column that called for shutting down all of Michigan’s charter schools. Lessenberry makes a number of demands and assertions that deserve a closer look. Here are some of them. Lessenberry wrote: “That’s right — get rid of them, all of them. Many or most of them don’t work, and all of them are draining resources from our conventional public schools and helping further destabilize education.” A Closer Look: “All of them?” That would include quite a few charter school success stories. For example, in Benton Harbor, parents of about...

A culture capable of self-government must be steeped in an education that recognizes the objective existence of truth, beauty, and virtue. A classical charter school offers precisely this type of education by making use of the great ideas that have informed Western Civilization for thousands of years. In order to establish and perpetuate this type of education I am seeking interested individuals in the Elkhart, Indiana area who would participate in founding a classical charter school. A few initial contacts have been made already. A meeting date has also been established. If you are interested in this, please contact me...

In the first major breakthrough to get Los Angeles Dodgers games carried on a major distributor outside Time Warner Cable, starting Tuesday, June 9th. SportsNet LA will be available on Charter Spectrum TV Select, Charter’s most widely subscribed to tier of service. The games will be shown on the Charter listing as channel 44 SD/ 789 HD in the LA designated market area. It will be on channel 44 SD / 773 HD in San Luis Obispo, and channel 44 SD in Porterville. For SportsNet LA’s Spanish-language game telecasts as well as its Korean-language Secondary Audio Programming (SAP) will also...

Charter Communications plans to soon begin offering the Los Angeles Dodgers TV channel, SportsNet LA, in Southern California, breaking the year-long impasse that has prevented thousands of baseball fans from watching their favorite team on TV ... "We want the Dodgers on every outlet and we are committed to making that happen," [Charter Communications Chief Executive Tom] Rutledge said ...

In a deal that affects one in six American households, Charter Communications on Tuesday proposed a three-way merger with two other cable and broadband providers, Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks.

Cable company stocks fell sharply Monday after President Obama called for the Federal Communications Commission to reclassify Internet access as a utility. If the FCC were to approve the White House’s recommendations, the Internet would be regulated like other utilities such as electricity, water and telephone services. The White House is calling for an “explicit ban” on deals between broadband Internet providers and online services like Netflix, Amazon or YouTube to move their content faster, a potential new source of revenue for cable companies. While the FCC is an independent agency, Obama’s statement could put political pressure on FCC commissioners...

I am a Charter Communications cable customer in California and recently was “upgraded” to all digital TV. A feature of the Charter cable service had been to “power on” the receiver with the channel of your preference. Mine was Fox News. After the conversion to “all digital” TV, the ability to make a selection of the “power on” channel was eliminated from the receiver menu. The receiver would “power on” to a Charter informational channel with the skinny Charter girl telling you about the wonderful things you were in store for with Charter “all digital’ TV. I was wishing that...

The constant debate of how to fix public education is far from over. However, The Heritage Foundation came across new research for an improved education policy. heritage foundation index of cultury and opportunity Jennifer A. Marshall, Vice President of the Institute for Family, Community, and Opportunity, discussed new research to better the failing education system for children in low income areas. While the Center for American Progress argues that government needs to increase funding for better education, the Heritage Foundation suggests a different approach. “The charts on public school test scores [over time] are the most boring ones in the...

KRGV reports that a refurbished detention center in Karnes City, TX, will be used to house hundreds of women and children who crossed into Texas illegally. The center’s rooms, called “suites,” have only been used to house adult illegal aliens in the past, but with the recent surge of unaccompanied minors from Central America, it will now be used to house kids too. KRGV’s story says that the illegal aliens will only be housed at the center for an average of 23 days, or that’s the fe

In the war between the rich and the poor, I'm enlisting on the side of the underdog -- the rich. What a drubbing they've been taking! Across the nation, but particularly in cities such as New York and Washington, the rich are incessantly accused of being slyly manipulative and self-serving. For instance, they support charter schools. Apparently, there is nothing worse. I am mystified. Charter schools are not private schools. They are free public schools that are open to any student, usually by lottery. Some very rich people support them, provide extra funds for special programs and, in return, get...

Mayor de Blasio brought down the hammer Thursday on three charter schools operated by his nemesis Eva Moskowitz, leaving hundreds of kids without classrooms this fall. “This has to be the saddest day for the Success Academy’s children, family, teachers, school leaders,” Moskowitz said after meeting with stunned charter parents in Harlem. “Right now, our kids are being evicted. Evicted out of their school. It’s wrong and we need an explanation. You’re going to have to ask Mayor de Blasio what the motivations are for a decision that will hurt so many children now and, frankly, forever.”

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio took off the gloves in his battle with education reformers, rescinding an agreement for the city to share space with several public charter schools. The move undercuts educators, parents and some 700 students at four schools, including Harlem Success 4, one of the public charter school movement’s top success stories, and two set to open in the fall. While agreements at those schools were rescinded, expansion of a fourth school was also blocked. The schools were to operate rent-free in city-owned facilities under deals backed by former Mayor Michael Bloomberg, an ardent supporter...

Quebec’s separatist government is betting on broad popular support with a proposal that prohibits public workers from wearing headscarves, skullcaps and other religious symbols, yet it is dividing the movement that advocates independence from Canada. The proposal, unveiled by the ruling Parti Quebecois last week, plays with the explosive issue of minority rights in a part of Canada, a country that prides itself as being a tapestry of immigrants rather than a U.S.-style melting pot. The government’s proposed Charter of Quebec Values would ban teachers, doctors and other public workers from wearing highly visible religious symbols, including yarmulkes, headscarves and...

Here we go again. Just out from WSBTV.com The DeKalb County schoolboard chairman says a there is an active shooter at McNair Elementary School. Chairman Melvin Johnson said there have been reports of shots fired. There are no reports of injuries. The gunman has not been located. News Chopper 2 footage showed children running from the school building. Ronald E. McNair Discovery Learning Academy, a charter school, is located on 2nd Avenue in Decatur. Channel 2 Action News crews are on the way to the scene. Check back with WSBTV.com for updates.

Private religious schools perform better than public schools, and public charter schools performed no better than regular public schools, according to a new study by William Jeynes, professor of education at California State University at Long Beach and senior fellow at the Witherspoon Institute at Princeton. Jeynes spoke Monday with The Christian Post about the study. He found that religious, mostly Christian, school students were a full year ahead of students who attend public and charter schools. The results of his research were recently published in vol. 87, issue 3 of the Peabody Journal of Education in an article titled,...