#affordableconnectivityplan — Public Fediverse posts

Off-season, non-SXSW Austin is its own sort of weird

AUSTIN, Tex.

It feels like I barely visited my favorite part of Texas, and that’s not just because my trip here for the Connectivity Standards Alliance’s Unify conference only spanned three days. This visit has also reminded me that SXSW, my usual experience of Austin aside from one trip here in September of 2018 for the Online News Association’s conference, is not a reliable reflection of the city.

The sidewalks this week aren’t crowded with hipsters and would-be hipsters (i.e., me) wearing the same conference badge, in the process making the number of unhoused people here a little more obvious. Bars and restaurants downtown go by their normal names instead of being rebranded as “activations” for one #brand or another. And instead of delightful spring weather, it’s ghastly hot out–not Vegas-in-August scorching, but also much more humid.

Avoiding that heat by spending so much of my time in Unify’s air-conditioned confines at the Hilton Downtown made this even more of a fake visit for me. I did at least think to stop by a dive bar off Red River Street Wednesday night to get in some local color and put some money into the non-hotel economy.

One other change I noticed compared to March: Austin’s streets seem to have picked up a lot more robotic occupants. Waymos are as ubiquitous as ever, but I also spotted several of Austin-based Avride’s refitted Hyundai Ioniq 5s, at least two Zoox toasters on wheels and one of Tesla’s two-seat, gold-colored Cybercabs–plus delivery robots rolling up and down sidewalks.

(I didn’t get a good enough look at most of the non-Waymo vehicles to see if they had humans at the controls or otherwise overseeing them. Nor did I get rides on any of them, since it was such a short walk from my hotel to the conference venue.)

But one part of Austin did take me right back to my usual marketing-spring-break nonsense: being greeted outside by the airport by the squawk of grackles.

Off-season, non-SXSW Austin is its own sort of weird

AUSTIN, Tex.

It feels like I barely visited my favorite part of Texas, and that’s not just because my trip here for the Connectivity Standards Alliance’s Unify conference only spanned three days. This visit has also reminded me that SXSW, my usual experience of Austin aside from one trip here in September of 2018 for the Online News Association’s conference, is not a reliable reflection of the city.

The sidewalks this week aren’t crowded with hipsters and would-be hipsters (i.e., me) wearing the same conference badge, in the process making the number of unhoused people here a little more obvious. Bars and restaurants downtown go by their normal names instead of being rebranded as “activations” for one #brand or another. And instead of delightful spring weather, it’s ghastly hot out–not Vegas-in-August scorching, but also much more humid.

Avoiding that heat by spending so much of my time in Unify’s air-conditioned confines at the Hilton Downtown made this even more of a fake visit for me. I did at least think to stop by a dive bar off Red River Street Wednesday night to get in some local color and put some money into the non-hotel economy.

One other change I noticed compared to March: Austin’s streets seem to have picked up a lot more robotic occupants. Waymos are as ubiquitous as ever, but I also spotted several of Austin-based Avride’s refitted Hyundai Ioniq 5s, at least two Zoox toasters on wheels and one of Tesla’s two-seat, gold-colored Cybercabs–plus delivery robots rolling up and down sidewalks.

(I didn’t get a good enough look at most of the non-Waymo vehicles to see if they had humans at the controls or otherwise overseeing them. Nor did I get rides on any of them, since it was such a short walk from my hotel to the conference venue.)

But one part of Austin did take me right back to my usual marketing-spring-break nonsense: being greeted outside by the airport by the squawk of grackles.

Off-season, non-SXSW Austin is its own sort of weird

AUSTIN, Tex.

It feels like I barely visited my favorite part of Texas, and that’s not just because my trip here for the Connectivity Standards Alliance’s Unify conference only spanned three days. This visit has also reminded me that SXSW, my usual experience of Austin aside from one trip here in September of 2018 for the Online News Association’s conference, is not a reliable reflection of the city.

The sidewalks this week aren’t crowded with hipsters and would-be hipsters (i.e., me) wearing the same conference badge, in the process making the number of unhoused people here a little more obvious. Bars and restaurants downtown go by their normal names instead of being rebranded as “activations” for one #brand or another. And instead of delightful spring weather, it’s ghastly hot out–not Vegas-in-August scorching, but also much more humid.

Avoiding that heat by spending so much of my time in Unify’s air-conditioned confines at the Hilton Downtown made this even more of a fake visit for me. I did at least think to stop by a dive bar off Red River Street Wednesday night to get in some local color and put some money into the non-hotel economy.

One other change I noticed compared to March: Austin’s streets seem to have picked up a lot more robotic occupants. Waymos are as ubiquitous as ever, but I also spotted several of Austin-based Avride’s refitted Hyundai Ioniq 5s, at least two Zoox toasters on wheels and one of Tesla’s two-seat, gold-colored Cybercabs–plus delivery robots rolling up and down sidewalks.

(I didn’t get a good enough look at most of the non-Waymo vehicles to see if they had humans at the controls or otherwise overseeing them. Nor did I get rides on any of them, since it was such a short walk from my hotel to the conference venue.)

But one part of Austin did take me right back to my usual marketing-spring-break nonsense: being greeted outside by the airport by the squawk of grackles.

Off-season, non-SXSW Austin is its own sort of weird

AUSTIN, Tex.

It feels like I barely visited my favorite part of Texas, and that’s not just because my trip here for the Connectivity Standards Alliance’s Unify conference only spanned three days. This visit has also reminded me that SXSW, my usual experience of Austin aside from one trip here in September of 2018 for the Online News Association’s conference, is not a reliable reflection of the city.

The sidewalks this week aren’t crowded with hipsters and would-be hipsters (i.e., me) wearing the same conference badge, in the process making the number of unhoused people here a little more obvious. Bars and restaurants downtown go by their normal names instead of being rebranded as “activations” for one #brand or another. And instead of delightful spring weather, it’s ghastly hot out–not Vegas-in-August scorching, but also much more humid.

Avoiding that heat by spending so much of my time in Unify’s air-conditioned confines at the Hilton Downtown made this even more of a fake visit for me. I did at least think to stop by a dive bar off Red River Street Wednesday night to get in some local color and put some money into the non-hotel economy.

One other change I noticed compared to March: Austin’s streets seem to have picked up a lot more robotic occupants. Waymos are as ubiquitous as ever, but I also spotted several of Austin-based Avride’s refitted Hyundai Ioniq 5s, at least two Zoox toasters on wheels and one of Tesla’s two-seat, gold-colored Cybercabs–plus delivery robots rolling up and down sidewalks.

(I didn’t get a good enough look at most of the non-Waymo vehicles to see if they had humans at the controls or otherwise overseeing them. Nor did I get rides on any of them, since it was such a short walk from my hotel to the conference venue.)

But one part of Austin did take me right back to my usual marketing-spring-break nonsense: being greeted outside by the airport by the squawk of grackles.

Off-season, non-SXSW Austin is its own sort of weird

AUSTIN, Tex.

It feels like I barely visited my favorite part of Texas, and that’s not just because my trip here for the Connectivity Standards Alliance’s Unify conference only spanned three days. This visit has also reminded me that SXSW, my usual experience of Austin aside from one trip here in September of 2018 for the Online News Association’s conference, is not a reliable reflection of the city.

The sidewalks this week aren’t crowded with hipsters and would-be hipsters (i.e., me) wearing the same conference badge, in the process making the number of unhoused people here a little more obvious. Bars and restaurants downtown go by their normal names instead of being rebranded as “activations” for one #brand or another. And instead of delightful spring weather, it’s ghastly hot out–not Vegas-in-August scorching, but also much more humid.

Avoiding that heat by spending so much of my time in Unify’s air-conditioned confines at the Hilton Downtown made this even more of a fake visit for me. I did at least think to stop by a dive bar off Red River Street Wednesday night to get in some local color and put some money into the non-hotel economy.

One other change I noticed compared to March: Austin’s streets seem to have picked up a lot more robotic occupants. Waymos are as ubiquitous as ever, but I also spotted several of Austin-based Avride’s refitted Hyundai Ioniq 5s, at least two Zoox toasters on wheels and one of Tesla’s two-seat, gold-colored Cybercabs–plus delivery robots rolling up and down sidewalks.

(I didn’t get a good enough look at most of the non-Waymo vehicles to see if they had humans at the controls or otherwise overseeing them. Nor did I get rides on any of them, since it was such a short walk from my hotel to the conference venue.)

But one part of Austin did take me right back to my usual marketing-spring-break nonsense: being greeted outside by the airport by the squawk of grackles.

AUSTIN–This week started with stories datelined from a city some 4,000 miles east of D.C. and ends with pieces datelined from a city about 1,300 miles southwest of home.

3/4/2024: SpaceX rivals pitch their phone-to-satellite alternatives, Light Reading

I wrote most of this piece recapping an MWC panel featuring multiple non-SpaceX satellite-to-phone services–including my Falls Church neighbors Lynk Global–on the flight home to D.C., then somehow pieced together enough scraps of jet-lagged consciousness to finish and file it Thursday night.

3/5/2024: FWA cheer spreads across the world, Light Reading

My MWC coverage wrapped up with my writing and filing this post about fixed-wireless access Friday afternoon. One thing that continues to be great about this event: how it exposes me to multiple non-U.S. perspectives on wireless-service situations we have here.

3/6/2024: Biden’s Broadband Chief Sounds Alarm on Expiring Affordable-Internet Subsidy, PCMag

This post was going to recap a few different panels at ACA Connects Summit, hosted by a D.C. trade group for smaller Internet providers, and then a publicist for the National Telecommunications and Information Administration asked if I’d like to sit down with NTIA administrator Alan Davidson for a quick conversation after his panel.

3/9/2024: 5G Home Internet Soars in 2023, As Cable and Phone-Based Broadband Slump, PCMag

I wrote up the latest subscriber stats gathered by Leichtman Research Group, showing the continued conquests of fixed-wireless services. Contrary to a prediction I’d offered in a post about a previous LRG broadband update, T-Mobile did not end 2023 as the fifth-biggest ISP because the privately-held cable provider Cox still has a few more hundred thousand subscribers, in LRG’s estimate.

3/9/2024: Actors Union Rep Warns Game Studios Over AI: Odds of Strike Are 50-50, PCMag

I put this panel–featuring my fellow Georgetown grad Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, now SAG-AFTRA’s chief negotiator–on my SXSW schedule early on because of its intersection of technology, policy and culture.

3/10/2024: Printer Bashing and Staplers: ‘Office Space’ Cast Files a TPS Report at SXSW, PCMag

I quote from Office Space almost as often as any other movie I’ve seen–and that includes the original Star Wars trilogy and Dr. Strangelove–so there was no way I wasn’t going to see this panel. Even if I then had to watch it on SXSW’s YouTube stream because the room in the Austin Convention Center hit capacity while I was still on line to get in.

3/10/2024: Cybersecurity as a Cornerstone of Brand Trust, Grit Daily House

I moderated this panel–featuring Zach Eikenberry, CEO of Hook Security, Jess Garza, owner of Texas Performance Pyschology, and Andy Bennett, CTO, Apollo Information Systems–at an offsite venue for my fellow conference person Jordan French’s startup-industry publication.

https://robpegoraro.com/2024/03/11/weekly-output-satellite-to-phone-services-fixed-wireless-access-broadband-buildout-risks-2023-broadband-subscriber-stats-actors-negotiating-for-ai-rights-office-space-reunion-how-companies-talk/

#ACAConnects #actorsStrike #AffordableConnectivityPlan #AlanDavidson #Austin #Barcelona #BEAD #cybersecurity #DuncanCrabtreeIreland #federalBroadbandBuildout #fixedWireless #FWA #informationSecurity #LeichtmanResearchGroup #LynkGlobal #MobileWorldCongress #MWC #OfficeSpace #OneWeb #SAGAFTRA #Sateliot #southBySouthwest #sxsw #VerizonHome5G

AUSTIN–This week started with stories datelined from a city some 4,000 miles east of D.C. and ends with pieces datelined from a city about 1,300 miles southwest of home.

3/4/2024: SpaceX rivals pitch their phone-to-satellite alternatives, Light Reading

I wrote most of this piece recapping an MWC panel featuring multiple non-SpaceX satellite-to-phone services–including my Falls Church neighbors Lynk Global–on the flight home to D.C., then somehow pieced together enough scraps of jet-lagged consciousness to finish and file it Thursday night.

3/5/2024: FWA cheer spreads across the world, Light Reading

My MWC coverage wrapped up with my writing and filing this post about fixed-wireless access Friday afternoon. One thing that continues to be great about this event: how it exposes me to multiple non-U.S. perspectives on wireless-service situations we have here.

3/6/2024: Biden’s Broadband Chief Sounds Alarm on Expiring Affordable-Internet Subsidy, PCMag

This post was going to recap a few different panels at ACA Connects Summit, hosted by a D.C. trade group for smaller Internet providers, and then a publicist for the National Telecommunications and Information Administration asked if I’d like to sit down with NTIA administrator Alan Davidson for a quick conversation after his panel.

3/9/2024: 5G Home Internet Soars in 2023, As Cable and Phone-Based Broadband Slump, PCMag

I wrote up the latest subscriber stats gathered by Leichtman Research Group, showing the continued conquests of fixed-wireless services. Contrary to a prediction I’d offered in a post about a previous LRG broadband update, T-Mobile did not end 2023 as the fifth-biggest ISP because the privately-held cable provider Cox still has a few more hundred thousand subscribers, in LRG’s estimate.

3/9/2024: Actors Union Rep Warns Game Studios Over AI: Odds of Strike Are 50-50, PCMag

I put this panel–featuring my fellow Georgetown grad Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, now SAG-AFTRA’s chief negotiator–on my SXSW schedule early on because of its intersection of technology, policy and culture.

3/10/2024: Printer Bashing and Staplers: ‘Office Space’ Cast Files a TPS Report at SXSW, PCMag

I quote from Office Space almost as often as any other movie I’ve seen–and that includes the original Star Wars trilogy and Dr. Strangelove–so there was no way I wasn’t going to see this panel. Even if I then had to watch it on SXSW’s YouTube stream because the room in the Austin Convention Center hit capacity while I was still on line to get in.

3/10/2024: Cybersecurity as a Cornerstone of Brand Trust, Grit Daily House

I moderated this panel–featuring Zach Eikenberry, CEO of Hook Security, Jess Garza, owner of Texas Performance Pyschology, and Andy Bennett, CTO, Apollo Information Systems–at an offsite venue for my fellow conference person Jordan French’s startup-industry publication.

https://robpegoraro.com/2024/03/11/weekly-output-satellite-to-phone-services-fixed-wireless-access-broadband-buildout-risks-2023-broadband-subscriber-stats-actors-negotiating-for-ai-rights-office-space-reunion-how-companies-talk/

#ACAConnects #actorsStrike #AffordableConnectivityPlan #AlanDavidson #Austin #Barcelona #BEAD #cybersecurity #DuncanCrabtreeIreland #federalBroadbandBuildout #fixedWireless #FWA #informationSecurity #LeichtmanResearchGroup #LynkGlobal #MobileWorldCongress #MWC #OfficeSpace #OneWeb #SAGAFTRA #Sateliot #southBySouthwest #sxsw #VerizonHome5G

AUSTIN–This week started with stories datelined from a city some 4,000 miles east of D.C. and ends with pieces datelined from a city about 1,300 miles southwest of home.

3/4/2024: SpaceX rivals pitch their phone-to-satellite alternatives, Light Reading

I wrote most of this piece recapping an MWC panel featuring multiple non-SpaceX satellite-to-phone services–including my Falls Church neighbors Lynk Global–on the flight home to D.C., then somehow pieced together enough scraps of jet-lagged consciousness to finish and file it Thursday night.

3/5/2024: FWA cheer spreads across the world, Light Reading

My MWC coverage wrapped up with my writing and filing this post about fixed-wireless access Friday afternoon. One thing that continues to be great about this event: how it exposes me to multiple non-U.S. perspectives on wireless-service situations we have here.

3/6/2024: Biden’s Broadband Chief Sounds Alarm on Expiring Affordable-Internet Subsidy, PCMag

This post was going to recap a few different panels at ACA Connects Summit, hosted by a D.C. trade group for smaller Internet providers, and then a publicist for the National Telecommunications and Information Administration asked if I’d like to sit down with NTIA administrator Alan Davidson for a quick conversation after his panel.

3/9/2024: 5G Home Internet Soars in 2023, As Cable and Phone-Based Broadband Slump, PCMag

I wrote up the latest subscriber stats gathered by Leichtman Research Group, showing the continued conquests of fixed-wireless services. Contrary to a prediction I’d offered in a post about a previous LRG broadband update, T-Mobile did not end 2023 as the fifth-biggest ISP because the privately-held cable provider Cox still has a few more hundred thousand subscribers, in LRG’s estimate.

3/9/2024: Actors Union Rep Warns Game Studios Over AI: Odds of Strike Are 50-50, PCMag

I put this panel–featuring my fellow Georgetown grad Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, now SAG-AFTRA’s chief negotiator–on my SXSW schedule early on because of its intersection of technology, policy and culture.

3/10/2024: Printer Bashing and Staplers: ‘Office Space’ Cast Files a TPS Report at SXSW, PCMag

I quote from Office Space almost as often as any other movie I’ve seen–and that includes the original Star Wars trilogy and Dr. Strangelove–so there was no way I wasn’t going to see this panel. Even if I then had to watch it on SXSW’s YouTube stream because the room in the Austin Convention Center hit capacity while I was still on line to get in.

3/10/2024: Cybersecurity as a Cornerstone of Brand Trust, Grit Daily House

I moderated this panel–featuring Zach Eikenberry, CEO of Hook Security, Jess Garza, owner of Texas Performance Pyschology, and Andy Bennett, CTO, Apollo Information Systems–at an offsite venue for my fellow conference person Jordan French’s startup-industry publication.

https://robpegoraro.com/2024/03/11/weekly-output-satellite-to-phone-services-fixed-wireless-access-broadband-buildout-risks-2023-broadband-subscriber-stats-actors-negotiating-for-ai-rights-office-space-reunion-how-companies-talk/

#ACAConnects #actorsStrike #AffordableConnectivityPlan #AlanDavidson #Austin #Barcelona #BEAD #cybersecurity #DuncanCrabtreeIreland #federalBroadbandBuildout #fixedWireless #FWA #informationSecurity #LeichtmanResearchGroup #LynkGlobal #MobileWorldCongress #MWC #OfficeSpace #OneWeb #SAGAFTRA #Sateliot #southBySouthwest #sxsw #VerizonHome5G

AUSTIN–This week started with stories datelined from a city some 4,000 miles east of D.C. and ends with pieces datelined from a city about 1,300 miles southwest of home.

3/4/2024: SpaceX rivals pitch their phone-to-satellite alternatives, Light Reading

I wrote most of this piece recapping an MWC panel featuring multiple non-SpaceX satellite-to-phone services–including my Falls Church neighbors Lynk Global–on the flight home to D.C., then somehow pieced together enough scraps of jet-lagged consciousness to finish and file it Thursday night.

3/5/2024: FWA cheer spreads across the world, Light Reading

My MWC coverage wrapped up with my writing and filing this post about fixed-wireless access Friday afternoon. One thing that continues to be great about this event: how it exposes me to multiple non-U.S. perspectives on wireless-service situations we have here.

3/6/2024: Biden’s Broadband Chief Sounds Alarm on Expiring Affordable-Internet Subsidy, PCMag

This post was going to recap a few different panels at ACA Connects Summit, hosted by a D.C. trade group for smaller Internet providers, and then a publicist for the National Telecommunications and Information Administration asked if I’d like to sit down with NTIA administrator Alan Davidson for a quick conversation after his panel.

3/9/2024: 5G Home Internet Soars in 2023, As Cable and Phone-Based Broadband Slump, PCMag

I wrote up the latest subscriber stats gathered by Leichtman Research Group, showing the continued conquests of fixed-wireless services. Contrary to a prediction I’d offered in a post about a previous LRG broadband update, T-Mobile did not end 2023 as the fifth-biggest ISP because the privately-held cable provider Cox still has a few more hundred thousand subscribers, in LRG’s estimate.

3/9/2024: Actors Union Rep Warns Game Studios Over AI: Odds of Strike Are 50-50, PCMag

I put this panel–featuring my fellow Georgetown grad Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, now SAG-AFTRA’s chief negotiator–on my SXSW schedule early on because of its intersection of technology, policy and culture.

3/10/2024: Printer Bashing and Staplers: ‘Office Space’ Cast Files a TPS Report at SXSW, PCMag

I quote from Office Space almost as often as any other movie I’ve seen–and that includes the original Star Wars trilogy and Dr. Strangelove–so there was no way I wasn’t going to see this panel. Even if I then had to watch it on SXSW’s YouTube stream because the room in the Austin Convention Center hit capacity while I was still on line to get in.

3/10/2024: Cybersecurity as a Cornerstone of Brand Trust, Grit Daily House

I moderated this panel–featuring Zach Eikenberry, CEO of Hook Security, Jess Garza, owner of Texas Performance Pyschology, and Andy Bennett, CTO, Apollo Information Systems–at an offsite venue for my fellow conference person Jordan French’s startup-industry publication.

https://robpegoraro.com/2024/03/11/weekly-output-satellite-to-phone-services-fixed-wireless-access-broadband-buildout-risks-2023-broadband-subscriber-stats-actors-negotiating-for-ai-rights-office-space-reunion-how-companies-talk/

#ACAConnects #actorsStrike #AffordableConnectivityPlan #AlanDavidson #Austin #Barcelona #BEAD #cybersecurity #DuncanCrabtreeIreland #federalBroadbandBuildout #fixedWireless #FWA #informationSecurity #LeichtmanResearchGroup #LynkGlobal #MobileWorldCongress #MWC #OfficeSpace #OneWeb #SAGAFTRA #Sateliot #southBySouthwest #sxsw #VerizonHome5G