The OECD* broadband rankings are out and the U.S. has dropped in the rankings again. As previously noted in this space, Charlie Giancarlo, Cisco’s Chief Development Officer, called for a national broadband plan in the pages of the San Francisco Chronicle at the end of last year. With the 2006 OECD broadband rankings now out, I would like to again draw your attention to his rationale for said national broadband plan. Please make sure you check out the great data and graphs on broadband sliced and diced around the OECD at the bottom of their release. Read More »

Earlier this week, there was media coverage on a lawsuit brought against a large technology corporation by a human rights organization for providing information to the Chinese government that allowed it to personally identify a citizen, who was subsequently sentenced to prison. Some of the coverage identified Cisco as supplying technology equipment that allows the Chinese government to divert Internet traffic away from information that the government doesn’t want accessed by its citizens. The way it was written could be read that we work with governments to help them censor or manage the information that their citizens access. We do not. We have made our concerns clear to the media outlets in question. The purpose of this blog entry is to make clear what Cisco does and does not do with respect to the management of information. Read More »

This Sunday, April 22nd, is Earth Day. Earth Day was started in 1970 by U.S. Senator Gaylord Nelson (D-WI) in order “to spark a revolution against environmental abuse” according to Earth Day Networks.With that spirit in mind, the San Jose/Silicon Valley Chamber of Commerce (hometown CoC for Cisco HQ) is organizing an e-waste recycle day for its members and for the community at large this Saturday, April 21 from 8 a.m. until 1 p.m. at the Spartan Stadium parking lot on South Seventh Street in San Jose. It is FREE for all. Read More »

It is that time of year in the U.S. “Beware of the Ides of March” is a famous warning to Julius Caeser. “Beware of the Ides of April” should be an equally famous warning from Uncle Sam. John and Paul once wrote, “(if you drive a car) -- I’ll tax the street; (if you try to sit) -- I’ll tax your seat; (if you get too cold) -- I’ll tax the heat; (if you take a walk) -- I’ll tax your feet.” Why? “‘Cause I’m the taxman, Yeah, I’m the taxman.” Yep, it’s tax day and I hope that you will have filed by midnight tonight. Or filed your extension. More and more taxes are being filed online and that’s a good thing because I understand that it saves dollars per filing. Which, in turn, means fewer dollars are needed by the government for processing taxes, which means your taxes should be lower. Right? In sum, paying your taxes online saves me and you money. So, hat’s off to Uncle Sam for encouraging online filing. Read More »

Today, we are happy to welcome Portfolio to the online world and COMING SOON to your mailbox or to your local newstand in analog, magazine form. I am a subscriber and I’ve already gotten my “FREE with Subscription” Conde Nast Portfolio umbrella, but I have yet to get the first magazine, although I’m sure it will arrive soon. I’ll let you know my thoughts when I get it.I’d like to also give a shout out to Kevin Maney and plug* his blog “The Tech Observer” on Portfolio.com as well. He is formerly with USAToday and has vast experience and insight on the technology space. The beauty and freedom of the blog is that he can also follow his passion for music and enlist “guest bloggers” to write about technology’s impact on music…in this case Roger McGuinn of The Byrds …as well as link to other blogs like GigaOm and and TechCrunch, and to his own band’s MySpace page. His band currently has 43 friends, including former parachute-pants-wearing, Oakland, CA native, Mr. MC Hammer. It turns out, you CAN touch this and send his band, Not Dead Yet, a “friend request”…if you are on MySpace, that is…Welcome, Portfolio, we look forward to reading you and working with you.*If he wanted to plug or link to this blog, we certainly wouldn’t stop him. : )