AT&T and T-Mobile USA: No Deal

AT&T put $39 billion on the line to acquire T-Mobile USA, but the communications giant has officially dropped its offer. The deal faced stiff opposition from government regulators in the form of the Federal Communications Commission and the Department of Justice. The regulators voiced loudly their concerns about the deal’s potential to stymie a “competitive wireless industry” and spell even steeper fees for users of the technology.

AT&T rebutted such concerns by saying that the “AT&T and T-Mobile USA combination would have offered an interim solution to this spectrum shortage,” and that in “the absence of such steps, customers will be harmed and needed investment will be stifled.” The spectrum shortage mentioned is a short supply of wireless airwaves. The Department of Justice was going after the deal’s demise by arguing that it violated antitrust laws.

In the New York Times, the Justice Department’s deputy attorney general, James Cole, expressed his view on the deal’s end:

This result is a victory for the millions of Americans who use mobile wireless telecommunications services. A significant competitor remains in the marketplace and consumers will benefit from a quick resolution of this matter without the unnecessary expense of taxpayer money and government resources.

Article Submitted by Jim from Moba Project.

Low-Tech and High-Tech Education in Silicon Valley and Beyond

This fall, the New York Times ran a story about a prestigiously “low-tech” school in Los Altos, California, that was impossibly populated by the offspring of the Silicon Valley heavy hitters. According the article’s author, Matt Richtel, Apple, Google, Yahoo, eBay, and Hewlett-Packard are all represented among the student body’s parents. The institution being discussed is the Waldorf School of the Peninsula.

The cornerstone of the school’s approach to education is “physical activity and learning through creative, hands-on tasks.” In the elementary-grade classrooms, computers and screens are banned, and engagement with the technological staples at home is discouraged. Advocates of such teaching methods argue that computers can have adverse effects on “creative thinking, movement, human interaction, and attention spans.”

If you haven’t been in a public elementary school lately, you may be surprised to learn about the tools that are being used to engage students, and also to boost their test scores. Instead of chalkboards, a la Waldorf, more mainstream schools have been experimenting with futuristic-looking touch screens. There at least a feature that would be more easily expected at a University instead of a third-grade classroom. Policymakers who push for more technology in the classroom cite the gulf in technological access among their students that must be bridged in the school setting to even the playing field. Seems like both philosophies could complement one another.

Article Submitted by Nick from Articles 2 Know.