Boston INTX – Less Turbulence, More Focus

Last year in Chicago, change was in the air. The NCTA had just unveiled INTX, the Internet & TV Expo, as the new brand for the Cable Show. The proposed Time Warner Cable-Comcast merger had flopped, but industry dealmakers were not done yet. Only a few weeks later, Charter announced its intention to acquire Time Warner Cable. At this year’s event in Boston, attendees were more comfortable...
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Richmond VA vs. Silicon Valley?

Richmond VA-based Lighthouse Labs hosted a “Startup Journey” forum last week, featuring medical services innovator Iggbo. It also touched the sensitive issue of Silicon Valley. Lighthouse Labs Talks with Iggbo Lighthouse Director Todd Nuckols moderated the event at the University of Richmond. Headlining the evening were two of the Richmond-based founders of Iggbo, whose mission is to...
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Mobile World Congress 2016 – Too Big to Ignore

This year’s Mobile World Congress (MWC) broke 100,000 attendees. That’s up from 94,000 in 2015. The Barcelona-based event is too big to ignore, and too big for vendors to skip. Meanwhile, the event’s organizer, the GSMA, appears to be sitting pretty. According to Light Reading (LR), two years ago it generated $164 million, when attendees numbered only 85,000. Vendor angst is a reality, as the...
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Cable-Tec Expo ’15 – A Return to New Orleans

There’s a temptation to pack the passport when traveling to New Orleans. I left it at home, but upon arriving for Cable-Tec Expo ‘15, knew that I was once again in a place both familiar and strange. New Orleans is foreign for well-known reasons. It’s familiar for particular ones. My first visit was for Cable-Tec Expo 2000, fifteen years ago, and I’d been back several times. Other ties relate to...
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The UCI World Championship – and a Memory

After a long buildup, the UCI World Championship finally came to town. When it did, it sent me back a few decades, to a year I spent with my family in northern France – and to a gray day when I stood with my brothers beside one of the region’s old stone-paved roads. We waited in the drizzle; then cyclists on the Paris-Roubaix road race appeared, and sped by as spectators shouted out names....
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Going to IBC – or Not?

It’s been several years since I last attended IBC. Registering late, I found a hotel in Zandvoort, a town on the North Sea about 30 km west of Amsterdam and the RAI Convention Center, where I spent a few days with colleagues at the online publication Videonet. A busy event for some 55,000 video pros, IBC is not nearly as crazed as CES, which draws more than three times as many people. But it’s...
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