Alec Saunders SquawkBox

Squawk Box April 9 was huge fun. The topics were:

Google’s App Engine. Who’s it for, how does it differ from Amazon Web Services, and where’s Microsoft? It got downright ugly for a while as people jumped on the bash Microsoft wagon, but it’s worth keeping in mind that the critics who mockingly refer to Google as SkyNet may not be that far off either.

Skype’s Carterfone application. Everyone agreed that FCC Chairman Martin was wrong to deny the petition. Perhaps the most interesting part of the call though was James Body telling us the tale of how Truphone won their petition in the UK. Carriers argued that they weren’t a “proper” wireless carrier because they had no spectrum or towers, but Truphone’s logic prevailed in the court!

Also, the call gave me a chance to try out some audio enhancements we’ve been working on. The recording should be cleaner, individual speakers should be volume equalized to other speakers, and clipping (which has plagued some of our previous calls) should be substantially eliminated.

Enjoy the call!

 

 Squawk Box April 9 [45:00m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

This morning we’ll have a chat about the impact of Google’s announcement of Google App Engine a couple of days. We couldn’t get to it yesterday! At first blush, it looks like a competitor to Amazon Web Services, but with some differences. And some argue that the real target is Facebook. My question … where’s Microsoft in all of this?

We’ll also talk about the FCC’s decision last week to deny the Skype Open Access petition. Chairman Martin said that networks were opening up all by themselves. He had the power to enact a “Carterfone” and chose not to.

See you at 11!