Smartphones keep getting smarter and more useful. Now they’re turning into mobile TV broadcasting stations.

Sprint last week announced the HTC EVO 4G. It’s the first phone to run on Sprint’s next-generation 4G high-speed mobile broadband network. Sprint currently offers 4G service in 27 markets with plans to roll it out to more markets (including the Bay Area) later this year. The phone is expected to be available this summer.

One thing interesting about this phone is that it has two cameras. Like most smartphones, there’s one on the back that the user controls from the front of the camera to take pictures or video of others. The back-facing camera on the EVO has an exceptionally high-resolution 8 megapixels and the ability to capture high definition video.

But the phone also has 1.3-megapixel camera on its front, so it can easily take a picture or video of the phone’s user. Aside from being able to take vanity pictures of yourself, that feature — when combined with the phone’s high-speed network — allows live video conferencing. You could also use the camera in the back to broadcast whatever is around you.

I have a feeling that this phone is going to appeal to kids who love to interact with their friends via photos and video. Like other camera phones, it raises some privacy and safety issues. I hope Sprint provides kids and parents with some basic education on the safe use of this very cool technology.

Thep hone will ship with the same Android 2.1 operating system and 1 Ghz Snapdragon processor as Google’s Nexus One. It, of course, will have the usual Android features, including GPS, Bluetooth and the ability to connect via Wi-Fi.

The phone will also enable users to create their own Wi-Fi hotspot. For example, commuters who carpool could share the signal to connect laptops or other devices for up to eight passengers. The phone will have an HDMI output for sending hi-definition (720p) video and photos to a TV set.

But you don’t have to wait until summer to check out an HTC phone with the physical look and feel of the EV0 4G. The HTC HD2, which runs the Windows Mobile 6.5 operating system, hit T-Mobile stores last week. It has the same 4.3 inch screen as the EVO and uses the same fast processor. It doesn’t have the front camera but it does have a 5-megapixels camera on the back, which is pretty much the standard for new high-end smartphones.

The HD2 is all about entertainment and comes pre-loaded with two movies: “Transformers” and “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.” These are not my favorite flicks but they do demonstrate the quality of the screen and the fact that viewing movies on a smartphone can be a reasonably OK experience, thanks in part to that 4.3-inch high resolution screen, which T-Mobile says is the largest of any smartphone currently sold in the United States. A mobile version of the “Guitar Hero” game is also pre-loaded. And the phone comes with a GPS and turn-by-turn navigation from Telenav.

To its credit, HTC layered its “Sense” user interface over Windows 6.5, which makes it more user-friendly than most Windows mobile phones. Also, the faster processor makes up for the otherwise sluggish performance I’ve experienced on other Windows phones. However, Windows did raise its ugly head twice during my test of the phone.

When I tried to rent a movie from Blockbuster, I got a long error message that ended with, “make sure the clocks are synchronized or use the timeTolerenceInSeconds element in the microsfot.web.services3.”

Since I couldn’t watch a movie, I figured I’d read a book. But when I tried using Barnes & Nobel’s book reader, I got the message “Error opening the shortcut or locating the target filename.” Fortunately, I was able to use the phone to make calls.

Microsoft last month unveiled an entirely new mobile operating system, Windows Phone 7 Series, which was re-written from the ground up. The new Windows mobile won’t run existing applications, so anyone who buys a Windows phone today is buying into a dying eco-sphere.

Windows Phone 7 won’t be available until late this year. But even then, it won’t be possible to upgrade the HD2 to the new operating system.

If I were buying a smartphone today, I’d stick with Blackberry, iPhone or a phone running Google’s Android operating system.

If you go to Google’s investor relations Web site, you’ll see a link for the Google Code of Conduct which begins with “don’t be evil.”

Yet depending on how you define evil, Google’s willingness — until this week — to allow the Chinese government to censor web results might just qualify. On the other hand, the company’s decision to offer only uncensored results from its newly relocated servers off the mainland could be seen as a push for democracy — or at least freedom of speech.

As part of the cost of doing business in the People’s Republic of China, Google allowed its web searches to be filtered. For example, a search for Tiananmen Square might not bring up a site that described the role of the Chinese government in crushing dissent.

Google was never happy with this arrangement, but put up with it until its servers and the Gmail accounts of Chinese activists were hacked earlier this year. As a result, Google said enough was enough and that it would stop cooperating with China’s censors.

The search giant reportedly attempted to get China to agree to lift the censorship, but, failing that, decided to just move its search operations to Hong Kong. Google says it intends to keep a sales office and research and development facilities in China, though the sales team may wind up with less business going forward.

Hong Kong, a former British colony, operates under a different set of rules than the rest of mainland China. As a result, Google can offer its unfiltered search there.

While shifting the servers to Hong Kong may seem like a brilliant end-run around Chinese censorship, it’s more of a symbolic victory.

Thanks to “the Great Firewall of China,” authorities in Beijing have the ability to block access to Google.hk or allow access but prevent people from going to links found in a Google search. It’s even possible for Chinese censors to prevent mainland users from seeing the results of a Google search even if they access the site. So, at the end of the day, if China wants to keep its 400 million online users away from Google or from search results, it can do that.

However, information has a way of seeping out and China’s efforts to suppress the Internet will not succeed in the long run. I’m not saying this out of ideology (though I do believe in freedom of information) but from history. The Soviet Union was able to remain intact despite the considerable military strength of its foes, but wasn’t able to withstand the power of the fax machine and early e-mail systems used by activists. There will people in China who have the know-how and skills to get around the filters, just as there are students in America who know how to get around school content filters.

But while information may be free, running a company like Google requires resources, business deals and advertising revenue. Because of its revenue stream from other parts of the world, I’m sure Google could operate Google.hk indefinitely without a yuan of Chinese revenue, but this move is likely to have at least a small impact on Google’s bottom line. Also, there is the prospect that Google might be denying itself from a very profitable market.

The New York Times reported that China Mobile, the country’s biggest cellular carrier, might cancel a deal to put the Google search engine on its home page. There is also speculation that the country’s second largest carrier might delay or cancel plans to introduce a cell phone based on the Google Android operating system. And if the Chinese government decides to permanently block access to Google.hk, it could spell the end of any advertising revenue for the site.

China has more net users than America has people and, unlike the U.S. where Internet use is ubiquitous, most of China’s 1.3 billion people aren’t online yet.

Eventually, China could be an extremely lucrative market; by not playing nice with Chinese authorities, Google could wind up being shut out of billions of dollars of revenue.

But that’s a risk that — I think — that’s worth taking for a company that prides itself on not doing evil.

If Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski gets his way, we will have a National Broadband Plan with 100 megabit Internet connection to 100 million U.S. homes by 2020. And that could make remote medicine a reality.

The FCC’s National Broadband plan contains a 25-page chapter on health care, and calls upon the Department of Health and Human Services to make so-called e-care projects a “top priority.” One suggestion is the creation of a Health Care Broadband Infrastructure Fund to make sure all health care facilities — including rural ones — have adequate connectivity.

At the very least, clinics, hospitals and even doctor’s offices should be encouraged to put health records into a secure database that can be accessed by patients and their authorized care givers, wherever they happen to be located.

The health care portion of the Broadband plan sites an example of “Beverly,” a 49 year old stroke victim from a town 75 miles outside of Boston. After she arrived at her local hospital, staff setup a video link to Massachusetts General Hospital, where a stroke specialist observed her and conducted a neurological exam while receiving vital signs and lab data.

Based in part on her nods in response to yes and no questions, the specialist determined the stroke was caused by a clot. He prescribed tPA in the nick of time, and when she arrived at Mass General by ambulance, her symptoms were completely gone.

In addition to saving lives, video consultation and other “telehealth” techniques can save money by giving facilities remote access to world-class specialists without having to have them on their payroll. The broadband plan said avoiding costs from moving patients from correctional facilities and nursing homes to emergency departments and physician offices could result in $1.2 billion in annual savings.”

Simply by switching all providers to electronic health systems with on-screen reminders to prompt physicians to prescribe influenza and pneumonia vaccinations could save up to 39,000 lives annually, according to a study cited in the FCC’s report.

National adaption of electronic health records (EHRs) could save more lives by alerting physicians and patients of dangerous drug allergies and drug interactions when the doctor is punching in the prescription. According to one study, this alone could result in a net savings of as much as $371 billion for hospitals and $142 billion for physicians over the next 15 years.

Just as with other aspects of broadband penetration, the United States has some catching up to do. According to the FCC, this country “ranks in the bottom half (out of 11 countries) on every metric used to measure adoption, including use of electronic medical records (10th), electronic prescribing (10th), electronic clinical note entry (10th), electronic ordering of laboratory tests (8th), electronic alerts/prompts about potential drug dose/interaction problems (8th) and electronic access to patient test results (7th).

There are also some exciting possibilities in mobile health delivery via laptops, smartphones and other portable devices. Not only do portable devices enable physicians to access lab results, images and drug data from wherever they happen to be, they also can allow patients to monitor vital signs such as glucose levels, blood pressure and other data, and to transmit that data to physicians, caregivers or clinics.

Lifescan, a Johnson & Johnson company, offers an iPhone application that connects to a glucose monitor to transmit data to a patient’s caregiver or physician.

And there’s a $1.99 “AcneApp” for the iPhone that claims it can treat acne by projecting light from the phone’s screen to your face. “Rest the iPhone against your skin’s acne-prone areas for 2 minutes,” says the advertisement “to improve skin health without prescription drugs.” I don’t know if it works, but the App will soon be the subject of a clinical trial by Baylor College of Medicine.

So next time you go to the doctor and ask about a drug to cure whatever ails you, perhaps instead of writing a prescription, he or she will simply say, “There’s an App for That.”

The FTC’s excellent Internet safety booklet “Net Cetera”

The Federal Trade Commission has published an excellent guide for parents about helping kids and teens stay safe and protect their privacy and reputation online and on mobile devices. The booket covers sexting, cyberbullying, texting, computer security, parental controls and pre-teen privacy.

The free booklet, called Net Cetera: Chatting with Kids About Being Online,” is available free in printed form or as a downloadable and printable PDF (scroll down for link). You can also order free printed copies in English or Spanish.

Read more at SafeKids.com

Trend Micro giving away $10,000 to best Internet safety video (credit: Trend Micro)

Computer Security firm Trend Micro has an offer for any teen or adult who cares about Internet safety and security and wants to become an award winning filmmaker. The company has launched a contest called “What’s Your Story,” where the person who submits the best short video (no more than 2 minutes) can win $10,000. There are also four $500 prizes.

Read more at SafeKids.com

by Larry Magid

It’s an odd concept but there is a movement to nominate “the Internet” for the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize.

There’s even a Web site, InternetForPeace.org, to advocate that the “Nobel Peace Prize should go to the Net. A Nobel for each and every one of us.”

There are some heavyweights behind the idea, including Iranian human rights activist and 2003 Nobel Peace Prize laureate Shirin Ebadi, fashion designer Giorgio Armani and Nicholas Negroponte, founder of MIT Media Lab and One Laptop per Child.

The group has a “manifesto,” arguing that “digital culture has laid the foundations for a new kind of society. And this society is advancing dialogue, debate and consensus through communication.” The Internet, it says, “is a tool for peace” and “anyone who uses it can sow the seeds of nonviolence.”

I’m not sure if it’s possible for something as amorphous as the Internet to win the $1.4 million Nobel Peace Prize, but the nomination is certainly thought-provoking. The Internet is indeed a unifying force that brings people together, helps activists fight oppression and provides enormous possibilities for communications and global understanding.

It’s the way that people in the United States can learn about what is happening in the Middle East directly from people who live in that region. And despite China’s “Great Firewall,” the Internet helps activists in that country reach across oceans and across their own country to fight censorship and oppression.

The Net is also a tool for gay, lesbian and transgender people to provide one another support and encouragement and combat isolation. And it has been used to prevent suicides, counsel against drug abuse, and encourage countless laudable and even heroic acts by people all over the world.

One company, Global Hosted Operating System, uses the Internet and videoconferencing to link its two offices — one in Jerusalem and the other across the fence in the West Bank city of Ramallah.

But despite all those points in the plus column, there are some aspects of the Internet that seem as contradictory as the career of the prize’s founder, Alfred Nobel, a pacifist who was also the inventor of dynamite and nitroglycerin.

The Internet has been a boon to collectors of illegal child pornography, purveyors of hate sites, and millions of annoying, angry and not-so-peaceful “flame wars,” via e-mail, chat, forums and social networking sites.

Ernie Allen, CEO of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (whose board I’m on), has repeatedly pointed out that postal inspectors had all but eliminated child pornography until the Internet made it easy for criminals to disseminate these images. The Anti-Defamation League’s Web site has an entire section devoted to Internet hate sites.

Bullying has been around forever, but cyberbullying is making it all too easy to harass people 24/7. Just last week, a study by two researchers at Iowa State University found that 54 percent of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) youth had been cyberbullied within 30 days of the study. Other studies have shown that as many as 30 percent of all American teens have suffered some type of cyberbullying.

Chatroulette.com could be cited for or against the Net getting a peace prize. On the plus side, it brings people from around the world together for a spontaneous online video conversation. I’m sure the Nobel committee would be pleased how easy it is for users to engage fellow global citizens who live on other continents. Unfortunately, a significant percentage of these global citizens seem to be engaged in activities that are more gross than noble.

If the Nobel committee ever did decide to give a prize to the Net, there probably would be a war over who would pick it up. Would it be early pioneers from the late ’60s like Vincent Cerf, Leonard Kleinrock, Robert Kahn or Tim Berners-Lee, who is credited for inventing the World Wide Web in 1990?

Maybe it should be Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, who created a platform that, so far, links 400 million people around the world. Perhaps it should be Twitter founders Biz Stone and Evan Williams, who have given a 140-character platform to activists around the globe.

They could give it to Al Gore, who reportedly once said, “I took the initiative in creating the Internet,” but he already has a Nobel Peace Prize.

This article originally appeared in the San Jose Mercury News

by Larry Magid

This article initially appeared on CNET News.com

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski laid out the “broadband plan for children and families” Friday at the National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C.

FCC chairman gets help from Elmo in promoting broadband plan for kids. (Credit: FCC video of speech via YouTube)

Referring to children as “our most precious national resource,” Genachowski said “we must do everything we can to educate and prepare them to thrive in the 21st century and keep them safe.” New technologies, he said, “can expose our children to new dangers, and can potentially outpace the ability of parents to guide their children.”

Read more and see video of speech at SafeKids.com

Tags: .xxx, icann, ICM

by Larry Magid

This article initially appeared on CNET News.com

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski laid out the “broadband plan for children and families” Friday at the National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C.

FCC chairman gets help from Elmo in promoting broadband plan for kids. (Credit: FCC video of speech via YouTube)

Referring to children as “our most precious national resource,” Genachowski said “we must do everything we can to educate and prepare them to thrive in the 21st century and keep them safe.” New technologies, he said, “can expose our children to new dangers, and can potentially outpace the ability of parents to guide their children.”

Genachowski had a mostly positive view of technology for kids, especially as it applies to learning. “The benefits of digital learning aren’t just theoretical. They’re real. One study found that low-income children who use the Internet more at home had higher GPAs and standardized test scores than children who use it less,” he said. He added that we need to set a “clear and non-negotiable goal: every child should be connected to broadband.

Read more at SafeKids.com

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) board at its meeting Friday will consider a proposal from ICM Registry for adult sites to use the .xxx top-level domain instead of or in addition to .com.

This is hardly the first time ICANN has dealt with this issue. It rejected similar proposals in 2000, again in 2006 and most recently in 2007.

In an telephone interview Wednesday night from Nairobi (scroll down for podcast), ICM President Stuart Lawley said he successfully appealed the 2007 decision, paving the way for ICANN to reconsider the proposal on its merits.

The proposal has been a hot button for years, uniting some conservatives and some free-speech advocates in opposition to it. The conservative Family Research Council, for example, opposed the idea in a 2005 press release, arguing that “pornographers will be given even more opportunities to flood our homes, libraries, and society with pornography through the .xxx domain.”

Read more at SafeKids.com