BLOCKBUSTER Total Access click to activate coupon for $10 off your first month. Free Information on EVault 1-866-928-0735 Demand for Solar Panels Exceeds Supply Heavy Mental Effort Leads to Big Meals Intel Moves on SSD SDR News is a Daily (M-F) Technology Podcast with Tech News Highlights from Slashdot, Digg and Reddit Click Here to Sign Up for the SDR Newsletter Prefer a Direct Download ? (mp3) Download today’s show. SDR News Links If a news item has disappeared from the Del.icio.us list above, try the full list here. Thumbnail Views: Via Thumblicio.us SEARCH ANY STORY YOU HEAR ON THE PODCAST New Block D Auction by Andrew McCaskey As cumbersome as the Block D auction appears to be it is going to have one desirable effect. It’s only a shame that we did not have one thirty years ago. Block D was pulled during the auction last spring, as no bidder was willing to meet the $1.3 Billion reserve price, encumbered with the requirement that the allocations be shared with public health and safety systems on a secondary basis. The new auction is really two sets: one auction at the reduced reserve price of around $750Million for nationwide license to the spectrum block, the other for around sixty regional licenses that must be used for expansion using either LTE or WiMax technologies. As I understand the plan, if the nationwide block meets the reserve price, the winner gets to take all, including the public safety shared arrangement. If the nationwide block does not sell for the asking price, then the parallel regional licenses will go. The highest bidders and the winning technology will take all. WiMax or LTE, the losing bidders and technology will really lose. The winner will be named as the technology of choice. Contrast the crazy quilt of analog, CDMA,TDMA,GSM and additional frequency variants that we tolerated for thirty years in the US. That lack of standard and “letting the market decide” took time that can’t be afforded today. At least someone is trying to make a decision. The market still decides - it just decides a lot more quickly. Contact Us CES 2008 Coverage for Tech Podcast Network Scan Robot Bookscanner Watch Today’s Video Episode Click to view videos submitted or recommended by other SDR podcast listeners. . . If you find a YouTube video that pertains to one of our news items, or have produced an item that would be of interest to SDR listeners, please send us the link slashdotreview{at}gmail.com Save $10 on any order of $50 or more at GoDaddy.com! Be sure to sign up for our upcoming roundtable. We will be using GoToMeeting. Also, be sure to check out GoToMeeting. Why? Because you can hold meetings right over the Net — from anywhere. Plus, you can hold all the meetings you want for one flat rate. To get your free 30-day trial , visit www.gotomeeting.com/techroundtable. Take 10% off any order at GoDaddy.com! Code SLASH Take $5 off any $30 order at GoDaddy.com! Code SLASH2 .com Domains $6.95 at GoDaddy.com! Code SLASH3 More blogs about SlashdotReview… Slashdot Review by Email - Sign up here: Enter your Email Powered by FeedBlitz Less