Mari Silbey

Mari’s tech career started when she became the default “IT guy” in her first job out of college. Since leaving help-desk duties to the experts, she’s focused on trends in technology as a consultant, writer, reporter, analyst and at-home gadget tinkerer. Her current paid gig is with the non-profit organization US Ignite where she focuses on how networks and digital technologies impact smart cities. All posts on ZNF represent her own opinions and not those of US Ignite. Mari is a sucker for anything in the digital media space and covers interesting happenings in cable, telecom, and whatever else she feels like. Find her on Twitter at @msilbey.

4G Downstream Speeds Faster Than Wi-Fi

Now here’s a surprise. Using Speedtest.net as a monitor, I can get better downstream results from my mobile broadband connection than I can from my Wi-Fi connection delivered over a FiOS-driven home network. I’m a Verizon 4G LTE subscriber for mobile broadband, and a Verizon FiOS Extreme customer (25/25 package) for Internet at home. I tested … Read more

What Would Make Me Buy a Kindle Scribe

The blog Fusible discovered earlier this week that Amazon has registered the domain names KindleScribe.com and KindleScribes.com, prompting speculation that the next Kindle will include note-taking capabilities. Jared Newman over at Time’s Techland went on to pair that possibility with the fact that Amazon recently started a textbook rental program, which could certainly benefit from a virtual scribbling … Read more

Apple and Google Have Traffic on the Brain

Local newscasters have always known that it’s traffic and weather that keep people coming back for more, so it shouldn’t be a surprise to see heavyweights Apple and Google putting more muscle behind their real-time traffic technology. First up, Patently Apple reported late last week that Apple has filed a patent application that looks to be … Read more

New Evidence of “iPad HD” Coming in Early 2012

Right on the heels of HP announcing the death of WebOS and the TouchPad, there’s new evidence today that Apple will be coming out with its third-generation iPad in early 2012. Better yet, the rumors that this will be an “iPad HD” appear to be true. According to The Wall Street Journal (via MacRumors) the new iPad is … Read more

Google Catalogs – Everyone Should Be Doing This

Google has rather quietly launched a catalog app for the iPad. After it’s last ill-fated attempt to digitize catalogs bit the dust two and a half years ago, the new tablet app (coming to Android devices soon) seems to be the right move at the right time. Even if you don’t enjoy shopping – or feel, … Read more

Why Free TV Isn’t Free on the Web

ESPN started the practice back in 2009 of tying online content access to a pay-TV subscription. And while it’s taken a while to catch on, the trend is starting to gather serious momentum. HBO has extended its campaign of streaming content behind a subscription-based authentication wall, and now Fox is getting in the game by pulling new episodes … Read more

On Motorola and Google TV

There are a thousand and one ways Google could move forward with today’s announced acquisition of Motorola Mobility. Certainly Google will use Motorola’s mobile assets to further its Android ambitions, and this is a big shift in the landscape for mobile players including Samsung, HTC, and Apple. However, I’m far more curious about what this … Read more

WiMAX Still Rules, but You’d Never Know It

Sprint added 1.7 million WiMAX subscribers in Q2 (mostly wholesaled from Clearwire), while Verizon added 1.2 million LTE subscribers in the same time period. Long-time analyst Paul Kapustka tracked the WiMAX win over at Sidecut Reports, but he’s the only person I’ve seen report the comparison. Instead, most of the press has focused solely on … Read more