I’m quite frequently angry with Comcast Xfinity. I pay a small fortune for my measly 30 mbps Internet speeds and I’m lucky if I get that for longer than a second.

The idea of ubiquitous wifi appeals to me. I think it should be regulated, to a degree, by those who maintain it. But being able to always be online, eliminating ridiculous fees I pay each month to both Verizon and Comcast? Well, let’s just say I support the idea of free public wifi as a right (right to pursue happiness perhaps?).

Much to my surprise, the FCC agrees. The FCC wants a free, public WiFi net, nationwide. If approved, it would take a few years to put together and launch, but their plan is extensive and far-reaching.

“We want our policy to be more end-user-centric and not carrier-centric. That’s where there is a difference in opinion” with carriers and their partners, said a senior FCC official who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the proposal is still being considered by the five-member panel.”

Of course, the carriers – everyone from Verizon and AT&T  to Qualcomm – have issues. This would put their current business models at risk.

But according to this Washington Post article, this planned WiFi net would make it possible for heart monitors to communicate with hospitals over a mile a way, and would make things easier for emergency response teams in times of crisis. That’s a large and strong network they’ve got in mind.

The new plan has the backing of both Microsoft and Google, who see ubiquitous wifi as a way for everything from more tablets to robots and self-driving cars to access the Internet. These two companies see the FCC’s plan as viable and a step forward, paving the way for things to come. Ubiquitous wifi, clearing away the monetary broadband gap between upper and lower classes, could bring an explosion of new innovation.

Like anything coming out the government, this has to go through countless committees for approval. With the lobbying power of companies like AT&T, Verizon, Qualcomm, and Intel, this could be stopped dead in its tracks. For now, at least, I’m a bit comforted that the FCC is on the same page as me.

I am admittedly immersed in the Apple ecosystem. Everytime I try to climb out (buying Win 8 products or a Chromebook), I still get sucked back in. One of the things I can’t stand about Apple’s current GUI on their OS and iOS is the use of skeumorphism.

In a nutshell, skeumorphism is taking something digital and making it look like paper. For instance, the Notes app is designed to look like a yellow legal pad written upon with a black marker. The iCal app has “leather-bound” edges. Apple’s Address Book looks like, well, an old-fashioned address book.

Image from apple.com

Wired.com points out today that Apple is on a hiring spree. With Steve Jobs gone and Scott Forstall ousted, we’re entering a new era of design under Jony Ives.

“The early days of the Mac, the iPhone and the iPad perhaps necessitated skeumorphic design to acclimate users to new apps and programs that accomplished tasks in new ways. But it’s no longer needed. The concept of the desktop and the graphical user interface isn’t foreign anymore. We’re grown comfortable with the swipes, double taps and myriad other gestures that can dismiss applications or open up shortcuts in the blink of an eye.”

Apple is hiring senior software engineers to help re-imagine the graphical user interface, someone to develop new APIs and frameworks (iOS) and even someone to help give Siri a personality.

Brilliant design doesn’t happen overnight but here’s hoping, infused with new ideas and creative energy, Apple can eventually move away from the skeumorphism that looks to the past and moves into the clean lines and gesture-based design of the future.

For me, the biggest part of any Super Bowl is usually the commercials. I remember the year of Pets.com, along with a lot of others, where the bigger the ad and the investment, the bigger the impact. Of course, pets.com died a quick death after that, as the bubble burst for everyone. This year, the advertisers expect you to be multi-tasking the game, with your head in your mobile device or laptop just as often as you’re staring at the larger screen.

This year, advertisers are taking quite a different tact in their Super Bowl ads. Not only are they releasing ads ahead of the game on YouTube and client web sites, but they’re integrating social media into the campaign. According to Ad Age, Audi of America believes that “chatter  about Super Bowl ads begins to fade between 24 and 48 hours after the game is over.” Therefore, if you release the ad early, you’ll get more bang for your buck – a longer tail of discussion.

I’m not so sure. I prefer being surprised by the ad during the Super Bowl. I think the surprise maximizes the impact.

Here’s a list of some of the ad buys, their release dates, and their integration into social media (courtesy of Ad Age):

 - Anheuser-Busch got a twitter account for the first time on January 28. One of their ads, with the Clydesdales, will feature a foal. A-B has been soliciting names for the foal on Twitter.
- Audi posted three versions of its potential ad, each with a different ending, and let fans vote on which version they’d like to see run in the Super Bowl. The final spot appeared on YouTube on Jan. 27.
- Kia and Hyundai both pre-released their ads this week as well. Although I’m trying to avoid pre-released ads, I saw a space panda in a clip for Kia’s and I’ve since watched it. It’s damned cute.
- Axe pre-released their ad on Jan 28 and is running a contest (online of course) for some lucky group to fly into space.
- Coca-Cola released their ad on Jan 28. The ad features a contest, or game. In the ad, three teams are racing to get a Coke. The ad ends on a cliffhanger and viewers vote online for their favorite team. The ad featuring the “winning” team will air immediately after the Super Bowl.
- As usual, Dorito’s ran a contest for viewers to submit ads, with the winning ad appearing in the big game.
- Go Daddy has one ad that they’re keeping a secret and one that was released on Jan 25.
- Lincoln, of all brands, has an ad that incorporates ideas solicited by Jimmy Fallon via Twitter.
- Oreo, celebrating their 100th anniversary, is releasing an ad that shows fans of cookie vs filling. The neat thing (other than being a 100-year old brand)? They’re including a campaign on Instagram as well.
- Pepsi has been asking customers to submit photos and those will be used in a spot. Additionally, you’ll be able to sign up online to get a free soda.
- RIM, er, Blackberry has their first ad. According to Ad Age, “A social-media campaign to run alongside commercial will include promoted posts on Twitter and sponsored stories on Facebook.”
- Toyota is running an ad with Kaley Cuoco as a genie. The ad features a photo of a consumer chosen from an Instagram and Twitter campaign using the hash tag #wishgranted.
- Disney Pictures is running a spot highlighting the new Oz: The Great and Powerful film. After the commercial airs, one of the witches from the film will overtake the Disney web site.
- Wonderful Pistachios is running an ad featuring Psy. Fans can upload a photo of them getting “crackin’ Gangnam Style” with pistachios and potentially win a 12-month lease of a new Mercedes Benz.

Not many people think about football when they think mobile and digital technology. However, according to the WSJ (subscription needed), both the Baltimore Ravens and San Francisco 49ers are using digital technology to improve their football operations. Primarily the teams are using them in the back office to gather deeper analytics and statistics and use those to analyze every aspect of their operations — even going so far as to look at fan tailgating habits. More importantly, the teams hope to harvest the data to help coaches perform analyses on plays, and to provide player data to the players themselves so they can conduct “deep reviews” of their on-the-field actions.

Additionally, as both teams prepare for Sunday’s Big Game, the Ravens players have ditched their old, heavy playbooks for shiny iPads loaded with a custom app called GamePlan. This app lets the players study plays, drill down into play specifics, and even quickly look at “all third-down plays designed to gain more than 10 yards,” for example. The app is fun and easy to use, and coaches report that players are spending 50% more time studying the plays than they did with the giant playbooks of yester-year. No word if the 49ers are handing out iPads to their players yet, but being so close to the Valley, you’d think they’d have a tech-edge over Baltimore… doesn’t seem to be… yet. We’ll see how all this tech-bling plays out on Sunday!

There’s been a lot of hullabaloo about Vine — Twitter’s new “Instagram” for video app – since it was released last week (as a matter of fact, Apple removed it from the Editor’s Choice area on the App Store this morning). Most of the chatter is revolving around Vine’s purported porn problem. However, there’s a bigger transformation potential with Vine: how-to videos or “performance support” types of videos for teaching, showing and demonstrating how to do something (clean, and not dirty, we hope). Simply browse the #howto hashtag to see a ton of demonstration vids. Just this morning, I’m browsing vids that show me how to “make steak tartare” or how to “solve the Rubik’s cube” in 6 seconds or less.

If Vine can overcome the typical human need to share ”what shouldn’t be shared” socially, it could be a powerful app for sharing knowledge (the non-porn type)…

You may be asking what is Vine?