It seems clearer that the days of cheaper broadband are drawing to a close or at least a pause. Telephone companies, which had pushed down access rates, are curtailing their price-cutting to woo new subscribers, according to a new report.

As a result, cable companies are again beating telcos at adding broadband subscribers. The first quarter of this year was the first since 2004 that the cablecos added more broadband users than did the telephone companies, the report from Leichtman Research Group says.

AT&T, for one, has raised the monthly charge for many of its DSL plans. Some cable companies, including Comcast, have offered a smattering of lower-priced tiers, but they still remain generally more expensive than telcos' offerings.

Movie studios are studying how they might undercut the disk business in favor of digital downloads, and there's a report from ContentAgenda.com that moviemakers may release movies to cable and satellite companies before they even appear on disk.

As it is now, a few movies make it to cable systems on the same day they are released on standard or Blu-ray DVDs. Warner Bros. has released movies on the same day to cable for on-demand viewing, and other studios are testing the same thing.

And big studios recently agreed to sell movie downloads through iTunes on the same date that disks go on sale. They had done the same thing earlier with other download services, such as CinemaNow and Movielink.

Selling downloads before disks would be a big step forward. DVD sales have flattened, so studios are willing to experiment. Plus, digital downloads cut out several middlemen.

Warner recently reported that its margins in selling to video-on-demand services run as high as 70 percent. That's several times the profit from disks, whose margins typically run 20 to 30 percent.

The studios want to explore deals with cable and satellite operators "to potentially create exciting new services for subscribers that will revolutionize home movie viewing," the Motion Picture Association of America said in a recent petition to federal regulators, according to ContentAgenda.com.

The new services would offer "high-definition digital movies to consumers for enjoyment in their homes sometime prior to release on prerecorded media such as DVD."

The MPAA is asking that the government first allow tighter copy protections on cable and satellite boxes.

To try to understand yesterday's news that digital TV is soon coming to hand-helds, we spoke with Jay Adrick, a vice president at Harris Corp., which makes broadcasting gear. Harris said yesterday that because South Korean manufacturers dropped their format battle, it would start selling gear to local stations as soon as November, even before a final standard is approved next year. Excerpts of the conversation with Adrick:

We already have portable televisions that we can carry around to get analog TV. Why is this a big deal?
The analog signals get turned off in February. The new digital signals were never designed to reach mobile devices. The digital TV standard was designed for fixed receivers, and there was an assumption there was an antenna involved.

Society is very mobile today. Broadcasters want to reach those mobile viewers.

There's lots of free software out there, thanks to the open-source movement. But there's none that can transfer programs, data, and settings to a new Windows computer as well as PCMover. And the $50 program is free to download today, if you've got patience to get through its website, which is very slow today.

Demand might ease this evening. The program's author, LapLink, is making the offer through midnight Pacific time to celebrate its 25th anniversary.

Or, I found the process much quicker if you're willing to also buy something from the LapLink store. That raises a bit of suspicion of a come-on, but LapLink is a credible company with servers that I'm sure are hammered today.

I found PCMover to be a good download if you're trying to set up another PC. That's true at its normal, $50 price—and even more so with today's one-time free download.

This item combines two of my favorite topics, cellphones and digital TV. The two will merge sooner now that two South Korean companies have buried the hatchet and will merge their competing standards, opening the way for broadcasters to send their signals to cellphones and other mobile devices.

It's a potentially huge market. This is not the few preselected cable channels that are now offered on AT&T and Verizon phones. This would be local TV stations that you could carry in your pocket or watch in your car. And these would be the crystal-clear signals of digital broadcast, one benefit of the switchover from analog broadcasts.

LG and Samsung agreed to combine their competing standards for the new technology. That should make a final standard easier to achieve. Some equipment manufacturers won't even wait for the final standard and will start selling broadcasting gear in the coming months.

The two electronics giants apparently learned from the mistakes of their Japanese brethren, who helped stall sales of high-definition video disks with a long-running format war.

Blu-ray won't replace DVDs as the leading format for selling and renting movies to consumers, says Stewart Wolpin at Digital Tech Consulting. He says there just isn't enough juice in the new format for consumers to plunk down several hundred dollars to make the switch.

"DTC does not expect Blu-ray to represent any more than a third of all DVD devices sold five years hence," he writes.

His prediction comes on the heels of reports from NPD and ABI Research that sales of Blu-ray players are sluggish, despite Blu-ray's victory in the format war when Toshiba pulled the plug on competitor HD DVD.

Wolpin's bearish take has roots in past, failed formats. Historically, higher resolution hasn't been enough to replace a media format. Think S-VHS and digital audiotapes, as well as higher-resolution CD formats like SACD and DVD-Audio that foundered.

Those that did succeed offered more than just better resolution. Blu-ray doesn't bring more convenience or longer play, as did CDs over vinyl records and DVDs over VHS.

Many analysts, though, aren't ready to count out Blu-ray. Studios and retailers will push the format, particularly once players start selling for about half their current starting price of around $400. But most agree that if Blu-ray doesn't get rolling in the next year or two, it's unlikely to prevail over a rising wave of digital competitors.

Linux, the open-source operating system, has yet to gain a real foothold on your desktop computer. But it soon will be in many cellphones.

The Linux phone movement got a boost today when Verizon Wireless said it would load a version on many of its handsets. Users probably won't notice much difference, as Verizon is likely to keep its standardized look and feel for phone software.

But users might find many more programs to download for phones running the Linux system from LiMo, an industry consortium that is promoting a Linux version. Verizon joined the group, which already included Vodafone, a European carrier that owns nearly half of Verizon Wireless.

LiMo is often seen as a competitor to Android, a Google-led effort to develop Linux for wireless handsets. Google views Android as a way to get its search engine onto mobile devices.

But Verizon said it may also use Android as the company opens its options. Most Verizon phones now come with software from chip-maker Qualcomm, although Verizon also sells smartphones with Windows, Palm, and BlackBerry systems.

A new hand-held joins the BlackBerry family, but we'll withhold the oohs and ahs despite the "Bold" name. The phone appears to be a good step forward—and not much more.

The Bold essentially soups up earlier BlackBerry models, adding a higher-resolution screen that has some reviewers singing its praises. And Kevin Micaluk at CrackBerry.com has a gushing review of the phone's look and feel, having scored one off eBay. The phone doesn't officially go on sale until this summer.

Besides its sharp screen, the handset works on high-speed data networks and includes Wi-Fi networking, both pluses. The camera captures a hefty 2 megapixels, and the media player syncs with Apple's iTunes software.

But unlike some, I don't see how the Bold alone can foil the Apple iPhone. That's more likely with a touch-screen model that Research in Motion is said to be developing.

For now, the BlackBerry Bold appears to be a great phone that will attract users who demand a real keyboard. For those who don't, it can't match the ease of the iPhone's touch-screen and software.

That didn't take long. Facebook says it will let users share their profile data with other websites, just a day after competitor MySpace had said the same thing. Some reports suggest that Facebook one-upped MySpace by saying its users can take photos, personal info, and other features to any other site on the Web.

Not to be left out, Google also announced its "Friend Connect" initiative to link social networking data across the Web.

So clearly, there's a rush to make it easier to network the social networking sites. The services understand that it's a hassle to maintain separate profiles on the multitude of social sites.

But none of the announcements would be the ultimate answer that will let users set up one profile and move, copy, or synchronize data on any site they want. MySpace, for example, is limiting the sites where its users can share data. MySpace's partners include eBay, Yahoo, and Photobucket.

The list notably lacked Facebook, and now we perhaps know why. We're awaiting more details on Facebook's and Google's initiatives. But I expect to be disappointed.

To truly open up, the sites would have to give up control over user data. That would mean giving up control over ad income that accompanies it. And that seems unlikely.

Google's offering goes live tonight here. MySpace and Facebook said their new features will be available in some weeks.

Flitting about could get a lot easier for social butterflies on the Web if MySpace makes good on an effort to let users share their profile data with other sites.

Starting in a few weeks, the social networking site says it will be easy for users to designate which parts of their MySpace profile they want to share—and where they want to share it. "MySpace no longer operates as an autonomous island on the Internet," cofounder Chris DeWolfe told reporters.

By changing the photo they use on their MySpace profile, users would also and instantly change the photo used on other sites. Initial partners include eBay, Yahoo, Photobucket, and Twitter.

The data sharing could solve one of the biggest problems for Web socializing. Users quickly get frustrated trying to keep multiple profiles up to date.

It's a potential blockbuster move by MySpace, if it can get other sites to sign up. MySpace users could begin to view their profile there as sort of a central control panel for their presence on the Web.

But Facebook, which is MySpace's biggest competitor and gaining market share, was notably absent from the list of partners. That might be because, at least for now, MySpace will let the butterflies flutter in only one direction. Profile data from other sites cannot be posted to MySpace.

Cable companies are apparently serious about wanting a role in wireless. New York City's Cablevision said it is starting to build a Wi-Fi network across its market in and around New York City, providing broadband subscribers with a way to surf while on the move.

The word came just days after three other cable companies, including Time Warner and Comcast, said they would join a consortium to build a new, nationwide high-speed wireless network.

Competition is forcing the cable companies to round out their bundled offerings, which already include video, wired broadband, and phone service. They're trying to keep up with telcos, which already have phone, wireless, and wired broadband—and now are starting to offer cablelike video.

There's a sly, two-way genius to the upcoming Sezmi box. Among the device's ambitious advances on organizing modern TV is "personalization."

Sezmi will customize the menus and playlists of shows for individual members of the household. Each of several users—perhaps Mom, Dad, Son, and Daughter—gets his or her own button on the remote.

Sounds great. But there's nothing for nothing. For letting Sezmi know who you are, the service can deliver ads targeted directly at you. It's a big advance over broadcast, which can tailor ads only to a geographic region, or even TiVo, which might customize ads for a household.

Targeted ads better serve the viewers, say the Sezmi folks. Somebody who has watched a lot of golf tournaments might like to see ads for new clubs and balls. And because the Sezmi system incorporates a broadband connection, clicking on the ad can take users to more detailed information and maybe even a dialogue with the seller.

That clearly serves the interests of sellers, who are likely to pay a pretty premium for that sort of link to potential buyers.

Some people find the idea creepy—that an advertising service is monitoring their behavior to shape ads. There is a periodic backlash when TiVo users realize the service knows what they're watching.

But it's no different from what Google and a multitude of other Web services do every day. There seems to be nothing wrong with tracking users, as long as Sezmi and other providers honor their commitment to keep personal data—names, addresses—separate from the data used to generate advertising.

And as long, of course, as they convert some of the ad income into cheaper rates for subscription TV.

Teachers are more upbeat than parents about the Internet's value in helping kids learn social skills, according to a survey released today.

About two thirds of parents said they don't think the Internet helps kids' communication skills, according to a nationally representative poll of 700 parents. Most parents said they actively discourage their kids, for example, from visiting and posting on social networking sites.

The issue was part of a broader survey on how parents view digital media by Common Sense Media, a nonprofit group that promotes responsible use of electronic content. Its board includes educators, parents, and business leaders, some of whom help produce media.

Teachers, meanwhile, are twice as likely as parents to think the Web aids in developing social skills. About 60 percent of teachers, in fact, think parents underestimate the educational value of electronic media. And while viewing video games skeptically, teachers are a bit more likely than parents to think even they can help teach social skills. Maybe that's because educators aren't dealing as much with kids' obsessive behavior at home.

Parents and teachers largely agree, however, that "educational" media largely oversell their usefulness as teaching aids.

Call it FrankenMax. A new effort to get WiMax up and running looks like a monster assembled in somebody's basement—probably the basement of Sprint Nextel as it was flooding with red ink.

Sprint said it would join forces with Clearwire, the other big player in WiMax. The new technology for years has promised to deliver broadband speeds over a wireless network, and it was feared dead as problems mounted at Sprint.

The combined WiMax venture will also get $3 billion from new partners Google and Intel, along with a number of cable companies.

That seems like a lot of different partners with as many different agendas. We should soon see how well the consortium might hold together. Sprint hoped to have some of the network in place later this year.

WiMax will compete with a different wireless broadband technology being deployed by Verizon Wireless and AT&T. Those companies have the money to go it alone with a single purpose and a single message and without having to revive a beast from the grave.

Finding the best price on electronics is daunting. Any number of sites let you compare prices, but Bountii will automatically alert you of a newer and lower price.

Bountii will relay price quotes on any product you want as an RSS feed, making it easy to see the cheapest price the site finds. It's just one of Bountii's unusual features as it tries to distinguish itself among dozens of online shopping sites.

Another is the bounty (hence the name) paid on certain products if you can find a less expensive quote at a reputable store. You won't get rich quick—Bountii today is offering payments of $6 or less on about 15 products.

Bountii searches only about 100 stores, meaning you won't necessarily find the cheapest price out there. "We intentionally keep this number small," writes cofounder John Puskarich in an E-mail, "to ensure that our shoppers have a great buying experience."

In turn, Bountii unearths some better prices at those stores than do other search engines. Its search will uncover hidden prices, such as those that first require you to put an item in your shopping cart.

Bountii isn't the end-all in shopping sites. But it's a good tech tool in the search for good tech.