The iPad tops my list of personal technology developments in 2010.

Next year promises to bring more exciting gadgets and tech-related services, including new tablets and souped-up TVs, which I’ll cover soon. But before we look ahead, here’s my list of the top personal technology stories and developments of 2010.

1. iPad - When Steve Jobs declared that this new tablet was a “truly magical and revolutionary product,” there were plenty of skeptics, myself included. After all, many had tried and failed at generating mass commercial adoption for such touchscreen computers. But Apple succeeded, selling 3 million iPads within the first three months. Sales may reach 65 million units in 2011, according to one report. I’ve played with an iPad and chief competitor, Samsung’s Galaxy Tab, for a couple of weeks now, and have found that the Tab really can’t compete on many fronts, including web browsing, which was supposed to be one of iPad’s weaknesses given its inability to display Flash videos. I’ll have more on the comparison, along with a look at a 10-inch tablet from Greenwood Village-based Archos, in the coming weeks. The iPad’s success will lead to the introduction of numerous tablets in 2011, with Motorola expected to unveil one with a 10-inch touchscreen at the Consumer Electronics Show next week.

2. Android-based smartphones – The first real competition for Apple’s vaunted iPhone, which has dominated the smartphone market since hitting stores in June 2007, surfaced in 2010, thanks in large part to Google’s Android operating system. In my view, the top non-iPhone smartphones are Sprint’s HTC Evo 4G and Verizon’s Droid X. The key for these phones in the battle with the iPhone was the ability to offer a vivid display with full web-browsing capabilities. I personally traded an iPhone for the X last summer. Hopefully, 2011 will bring more comparable options for consumers.

3. Facebook and Twitter – Read more…

Kim Kardashian was the most-searched personality, according to Experian Hitwise.

Among news and media websites, Yahoo News attracted the most visits in 2010 from Denver area Internet users, according to Experian Hitwise.

9News.com, MSNBC, denverpost.com and weather.com rounded out the top five.

Craigslist was the top shopping and classifieds website in the Denver area, followed by eBay.

Nationally, Facebook was the top overall search term. Kim Kardashian was the top people search within the personalities category. Tiger Woods was the most-searched athlete.

Here’s a breakdown of the top “news and media” and “shopping and classifieds” sites, ranked by visits within the Denver metro area. Read more…

Qwest and merger partner CenturyLink have agreed to invest at least $80 million on broadband expansion in Washington state.

Qwest and CenturyLink have reached a settlement with Washington state officials that places conditions on the companies’ proposed merger.

Among other things, the companies agreed to invest at least $80 million on broadband infrastructure in the state over five years. That compares with a commitment of at least $70 million in Colorado and Arizona.

The companies will likely invest far more than $80 million on broadband expansion in each of those states over five years, as Qwest spends more than $1 billion annually on network improvements and other capital expenditures.

Under terms of the Washington agreement, Denver-based Qwest and Monroe, La.-based CenturyLink will freeze rates on some business services for three years. The companies will also continue to offer naked DSL and honor “price for life” promotional guarantees on broadband services.

Read more…

The Federal Communications Commission has not released the exact language of the net neutrality rules that were adopted today, but the agency did provide “key excerpts from the report and order.”

Pay-for-priority deals would unlikely be allowed under net neutrality rules, but that's still open to debate.

Two points worth highlighting are the definition of “no unreasonable discrimination” and the FCC’s explanation on paid prioritization.

A pay-for-priority agreement, as an example, might involve an Internet provider collecting payments from a video streaming service and offering its subscribers faster access to that service over a competing video service.

While the FCC says such agreements would “raise significant cause for concern,” the rules don’t clearly outlaw such deals and leave the door open for the companies to argue that they aren’t unreasonably discriminating against other content and traffic by cutting such agreements.

The vagueness of the rules Read more…

Level 3 CEO Jim Crowe has strong ties to the Obama administration.

Broomfield-based Level 3 Communications fired another public salvo in its ongoing dispute with Comcast, asking the Department of Justice and Federal Communications Commission to impose conditions on the cable giant’s pending acquisition of NBC-Universal to ensure that “consumers continue to have unfettered access” to the Internet.

Level 3, which operates an Internet backbone that carries online content for the likes of Netflix, alleged last month that Comcast was discriminating against its traffic by imposing a new fee. Netflix provides online streams of TV shows and movies, competing directly against Comcast’s on-demand video offerings. Level 3 depends on “last mile” connections from Comcast and other residential broadband providers to deliver Netflix content to end-users.

Comcast has said it implemented the fee because Level 3′s traffic was set to more than double. Level 3 signed a three-year contract with Netflix on Nov. 11. Previously, Comcast and Level had free access to each other’s network. Comcast said the disagreement with Level 3 is “nothing but a good old-fashioned commercial peering dispute.”

“If successful, Comcast will be the first – but clearly not the last – residential broadband Internet service provider in the U.S. to demand an access charge from backbone networks that deliver the content that Comcast’s subscribers have paid Comcast to see, hear and use,” Level 3 chief executive Jim Crowe wrote in a letter Thursday to the DOJ and FCC.

This is the first time Crowe has attached his name publicly to the dispute. Previous remarks from Level 3 were attributed to the company’s lawyers.

Crowe has strong ties to the Obama administration. In July 2005, Crowe held a fundraiser at Cherry Hills mansion for Obama before he officially sought the Democratic presidential nomination. Two years later, Crowe hosted a $2,300-a- plate fundraiser for the campaign. Read more…

Tom Martino, a co-owner of Liberty-Bell, recommends Dish.

Satellite-TV provider Dish Network is in the process of acquiring Liberty-Bell Telecom, a tiny Denver-based CLEC that offers phone and Internet service in Colorado, New Mexico and Utah. The companies already have a reseller agreement.

Tom Martino, aka “The Troubleshooter,” co-founded Liberty-Bell in 2003 and owns 11 percent of the company. The Post ran a story in 2004 questioning the fairness of Martino blasting competitors like Qwest while owning his own phone company.

Martino calls himself a consumer advocate on his referral list website, a listing of companies in which he gives his “seal of approval.” On Liberty-Bell’s website, Martin declares that “I’m an owner at Liberty-Bell and I recommend Dish.”

Though terms of the deal with Dish haven’t been released, Liberty-Bell disclosed its financials as part of Read more…

Ken Buck accepts the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate in a speech on Tuesday Aug. 10, 2010 in Loveland, Colo. Buck, the Weld District Attorney, defeated former Colorado Lieutenant Governor Jane Norton for the nomination. (AP Photo/Eric Bellamy - The Daily Tribune)

Education, discounts and a controversial political figure were among Google’s list of the fastest rising Denver-related searches in 2010. The Bolder Boulder race topped Google’s Denver Zeitgeist list, followed by “UCDenver.”

“Four of the ten of Denver have some kind of connection to education, and that’s kind of a theme we saw across a lot of different cities,” said Kevin Willer, head of industry for Google.

The search company released top 10 lists for 15 cities in the U.S. in addition to the annual national and global rankings. The lists don’t represent the most-searched terms, just the terms that saw the biggest jumps in queries compared with a year earlier.

The only person to crack the top 10 list in Denver was Ken Buck, the Colorado Republican senate nominee who lost the race to Democratic Sen. Michael Bennet. Buck made a couple of controversial remarks during his campaign.

Technology dominated the national list, with “iPad” ranking as the fastest rising search term.

Here are the Top 10 Read more…

The HTC Evo, the first 4G cellphone released from Sprint. Denver area subscribers will soon be able to use the high-speed 4G service.

Clearwire said today that its high-speed 4G network will officially launch in the Denver area on Dec. 19.

That means the long-awaited Denver launch of Sprint 4G will also arrive in less than two weeks. Sprint holds a majority stake in Clearwire, which operates a nationwide WiMax network that Sprint uses for its 4G service.

Clearwire will only offer mobile and residential wireless 4G Internet service, while Sprint has two 4G cellphones in the market.

“We will have coverage in communities along the Front Range, including Ft. Collins, Boulder, Loveland, Westminster and Highlands Ranch/Littleton,” said Clearwire spokeswoman Debra Havins.

That area will cover about 2 million potential consumers, she said. Clearwire has delayed plans to open retail outlets in Denver to coincide with the launch. The company’s products can be purchased at Best Buy, Radio Shack and online at clear.com. (Update: Havins said later today that Clear products would not be available at any retail store in the Denver area.)

Sprint and Clear’s 4G speeds will range Read more…

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski’s proposed net neutrality rules appear to lack any bite when it comes to wireless broadband, which many say is the future of the Internet.

In fact, on the same day Genachowski outlined the framework of his proposal on “preserving Internet freedom and openness,” the other major tech announcement came from Verizon Wireless, the nation’s largest wireless carrier, which disclosed that its high-speed 4G network will go live on Sunday.

While Genachoski wants to prevent wired broadband providers from both blocking and discriminating against lawful Internet content and applications, he holds back on wireless:

(M)obile broadband is at an earlier stage of development than fixed broadband, and is evolving rapidly. Accordingly, the proposal takes important but measured steps in this area — including
transparency and a basic no blocking rule. Under the framework, the FCC would closely monitor the development of the mobile broadband market and be prepared to step in to further address anti-competitive or anti-consumer conduct as appropriate.

By not including a provision that prohibits wireless network operators from favoring certain content over others, Genachowski opens the door for sweetheart deals, said Nicholas Economides, a professor at the Stern School of Business at New York University.

For example, Read more…

Verizon Wireless will light up its high-speed fourth-generation cellular network on Sunday when the first wave of 4G modems hits stores.

The network will initially cover 38 major metro areas, including Denver.

A 4G modem, which plugs into a computer’s USB port and connects the device to the Internet, will cost $100 after a $50 mail-in rebate and two-year service agreement. Plans start at $50 a month for 5 gigabytes of data. Verizon will have two 4G modems available at launch.

Verizon said its 4G network will offer download speeds of 5 megabits per second to 12 Mbps, up to 10 times faster than 3G speeds, which generally top off at 1.4 Mbps for downloads.

A test of the 4G network today at The Denver Post building in downtown Denver yielded download speeds of 9.4 Mbps and upload speeds of 3.6 Mbps. That’s comparable to home broadband service offered by Comcast, which tops off at 12 Mbps.

In metro Denver, Read more…