> Cox Communications has introduced a bandwidth usage meter monitor (at least in its northwest Florida market) that lets subscribers check their bandwidth usage to see if they're approaching data consumption caps the MSO has put into place. Cox usage caps start at 30 gigabytes a month and reach up to 400 GB for top packages. Comcast (Nasdaq: CMCSA) has a similar system to tell its subs when they're hitting the 200 GB limit. Story.
> Remember Dell, the little computer company that made a living over the phone and Internet with customizable PCs? It's back (OK, it never went away, it just seems like it did) with a new "all-in-one desktop and ... HD offering outstanding home theater capabilities." Although the Dell package includes a big-for-desktop tiny-for-home entertainment 23-inch monitor, it also promises it can be connected to big screen HDs. News release.
> Usually Comcast doesn't kill its partners (at least not immediately) so you can't really throw the blame on the MSO that Blockbuster, as expected, has filed for bankruptcy. By admitting it's broke, the video rental giant is hoping to remake itself to compete against the likes of Netflix (Nasdaq: NFLX), which, if you like irony, just recently cut its own deal with Comcast's broadcaster to be NBC Universal. As those Disney characters love to sing, it's a small world after all. Story.
> In a back office deal (literally) cable billing systems provider CSG Systems International will make billing and mediations solutions provider Intec a part of its family as a wholly owned subsidiary. CSG is offering cash for Intec, which Intec CEO Andrew Taylor said "represents a good deal for Intec and provides shareholders for our employees and customers ... given the increasingly difficult market conditions." News release.
> Think DSL's dead and buried? It probably is, but Huawei is causing some reason to pause and rethink by reportedly demonstrating a prototype technology that bonds four telephone lines to deliver top speeds of 700 Mbps over 400 meters. Story.
> There is a little discrepancy between 100 Mbps and 64 Kbps which is why the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission is taking telecom giant Optus to court. Optus claims the top speeds but drops them to the bottom when users exceed their usage allowance. Maybe they should talk to Cox about a bandwidth meter. Story.
> You better be sitting down when you read this next item. Cisco (Nasdaq: CSCO) CEO John Chambers told the Clinton Global Initiate meeting in New York City that video is "the new voice" of communications and "the biggest challenge we face is the availability of broadband to every citizen in the world at an affordable cost." Story.
And finally... Motorola (NYSE: MOT) has set Nov. 29 as the date for a special meeting of stockholders to approve a stock split with ratios somewhere between 1-for-every-3 and 1-for-every-7 shares. If approved, the reverse split would be implemented on Motorola Solutions stock immediately following Moto's separation into two independent public companies. News release.