FCC TO CREATE & TEST OWN WHITE SPACE DATABASE

On Wednesday, the FCC confirmed that it will begin testing a new database that will enable gadgets to operate on white space airwaves (the frequency not currently in use by other devices), nearly a year after first ratifying its "super WiFi" initiative. The Spectrum Bridge database, as outlined last year, will map out all channels that aren't being used by radio or TV services, thereby preventing broadband devices from interfering with broadcasts. The system will be tested over a 45-day period beginning on September 19th and ending on November 2nd, in order to make sure that it correctly distinguishes available channels from those currently in use.

Cable operators and wireless mic users are invited to register with the database to test its accuracy, but this trial period could easily be extended if the Commission determines that further tests are in order. And, though there's still no indication that unlicensed broadband devices will be hitting the market anytime soon, FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski seems confident that this white space spectrum could drastically change the industry. "Unleashing white spaces spectrum will enable a new wave of wireless innovation," Genachowski explained. "It has the potential to exceed the billions of dollars in economic benefit from WiFi, the last significant release of unlicensed spectrum, and drive private investment and job creation."

GOOGLE BEGINS BETA TESTING FIBER DEPLOYMENT IN STANFORD

A lucky user at Reddit is reporting that Google's fiber internet connection is up and running in the Palo Alto, CA area. The mouth watering speeds he is claiming are free to all students and faculty at Stanford. No word on when the Kansas Cities deployment will be lit up.

TODAY IS IPv6 DAY! EVERYONE GET YOUR INTERNET ON

Described as a "test flight" of IPv6, today marks the biggest concerted effort by some of the web's marquee players to turn us all on to the newer, fancier web addressing system. Internet Protocol version 4 has been the template by which we've addressed everything connected to the web so far, but that stuff's now nearing exhaustion, so the future demands a longer, more complex nomenclature to tell our smartphones, tablets, printers, and other webOS devices apart.

For end users, June 8th won't really feel too different from June 7th -- this will be a change that occurs mostly behind the scenes and there's an IPv4 fallback option if you can't connect in the modern way -- but Google does warn that a very limited subset of users may experience connectivity issues as a result.

RUMOR: CLEARWIRE SWITCHING TO LTE FROM WiMAX

In an interview with CNET, Clearwire’s chief operating officer Erik Prusch said that the carrier may eventually switch from WiMAX to LTE. “WiMAX to date has been a very good technology choice for us,” Prusch said. “We were able to take advantage of the speed to market before LTE was even a glimmer in anyone’s eye. But we recognize the ecosystem in the U.S. will be larger for LTE than WiMAX, so we are conscious of that.” Last summer Clearwire confirmed that it would begin testing 4G LTE trials in the U.S., and it expected to demonstrate that it “[could] deliver significantly higher performance using LTE technologies than any other operator.”

It’s unclear how those tests went, but Prusch did backtrack a bit and say that a switch isn’t definite, and that Clearwire needs to keep its eye on LTE and its ecosystem before pulling the trigger and setting a definite timeline.

Last month Sprint — which owns a majority stake of Clearwire — said that it has agreed to pay the company $1 billion through 2012 for fees associated with the use of Clearwire’s 4G WiMAX network.

RUMOR: SPEED AND DATA TIERS COMING TO AT&T 4G LTE SERVICE

BGR is reporting that AT&T may be bring not only data plan tiers when they launch their 4G LTE service in 2011, but also speed tiers as well.

Just like broadband internet, AT&T plans on delivering varying speeds to users depending on the tier they subscribe to.

Data tiers are nothing new and have recently been implemented by most major carriers. AT&T will let users subscribe to "data buckets" of varying sizes similar to AT&T's current data plans.

In addition, the plans will afford users the opportunity to boost services temporarily for a fee. The documents BGR obtained refer to "Top Up Sessions", which allow users to increase their data allotment for the remainder of a billing cycle, and “Speed Up Sessions,” which will allow subscribers on lower-tier plans to speed up their service for a specific duration.

It is not known what the tiers will look like or the associated price of them, but we do know the trials will begin in May of this year.

RIM PLAYBOOK VS. APPLE iPAD

RIM has released a video of their Playbook being put through a number of tests vs. the iPad. RIM is boasting about the devices superior web-page rendering speed, super Flash performance, a perfect score on the Acid 3 browser test with no rendering artifacts, and JavaScript fluidity. Check out the video below. [BGR]

YOUTUBE BEGINS TESTING LIVE STREAMING

Today and tomorrow, YouTube will be testing their live streaming capabilities.  The testing is only for a limited number of YouTube partners, but there will be as "Live Comments" section for each channel so you can interact with the broadcaster.

YouTube blog states "Based on the results of this initial test, we’ll evaluate rolling out the platform more broadly to our partners worldwide."  Unfortunately, according to that statement, Live Streaming will only be available to their partners and not to regular submitters of YouTube. [YouTube Blog]

VIDEO CALLING IN NEXT iPAD

Although it is hard to confirm, or deny, from teh picture below, but according to 9to5Mac it shows video calling capabilities being tested for the next generation of iPad. [9to5Mac]