In today’s Bulldog wrapup of technology news:

  • The FAA moves closer to approving drones for commercial deliveries
  • The FCC won’t investigated Netflix for throttling video
  • Its dispute with the FBI could hurt Apple’s brand
  • Solar developers eye New York

The details:

  • Move to OK commercial drone flights over people

A government-sponsored committee is recommending standards that could clear the way for commercial drone flights over populated areas and help speed the introduction of package delivery drones and other uses not yet possible, The Associated Press has learned.

The Federal Aviation Administration currently prohibits most commercial drone flights over populated areas, especially crowds. That ban frustrates a host of industries that want to take advantage of the technology.

“Every TV station in the country wants one, but they can’t be limited to flying in the middle of nowhere because there’s no news in the middle of nowhere,” said Jim Williams, a former head of FAA’s drone office who now advises the industry for Dentons, an international law firm.

Cellular network providers also want to loosen restrictions so drones, also known as unmanned aerial vehicles, can inspect cell towers, which often are in urban areas. Amazon’s vision for package deliveries entails drones winging their way over city and suburban neighborhoods.

The AP obtained a copy of the recommendations, which were sent to the FAA late Friday. The agency is not bound by the recommendations and can make changes when it writes final rules.

The recommendations call for creating four categories of small drones that commercial operators can fly over people, including crowds in some cases.

The first category of drones would weigh no more than about a half-pound. They essentially could fly unrestricted over people, including crowds. Drone makers would have to certify that if the drone hit someone, there would be no more than a 1 percent chance that the maximum force of the impact would cause a serious injury.

For the three other categories, the drones would have to fly at least 20 feet over the heads of people and keep a distance of at least 10 feet laterally from someone.

  • FCC chair: No Netflix probe

The FCC won’t investigated Netflix for throttling video, says FCC Chair Tom Wheeler.

“We do not regulate edge providers,” Wheeler said, according to ArsTechnica. The news site noted that an “edge provider” is the FCC tern for online content providers like Netflix.

“It is outside of our jurisdiction,” he said. “It is not an Open Internet issue what they’re doing. I’m going to leave it at that.”

Read more at:

http://arstechnica.com/business/2016/04/netflix-throttling-itself-isnt-a-net-neutrality-problem-fcc-chair-says/

  • Will Apple’s FBI tussle take a bite out of the brand?

The revelation that the FBI was able to break into a secured iPhone without Apple’s help won’t take a bite out of Apple’s brand reputation, but consumers will be looking for security improvements soon.

The Apple brand has already withstood worse. In 2014, hackers posted nude photos of Jennifer Lawrence and other celebrities after guessing their passwords and breaking into their Apple iCloud accounts. Beyond security, Apple has faced complaints that the iPhone 6 Plus bent too easily and that the iPhone 4 lost signal strength when users held it a certain way.

In each case, Apple’s reputation recovered — and the company went on to sell 232 million iPhones last year. And on Thursday, crowds formed at some stores as the new iPhone SE went on sale, though the company hasn’t released figures.

YouGov BrandIndex, which tracks brand perceptions, said that the Apple brand has been trending modestly positively since early March and that the FBI dropping the case had no effect on that.

And investors haven’t shown much concern: Apple’s stock has increased 4 percent since the FBI said late Monday that it didn’t need help to break into the phone. Investors have typically been more worried about whether Apple can maintain its growth as smartphone sales slow down.

Apple resisted the FBI’s demands that it rewrite the iPhone’s software to override safeguards against repeatedly guessing passcodes. But the FBI now says it didn’t needApple’s help after all in breaking into an iPhone used by a San Bernardino killer. It was an older model, but has recent iPhone software.

Apple is already expected to tighten security even more with its next iPhone software, likely to be announced in June and available in September. But can Apple assure its phones are unbreakable when the FBI won’t reveal what technique it used?

“They have a window to address the problem, but … there has to be news soon, with Apple saying ‘Here’s how the new iPhone is now Fort Knox,” said Allen Adamson, founder of Brand Simple Consulting.

  • Solar farm developers target New York with lease offers

Less than a year after New York banned fracking, dashing the hopes of farmers who had hoped to reap royalties from natural gas leases, the commercial solar industry is courting landowners for energy production.

Buoyed by Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s renewable energy plan and the extension of the 30 percent federal tax credit in December, solar companies in recent months have blanketed rural areas with mailings seeking leases on farmland for solar arrays spanning 20 acres or more. While some farmers welcome the opportunity to earn up to $2,000 an acre annually for the next 20 years or so, some agricultural advisers, community leaders and lawyers are urging caution.

“These are complex business transactions masquerading as lottery tickets,” said Chris Denton, a southern New York lawyer who helped landowner groups negotiate oil and gasleases during the Marcellus Shale gas rush in 2009. “There are unexamined risks and environmental impacts. That’s why landowners are banding together again to formulateleases that will protect their interests.”

Manna Jo Greene, environmental director for the nonprofit Hudson River Sloop Clearwater, said the developing solar boom is welcome but only if it’s done right. While asolar development is a beneficial use for a former landfill, it might not be appropriate for prime farmland, she said. And there are many questions concerning zoning, agricultural tax benefits, effects on farm operations, and the eventual decommissioning and disposal of the solar components.

“A lease promising $20,000 or $40,000 a year is tempting to farmers who are struggling,” said Greene, who is also an Ulster County legislator. “But we’re trying to get the word out to be cautious and not let a developer strip them of their property rights.”

The Cuomo administration’s initiatives aimed at promoting local renewable energy generation, reducing greenhouse gas emissions and generating 50 percent of the state’s energy from renewable sources by 2030 are bringing solar developers to the state. One company, Santa Monica, California-based Cypress Creek Renewables, has mass-mailedlease offers to hundreds of upstate landowners.