Dissatisfied by private Internet providers’ service or speed, cities from Lancaster, Pa., to Boulder, Colo., have sought to build their own networks to provide upgraded, and in some cases, free service to residents. In turn, providers such as Time Warner and Comcast, among others, have complained to state lawmakers about unfair government competition….This year, Wyoming [...]
Coming soon could be a wireless broadband world in which consumers get to pick any smartphone or other device and load any software on it — and not have to take what the wireless carrier wants to sell. That’s the goal of Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin, who will propose sweeping new rules for [...]
The government-mandated shift from analog to digital television will allow local broadcasters to provide better picture quality and more programming. The move will also enable a more far-reaching benefit: The airwaves that broadcasters will no longer use for TV signals after Feb. 17, 2009, can be auctioned off for other important uses, potentially raising billions [...]
One of those conditions is that anyone who wants high-speed access will have to pay roughly $25 per month for it. So the only free wi-fi will be slow and spotty. Another condition is that Google will provide the software side of this free wi-fi network, potentially serving up location-based ads and keeping track of [...]
“What good is access to the Internet if you don’t have a computer, laptop, Game Boy or something else that you can use it with? And if you are new to the Internet or to searching online, how can you make sense of the zillions of hits you get when you’re doing a search.”
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When Time trumpets “community” and “collaboration,” beware that their next issue may feature their favourite twenty-something online billionaires. When the claim is that “the new Web is a very different thing… bringing together the small contributions of millions,” behold the beauty of the long tail – but note, too, the reverse. Proprietary content is growing [...]
When Windom’s dominant phone company, Qwest, decided against setting up a broadband network a few years back, Dan says the town had a choice: get with the digital revolution on its own or be left in the dust. They chose to build Windomnet. It launched a little over a year ago and it cost close [...]
