1. I’m a huge believer that for the 21st century the internet and ubiquitious free or cheap access is as critical to national success as was America’s roads infrastructure was to the US’s dominance of the last half of the 20th century. And I think it makes even more sense for the government to do it than it did with the roads, as access to the internet is critical to freedom of expression, organization. all that fun stuff that is in the Bill of Rights.
So, with trillions being doled out, what’s a couple of hundred billion to begin connecting municipal internet efforts, revive muni-wifi, or maybe even hold some spectrum to build out publicly owned WiMax? Just a thought.
So far the Obama administration has offered $7.2 billion in grants to be doled out by two separate federal agencies to give to companies to build out networks in “underserved” areas. The whole process is mired in semantic debates over what “broadband,” “unserved” and “openness” mean. Incumbent players such as AT&T and Verizon are complaining about onerous openness requirements and are threatening to not even apply for the funds — these are the folks who have done everything in their power to suffocate innovation on the net and in the wireless world. [From National Broadband Plan? Dream Big, Feds, Very Big | Epicenter from Wired.com]
2. I’ve been running. Running is good. Running with the wife is better. Got in a total of 18 miles over the weekend with my soulmate. Love to run. Need to do more.