There's revolution in the air, at least in some cities. More and more cities are moving to set up systems to provide wireless access to their residents for little to no cost.

Listen to this NPR story, highlighting Google’s proposal to provide free wireless broadband for the entire City of San Francisco and the impact this would have on traditional communication providers. Listen

Two out of Every Five Americans Have Broadband Access at Home

According to Nielson NetRatings, as of August, 2005, 42 percent of Americans have broadband access in their homes. Among active internet users, those connecting via broadband surpass 60 percent for the first time. We are closing in on our goal of 50% of Minnesotans! Read more

Measuring Broadband’s Economic Impact

Does broadband matter to the economy? A Carnegie Mellon University Study of communities that had or did not have broadband service between 1999 and 2002 documents that broadband increases economic activity. Read more

Bell Labs has reported the development of a 100 Gigabit per second Ethernet speed, and new milestone that should be commercially available soon. Read more

Technology and the new class divide

The promise of a digital utopia where all are more or less equal has not yet come to pass. Recent studies have also suggested that social mobility is stagnating and possibly even reversing. Despite all our technology gains, it appears that class gaps are widening. Perhaps it's time to try and identify specific technology-related knowledge and opportunity gaps and then figure out more-effective ways of lifting people via technology in ways that benefit us all.

Broad solutions to closing the gap are offered in this CNet article by Paul Lamb. Read more

A fiber-optic connection for every house in Amsterdam

The City of Amsterdam is planning to provide every home with optical fiber by 2010. Read more

Thief River Falls - The Technology Workshop Series offers a wide range of topics and proves popular with the community. Read more

Cohasset - The Technology Fair offered something for everyone. Read more

International Falls - Broadband Steering Committee members speak at city council meeting; have business seminars scheduled for November. Read more

Cambridge - The Cambridge Get Broadband program is underway. Read more

Community initiatives often take on a life of their own. What starts as a collaborative effort sometimes evolves into a small group focused intensely on its mission. The group may have some success, but may be plagued with a feeling that it is not accomplishing all that they had hoped.

One strategy for increasing your success is to assist other groups achieves success. Talk with other community groups and ask about their technology plans and roadblocks. Then devote your energies to helping them implement their plans and overcome barriers.

The school district may be having trouble promoting the use of their new web site. A local service organization may not understand all of the resources that are available through their national organization’s web site. Small businesses may be struggling with state unemployment requirements that all transactions be electronic. A young technologist may be having trouble managing a growing business.

Visit the Resources section to view
“Use the Internet to Enrich Your Holiday Season” November article and other past Hot Website articles.

It’s on the Business CD in your Get Broadband Toolkit or click here to view it online.