Edward Gonzales's blog

With $7 billion of government money on the line, it’s no surprise that all kinds of companies are claiming they can wire the most isolated ranchers and mountaintop recluses with broadband Internet service.

On Thursday, I.B.M. piped up to say that it is working with rural electric cooperatives to offer high-speed Internet service, delivered over power lines.

To read more, please visit the NY Times website.

The new California five-year IT capital plan includes 122 proposed and approved projects -- everything from a sex offender address match system to enterprise GIS and positional awareness for Cal Fire aircraft and vehicles.

To read the complete article, please visit GovTech.com.

"Other people don't like to say bad things about rural areas," Katz began. "So I will."

The stimulus package includes $7.2 billion to expand broadband Internet access into "underserved" and rural areas. Katz listed ways that the $7.2 billion could be put to better use, including an effort to combat infant deaths. But he also spoke of rural places as environmentally hostile, energy inefficient and even weak in innovation, simply because rural people are spread out across the landscape.

The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) recently announced implementation of a 1.7 million dollars initiative that will cover installation costs of advanced broadband services for community-based organization’s (CBOs) in California.  The funding will be provided on a first-come, firs-served basis. Interested CBOs need to be registered with the California Teleconnect Fund (CTF) program. For more information, please review Administrative Letter 18 from the CPUC.

It looks like the tax credit for companies that install new broadband service was cut from the latest version of the economic stimulus bill. The bill still would award more than $6 billion in grants to help build high-speed Internet service, mainly in rural areas.

To read more please visit the New York Times.

Microsoft believes that by working with partners to create relevant training opportunities and innovative tools for people who are underserved by technology, they can help foster social and economic opportunities that change people's lives and transform communities. The Microsoft Unlimited Potential–Community Technology Skills Program is a global effort that promotes workforce development and IT skills training programs in underserved communities. Microsoft provides cash grants, software, and specialized curriculum to nonprofit community technology centers (CTCs) around the world.

To learn more about the program please visit Microsoft's website.

KCET report on innovative, computer-based Spanish literacy program developed by Centro Latino for Literacy (CCL).

To watch the video, please visit Youtube. 

For more information on CCL please visit www.centrolatinoliteracy.org and www.leamos.org.

The California Virtual Campus (CVC) is pleased to announce a Request for Proposals (RFP) for its Community-Based Online Learning (CBOL) award. CBOL intends to improve the quality of life for low-income communities throughout the nine economic districts of California.

Specifically, the award provides CBOs with high-speed Internet connectivity to the California Research and Education Network (CalREN). This connectivity and access to CalREN‚s unique education and technology services will enable CBOs to form partnerships with colleges and gain access to high-quality online teaching and learning materials to enhance existing programs or develop new programs.

Chief Information Officer Teri Takai today announced that the Office of the State CIO has been awarded a $1.3 million federal homeland security grant to enhance the State’s digital mapping systems – commonly referred to as Geospatial Information Systems. The technology is a digital mapping interface that has the potential to greatly advance government services, security and emergency response.  The federal grant, part of a larger U.S. Department of Homeland Security grant package, is administered by the California Office of Homeland Security.

Read more at the California Office of the State Chief Information Officer website. 

WASHINGTON -- The House Energy and Commerce Committee on Thursday approved rules for billions in government funds to spur high-speed Internet networks in unserved and underserved areas.

House Democrats have proposed $6 billion in Internet investments as part of a sweeping economic stimulus bill that the full House is expected to vote on next week.

To continue reading, please visit the Wall Street Journal Online. To read the House Energy and Commerce Committee Bill click here.