Edward Gonzales's blog

Journalists and geeks have christened WiMAX, the successor to Wi-Fi technology, with many lovely names. It’s been called “Wi-Fi on steroids,” “Wi-Fi’s older brother” and even “the key to bridging the digital divide.” Purported by experts to be quicker and cheaper than Wi-Fi, WiMAX’s first two names are fine descriptions. The last moniker, however, has been much more difficult to live up to.

To read more please visit the Next American City website.

Dozens of countries participated in this year's "One Web Day," an international holiday for the Internet. In San Francisco, teams of volunteers fanned out across a low-income neighborhood with the goal of providing free, wireless Internet access to 1,000 residents. CNET's Kara Tsuboi tagged along and has the story.

Watch the complete CNET news clip on Youtube.

The app, powered by Credo Mobile, allows users to register to vote within Facebook and encourage friends to register to vote through Facebook’s viral invitation channel.  Since the app launched this morning, Facebook has already registered over 2,500 new voters, and is currently registering voters at a rate of thousands per hour. Read more on this article.

VERNON, September 11, 2008 – The California Emerging Technology Fund (CETF) and the City of Vernon today presented grant awards of $476,000 and $301,000 respectively to the Southeast Cities Technology Collaborative for a three-year initiative to close the growing Digital Divide among residents in the southeast cities of Los Angeles County. Please read the attached press release for more information.

September 23 - The Alliance for Public Technology (APT) and the Communications Workers of America (CWA) jointly released a report with a comprehensive, searchable database of state government initiatives for access to advanced communications. Entitled State Broadband Initiatives: A Summary of State Programs Designed to Stimulate Broadband Deployment and Adoption, the report surveys state initiatives in seven key areas: broadband commissions, task forces, and authorities; public-private partnerships; direct funding programs; state networks; telehealth initiatives; tax policies; and demand-side programs. Taken together, they provide a checklist for policymakers who want to move forward and encourage investment in and adoption of high-speed broadband networks.

On May 5, 2008, Commissioner Rachelle Chong from the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) visited the Sunset Neighborhood Beacon Center (SNBC) in San Francisco. The purpose of the visit was to learn about SNBC's community technology programs.

http://www.snbc.org/