Futurist

There are 390 posts filed in Futurist (this is page 15 of 39).

Why Tesla’s battery for your home should terrify utilities | The Verge

Telsa and SolarCity are working on a residential battery that might let people drop off the electric grid completely. The utilities are sweating.

Earlier this week, during a disappointing Tesla earnings call, Elon Musk mentioned in passing that he’d be producing a stationary battery for powering the home in the next few months. It sounded like a throwaway side project from someone who’s never seen a side project he doesn’t like. But it’s a very smart move, and one that’s more central to Musk’s ambitions than it might seem.

via Why Tesla's battery for your home should terrify utilities | The Verge.

Google Fiber and an FCC decision could give more people cheaper access to the Internet | News Feature | Indy Week

Indyweek talked with Erica Swanson, head of Google Fiber’s Community Impact programs, about bringing broadband to all income levels.

The bad news about Google Fiber coming to seven cities in the Triangle is that the high-speed Internet service won’t be installed in your neighborhood by the next season of House of Cards.

The good news is that Google Fiber says it will seek out traditionally underserved communities—low-income, minority, non-English speaking areas, where some residents don’t have home Internet at all.

About 60 million people in the U.S. don’t have Internet at home, according to the Pew Research Center. In cities, that number is 1 in 4. For some, a computer and a connection are too expensive; others say they don’t need it—the Internet has no place in their lives.

That might change, hinging on Google’s expansion plans, along with a pending decision by the FCC, that could give more people cheaper access to the Internet.

"Affordable connectivity, that’s the piece we can address," says Erica Swanson, Google’s head of Community Impact Programs.

via Google Fiber and an FCC decision could give more people cheaper access to the Internet | News Feature | Indy Week.

N&O’s Christensen gets light rail wrong

The N&O’s Rob Christensen makes the classic light rail vs. commuter rail blunder in this week’s column. If the media can’t even properly explain the difference between light rail and commuter rail, how do we ever expect the public to understand?

When it comes to a light-rail system for Raleigh, label me a skeptic.

I am a believer in buses, and I think our bus system should be expanded and more bus shelters erected.

Before we sink huge bundles of money into a light-rail system, I think a stronger case needs to be made, given our limited resources.

He also misidentifies the real problem with our bus system, which is it’s unusable to all but those who have no other choice. I’ve written about that before.

via Christensen: Raleigh needs buses, not rail | Rob Christensen | NewsObserver.com.

Taking aim at Gage’s Google Fiber op-ed

I submitted this letter to the editor to the N&O today. I trust they’ll agree with it and run it to correct the errors in the abysmal op-ed they ran last week.

Dawson Gage’s recent opinion piece about Google Fiber was deeply flawed. No public infrastructure is being “handed over” to Google. In actuality, Google will buy or build its infrastructure like any other provider. Gage also alleges Google was “deeply involved in the illegal, secret surveillance” when in fact much evidence exists to the contrary. Furthermore, how Gage can suggest that broadband hasn’t enriched our lives is bizarre and puzzling.

I know Google Fiber’s arrival is exciting news but let’s keep our heads, please.

Mark Turner
Raleigh, NC
Founder, Bring Google Fiber to Raleigh! Facebook Group

Update 6 Feb: The N&O ran my letter today. Gave it a headline of “Google all good.” I’m not sure I’d go that far, but at least someone has now set the record straight. On the same page, though, another letter writer repeated Gage’s “public giveway” premise. Sigh.

What does it Mean to be a Gig City? Upload Speeds Powering Entrepreneurs — Next Century Cities

Remember when I pointed out the secret sauce of Google Fiber is the upload speeds? Will Aycock, operations manager of Wilson’s Greenlight community broadband system, agrees.

It’s all about the upload. If you are the owner of a small engineering business with dense blueprints to send to your European clients, or a specialized country doctor who depends on the quick transmission of x-rays, a digital film effects company, or a media artist, your ability to upload your dense information to your clients means business. For GigCity, Wilson, North Carolina, offering gigabit upload speeds to its community is real business for its future.

via What does it Mean to be a Gig City? Upload Speeds Powering Entrepreneurs — Next Century Cities.

The FCC is moving to preempt state broadband limits – The Washington Post

It looks increasingly likely that the FCC will overturn North Carolina’s anti-municipal broadband law, freeing cities like Wilson, NC to provide broadband to whomever it chooses.

Federal regulators are moving ahead with a proposal to help two cities fighting with their state governments over the ability to build public alternatives to large Internet providers.

The Federal Communications Commission this week will begin considering a draft decision to intervene against state laws in Tennessee and North Carolina that limit Internet access operated and sold by cities, according to a senior FCC official. The agency’s chairman, Tom Wheeler, could circulate the draft to his fellow commissioners as early as Monday and the decision will be voted on in the FCC’s public meeting on Feb. 26.

Chairman Wheeler just released the following statement:

FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler issued the following statement today regarding a proposed Order on community broadband that he will circulate to his fellow commissioners this week:

“Communities across the nation know that access to robust broadband is key to their economic future – and the future of their citizens. Many communities have found that existing private-sector broadband deployment or investment fails to meet their needs.

They should be able to make their own decisions about building the networks they need to thrive. After looking carefully at petitions by two community broadband providers asking the FCC to pre-empt provisions of state laws preventing expansion of their very successful networks, I recommend approval by the Commission so that these two forward-thinking cities can serve the many citizens clamoring for a better broadband future.”

I wonder if this means the FCC can also veto any spending limitations that state law has shackled municipalities with?

via The FCC is moving to preempt state broadband limits – The Washington Post.

N&O runs horrible broadband op-ed

The Google Fiber op-ed that ran in today’s N&O entitled “Google Fiber deal not in best interest of NC public” is so godawful that I don’t even know where to begin. Written by Dawson Gage, who calls himself an “IT worker, freelance writer, and aspiring law student,” it is incredibly misinformed on so many levels:

I rejoiced when my family first got broadband Internet when I was about 13, but I doubt it has made any of our lives richer or more productive. The usefulness of computers, for the most part, has little enough to do with how fast they are. No one wants delivery vans and school buses that go 20,000 mph.

Is Gage actually suggesting that life isn’t richer than in the days of dialup? Before YouTube, NetFlix, Wikipedia, Facebook, and Google? Apparently, having a mind-blowing amount of the world’s information instantly available isn’t rich or more productive enough for him. I bet he’s a big fan of the abacus.
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Google Fiber: fast download AND upload speeds

fiber_house
Most of the local news stories I’ve read about Google Fiber coming to Raleigh highlight the ability to “download YouTube videos quickly.” Quickly downloading the stuff you’ve always downloaded is cool, but it isn’t an Earth-shattering use case. The real value of Google Fiber is that Google treats the Internet the way it should be treated – like a two-way street.

Other broadband providers will sell you fast connections but those connections are strictly asymmetrical. You may get a 15 Mbps download speed but you’ll only get a 1 Mbps upload speed. You see, Big Telecom wants you to treat you as a “consumer,” meaning you’ll take whatever the media companies choose to give you. They don’t think of you as having anything to bring to the conversation.

Google Fiber is different. Not only can you get 1 Gbps download speeds, you also get equally fast 1 Gbps upload speeds! Your download and upload speeds are equal, exactly how God intended. You become a full partner in the Internet, able not only to download at blazing speeds a multitude of cat videos from YouTube but able offer up your own. Or, you can hold videoconferences with your friends without being interrupted by buffering. Or play video games with others without sluggishness.
Continue reading →

Wake Forest police address concerns about ‘stranger danger’ cases :: WRAL.com

Wake Forest Police have expressed exasperation with citizens sharing information on Facebook about a recent spate of “stranger danger” incidents. The incidents involve men driving a silver or gray SUV and trying to lure kids into the vehicle.

It’s a very frightening situation and any parent’s worst nightmare. People are afraid and rightfully so. They want answers, and if the police aren’t giving them then these folks will fill the void using social media outlets like Facebook and NextDoor.

I’ve seen how social media can help solve crimes. It works. Nothing helps police efforts like citizens working together. Instead of blaming it for “heresay,” Wake Forest PD should embrace social media as a “force multiplier” to solve crimes. If there are rumors that should be quashed, they should go online and set the record straight. It’s a new world we live in, after all.

Leonard said the police department has received other reports on social media that investigators have looked into, noting that they have had to use resources to track down "inaccurate information and hearsay.""If you see something that looks suspicious in your neighborhood, call the police department first rather than posting it on Facebook," Leonard said.

via Wake Forest police address concerns about 'stranger danger' cases :: WRAL.com.

Photos from the Google Fiber announcement

Google Fiber is coming to the Triangle

Google Fiber is coming to the Triangle


I was able to attend yesterday’s Google Fiber announcement. As I walked towards the auditorium in the North Carolina Museum of Natural History, I was attracted to a table out front that displayed shiny plastic. Spying my Canon camera in my hand, the helpful woman staffing the table asked “would you like a media pass?”

Feeling like the limo driver in the Bud Light “Dr. Galakawicz” commercials, I answered “yeaaassss, I would” and smoothly hung it around my neck.

Inside, I hung out with the media pros and snapped photos with wild abandon. I’ve collected the shots into my Google Plus album. Check them out!