Monthly Archives: June 2007

Creative Rural Broadband Business Case Plans

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So what do you do when there isn’t an obvious business case to encourage a broadband provider to come into your area? Apparently you get creative. Thanks to Becky LaPlant for sending me a heads up on a recent article in MuniWireless (Rural communities are tackling muni projects in creative ways) that talks about ways communities have been creative.

Apparently there was a session on rural broadband deployment at the recent Muni Wireless conference where a few folks spoke from their experience: Continue reading →

Taking Your Business Online in New Ulm

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I just got a fun invitation to an event in New Ulm hosted by the New Ulm Get Broadband program, sponsored by the Blandin Foundation. I know we might not all be making the drive for the event but it’s nice to see what’s happening in local communities. Here it is:

TAKING YOUR BUSINESS ON-LINE
A FREE Hot Topics Breakfast on June 26

The Chamber’s New Ulm Retail Economic Development Committee (NUREDC) is presenting a Hot Topics Breakfast on the possibilities and power of getting your business On-line and In-line for future success and growth. This presentation is the public unveiling of the work being done in partnership with the Blandin Foundation’s Broadband Initiative. Don’t miss this opportunity to learn about growing your new or existing business through the power of the Internet.

At this FREE breakfast, you’ll
* Discover how Chamber members can take advantage of an existing business web presence on www.newulm.com and hear about the details in the plan to update that site.
* Hear from a panel of New Ulm business owners who are currently using the Internet to promote and even sell their products and services on-line.
* Learn about a series of seminar opportunities to be held on three consecutive Tuesdays in July (Tech Tuesdays)

Tech Tuesdays are hands-on training for every stage of creating and/or maximizing your on-line presence:
* Using a template to create your website (templates to be provided).
* Learning the techniques for optimizing your website.
* Discovering the possibilities of e-commerce and how YOU can sell on-line. It’s the “store that never closes.”

Whether you are just thinking about starting a business, already are in business but do not yet have a website, are looking to enhance your existing website, or are considering increasing your “back-door” traffic through e-commerce, join us for a continental breakfast at the New Ulm Country Club — 7:30 a.m. on Tuesday, June 26. Reservations are required; e-mail nuredc@newulmtel.net or call the Chamber at 233-4300 by Friday, June 22.

Best EDU Sites in Michigan

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TIESMy favorite list from TIES just sent me a link to the Berrien County ISD Teacher’s Choice Awards for Best Content Providers. Berrien County is in Michigan. That’s all I know about them – but I enjoy seeing favorite web sites in any industry (especially education) when they have been selected by the industry because it usually means site really are good.

Many of the winners were awarded because of their Internet 2 programming – videoconferencing and more. That’s great for kids but sad for us grownups who wanted to check out the cool content. One winner I’ve mentioned earlier in the blog is Megaconference Jr. As a former librarian, I’m also pleased to see that the Library of Congress made the cut.

Courtroom by Video

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What could you do with more broadband? Well, Thomson West has a good answer. They are testing a new service that will stream courtroom video to big law firms at speeds thousands of times faster than the Internet can handle.

They hope to test the service late this year or in early 2008 by delivering almost instantaneous courtroom video to attorneys-to-be at the University of Minnesota Law School using the Internet2. The hope is to have a fully functioning product in 3 years.

A recent article in the Minneapolis Star Tribune (Thomson, U to connect using speedy Internet2) talked about the project:

Thomson, which has been an advocate of faster Internet access for schools and home users, said Internet2 is an example of the high-speed services Minnesota should try to get for its communities. Thomson recently backed two unsuccessful bills in the Legislature that would have committed Minnesota to achieving that goal.

“Internet2 is a preview of things that will be demanded for the community,” King said. “When we recruit high-tech people, it helps to have a high-tech, connected community for them to live in. So anything we can do to push broadband also drives economic development.”

What I found surprising was that Thomson backed 2 unsuccessful bills in the Legislature. I don’t know if those bills are deemed unsuccessful (or successful) yet. I had been following them during the session and it seemed to me as if they were both tabled for the year but will be picked up again after January.

Broadband to Keep you Dry?

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umbrellaIt is raining – let’s build an ark kind of raining – in St Paul today. I’m looking for a good way to create a “this day in history” kind of online calendar. I ran into something much more appropriate:

GPS-enabled umbrella with internet capabilities – an article from MNteractive on an umbrella with a built-in camera, internet connectivity, and Flickr integration.

The author of that blog wasn’t sure there was a lot of value. I was just rained out of a festival with 3 kids – so today I might vote for this as the next killer app. No one would mind the rain if we could download Hannah Montana videos while we waited for it to stop.