Columbia Journalism Review, January 18, 2013 Reuters reports that Amazon’s fourth quarter results may take a hit from new laws that force it to collect sales taxes in California, Texas, and Pennsylvania. Best Buy says its online sales outperformed in those three states compared to the rest of the country, while analysts say Amazon’s sales look … Read More
The Tyee, January 17, 2013 It’s a typically cold and rainy December morning on a rooftop in downtown Vancouver. The revolving restaurant atop the Harbour Centre skyscraper peeks above some closer buildings to the north, the pious spire of the Holy Rosary Cathedral marks south. Steps away, the concrete roof supports a massive greenhouse filled with … Read More
The Washington Post, January 15, 2013 Why wait on Washington when there’s Wal-Mart? Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the world’s largest retailer and the biggest private employer in the U.S. with 1.4 million workers here, said Tuesday that it is rolling out a three-part plan to help jumpstart the sluggish U.S. economy. The plan includes hiring more than … Read More
High Speed Geek, January 9, 2013 Gigabit internet is awesome. And elusive. Gigabit ethernet speed is equal to 1,000,000,000 bits per second or 1,000 Mbps. For comparison: “fast ethernet” is considered to be 100 Mbps, which is still much faster than standard internet service that’s normally 10 Mbps (like the kind you’d get from Time Warner … Read More
FreePress, January 8, 2013 Here’s a fun experiment: Grab the next person you see and tell her you’re about to talk about tech policy (you know, to prepare her). If she hasn’t screamed, pulled out all of her hair or fled the room, tell her you’re about to take a voyage to strange lands where laws … Read More
Cogeneration Magazine, January 7, 2013 Rooftop solar could meet 10% of US power demand by 2022, claims the Institute for Local Self-Reliance (ILSR), which expects installations on more than 35 million buildings to undercut utility power. The ILSR’s report forecasts that a surge of distributed generation from photovoltaic (PV) panels on homes and businesses will spread … Read More
The Beaufort Gazette, January 6, 2013 A coupon book offering discounts at Hilton Head Island restaurants and a website promoting businesses in downtown Beaufort and Port Royal represent the latest attempts to lure Lowcountry diners and shoppers away from big-box retailers and chain restaurants and into locally owned shops and eateries. …snip… Around the same time … Read More
Telecompetitor, January 4, 2013 A citizen’s group in Burlington, Vermont hopes to transform troubled municipal network Burlington Telecom into a customer-owned cooperative. In so doing, the group – tentatively called Green Mountain Broadband Fiber — hopes to prevent the network from being privatized and to retain local control. According to a report published by the Institute … Read More
After a city in North Carolina built a Fiber-to-the-Home network competing with Time Warner Cable, the cable giant successfully lobbied to take that decision away from other cities. The city of Wilson’s decision and resulting network was recently examined in a case study by Todd O’Boyle and Christopher Mitchell titled Carolina’s Connected Community: Wilson Gives Greenlight … Read More
