The PF HYPER Blog

Is it bye-bye Wi-Fi in Philadelphia?

2008-05-15T19:25:00.001-05:00

Earthlink announced Tuesday that they are going to discontinue operation of its muni Wi-Fi network in Philadelphia. They say that they tried to transfer ownership of the network to Philadelphia or to a nonprofit (Wireless Philadelphia, I assume) for free but that the transfer "unraveled due to unresolved issues among the City, Wireless Philadelphia and the non-profit." Holy WAP Batman!

According to Earthlink that's $17M worth of equipment plus they would pay some cash and donate new Wi-Fi equipment. Since they can't transfer, Earthlink says they will remove the network at their cost and try to find alternative Internet connections for customers.

Meanwhile, the Wireless Philadelphia Blog says:

Philadelphia's Wi-Fi network continues to operate in the roughly 80% of the City in which it has been deployed (see map). Nothing in the ten-year Network Agreement permits EarthLink to unilaterally impose deadlines for the network's transfer, turn off the network or remove network equipment.

Metro Philadelphia and CNET have stories.

Meanwhile, back at the Minneapolis ranch, the USIW progress map says the network is scheduled to be completed in April, 2008. The tiny map on the page indicates the network is live in most of the city but there are several large "challenge areas" where it's not working. It would be nice to see an update as to what's going on especially since the Digital Inclusion Fund is waiting on $200,000 from USIW once the network is done and the City signs off.

Thanks to Ed Kohler for a heads up on the Philadelphia situation. He blogs at The Deets and Technology Evangelist.

Technorati Tags: broadband, politics, USIW, Wi-Fi, wireless, municipal, Philadelphia, Minneapolis

The annual Minnebar post

2008-05-07T19:05:00.001-05:00

Saturday, May 10, Minnebar returns to Minneapolis with new host University of Minnesota Software Engineering Center. As a U of MN employee, I want to say that I'm very proud that we are hosting this event. We talk a lot over at the U about community engagement but sadly we don't walk the walk often enough. This Saturday will be an exception as over 300 geeky types invade the Coffman Student Union. Sessions start at 8:30 a.m. but you will want to get there at 8 to register.

There is a pre-event mixer Friday night (8 p.m.) at the Bulldog NE (401 E. Hennepin). The Refactr bunch will feed you. You pay for the booze. Pfhyper has to babysit grandsons that night but they go to bed early so he's hoping to make an appearance wearing an old Minnebar T. Wave to him.

Presenters please remember that this is an unconference. Powerpoint is tolerated but if the discussion gets going forget about the damn slides and go with the flow.

Bonus links!

@graemethickins somehow found a tentative Minnebar schedule and posted it for us.

A pfhyper tweet from Minnebar 2007.

Technorati Tags: minnebar, conference, 2008, minnebar08, minnebar2008

Minneapolis Unwired: Bunch of articles as the network nears completion

2008-03-29T23:02:00.001-05:00

Local media is reporting on the Minneapolis Wireless network. So far the reports are good.

First up is Brandt William's report at MPR which gives a good overview of the Minneapolis network and some background on other deployments around the country—most of which are not faring well. I get interviewed in Williams piece which ran on Wednesday, March 26. (Just noticed that he didn't mention my blog although he called me a tech blogger.)

MPR is in St. Paul and by coincidence the next two local reports originate at the St. Paul Pioneer Press. First
Leslie Brooks Suzukamo talks about the leaves of spring and their effect on Wi-Fi signals. Wireless vendor USIW thinks they've learned enough about the trees to ensure good reception. Lots of details are in this report including information about the BelAir nodes that are the hardware heart of the system.

Also from the Pioneer Press, Julio Ojeda-Zapata crosses the river to test the network armed with a laptop and iTouch. He experienced a couple of problems but overall he thought the network was satisfactory.

The number of USIW subscribers is not clear from the articles. I've seen figures ranging from 5,000 to 10,000 and I think pre-registrations are sometimes mixed in with true subscriber figures. Suzukamo quotes USIW head Joe Caldwell predicting 10,000 subscribers next month. I have another report that originated with Minneapolis wireless consultant Jim Fartad that there are currently 7,500 subscribers.

Challenge areas where there is no service are still a problem. USIW may have to install poles to get the job done there.

According to Farstad, 85% of the customers are using the Ruckus device for connecting. Some customers also need external antennas but the number is less than 50. Overal customer satisfaction is 90%. I would like to know how they are determing that figure as the buzz on the local internet tends to be negative.

Bonus link:

Steve Alexander at the Minneapolis Star Tribune reports on the new Wi-Fi network coming to the University of Minnesota.

After 7 years, U puts 'old' Wi-Fi network out to pasture

Extra! Extra! Boing Boing purloins photo then apologizes

2008-03-29T10:17:00.001-05:00

[Post title is purely a commercial ploy to capture your interest and make some money.]

I am very interested in issues of intellectual property and copyright and strongly support Creative Commons. So does Aaron Landry but he has an issue with how Boing Boing reused a Flickr photo of his. He brings up some excellent points.

Aaron Landry » An Example of Creative Commons Not Working

Hitchcock embed via Hulu

2008-03-18T20:16:00.002-05:00

I'm exploring Hulu tonight a bit. Found old Alfred Hitchcock hours and decided to watch one. I think the date on this was 1964 and I may have watched the original broadcast as a young boy. Listening to Hitch's intro of the episode, I know I didn't catch all the subtleties back then. I'm not sure I even liked the show but it's enjoyable now and I have several of them in my queue. Hulu stocks season 1 and 2.

If you don't have a Hulu account yet, I encourage you to check them out. Playback is pretty good at full-screen on my 15-inch MacBook Pro. They have a cache of old shows (Mary Tyler Moore, Barney Miller, Dick Van Dyke Show, Miami Vice, Rockford Files) some new shows (Bones, The Office, My Name is Earl, Terminator: Sarah Connor Chronicles, House) and movies (Usual Suspects, The Big Lebowski, Planet of the Apes).

It's a social network too. You can leave comments, subscribe to shows, share (send a show to another social site like Facebook or Digg), and embed.

For your screening pleasure this evening I chose the embed option. Here is Mr. Hitchcock introducing this evening's episode. [Just reviewed the post and Hulu sent along their branding and a commercial. Sorry about that but it's very short.]

Minneapolis Unwired: St. Paul tips its hat to MinneMuniWifi

2008-03-11T21:04:00.001-05:00

Pioneer Press congratulates Minneapolis on a successful Wi-Fi system. Network was supposed to be done today but according to the story, the recent cold snap set them back. So the new completion date is the end of the month.

Minneapolis looks like Wi-Fi winner

Minneapolis Unwired: Civic garden demo site open

2008-02-28T21:54:00.000-06:00

Update: There's no form or email address at the end of the suggestions link. I'll see if I can get any more information or an email address for suggestions.

The Civic Garden portal demo is live on the web. It states that it's a work-in-progress. You can leave comments about it here: http://wirelessminneapolis.org/suggestions.htm

The Garden will be open access to anyone with wireless connectivity. It will link to civic sites of various kinds including community organizations, city government, public safety, and neighborhood groups.

Minneapolis Civic Garden Portal Project

Blogging! Live! Tonight!

2008-02-25T17:05:00.001-06:00

New Media, New Standards: Ethics in Online Journalism is the MPR UBS Forum tonight (Free!) and they have Dan Gillmor on the panel along with a host of local Jjourno types. You can't go though unless you already reserved a seat but you can live vicariously and read all about it as Greg and Erica live-blog and tweet. There's also an audio stream available at the MPR site.

Metroblogging Minneapolis: Live blogging MPR's MSM vs. New Media Ethics Forum. Check comments as some of the luminaries have weighed in.

Eric Meyer will be at MinneWebCon. Will you?

2008-02-22T14:45:00.001-06:00

This is a pure marketing blurb about the University of Minnesota full-day, 3-track web conference on April 14.

MinneWebCon—April 14, 2008 : U of M

Disclosure: I work at the U and I helped in planning this event.

Minneapolis Unwired: Wireless network finish date March 11

2008-02-22T06:37:00.002-06:00

The Star Tribune's Steve Alexander reports that March 11 is the finish date for the Wireless network. There are still significant dead areas in the City however. If I read this right, the City needs to negotiate with Xcel to hang radios in the "challenge" areas.

One of the delay problems mentioned is "foliage barriers." So what about all the radios that have been hung since the fall leaf drop? None have been tested with foliage. Could this cause significant problems with the network as the leaves come back to the trees.

Foliage was a significant problem in the Seward pilot areas where they actually had to rebuild the network after they had sold accounts to residents. The original pilot implementation was mainly put in place when there were no leaves on the trees. When spring came, connectivity dropped for a significant number of subscribers. We will have to wait and see. (Maybe one of the Journalists-with-a-capital-J out there could consider asking this when you have their ear.)

Read the article here: Minneapolis Wi-Fi finish set for March 11

Minneapolis Unwired: New article at TC Daily Planet on the wi-fi network buildout

2008-02-18T06:34:00.001-06:00

Minneapolis wi-fi network nearing completion by Patrick Anderson. I am quoted and thank you Planet for the links to my wireless marketing piece.

A friend called over the weekend to tell me she subscribed to the wireless system. She has the Ruckus gateway in a window pointed at a radio 300 feet away. The signal is not satisfactory and drops more often than she thinks it should. USIW says that's the nature of wireless (although they are still working with her). My own guess is the radios in her area need tuning for better coverage or additional radios need to be mounted. Since USIW is rushing to complete the network, I am doubting if the fine-tuning work gets a high priority right now. Additionally, spring brings leaves and leaves bring increased interference to the system and a greater need for tuning.

Minneapolis Unwired: City issues strategy sheet on administering community benefits

2008-02-16T13:43:00.003-06:00

[Full Disclusure: I'm a member of the Digital Inclusion Fund Advisory Committee.]

Also at this weeks Committee of the Whole meeting, the City issued a strategy sheet entitled "Strategy to administer the Wireless Minneapolis community benefits in 2008." (PDF copy here.)

Copying and pasting from the City's PDF version is almost impossible so I will summarize and comment.

Besides the Digital Inclusion Fund which just gave out grant awards (and will have another $300,000 once the network is completed), there are several other community benefits in the City's contract with US Internet. The City is going to reconvene the Digital Inclusion Task Force, add the Digital Inclusion Fund Advisory Committee, and have them decide on some of the guidelines for these benefits. If you have an interest in helping with this process, I would suggest contacting your Councilmember and requesting that you could join the group. Drop me an email too and let me know that you are doing this and I'll send it up through my channels too.

Here are the other benefits:

A civic garden (also know as "walled" garden) of sites to access free of charge whether a US Internet subscriber or not. This will be free wireless internet access to selected sites. The City of Minneapolis is one of the sites. The rest are to be determined. I think this mostly benefits visitors to Minneapolis with laptops, a.k.a. business people. So I would hope that the free listing would be targeted at them. The civic garden idea will integrate with the...
Community portals that will appear when you log-in the network. These are free access if your computer has wireless capabilities. They will be location-based and the south portal will not be the same portal as the north portal. (I think there are six in all.) If we are targeting business folk with our free access, do they need to see these portals?
100 free wireless accounts awarded to nonprofits. How these will be delivered is still to be determined.
$15,000 in annual Wireless Minneapolis monthly subscription vouchers for volunteers
who are offering training in Community Technology Centers. No guidelines set for these yet.
Up to 5% of the City’s geographic area, including some parks and plazas, designated as
free WiFi zones. It would be nice if this were a priority and we had access for spring.

So the recommendation now is that the City engage the members of the Digital Inclusion Task Force and the Digital Inclusion Fund Advisors to do the following:

Develop interim guidelines that direct how the 100 free non-profit accounts will be allocated in 2008; solicit requests for free accounts from non-profits that meet these guidelines; and make recommendations for recipients of 2008 accounts.
Develop interim guidelines that direct how the $15,000 in volunteer service vouchers will be allocated in 2008; solicit requests for volunteer vouchers from non-profits that meet these guidelines; and make recommendations for recipients of 2008 accounts.
Develop interim "acceptable use" guidelines for content on the community portals and in the Civic Garden and make recommendations for community portal and Civic Garden content for 2008.
Develop recommendations for how the City of Minneapolis should address community involvement and oversight of the community benefits and the City’s community technology agenda.

That "acceptable use" on the portals (#3) seems a slippery slope. I would hope that publishing would be open to a large and diverse community—meaning just about anyone who wants to publish—and that guidelines would be very loose.

For #4 and community involvement, I've been lobbying to have a community engagement day based on the Open Space Technology concept.

Let's hear some comments. Minneapolis residents have a serious stake in how we use these Community benefits.

Minneapolis Unwired: State of the Wireless Network report from City CIO

2008-02-16T12:56:00.002-06:00

At the Minneapolis City Council Committee of the Whole meeting this week, CIO Lynn Willenbring presented the report below. The map that is mentioned in the report is not attached. I will try to get a copy and post it. A PDF version of the report is available.

The Report

Background/Supporting Information

In 2006 the City of Minneapolis signed a 10-year contract with US Internet to build and manage a wireless network across the city. USI Wireless is currently in the process of constructing the wireless network.

When completed the wireless network will provide access to 95 percent of the city’s land area (the remaining 5 percent includes lakes, larger parks, and golf courses). To develop this wireless network radios are mounted on city assets, such as light poles, which allows the network coverage to reach approximately the third floor of buildings. With additional equipment, building owners can bring the wireless signal into the building and all the way to the top floor of a building.

Overview - Preview - Project Update Over

USI Wireless anticipates that the initial build-out of the network will be completed in March. Construction has been broken into six construction phases. A map (attached) produced by the company shows each of the six construction phases and also highlights areas that we are calling “challenge areas.” These are places throughout Minneapolis where there are a limited number of assets on which to hang the wireless radios. Many of these are areas that have special light poles or are adjacent to parks, where there are currently no light poles. The special light poles may be decorative or they may be scheduled for replacement along parkways. Minneapolis’ 7th City Council Ward has a significant number of challenge areas. These areas will be addressed before the network is considered complete, but installation of wireless radios is continuing throughout Minneapolis to gain as much coverage as possible.

Because network coverage will only reach approximately the third floor of buildings, USI Wireless will be working with interested condominium and apartment ownership groups to bring the wireless network into their buildings. Tall building management organizations are encouraged to contact USI Wireless to begin the process.

Resolving these challenges is a priority for both the City and USI Wireless. The City must be confident that when the network is complete it meets our service expectations and the contract requirements.

Since Minneapolis is one of the first cities in the country to pursue such a project, we are the first to face – and resolve – the myriad of unanticipated issues that come along with such an ambitious endeavor.

END

Networks & Neighborhoods in Cyberspace: A Minnesota Futures Symposium

2008-02-11T12:29:00.001-06:00

Today were at Networks & Neighborhoods In Cyberspace

Follow our Twitter reports here.

Nation Not Wired: Educause blueprint for open 100 Mbps to my house

2008-02-03T12:25:00.001-06:00

While President Bush thinks 200K is fast enough, Educause published A Blueprint for Big Broadband that recommends minimum speeds of 100 Mbps to businesses and homes by 2012 (and scalable to 1 Gbps). Go Educause!

Read the article: Private Broadband Fails US, Needs Change | WebProNews

Thx to the Baller Herbst list.

Technorati Tags: broadband, politics

Nation Not Wired: Good news. There's enough broadband

2008-02-03T12:10:00.001-06:00

In 2004, President Bush pledged
that all Americans should have affordable access to high-speed Internet
service by 2007. A report to be released Thursday by the administration
says it has succeeded — mostly.

Note that broadband is defined as a connection at 200K or better.

Study: US Broadband Goal Nearly Reached

Get the full report at the NTIA site.

Thx to the Baller Herbst list.

Technorati Tags: broadband, politics

Minneapolis Unwired: Digital inclusion grants

2008-02-03T08:37:00.001-06:00

I shot off the last post late last night when I was too tired to deal with more than a quick announce-and-link. I'm a member of the Digital Inclusion Fund Advisory Committee and I have been wondering when our awards would be announced as we finalized in December. Without warning I stumbled on a GovTech announcement. I couldn't find any local mention. Today I discovered that the City of Minneapolis did post to the Web.

But first I want to congratulate the nonprofit groups who will receive awards. All the proposals were excellent and it was very difficult for me and my fellow digital inclusion advisors to decide who should get funded in this round. One thing that helped us is that another $300,000 will be in our fund once the network is completed and the City has signed off. And after that, if everything goes as planned, there will be more funds coming from US Internet to continue to sustain our fund.

Without further ado, here's the list of NPOs and brief descriptions of the projects. As always, your comments are important!

Minneapolis Public Library - $18,588 for the expansion of the basic technology training classes for Somali and Spanish language speakers and for people with disabilities.
Phyllis Wheatley Community Center - $8,775 for its Bridging the Digital Divide project designed to bring diverse neighborhood youth together using wireless technology; also for the purchase of equipment, program materials, and accountability and evaluation services.
Plymouth Christian Youth Center - $22,500 for increased technology access and literacy among youth and families in north Minneapolis by providing computer access and education for community youth enrolled in the school's alternative and after-school programs; also to offer access and education on Saturdays for families from the community.
Project for Pride in Living - $25,000 for its new Learning Center Access Lab, which offers and array of resources and programs that help bridge the digital divide for low-income residents by providing computer skills and access.
St. Paul Neighborhood Network - $20,000 for program operations and member support which targets technology access and literacy needs of recent immigrant, people with disabilities, and low-income residents of Minneapolis.
The Bridge for Runaway Youth - $25,775 for a program that ensures digital inclusion for homeless youth.
The Church of St. Philip (Patchwork Quilt) - $30,000 for its Patchwork Digital Divide initiative to continue providing computer hardware, software, and access to the Wireless Minneapolis network for low-income families with children and people with disabilities.
TVbyGirls - $22,262 for a series of visual and media literacy workshops designed to work with girls in specific cultural communities.
Twin Cities Media Alliance - $27,100 for recruitment and training of Minneapolis residents and neighborhood organizations to create local, relevant, and useful information for distribution through neighborhood portals, community partners and Twin Cities Daily Planet.

Technorati Tags: broadband, politics, digital_inclusion, wireless, USIW, Minneapolis, Wi-fi

Minneapolis Unwired: First wave of digital inclusion grants announced

2008-02-02T23:58:00.001-06:00

My Google news alerts just notified me that grant awards from the Minneapolis Digital Inclusion Fund have been announced. This is from GovTech - I don't see any local mention.

I'm on the Digital Inclusion Fund Advisory Committee and helped in deciding how the money would be awarded. You can get the details at the above link. I'm going to let other local bloggers pick up the ball on this.

Technorati Tags: broadband, politics, digital_inclusion, wireless, USIW, Minneapolis, Wi-fi

Nation Unwired: Billion dollar spectrum auction

2008-02-02T18:09:00.001-06:00

The 700 MHz auction began on Jan. 24. There are 214 qualified bidders including Verizon, Google, and AT&T. The government could make $30 billion. Bryan Gardiner at Wired says this could "be one of the most significant airwave auctions in U.S. history,
potentially affecting everything from the cost of your wireless service
to the competitive landscape among U.S. mobile providers for years to
come." (Brian's article is a good primer on what the auction is about.)

The FCC has designated the C Block to "open to any devices and services." This is the space that many think Google is interested in. Minimum bidding for the C Block is $4.6 billion. Many thought that might not be met but it has and a bidding war has gone up past $10 billion.

Sascha Meinrath has posted instructions on watching the C Block auction in real time-- just like E-Bay.

Part of the spectrum is reserved for building a public safety network with a public-private partnership. That has not fared so well. Read what Susan Crawford has to say.

Technorati Tags: politics, internet, broadband

State of the Net Video/Audio

2008-02-02T17:28:00.001-06:00

Video and/or audio of some of the sessions and keynotes at the January 30 State of the Net Conference in Washington D.C.

The Congressional Internet Caucus Advisory Committee's State of the Net Conference is now the largest technology policy conference in DC, annually attracting well over 500 attendees. It is the only conference with a balanced blend of academics, consumer groups, industry and government (over 50% of 2007 attendees were government policy staff).

Technorati Tags: broadband, internet, politics

Minneapolis Unwired: We are fastest (maybe)

2008-02-01T16:00:00.000-06:00

My Google alerts for "Minneapolis wireless" flagged a report on current testing of Mineapolis Wi-Fi network by Novarum. Novarum goes around the country testing and measuring Wi-Fi implementations and they release a public report. They also do testing-for-hire and that's what's going on here in Minneapolis. Belair, the radio and antenna provider for the Minneapolis system hired them.

The report states that USI Wireless (vendor for the system) is delivering the highest speeds of any metro Wi-Fi network in the U.S.

MuniWireless contacted Novarum and found out that while they do think we have a high-quality and fast wireless network here in Minneapolis, they are still testing and won't discuss the results. Belair Network jumped the gun with this announcement.

MuniWireless article

Technorati Tags: tech, wireless

Wiring California: Report from the Broadband Task Force

2008-01-20T22:55:00.001-06:00

The California Broadband Task Force just released its report. Although California leads the nation in broadband availability with 96 percent coverage, they still have 2,000 communities unable to access high-speed internet and just over half of its households using broadband. It is an innovative and detailed report with specific recommendations spelled out. It looks like it could serve as a model for other states and perhaps the US itself.

Nicely formatted, the end of each Recommendation section provides a bulleted summary.

Here are a few details.

Allow Community Service Districts to provide broadband if private sector doesn't in a location.
Establish a public/private partnership to ensure every household with a child is able to have a computer, high-speed internet access, and ability to use it.
Provide tax incentives to technology-based businesses offering training and technical support to at-risk communities, particularly disabled and low-literacy populations.
Implement a shared vision, strategic plan, and sustainable business model for an E-Health network.

Link: Broadband Task Force Report - California Broadband Initiative

via Rick Mahn and GigaOM.

Technorati Tags: broadband, California, politics

Steve's Keynote: Was it worth it?

2008-01-17T08:08:00.001-06:00

I don't ever remember this much buzz around a Macworld keynote. Twitter certainly helped in maintaining the high buzz level. Those of us who live in Tweet village find time to read our tweets more easily than following the blogs so we could help in grabbing the memes and retweeting in our own neighborhoods. Twitter suffered to during the length of the expo as everyone proved the value of it's communication model.

The leaked keynote (via Wikipedia!) raised the stakes. Was it real? I don't have time for a point-by-point comparison but there's no direct mention of Macbook Air or iTunes movie rentals although both of those items appeared in other rumor mills.

This keynote generated some wonderful video content. If you don't have time (hour +) to watch the full keynote, Veronica Belmont at Mahalo will jog you through it in 60 seconds. If you're curious about what Randy Newman is doing these days, you can check out this vid (complete with spurious comments). (Thanks s4xton!)

I was most excited about iTunes movie rentals. I've been buying TV shows at iTunes since the beginning and I was ready to rent something (likely Bruce Willis's latest Die Hard) this weekend. My ancient and cheap TV electronic system actually lets me plug my 5G iPod into the VHS player and see iTunes video on the old 13-inch CRT television. Then I found out that they won't play on my iPod. Sigh. Of course I think "iPod upgrade time" to which Mary says "No way you're buying a new iPod to watch more TV!". I think she has a point but still.... (Could a 5G firmware upgrade or something be in the works or will Apple truly orphan us? Based on past performance, welcome to the orphanage.)

Macbook Air is exquisite. Don't even want to look at perceived negative details (hard-wired battery, lack of ports inc. no ether). It ranks with the Mac Plus in design simplicity and beauty and will set a new standard for computing which is something Apple does so well and why Bill G. has to be so jealous of Steve J. Being of medium income means, I can't justify buying one (yet). (It did make me evaluate my dependency on ethernet. I only plug in at the office. Otherwise, almost 100% wireless. The lack of the ether port just isn't an issue for most of us.)

As for the rest, Apple pursues the high-end TV folk making it easier to watch your favorite movies and shows over the Internet if you can afford the steep entry fee. That's cool and someone has to do it. They do deliver and they deliver products that people want to use as opposed to the other major OS company that keeps showing us stuff under development and painting a 2-d image of what the future will be. Apple first builds the future then releases it.

(Was Steve's keynote worthy of the buzz? Five out of 5 stars here solely based on release of the Air.)

Technorati Tags: osx, macworld, apple, mac

Netheads in Washington: Freedom to Connect Conference

2008-01-06T23:41:00.001-06:00

David Isenberg is once again hosting Freedom to Connect (F2C) on March 31 and April 1 in Washington, DC. The theme is The Netheads Come to Washington and the conference will be a platform for the Nethead voices.

I went to last year's F2C and had a great time. If you're interested in broadband policy and concerned about who is controlling the main internet pipes, you can learn a lot here. Check the speakers list and check their blogs and papers. The venue -- AFI Silver Theater in Silver Spring, MD -- is very nice too and easy to get to on the Metro.

And what other conference provides a musician in residence? Last year it was Howard Levy, harmonica player and founding member of the Flecktones. He wailed blues pieces during the breaks. Then there's the reception and party.

Registration jumps from $350 to $450 tomorrow but David will let you make a case if that's a hardship.

Link: F2C: Freedom to Connect

Technorati Tags: conference, broadband, internet

The show known as airline security

2008-01-06T22:46:00.001-06:00

Good piece on the uselessness of most airline security procedures by Patrick Smith at NY Times. Smith is a commercial airline pilot.

The Airport Security Follies

Technorati Tags: politics, airlines, security