What most refer to as “the last mile” is the last little bit of space between high-speed broadband lines and homes. But for others, the last mile is getting digital information to those who have a harder time accessing it. For one British entrepreneur, it is the blind who struggle traversing that last mile – for US politicians, the poor.
Blame Broadband For User-Generated Content
Faster Internet connections to the home have enabled more people to post a variety of content online.
AT&T Enters Satellite Broadband Ring
A large percentage of the U.S. is still dialing up Internet service, especially in rural areas where broadband is unavailable due to lack of infrastructure. The expense of laying that infrastructure has Internet providers looking to satellite-based services as a work-around.
CBS Floats Innertube Broadband Channel
CBS joins ABC and AOL in placing content online in a freely available way; their effort, called Innertube, will be an entire broadband entertainment channel.
Big Easy Broadband Battles BellSouth
Hurricane Katrina prompted New Orleans’ chief information officer to open the municipal 512kbps mesh network to anyone who wanted to access it, but now faces the prospect of a shutdown and legal fight prompted by BellSouth.
Rural Broadband Gap Closing
Rural America is closing the gap in broadband usage. Two years ago, only nine percent of rural homes had high-speed Internet, compared to 22 percent of urban and suburban America. At the end of 2005, broadband Internet had made its way into 24 percent of rural homes, compared to 39 percent closer to the city.
AOL Expanding Broadband, Portal Deals
Three phone companies will join Verizon and Time Warner Cable as providers of broadband connectivity; AOL and Sony brokered a portal deal focused on users of Sony Vaio PCs.
Yahoo, Verizon Pair On Broadband
The initiative provides Verizon FiOS connectivity co-branded with Yahoo, and an assortment of Yahoo’s content features as part of the package.
Intel Drops Broadband TV Bomb
The most recognizable Grandpa story involves a multi-mile trek to a one-room schoolhouse in the most oppressive inclement weather up a spinning hillbarefoot. Let me be the first to call it. Intel and a bunch of others have just delivered our generation’s Grandpa story.
Online Video Ads Will Grow With Broadband
US Online advertisers are projected to triple their spending on video ads, reaching a total of $640 million by 2007, according to eMarketer. In 2005, online video advertising topped $225 million, suggesting that by 2010, advertisers will spend at least $1.5 billion on video ads.