Yes Magazine, September 7, 2012 If last week’s Republican National Convention had a mythic protagonist (other than Mitt Romney, that is), it was the struggling small business owner. In speech after speech, we heard about the same basic person in the same basic dilemma: a small business owner overcome by the burden of government regulations…. Continue reading

Pioneer Press, August 22, 2012 From issuing a permit to taking a 911 call to checking out a library book, governments run on their technology networks.  “No network, no city services,” says Andrea Casselton, St. Paul’s director of technology and communications. … Maximum construction costs are $13.7 million if Ramsey County is the sole government… Continue reading

KALW Radio, August 21, 2012 On today’s Your Call, a conversation about Wal-Mart as it turns 50. It’s the third-largest publicly traded corporation in the world and the largest private employer with 8,500 stores in 15 countries and 2 million employees. How has it been able to dominate the global retail market? Join us at… Continue reading

StateTech Magazine, August 16, 2012 StateTech Magazine named ILSR’s Blog, Muninetworks.org,  to their inaugural list of the best technology resources for the public sector.  One thing state and local governments have in common right now is a tight budget. Residents demand that their municipality employ the utmost efficiency with their tax dollars. And why shouldn’t… Continue reading

The Atlantic Cities, August 13, 2012 When Bill Winkler opened his small archery shop, he was prepared to compete against businesses large and small – but not against a government-financed competitor.  “The day Bass Pro opened here in Bossier, the number of arrows I sold dropped off by 50 percent,” says Winkler.  A Bass Pro… Continue reading

Get Solar, August 3, 2012 The Aloha State has many natural resources, including its volcanoes and its miles of shoreline, but one thing the state lacks is an abundant source of fossil fuels. Hawaii had to import 94 percent of its energy sources in 2010, according to the Energy Information Association.  However, Hawaii does have… Continue reading

TreeHugger, August 2, 2012 Some days I think I should just set up a redirect to Steve Mouzon at the Original Green and Kaid Benfield at NRDC Switchboard and go for a long hiking vacation; they are both turning out such interesting stuff and have turned into a bit of a tag team. Mouzon recently… Continue reading

Slate, August 1, 2012 Imagine paying $40 per gallon of gasoline when people in neighboring towns are paying $4. Or paying $8 per kilowatt-hour for electricity when others were paying 8 cents. Unthinkable! But this stark disparity is commonplace when it comes to paying for Internet access in the United States. As the recent report… Continue reading

Forbes, August 1, 2012 In the excitement around Google‘s unveiling of the $70 gigabit broadband connection in Kansas City, some may be wondering how it is that Google can offer a gigabit for moderately more than what most of us pay for far slower cable broadband connections. On one side of the equation is the… Continue reading

The Atlantic, August 1, 2012 It is worth reading this recent posting by Christopher Mitchell, on the Community Broadband Networks site, for an angle of the Google-vs.-all-comers battle not usually featured in the mainstream press. That angle is Google’s significantly cheaper cost structure for data-movement of all kinds, and the commercial and technological possibilities this… Continue reading