shibuya tv starts innovative cities

I'm excited to talk about a new affiliate program for independent streaming channels like toast in other parts of the United States. It's called Innovative Cities Nettwerk.What makes an innovative city? A city that is creatively re-building itself. Case in point: Detroit. See what Detroit is doing to re-make their much-maligned metropolis on this VBS special here. Rather than just put up with what fate has dealt them, people in Detroit are deciding how they want to live and what they want Detroit to look like now that General Motors and Ford no longer hold such a huge sway over the place. Watch the VBS special. Compare and contrast with our fine city, Sacramento.

50% funded, 24 days to go!

As of yesterday, we are now half way toward raising $2,000 for Broadband Blindness as another donor committed $300. And as you may have seen in the trailer for Broadband Blindness, one of the interviewees talks about Sonic.net offering Gigabit internet access in Sebastopol. Well, here's an article in the San Francisco Chronicle that talks about this all-you-can-eat service.

More than 1/3 funded, 27 days left

A big thanks to Clay and Dan for their generous pledges on Kickstarter for Broadband Blindness! We're now 38% of the way there with 27 days to go.

More than 1/5 of the way toward reaching the $2K goal!

Thank you to all of our backers so far. We're more than 20% of the way toward meeting the $2K goal for Broadband Blindness. There are 31 days left to get in on this exciting project! Visit http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/rosborn/broadband-blindness-documentary.

Broadband Blindness - New trailer, Now soliciting donations

We're trying to raise $2,000 by August 15 to fund this killer documentary. Check out the new, updated trailer. It's shorter, faster, and more to the point. You have to see this!

The deal is, if we can get $2K by August 15, Kickstarter will collect 5% and pay the rest to this project. If the $2K goal isn't met, all the donations are returned. Help make this movie!

UPDATE 7/9/11: A special THANK YOU to Aaron Hamlin for the first donation!


http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/rosborn/broadband-blindness-documentary?ref=live

CPUC approves rules for SB 1040 money

Do you ever wonder about all of those extra fees and charges on your telephone bill? One of those, CASF (California Advanced Services Fund) is a 100 million dollar funding mechanism to extend high speed internet to unserved and under-served areas across the state. Last year, the California Senate passed SB 1040, which authorizes the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) to collect an additional $125 million from all of us for the same purpose.

Today, the rules governing how that money will be allocated were approved by the PUC, which means that soon regional groups will be able to get money to do studies and draw up plans on how to connect more homes and businesses to high speed internet.

U-Verse: Knight In Shining Armor?

Well, I just got a call from the AT&T Executive Office Appeals and Escalation Team in San Diego, and I finally got an answer about if and when U-Verse will be coming to my 1.5 Mb/s neighborhood in the heart of the capital of the 8th largest economy in the world.

December.

Hey, at least it's this year. Yes, after three written complaints to the CPUC and two to the FCC, I can now say that the issue is closed for now. Or is it?

I was in San Francisco yesterday, and some friends of mine who are in the same 1.5 Mb/s doldrums I'm in say that their problem isn't AT&T being unwilling to bring U-Verse to their doorstep; instead, it's the NIMBY neighbors who don't want another ugly box on the street. These are the same people with an average of 3 computers, 2 iPhones, and an iPad.

Back here in Sacto, I have friends who have U-Verse who say it's no great shakes. The problem, apparently, is still lack of bandwidth back to the AT&T central office. It's like taking an Autobahn-type on-ramp to an I-5 made of dirt.