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Wireless Philadelphia to Become Network-less Philadelphia on June 12 [UPDATED] |
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Today’s Inquirer reports that EarthLink will end wifi service for the troubled Wireless Philadelphia project on June 12. Right now, it doesn’t look like any other company will take over operations — apparently, EarthLink couldn’t even give the network equipment away. But you wouldn’t know that from the latest post on the WP Web site by CEO Greg Goldman, dated May 9: “Wireless Philadelphia and the City of Philadelphia continue to work together to ensure a positive future for Philadelphia’s municipal wireless network and nationally-recognized Digital Inclusion program, the vision of which is to provide all citizens with access to essential technological resources for education, employment, and other life opportunities.” Click here for more background info on Wireless Philadelphia — plus a pretty decent rant – by our own RayAna Park. UPDATE (May 14) — WP now has a statement on their site: “Today we received an announcement that EarthLink intends to discontinue operation of its Municipal Wi-Fi Network in Philadelphia. The reason cited was that negotiations with a certain party failed to come to a positive conclusion. The transfer of the EarthLink network is by definition a complex, time-intensive, multi-party transaction. Despite today’s announcement, Wireless Philadelphia and the City are still working actively together to identify alternatives for preserving this network and applying it to numerous civic, commercial and social purposes. We remain optimistic for an orderly resolution of this matter. Regardless, Wireless Philadelphia is utterly steadfast in its determination to extend internet access to all members of the community, and we intend to do everything in our power to continue the momentum generated by WP in support of Digital Inclusion.” |
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Submitted by: Dan Giancaterino, Internet Librarian
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Comments (0)March 3, 2008
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Wireless Philadelphia - I knew it wouldn’t last |
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Who’s going to buy up this lost cause? Have they even set up those purported “Eye in the Sky” surveillance cameras yet in an effort to help reduce crime? Let’s face it, the closest thing to cutting edge technology in Philly was probably used in making my Dunkin Donuts coffee this morning. |
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Submitted by: RayAna Park, Former Web Developer
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March 12, 2007
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See What You Can Get With Dedicated Mass-Transit Funding? |
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There’s a fun article in the NY Times about how Google’s “basically running a small municipal transit agency.” The company uses 32 shuttle buses to “run 132 trips every day to some 40 pickup and drop-off locations in more than a dozen cities, crisscrossing six counties in the San Francisco Bay Area and logging some 4,400 miles.” Base fare? Nada. It’s a perk. Part of the “golden handcuffs” that keep Googlers productive and happy. Your base fare if Harrisburg doesn’t bail out SEPTA by July? $2.50. Plus a 20% service cut. Did I mention that Google’s shuttles are “equipped with comfortable leather seats and wireless Internet access. Bicycles are allowed on exterior racks, and dogs on forward seats, or on their owners’ laps if the buses run full.” Yeah, but the Market-Frankford line is equipped with … oh, never mind. Anyway, I was struck by the juxtaposition of two images. First, here are Googlers on the shuttle:
And here’s an image circa 1920 from the NY Times Store that appeared on the same page:
I’m not advocating that we turn the clock back 90 years. But who would you want to take your back in a time of national emergency? A busload of people with entitlement issues or the guy with the wrench? |
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Submitted by: Dan Giancaterino, Internet Librarian
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January 22, 2007
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Mayor Street’s a Clown |
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Don’t look at me. I’m just quoting what a Wikipedia user said about our beloved mayor (see the second paragraph in the “Biographical details and political career” section.) This was reported in today’s Inquirer, btw. This episode demonstrates — to me, at least — how small the world has become. Based on the IP address, 12.198.160.151, the vandal was probably at a hotel in the U.S. Halfway around the world a Chinese writer named Andrew Lih (Fuzheado) repaired the damage less than 11 hours later. To paraphrase Hamlet, “What’s Mayor Street to him, or he to Mayor Street, That he should edit for him?” |
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Submitted by: Dan Giancaterino, Internet Librarian
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January 10, 2006
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Celebrate Ben Franklin’s Tercentenary |
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On January 9, 2006, Vivisimo, Inc. launched the Ben Franklin Portal in celebration of his 300th birthday. Search and view Franklin’s writings that are available on the web — his autobiography, essays, correspondence, and proverbs at ben.clusty.com. The National Constitution Center has a wonderful exhibit and a number of events planned for the occasion. Visit www.constitutioncenter.org for details. |
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Submitted by: Ida Weingram, Head of Outreach Services
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October 4, 2005
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Wi-Fi Woundup |
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A convergence of Wi-Fi related stories: 1. Today’s Daily News (registration required) reports that Wireless Philadelphia has selected EarthLink to build the Wi-Fi network for the city. EarthLink has agreed to do it for free. The city expects that the network will be completed within a year. If the deal goes down as expected, Our Fair City may be the first in the U.S. to offer free or low-cost Wi-Fi. 2. May … or may not. San Francisco has received two dozen proposals for their Wi-Fi network. Guess who offered to build one for free? Google. They have the chops to get the thing built in a hurry. 3. The NY Times (registration required) today reports that federal regulators are reassessing the rules barring cell phones during airline flights. (I’d rather they ban young sqwaky children — mine included. But I digress.) The Times also reports that in-flight Internet access is really — I’m sorry, I just have to say it — taking off on foreign airlines. |
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Submitted by: Dan Giancaterino, Internet Librarian
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September 27, 2005
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Remind Me Again Why I Went on Vacation? |
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I am digging out after a week off. Here’s a quick recap of interesting Web stuff (in no real order) that hit on or around my vacation last week: 1. The Free Library of Philadelphia’s Web site has been redesigned. Why am I blogging about this here? In my classes, I always mention the specialized databases available for free from libraries, whether it be the FLP or Jenkins. Unfortunately the FLP has buried the links to their electronic databases. They’re trying to make them available via a federated search — it’s a little clumsy, but for most patrons I guess it will work OK. But I’d rather use the database vendor’s search interface directly. Previously I could click on the Electronic Resources link and select the database I wanted. Now, I have to click on the Advanced Search link, then find and click on the link to the database. 2. Ask Jeeves will soon rebrand itself as simply Ask.com. IAC/InterActiveCorp seems to feel that No more butler = No more bad memories of natural language searches that went nowhere. 3. Vivisimo (the people who bring you Clusty) and MSN have signed a contract to provide search services for FirstGov, probably beginning next year. Previous FirstGov search providers were AT&T/FAST (2002-present) and Inktomi (2000-2002.) For a preview of how this will more or less work, visit Clusty Government Search. 4. Last, but not least, Google has dropped the “over 8 billion served” page count from its site. In a “happy birthday to us” posting on the Google Blog, they also claim that they are 3x larger than their Competitor-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named — i.e. Yahoo, which last month claimed it indexed 19 point something billion documents. So does Google index 60 billion pages? Nah … They claim that Yahoo’s count of 19 billion is bogus. Does all this really matter? Not from my point of view. Repeat after me: Relevance, Relevance, Relevance. If you’re interested, Danny Sullivan over at Search Engine Watch has written an excellent article about the end of the size wars. |
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Submitted by: Dan Giancaterino, Internet Librarian
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