internet : Buzz

You can't see it but the air around Baltimore is teeming with bandwidth. PC Mag's Sascha Segan has been traveling from the Big Apple to Charm City for the past few years, testing out the city's bevy of mobile WiFi networks.

Here's an excerpt:

"Baltimoreans are lucky to have lots of choices, with AT&T, Cricket, Sprint 3G, T-Mobile, Verizon and Sprint 4G all available in Charm City. Of the 3G networks, AT&T pulled the best speeds but had problems with consistency. Verizon offered..."

Read the entire article here.

Leaving the wilds of Texas behind for the urban environs of Baltimore turns out have been a good business move for Paniagua's Enterprises. The Charm City transplant has grown more than 100 percent since heading east. It's recent success landed the company the No. 4 spot on Bloomberg Businessweek's list of the "Fastest Growing Inner-city Companies."

Here's an excerpt:

"Paniagua's Enterprises specializes in voice, data, and video fiber optic cable installation for commercial and government clients. After relocating the company's headquarters from Texas to inner-city Baltimore, founder Jaime Paniagua says he established a relationship with United Cable (now Comcast)."

Read the entire article here.

As cities continue vying to become the city chosen as the test subject for Google Fiber's ultra-highspeed broadband network, TechCrunch takes note of the extremes and how the telecom companies have failed the U.S.

Here's an excerpt:

"A couple weeks ago, we noted the city of Topeka, Kansas' humorous attempt to get Google's attention: by rebranding their city "Google, Kansas." Why would they do such a thing? Because they want in on Google's fiber action � the search giant's proposed plan to sell 1 gigabit-per-second broadband to consumers. Now Baltimore, Maryland is getting in on the fun as well.

The city has appointed a "Google Czar" � yes, that's the actual title � to lobby the company to put Baltimore on the list of cities in the initial trial. Tom Loveland, CEO of a local tech company, Mind Over Machines, has been appointed by Baltimore's mayor to take this exalted, but volunteer position."

Read the entire article here.

While Baltimore's tech community, local business leaders, government reps and citizens make a push to be the lucky city chosen to recieve Google's ultra-highspeed broadband network, it seems our fair city is already pretty darn wired, according to Forbes' list of America's Most Wired Cities.

Out of 20 cities, Baltimore ranks no. 8 on the list just three spots behind the Washington, D.C./Northern Virginia-area, the only other city in the Mid-Atlantic region to make the list. The ranking does take into account the estimated 66 percent broadband adoption rate in Baltimore, the 18 broadband providers and 10,141 people per wi-fi hot spot. It didn't count the citywide Wifi, Clear, available in Baltimore using WiMax technology.

Here's an excerpt:

"...we compiled the list by computing the percentage of Internet users with high-speed connections in a particular city and the number of companies providing high-speed Internet in that area. Since many urban residents access the Internet by wi-fi, we also measure the number of public wireless Internet hot spots."

Read the entire article here. Read the Baltimore blurb here.

Baltimore's grassroots effort to be one of the lucky city's chosen as a test ground for Google's ultra-fast 1-gigabit per second broadband deployment is just one of several currently taking shape in city's across the country. See what the other cities competing for the prize doing...

Here's an excerpt:

"Broadband-starved cities and towns across the country are going to great lengths to grab the attention of Mountain View (Calif.)-based Google, which in February said it will set up a network that can deliver speeds of 1 gigabit per second, about 20 times faster than the speediest ones sold by Verizon Communications (VZ). Google will spend "hundreds of millions" on the effort, Richard Whitt, Google's Washington telecom and media counsel, said in a recent interview with Bloomberg News.

To set themselves apart, some municipal officials are naming cities after Google, owner of the world's largest Web search engine. The city of Greensboro, N.C., is preparing an "Operation Google" gift package for delivery to Google headquarters and has earmarked $50,000 for promoting a Google broadband effort."

Read the entire article here.

Necessity as they say is the mother of invention. A local Germantown teen proves the adage true with a new search engine aimed at aging baby boomers and earlier generations.

Here's an excerpt:

"Sunmee Huh does not want to be the next Mark Zuckerberg or Bill Gates.

A recent Pew Research study, "How the News Happens -- Still," that "examined all the outlets that produced local news" in Baltimore  -- traditional newspapers, local TV, radio, niche media and new media -- and concluded that some 95 percent of news comes from traditional media, has come under fire recently.

Here's an excerpt:

"Occasionally, you'll still see comments by newspaper traditionalists advocating radical measures (government support, etc.) to save newspapers, based on the claim that only newspapers do original reporting. There was an element of that inherent in the recent Pew Report, for example, that attempted to analyze news coverage in Baltimore. (More on that in a bit.)

We believe there's a false assumption there�that only newspapers are doing original reporting, or are the only ones capable of it. We think that's wrong: independent journalists, publishing digitally on entrepreneurial local sites, are doing important original reporting, as well.

We were reminded of that the other day with this story by the Broward Bulldog, breaking news of a $170 million Ponzi scheme in South Florida (one of three or four uncovered there in the past year). Notice that the story didn't break in the dominant local traditional media in South Florida: the Miami Herald, Palm Beach Post or Sun-Sentinel. It was broken by an independent site."

Read the entire article here.

Whether you've had to cutback on Internet access or don't have a computer at home, libraries could be the answer. The Examiner.com's Baltimore Computers blogger has a few tips.

Here's an excerpt:

"Local Baltimore libraries can be a great technology resource for those without computers or an Internet connection. While many people may have computers, many more people may not have access to computers or even an Internet connection. With the economic downturn, many people may have had to cut back on expenses, including Internet access. Without computers or an Internet connection, many people are at a disadvantage for seeking employment, doing school work, or even communicating with others. Luckily the Baltimore region has some of the best libraries that offer free computer and Internet access."

Read the entire article here.

The state's congressional reps along with Gov. O'Malley have launched an effort making the case that Maryland is fertile ground to become the home of the new U.S. Cyber Command. Should his nomination as leader of the command be approved by the Senate, Lt. Gen. Keith B. Alexander has already designated Ft. Meade, MD as home to the new command.

Here's an excerpt.

"On Monday, Democratic members of Maryland's congressional delegation and Gov. Martin O'Malley (D) launched perhaps the most coordinated effort since their party took control of the White House to harness a stream of federal funding and a growing job sector, billing Maryland as the logical destination for thousands of new cybersecurity posts.

California, Texas, Massachusetts and other states have concentrations of high-tech security workers, but, O'Malley said, "we not only think that Maryland can be the national center for cybersecurity; the fact of the matter is our state already is the epicenter of cybersecurity."

The governor appeared with Sens. Barbara A. Mikulski and Benjamin L. Cardin and Reps. Chris Van Hollen and C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger, all Maryland Democrats, at the Gaithersburg headquarters of the National Institute of Standards and Technology.

They said that since the National Security Agency -- as well as high-tech defense and intelligence installations -- are based in the state, Maryland should become the home of the fledgling U.S. Cyber Command, which could bring 24,000 to 28,000 jobs."

Read the entire article here.

The introduction by Washington state-based Clearwire Corporation of WiMax service last winter has made Baltimore one of the country's most "wired" cities. Reporter Peter Wayner tries out the "4G" network and reports on speed, ease, and areas for improvement.

Excerpt:

For the last six months, I've used a full WiMax/4G equipped netbook to test the service around Baltimore. The Acer Aspire One with a Sprint U300 WiMax card I used is an ideal companion for sending and receiving e-mail messages. It's small enough to take almost everywhere but it's large enough to act like a PC � a PC that's always connected to a very big Wi-Fi hotspot.

Adding WiMax to a laptop may make it easier to read e-mail messages often, but the real value of the bandwidth becomes apparent when the PC does something more than just send text. VoIP software like Skype turns it into a video phone, a browser pointed at Hulu acts like a television that can fetch shows on command and there's also GPS service for finding directions. It's a smartphone with a normal keyboard and a very open software marketplace. All of the PC software built for the desktop also works with the small package.

Read the entire article here.