http://www.networkworld.com/news/2010/031810-national-broadband-plan-business.html

I found an article that asked that very question. It mentions how even though the plan is primarily focused on boosting broadband adoption it does create some benefits for the enterprise. The key benefit they focus on increased telecommuting options for employees and companies. The plan will do this by effectively increasing broadband speeds for all and extending broadband into rural areas where employees currently have long commutes to work. I agree that this is a great benefit to both companies looking for ways to improve their bottom line and employees working to improve their work/life balance. The article brought a few other benefits to mind that the article did not cover. They are listed below:

1. Increase skilled workforce: By increasing adoption a new diverse set of workers will emerge once they have access to the information and skills training currently available online.
2. Travel costs: No longer will employees have to constantly travel for meetings. The notion of web conferencing from anywhere can truly become a reality.
3. Virtual Conferences: Trade Conferences  have been truly suffering in this economy. Now those conferences can be offered in an interactive virtual experience. Creating value and savings for themselves and their participants.  This is definitely coming.

These are just a few that came to mind. Can you think of any others?

Businesses started in garages and dorm rooms have achieved in years what used to take decades to achieve. The playing field is more level than it’s ever been, but I can’t help but think about all the people who are still not part of this world of opportunity.  There are millions of people who are not aware of the wealth of education, health, and career information available online that could change their lives.  They are not aware that even in this time of economic depression, the barriers to creating new businesses online are lower than they’ve ever been.  Based on almost any study you get your hands on, minorities and people living in underserved communities are the ones that are on the wrong side of this equation. The FCC is introducing it’s National Broadband plan on March 17, 2010 as a means of correcting the digital divide that has plagued our country for far too long, and we have to all make sure that it includes the steps and resources necessary to bridge the Gap that keeps too many in our communities behind. We can’t wait another 25 years. The time is now. I have read a few articles on this topic where people have added their predictions for the next 25 years so it makes sense for me to add my predictions/hopes as well.

• Every public school will have broadband internet access and classes will be taught on digital literacy at the elementary school level and technology development will be taught at the middle school level.
• Mobile broadband devices will replace credit/ and debit cards as means of payment
• Entertainment will be delivered via broadband instead of cable and satellite
• Internet based health care will help change the way we interface with doctors
• There will be 10 new minority technology entrepreneurs who will make it on the Forbes billionaire list by making one of the other predictions happen. Will it be you?  I hope so!

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-20000267-94.html

So today I came across an article on CNET News that explains how proposed Net Neutrality rules (rules that will enabled the FCC to regulate private sector Internet providers in a manner that could potentially stifle the competitive landscape, shift the costs of expansion and advancement into the hands of everyday consumers, and slow down the adoption of high-speed Internet by minorities and the under-served by ultimately raising prices for everyone) could be adapted. Now you see why everyone just uses the term Net Neutrality The article gives a good explanation of the difference between Title I and Title II Classifications that were put into place in the Telecommunications Act of 1996 . It explains how neutrality proponents want the FCC to reclassify Internet service providers to be governed under Title II. By reading this you can get an understanding of what effect that will have on the services currently available. The key word here is “explain,” and as I have mentioned in the past, my key complaint with pro-neutrality groups is that they don’t explain anything in their arguments. They give opinions and the same examples in almost everything I read. I’m a cause and effects kind of guy. Show me the cause and the actual effect based on real examples, not based on conceptual ones. Anyway give this article a read and it will help you better understand the issue.

National Broadband Plan Has Everyone Talking

If you have not heard, the FCC is releasing it’s broaband plan on March 16th and there is no shortage of coverage on it. I like this post from Rey Ramsey, CEO of One Economy, where he illustrates how the Internet changed the life of one businessman. And as you can see below there are alot of people wating to see what is announce on the 16th.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rey-ramsey/broadband-for-all—ameri_b_496751.html

http://kara.allthingsd.com/20100311/if-its-tuesday-it-must-be-the-national-broadband-plan-if-your-connection-isnt-too-slow-you-can-tune-in-online/

http://www.convergedigest.com/regulatory/regulatoryarticle.asp?ID=29879

iPad Frenzy is Starting. Go to Techcrunch and Try to Win a free One!

http://techcrunch.com/2010/03/12/techcrunch-friday-giveaway-an-apple-ipad-crunch/

The pre-orders have started. The iPad arrives in April but TechCrunch is giving one away! Just go to this article and follow the directions.

http://www.nbler.com/internet-high-priestess-esther-dyson-on-net-neutrality.html

I thought this was a great statement and sums up what I have been saying for a while now. People are not being given all the information about why the currently proposed Net Neutrality changes will not work to their benefit. Esther Dyson talks about this and how two tiered pricing is not necessarily a bad thing. The most important part of the dialogue is that she gives concrete reasons why!!!!  Something i have repeatedly said the the current proponents of Net Neutrality have yet to be able to do. People also don’t understand that tiers of Internet access already exist and that most of us are on the lowest tier and are doing fine. The big issue is that there are heavy users who are bogging down that tier and will continue to do so to your detriment unless new structures are put in place.

The National Broadband Plan is Coming to Town. Did You Know?

http://4g-wirelessevolution.tmcnet.com/broadband-stimulus/topics/broadband-stimulus/articles/77826-national-broadband-plan-has-two-major-provisions.htm

http://gigaom.com/2010/03/07/national-broadband-plan-will-be-a-day-early-but-fall-short/

Most people are not aware that the FCC is working on a National Broadband Plan that should create provisions to ensure that at some point in the future everyone has access to the Internet and then those who have access to it are given the knowledge on how to use it to their benefit. This is a pretty big deal and It’s important for all of us to understand the issues involved and how this plan will affect our future. Give these two articles a read and start the dialogue with your friends.

Get Serious about College With a Virtual Advisor

http://techcrunch.com/2010/03/11/myedu-will-be-your-curriculum-guide-and-virtual-college-advisor-rolled-into-one/

As part of my commiment to show different examples of things you can do with a broadband internet connection I present MYedu.com. MYedu is a service that allows you start building a plan towards your college goals right now and see that plan all the way through to graduation. What I like about this service is that is gets you and your child thinking about how to plan for college now and also puts tools in place for when you get there. Take a look a let me know what you think.

I’m not crying foul. I’m speaking reality and yes I’m biased because I care about the plight of Black people because I am one and I care about the plight of Blacks and Hispanics because we are both minorities who are underserved in the US. Using the same data you referenced above blacks and Hispanics are the only groups who are below 10%. For you to say White Americans are the big users is funny to me. Who is crying foul? I’ve been to Silicon Valley and White America is there. The reality is the American education system does need to be changed but for you to not recognize that the position Blacks and Hispanics is not more of an issue is kind of silly Andy.

Originally posted as a comment
by navarrowwright
on Black Web 2.0 using DISQUS.

This Sunday, Anthony Anderson, Royale Watkins, teamwork entertainment and I have partnered to bring the first interactive live comedy show to Facebook. Sunday at 8pm the Mixtape comedy show hosted by Anthony Anderson, will be streamed live on Facebook. Help us make history by making this the biggest show ever. RSVP for the show at the Mixtape fan page here http://www.facebook.com/mixtapecomedy and join us Sunday night @8pm. Tell a friend, tell all your friends and be a part of history. This project truly shows the opportunities created by broadband. On the one side it’s give us the opportunity to be entrepreneurial and  create a new experience that can reach a large audience. And for the consumer the ability to be involved in an immersive entertainment experience from the comfort of their own home. This is just one example of what you can do with broadband access and it’s my hope that endeavors like this encourage a new generation of people to see what other possibilities for enriching experiences exist online. So Sunday night join us and laugh until your side hurts and remember this is only one of many things you can do with broadband at your fingertips.

There are few cities in America where traditional journalism runs deeper than in Philadelphia. This is where Benjamin Franklin almost 300 years ago bought the Pennsylvania Gazette, considered the most successful newspaper in the colonies. Today, the Philadelphia Inquirer is the third-oldest surviving newspaper in our nation, and its staff has won 18 Pulitzers. Over the years, I’ve enjoyed watching the Philadelphia literary scene flourish and change, and have been particularly attuned to the ways the journalism market has morphed to better accommodate the realities of an increasingly Internet-based society.

Eric Newton, Vice President of the journalism program at the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, explained some of those journalistic changes very well in a recent article, “Innovating to Save the News,” where he reports on the results of research conducted by the Foundation, and prepared by the Knight Commission, on the Information Needs of Communities in Democracies.

Not surprisingly, the report found that journalism as we’ve known it – news delivered on a system from “tree to paper to press to truck to your driveway” – has been thrown into chaos by the Internet. But the benefits of the mass media in the Internet age– to communities, schools, business, our environment and democracy – are more apparent than ever before. And the journalism required in this digital era in which we live must continue to adapt to meet the changing needs of our communities. In the words of Newton, “journalism does not need saving so much as it needs creating.”

The Knight Commission offers 15 ideas, from making public libraries centers for digital training and access, to championing news literacy in the public schools; creating public broadcasting that is more local and interactive, to building city hall Web sites that make public information easy to understand. And I, like Newton, believe that “America needs universal, affordable broadband access. Everyone, no matter his age, race, income, or neighborhood, should be able to go online to get whatever he wants – video, audio, photos, and text – from anywhere in the world as fast as anyone else can. In the digital age, countries without high-speed broadband will become second-class nations filled with second-class citizens, able to vote, but not knowing why they should; able to work, but not knowing how to find a job online.”

I actually made this same point a few weeks ago while attending the annual conference of the National Newspaper Publishers Association in Charlotte, North Carolina. There I sat on a social media panel focused on providing new insights into the ways that journalism and the news media should be adapted to better accommodate the needs and interests of Americans in the Internet age. If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it 1,000 times – the revolution will not be television, but it will be digitized and placed online. And to secure our successful transition to the digital age, we can all work together within our communities and with our local, state and federal governments to ensure that all Americans are adequately prepared for, and have more than ample opportunity to adopt and use, the Internet as our primary engine of communications, economic and global success.

Broadband deployment and adoption are said to be the primary focus of the National Broadband Plan that the FCC will unveil next month.  However in recent weeks, attention has been focused on net neutrality. The six principles set forth by the FCC are worthy of discussion.  As I’ve mentioned before, the two major factions — content providers, like Google, and the major phone and cable companies — both raise legitimate concerns of access and cost.  But I question whether this is the discussion to have at this time.  If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a thousand times, we’ve got to get people online and using the technology before we start creating additional reasons to keep them offline.

As Pew reported last year, broadband adoption rates for minorities are increasing, but nowhere near the pace of Whites.  Wireless adoption in minority communities has outpaced that of Whites, but opportunities to start a business from a handheld device are limited. It is no secret that most new businesses start in the garages and spare rooms of our homes.  If we want to truly experience the transformative power of broadband in expanding opportunity for entering the market for minorities, the focus must remain on methods to increase broadband adoption in the home.  

Below is a video where I explain my take the issue and more importantly why entrepreneurship increase among minorities is crucial.