Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category

New direction

Friday, June 27th, 2008

I've decided to close this site. I am going to focus my writing efforts on a more personal blog at Ryan-Mark.com. I will be writing about things that are more related to what I am doing with my time right now. I will still write about the social justice aspect of ...

So what is this site about anyways?

Monday, June 2nd, 2008

After writing on this site for around three months, I would like to get some feedback from readers. I've blogged about quite a few topics, from broadband issues in america to micro-credit in the developing world.  I want to know what people are interested in. My plan for this website was ...

Internet companies say not enough bandwidth, no to net neutrality

Monday, June 2nd, 2008

The Fiber-to-the-Home (FTTH) Council, a coalition of 160 Internet companies, met on capitol hill two weeks ago to discuss net neutrality. The meeting hosted input from BitTorrent and other large network operators. Members of the coalition came down against any kind of regulation of their networks. According to an article on FreePress.net, members are saying that BitTorrent and ...

The Internet’s impact in Chicago

Monday, June 2nd, 2008

The Chicago Tribune published an article this weekend about the impact that the Internet can have on the lives of people who are trying to make ends meet. The article mentions the WiMax rollout in Chicago, and the Lt. Governor of Illinois' recently introduced ordinance to provide 15,000 low-cost laptops ...

FCC ponders free wireless Internet access for all

Sunday, June 1st, 2008

The FCC's chairman Kevin Martin has decided that they should auction off part of the 25 megahertz spectrum with the provision that the winner should provide free Internet access.  Don't get too excited yet, the FCC's commissioners have to vote on it at their next meeting on June 13. It appears companies are willing to ...

Intel partners with micro-credit organization

Wednesday, May 28th, 2008

Intel has announced a partnership with the Grameen Trust, the organization that offers micro-credit loans in developing countries. The Grameen Trust founder Muhammad Yunis and his organization were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006 for their groundbreaking work with micro-credit in Bangladesh. I should mention that Grameen Bank is not ...

Web standards body gets involved in social development

Tuesday, May 27th, 2008

The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), the international body charged with managing the standard file formats and protocols that make the web work, has formed a group to look into connecting people with mobile phones. The Mobile Web for Social Development interest group (or MW4D, they really like acronyms) will ...

Share your Internet Connection Safely with DD-WRT

Tuesday, May 27th, 2008

There are many ways you can share your Internet connection to neighbors over WiFi. Disable security on your wireless network, or check out one of these organizations: Open-Mesh, Meraki or FON. One of my favorite open source projects is DD-WRT. It is a software package that can be installed on many ...

Broadband in rural Pennsylvania

Saturday, May 24th, 2008

A report was released this week by the Center for Rural Pennsylvania about the state broadband access in Pennsylvania's less populated areas. With data collected in 2005 and 2006, the project looks at how healthcare, local government, education and business in rural Pennsylvania are using high-speed Internet. Some quotes from the ...

In depth look at a mobile device in the classroom

Saturday, May 24th, 2008

The teachermate is a handheld computer, like a Nintendo Gameboy or a Sony PSP, and they have been in use in Chicago public school classrooms for the past school year. The Teachers' Podcast did a review of the device last month. A couple weeks ago I got the opportunity to see ...