Via the New York Times “Bits” blog comes information on a new education start-up that aims to bridge video games and education over the web:
Education is one area the Internet has not yet transformed, and a new crop of start-ups and venture capitalists are rushing to fill that void, creating Web tools that serve as home tutors for kids who need help outside the classroom.
The latest entry is DreamBox Learning, which on Tuesday is unveiling a Web site to teach math to kids in kindergarten through second grade. The lessons are taught through video games. Kids pick a theme, such as an arcade or adventure park, and a character, such as a dinosaur or pirate, and play an online game with a hidden math lesson.
“The hallmark of the product is it’s real math, but children think it’s a game,” said Lou Gray, DreamBox Learning’s chief executive officer.
Over at the site Telephony, Carol Wilson has a brief write-up of IIA’s new Broadband Fact Book. Included is this statement from IIA co-founder Bruce Mehlman on why the Fact Book was created:
“Informed policy-makers make the best policy...We have assembled the most current comprehensive list of facts and stats on broadband to aid government officials, community leaders and researchers trying to bring the power of high-speed Internet to bear on our nation’s greatest challenges.”
The Fact Book is intended as a living document, and will always be evolving as new information becomes available. To contribute to it, visit here.
Today marks the official re-launching of the Internet Innovation Alliance website. Along with a new look, we’ve added a number of features to the site, including this here blog called The Podium.
• (Environment) eCommerce generates 36% less conventional air pollutants than conventional shopping — American Consumer Institute, 2007.
• (Economy) A 7% increase in broadband adoption could result in $92 billion through 2.4 million jobs created or saved annually. — Connected Nation, 2008.
• (Health Care) Broadband-based remote monitoring for all chronically ill patients could reduce hospital, outpatient, and drug expenses by 30% — reducing overall health care expenses for the U.S. by roughly 25%, or about $350 billion annually. — Robert E. Litan
The IIA Broadband Fact Book will be a constantly evolving database of facts and statistics. Go ahead and click around. You’re sure to learn something. And if you’re interested in contributing to it, you can do so here.
According to comScore, the Internet passed a milestone in December:
comScore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR), a leader in measuring the digital world, today reported that total global Internet audience (age 15 and older from home and work computers) has surpassed 1 billion visitors in December 2008, based on data from the comScore World Metrix audience measurement service.
The Asia-Pacific region accounted for the highest share of global Internet users at 41 percent, followed by Europe (28 percent share), North America (18 percent share), Latin-America (7 percent share), and the Middle East & Africa (5 percent share).
You can find a full breakdown of the numbers here.
The site TechCrunch thinks comScore’s numbers are a bit off, citing a report from Internet World Stats from June of last year that put the number of web surfers worldwide at close to 1.5 billion. Regardless of whose numbers are right, TechCrunch also points out that only 15-22 percent of the world’s population is online. As they put it, “We have a long way to go.”
Check out this new technology that lets you search inside a video of Obama’s inaugural speech. This innovative transcription and search service comes from Delve Networks, a web video network. Search results are displayed inside the video timeline, with warmer colors representing greater relevancy. This kind of technology could open up worlds of content unimaginable before broadband. I’m curious how long it might be before major search engines incorporate something similar.
Suggested search terms:
* America
* Constitution
* Iraq
Forbes has released its annual list of most broadband-connected cities, and this year it’s Seattle, Washington that claims the top spot.
Move over, Atlanta. Seattle, Microsoft and Amazon.com’s home base, is now the country’s most wired city.
While these marquee names have long lent the Emerald City tech-y cachet, it was Seattle’s increased use of broadband that powered it up Forbes’ annual list of the 30 most broadband-connected cities in the U.S. High marks in two other wired city categories—broadband access and wi-fi hot spots—helped Seattle clinch the top spot.
Atlanta, Georgia (last year’s top dog) fell to #2, and Washington, D.C.—which last year was mired all the way down at #11—is now #3. The full list, including a slidehow, is here.
As today’s Washington Postreports, though lack of access and a perceived difficulty in use are barriers to broadband adoption, price also plays a major role.
Even if high-speed Internet service was available to the entire nation, about one-third of Americans not currently using broadband still wouldn’t because of the expense, according to a report released yesterday by the Pew Internet & American Life Project.
The report was based on two surveys of 4,254 people last year and illustrates a potential hang-up in President Obama’s goal to bring broadband Internet to rural and other underserved areas: If they build it, it’s not clear that people will come.
The story goes on to note that although an estimated 91% of American homes currently have access to broadband services, only 57% of the country uses those services.
Yesterday’s swearing in of Barack Obama as America’s 44th president proved to be a big day for online media. How big? As the New York Timesreports:
Internet traffic in the United States hit a record peak at the start of President Obama’s speech as people watched, read about and commented on the inauguration, according to Bill Woodcock, the research director at the Packet Clearing House, a nonprofit organization that analyzes online traffic. The figures surpassed even the high figures on the day President Obama was elected.
CNN alone delivered over 21 million video streams of the event over the course of nine hours—17 million more than on Election Day. But as the Times story notes, such a flood of traffic wasn’t without hiccups. The massive amount of video data led to a number of people being unable to participate in the event, a problem that…
...may have been more a result of the limited Internet capacity coming to offices and houses, rather than a lack of overall bandwidth from the media companies, according to Mr. Woodcock. The United States continues to suffer from less-than-robust bandwidth, which Mr. Woodcock attributes to inadequate government attention and limited competition between Internet service providers like AT&T and Comcast. President Obama, in fact, mentioned the issue in the very speech that people were trying to watch.
“We’ve had eight years of stagnation and need to get to work solving problems like this,” Mr. Woodcock said.
The market for online media is growing rapidly. Now the infrastructure for delivering that media needs to catch up.
Before President Barack Obama’s inauguration, the online magazine Slate asked its readers to write his first speech as president for him. Here’s the result of their efforts.
Recently House Democrats earmarked $6 billion for broadband development in their proposed stimulus package. But as Business Weekreports, even a number that big can’t please everyone.
The initial stab by the U.S. government to promote high-speed Internet access has something to disappoint nearly everyone.
Most communications companies and consumer advocacy groups say the $6 billion in broadband stimulus measures contained in the House Democrats’ $825 billion economic recovery package are a good first step. But they warn that the money won’t be nearly sufficient to meet incoming President Barack Obama’s objective of providing affordable high-speed Internet access to all U.S. households.
“I was incredibly impressed how quickly the House moved,” says Shirley Bloomfield, senior vice-president for federal relations at Qwest Communications (Q), a Denver-based communications provider that serves 14 Western states. “They’ve got some good concepts. But $6 billion is not going to get you to ubiquitous broadband.”
Outside of the number, the pokey nature of bureaucracy is also a concern:
One big issue is that the House bill is focused on using grants, loans, and loan guarantees, but it doesn’t use tax incentives at all. Grants would likely take many months to be distributed, whereas some companies say they could act much more quickly if they knew they could receive tax credits for their investments. “With grants it is eight months of bureaucracy before any money gets to its destination,” says an official for a large communications provider. “If you are looking for a quick stimulus hit, tax credits would be better.”
Still, concerns aside, it seems most people agree any action right now is welcome. And rural access advocates are already happy:
One key provision in the package…is funding for the Broadband Data Improvement Act, a bill signed into law by President Bush that provides grants to help states map their broadband infrastructure in detail, a key step in the process of addressing service needs. The bill, when passed, contained no provision for funding. But the House stimulus package calls for funding it to the tune of $350 million.
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