Plans for Print-Free Oxford Dictionary Aren’t Fully Defined

New York Times

The Oxford English Dictionary defines the word “clarify” as “To free from darkness or gloom; to light up, illumine; to brighten” (in an appearance of the word dating back to 1398) and “To make clear (an obscure subject)” (in a coinage from 1823), among other usages. And that’s what representatives of the O.E.D. did in a statement released Monday after remarks by its chief executive were interpreted to mean that the venerable reference work would be not be released in a paper format for its coming third edition.

Read more

Expedient Communications Opens New Data Center in Columbus, Ohio

PR Web

Expedient Communications, a leading provider of managed services, connectivity solutions, and data center colocation services, announces the opening of its new data center location in the Columbus, Ohio market.

The data center, located in Upper Arlington, is the eighth data center location for the company, and makes Expedient the only service provider in the market with regionally diverse data centers.

Read more

Frontier Announces Ohio Broadband Commitment and Capital Investment Plan

Marketwatch.com

Frontier Communications Corporation today reiterated its broadband commitment to the state of Ohio, while also announcing highlights and status of several key initiatives.

During a business community luncheon at The Ohio State University at Marion, Frontier's Chairman and CEO Maggie Wilderotter highlighted Frontier's commitment to Ohio, focusing on broadband deployment, capital investment, service improvements and job retention/creation. These commitments were established when the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO) approved Frontier's transaction with Verizon earlier this year. Mrs. Wilderotter was joined by Dr. E. Gordon Gee, President, The Ohio State University, who welcomed Frontier and the educational and economic opportunities afforded by future broadband expansion.

Read more

Study: Home Wi-Fi Important for School Success

PC Magazine

A Cisco-sponsored study released Thursday found that both teens and parents value connectivity when its comes to education.

According to a new study by the Opinion Research group; 9 out of 10 teens aged 12 to 17, and nearly 3 out of 4 parents, feel having home Wi-Fi access makes students better equipped to handle schoolwork.

Read more

Can’t Make Your Child’s Game? Break Out the Laptop

New York Times

This week, after notching its only victory at the Little League World Series, the team representing Europe went to an interview room under Lamade Stadium. Only a few reporters turned out to speak with the manager, Gary Harrington, and two of his players.

Still, thousands probably saw Harrington’s grin and heard him say, “Our goal was to come here and have fun, which we definitely did.” The interview was available live on broadband. It was carried by an emerging Web site, based in Alpharetta, Ga., called Youth Sports Live. This year, all the postgame news conferences are available on the site, which charges a monthly access fee.

Read more

Apple’s iTunes U Sees More Than 300M Downloads, Offers 350,000 Educational Files

New York Times

Apple reported today that iTunes U — its catalog of educational files on iTunes — has topped 300 million downloads following a flurry of new content.

Read more

Ohio No. 5 in U.S. for texting

Dayton Daily News

A new Nielsen study found that Ohioans send, on average, more than 600 text messages each month.

Read more

Fiber-optic lines to be laid in Trumbull

Warren Tribune-Chronicle

WARREN - Trumbull County is going to benefit from a $44.8 million federal grant to extend broadband access in northern Ohio.

Cleveland-based OneCommunity, leading the effort to bring the network to 27 Ohio counties, is among three groups to share $118 million in stimulus package funding for broadband-access projects in the state, it was announced last week.

OneCommunity spokeswoman Andrea Castrovillari said the project will bring about a $1 million investment to Trumbull County, where 50 miles of robust or ''middle mile'' and another 30 miles of ''last mile'' fiber optic line will be installed.

Read more

Nationwide, New Albany up for state grants for data center

Columbus Business First

Nationwide Mutual Insurance Co. and the village of New Albany are in line for $290,000 in state incentives for an in-the-works data center that could create dozens of jobs.

The Ohio Department of Development on Monday announced a $140,000 grant for Columbus-based Nationwide to fund the purchase of machinery and equipment for a $135 million data center the company is building in the village. The state has said the Nationwide project could create up to 40 jobs at the 180,000-square-foot building.

Read more

Twitter to be used in Emmy Awards

Associated Press

Jimmy Fallon wants your tweet to be part of the Emmy Awards.

Fallon, who’s hosting the ceremony on NBC, said Friday the public will be able to submit an introduction through Twitter for up to 15 Emmy presenters, or about half the celebrities who will be handing out trophies.

Read more

Broadband access is important to rural America

Ohio Farmer

Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack, Commerce Secretary Gary Locke and Jared Bernstein, the chief economist to the Vice President, talked with reporters Wednesday, announcing expanded high speed internet access throughout the country. The broadband investment of $1.8 billion will fund 94 projects in 37 states.

"We see this as expanding opportunity for farmers and ranchers to have real-time information concerning weather and markets so they can make the best decisions for their operations," Vilsack said.

Read more

High-speed Internet becomes available on east end of Coshocton County

Coshocton Tribune

Officials from Omnicity/Lightspeed have informed the Coshocton County Commissioners Office that equipment has been installed on three more towers, and after testing, new customer installation in those areas will begin in about a week.

Read more

COLUMN: NE Ohio region ahead of tech race; keep up pace

Crain's Cleveland Business

Back in the days when change could take generations and geographic location and natural resources largely determined a community's economic potential, Cleveland was among the wealthiest and most entrepreneurial communities in the world. Needless to say, we have lost that edge.

But even in an era when technology facilitates change seemingly overnight, Northeast Ohio has tremendous resources and a terrific opportunity to reinvent itself as a leader in the 21st-century knowledge economy.

Read more

Tapping the Web, 22,000 miles up

New York Times

Satellite companies have been the also-rans of Internet providers.

They serve a little more than one million customers, most in rural areas that have no other options. Their services can be painfully slow and cost twice as much as high-speed broadband.

But two companies, WildBlue and HughesNet, are now in a race to change all that. Both plan to launch satellites in the next couple of years that will dwarf their predecessors in space.

Read more

Pizza Hut sees $7M in sales from iPhone app Read more: Pizza Hut sees $7M in sales from iPhone app

Dallas Business Journal

Pizza Hut’s almost year-old iPhone app has generated up to $7 million in sales and is now serving as a model for other restaurants trying to quickly move into the smartphone space.

Read more

The iPad Leads Apple to the Elderly

Bloomberg Businessweek

Hikosaburo Yasuda of Nakano, Japan, plans to buy an iPad to keep up with junior members in his computer club. "It's important to always try new things, otherwise you get left behind," he says.

Read more

Social media emerge as digital avenue for emergency response

Federal Computer Week

Many people are now using Facebook postings and Twitter to report emergencies or call for help -- and they expect government response agencies to be paying attention, according to a new survey.

The American Red Cross’ “Social Media and Disasters and Emergencies” survey of 1,058 adults indicates that 18 percent would turn to digital social media if calls to 911 were unsuccessful.

Read more

Coupons beamed to cell phones

Associated Press

The country's biggest mall operator is teaming with a Silicon Valley startup to reward smart-phone-equipped consumers for walking into its shopping centers.

The partnership between Simon Property Group, which owns 370 shopping centers, and technology company Shopkick Inc. is a big step in realizing retailers' long-held dream of using cell phones to beam ads and coupons to people passing by.

Read more

Lawmakers question competition in broadband market

WBOY-TV

At least one business hopes state lawmakers will sign off on a plan to give small Internet providers an affordable doorway to the nation’s telecommunications networks, saying the end result would be expanded broadband availability throughout West Virginia.

Bridgeport-based Citynet wants West Virginia to join a growing number of states creating their own “middle-mile” networks for broadband Internet services. The networks basically provide the infrastructure needed to carry data over thousands of miles.

Read more

How Starbucks plans to capitalize on free Wi-Fi

Mashable

Starbucks stores nationwide now have free Wi-Fi, but details around the second piece to the coffee retailer’s digital strategy — the Starbucks Digital Network — have been slim. Here’s how Starbucks plans to cater to digital consumers and premium content providers through its Digital Network.

Read more

U.S. consumers double their mobile data traffic consumption in six months

rcrwireless.com

With so much talk these days about uninhibited mobile data growth and the impact it's having on wireless carrier networks, you'd think there was no money in mobile broadband. Think again.

Revenues from mobile data in the United States jumped 6% in the second quarter from the previous quarter and climbed 22% from the year-ago period, according to fresh data from Chetan Sharma Consulting. In Q2 alone, revenues for mobile data eclipsed $13.2 billion. No wonder the consultancy is confidently holding firm to its initial estimate of $54 billion for the year.

Read more

Cincinnati Bell powers pro tennis with state-of-the-art fioptics

marketwatch.com

Cincinnati Bell has been chosen as the Official Technology Sponsor of the Western & Southern Financial Group Masters & Women's Open. As the exclusive provider of fiber-optic video and broadband services for the tournament, Cincinnati Bell will help power these two premier tennis events, combined under one umbrella at the Lindner Family Tennis Center in Mason, Ohio, Aug. 7-22.

Read more

MTV selects its first-ever Twitter jockey

Cleveland Plain Dealer

MTV has named 23-year-old Gabi Gregg its first "Twitter Jockey."

Gregg won the position Sunday night after a nationwide vote.

The TJ position is the updated version of the network's VJ job, and Gregg will report on pop culture news using Twitter, Facebook, blogs and MTV's website.

Read more

AT&T launches Wi-Fi hot zone in Wrigleyville

Chicagobreakingbusiness.com

AT&T is launching a Wi-Fi “hot zone” in Chicago’s Wrigleyville as part of a pilot program that seeks to supplement the company’s beleaguered broadband network.

This will be the third Wi-Fi zone set up by the company, which is setting up the zones in area with the highest traffic and mobile data use. The first pilot was launched in New York City’s Times Square in May and was followed by a hot zone in downtown Charlotte, N.C.

Read more

Big digital ambitions may be brewing at Starbucks

Puget Sound Business Journal (Seattle)

Starbucks Corp.’s plan to start offering web content to store customers in the fall may mark the beginnings of a broader digital strategy for the Seattle-based coffee chain, analysts and observers of the company say.

Read more

Geauga Parks has Internet answers for nature questions

The News-Herald

The Geauga Park District is going virtual with its new online Ask A Naturalist program.

The public can pose nature-related questions online and then receive a prompt response from an agency naturalist, park agency officials said.

Read more

By The Numbers: Our Very Connected, Always-On World

Gigamo

Our world is getting smaller and smaller, thanks to the increasing number of folks connecting to the Internet. Our world is getting faster, thanks to us being connected everywhere. Our world is getting more connected and that in itself is changing the way we live, work, communicate and share. Here is a visual representation of our connected planet, by the numbers.

Read more

$20 million data center planned for former lumberyard in Akron

Cleveland Plain Dealer

A new $20 million data center will soon take the place of a former lumberyard in a depressed section of Akron's south side, according to local officials.

Involta LLC, an Iowa data storage company, will buy nearly 18 acres off Sweitzer Avenue southeast of downtown that had been sitting vacant since 2001. The area is home to older manufacturing facilities, as well as the county jail.

Read more

Phoebe Yang to advise FCC chairman on broadband

The Hill

Phoebe Yang will serve as senior adviser to Federal Communications Commission chairman Julius Genachowski on broadband issues, according to an FCC announcement on Monday.

Read more

Occam wins Ohio telecom carrier

socialtech.com

Santa Barbara-based Occam Networks, a supplier of broadband telecom equipment, announced today that the firm has been selected by Wabash Mutual Telephone, a telephone exchange in Mercer County, Ohio.

Read more

Report: Mobile infrastructure market to reach $43B by 2014

Silicon Valley/San Jose Business Journal

Mobile infrastructure market annual revenues are forecast to reach $43 billion over the next five years, according to a report Monday from Dell'Oro Group.

Redwood City-based Dell'Oro said that after a double-digit revenue decline in 2009 and a flat forecast in 2010, market revenue growth is expected to accelerate yearly beginning in 2011.

Read more

Nissan working with AT&T on connected car

Fierce Broadband

Nissan is working with AT&T to provide M2M-like connectivity for digital services for the company's all-electric LEAF automobile.

The LEAF is characterized as an IT and mobile connected car, encompassing an onboard transmitting unit connected through AT&T networks to the global data center. IT services would include determining how far a car can drive with a battery charge as well as finding the closest electric charger on a map. In addition, the car has a dedicated iPhone app, which will enable LEAF owners to remotely monitor the charge of the battery or pre-heat and pre-cool the car.

Read more

Facebook’s orbit may start to rival Google’s

San Francisco Business Times

Facebook hitting 500 million members this month, as rumors swirl that Google is readying its own social networking venture, shows how the tech world’s center of gravity is changing.

“Social optimization” is spawning a burst of startups and ancillary services aiming to help companies make money off burgeoning social media web traffic. It’s similar to the universe of companies providing web analytics and search optimization services that emerged over the last decade around the search industry defined by Google.

Read more

Technology firm acquires data center in Dayton area

Dayton Daily News

DAYTON — A local technology firm announced Monday, Aug. 2, that it has acquired a hardened data center facility in an undisclosed location in the Dayton metro region.

Stratacache officials, who boasts that their company is the “leading provider of scalable, high performance digital signage, content distribution and enterprise video acceleration technologies,” have invested $3.25 million into acquiring a 10,000 square foot data center, technology and software systems, according to Paula Polei, spokesperson for Stratacache.

Read more

Minnesota broadband law effective today

Blandin on Broadband

August 1, 2010 is the day that the Minnesota Broadband law takes effect…

Minnesota intends to provide every resident the ability to access high-speed broadband Internet service by 2015. A new law makes high-speed broadband Internet for every home and business an official state goal. In addition, it calls for a boost in broadband speeds: 10 to 20 megabits per second for downloads and five to 10 megabits per second for uploads.

Read more

Want to read Twitter's 20 billionth tweet?

TechDigest

The 20 billionth tweet has been sent from a Tokyo-based graphic designer. Want to read it? Well don't get too excited; as with most things sent over Twitter, it's hardly Shakespeare.

@GGGGGGo_Lets_Go on Saturday sent the cryptic "So that means the barrage might come back later all at once".

Read more

Facebook, games eat up third of U.S. Web time

Silicon Valley / San Jose Business Journal

Social networking on sites like Facebook and playing games reportedly eat up nearly a third of U.S. Web users online time.

A report from The Neilsen Co. on Monday said Americans spend nearly 23 percent of their time online on social networks, up 43 percent from a year ago.

Read more

Chicago receives $9 million BTOP grant

BroadbandBreakfast.com

The City of Chicago has won the latest Broadband Technology Opportunities Program grant for $9 million. The money will be sued to upgrade and expand public computing centers across the city.

“The investment will expand and upgrade public computer centers in locations throughout Chicago and provide technology and job assistance training to residents, with a focus on at-risk youth, senior citizens, people with disabilities, and the unemployed.”

E-schools provide valuable option, say participants

Dayton Daily News

BEAVERCREEK — Doug and Linda Sellers grew disenchanted with traditional public education and wanted something that would meet the needs of all four of their children.

Their eldest son, Jared, was gifted but had grown bored with school.

Daughter Sarah had been bullied.

Joseph fell behind because of medical issues and youngest son, Matthew, hated school because, according to his father, he had been mislabeled as academically challenged when he was younger.

The parents said they found the answer in the Ohio Virtual Academy based near Toledo, which has seen its enrollment grow to about 8,400 students in nine years.

Read more