Google/Earthlink in San Francisco

Last year Google and Earthlink won a joint bid to provide free Wi-Fi access to San Francisco. But some want to put the clamps on the deal and start over, according to David Needle in his article, “Hey Google: Hold Up on Wi-Fi By The Bay.” Activist groups are protesting to the Wi-Fi plan as they want the city to use the extra capacity in its existing high-speed fiber optic network as the “backbone to build a truly modern, fast, and free, public communications system.” They want to see the city install as much fiber as possible as well as Wi-Fi.

The speed of service that Google will be providing would be 300 kilobits per second, which is much faster than dial-up Internet service but slower than some broadband. However, activists want a higher speed option, especially since the entire Internet infrastructure is moving towards broadband fiber. They complain that the deal gives Google/Earthlink a monopoly deal when a city-run operation could provide free Internet service at speeds at least ten times faster.

At this time, Google’s project is being delayed as they need more wireless antennae. However, the activists are glad because they want to pursue a better plan that won’t keep San Francisco behind the rest of the world.


Hmmm…When did Google start providing Internet service? I am quite surprised how a large city has contracted with Google, who has very limited experience in this area. But I’m also wondering how difficult of a job this may be for Google – or for any company who would have won the bid. San Francisco is a big city and has lots of hills, and I bet it must be difficult to thoroughly blanket the city with Wi-Fi coverage. It’s no doubt that Google is having delays, as they probably need more antennae then they anticipated.

But there are definitely its advantages and disadvantages with this project. It’s great that everyone in San Francisco will get free Internet service, no matter where they are within the city limits. However, the disadvantage of this is that a free service can easily become less sustainable in the long run. If no one is paying for it, it will be difficult to upgrade the service and networks. But perhaps from advertisement is where Google will make its money.

And my last thought is, why did San Francisco need or want to create this city Internet plan? It’s a metropolitan city, and I’m sure most people have Internet access, many Wi-Fi hotspots, and overall widespread broadband availability. Wouldn’t they be ‘slowing’ the city down with this 300 kbs system?

Why the Web Is Like a Rain Forest

The Web is moving from a system where you had to find information on your own – by stumbling across it or someone sending you a link. Today, according to Steve Johnson, the Web is an “information ecosystem.” In Johnson’s essay, “Why the Web Is Like a Rain Forest,” he compares the rain forest to the Internet. As the sun supplies the energy to a rain forest, information supplies the energy to the Web’s ecosystem. Web 1.0 used and disseminated information to a limited amount of people – whoever could a hold of the information, and it was like supplying energy to a desert. Today, with Web 2.0, information is no longer wasted. A person’s thoughts or ideas, discoveries, or news stories are no longer just passed along by default. Web 2.0 has individuals or software programs that absorb all the information on the Web. They take in information, analyze it, package or repackage it, and pass it along different venues where millions have immediate access to it, and the ability to transmit it to others. Information, therefore, is also the nutrients of the forest. The nutrients can be consumed by all, helping everyone to grow and add value to the existing system. The growth is the further expansion of information, by those who use the information and the existing tools to develop more innovations.

I definitely think that Johnson’s analogy is apt. The Web really is a jungle of information that keeps expanding with the help of new technology. Thanks to e-mail notifications that one receives from blog sites, bulletin board discussions, or websites that hold information for specific groups of people, or any site that has anything relevant to someone, everyone can stay updated on just about everything. Software programs have made it so much easier for everyone to stay connected – in a far greater sense that the originators of the Internet must have imagined. There is so much information out there and so many ways to get this information, that it’s hard to think what greater innovations there can be to outdo the existing ones. Or with the heavy amounts of information being sent to us, how can we retain everything? A jungle gets clouded with so many trees and things living in it. When things get convoluted, it’s difficult to see things clearly and in isolation. That’s how the Web is. If you Google a certain topic in, you get millions of hits. Some sites say something, while others say something else. With so much information coming at you, it can get difficult to sort out what you should or shouldn’t take in and use…

How Network Address Translation Works

Computers and devices on the Internet need to have a unique IP address to perform tasks like searching the Web. However, the Internet's boom has left us short of IP addresses. But don't get nervous just yet. We've got back-up.

Since there aren't enough IP addresses, Network Address Translation, or NAT, is used. NAT is performed by a home router in a home network. The router has its own IP address, which is assigned by an Internet Service Provider. And only that IP address is visible on the Internet.

Each PC on the home network gets an internal IP address, but only the router's IP address is used on the Internet.

The router knows each PC's internal IP address, so knows which computer is requesting information and which to direct the incoming infromation.

The benefits of NAT are that it helps keep hackers away since PC's use the router's address to use the Web, not its internal IP address, and that it helps to solve the shortage problem of IP addresses. (Yes, I realize there is IPv6..but later on that.)

For more info, check out http://computer.howstuffworks.com/nat.htm