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If the Millennials Won't Come to the Mountain...
As recently noted here in The Exchange, as many as 25% of U.S. households have cut the video cord, going without pay TV service altogether. Many of these households tend to skew toward the younger...
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Ready, Set, Code!
The American Library Association (ALA) is administering a new grant program funded by Google to promote computational thinking (CT) and computer science (CS) for pre-school through high-school students...
View ArticleWhat "The Sopranos" Teaches Us About Rural America
An excerpt of dialogue from the HBO series “The Sopranos” illustrates themes discussed in the latest Smart Rural Community white paper, “Steel Sharpens Steel: A Conversation About Regional Thinking for...
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"And the Wichita Lineman, is Still on the Line..."
Though hardly unexpected, this week’s news of Glen Campbell’s passing was no less sad.Campbell had fought a public battle with Alzheimer’s disease. Rather than self-pityingly succumbing to his fate,...
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Taking Care of Business...
It’s not easy bringing broadband service to the most rural parts of this country: among the inherent challenges are low population densities, rugged terrain, and a smaller customer base over which to...
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Taking the "Tele" Out of Telemedicine
Every so often, I hear a pivotal sentence that sticks. During the 90s, a friend of mine commenting on a current White House scandal observed, "If you always tell the truth, you never need to remember...
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If Yahoo Served Hamburgers . . .
Growing up in central Ohio, I often drove past a small McDonald's and wondered how that little store sold 65 billion hamburgers. And, every so often, the number would change, much the way the price...
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It's National Obesity Day, But I am Ditching My Fitbit
An article published by the Catholic University Journal of Law and Technology proclaims, "Technology is Killing Our Opportunity to Lie." It's true.The Washington Post yesterday published an...
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Shop On-Line, Lose Weight
Anyone reading this blog over the past couple of weeks could be forgiven for thinking that this is a fitness-oriented publication. First, the FitBit (last post), and now this article about the...
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School Bus Wi-Fi, Sears, and Smart Rural Community
Soon after landing my first "real" job, I made a habit of visiting Sears each weekend to buy a tool. It started with a small, wood-handle hammer (which remains my favorite), and was followed over...
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The Syringe of Social Media
Disclaimer: this post is not a statement against interests. I am a firm believer that moderation is a fine approach to most things in life. Donuts, bourbon, and social media are all OK - so long as...
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Happy Thanksgiving
Astute readers of this blog might recall that I posted Lincoln's 1863 Thanksgiving Proclamation here last year. And, those who worked with me in previous lives might recall a hard copy of these words...
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Making (Meaningful) Change
Keith Gabbard, CEO and GM of Peoples Rural Telephone Cooperative in McKee, Kentucky, cuts the ribbon for the Smart Rural Community-supported Virtual Living Room/VALOR at which U.S. service veterans can...
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The Internet Will Not Break Itself Tomorrow
"Allie," I said as I spread his Marmite, "it's absurd to equate the freedom of millionaires to push their line with the freedom of a basement pamphleteer to challenge them.""Oh, mummy," he said,...
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Internet Tweets, "Reports of My Death Have Been Greatly Exaggerated"
A makeshift memorial takes form outside the FCC. I often tell friends that that if they want to hear interesting stories from work, they should probably ask someone else. To be sure, I have some great...
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Get Smart With Us
Yesterday afternoon I took a trip into DC with NTCA's PR manager Kelly Wismer to meet a rural colleague. We spent some time talking about some overarching issues facing the rural telecom industry and...
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All The Faces
Last night, a friend stopped by to borrow a deactivated smart phone for an overseas trip he is planning next month. My first inclination was to simply reset the device to factory settings before...
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CES 2018-1: Game Time
For about seven years, we (the family) went camping every summer. We went to the same campground, frequently had the same cabin, often went the same week in August, and had a rough annual schedule...
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CES 2018-2: The Buffet is Now Open
(Las Vegas) CES is spread across several venues in Las Vegas. Deciding what to see and which conference sessions to attend demands a certain level of logistical choreography. Not that I am much of a...
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CES 2018-3: An Ambient Approach to Healthcare
(Las Vegas) The first day of CES is a step off the cliff into sensory overload. I dipped my toe into the pool by attending some conference sessions before hitting the show floor, but even the size of...
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