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Surfing the Broadband Bit Stream
Everything about Broadband Policy, Network Infrastructure, Voice, Video and Data Services, Devices and Applications for Managing our Planet
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Scooped by Chuck Sherwood, Former Senior Associate, TeleDimensions, Inc
Today, 12:50 AM
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IL: Lake County Board unites with counties nationwide to push key resolutions | ShawLocal.com

Several Lake County Board members recently returned from the National Association of Counties Annual Conference in Philadelphia, where they participated in important policy discussions and helped advance county priorities on the national stage.

 

“NACo brings counties from across the country together to share ideas, elevate local issues and drive change at the federal level,” Sandy Hart, Lake County Board chair, said in the release. “Speaking with one voice helps ensure that the needs of our communities are clearly heard in national discussions.”

 

 Thousands of county leaders from across the U.S. were engage in policy discussions and adopted resolutions that will guide NACo’s federal advocacy efforts for the coming year, according to a news release.

 

High-speed internet infrastructure: A resolution urging federal support and implementation of the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment program to expand broadband infrastructure in unserved and underserved areas.

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Scooped by Chuck Sherwood, Former Senior Associate, TeleDimensions, Inc
Today, 12:18 AM
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NY Governor Hochul Announces Over $5 Million Digital Equity Grant Opportunity to Expand Internet Use and Skills Statewide | Governor.NY.gov

NY Governor Hochul Announces Over $5 Million Digital Equity Grant Opportunity to Expand Internet Use and Skills Statewide | Governor.NY.gov | Surfing the Broadband Bit Stream | Scoop.it
Governor Hochul announced the re-release of the ConnectALL Digital Equity Program Capacity Grant Request for Applications (RFA), committing over $5 million in State funding to continue New York's digital equity grantmaking after federal funding was terminated by the Trump administration in May 2025.
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Scooped by Chuck Sherwood, Former Senior Associate, TeleDimensions, Inc
Today, 12:11 AM
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Anna Gomez couldn’t stop the Paramount merger. But she warned against it. | by Jeremy Barr | WashingtonPost.com

As the lone member of the Federal Communications Commission who was appointed by a Democratic president, Anna M. Gomez always knew she would have little official influence over the impending merger of Skydance Media and CBS parent company Paramount.

 

But for weeks before the deal was approved Thursday by a 2-1 vote, with her as the sole dissenter, she has used her bully pulpit to express concerns about the merger and some of the concessions Skydance has made to win the approval of the FCC and its chairman, Brendan Carr, an appointee of President Donald Trump who has vowed to take action against what he says is bias in media.

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Scooped by Chuck Sherwood, Former Senior Associate, TeleDimensions, Inc
July 24, 7:12 PM
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FCC Clears Paramount-Skydance Merger | by Lucas Manfredi | TheWrap.com

FCC Clears Paramount-Skydance Merger | by Lucas Manfredi | TheWrap.com | Surfing the Broadband Bit Stream | Scoop.it
The $8 billion deal's green light comes after CBS reached a $16 million settlement with Donald Trump over his lawsuit against "60 Minutes"
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Scooped by Chuck Sherwood, Former Senior Associate, TeleDimensions, Inc
July 24, 1:30 PM
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The Space Cannon | by Doug Dawson | POTs & PANs

The Space Cannon | by Doug Dawson | POTs & PANs | Surfing the Broadband Bit Stream | Scoop.it
As if low-orbit space isn’t already getting over-crowded, there is a startup that may send huge numbers of additional satellites into orbit. The California company is Spinlaunch. Spinlaunch plans to shoot microsatellites into orbit using what they call a centrifugal cannon (pictured to the right). The cannon spins and accelerates a small rocket that will…
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Scooped by Chuck Sherwood, Former Senior Associate, TeleDimensions, Inc
July 24, 4:45 AM
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Texas launches $3.8bn broadband grant programme | by Total Telecom Staff | TotalTele.com

Texas launches $3.8bn broadband grant programme | by Total Telecom Staff | TotalTele.com | Surfing the Broadband Bit Stream | Scoop.it
The Texas Comptroller’s office has opened applications for a $3.8 billion fund combining federal BEAD and state TMAP resources to deliver high-speed internet to more than 245,000 unserved and underserved homes, businesses, and schools by August 2025.
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Scooped by Chuck Sherwood, Former Senior Associate, TeleDimensions, Inc
July 24, 4:22 AM
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YouTube sees a rise in ad revenue to reach nearly $10B | by Lauren Forristal | TechCrunch.com

YouTube sees a rise in ad revenue to reach nearly $10B | by Lauren Forristal | TechCrunch.com | Surfing the Broadband Bit Stream | Scoop.it
YouTube continues to lead in the streaming market, with ad revenue increasing by 13% to $9.8 billion.
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Scooped by Chuck Sherwood, Former Senior Associate, TeleDimensions, Inc
July 24, 3:17 AM
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What's In the One Big Beautiful Bill Act?-2025-07-22 | CRFB.org

What's In the One Big Beautiful Bill Act?-2025-07-22 | CRFB.org | Surfing the Broadband Bit Stream | Scoop.it

The recently-enacted One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) will increase borrowing by $4.1 trillion through 2034 on a conventional basis, according to new estimates from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO).

 

This includes $5.9 trillion of tax cuts and spending increases, $2.5 trillion of offsets, and over $700 billion of interest costs.

 

On a permanent basis, we estimate the law will add over $5.5 trillion to the debt through 2034.

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Scooped by Chuck Sherwood, Former Senior Associate, TeleDimensions, Inc
July 24, 2:42 AM
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Arielle Roth confirmed to lead up NTIA by Senate vote | by Brad Randall | BBCMag.com

Arielle Roth confirmed to lead up NTIA by Senate vote | by Brad Randall | BBCMag.com | Surfing the Broadband Bit Stream | Scoop.it
Arielle Roth has been confirmed by the U.S. Senate to lead up the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA).
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Scooped by Chuck Sherwood, Former Senior Associate, TeleDimensions, Inc
July 24, 1:30 AM
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Podcast: Why tech billionaires want a dictatorship | Interview by Jon Fortt | Decoder | TheVerge.com

Podcast: Why tech billionaires want a dictatorship | Interview by Jon Fortt | Decoder | TheVerge.com | Surfing the Broadband Bit Stream | Scoop.it

Hello, and welcome to Decoder! This is Jon Fortt, CNBC journalist, cohost of Closing Bell: Overtime, and creator of the Fortt Knox streaming series on LinkedIn. I’m guest-hosting for a couple more episodes of Decoder this summer while Nilay is out on parental leave.

 

Today, I’m talking with a very special guest: Gil Duran, an old friend, journalist, and author of The Nerd Reich, a newsletter and forthcoming book about the shifting politics of Silicon Valley and the rise of tech authoritarianism.

 

Click headline to read more of the transcript or listen to the podcast--

 

 

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Scooped by Chuck Sherwood, Former Senior Associate, TeleDimensions, Inc
July 24, 12:23 AM
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California lawmaker drops push for affordable broadband | by Brad Randall | BBCMag.com

California lawmaker drops push for affordable broadband | by Brad Randall | BBCMag.com | Surfing the Broadband Bit Stream | Scoop.it
A California lawmaker reportedly dropped her push to cap charges for low-income subscribers after the state's BEAD funds were threatened.
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Scooped by Chuck Sherwood, Former Senior Associate, TeleDimensions, Inc
July 23, 7:48 PM
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First-Ever Ban on Surveillance Pricing Introduced in Congress | by David Dayen | The American Prospect | Prospect.org

First-Ever Ban on Surveillance Pricing Introduced in Congress | by David Dayen | The American Prospect | Prospect.org | Surfing the Broadband Bit Stream | Scoop.it
A bill authored by Rep. Greg Casar (D-TX) would stop companies from setting individualized prices and wages based on spy dossiers they assemble on Americans.
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Scooped by Chuck Sherwood, Former Senior Associate, TeleDimensions, Inc
July 23, 2:54 AM
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Satellite internet won’t run our farms and factories: Why fiber remains the right priority for rural America | by Rian Wanstreet & Calum Cameron | Benton Institute for Broadband & Society | Benton.org

Satellite internet won’t run our farms and factories: Why fiber remains the right priority for rural America | by Rian Wanstreet & Calum Cameron | Benton Institute for Broadband & Society | Benton.org | Surfing the Broadband Bit Stream | Scoop.it

America is about to choose between broadband that’s good enough today, or infrastructure that can underpin the future of the U.S. economy.

 

With the final rules out for the reformed Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program, states have 90 days to rerun their broadband selection processes. One of the biggest changes is that fiber is no longer defined as the preferred technology. In its place is a “technology-neutral” approach that, at first sight, favors the cheapest bids, opening the door to alternative technologies, with low-earth orbit satellite (LEO) slated to be a big winner.

 

Far from representing a prudent fiscal shift, we’ve argued that fiber’s resilience and long-term value make it a better investment for most communities. And when we look beyond residential access to consider broadband’s role in powering industry, innovation, and economic competitiveness, the limits of LEO become clearer still.

Foundational for Economic Development

Any business considering where to open a branch, build a factory, or expand operations looks for high-speed broadband. Ask any economic development leader to name their top priorities, and fiber connectivity will almost certainly be near the top.

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Scooped by Chuck Sherwood, Former Senior Associate, TeleDimensions, Inc
Today, 12:25 AM
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America Should Assume the Worst About AI: How To Plan For a Tech-Driven Geopolitical Crisis | by Matan Chorev and Joel Predd | ForeignAffairs.com

America Should Assume the Worst About AI: How To Plan For a Tech-Driven Geopolitical Crisis | by Matan Chorev and Joel Predd | ForeignAffairs.com | Surfing the Broadband Bit Stream | Scoop.it

National security leaders rarely get to choose what to care about and how much to care about it. They are more often subjects of circumstances beyond their control.

 

The September 11 attacks reversed the George W. Bush administration’s plan to reduce the United States’ global commitments and responsibilities. Revolutions across the Arab world pushed President Barack Obama back into the Middle East just as he was trying to pull the United States out. And Russia’s invasion of Ukraine upended the Biden administration’s goal of establishing “stable and predictable” relations with Moscow so that it could focus on strategic competition with China.

 

Policymakers could foresee many of the underlying forces and trends driving these agenda-shaping events. Yet for the most part, they failed to plan for the most challenging manifestations of where these forces would lead. They had to scramble to reconceptualize and recalibrate their strategies to respond to unfolding events.

 

The rapid advance of artificial intelligence—and the possible emergence of artificial general intelligence—promises to present policymakers with even greater disruption. 

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Scooped by Chuck Sherwood, Former Senior Associate, TeleDimensions, Inc
Today, 12:12 AM
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Starlink’s satellite internet is back online after a massive outage | by Richard Lawler | TheVerge.com

Starlink’s satellite internet is back online after a massive outage | by Richard Lawler | TheVerge.com | Surfing the Broadband Bit Stream | Scoop.it

Starlink users reported they couldn’t connect to SpaceX’s satellite internet service for a few hours on Thursday afternoon before service was eventually restored. Widespread Starlink outages, like the ones we reported on in 2022 and 2023, have been rare, and this appears to be the first one in 2025.

 

The outage began around 3:15PM ET or so, with users receiving error messages saying there is “no healthy upstream.” Starlink posted a message on X at 4:05PM ET: “Starlink is currently in a network outage and we are actively implementing a solution. We appreciate your patience, we’ll share an update once this issue is resolved.”

 

At 6:23PM ET, Starlink engineering VP Michael Nicolls followed that up with a message saying that after a 2.5-hour outage, the network has “mostly recovered.” “The outage was due to failure of key internal software services that operate the core network,” writes Nicolls, without going into specific detail.

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Scooped by Chuck Sherwood, Former Senior Associate, TeleDimensions, Inc
July 24, 10:34 PM
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Spectrum Expands Gigabit Broadband in Wexford County, Michigan | by Mike Hogan | Spectrum.com

Spectrum Expands Gigabit Broadband in Wexford County, Michigan | by Mike Hogan | Spectrum.com | Surfing the Broadband Bit Stream | Scoop.it
Spectrum has expanded its Internet, Mobile, TV and Voice services to more than 4,700 homes and small businesses in previously unserved or underserved addresses in 14 communities across Wexford County, Michigan.
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Scooped by Chuck Sherwood, Former Senior Associate, TeleDimensions, Inc
July 24, 7:03 PM
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FCC launches rulemaking to speed the retirement of copper networks | Press Release by FCC | LightReading.com

FCC launches rulemaking to speed the retirement of copper networks | Press Release by FCC | LightReading.com | Surfing the Broadband Bit Stream | Scoop.it
The FCC has launched a rulemaking focused on accelerating the retirement of aging copper networks and freeing up billions for new fiber networks. #pressrelease
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Scooped by Chuck Sherwood, Former Senior Associate, TeleDimensions, Inc
July 24, 1:28 PM
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Amazon and SpaceX Undercut Competition in Tennessee BEAD Bidding | by Jericho Casper | BroadbandBreakfast.com

Amazon and SpaceX Undercut Competition in Tennessee BEAD Bidding | by Jericho Casper | BroadbandBreakfast.com | Surfing the Broadband Bit Stream | Scoop.it
Average LEO bids were $228K, a fraction of the $2.7M requested by fiber providers, on average.
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Scooped by Chuck Sherwood, Former Senior Associate, TeleDimensions, Inc
July 24, 4:40 AM
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Hunter Newby and Connected Nation: Kansas Breaks Ground on First IXP | by Matt Vincent , DCF Staff | DataCenterFrontier.com

Hunter Newby and Connected Nation: Kansas Breaks Ground on First IXP | by Matt Vincent , DCF Staff | DataCenterFrontier.com | Surfing the Broadband Bit Stream | Scoop.it
The DCF Show catches up with Hunter Newby and Connected Nation as they break ground in Wichita, bringing Kansas its first IXP and a new model for regional connectivity an
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Scooped by Chuck Sherwood, Former Senior Associate, TeleDimensions, Inc
July 24, 4:07 AM
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Tarana Wireless enters new strategic partnership with KGPCo | by Noah News Service | BBCMag.com

Tarana Wireless enters new strategic partnership with KGPCo | by Noah News Service | BBCMag.com | Surfing the Broadband Bit Stream | Scoop.it
KGPCo and Tarana Wireless have formed a strategic partnership to leverage Tarana’s fixed wireless access technology.
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Scooped by Chuck Sherwood, Former Senior Associate, TeleDimensions, Inc
July 24, 2:47 AM
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Southfield to Lansing underground fiber route finished in Michigan | by Noah Wire Service | BBCMag.com

Southfield to Lansing underground fiber route finished in Michigan | by Noah Wire Service | BBCMag.com | Surfing the Broadband Bit Stream | Scoop.it
Three Michigan-based companies have completed a 90-mile underground fiber optic route linking Southfield to Lansing.
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Scooped by Chuck Sherwood, Former Senior Associate, TeleDimensions, Inc
July 24, 1:43 AM
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A 1930s movement wanted to merge the US, Canada and Greenland. Here’s why it has modern resonances | by Dafydd Townley | Port.AC.uk

A 1930s movement wanted to merge the US, Canada and Greenland. Here’s why it has modern resonances | by Dafydd Townley | Port.AC.uk | Surfing the Broadband Bit Stream | Scoop.it

A movement that wanted to merge North America into one nation and extend its borders as far as the Panama Canal might sound incredibly familiar. But this group, called the “technocracy movement”, was a group of 1930s nonconformists with big ideas about how to rearrange US society. They proposed a vision that would get rid of waste and make North America highly productive by using technology and science.

 

The Technocrats, sometimes also called Technocracy Inc, proposed merging Canada, Greenland, Mexico, the US and parts of central America into a single continental unit. This they called a “Technate”. It was to be governed by technocratic principles, rather than by national borders and traditional political divisions.

 

These ideas seem to resonate with some recent statements from the Trump administration about merging the US with Canada. Meanwhile, the US Department of Government Efficiency (Doge) set up by Trump and led by tech billionaire Elon Musk, has also outlined a vision of efficiency cuts by slashing bureaucracy, jobs and getting rid of leaders of organisations and civil servants he thinks are advancing “woke” values (such as diversity initiatives). This slash-and-burn approach also fits with some of the ideas of the Technocrats.

 

In February, Musk said: “We really have here rule of the bureaucracy as opposed to rule of the people — democracy”. The Technocrats viewed elected politicians as incompetent. They advocated replacing them with experts in science and engineering, who would “objectively” manage resources for the benefit of society.

 

“The people voted for major government reform, and that’s what the people are going to get,” Musk told reporters after visiting the White House last month.

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Scooped by Chuck Sherwood, Former Senior Associate, TeleDimensions, Inc
July 24, 12:27 AM
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Starlink-powered ‘T-Satellite’ service is now live on T-Mobile | by Emma Roth | TheVerge.com

Starlink-powered ‘T-Satellite’ service is now live on T-Mobile | by Emma Roth | TheVerge.com | Surfing the Broadband Bit Stream | Scoop.it
T-Mobile is rolling out its Starlink-powered satellite service, T-Satellite, which will let customers with supported devices send text messages and share their location without cellular service.
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Scooped by Chuck Sherwood, Former Senior Associate, TeleDimensions, Inc
July 23, 11:03 PM
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Why Are We Pretending AI Is Going to Take All the Jobs? | BIG by Matt Stoller | Substack.com

Why Are We Pretending AI Is Going to Take All the Jobs? | BIG by Matt Stoller | Substack.com | Surfing the Broadband Bit Stream | Scoop.it
Yes, generative AI is transformational. Will it eliminate most entry-level jobs? That depends. Will we continue to demand excessive returns on capital? If so, then we're in trouble.
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Scooped by Chuck Sherwood, Former Senior Associate, TeleDimensions, Inc
July 23, 3:44 AM
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Donald Trump’s Tariff Dealmaker-in-Chief | by Antonia Hitchens | NewYorker.com

Donald Trump’s Tariff Dealmaker-in-Chief | by Antonia Hitchens | NewYorker.com | Surfing the Broadband Bit Stream | Scoop.it

When Howard Lutnick moved to Washington, earlier this year, to become the Secretary of Commerce, he painted one wall in his new living room gold. It was the only significant modification he made to the house, a château-style mansion purchased for twenty-five million dollars from the Fox News anchor Bret Baier.

 

On a recent Sunday afternoon, Lutnick was in the living room, flipping through a commemorative coffee-table book designed by his family which pairs photographs of him with some of his favorite sayings. “It’s between me and the mirror,” one read. He turned the page: “You are either in or you are out.”

 

Lutnick’s dog, a Havanese-poodle mix named Cali—three of his four children went to college in California—kept nosing her way through a gate to come sit with us. Lutnick was about to fly to London for a round of trade negotiations with China, whose restrictions on the sale of rare-earth metals were threatening to render parts of the American economy nonfunctional.

 

Several suitcases were packed and waiting in the entryway, next to a gold Pop-art sculpture by Robert Indiana that spelled the word “LOVE.” Later, Lutnick led me from room to room to point out a few more works from his personal collection: Rothko, Diebenkorn, Lichtenstein, de Kooning.

 
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