Continue reading »]]> Several of our speakers gave presentations during their talk. Many of them are available online:

• Session 3: What we can learn from muni networking failures
  • Ken Biba, Novarum,
  • Aaron Kaplan from Vienna, Austria
• Session 4: The Politics of Regulation
  • Chris Savage, Davis Wright Tremaine
  • Jon Peha, CTO, FCC
• Session 5: Muni Fiber Super-session II
  • Tim Denton, Commissioner, CRTC
  • James Salter, Atlantic Engineering (coming)
  • Terry Huval, Lafayette LA
• Session 6: Networks here and there
  • Herman Wagter, Citynet
  • Benoît Felten, Yankee Group
• Session 7: The Internet and the Planet we call Home
  • Bill St. Arnaud, CANARIE

Continue reading »]]> Some of our attendees are blogging the conference:

• David W: http://www.johotheblog.com

Photos from the conference are at:

• http://www.flickr.com/photos/akma/tags/f2c09/ (AKMA)
• http://www.flickr.com/photos/docsearls/sets/72157616205843715/ (Doc Searls)

We will be reviewing the speaker presentations and video streams to see if we can post that shortly.

Conference Notes from Philip M. Neches

From: Philip M Neches
Subject: F2C Conference, part 1

Municipal Fiber Panel

Tim Nulty, CEO East-Central Vermont Fiber:

• ~38 going full service municipal fiber utilities
• “wholesale only” business model doesn’t work, those doing it are in financial trouble
• ~45 million Americans in rural areas, conventional wisdom says will never have broadband
• cheaper to run fiber than copper was 80 years ago, inflation adjusted
• no fundamental reason that rural fiber broadband can’t work
• fiber is cheaper and more economic than wireless — if you intend to offer universal service
• wireless works economically if it is an add-on to fiber — but “sucks” if it’s done first
• his area: $70M for fiber; $35M for wireless first, but 1/4 the revenue and poor service; $10M for wireless as an add on to fiber and much better service (billing, back-haul, etc., already in place)
• financing with tax-exempt municipal debt is a key advantage — much cheaper than equity, cheapest debt
  • Any attempt to get private equity into the picture loses advantage of tax exempt muni bonds
  • (This is what Gil Williamson, former CEO of NCR, used to call a “one ton point”)
• non-profit corporation organized to develop and operate network, but municipalities finance and own network
• rural fiber can pay its own way — rural wireless can’t
• his example: 1,000 square miles, 16,000 miles of road; 200 wireless access points, 400 miles of fiber for wireless back-haul, 1,400 miles to bring fiber to all

Dick van der Woude, City of Amsterdam fiber project

• used municipal program to spur major incumbents to do open fiber
• in the blunt, confrontational way that is so very Dutch
• fiber needed as back-haul for wireless
• need access within building — to get to customer on top floor, need to get to all floors

Lev Gonick, CIO Case Western Reserve University

• 1M end users, 1,800 facilities, health care facilities, schools, libraries, museums, governments
• 501c(3) not-for-profit corp.
• 5,000 wireless access points
• layered solution: fiber as base layer, WiFi as overlay
• poor urban areas equivalent to rural areas in lack of broadband access
• governance entrepreneurial, not big company or government, light-weight organization
• partner with incumbents for last-mile service (but not residential)

Bill Schrier, CTO City of Seattle

• Municipal WiFi doesn’t work economically, fiber does (City commission report)
• $500 M, comparable to sports stadium, small compared to major highway project
• Electric utility is a key partner (they have the poles!)
• HDTV videoconferencing is the killer app! (not possible on wireless; also needs symmetrical bandwidth)

Panel on Net Politics

Tim Karr, organizer, blogger

• critical juncture in media world: mainstream media -social media
• align: media reform, free culture, open government
• old media, particularly television, still the dominant experience for most people

Nathaniel Jones, Media and Democracy Outreach Foundation

• Politicians need same media to reach public, regardless of party

Ellen Miller, Sunlight Foundation

• Looking for connections between campaign contributions and earmarks
• Use the Internet for “scavenger hunts” for information
• 15M searches on USASpending.gov in 2 years
  • rapid launch because OMB licensed Sunlight Foundation’s database
• “Outed”: Dennis Hastert, Ted Stevens, Charles Rangel
• Executive branch now responsive to openness; legislative branch lagging
• Real-time (e.g. daily) reporting of political contributions would be helpful

From: Philip M Neches
Subject: F2C Conference, part 3

Experiences from Burlington, VT, fiber network

Larry Keyes, IT guy for project described in talk

• tele-class for seniors who have had — or fear having — a fall
• 3X week for 15 weeks on-line Tai Chi Chuan class
• TV STB — living room — need large area for exercise
  • use any broadband network: DSL, cable, muni fiber
• patients see instructor full screen; instructor sees up to 12 patients in windows
• controller manages bandwidth, audio, video
• problems:
  • cable installers — sub-sub-sub-contractors don’t care if it works
  • DSL — distance
  • echo cancellation
• it works — trying to expand to group treatment for other conditions

Eva Sollberger, Seven Days, local weekly newspaper in Burlington VT

• does video journalism for Seven Days web site
• bring new audience from UTube postings
• 122 5-minute videos over 2 years; highly edited
  • 20 – 30 hours of editing per 5 minute video
• many focused on non-profits, who embed video on their own sites

From: Philip M Neches
Subject: F2C Conference, part 4

Muni Network Failures Panel

Esme Vos, MuniWireless

• hot zones (big cities) and small towns looking for broadband (no incumbent)
• believes muni wireless private efforts failed because companies did not get city support — financial or anchor tenant
• 50% of devices are Apple OS — think mostly iPhones (Philadelphia experience)
• wireless meter reading

Sascha Meinrath, New America Foundation

• providers didn’t meet community needs
• who will control local connectivity?
• Post Office was 75% of federal employees — de Tocqueville
• history of telecom, told from the very far left
• connectivity should be a benefit from living in a civil society

Ken Biba, Novarum

• measuring wireless: WiMax, muni WiFi, 2G/3G cellular
• problems with “muni wireless 1.0″
  • no free lunch
  • indoor access not feasible
  • free is not a sustainable business model
  • EarthLink under-covered: about 40% of needed coverage
  • 50 nodes/square mile needed
• what went right?
  • video surveillance, public safety, parking meters, internal municipal communications: have good business cases
  • hybrid fiber/WiFi networks outperform WiMax — 802.11n has 5:1 cap cost advantage over WiMax with more RF capacity
• Cell data performance doubled vs. 2 years ago
  • best muni WiFi about 2-3x better than cellular; 802.11n better still
• Mobile 802.11n is a WiMax killer [my conclusion]
  • 5 GHz 802.11n adds 500 MHz for 802.11bg with no new regulation
  • Good that it doesn’t penetrate walls — outdoor and indoor networks unlicensed and don’t interfere with each other
• Applications with business cases drive deployments
• Why police going WiFi vs. 3G/4G?
  • price $60/police car too much (for budgets)
  • can’t do uplink video
• Unlicensed bands have bigger chunks of bandwidth than licensed — creates advantage for unlicensed
  • all heading for 3 bits/hertz due to semiconductor technology

L. Aaron Kaplan, Vienna Community Mesh Network

• failure resistance should be better
• started with remains of failed commercial wireless ISP

Dewayne Hendricks, Tetherless Access

• “The tools make the rules”: technology is better now
• Remember MetroComm? $1B investment, 150 kb, gone and forgotten
• Radios on light poles — run into problems with local permits — happens every time!
• Bottom line: play the regulatory game better this time
• “Welcome back to the fight. This time, I know our side will win.”
  • Shades of Paul Henreid in the AFI Silver Theater!

From: Philip M Neches
Subject: F2C Conference, part 5

Session on Regulation

Chris Savage, attorney

• Intelligent Regulation and the Death of the Chicago School
• market forces — like gravity, indisputably there, but not inherently good or bad
• revealed preference theory: actually wrong (behavioral economics shows)
• post-Chicago school: if competition (market) doesn’t always maximize benefit, what does?
• 6 – 18 month window of opportunity starting now
• Comment from audience: government should write the rules so that private enterprise makes the most money doing the right things.
• Regulators learn faster than courts

Derek Slater, Google

• broadband policy analyst, works in Mountain View with Google engineers
• how to sustain health, open, innovative Internet
• MLAB — Google operation to test Internet measurement tools
  • Distributed servers to help researchers deploy tools widely enough to get useful data: MLAB
  • 36 by end of April — want to recruit more to work with them.
• Why are you not getting the speed you expect?
• Infrastructure is special — we are reawakening to this notion

John Peha, CTO, FCC

• The Mythology of Rural Broadband
• Less demand? No, less availability, so less penetration
  • 1/3 of rural households do not have access to terrestrial broadband at any price
• Broadband deployment has externalities: small business creation, job creation, property values
  • not accounted for by a market-only approach
• Reverse-network effect: reducing the size of a network (dial-up) reduces the network benefit to remaining members
  • as broadband becomes the norm, dial-up users are harmed
  • also non-Internet services: newspapers, airline reservations, tax forms, etc.
• Government solutions, especially one-size-fits-all, can have more cost than benefit

Thomas Friedman, New York Times

• Hot, Flat, and Crowded is about America, not energy, how we lost our groove and can get it back
• America is exploding with innovation from the ground up — experience from last 6 months of book tour
• There are too many “Americans” in the world today — we have to re-define that lifestyle for the rest of the world
  • 2.5 “Americums” 300 million people living like America to ~9 today, and growing
• Petro-states: inverse relationship of oil prices and freedom
• Not global warming, but global “weirding”: extremes get more extreme
  • don’t know the difference between an act of man and an act of God
• Energy poverty: 25% of world population do not have electricity
  • will fall behind exponentially
• Loss of bio-diversity — Age of Noah, save/see last of species
  • the word “later” will disappear from the dictionary
• Incredible opportunities masquerading as unsolvable problems
  • Common solution: cheap clean electricity (energy)
  • ET – next big industry – country that dominates ET will dominate world — has to be USA
• To name as issue is to own an issue: “green” is owned by the opponents, not the advocates
  • green is geopolitical, patriotic, entrepreneurial, etc.
  • green is the new red, white and blue
• Green is really a revolution when someone gets hurt.
  • Change or die
  • Make “green” disappear because it becomes the norm
  • ecosystem for innovation
  • need correct price signals
• IT was a greenfield, ET is not
  • every innovation has to compete with cheaper, dirtier, established technology
  • oil, coal — commodities: as demand goes up, price goes up
  • solar, wind, etc: technologies: as demand goes up, price goes down
  • e.g.: carbon pricing is a must
• Change your leaders, not your light bulbs

From: Philip M Neches
Subject: F2C Conference, part 6

Muni Fiber Session II

Geoff Daily, app-rising.com

• creating new organization: Rural Fiber Alliance
  • fiber to every building; wireless everywhere
  • we’re Americans – we can do it

James Salter, Atlantic Engineering

• Smart Grid and Fiber to the Home
• motivating reasons: environment, economics
• per-household electricity usage 3x in 50 years; more peaked 47% to 39%
• smart meters 2007: 6% of meters, 4% demand reduction, out of 902GW
• capital/customer: $12.5K/customer: 7.5K generation, 4K distribution
  • telecom is about $2K/customer
• experiment: $0.30/kwh peak $0.03/kwh off-peak, results
  • 30% peak reduction, 20% bill reduction, 5% total kwh reduction
• smart meter in every home — less than AIG bailout
  • at $2500/home, includes fiber-to-the-home at $1000
• 10% peak reduction in demand would cut enough coal usage to make a significant impact on CO2 emissions
• obstacles: standards, policies, pricing, disjointed industry (3,200 different utilities)

Terry Hurval, LUS (Lafayette Utility System)

• City established electricity & water utility in 1896; first fiber for utility use 1998; started selling fiber bandwidth wholesale & government customers 2000; added fiber as a utility in 2004
• cable, telco tried to block; using negotiations and lawsuits; LUS spent $3.7M on lawyers and elections; prevailed; ratepayers saved that much or more since cable co. restrained rate increases; positive press for city
• Fiber runs parallel to electrical power lines, use substations for minihubs; 3 rings of 96 fibers each (Lucent-Alcatel passive optical system; in-home box at demark converts fiber to coax, POTS, ethernet, IPTV, etc.
• Bonds issued 7/2007; construction started 8/2007; first customers 2/2009; full deployment 2011
• Typical residential package video, Internet, phone $85/$137/$199/month depending on bandwidth (10/30/50 Mbps symmetrical), premium channels, phone features, etc.; all service includes 100Mbps peer-peer; business packages up to 100Mbps for $199/month
• 70% residential + 80% of businesses want service, per survey
• $110M tax exempt bonds
• businesses cite benefits to community: keep jobs, people in town
• Q: will you allow open access (e.g. just connectivity, w/o phone, cable, etc, services)? A: not until bonds are paid off.
• Q: where does LUS get backbone? A: AT&T and Qwest, $50/mbps

Tim Denton, Commissioner, Canadian Radio & Television Commission (CRTC)

• equivalent of US FCC:
• 3 legal regimes:
  • Broadcast Act (licensed, regulated)
  • Telecommunications Act(unlicensed, regulated)
  • Commerce Act (unlicensed, unregulated)
• pushed through access to underlying infrastructure over objections of large carriers (different from US), carriers still contesting at cabinet level
• broadcasting over Internet: pushing through notion of exemption — claim jurisdiction but choose; not to use it
  • issue is taxing Internet broadcasting to fund Canadian content
• business community against it — don’t interfere
• artistic community for it
• not a single comment on freedom of speech (unlike US)
  • Net Neutrality next topic for CRTC

From: Philip M Neches
Subject: F2C Conference, part 7

Networks Here and There

Herman Wagter, CEO Citynet (Amsterdam)

• Schopenhauer: stages of truth
  • Ridiculed
  • Violently opposed
  • Accepted as self-evident
• High connectivity, within Amsterdam, within Netherlands, 660Gbps recent switching peak
• Natural desire for connectivity can be obstructed by social convention, laws
• No poles, high density, wires underground (lots of mud): how to avoid digging again in less than 30 years?
• passive fiber, star topology
  • 10,000 home-run connections per POP
  • much easier than with a Cu plant
  • multiple technologies/protocols/services over same fiber plant
  • ~$1,200 capex, fiber 10% labor 70% in cities: in suburbs more for fiber less for labor, result same
• regulatory regime: unbundled local fiber loop, central office access, back-haul access for competitors
• killer app: can I play cards with 4 friends? [e.g. HDTV video conferencing]
  • people want bandwidth to achieve low latency
• Q: pay for like streets, not by usage? A: regulators not ready for that notion
  Kevin Werbach, Obama FCC Transition Team
• Quasi-hostile takeover of a $14T corporation (US government) with minimum staff in 77 days
• What are the issues, what are the challenges, what are the options going forward?
• Agency was run by Chairman Martin in a closed, politicized way, not trusting of staff, silo, hostile to new ideas, top-down management style
• Titanic change happening in industries of concern; agency was established in a previous era
  • (so were most of the companies!)
• Get the FCC ahead of the curve:
  • spectrum as a pool of capacity rather than as discrete small allocations
  • was very creative under Chairman Powell, shut down under Chairman Martin, look at re-opening under new Chairman
• Embarrassment of riches in new administration: more care about technology issues vs. prior administration
• Q: direction with federal spectrum, NTIA? A: step 1 – inventory usage, federal, other; step 2 – develop plans, coordinate white-space database;
• Q: AT&T/Bush administration re-monopolized, re-verticalized industry, now what? A: change in last 2 years to more open access, not all the way, FCC can shine a light on the business dynamics & policy issues
• Q: should US have [cabinet-level] agency to roll up all spectrum issues from FCC, DoD, etc? A: could waste political capital w/o accomplishing much; use Internet for co-ordination with leadership from White House & agency heads
• Q: standards for smart grids? A: regulators need to think of themselves as standards bodies — push, delegate, advocate
• role for FCC as think tank, communications starter

Benoit Felton, Yankee Group

• perspective on fiber in Europe
• Sweden leading in fiber: 900k homes passed, 400k subscribers, 200 municipal utilities, 450 registered service providers (expect consolidation); also Norway, Finland
• Denmark: deployment driven by energy utility, not comm utility, low subscription rate, no coherent offering
• France: cable companies deploying fiber, poor uptake due to fight on in-home standards, history of poor service by cable providers
• Germany, UK, Ireland lagging
• Europe as a whole lagging US, Asia — but diverse results
• A couple of cases the operator voluntarily announced open access on passive and active fiber layers
  • regulator reacts by negotiating, rather than imposing rules
• Need 40% penetration to get less than 10 year payback (assumes EUR 1000 capex 45% GM)
  • best way to get take up is competition on services
  • open access actually in incumbent operator’s best interest, because it drives faster adoption, which drives faster break-even and sooner decommissioning of copper network
• Forms of open access
  • open ducts: second deployer only in very dense areas (Spain, France)
  • open dark fiber:
  • open lit fiber: US, Netherlands
  • open services: Sweden — maybe net neutrality is adequate, maybe not
• Applicability of experience to US? Arguments that US is unique don’t hold up under examination.
• Conclusions:
  • open access makes economic sense for private players everywhere in the world
  • vertically integrated NGA deployment doesn’t make investment sense, can’t achieve 3-5 year payback
  • profitable wholesale model crucial to NGA deployment
  • net neutrality is first step to service competition

From: Philip M Neches
Subject: F2C Conference, part 8

Internet and Planet Earth

Jim Baller, attorney

• introduced next speaker as “father of municipal broadband”
• 15 years ago, talked about link between energy and communications
• most popular program on Glasgow KY municipal cable system: small claims court

Billy Ray, Glasgow, KY

• 14,000 people in south-central KY
• 1986 initiated city-owned cable system to support electrical grid
• treated infrastructure as part of the electrical grid, cable tv rented from electrical utility
• folksy history of utility moving into cable, phone, Internet, fiber, etc.
• cable company followed utility street-by-street lowering price
  • publicity from this put city utility on the map!
• load shape determined by thermostats: control the thermostats =control demand
• key element that needs to be created: software to reflect generating profile to distributed thermostats
• less capital to build broadband to every customer than new generating capacity
• Q: what could make more towns do this? A: carbon tax would induce innovation

Andrew Revkin, New York Times

• moderated panel
• implementation of cap/trade: could be just trade and not have much climate impact

Bill St. Arnaud, Canarie

• reducing carbon is a business opportunity
• carbon tax: difficult political sell
• cap and trade: hidden tax on supply side only
• carbon neutrality: by mandate, in
• another approach: carbon rewards rather than carbon taxes — akin to loyalty programs
• virtualization: replace physical product, transportation, with networking
  • US is the leader in virtualization: Hollywood, Silicon Valley applications, university innovation, culture of early adoption/Internet
• consumers responsible for 60% of CO2 emissions, 40% direct, 20% indirect
• examples:
  • free WiFi on busses
  • free broadband in home, bundled with energy (gas, electricity)
• network operator gets revenue based on energy reduction

PMN Note: nobody talked about using cold storage to time shift electrical demand for air conditioning to off hours. Also, nobody talked (much) about distributed generation. I think these are big deals.

From: Philip M Neches
Subject: F2C Conference, part 9

Spending on Infrastructure: American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (a.k.a. stimulus bill)

Sharon Gillett, State of MA, Commissioner, Telecom & Cable

• MIT researcher, economic impact of broadband
• recruited to commission in 2006 by new governor’s administration
• 351 towns, 32 with no commercial broadband, ~50 more with partial service (MA map)
• RFI for public/private broadband initiatives — just before economic meltdown
• stimulus bill: $4.7B through Dept. of Commerce – NTIA, $2.5B through Agriculture (Rural Utility Service – RUS) — $3.9B for infrastructure — $10M for IG to insure rules follow, no waste/fraud — obligate 1/2 of money by September
• BTOP: broadband technology opportunity program, comments due 4/13, then issue rules, then solicit first proposals; NTIA retains all decision making
• Q: where did map come from? A: survey of town administrators
• other issues: business (fat pipe) services, back-haul (middle mile)

Thomas Cohen, Attorney, Fiber-to-the-home Council

• firm filed proposed rules to BTOP and RUS on behalf of clients, including FTTH Council
• Agencies under tremendous pressure — first oversight hearings this week
• driving forces: get people to work, create infrastructure, do it quickly
• first $ out the door in the fall?
• looking for projects that meet purposes of the act, are pre-packaged, will work, applicants have experience
• Rural Utility Service: 100X their regular budget; 75% rural with insufficient access to high-speed broadband
• BTOP: bring access to unserved areas, under-served areas, public awareness, public service, training/education
• Q: were filings technology neutral? A: yes
• think of application as a full blown business plan, packaged from beginning, make the granting agency look good, show that the project can really be accomplished
• success will encourage Congress to fund more programs in the future
• look at what CA has funded already for examples

Jim Baller, Attorney, Broadband Coalition

• discuss funding opportunities in other parts of stimulus bill
• $48B transportation funds, $4B for smart grids, $8B public safety, etc.
• bill intended to be first inning in a 9 inning game
• bill requires FCC to develop a national broadband plan by Feb 2010
• puts many things in play years before it might happen otherwise, encourages cooperation among groups
• dialog stimulated on longer term broadband policy, stimulus bill does not set policy, more work in years to come
• mood in the country is challenging, but it encourages innovation: very optimistic

Harold Feld, Attorney, Public Knowledge

• blogger Tales from the Sausage Factory
• shift in how people are thinking about the role of government
• reaffirmed values from original Communications Act: universal access, community institutions (libraries, etc,), data driven policies (vs. ideologically driven)
• parts of government working with each other: NTIA, RUS, FCC, etc.
• broadband ecology: value it for what it does for people’s lives
• message to carriers: it’s not all about you!
• private entities can apply, but must show that grant is in public interest
• network neutrality, value of competition, interconnection
• new way of doing business in Washington: conventional wisdom didn’t work (against the bill)
• enormous opportunity, don’t get complacent

Joanne Hovis, CTC Communications

• broadband must serve local concerns
• areas of concern: rural vs. metro debate — a fight along these lines would not serve either rural or urban interests, but would help entrench incumbents
• central government involvement (in broadband): US now getting involved, Europe/Asia have done this for years, reason why they got ahead of US; stimulus bill implementation sets example
• definition of broadband: 50 to 100 Mbps scaling to 1 to 10 Gbps — incumbents talking in terms of 1 – 5 Mbps — need to keep pressure on keeping definition aspirational and forward looking, not backward looking (result in falling further behind world)
• role of states: concern for conflict-of-interest as advisor to communities and potentially competitive applicant for funds; potential for private interest influence (15 states bar localities from broadband service)

Continue reading »]]> Guest post by Lynn Hughes (Thanks!)

Welcome to all of you coming to the Silver Spring area for F2C. I’ve put together some suggestions on places to eat and/or hang-out while in town. I hope you all find this helpful and take no responsibility if your taste buds don’t agree with mine!

Downtown Silver Spring is an eclectic mix of chain and local owned stores. At first glance it might look a little typical corporate layout, but don’t let that fool you. There is a broad range of food choices that reflect the rich diversity of our community. I’ll try and give some suggestions for most of the International flavors. I’m only mentioning restaurants that are walkable from AFI and the nearby hotels.

March Madness?

For me, the most critical thing happening on Sunday is the Elegant 8. I know if I were out of town, I’d be looking for a good spot to watch (I’m not a hotel sitter) — best options are:

1) Galaxy Billiards (across from the Border’s on Ellsworth — immediately BEHIND the AFI theatre): I personally think there TVs are the best set-up for watching a game. They have plenty of screens and reasonable bar food while you watch (you can even play a round of pool if you’d like).

2) Across the Street Cafe (across the street from AFI): http://www.acrossthestreetcafe.com/about.html a new restaurant in town. The owner is very nice, the food is good and not too pricey and he has free wi-fi. He’s got one plasma screen that I noticed, rather than the many at Galaxy. But the crowds are light on Sunday and I’ll bet he’ll help make your watching enjoyable.

3) Austin Grill (on Ellsworth near the fountain): They’ve got screens around the bar and pretty good Tex-Mex. But it’s usually loud in there and the focus certainly won’t be on the games. You’ll be competing with the dinner crowd.

Best Coffee/Gelato

Kefa Cafe
963 Bonifant St

I know there’s a great breakfast planned for each day of F2C, but if you find yourself looking for a great cuppa joe on Sunday or Wednesday, skip the chains (Panera and Starbuck’s) and walk a couple blocks to Kefa Cafe. It’s just two blocks down from the AFI and a real local favorite. Owners Lene and Abeba Tsegaye are as nice as can be. I always leave that place with a smile.

The coffee at Kefa is first rate, and the two sisters have done a splendid job of turning Kefa into a true community gathering place, a setting where groups come to meet about projects, display art, and discuss civic matters. Sometimes the owners even stay open past closing to accommodate residents’ needs (review poached from Yelp). They also have the best homemade gelato ever.

American/standard fare

1) Jackie’s
8081 Georgia (it’s actually on Sligo Ave)

http://www.jackiesrestaurant.com/

It’s a bit of a hike, but well worth it for the mini-Elvis burgers and best martini’s in town. A very funky place indeed.

2) Ray’s the Classics
corner of Georgia and Colesville (across from AFI)
Great steaks and solid meat and potatoes cooking. Always ends up on the Washingtonian Best of lists…

3) Quarry House Tavern
Georgia and Bonifant (take the steps down…)

http://www.quarryhousetavern.com/

Run by Jackie (of Jackie’s above). Best burgers in town and homemade tater tots. Enuf said.

4) Red Rock Grill
Georgia towards Wayne (next to Marimekko)
Yeah, it’s a chain and there’s always a crowd, but it’s solid food. I do admit that I eat there fairly often.

Asian/Chinese/Japanese/Thai/Vietnamese/Malaysian

1) Asian Bistro
next to Panera on Georgia at Colesville

http://www.asianbistrocafe.com/

I personally think that Asian Bistro has the best sushi in town (meaning our little neck of MD, not all of DC). Their specialty rolls are amazing. They also have a full Chinese and Japanese dinner menu. (I know others in town like the sushi on Fenton, but I’m just not sold).

2) Oriental Garden
East-West Highway in Blair Plaza (just past the metro, hang a left)
The dim sum at Oriental Garden is legendary. If you come on a Sunday the line literally goes round the block. They also have some of the best Peking Duck I’ve ever had, but if you’re trekking over, I’d suggest trying the dim sum. Also, make sure they give you the full menu. They have one for the novices and one with all the good stuff.

3) Thai Derm
Bonifant, in the middle of the block (two blocks down from AFI)
Small restaurant in what seems should be a townhouse (and if you go to the bathroom, you’ll usually walk by some family member prepping food). Great food and nice owners. I prefer it to the Thai restaurant over the fountain at Ellsworth, although that one’s not too bad.

4) Mandalay
Bonifant, towards Fenton (about 3 blocks from AFI)
Burmese food that’s solid and a nice wine selection. My friend who grew up in Burma loves it. I don’t know enough to tell whether it’s authentic, but it certainly is tasty.

5) Lotus Cafe
Georgia and Sligo (about 8 blocks)
It’s next door to Jackie’s, so be prepared to walk. They’ve only been open a couple months, but it’s already a favorite with the neighbors. I’m a fan. Had a great meal there recently. They also have a sweet little deck if the weather is nice.

Ordering Chinese in — Spring Garden
I’d strongly suggest one of the restaurants above, but if you’re in your hotel room and want to order in, choose Spring Garden. Most consistent and fresh of the groups that deliver (Oriental Garden won’t).

Ethiopian
We’ve got a really vibrant Ethiopian community here in the area. If you are a fan of the food, you should definitely try Addis Ababa. It’s on Fenton just past Thayer. There is the main restaurant and a roof garden (which is heated and used year round). Always a crowd there.

Middle Eastern

We’ve got some great spots in the area, none of which are big chains (Lebanese Taverna by the fountain is kind of a chain, they’ve got a handful of restaurants in the area).

1) Taste of Jerusalem
8123 Georgia (at Silver Spring Ave next to the old Firehouse)
A bit of a walk, but well worth it. Haven’t heard a bad word about this place ever.

2) Ghar-E-Kabab
Wayne between Georgia and Fenton (next to the Crescent building)
It’s Nepalase and quite good. I’m a fan of the seafood kababs. Easy walk from the AFI.

3) Lebanese Taverna
by the fountain on Ellsworth
Don’t let the cafeteria style service fool you. Great food, very fresh, atmosphere be damned.

Tex Mex/Latin

Most people just wander over to Austin Grill, but if you are willing to walk about two blocks farther, you’ll find two of the best places around.

1) Mi Rancho
8701 Ramsey Avenue
Family owned, great home style Mexican food (well good for the East Coast). They’ve also got the best margarita’s in town and a good house sangria. There’s a tortilla maker in the lobby and a really cool patio that’s heated so it can be used year round.

and across the street
2) Cubano’s
1201 Fidler Lane
Real Cuban food. Seriously the best I’ve had outside my grandmother’s kitchen. They have great Yucca fries and black beans and on weekend only offer a homestyle Arroz Con Pollo.

Upscale

1) Nicaro
8229 Georgia Avenue (just past Thayer)
Pedro Matamoros’ newest venture (he has Tabard Inn downtown). Good food, nice atmosphere, a little pricey.

2) Olazzo
8235 Georgia (couple doors down from Nicaro)
I haven’t been here, but have heard it’s very good. Understand they have a martini bar that rocks.

For other entertainment

1) McGinty’s Pub (on Ellsworth next to PotBelly’s) is a great old style Irish Pub. http://www.mcgintyspublichouse.com/silverspring/ They’ve got dancing on Sunday night for those who aren’t into b-ball and a pub quiz on Monday night. They also have great comfort food.

2) The Pirate Bar (on Georgia at Bonifant). The name says it all. I’m not a frequenter so can’t attest to the food, but it’s certainly entertaining.

Post by Lynn Hughes

Continue reading »]]> F2C speaker Sascha Meinrath gave a Keynote talk at the recently-held eComm conference. From the transcript on the Emerging Communications (eComm) Blog:

Unfortunately, media creation and the documentation and telling of our stories without the information dissemination component are entirely impotent. When Malcolm Matson asked the question, “Who will control local connectivity,” he exposed the fundamental question facing civil society at the dawn of the twenty-first century. Because what I learned quite quickly is that even when we created media, and documented local injustices, we had no means in our local community to disseminate this vital information to the rest of our local community. In essence, we were locked out of a public discourse. We were locked out, systematically disenfranchised from the media.

The solution that we came up with, and the reason why I ended up in Washington, D.C., consulting with power brokers and forward thinking decision makers was that we needed to not only create alternative media dissemination systems, but we needed to implement fundamental changes to civil society, before it collapsed under the weight of its own ignorance and inequity.

Come explore the creative alternatives to media dissemination, distributed communications, and other fundamental changes with Meinrath and other participants at F2C this month.

Continue reading »]]> Transforming Global Information and Communication Markets, by Peter Cowhey and Jonathan Aronson, “discusses why we are on the brink of a third transformation of global information and communication markets that requires innovative global governance.” This book is now available through MIT Press or via download!

From the Introduction:

As 2009 nears, the world is in a time of gloom and panic. Will global governance and the global economic order survive? In retrospect, some saw the collapse of the dot com bubble as a portent of the fi nancial meltdown and the collapse of confidence in the future. In the United States there is a dour bipartisan consensus that escalating special interest politics, budget deficits, economic insecurity in the midst of more consumption, environmental and energy policy gridlock, and deep uncertainties about national-security strategy point to intractable problems in the design and conduct of public policy. In other countries the specifi c bill of complaints may differ, but a similar uneasiness is widespread.

Although we can gripe as well as anyone about the world’s follies, this book is more upbeat. Since World War II, a planet-straddling information and communications technology (ICT) infrastructure has created a global information economy at an ever-accelerating pace. A radically different model for competition and public policy for this infrastructure was introduced that is far sounder than its predecessor. More remarkably, countries agreed to rewrite the basic international agreements governing commerce for the communications and information infrastructure in a way that makes more sense than the consensus that was forged immediately after 1945.

For once, the transformation in governance and technology is not just a tale of the prosperous states doing better. These changes boosted the economic takeoff of India and China and other emerging powers …

Continue reading »]]> Isabel and I put out a press release on MarketWire the other day. In part, it read:

SILVER SPRING, MD–(Marketwire – March 4, 2009) – New networks that are models for projects the broadband stimulus package could fund will be front and center at F2C: Freedom to Connect, here on March 30 & 31. The American Reinvestment and Recovery Act of 2009 (ARRA) sets out $7.2 billion for building networks that increase end-user choice and serve under-served areas. F2C: Freedom to Connect, March 30 & 31, features builders of municipal networks in Lafayette, LA, Glasgow, KY, northeast Ohio and rural Vermont.

Now in its fifth year, F2C: Freedom to Connect has established itself as the premier venue for tomorrow’s technology policy news, featuring speakers such as Susan Crawford and Kevin Werbach, who co-led the Obama FCC transition, long before they rose to national prominence.

You can read the whole thing here.

Iz reports that the press release has traveled far and wide. Here are a few of the places it’s been already:

• MSNBC Business
• ScottTrade
• Yahoo Finance
• TD Ameritrade
• be.sys-con
• News Blaze
• Wall St. Journal’s Marketwatch
• Empire Relations Group
• E-Media World
• Street Insider
• Keegy
• TMCnews
• Individual.com
• The Earth Times

etc.  It goes on and on…

Continue reading »]]> NEW INFO: February 26, 2009. This post, about good rates at the Hampton Inn, has been superseded by the below.

a) Don’t call the manager. Instead call 800-HILTONS (800-445-8667) and ask for the Freedom to Connect rate at the Hampton Inn in Silver Spring. It should still be just under $180 a night.

b) There are equivalent rates for Monday and Tuesday on the Hilton Website (once you figure in the taxes). But there are BETTER RATES for Saturday and Sunday nights. (Hat tip to David Weinberger for spotting this!)

It still looks like the Hampton Inn is still the best deal within walking distance of F2C. That’s where I am staying.

Continue reading »]]>

F2C Musician in Residence John Jorgenson just won the “Country Instrumental” Grammy for playing in a seven-guitar collaboration entitled, “Cluster Pluck.” Such a song is a superb fit in a Washington DC based discussion of Internet policy. The other six guitar players included Brad Paisley, Vince Gill, and Albert Lee.

According to the Redlands (CA) Daily Facts, Jorgenson’s hometown newspaper, Jorgenson has played on two other Grammy winning recordings, one by Peter Frampton, the other by Bonnie Raitt. He’s been nominated two more times for work with Earl Scruggs and The Desert Rose Band, which he co-founded. [Article]

Continue reading »]]> Friends and Colleagues,

Announcing  . . . (drum roll) . . .

More high-powered speakers for F2C: Freedom to Connect
March 30 & 31, Washington DC.
(Register now: Price goes up February 28!)

The speakers announced below join already-announced speakers such as the CIO of San Francisco, the CTO of Seattle, the Chief Technologist of the FCC, and the visionaries of Lafayette LA, Burlington VT and Glasgow KY municipal networks.

Also, see announcements below:

• F2C Musician in Residence!
• Special hotel deal for F2C participants.
• New Collaborating Partners.
• F2C on Facebook

SPEAKERS:

1) Billy Ray, CEO, Glasgow (KY) Electric Power Board
In the mid-80s, Billy was spurred by energy crisis #2 and an unresponsive cableco to create a broadband network for the citizens of Glasgow KY. By 2001 it was serving 75% of Glasgow’s households at less than 60% of the U.S. average price. Today Ray is building FTTH and thinking about how fiber can asuage the need for new electric power plants.

2) Kevin Werbach was co-leader of President Obama’s FCC Transition Team
He also produces the high-powered, well-respected SuperNova tech conference, and he authored the 1999 FCC report entitled, “Digital Tornado.” Kevin will discuss his experiences on the Obama FCC Transition and the prospects for the new FCC

3) Andrew C. Revkin is the New York Times science reporter
on the “beat” of global climate disruption. He travels the world, witnessing first-hand changes that may indicate bigger changes to come. He’s surfing the edge of Internet reporting on his blog dotEarth

4) L. Aaron Kaplan
will discuss how Vienna Austria’s community-built, community-owned, 500-device, 30-km diameter, Wi-Fi mesh network, free-of-charge to its users has achieved financial sustainability.

MUSICIAN IN RESIDENCE:

John Jorgenson Quintet!!! John Jorgenson earned “best guitarist” three years in a row from the Academy of Country Music. The John Jorgenson Quintet plays hot, hot, hot Django Reinhardt-style Gypsy Jazz. The quintet boasts burning jazz fiddler Jason Anick and a rhythm section so smokin’ I’ve bought carbon credits.

SPECIAL HOTEL DEAL:

The brand new Hampton Inn, across the street from F2C and down a block, has offered us a real deal — just under $180 a night, which is substantially cheaper than any other hotel within walking distance.

YOU MUST CONTACT THE MANAGER PERSONALLY to get this deal:
Aloysious Cory Phillips, Sales Manager
Phone: 301-563-3843
Email: aloysious.phillips@hilton.com

COLLABORATING PARTNERS

F2C depends on word-of-web to get the word out! Here are a few of the Collaborating Partners who are helping us with publicity, and what they’re up to:

FTTH Council: Fiber to the Home Council is a non-profit organization dedicated to the advancement of fiber to the home networks. It has been a major driving force in bringing fiber to American homes. It is also very active in Europe and Asia. It’s holding a service provider workshop open to all in New Orleans, March 11.
Agenda here [.pdf] that will include a very knowledgeable analysis of what’s in the Obama stimulus package to spur FTTH networks by Tom Cohen. I went to the FTTH Workshop in Petaluma CA — a most fascinating day! The FTTH Council annual meeting, also open, is another great event featuring the superstars of fiber — this year it is scheduled for Houston, Sept. 27 through Oct. 1.

DSL Prime and FastNetNews: Dave Burstein, editor, is a close observer of the Internet scene, an original who talks to everybody and calls it like he sees it without regard for convention or what passes as wisdom. I’m delighted to give him a plug, and I appreciate his heartfelt enthusiasm for F2C!
Said of FastNetNews — “Often interesting reporting.”

New America Foundation: The New America Foundation hosts the public-spirited network work of my friends Michael Calabrese and Sascha Meinrath. Sascha’s co-chairing an F2C panel on “What we can learn from Networking Failures,” and he’s one of the prime movers behind M-Lab, a suite of tools announced two weeks ago designed to assess the quality and neutrality your Internet connection.

Personal Democracy Forum: How Technology is Changing Politics . . .
PDF’s organizers, Andrew Rasiej and Micah Sifry are friends and mentors. The annual PDF conference in June 2008 was stellar, unmissable. This year’s PDF event has not been announced yet, but it is certain to be better. This is from the heart: I love these guys and the spectacular events they do!

OpinionSource is a service that consolidates and summarizes Op-Eds and other opinion materials, and puts them all in one place, or slices and dices, e.g., you can get the daily China summary, the Middle East summary, etc. Friend Jack Hidary runs this worthy operation.

F2C ON FACEBOOK

Join the Facebook event. Invite your friends.

The registration price goes up 100 bucks after February 28, so please register asap!

I’ll see you at F2C on March 30 & 31!