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posted by martyb on Wednesday July 12 2017, @04:54AM   Printer-friendly
from the that-would-be-a-'bit'-of-an-improvement dept.

Microsoft has announced an effort to get broadband access to rural Americans. 34 million Americans do not have broadband Internet access, defined as a 25 Mbps connection by the FCC, and of these, 23.4 million live in rural areas. Microsoft has pledged to connect 2 million rural Americans to the Internet with broadband within five years, and push other companies and regulators to handle the full 23.4 million:

In some rural areas, parents have to drive their kids to the parking lot of the local library so their kids can file homework. In 2017, not being online hurts your education, your job prospects, your civic engagement.

Microsoft plans to use a cheaper technology — something called TV white spaces, which is on the wireless spectrum — to transmit broadband data. The company estimates it costs 80 percent less than building expensive wired infrastructure, and using a mix of technologies to close the rural broadband gap would cost roughly $10 billion.

Microsoft is asking to[sic] Federal Communications Commission to continue ensuring the spectrum needed for this approach, and to collect and publicly disclose data on rural broadband coverage, to guide policymakers and companies.

Also at The Seattle Times, The New York Times, and TechCrunch.


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  • (Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 12 2017, @05:28AM (7 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 12 2017, @05:28AM (#537957)

    >He thinks people still watch TV for the news
    Lol, I bet he thinks watching CNN makes you more informed.

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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 12 2017, @05:34AM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 12 2017, @05:34AM (#537959)

    Trumper literally uses Twatter to make news. CNN is fucking dead.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 12 2017, @06:15AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 12 2017, @06:15AM (#537966)

      Trump is the news. Twithub is just the dumping ground for his mania.

  • (Score: -1, Redundant) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 12 2017, @06:28AM (4 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 12 2017, @06:28AM (#537970)

    I'd pit CNN's accuracy over Fox's any day. Wish I could Vegas on it. Conservatives never cared when Fox made "mistakes".

    • (Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 12 2017, @06:50AM (3 children)

      by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 12 2017, @06:50AM (#537982)

      I'd trust neither, since they're both filled mostly with rabid partisan hacks. Fox may be worse, but that excuse only gets you so far.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 12 2017, @01:57PM (2 children)

        by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 12 2017, @01:57PM (#538074)

        This is exactly what the Trump campaign engineered, complete distrust in the media. It was no secret that Fox was an openly far right leaning partisan news network. In fact, it was probably their best move from a business perspective. Plenty of bobble heads tune in to listen to Hannity or some other hack babble on about liberals while mindlessly nodding in agreeance without ever doing their own research. It's all perfectly crafted to reach a certain kind of person and it works out very well.

        Trump's head of propaganda, Breitbart's Steve Bannon, knows how the "news" works and how to twist it to suit one's needs. And he did a terrific job by starting this whole "fake news" trend that has spread like wild fire to the point where if the media says anything questionable it's automatically labelled fake news. It worked out very well but there is an ulterior motive: Bannon wanted to discredit major news outlets to drive people to "alternative" news outlets like Breitbart. It was a business move along with the creation of the alt-right to drum up business for his own personal brand of media. Anyone who thinks otherwise is a complete fool. Alt-right: new generation of republicans trained to eat garbage in the form of alternative news. Have fun pepe puppets.

        And as far as the whole "fake news" trend itself: No shit the news can and does spout nonsense. This isn't anything new. It's been done since journalism existed. Now it's somehow trendy to pretend you're an expert on the media and cry "fake news" when something you hear doesn't agree with your personal views. Knock knock, reality calling. You arent cool and sound like a complete twat.

        • (Score: 3, Interesting) by kaszz on Wednesday July 12 2017, @05:54PM

          by kaszz (4211) on Wednesday July 12 2017, @05:54PM (#538200) Journal

          engineered, complete distrust in the media

          Media has been misreporting for decades. They had it coming. And the owner concentration makes it a lot worse.

        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 12 2017, @07:59PM

          by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 12 2017, @07:59PM (#538287)

          don't be an idiot. trump is just playing to the prevailing opinion about the presstitute scum.