Just look at any one of Sunlight’s projects and you’ll realize that it takes a mountain of data to help... View Article
Continue readingPreparing for the Worst
I should say up front that Google's been a great friend to Sunlight: they've helped support our contests, they've sent us phones and Summer of Code students to help our Android development efforts, and when I visited their DC offices a couple of weeks ago they let me eat as much candy as I wanted.
Still, I'd be lying if I said the incredible scope of their success didn't make me a little uneasy. We use Google Apps for our work email, for instance, and YouTube is essential to our video production efforts. We're as dependent as anyone else on Google for search, both as a tool and a source of traffic. I know we're not the only ones to be a bit unnerved at being so reliant on the goodwill of a private enterprise -- and of course over the past few weeks, other voices expressing those concerns have become significantly louder.
So, while we're looking forward to continuing to work with Google, it would be irresponsible for us not to prepare for the unthinkable. I'm happy to say that we've taken the necessary precautions, and today the future seems a bit less uncertain:
Of course, what happens after we run through our 1000 free hours is anyone's guess.
(Many thanks to Pierre Huggins of Rox Chox & Blox Woodworking for lending his awesome fabrication capabilities to this ridiculous project (and to our own sysadmin extraordinaire, Tim, for finding Pierre via HacDC)
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Where Do Telecom Lobbyists Come From?
UPDATE – 8/10/10: On Monday, August 9, 2010, Google and Verizon introduced a joint proposal for the future of Internet... View Article
Continue readingKey net neutrality supporters hire former government officials to lobby
Two of the biggest proponents of net neutrality rules for broadband providers involved in closed door congressional committee negotiations have... View Article
Continue readingOpponents of net neutrality attending congressional telecom meetings spend more on lobbying
Last Friday, two congressional committees held closed door discussions with 31 representatives from industry and activist groups to discuss writing... View Article
Continue readingPublic=Online Launch Event @ Google
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Continue readingThe future of libraries
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Long ago, putting together a map of data points would be the sole domain of a skilled GIS practitioner employing... View Article
Continue readingCivic Hackers for Haiti
The systems and information infrastructure that the entire network of relief requires for a place like Haiti, however, is also something that often needs building and supporting in times of disaster, and "civic hackers" as we often refer to them are answering the call.
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