EDITORS/NEWS DIRECTORS: The Biden Administration released details about the $42.5 billion cornerstone of its Internet for All initiative on Monday. The money, which state governments will eventually award broadband providers, has the chance to be transformative in communities with inadequate service or exorbitant costs. Funding amounts from the Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) program depended primarily on the number of unserved locations in each jurisdiction. Unserved locations are those that lack access to internet download speeds of at least 25 megabits per second download and upload speeds of 3 Mbps. Download speeds involve retrieving information from the internet, including streaming movies and TV. Upload speeds determine how fast information travels from a computer to the internet, like sending emails or publishing photos online. The federal government used the FCC’s National Broadband Map to identify the number of unserved locations in each jurisdiction. Before states can draw down on those funds, they must engage in a multi-step approval process with the federal government to ensure the money is deployed to the communities that need it the most. ___ AP’S LATEST COVERAGE Biden’s broadband plan aims to connect every home and business in U.S. by 2030. What’s next? High-speed internet is a necessity, President Biden says, pledging all US will have access by 2030 ___ VIEW YOUR STATE'S BEAD FUNDING ALLOTMENT AND PERCENT OF AREAS UNSERVED — The AP produced a dataset showing each state’s allotment in dollars and the percent of Broadband Serviceable Locations—homes and businesses where high-speed internet could be installed—that are estimated to be unserved, according to the latest version of the FCC National Broadband Map. ___ VIEW DETAILED BROADBAND MAPS AND FUNDING MAPS — The FCC National Broadband Map is an updating dataset that shows advertised internet speeds at the address level. Version 2 is the latest public iteration and was used to determine states’ BEAD allotments. The default view of the map shows residential service provided by all types of technology with download speeds of at least 25 Mbps and upload speeds of at least 3 Mbps. The federal government defines reliable service as that which is provided through wired or fixed wireless technologies. To view coverage provided by reliable technologies only, click the gear icon on the righthand side of the page. Under technologies, select “All Wired and Licensed Fixed Wireless.” In this menu, you can also choose to view coverage of businesses instead of residences and set different speed minimums. — Check out the FCC Broadband Funding map. This offers details on funding from some other federal broadband expansion programs. To view a breakdown of projects and funding in a given area, click the Funding Summary button (to drill down, make sure you're zoomed in to at least level 10, then click on individual hexagons for details). To view the percentage of areas unserved or unfunded, click the Location Summary button. To view maps by funding type, click on the different links below the Broadband Funding Summaries heading in the pop-up box. ___ VIEW OTHER RESOURCES — The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) is administering the BEAD program. It is keeping track of which states have released initial proposals, which must be approved before states can begin the grant making process. Initial proposals are due by the end of the year and can be submitted in two volumes. On this page are also links to 5-year-plans, which lay out how states hope to achieve universal connectivity, and digital equity plans, covering how states aim to equip individuals with the skills and devices necessary to leverage internet access. You can sign up to receive email updates when new proposals and plans are released. States with initial proposals released: Louisiana (volume 1) Virginia (volume 1) States with 5-year plans released: Hawaii Maine Montana Ohio Utah Draft Digital Equity Plans: Louisiana Maine Montana Utah — Nonprofits, internet service providers and local and Tribal governments will eventually have the opportunity to assess their state’s determinations of which locations are eligible for funding and challenge those decisions. The NTIA has published draft guidance for how those challenge processes will run, and final guidance is expected soon. ___ QUESTIONS/REPORTING THREADS — What is your state’s allotment from BEAD? How have state and local officials reacted to this amount? Do they believe it will be enough to connect people who are still without access to reliable internet? — Which counties in your state are the most digitally distressed? Are there any demographic or socioeconomic similarities between these areas? Are they geographically consolidated or spread throughout the state? Do any counties with poor connectivity border counties that have good internet access? — Are there any topographic or climatic challenges, such as mountains and year-round cold weather, to laying down fiber in your state? How do state officials plan to overcome these challenges? Are there any remote counties or towns? — What is the landscape of existing broadband aid in your state? Broadband expansion projects from other federal programs, including the USDA’s ReConnect program and the American Rescue Plan, are ongoing. Additionally, states run their own grant programs aimed at closing the digital divide. How are these projects going? How have completed projects affected the lives of people in that area? How do these existing projects work with your state's plans to use BEAD funding? ___ READ ADDITIONAL AP COVERAGE $930 million in grants announced in Biden’s effort to expand internet access to every home in the US States contend with short timeline to correct broadband map ___ Localize It is an occasional feature produced by The Associated Press for its customers’ use. Questions can be directed to Katie Oyan at koyan@ap.org. Read More Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide UN urges Israel and Palestinians to halt West Bank violence in statement backed by US and Russia EPA retreats on Louisiana investigations that alleged Blacks lived amid higher cancer risk US push to lower wildfire risk across the West stumbles in places

'Mama June' star Pumpkin was brutally slammed on social media after she refused to refund her customer and called her a 'b***h' during a live session

Japan is aiming to become the first country in the world to beam solar energy from space back to Earth to generate electricity at scale. A public-private partnership led by Japanese space agency JAXA will see the first satellite transmitters set up by 2025, according to local reports, The satellites will convert solar power into microwaves and send them to ground-based receiving stations, which then convert it into electrical energy. “If we can demonstrate our technology ahead of the rest of the world, it will also be a bargaining tool for space development with other countries,” Kyoto University professor Naoki Shinohara told Nikkei. The concept, which was first theorised in 1968, has several advantages over terrestrial solar power setups, notably being able to harvest solar energy for much longer, unhindered by the Sun’s typical cycle. Microwaves are capable of passing through clouds, so the technology is also able to operate in adverse weather conditions. Japan has already achieved several firsts in this field, having been the first to transmit power via microwaves in space in the 1980s. In 2015, JAXA scientists followed this up with another breakthrough that saw 1.8 kilowatts of power beamed down to an Earth-based receiver – roughly enough to power an electrical kettle. Several other countries and regions are also working on the technology, with the European Space Agency unveiling a plan last year to test the viability of space-based solar power. The Solaris program aims to make Europe a global leader in this untapped energy resource, with the hope of setting up a development program in 2025. More research still needs to be done before it becomes feasible at a significant scale, though recent advances in high-efficiency solar cells, wireless power transmission and robotic in-orbit assembly mean that China and the US are also working on ways to tap the Sun’s energy from space. Among the concerns surrounding the technology are the health impacts of low-power microwaves on humans, animals and plants. “These are the kind of technical questions that Solaris will look into, to explore further the feasibility of the concept,” Sanjay Vijendran, ESA’s lead for the Solaris proposal, said last year. “As an added plus, any breakthroughs achieved in these areas will be valuable in their own right, applicable to many other spaceflight endeavours.” Read More Scientists break world record for solar power window material Huge ‘plume’ seen coming out of nearby moon that could support alien life Elon Musk meets Chinese foreign minister on first visit for three years Mitigating ‘extinction’ from AI should be ‘global priority’, experts say

SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jul 13, 2023--

Gabriel Green explained that “I’m running for president because I was asked to do so by emissaries from outer space.”

Only Up!, the viral platformer taking Twitch and YouTube by storm, is only available on Steam. It is not on Xbox, as of writing.

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sep 12, 2023--

Social media company TikTok has filed a lawsuit to overturn Montana’s first-in-the-nation ban on the video sharing app

A former executive at ByteDance, the Chinese company which owns the popular short-video app TikTok, says in a legal filing that some members of the ruling Communist Party used data held by the company to identify and locate protesters in Hong Kong

Tesla’s first deliveries to customers of its highly-anticipated Cybertruck will take place at the company’s Austin, Texas headquarters later on Thursday. The event is expected to see the first 10 customers taking their Cybertruck deliveries, and the Elon Musk-owned company will also announce more details about the electric pickup truck. The event will be livestreamed on the electric carmaker’s website on Thursday. “Cybertruck deliveries start on Thursday,” Tesla chief Elon Musk said in a post on X the day before. The company first unveiled the vehicle, which it dubbed “an armoured personal carrier from the future”, at a much-publicised but chaotic event in 2019 that offered people the chance to reserve a Cybertruck with a $100 deposit. While Tesla received over 200,000 reservations for the vehicle within the first three days, production for the vehicle was delayed for years. The carmaker had initially promised the vehicle would come towards the end of 2021 along with full production for 2022, but this schedule was pushed back by another year due to supply chain issues. The company later said deliveries for the long-delayed vehicle would commence in the third quarter of 2023. In August, it said it had received 1.9 million $100 reservations to date. Speaking to podcaster Joe Rogan last month, Mr Musk said the Cybertruck will be bulletproof. He said the pickup truck will have bulletproof steel panels and an option for people to purchase bulletproof glass. Mr Musk also said more features of the vehicle will be unveiled during Thursday’s event. The upcoming demonstration of the Cybertruck will have the vehicle being shot at with a Tommy gun, a 45mm shotgun and a 9mm gun, according to the Tesla titan. The bulletproof nature of the truck has been the subject of intense hype. During the first demonstration of the Cybertruck’s toughness in 2019, the vehicle’s window immediately smashed after Mr Musk invited an audience member to throw a small metal ball at it. “Well, maybe that was a little too hard,” the Tesla chief had said. “It didn’t go through, so that’s a plus... room for improvement.” Mr Musk claimed prior testing of the vehicle may have compromised the window. “Sledgehammer impact on door cracked base of glass, which is why steel ball didn’t bounce off. Should have done steel ball on window, *then* sledgehammer the door,” he said. The multibillionaire also played down hopes that the Cybertruck will revive profits for the carmaker in the near future, announcing in an earnings call last month that it could take at least 18 months for the pickup truck to become profitable for Tesla. “There will be enormous challenges in reaching volume production with Cybertruck and making the Cybertruck cash flow positive,” he told investors and analysts. Read More Microsoft gets seat on OpenAI board with Sam Altman back as chief executive Nasa has received a signal from 10 million miles away Apple names its App Store apps of the year Microsoft gets seat on OpenAI board with Sam Altman back as chief executive Nasa has received a signal from 10 million miles away Apple names its App Store apps of the year

In an era when many gigabytes of cloud storage storage cost a mere few dollars

MISSISSAUGA, Ontario--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jun 26, 2023--