PW2 Web Blog

Readings: The Asymmetrical Online War

Contributed by Rick DeVan on April 3, 2011 at 9:02 am ET

Resource: The Asymmetrical Online War via NYTimes.com.

…The Internet has transformed many things in the world, but one of its most remarkable effects has been to change the balance of power, not between states, but between entire nations and their citizens.

Thriv’Ability: SmartHome Cleveland

Contributed by Rick DeVan on January 23, 2011 at 11:09 am ET

Resource: Cleveland Museum of Natural History to build high-tech ‘SmartHome’ that stays warm without furnace

Resource: Building a Passive House: SmartHome Cleveland

This summer, visitors to The Cleveland Museum of Natural History will be invited to tour a home that could represent the future of energy-efficient housing. SmartHome Cleveland will be constructed on Museum grounds and is presented in conjunction with the exhibition Climate Change, which will be on display July 23 through Dec. 31, 2011 in the Museum’s Kahn Hall.

Wonderful on so many levels. I especially like that it looks like an old inner city house — the type our grandparents built.

I wonder, though, if it will be so quiet as to be discomforting, like an electric car you can’t hear coming. There is something about a furnace kicking on in the middle of the night that is reassuring, as long as the pipes are not banging like M80s, then it becomes annoying.

Filed under Life, Work, and Society, Local Aware, News and Announcements, Technology, Thrivability

Tags used: Cleveland, Technology —

Comments and discussion are welcome on the PW2 Web Facebook Page up to four weeks after publication date.

Thriv’Ability: Efficiency and Renewable Energy

Contributed by Rick DeVan on November 9, 2010 at 5:53 pm ET

Resource: Federal and State Incentives and Laws> related to alternative fuels and vehicles, air quality, fuel efficiency, and other transportation-related topics, via Juicy tax breaks for electric cars at CNN.com.

A database maintained by the U.S. Dept. of Energy. You could get a tax break when buying a fuel-efficient or electric vehicle.

Filed under Global Aware, Life, Work, and Society, Local Aware

Tags used: Thrivability —

Comments and discussion are welcome on the PW2 Web Facebook Page up to four weeks after publication date.

Getting It: Supercharged WiFi Approved

Contributed by Rick DeVan on September 23, 2010 at 6:43 pm ET

Resource: F.C.C. Opens Unused TV Airwaves to Broadband

“Today’s order finally sets the stage for the next generation of wireless technologies to emerge and is an important victory for Internet users across the country,” Richard Whitt, telecommunications and media counsel in Google’s Washington office, said in a posting on the company’s public policy blog.

Resource: Supercharged WiFi

Hip, hip, hooray!

Filed under Getting It, Global Aware, Life, Work, and Society, Local Aware, Technology

Tags used: WiFi —

Comments and discussion are welcome on the PW2 Web Facebook Page up to four weeks after publication date.

Getting It: Supercharged WiFi

Contributed by Rick DeVan on September 13, 2010 at 6:53 pm ET

Resource: F.C.C. Likely to Open New Airwaves to Wireless

This month, the F.C.C. is likely to approve what could be an even bigger expansion of the unlicensed airwaves, opening the door to supercharged Wi-Fi networks that will do away with the need to find a wireless hot spot and will provide the scaffolding for new applications that are not yet imagined.

I’m loving the sound of “…new applications that are not yet imagined.” Has a nice ring to it.

Combine supercharged WiFi with alternative energy products such as Cleveland-based Tremont Electric’s nPower®PEG and we may just have ourselves a future.

Filed under Getting It, Global Aware, Life, Work, and Society, Local Aware, Technology

Tags used: nPowerPeg, Tremont Electric, WiFi —

Comments and discussion are welcome on the PW2 Web Facebook Page up to four weeks after publication date.