Gizmorama: Life in the tech age

FEEDBACK

Reader Dennis contributes this link www.rbrc.org/consumer/ for the recyclable battery organization that can point you in the right place for local businesses that recycle.

ON SAT

Here we are with a thousand channels of satellite TV, and we cannot get a local PBS broadcast of "Mark Twain." Dish Network signed us up for the national PBS feed, but it does not have the same programming as the local stations for major events such as this. We suppose it will eventually catch up with the national feed, but we will have to settle for something else while the folks within antenna distance of their local PBS station are watching quality programming.

Part of the logic that surrounds this particular dilemma is the local fund raising. Why would you give to the local PBS fund-raiser if the same stuff were available on satellite? Well, we suppose you have a national fund-raiser, but that sells the local boys and girls rather short in their efforts.

WHY DSL?

The telcos are now saying that DSL may well be the catalyst for refueling the economy. At first glance, one might say, "OK, so what does a faster connection have to do with anything except game playing and entertainment?"

Let's start with the infrastructure itself. There are a number of players that benefit from the full-tilt deployment of DSL: the installers, the telco's revenue, the equipment makers are but to name a few.

Now that this hot connection is available at the grassroots level, how does that stimulate things? Yes, there is the consumer factor expressed as an enriched shopping experience. This is where entertainment of all sorts plays in. The various industries that contribute to the consumer experience -- from manufacturers to the local hair salon -- will enjoy an economical means of communications. This communication has the ability to be a reliable two-way avenue that can add value to the consumer proposition.

How about the contribution from the end users? No, not in terms of purchasing, but of work. With high-speed connections, the avenues of education can be broadened. We would not relish the though of a web-based course without DSL. It's simply too tedious to wait for every update at 28.8kbps. There are more than ample statistics to show that well-educated people are more productive citizens that contribute ideas and capital to the economy. DSL brings a virtual library to the people that need it.

We could go on, but we think you have the idea now that such measures to make the Internet available and responsive (read speedy enough not to take snack breaks between searches) have a real pay off to the nation as a whole and not just the special interests of the telcos and other providers.

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