Internet Access

PHOENIX - US Airways announced Wednesday that it would be expanding in-flight Internet access, saying that 90 percent of its mainline domestic airplanes will offer WiFi service to passengers by mid-2013. The airline, which is the dominant carrier servicing Philadelphia International Airport, also said it would launch a streaming-video service that will allow passengers to watch movies and television shows or download audio books on their own laptops, mobile phones, or iPads. The new services are another way for the airline to collect additional revenue as it battles rising fuel costs.

It's too bad about Ricochet, the wireless Internet service with transmission speeds approaching 128 kilobits per second - more than twice as fast as a dial-up connection. After testing the service, my techie husband and I found Ricochet worked remarkably well in its service areas. There were glitches, of course: The modem sometimes lost the signal, forcing us to log on again. The battery didn't warn when it was running low. The service wasn't available everywhere. But considering the problems I've experienced with the other wireless service I use - my cell phone - Ricochet worked well.

AT&T Corp. yesterday began offering local telephone dial-up access to the Internet. It jump-started the new service with a free, one-year, limited trial for residential customers. "The company that brought everyone the phone now will bring the Internet to everyone," AT&T chairman Robert Allen said. The AT&T WorldNet Service, available to businesses since September, will be available to long-distance home customers through regular phone lines. Under the trial offer, home users who enroll this year will get their first five hours a month of Internet use free for a year, with no minimum subscription fee. Unlimited access is available to all AT&T customers, including businesses, for a flat monthly rate of $19.95.

Big long-distance phone companies are playing games over their deal to make it possible for needy schools, libraries and hospitals to access the Internet. As part of last year's massive deregulation of the telecommunications industry, giant companies got much of the freedom they sought to wheel and deal and to market information - freedom that could be worth billions. In return, they agreed to support steeply discounted Internet connections through a fund totaling $2.25 billion a year for schools and libraries and $400 million for hospitals.

After an informational meeting to address residents' concerns about Pennsbury School District's new technology plan, district officials hope to move forward and upgrade the district's outdated technology. The meeting was to answer questions about the $7 million proposal that was presented to the school board last month. It calls for incorporating new technology into curriculum changes. Internet access will be provided to all students. Besides hundreds of new computers, all schools in the district would be linked to one another.

In Philadelphia to receive an award yesterday, the Rev. Jesse Jackson played down the idea that a racial gap divides Americans. Instead, he said, resources, such as Internet access, are the larger problem. "There is a digital divide among Americans," Jackson said. "When the playing field is even . . . all can compete on the same basis. Now the challenge is to gain access to capital and close the digital divide. " Jackson spoke at a news conference yesterday at the Philadelphia Marriott, during the National Bar Association's 74th annual convention, where he received the group's Humanitarian Award.

Fed up with that cranky DSL connection? Tired of waiting for cable-modem service? Maybe it's time to put up an antenna, because the future of high-speed Internet access is wireless. At least that's how folks such as David Pugh, the chief executive officer of Sting Communications in mostly rural Lebanon County, see it. "We've got a tiger by the tail," Pugh said of his fledgling venture, which beams the Internet to 200 business customers from 40 two-way radio transceivers set on towers, buildings and silos across central and eastern Pennsylvania, including Langhorne and Bensalem.

In the context of war, "ethnic cleansing" and the thousand ills that plague the nations of the former Yugoslavia, the idea of getting Internet access to the Balkans may seem like a futile luxury, let alone a logistical nightmare. But an ardent group of Philadelphia-area university students and professors is bent on widening the battle-scarred information superhighway into Bosnia as part of the rebuilding process in that strife-torn region. Project Bosnia, begun this spring by students at Villanova Law School, has collected 150 used, Internet-ready computers to ship to Bosnian schools and legal institutions.

When students in Susan Darmo's sixth-grade language arts class at Memorial Middle School wanted to know more about Aranka Siegal, whose novel Upon the Head of the Goat depicts her survival of the Holocaust, they went straight to the main source for information. Using the Internet, one student found Siegal's e-mail address, and with a click of a mouse the class sent her their questions and got a quick response from the author. Although the author merely sent back information about her bookstore appearances in the area, Darmo describes the experience as a valuable lesson made possible by reaching out of the classroom through technology.

Several Philadelphia City Council members expressed concern yesterday about Mayor Street's plan to make wireless Internet service available citywide. "Why is this a business to get into, given all our other challenges?" Councilman Michael Nutter asked Dianah Neff, the city's chief information officer, at a public hearing at City Hall. Neff said the plan, which has yet to be made final, would help the city become more efficient in providing services and would give Internet access to many residents and business owners who cannot afford it. For instance, Neff said, Licenses and Inspections officials would be able to cite building-code violators in the field, rather than having to wait to come back to the office to write up the violations.

Hackathons in which participants build online tools based on free-for-the-taking government data, or give birth to a potential new enterprise in an intense, 54-hour "Startup Weekend. " Robotics demonstrations that show how the region's students, engineers and companies are helping to turn sci-fi dreams into reality. Workshops and panels on issues such as the challenges facing women and minorities in technology, the use of digital media to promote social change, and the value of "gamification" — using game play in nontraditional ways.

IN PHILADELPHIA, 40 percent of citizens lack access to the Internet at home, as Mayor Nutter said in a speech about the city's digital divide last September. To better connect people to city services, education opportunities, jobs and more, we have to work together as a city to make access to the Internet as easy as possible. Because of that charge, we've launched a tool in partnership with great organizations in Philadelphia that we're hoping can be another step to bridging the digital divide.

PHOENIX - US Airways announced Wednesday that it would be expanding in-flight Internet access, saying that 90 percent of its mainline domestic airplanes will offer WiFi service to passengers by mid-2013. The airline, which is the dominant carrier servicing Philadelphia International Airport, also said it would launch a streaming-video service that will allow passengers to watch movies and television shows or download audio books on their own laptops, mobile phones, or iPads. The new services are another way for the airline to collect additional revenue as it battles rising fuel costs.

DESPITE the proposed state budget cuts, city libraries will not be closed and hours will not be substantially reduced, according to Parks and Recreation Commissioner Mike DiBerardinis. Yesterday's announcement came after the Pew Charitable Trusts' Philadelphia Research Initiative reported that the Free Library faces some challenges and that due to budget restraints, it has been slower to adapt to changes in the city's population. Under the proposed state budget, libraries face a $330,000 cut, DiBerardinis said.

One of the good things that happened this summer was that I won an award, from a magazine that gives out Best of Philly awards. I didn't win one of those. I won Worst of Philly. I hate to brag, but I won for Worst Columnist. Yay! Thanks, magazine. I was hoping it came with a car, or maybe some money, or a book titled How Not to Suck . But I'm not holding my breath. It's the thought that counts. Why am I so happy? I love having haters.

By Amy B. Jordan Like many parents, I am making my back-to-school "to-do" list, and one thing I have already crossed off: sending in the paperwork for my 11th grader to receive a free laptop computer from her public high school. In my home, this is something we hardly "need" (although my daughter would disagree). But for the fraction of Lower Merion High School kids who can't afford it, the school's one-laptop-per-child program levels the playing field. It also shows how valuable educators feel computers and Internet access are to children's school achievement.

America's "digital divide" - the technology gap that leaves more than one-third of the population without home access to high-speed Internet - should start shrinking noticeably, thanks to a new initiative by Comcast. The Philadelphia-based communications company's effort is called Internet Essentials. It offers three kinds of help to low-income families with schoolchildren. Students can get a $150 Internet-ready computer, no-frills broadband service for just $9.95 a month during the school year, and training materials to get started.

Siobhan A. Reardon is president and director of the Free Library of Philadelphia For many of us, going online whenever we want is something we take for granted. However, an astounding 40 percent of residents in Philadelphia are without home Internet access. What's more, for too many, the sheer act of using a computer to go online remains a foreign and sometimes frightening concept. All Philadelphians deserve the opportunity to thrive in a 21st-century, technologically rich workforce.

Thanks to a hefty federal stimulus grant aimed at bridging the digital divide, more low-income Philadelphians will have free access to the Internet. Today, the city will cut the ribbon on five new free computer centers - one in Logan, one in South Philly, one in Center City and two in West Philly. The centers, the latest additions to the city's effort to expand Internet access, are being funded by an $18.2 million federal stimulus grant. Fifteen opened previously and, eventually, the city hopes to have 77 centers scattered around town.

When it was announced to the world that U.S. forces had killed Public Enemy No. 1, Osama bin Laden, I got the news as a text message on my BlackBerry from a friend who'd received an alert from his online news service. By the time President Obama officially addressed the nation, the news was old - 60 minutes had elapsed since the bulletin first hit my hip. In the 24/7 news cycle around which our world revolves, being connected to the right information at the right time has become a matter of vital importance.