In business terms, cars are a pure expense.  They’re also expensive for a city: The Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune published an article on Sept. 7 stating that only 24% of its roads are paid for by the people who directly use them.  Cars also take up a lot of space while often adding negative value to the area they’re parked in.

Now, while the coolest (and as a result the most desirable, and thus most expensive) towns are walkable to the point of not needing a car (ie Manhattan), these

read more…

Fiber optics: There are currently about a hundred communities (older listing) that are implementing a comprehensive fiber optic infrastructure.  What’s imperative to know is that the cost difference is negligible between providing a fiber vs. a copper network in new communities, yet the profit potential is tremendous.  In other words, establishing a fiber optic network in a new community is kind of a no-brainer.

Wireless: Wireless goes hand-in-hand with fiber.  One investment group is

read more…

There’s already a well-established market for going wireless (making technology invisible) at home and at the workplace, but even at your local bakery?

If you frequent Newbury Street in Boston, chances are you’re pretty productive as well, as many of its cafes and shops provide free wireless internet access.  Thanks to the work of the Newbury Open Network, there’s a national trend afoot to provide wireless internet access at every public establishment, as common as a bathroom or a payphone

read more…

In the industrial age, the basic infrastructure is a road network with cars.  In the experience age (aka the CoolTown era), it’s a fiber optic network with people.  The good news is the fiber is invisible, the people aren’t.

Case Western Reserve University’s fiber optic network is setting the bar with gigabit/second access, 1000 times faster than a typical home connection.  What does this mean?  Major job creation for economically-disadvantaged communities if they get focused, perhaps on a

read more…

Understanding that people will be more apt to use technology they don’t see, a town-wide broadband infrastructure may do wonders for the local economy and quality of life.

Quality of life:  For urban dwellers, a fast network means one less reason to have a car, probably our least invisible technology.  It essentially means you can work at home, or at your local third place w/ free wireless broadband.  This magazine focuses on achieving this quality of life.

Job creation:  I’m awaiting some

read more…

CoolTowns are most definitely state of the art, and that means incorporating the latest, most useful technologies.  However, the more invisible the technology, the less afraid people will be to use them.

CoolTowns are first and foremost about building community and enabling face-face interaction.  That mindset just doesn’t seem as sincere when your friend across the table is talking through his cell phone headset while adding entries to his PDA, as both of you sit on a sidewalk flanked by

read more…

While writing this column from my home town in Hilo, Hawaii is refreshing, the lack of broadband isn’t - it sometimes takes a few minutes just to download a single web page.  DSL isn’t even available.  Which leads me to fiber optics…

If being stuck with a 56K modem has already made me miss publishing a daily story, how many opportunities is a small town with a struggling economy missing each day?  Then again, how much is a big city missing by not having fiber optics?  That’s why we’re working

read more…

Check out HP’s ‘cooltown rocks’ video, which coincidentally has a similar vision - albeit from a very, very technology-oriented point of view.

Technology is merely a tool toward a higher level of human interaction - and that’s what a CoolTown is all about.  In fact, the technology in a CoolTown is only as successful as how invisible it is.

In the vignette below, a tribute to a music teacher is broadcast live to her former students at home, on the go, and even allows a guest musician in

read more…