The U.N.-backed Broadband Commission for Digital Development released its State of Broadband 2014 report, according to which half the world will be online by 2017.
Things are moving along in the world of Internet-provision innovation: According to the head of Google X research labs, Project Loon will have balloons up around the Southern Hemisphere by the end of 2015. According to the Verge, Facebook"s Internet drones will be the size of 747s and will be flown for long periods of time (months, maybe even years). The engineering director at Facebook"s Connectivity lab says they hope to be able to test one in the United States in 2015.
?The Comcast-Time Warner Cable Merger continues to make the news. In response to criticism, Comcast ?accuses rivals of the TWC merger of "extortion." The company also continues to push its Internet Essentials program, publicizing it across the country and extending its deadling for six months of free Internet to September 30.
Most public libraries provide their patrons with Wi-Fi and computer access, technological resources, and digital literacy training. StateTech takes a look at the work libraries do to bridge the digital divide in rural areas.
A new Digital Action Hub in San Francisco will provide technology resources for community members. The space will focus on learning and bringing people together as opposed to just the provision of equipment and space.