From The Stranger
It's Time for Seattle to Become a Gigabit City
by Ansel Herz
On January 14, President Barack Obama likened a city-run gigabit internet network to the discovery of fire by humankind. "It's unleashing a tornado of innovation," he said. "It's like being the first city to have fire."...
First off, what is gigabit internet? It's a fiber-optic cable internet connection offering speeds of 1,000 megabits per second. That kind of connectivity, according to Google, allows for the downloading of a high-definition movie in about 30 seconds....
Marti Hearst, a professor at UC Berkeley School of Information, has written that when we get to a gigabit world, "More interaction will be done with others remotely... We greatly reduce flying around for meetings because virtual conferencing feels real... Your golf lesson could be done with a coach remotely, in real time, while he or she watches your swing at the tee and has you make corrections and adjust your grip." Hearst added that the benefits extend to health care, including the possibility of remote assessment and treatment....