Verizon introduces 150 MBps home Internet service

Touting the fastest mass-market offering in the U.S., Verizon FiOS has launched a broadband product with speeds of 150 megabits per second downstream and 35 Mbps upstream.

via Verizon FiOS Speeds Up To 150 Mbps | News & Opinion | PCMag.com.

At a pricey $194/month, the service is limited to high wage areas where Verizon provides service, including north of Seattle, Redmond and north.

Until 2010, Verizon provided service in North Idaho, southern Spokane County and NW Montana but sold their telephone service to Frontier Communications. During their ownership, Verizon upgraded only the Western WA and Portland area networks with their enhanced fiber network services.

Comcast is now selling a package of home Internet service and mobile Internet data service. The new “4G” service is available in the Tacoma to Bellingham area, Yakima and the Tri-Cities.  The combined package is priced about the same as home Internet service by itself. How this relates to Spokane’s opportunities should be clear tomorrow.

One Bus Away – Real time bus location information

One Bus Away. Provides real-time information – in Seattle only – letting you know where your local bus is – via Internet, phone, text message, and apps for iPhone, Android and Windows Mobile Phone 7.

The system was created by an interdisciplinary team of graduate students and researchers at the UW, from the Computer Science & Engineering, and Civil and Environmental Engineering programs, with funding from Nokia, Google and the NSF.

Spokane and 4G Cellular

Image via CrunchBase

The second most frequent search on this blog is for information about “Fourth Generation” or 4G cellular service and when it will come to Spokane.

T-Mobile began offering in mid-2010 a faster data service they call 4G – its faster than 3G but still slower than true 4G except when its faster (confused?) in about half of Spokane and half of Spokane Valley. Their web site has a detailed coverage map that estimates availability down to the street level. (Competitors say true 4G is is faster than T-Mobile’s interim 4G but its easy to make that claim when they haven’t built 4G networks yet …)  A chart here illustrates that all the carriers are misrepresenting 4G – in fact, none of them are building 4G networks but all are building faster networks.

Sprint is the other company that has put 4G in much of Washington and has done so with their Clearwire (now just Clear) subsidiary. In 2008, Sprint bought a majority of the Clearwire company which, like Sprint, was working to deploy “WiMAX” 4G wireless data services. Sprint obtained investment money from Comcast, Time Warner, Intel, Google and others.

In Eastern Washington, Sprint rolled out their WiMAX 4G network in Ellensburg, Yakima, Zilah, Sunnyside, the Tri-Cities and further east. Spokane is not currently listed on their “Future CLEAR City” map and the company has announced it will “freeze” expansion of its network due to their financial situation. (Update: They will be getting new funding and will eventually resume building the network.)

For more information, see CLEAR | 4G WiMAX Internet Coverage Map with Service Area.

Because of the Comcast investment, those who have Comcast cable TV and who live in the Sprint 4G areas can now receive combined cable modem and wireless 4G data service for about the same price as standard cable or DSL modem service alone. The Comcast service requires the Clearwire 4G service, which is not available in Spokane.

Other cellular providers such as AT&T and Verizon are rolling out 4G services. They have not announced specific dates of 4G service in Spokane – but we do know that Verizon plans to have service rolled out to all of their service areas by 2013. AT&T starts in mid-2011 and says it will take “several years to build out 4G”. A map of the initial Verizon 4G service area is here.

Bottom line: T-Mobile has a pretty good 3G+ system they call 4G running now in about half of Spokane and half of Spokane Valley. Sprint’s CLEARwire solution is not available in Spokane and has announced a freeze in further network construction. Verizon and AT&T are rolling out service and the best we can say is that Verizon expects to complete their network roll out by 2013.  AT&T plans to begin implementing their 4G network – somewhere – starting in the summer of 2011.  Besides T-Mobile’s “4G”, Spokane should be online with a 4G network sometime from 2011 to 2013.

Update: Please see this newer post. Verizon now says they hope to have their 4G in some parts of Spokane in 2011.

Tomorrow: Creativity, Innovation and Infrastructure

Measuring Creativity – and how community creativity might be defined

In particular from a policy point of view creativity should not solely be considered as ‘a product oriented phenomenon aimed at solving problems’ Lubart (1999). It is as well a quest, a risk, an approach rather than a solution. Because creativity can mean so many things the KEA’s recent study develops the concept of culture-based creativity, which derives from art and cultural productions or activities which nurture innovation. Culture-based creativity is linked to the ability of people, notably artists, to think imaginatively or metaphorically, to challenge the conventional, and to call on the symbolic and affective to communicate. Culture-based creativity is a capacity to break the natural order, the usual way of thinking and to allow the development of a new vision, an idea or a product. Culture-based creativity is creativity that comes from artists, creative professionals and the cultural and creative industries.

The KEA report on Measuring Creativity, for the European Commission: measuringcreativity.pdf (application/pdf Object).

(Contrary to their implication that artists are the only ones who “think imaginatively” – there are many creative people in many fields. We would not be reading this over an Internet if there were not creative people in say, the technology fields.)

Not everyone buys the creativity story

Creativity is, one might say, the new black. An increasingly fashionable urban-development script has it that a historically distinctive “creative economy” – powered by raw human talent, as cool as it is competitive – is displacing sclerotic, organization-era capitalism. The prime movers in this new new economy are members of the so-called Creative Class, a mobile elite whose finicky lifestyle preferences increasingly shape the geographies of economic growth.

The big promoter is professor Richard Florida:

Routinely overstated and hyperbolic, Florida’s essential argument is that human creativity has become the engine of early-21st Century economic development, such that the competitiveness of nations and cities is increasingly rooted in the capacity to attract, retain, and “nurture” talented individuals – the newly dominant factor of production.

….

Beneath the creative rhetoric, Florida presents a fairly familiar urban-economic development story: construct new urban governance networks around growth-oriented goals, compete aggressively for mobile economic resources and government funds, respond in formulaic ways to (imminent) external threats, talk up the prospects of success, and, whatever you do, don’t buck the market. The emphasis on the mobilization of elite policy communities around growth-first urban policy objectives is nothing new, but whereas the entrepreneurial cities chased jobs, the creative cities pursue talent workers; the entrepreneurial cities craved investment, now the creative cities yearn for buzz; while entrepreneurial cities boasted of their postfordist flexibility, the creative cities trade on the cultural distinction of cool.

See The Cult of Urban Creativity

(Update 2017: Richard Florida mostly admits he’s theories have been all wrong.)

And in Michigan, they’ve even got Coolcities.com

Richard Florida might be on to something (the real world suggests his theory has not always worked so well) with the creative class and creative cities concept. But his tools are blunt. He lumps so many people into his “creative class”  that any sizable city gets labeled “creative”.  In fact, the whole country is basically “creative” (see map). Some example misfires in this approach are described. In his  approach, health care workers are a “creative class” so Spokane is a creative city.

As you can see, not everyone buys in to the creative class concept. But his point is valid:

a jobs strategy needs to start from a fundamental principle: That each and every human being is  creative and that we can only grow, develop, and prosper by harnessing the full creativity of each of us. For the first time in history, future economic development requires further human development. This means develop a strategy to nurture creativity across the board – on the farm, in the factory, and in offices, shops, non-profits, and a full gamut of service class work, as well as within the creative class. Our future depends on it.

Rethinking human capital, creativity and urban growth

We should add that members of the so-called ‘creative class’, i.e. individuals endowed with high levels of human capital are no doubt especially unlikely to shift location in the absence of relevant employment opportunities (which is not the same as saying that they are relatively immobile). These are individuals who have by definition invested considerable resources and time in acquiring know-how, skills and qualifications, and they are presumably unwilling to dissipate their investments in this respect by moving to places where their personal assets are systematically at risk or undervalued in the local job market. Such individuals typically choose to locate on the basis of some sort of structured match between their talents and the forms of economic specialization and labor demand to be found in the places where they eventually settle.

….

We acknowledge that cities are frequently intense foci of creativity in the sense that they are places that periodically generate technological innovations and economically useful knowledge, as well as new trends, sensibilities, fashions, perceptions and movements (Hall, 1998)

via Rethinking human capital, creativity and urban growth — J ECON GEOGR.

Older post relevant to this topic:

• Spokane County job openings by required degree
  shows that area job openings for 4-year degree holders is typically in the range of 10% to 15% of openings (which is very low) and the demand for graduate trained workers is nil, around 2% to 4% of available jobs. Most of this small group, with graduate degreess work in health care or education.

Spokane Commercial Real Estate Vacancy Rates

Image via Wikipedia

The Industrial vacancy rate fell to 15.43%. A sudden drop like that, absent any recent announcements in the media about something big opening up – is probably a data error or a change in methodology.

Good news is the drop in retail space. We will know if that trend is sticky by the time we get into January and past the Christmas selling season. The trend in retail and office space are both favorable.

Source: OfficeSpace.com

As always, each firm’s estimate of vacancies is calculated in their own way and estimates vary between firms.

The Smart Growth Manifesto

Reigniting growth requires rethinking growth. The question Davos — and most leaders — are asking is: where will tomorrow’s growth come from? Will it result from oil, cleantech, bailouts, China, or Obama? The answer is: none of the above. Tomorrow’s growth won’t come from a person, place, or technology – but from understanding why yesterday’s growth has failed. The same growth models applied to new people, places, and technologies will simply result in the same crises, over and over again. We have to reboot growth: the problem is not what is growing versus what is not, but how we grow.

20th century growth was dumb. The central, defining lesson of the macropocalypse is that 20th century growth wasn’t built to last. Dumb growth is unsustainable – if the world grows the same way that developed countries did, well, there won’t be a world. Dumb growth is unfair: it’s growth that’s an illusion for many; just ask the American middle class. And, ultimately, perhaps most dangerously, dumb growth is brittle: it falls too easily into collapse, reversing many of yesterday’s gains; just ask Iceland.

21st century economies will be powered by smart growth. Not all growth is created equal. Some kinds of growth are more valuable than others. Where dumb growth is unsustainable, unfair, and brittle, smart growth is sustainable, equitable, and resilient.

….

4. Creativity, not productivity. Uh-oh: Creativity is an economic four-letter word. Why? Because it’s hard to measure, manage, and model. So economists focus on productivity instead — and the result is dumb growth. Smart growth focuses on economic creativity – because creativity is what let us know that competition is creating new value, instead of just shifting old value around. What is economic creativity? How many new industries, markets, categories, and segments an economy can consistently create. Think China’s gonna save the world? Think again: it’s economically productive, but it’s far from economically creative. Smart growth is creative — not merely productive.

via The Smart Growth Manifesto – Umair Haque – Harvard Business Review.

Entrepreneurship, Creativity and Regional Development

These facts hint at the broad shift occurring in American society, a shift that goes beyond the conventional notion that we now live in an “information” or “knowledge” economy. This economy is powered not by information or by knowledge, but by human creativity. Creativity — “the ability to create meaningful new forms,” as Webster’s Dictionary puts it — is now the decisive source of competitive advantage. As Paul Romer likes to say, the big advances in the standard of living — not to mention the big competitive advantages in the marketplace — come from “better recipes, not just more
cooking.”

Richard Florida, Entrepreneurship_Creativity_and_Regional_Development.pdf

(Update 2017: Richard Florida mostly admits he’s theories have been all wrong.)

Creativity is an engine for economic growth

Western Cape Cultural Affairs, Sport and Recreation MEC Cameron Dugmore is calling for more attention to creativity as part of the economy to nurture development of talent in the country.

“Creativity can grow the economy of the country. There is need for more people to promote creative activities for this to be realized.

via Creativity is an engine for economic growth.

New growth theory-Creativity is the main driver for economic development

According to the new growth theory, creativity is the main driver for economic development.

via New growth theory-Creativity is the main driver for economic development.

Creativity is key to economic growth

The ‘creative economy’ is an evolving concept based on the potential of ‘creative assets’ to generate socio-economic growth and development. The term ‘creative economy’ is more or less the same as the more common terms in the UK, the creative economy/cultural industries. The report claims that if effective public policies are put in place, the creative economy could generate development dimensions, offering new opportunities for developing countries to leapfrog into high-growth areas of the world economy.

via Creativity is key to economic growth in developing countries, suggests new report – 2008 – News archive – News – News and media – Home.

Harnessing Creativity Vital to Economic Growth

The measurement of wealth has shifted away from the number of factories, smokestacks and assembly lines that rely on low-skilled labor, in Ryan’s view. Rather, “knowledge-based” industries, requiring highly skilled and talented people to create, develop and manufacture, are becoming the drivers of economic growth.

via Harnessing Creativity Vital to Economic Growth.

Characteristics of Creative Individuals

Characteristics of Highly Creative Individuals

This list was adopted and adapted from the scale for Rating Behavioral Characteristics of Superior Students by Renzulli and Hartman.

1. Display a great deal of curiosity about many things; are constantly asking questions about anything and everything; may have broad interests in many unrelated areas. May devise collections based on unusual things and interests.

2. Generate a large number of ideas or solutions to problems and questions; often offer unusual (“way out”), unique, clever responses.

3. Are often uninhibited in expressions of opinion; are sometimes radical and spirited in disagreement; are unusually tenacious or persistent — fixating on an idea or project.

4. Are willing to take risks, are often people who are described as a “high risk taker, or adventurous, or speculative.”

5. Display a good deal of intellectual playfulness; may frequently be caught fantasizing, daydreaming or imagining. Often wonder out loud and might be heard saying, “I wonder what would happen if. . .”; or “What if we change . . ..” Can manipulate ideas by easily changing, elaborating, adapting, improving, or modifying the original idea or the ideas of others. Are often concerned improving the conceptual frameworks of institutions, objects, and systems.

6. Display keen senses of humor and see humor in situations that may not appear to be humorous to others. Sometimes their humor may appear bizarre, inappropriate, irreverent to others.

via Fostering a Creative Spirit.

More characteristics defined at the link.  Where do you fit in that list?

Creativity: driving local economic development

Creative industries’ success often relies on the dynamism of creative clusters and accompanying policies valuing intangible assets. These small and flexible local production networks generally flourish in environments where artists, businesses, arts schools, scientists and cultural operators are encouraged to communicate, collaborate and nurture each other. European cities with all their respective cultural specificities and diversities are best placed to develop these clusters. Where creative talent settles, creative entrepreneurs tend to follow: Cultural and creative locations have become the hotbed of modern urban life and attract business as well as related activities. Local initiatives aimed at supporting creativity as well as investment in creativity are bearing fruit in a large number of European regions and cities.

via The KEA Blog: Creativity: driving local economic development.

The difference between creativity and entrepreneurship

• The creative person generates new ideas; the entrepreneur turns them into profits.
• Leaders are either personally creative or quick to exploit the ideas of creative people.
• Entrepreneurship is the process of marrying a good idea and a market need,
• Entrepreneurs take the risks, creative employees provide the raw material,
• Creativity depends on creative qualities, a supportive environment and opportunity,
• Innovation in organizations is very much like thought leadership except that the thought leader does not need to be personally creative. He or she can promote the creative ideas of others instead

via LeadersDirect – Fostering Creativity – LeadersDirect.

Creativity and innovation are now seen as the primary driver of future economic growth.

But as pointed out in this BusinessWeek column, creativity is not a solution by itself:

What society needs is not more creativity or suggestions for change but better ways to encourage people to focus on important issues, identify the most promising ideas, and tell the right people about them. But our deification of creativity gets in the way.

In other words, think creatively about important stuff.

Innovation Defined

Our definition of innovation: People putting ideas into valuable action. This can mean:

* Product innovation – bringing entirely new products to market or simply enhancing the existing product line

* Service innovation – creating a new service offering or improving existing service models

* Creating an entirely new business model or consumer market

There are at least three “types” of innovation as defined by Christensen and others:

* Incremental Innovation – incremental innovation is focused on making small but significant improvements to existing products or services. Think detergent, detergent with Bleach, detergent with pine scent.

* Breakthrough Innovations – this type of innovation introduces an existing technology into a new market, a new technology into an existing market or changes the way the offering is delivered. A good example is adding air bladders to running shoes. Air bladders existed in other applications, but it was a new and interesting idea to add them to the soles of running shoes.

* Game Changers – this type of innovation disrupts an existing market or creates a whole new market. A good example is the switch from cloth diapers to disposable diapers. Most moms switched from a diaper service or washing cloth diapers to paper diapers purchased at a store which they used once and threw away.

via OVO | Innovation Defined.

When we read in the paper about “innovation”, or hear statements from politicians about “innovation”, they often refer to specific advances in science and technology.

But innovation is neither science nor technology.

Innovation is about making existing products or services better, or inventing new products or services. Or improving a process that makes customer service run faster, or a manufacturing line run faster.

It comes from thinking each day – how can I do this better?

It comes from asking “Why?” and “Why not?”

And usually means avoiding saying “We do it this way because we’ve always done it this way! Why change?”

Community Pioneers – Fixing the Future

Community Pioneers – Fixing the Future.

From PBS. Clips available at the link, including a feature on Bellingham, Wa. The program series is about using local innovation to create “sustainable” businesses in the United States.

Creativity Defined

Creativity is the ability to make something original, to imagine things that don’t exist, and to come up with new ideas. Creativity is the ability to look at everyday items and events in new ways. Creativity can make common things special and special things more common!

Creativity is not to be confused with talent, skill, or intelligence. Creativity is not about doing something better than others, it is about thinking, exploring, discovering, and imagining. Creative thought is found in all aspects of a growing child’s life.

Creativity is marked by the ability or power to create-to bring into existence, to invest with a new form, to produce through imaginative skill, to make or bring into existence something new.

via Fostering a Creative Spirit.

Washington State ranks high on innovation

Washington state ranks #2 [amongst states] in global, innovation-based new economy.

Washington’s high score is due to the successful high tech industry in Seattle, and the Tri-Cities.

The index is calculated by measuring patent production, the percent of the local work force who are scientists and engineers, local investment in R&D, and venture capital investment.

Spokane’s individual ranking, if it were done, would be challenged by:

• Spokane area annual patent production falls dramatically
• The number of scientists and engineers in Spokane is low, demand for highly educated workers is low, and college degrees issued in theses subjects is low or non-existent at the graduate level.
• VC money in Spokane has mostly dried up in recent years.

Spokane lacks  the critical features to create a local innovation-based economy. We should not feel comfortable basking in Seattle’s warm glow. More on this and what it means for Spokane in the days ahead.