Adorama’s “Sunday Family Funday” tech street fair will return June 14 for a fifth straight year, the New York retailer said in a Tuesday announcement. The event will close Adorama’s home block of 18th Street between 6th and 7th avenues from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. for games, food, prizes, raffles and technology vendor stands, it said. More than 25,000 visitors participated in the street fair last year, it said. In addition to celebrity appearances by New York sports figures, Adorama also will offer “exclusive” discounts during the event on cameras and accessories, lighting, laptop computers, TVs, audio gear, scopes and optics, printers and office equipment, it said.
Alaska Communications is bringing VoIP to businesses in Fairbanks, Juneau and some parts of Kenai, said a news release from the company Tuesday. Employees also can access their business' phone system on any device, anywhere they're connected to the Internet, Alaska Communications said. Packages include phones, business-class features, dedicated voice network access, the Alaska Voice mobility app for smartphones and voicemail with Web access, it said.
Florida Gov. Rick Scott signed the True Origin of Digital Goods Act into law Thursday, said a news release from the Republican's office. The legislation requires online retailers whose primary business is distributing commercial music and movies to provide their contact information on the site so consumers know who they are and how to contact the website owners, said a Thursday RIAA news release.
Wave raised an additional $130 million to further expand its gigabit ethernet fiber network from northern California to the Canadian border and through certain markets in Oregon and Washington, said a news release from the company Thursday. The cable ISP said it plans to grow its gig-E network into areas surrounding Seattle, Portland and San Francisco with the addition of more than 1,500 route miles of fiber in 2015. Wave also plans to expand residential gigabit Internet service to an additional 10,000-plus residents this year in Seattle, with expansion to San Francisco and other markets this year. It also said it hired an executive and promoted another (see separate report in this issue).
Comcast will roll out its new residential multigigabit broadband service to customers throughout the cable ISP's service areas in Colorado, Minnesota, Oregon, Texas, Utah and Washington state starting this summer, the company said in multiple news releases Thursday (see here, here, here, here and here). Gigabit Pro is a symmetrical, 2 Gbps service that will be delivered via fiber-to-the-home, said the operator.
Bandwidth will be provisioning and managing 911 emergency services capabilities for iTalkBB, a VoIP provider, said the vendor in a Wednesday news release. Bandwidth will handle iTalk's call termination process, helping the company manage the entirety of its emergency services process, it said. The vendor said it manages 911 services for the top 5 U.S. VoIP providers.
CenturyLink's 1 Gbps fiber service is available in more than 115,000 additional U.S. business locations and in five additional states, it said in a Monday news release. That brings the total small- and mid-sized businesses with access to the network to nearly 490,000 locations in 17 states, CenturyLink said, saying it provides 1 Gbps speeds to residential customers in 11 cities, including Denver, Las Vegas, Minneapolis and Salt Lake City.
Records are due June 22 in North Carolina v. FCC in docket 15-1506 before the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, said the court in a briefing order. The appendix and opening brief are due June 22 and the response brief is due July 24, it said. The reply brief is permitted within 14 days of service of the response brief, the order said. North Carolina had filed a petition for a review with the 4th Circuit on the FCC decision to pre-empt the state's municipal broadband laws (see 1505150043).
Alaska Communications and Quintillion Holdings acquired a fiber network from ConocoPhillips in the portion of Alaska’s North Slope oil patch where most new development is occurring, said a Thursday news release from Alaska Communications. The release said Alaska Communications established a multiyear service agreement with ConocoPhillips. The network will enable commercially available, high-speed connectivity where only high-cost microwave and satellite communications have been available, it said.
Gigabit Pro will be available next month, offering more than 500,000 customers in Nashville a chance to have 2 Gbps broadband at home, said Comcast in a news release Wednesday. The service will be offered in the metropolitan area and surrounding middle-Tennessee communities, the company said. Comcast has announced Gigabit Pro rollouts in Atlanta, California, Chattanooga, Chicago and Florida, and plans to deliver the service to 18 million homes by the end of the year, it said. The service will be available to any home within close proximity to Comcast’s fiber network, it said.